Squirrel's Smiley, Smart and Solvent Diary

redsquirrel80

Karmacat wrote: »

Lots of good news! Apart from missing the parks .... I'm not surprised going through your flat was emotional, especially with doing it in one day. Does it feel good to have done it tho?

It does, very therapeutic. It was actually good to think "I only have today to get it done", couldn't waste time reading things or looking at photos.

We can still get to the parks, it's just an extra half hour walk to reach them. And obviously we can eventually save up for a house with a bigger garden in a nicer area

I feel a lot more relaxed today - sorting the flat helped, and getting some nasty bits of work out of the way.. had a very productive day work-wise and a good team meeting this morning (with fizzy sweets).

redsquirrel80

Also.. I am really looking forward to the next few weeks..

This week - moving house! Hopefully all finished by the end of the weekend. Lunch with my mentor at work tomorrow (aka talk about gardening and hillwalking).

Next week - nothing major at work but can hopefully get stuck into some long term projects. Finishing my first Philosophy assignment.

Week after that - my mum is visiting for a few days, a few days off work and some quality time A course that I've been looking forward to at work.

Week after that one - another course at work - a challenging one on "Dealing with Difficult Situations" but could be very useful.

And the week after that - formal "Welcome to the University" event for new(ish) staff, an award ceremony for our top students that I have to attend, and an award ceremony for second job to get certificate for the above qualification (both in the same day.. like going to the Oscars and the BAFTAs one after the other! Well, almost!)

Then I might think about having a holiday!

Funny bunch of things to look forward to, but there you go

Karmacat

That sounds great! And lol at the fizzy sweets ....

beanielou

All sounding good Squizz.

redsquirrel80

Just put this on MG's thread but it's quite significant (to me) so here's a lazy copy and paste..

--

Two things I have been doing lately are picking up on my Philosophy studies, and getting some experience of mentoring and training/ teaching. I'd really love to combine the two - one of the things I've been doing is a bit of online teaching, and my ideal would be to teach something like A level Philosophy online (I have long term plans which I rambled about in my diary a while ago to spend at least part of my time working from home). Anyway, I've been struggling to think how to get any experience of the two together. Yesterday, I had a message from someone on a music forum which I used to use frequently, but have drifted away from - I mentioned something about Philosophy on there ages ago, and he'd found it while searching for something else. This guy is in the US, 19 years old and studying Philosophy in college. He'd had a few ideas that he thought I'd be able to help him expand on, going by some things I'd posted (amusingly he thought I was a professor, so I had to put him right there :rotfl:)... so, a few emails later, we've agreed that he can bounce ideas off me - he's sending me his preliminary ideas for an essay and I'm asking him questions about them, giving him ideas for further reading etc- he happens to have picked up on an area that I know a fair amount about!

I really can't believe that this has come along just as I was looking for this sort of experience.
--

In other news - got some stuff moved to the house last night, it's all dumped in the attic room at the moment. Woke up with a sore throat and headache this morning but refusing to have any sort of lurgy - I don't have time!

Karmacat

That sounds fascinating! My god, what's happening to us all The Law Of Attraction seems to be true!

redsquirrel80

Morning.. tiiiiired! I have moved house! Well I have moved most things, and unpacked most of them too, just have to go back sometime this week to clean and pick up the last few bits. It wasn't too bad as house moves go - although it rained quite a bit on Saturday which was a bit of a pain. We both got a bit grumpy yesterday as well, over silly things like deciding where to put stuff.

Had a nice walk in some woods yesterday morning though - trying out our new walking boots

And ate lots of bargain food over the weekend - Waitrose on Friday night had chickens reduced to £1.50, Italian ham down from £1.99 to 59p...

Got a long weekend coming up - off Monday and Tuesday as my mum is visiting - can't wait for the time off!

redsquirrel80

Ooh and it's payday on Friday - just set up a standing order payment in advance to clear the rest of my overdraft! :j

redsquirrel80

SOA for November - still don't know how much rent!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1236
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 160
Total monthly income.................... 1396
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 15

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................0.........342.......0
AK.............................0.........40........0
CQ1............................0.........50........0
CQ2............................0.........30........0
Total unsecured debts..........0.........462.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,396
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 15
Available for debt repayments........... 1,381
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 462
Amount left after debt repayments....... 919
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 0
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Debt will be down to £7412.38 with those payments. I then need to work out what to up my payments to for the last couple of months of the year - should be no problem to get below £7k.

Obviously I won't really have over £900 spare, but I should have a healthy amount!

Karmacat

I bet the walk did you good - and a visit from your mum to come ....