Doing it on my own: bobobski's house deposit diary

I was about to post as to why I didn't make it on my walk this weekend, then I remembered something I read on the Weight Watchers community thing - "a bit of rain won't kill you" - so I managed a half hour walk, yay! Also, today was weigh in day and I've lost 1lb on last week, which isn't bad considering how naughty I was for the second half of the week. I also made a healthy chili con carne for the week (it's mostly vegetables) which averages out at £1.77 per portion - not bad!

I did my weekly shop under budget yesterday (for once!) - cutting back on alcohol is making a giant difference. I had to buy a light bulb for a lamp that's gone out but the man in B&Q gave me the wrong one (I took the old bulb with me - doh!) so I was going to take it back today but then thought I'll go next weekend when I do my weekly shop to save on petrol.

I looked up the bonus scheme at my new company this morning and realised it'll be really hard if not impossible to get anywhere near the bonus I could have got at my old company. Realistically, I'm looking at going from an easy £10k+ a year to under £7k and that's if I'm lucky; realistically it could be an awful lot lower (and then cut it in half because it's taxable). So I'm feeling a little down about the whole house thing today. My emotions about it have been on such a rollercoaster - some weeks I really feel like I can do this, and other weeks I feel like the whole thing is pointless because it's too hard to get the salary I need for the mortgage and the savings for the deposit as a single person before house prices run away from me. I wonder whether I should be obsessing over it as much as I am, as it makes for good inspiration, or whether I should just forget the house and focus on saving as much as possible for the next couple of years.

I did some sums yesterday and I reckon I should be able to save £13k this year, provided I don't go on holiday (again ) and don't have any major disasters like my car service last year. I won't change my target on the Save £12k challenge yet in case I'm really far off but I might update it later in the year if I think I'll hit my current target of £12k. It will be a slow start as I'm using January to pay for December (oops), but from February onwards - if I'm really good - it'll be smooth sailing. Fingers crossed!

In other news, with my regular savers about to mature I decided to open a BOS Vantage account yesterday, which was instant since I'm already with Halifax. So when my accounts mature, I'll have somewhere for £5k and the remainder can sit in my Tesco accounts (one is my emergency fund and the other is my "annual expenses" account) until April when I open a LISA.

I still need to work out if I can contribute both to a HtB ISA and a LISA during the first year, before I merge them. Hopefully this will be clearer once the LISA becomes available...

I'm back! Last weekend was the gig, so a trip out to London, and I was knackered when I came back on Sunday...

The gig was fantabulous, but I was naughty and spent quite a lot on merch... I've also been naughty this week and ordered Domino's (again!). However, I have noticed that not drinking as much has lowered my weekly shop bill by something like £20-£30 per week - hoorah! Yes, I drank a lot of wine... But I can't remember the last time I opened a bottle at home for myself, so that's progress. And less wine means fewer cigarettes - also hoorah!

My new employer pays salaries on the last working day of the month so I'm sitting here like a little child impatiently waiting for my shiny new salary. I have done a salary calculator calculation so I know what I'm expecting after the payrise, but I want to see it "in real life"!

Some quick maths reveals that I should be saving over £700 this month, which a year ago would have been HE-UGE for me, but I'm sad it's not more! It's well below what I need to average to get the house, but I am still paying off December and the gig (which I don't regret AT ALL) and I know my savings should jump up in February. Must. Be. Better. Next. Christmas.

So, plans. Have a friend's birthday today which will be messy but cheap as it's at his house and I've already bought my drinks for BYOB. Have next week off work as I'm still very tired from all the stress over Christmas of the company going under, and we're relatively quiet so I thought why not. I need to be good in the week off and not spend money because I'm bored - from February onwards I want to be averaging £1k+ a month savings so really need to focus! I'm seeing a friend next week who's about to leave not just the country but Europe for good, heading for sunnier shores - that may scupper me as she wants to go out for dinner so I'll need to be a bit savvy in steering her towards a cheaper restaurant. And that's about it! Lots of cleaning, cooking and weekly shopping today, then party party _party_

(Weight wise - going down slowly slowly and I've lost about 6lbs since restarting the diet on 1 Jan)

Hi everybody

Afraid no hoovering SW, I'm so lazy! But I have done several loads of laundry including the bed which I hate doing because it's so big! It's my one true luxury - a kingsize, memory foam mattress all for me!

I woke up yesterday with a stinking cold, which is very annoying so I'm feeling quite sorry for myself. The good news is you're supposed to feed a cold It's that level of cold where I can do things as usual, but moan and groan doing them, possibly spluttering along the way. My body doesn't seem to understand that, if it's going to get ill, it should get properly, bed-ridden ill!

Anyway, I spent yesterday at a friend's house watching excellent movies (Dirty Dancing followed by The Princess Bride) and my friend fed me lots of delicious food which was lovely, so I didn't spend anything yesterday. Today I made it to Tesco and - but for my spontaneous purchase, spent under my £60/week target. The spontaneous item was a bottle of orange juice - I tend to avoid fruit juices because they're expensive and full of sugar, but I really need the vitamins. So my shop was £60.15. I budget £70/week, so that's good That includes all sorts though, like make up (bought 2 primers today), deodorant (bought 5 today), toothpaste (bought 2 today) etc - "weekly shop" just means anything I buy in Tesco really. So yeh, proud of that

Not a lot planned for the week as I'm back at work, but next weekend I've got wedding organisation with one of my best friends who's getting married this summer, which will be lovely (and also non-spendy for me). Possibly organising a short holiday though - my friends asked if I was interested in a spontaneous trip to Amsterdam in a few weeks, to which I said yep! They're about to start trying for a baby so it's a bit of a last hurrah with them, and we're only thinking of a weekend anyway so it shouldn't be too expensive. I have money tucked away for this kind of thing, although some of that will be going on stuff for my friend's wedding this summer (presents, new dress etc).

Anyway, sorry for babbling on - I think I'm slightly delirious with this cold. I'm off to do a little reading around the forums then sort out the house - it is far too much of a tip given all the time I had off this week, and I have my landlord inspection this week!

Aww thank you SW, I will be careful. I may impose a bobobski-only zone at work to keep everybody healthy, and also to keep everyone I don't like away from me Sorry to hear yours is still dragging on though, that's pants!