Ruby's "Stop Spending, Start Saving" Diary

ruby_eskimo

Well I'm all set up with the co-op now, internet banking the lot! Really pleased with the customer service so far. Just have to wait till I get paid in 9 days to switch that over to them.

Had to bail out the boyfriend at the weekend; he went to get his new season tickets for work and the guy !!!!!!ed up the dates and said it would take a couple of days to refund the money back into his account when he had already charged him (if that makes sense). So I am £221 overdrawn now but I'm not being charged for it. Just got to wait for the BF to pay it back to me once it's back in his account.

Work have !!!!!!ed up my rota too. I work 3 long days at work which equals 40.5 hours (obviously over my 37.5 contracted hours). So we do 3 night shifts a month to even it all out to 150 hours a month. Only I haven't done a night shift for 3 months now. So I was "overpaid" and owed hours by work to make my pay even. I also need to make the night shifts up as well. I was supposed to be doing 2 weeks of nights next month but they've only given me one week. To be honest it's getting so confusing now I have no idea what's going on. All I know is that my pay has reduced dramatically since I haven't been doing nights (all those little extras you get for unsocial hours really do make a difference!) I'm about £100 a month down which is a lot really that I could be saving! Spoke to one of the ward sisters yesterday and she was going to speak to the charge nurse who did next months rota to see if he can sort it. The annoying thing is that I spoke to him as he was doing the rota about it to start with and he made a note that I needed 2 weeks of nights! I really don't want to have to do 3 weeks of nights now next month!

InaPickle

Grr! :mad: My work are messing me around at the minute, so I totally sympathise! :mad: :mad: I hope it gets sorted: can you talk to Rota Guy to see if things can get changed?

ruby_eskimo

We're working opposite shifts at the moment so I have to rely on other people reminding him I have left a note for him in the office. Hopefully it will be sorted by Friday!

InaPickle

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

We're working opposite shifts at the moment so I have to rely on other people reminding him I have left a note for him in the office. Hopefully it will be sorted by Friday!

Ah...nice to see efficient communication! :eek: :mad:

ruby_eskimo

Well don't you get that in every job Pickle hehe?!?

Had the day off today and so did my dad so I helped him wash the car and do a few gardening bits. Then we went to a retirement party for a teacher at my old primary school (my mum used to work there too and my dad is on the board of governers). It was quite weird seeing all my old teachers, it's been 12 years since I stepped foot in there!

Anywho, thought I would just compile a list of all the challenges I'm doing at the moment/things I'm saving for. I'm one for writing lists and like to see things written down:

- Weekly Spend challenge: £20 a week. Anything left over goes in the...
- Sealed Pot: Any extra change lying around. Also any lottery winnings from when I can be bothered to play
- Virtual Sealed Pot: This is my general savings really. Any money left over from my budget goes in here, plus overtime money (when I can get any at work) and extra pounds and pence so I can round things up! This is earmarked for a car and a new laptop
- £2 Savers: I haven't officially joined the challenge but I'm doing it anyway
- Monthly Budget: Already put this above
- House Fund: Half of my wages go in here already

So there it all is, don't think I've forgotten anything!

InaPickle

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

Had the day off today and so did my dad so I helped him wash the car and do a few gardening bits. Then we went to a retirement party for a teacher at my old primary school (my mum used to work there too and my dad is on the board of governers). It was quite weird seeing all my old teachers, it's been 12 years since I stepped foot in there!

Anywho, thought I would just compile a list of all the challenges I'm doing at the moment/things I'm saving for. I'm one for writing lists and like to see things written down:

- Weekly Spend challenge: £20 a week. Anything left over goes in the...
- Sealed Pot: Any extra change lying around. Also any lottery winnings from when I can be bothered to play
- Virtual Sealed Pot: This is my general savings really. Any money left over from my budget goes in here, plus overtime money (when I can get any at work) and extra pounds and pence so I can round things up! This is earmarked for a car and a new laptop
- £2 Savers: I haven't officially joined the challenge but I'm doing it anyway
- Monthly Budget: Already put this above
- House Fund: Half of my wages go in here already

So there it all is, don't think I've forgotten anything!

