*my Diary* - Omg!

natsplatnat

....... Yes, well........

Lets start with the pleasantries. Good morning all and I hope you are all ok? The weather here is a little on the miserable side, but yet again we missed the snow this week!

Ok, so I have had to change my signature!:o The A&L balance is as my account stands today and nothing else is due out of there until I get paid tomorrow (Wages - why is my pay £1.50 less than usual this week?) But I have changed my HSBC OD as well! :rolleyes:

I am off to America in May to visit my bestest friend who is working out there for a year. So my new HSBC balance is the cost of my flights! Now usually I would be :eek: but I have spent several days researching the best and cheapest way to book them.... and then last night I stumbled across my Nectar card (where I have never redeemed any points) and discovered that through Expedia I can get money off my tickets! (And the flights were the same price all over as the cheapest was with Virgin and they already have their sale on!)

The flights would have been £324.17 and with my 12,000 points I saved £60.00, bringing the flights down to £264.17!!!!:rolleyes: (10 day return!)

Ok, so still £264.17 that I need to pay into my HSBC to clear ASAP, but kind of pleased with myself too!:D

Will update on USA plans later (will be staying with friend most of the time, so aiming to minimise expenditure) - oh, and I get free travel insurance with my A&L account!

Laters, Nats x

ElizabethJH

Exciting and a bargain flight price! I think that little things like that should be allowed, we've got to live not just survive!! I'm sure that you can budget and keep the costs down when you're over there as well anyhow - especially staying with a friend! Where in US are you headed?

natsplatnat

Hi!

I do feel a bit guilty in going over there with my current financial situation - but hoping that by realising that I want to fund as much of it as I can without credit I am going to have to budget and tuck money away (and its only about 3 months!) I do have the bonus of my (ah-hem 30th b'day) before I go, so will tuck away any money I get for that so its should help!

I am flying in and out of Boston, spending most of my time in New Hampshire and a weekend in New York!!!

Just need to be really strict with myself bewteen now and then and then I can relax any enjoy myself out there. (anyone got any hot tips on getting a flight upgrade upon checking-in?)

ps, didn't buy any boots in the Office sale - so am rationalising my America trip as a well done treat! lol

natsplatnat

Hello All!

Well its Friday - and therefore payday again for me! I am at a little loss to workout how my wages are £1.50 less than usual this week. No-one can shed any light on it at all!

So far today, I have paid......

£50.00 to my HSBC OD bringing new balance (for the flights) £214.17

£4.81 to my Egg Loan - which rounds my A&L account down to a nice £100.00

I do want to keep little bits moving over to my Egg loan even though I am on a mission to get money together for America. I have done a little bit of OT this week too (all of about an hour!!:rotfl:). But as they say, every little helps!

And that is about it really!

I hope you are all well?

Nats x

natsplatnat

Well, its Friday again! YAY! PAYDAY! (I am sure the novelty of payday will never wear off!)

I have updated my signature. My A&L balance is as it is now after I have paid £8.07 to my Egg Loan (not a lot but better than nothing) and once I have had a chance to sit and look through my spreadsheet, I will pay some more to HSBC (to pay of flights!).

Have managed to bring lunch from home for 15 working days now (or have had enough surplus food at work so haven't bought lunch!) - I reckon that alone has save about £30.

I have been looking at accomodation in New York - we are going there for 3 nights whilst I am out there! OMG!! It is soooo expensive. I found a forum on here last night dedicated to NYC, so am working my way through that. My friend is perfectly happy to stay in a hostel..... but I am a bit of a snob I'm afraid! So now I am on a mission to find somewhere reasonable (private bathroom essential!) for as little as poss! It is a minefield though!!

February is not a great month for me moneywise - I have OH b'day, Valentines, Mums b'day, and step-dads b'day. Gonna have to get my thinking cap on!

Anyway, I had better go and do some work!

natsplatnat

HI!!!

Right, have looked through my spreadsheet (have I mentioned that I love it?) and have paid £20.00 to my HSBC OD and duly updated my signature. This is a cautious amount as I need to ensure there is money left in my A&L account to pay for b'days and Valentines as mentioned above. Once these are out the way then thats me clear of major extra expenditure for a while and I can channel all spare cash to HSBC OD.

WOW! Have just added up how much I have overpaid this month (this is extra to Egg Loan and HSBC OD). £175.86 Am pretty chuffed with this (although it would be better if had all gone to my Egg Loan). If I could do this every month then I would be making the equivalent of over an extra 6 months of payments to Egg Loan this year! (I doubt this will actually happen, but its a nice thought! )

Got my 1st statement from my Santander card (0%) last night, and thats going to cost me £10.69 (give or take) each month. Just waiting to see what affect moving that money from my Abbey card will have on my monthly repayments there.

So, thats pretty much it from me. I am in work tomorrow and I haven't clocked up any OT this week - but lifes not bad on the whole!

Take care everyone, Nats :beer:

Intergalactic_Floozie

Oh I didn't realise you had got a 0% card - nice one!

It feels good doesn't it, chipping away.

Olderbutnotwiser

EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRMMMMMMM

Just wanted to say NERD!!

Could help with NYC Hotels, will when I'm not in a rush xxx

natsplatnat

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

Oh I didn't realise you had got a 0% card - nice one!

It feels good doesn't it, chipping away.

Hi IF!

Yeah, I applied for the Santander Zero - and got it....but with a credit limit of ..... wait for it......£500!! :rotfl::T So I transfered £475 onto it (max allowed) from my Egg Card, couldn't do it from my Abbey card (with the horrendous APR) as part of the same group!

Chipping away is the only way I can go! But, everything is better than nothing!

natsplatnat

Olderbutnotwiser wrote: »

EEEEEEEEERRRRRRRMMMMMMM

Just wanted to say NERD!!

Could help with NYC Hotels, will when I'm not in a rush xxx

OB!!! :eek: I kinda object to your use of the word 'nerd'! I would like to know your grounds for using it!

All help with NYC hotels would be received with great big smiles and welcome arms! I found a lovely hotel yesterday (thought I would try some of the boutique hotel sites!). Just glad I was sitting down when the price came back...................$15,000 for 3 nights (for 2 people!) Needless to say, unless I have won the Eurosquillions, I won't be staying there!

How was your trip to the states? Many magheritas make it your way? x