Raphaels DF Diary - A Clean Page‏

x_raphael_xx

Hey all, I opened up a cash ISA today!! With Barclays, I have deposited my first £10.
Wooo hoo!!

x_raphael_xx

Woops, about time for an update I think

Been plodding on with things my end. My run is coming up soon so I'm starting to panic that I haven't done enough training! I only have 23 days left! *gulp*

I also struggled with the Virgin Marathon website, and after 24 hours of refreshing pages and resending info, managed to put my ballot in for next years London Marathon :eek: I won't find out til October if I have a place or not, but fingers crossed.

I bought myself a new MP3 player yesterday as mine had died. I got this one...



Although I got the black version, not the pink. They're great, the MP3 is actually in the earphones, so no wires or anything to carry! I love them! Great for running with

I think I'm slacking on the updates cos I don't seem to have a challenge anymore, in a way I'm kinda missing the debt repayments! I think I need something to aim for.

So I've decided to start a couple of savings challenges.

Wedding/Honeymoon
I have £762.61 put aside already in my wedding/honeymoon fund, I have £250 to pay out at the end of May (my half for the next deposit to the hotel) I would like to have £1500 at the end of the year to put towards my honeymoon spends (includes flights etc). C's parents have said they will put £1000 towards the wedding, but we have decided to use this for the honeymoon instead, it should pay for the hotel at least

Xmas 2009
I also have a 'save the change' fund attached to my bank account, it rounds up my spends on the card to the nearest pound and puts the change into a savings account. I've decided to use this towards xmas 2009, at the moment I have £23.25 in there.
I also do a daily free scratchcard with Butlins Bingo, I can win at least 10p each scratch and when my balance reaches £10 (the min withdraw) I put this in here too.

ISA
I've now opened my first ever ISA, this was what all the struggle to pay off my debts was for...savings for my future
I've requested monthly statements instead of yearly, and hopefully I can start trickling money into it. I won't be able to make big payments this year, due to saving for the wedding, but I want to put at least £10 a month away.

So...start the challenges

x_raphael_xx

Got my race number for the half marathon today! I've got a chip to lace into my trainers too, so I can get an accurate time for my run.
Just 23 days to go now :eek:

x_raphael_xx

Did a boot sale today, was very cold but stuck with it and made a profit of £11.25 we managed to sneak away before the steward came round to collect the entry fee so I got too keep all of it too C made about £1.50 so she isn't too happy :rotfl:

We're off to a jazz concert later, then having a roast yummy

x_raphael_xx

C had a halfday at work yesterday, so we went to make a final decision on the flowers before she started.
This was the third place we've been and the prices were the lowest on everything but the buttonholes. They wanted £2 per buttonhole, I asked the lady if she'd drop the price and C kept pipping up 'But we'll have to get cheaper flowers', 'she won't drop the price' and I had to tell her to shush as I was negotiating! :rotfl:
She did drop it to £1.25 each, despite C interfering, so result

As we still had time left we thought we'd take a quick look at some cakes and made a decision on that too! So a productive morning.

We are going with this cake...and having Mrs & Mrs C***** iced onto it. It's a chocolate cake so we'll be buying a fruit cutting cake, for those that want that instead. (That'll hide in the kitchen until being served )

Horace

Well done Raph - the after picture is definitely better than the before and you look younger too:D

Love the cake it looks fab...in fact it is making me feel rather hungry.

Hope you have a fab wedding too and that you have a long and happy life with Mrs C

beanielou

Cake looks fab

x_raphael_xx

Thanks both

The next thing that needs paying is the 2nd deposit to the hotel...£500 buy the end of this month. Me and C are paying half for everything so I only need to find £250. I've worked out I can get that out of my monthly budget this month, so won't need to dip into my wedding fund (infact I've added £21.08 into it )

I don't think anything else will need paying until a couple of months before the date now!!

Me and C are going halves on everything but the wedding meals, and the buttonhole flowers. She has a larger family than me so doesn't think it's fair I have to pay for her side of the family. So I'm only paying for 11 people, C has to pay for 24! (It will save me some pennies )

Horace

Enjoy your saxophone playing - I used to play because my cousin Chris taught me, you will probably see his name on your saxophone course books because he writes them as well as all the exam papers (very clever is our Chris:D).

x_raphael_xx

Well 2nd deposit paid for had to dip into my wedding fund briefly, but will pay that back in a couple of weeks. My fund is currently standing at...£662.07.

C has found a great deal for our honeymoon, 7 nights in New York, £776 each for flights and board only hotel!
The hotel is right in the middle of New York, just across from Macys! C's parents are giving us £1000 towards the honeymoon so we only need to find £276 each, plus spending money