It's wierd seeing teachers reduced to mere mortals years later, isn't it?!

Do you count the £20 as part of 'going to the pub' money or is that in a seperate 'going out' section?

I had the day off and spent most of it running round helping mum as well...parallel days, lol.

ruby_eskimo

It was so weird going into the school, I didn't recognise it! They've had so much building work done!

The £20 includes going out money, I don't really go out much lately because all my friends are now working weird hours and trying to save for stuff. Plus the boyfriend lives so far away that it's not like I'm going out with him a lot either!

Popping to town in a bit to get supplies for work tomorrow. It's so hard to plan all your meals when you're constricted by break times and you're out of the house over 12 hours!

ruby_eskimo

ARRRGGGGGHHHH just got back from town (bumped into a friend and had a coffee back at hers) and my mum is in a right state because she's broken the TV. She says she turned it off earlier and then went to turn in back on and there is no picture, no sound. I've tried re-tuning the digital but nothings coming up and then tried an external digibox and there is picture but no sound! My dad is going to go spare when he gets in.

Speaking of the folks, I think they are having money problems but don't want to tell me about it. I don't really want to ask but I feel that if I know then I can help them out. I have a bit stashed as you can see from my sig and I really don't mind lending it to them but I wish they would tell me. I'm only basing this on the fact that my dad said he couldn't afford £20 on a water fountain for the cat (she is in the house on her own when we're all at work and keeps going through bowls of water like there's no tomorrow in this heat!) Or £25 for a new fridge from the comet online auctions, where our old one was second hand about 15 years ago! It's starting to worry me a bit because they don't want rent from me even though I've offered in the past to pay it. That's why I've started to buy my own food to take to work etc so they don't have to pay for that. I didn't mean to turn this post into a confessional thing but the odd things I have noticed are starting to worry me.

InaPickle

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

ARRRGGGGGHHHH just got back from town (bumped into a friend and had a coffee back at hers) and my mum is in a right state because she's broken the TV. She says she turned it off earlier and then went to turn in back on and there is no picture, no sound. I've tried re-tuning the digital but nothings coming up and then tried an external digibox and there is picture but no sound! My dad is going to go spare when he gets in.

Speaking of the folks, I think they are having money problems but don't want to tell me about it. I don't really want to ask but I feel that if I know then I can help them out. I have a bit stashed as you can see from my sig and I really don't mind lending it to them but I wish they would tell me. I'm only basing this on the fact that my dad said he couldn't afford £20 on a water fountain for the cat (she is in the house on her own when we're all at work and keeps going through bowls of water like there's no tomorrow in this heat!) Or £25 for a new fridge from the comet online auctions, where our old one was second hand about 15 years ago! It's starting to worry me a bit because they don't want rent from me even though I've offered in the past to pay it. That's why I've started to buy my own food to take to work etc so they don't have to pay for that. I didn't mean to turn this post into a confessional thing but the odd things I have noticed are starting to worry me.

I never meant to mention half the things I mentioned on my thread either, but I did! Hmm...it's a toughie...is there any chance that you could surruptitiously stary buying bts for the house, like the cat fountain? Are your parents the kind to partake in a frank discusison, or are they likely to play their cards close to their chest? I sympathise, but it's hard to suggest what to do. I guess al ot of it depens on how your parents would react to any attempts you might make at making their life easier.

Best of luck. x

ruby_eskimo

Well didn't really get to speak to the folks about money because they aren't the type to share really. But our boiler has just !!!!!!ed up and they needed £200 for a new one which I have paid for them. I made it clear I didn't want the money back seeing as I don't pay rent. And that's the end of that chapter!

I'm a little shaky because I just booked my first lot of driving lessons! Still can't quite believe that I am going to do this! Booked 10 hours for £180 and my first lesson is 2 hours long! Oh well. After that it works out at £19 an hour for lessons which I don't think is that bad. Watch out for a lot of driving talk after the first lesson on Wednesday next week!