*my Diary* - Omg!

Olderbutnotwiser

Excuse me Nats but it is Friday and I expect an update:p

natsplatnat

Sorry OB - wasn't still trying to recover from the shock of being called a nerd..... Honest!

Ok - so we'll start with NYC!!! Have decided to use a bidding site to get a decent hotel in NYC! Looking at getting a pucker hotel for about half the advertised rate! Not booking anything yet though as my friend and I are a little short of pennies until the end of March, but that still gives me plenty of time to get it all booked.

Ok, moneywise...... It is PAYDAY!!! :j Have updated my signature to show my account balances as of today. I will not be sending any extra money over to Egg Loan or HSBC OD this week. Although my A&L account looks quite healthy, I have more than my wages going out next week and I still have b'days and Valentines (huge commercial con) to fund. But as soon as I can see what I have left, I will send more money over.

I have managed to bring lunch from home every day this week - more money saving!!!

Oh and my dah-ling OH owes me £30.28 from last Sunday when he bought bits and pieces for DSS (school uniform etc). I must get that back of him!!

Last bit of news really is that we are changing from BT to Virgin for our TV, broadband and phoneline! Via Q.co we will be getting £65 cashback and on the dea with Virgin we only pay £3.45 for the first 2 months. This does then go up to £36.50 a month - which I know sounds a lot. But..... we usually pay over £40.00/month to BT as we only get free weekend calls and our broadband speed has dropped right off. Broadband speed with cable is much quicker and we have free evening and weekend calls, so if the bill comes in any higher - there will be hell to pay! Oh and we "just had to have" the V+ HD box which has cost a one fee of £75 - but this cost will be offset agains the 2 x cheaper months and the Q.co money - so we will still be 'up'! Apparently we 'needed' the HD box to get the best of the HD channels we get! *where has the rolling eyes smiley gone?*

So, that is pretty much it from me for now. Anyone with any suggestions (I think you know who you are :cool:) for hotels in NYC please share them!!

Hope you are all well? Its the weekend tomorrow and I am off work!!! YAY - but BOO as have to go and buy OH's b'day present!

Laters!!! Nats x

smarties84

I hope you have better look with Virgin broadband than we do, cannot wait to move LOL

natsplatnat

Hi All!

Well, I am having one of those days whereby I would quite willingly return to the days of ostrich syndrome and not give a stuff about debt. I could quite easily go on a lovely big shopping spree and book a plush hotel in NYC for my trip in May.

It just seems to be one step forward, about 9 sideways and then one back - so whilst my situation is not getting any worse as such, its just not moving as fast as I would like (I am not known for my patience).

Just little things that are my own stupid fault that seem to be bugging me...

Waiting for Q.co to pay out
Have just changed to Virgin using Q.co and was pleased with the £65 cash back - only to see today that they are now offering £120.
I keep forgetting to budget for things like birthdays
Remembered last night that my car is due for service at some point in the next 2 months
Have spent far too much on my old HSBC OD (really must put this at £0 next time it is cleared!)
My OH is truely *insert any word here that you think may fit* with money and always runs out before the end of the month and I end up subbing all the food shopping etc.
My OH increasing the shopping spend due to stupid things that only he eats or he buys as a treat for DSS that I pay for (THIS WILL BE STOPPING!!!)
And so on and so on and so on!

I'm not expecting ideas from you guys on what I need to do (thank you anyway!).... I know what I need to do - just today I really cannot be fudged!

I am off now to eat my sandwiches that I brought in from home and take a quick stroll around outside with a cigarette before it rains!

Olderbutnotwiser

Come on honey, come back and confess all
Reading your journey keeps me motivated...I need all the help I can get xxx

natsplatnat

RIGHT! It's Monday, the sun is shining and I need a plan!

In my absence, I have actually been quite good..... although it was a case of I had no choice - I had no money!

Looking back at my spreadsheet I can see exactly where I went wrong... I had overpaid my Egg Loan and cleared my HSBC OD (again) in January, which meant that in February things were a little tight and I had not budgetted for my OH's b'day, my Mum's b'day, my Step-dads b'day or valentines - oh, and a meal out we had agreed to with a group of friends.

So now I am on a mega-budget and trying to get back to a state where I am managing my finances instead of them totally controlling me! I have £11 in my purse and a maximum of £25 that I can spend from my account to last until Friday. I need diesel in the next couple of days (£10), cigarettes (2 packs, total £11.00) - so that leaves me about £15 for anything else I/we might need for the week. Its going to be tight - but I can do it.... I have before (just hoped these kind of weeks were behind me!)

I did a little income and expenditure excercise (during my absence) and my finds were surprising.

• 4 payday months (4 x Fridays) - if I stick to withdrawing and spending £60 per week (fuel, food, all extra spends) I will have somewhere in the region of £23 spare per week!
• 5 payday months (5 x Fridays) - if I stick to withdrawing and spending £60 per week, I will have (something like) £70 spare per week.

So I now have no reason not to budget for birthdays and extras - the things that see to tip me over the edge. As from this Friday (when things look a tad rosier!) I will aim to put £10 a week into my A&L savings account (that has never been used to date) and use this to have a 'little stash' to offset against bits and pieces. This will leave me with approx £40 spare for a short month and £300 for a longer month. This should be enough to overpay some debts!!

I am still waiting for Q.co to pay out - that should be about £85 or so when it finally does.

So its going to be a l-o-n-g week for me. On the upside, the house will be nice and tidy as I tend to busy myself with cleaning if I can't go out... and I may just get some bits on ebay this week! All helps.

So, on the whole I know what I need to do and I am hoping that my *new plan* will be a good one. Every time I formulate a plan, I always seem to have missed out a tiny (but very crucial) detail that ends up costing me at some point in the future.

Oh, did I mention that on top of all this, I still need to 'acquire' money for my trip to the States that happens in about 7 weeks time!! On the upside, it is my biggish birthday at the end of the month and I am hoping for pennies!!! (fingers crossed!)

Right, so that is about it from me for now! I will be back on Friday if not before - just to cement my plan!

I'm off for a browse though your diaries - it looks as though some people have been as lax on the writing front as me!!!

Nats x

natsplatnat

Hi again! (it really is all or nothing with me isn't it?! lol)

Well, I have just updated my signature to take into consideration todays Egg Loan payment £241.94 and that has bought my total paid to Egg Loan up to £756.37! But more exicitingly, net months payment will bring the amount paid to £988.31 - So I will pay a minimum of £1.69 extra to bring my paid total to £1000.00!!!!

TTFN, Nats x

angie_baby

Nats back!!!

natsplatnat

ANGIE!!!!!! And where have you been - am I missing a new diary?? How have you been? x

Lemon_Tree

welcome back Nat, hate to say it but you need to check your maths, either that or you've miss typed something 1000 less 988.31 isn't 1.69 lol