My Oz Diary

marc.faulkner

Hi Guys,

Long time, no see!

For those that don't remember me, you can find my original diary thread here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=626855&page=15 .

It's hard to believe that it's almost a year since I discovered MSE, and whilst I've not been posting much, I've been addicted since! It's become a routine now; I get into work, turn my PC on and log straight onto here to read a few diary threads and check out a few special offers!

I've managed to turn my life around since I first stumbled across this site, behind me are the days of living in a scruffy bedsit and borrowing money every month to pay my rent. I'm now in a decent, well paid job and live in a nice house in a quiet little Yorkshire village - and a lot of this I owe to the great folk on here who helped me through the difficult times.

It's now time for me to embark on the next great adventure in my life, and I'd very much like you all to share it with me and also to help me realise it!!

I've made the decision that I am going to emmigrate to Australia to work and live, but in order to have a decent start over there I need to save a fairly substantial amount of money to take with me. I'm setting myself the target of £10k, and I'd like to save this by 2010 (although I'm yet to even start the process, so my Visa may well take longer than this!).


I'm going to try and maintain this thread as a dairy of my money saving exploits, with a running total.

Wish me luck, it's a mammoth target!!!

Cheers,

Marc

halight

Hi mate
Good luck with your savings!!!!!
Keep us upto date on how you get on.
Ill stop by your thred from time to time

All the best mate

looktothefuture

Good luck! I envy you to bits!

notanothergreyhair

Yay...great to have you back buddy. Good luck with it all, you can do it.

mummum2

Good luck in realising your dream! you can do it!

Horace

Oooh, I am so jealous I love Oz.

Good luck with the moneysaving - if you are determined you'll do it.

marc.faulkner

Thanks guys.

hypno06

Hey marc! Good to see that you have stuck around and that such a change has happened!

I am sure you will reach your target before you know it - and if your visa takes a while, you will have chance to save even more!

MrsPorridge

Just wanted to say good luck. So glad that MSE has made such a difference to your life. I only "joined" 3 months ago and it has already had a big impact on my life! Maybe in a few years I'll be saving for such a fantastic opportunity.

I look forward to reading about your progress.

marc.faulkner

My first challenge to myself is to cut out canteen spending at work, as I've fallen into this bad habit again - and whilst I can afford it now, I know that the money could be put to much better use in my Oz fund.

On a typical day (yesterday, for example) I sepnt the following in work;

£2.10 breakfast sandwich
£0.40 mug of coffee (I cut down to this from the £0.70 latte's )
£0.50 can of coke
£2.40 Pasta Salad
£0.50 can of coke
£0.40 mug of coffee
£0.40 mug of coffee

Total - £6.20 :eek:

This is absolutely ridiculous, and has to STOP. It's no use just cutting down, as it will gradually creep up again, so it's cold turkey from now on... For everyday that I manage not to spend in work I will put £4 into my savings account (Which allows some additional money for grocerys to make lunch etc.)

As I haven't really got a chance to prepare, tommor's lunch will be a tin of soup and a chunk of bread, but as Friday is payday I will be able to plan the months finances properly and organise meal plans. I'll also be taking a jar of coffee and a carton of UHT from my store cupboard into work tomorrow, as I must be spending at least £4 per week on coffee's alone!

BCobsessed

Hi Marc

I look forward to seeing you down in OZ. We are in Qld and the weather is stunning. MSE is a brilliant site and i am so glad i found it. We cant do many of the things you can do but i am making an effort in terms of NSD's and trying to cut our grocery bills.