Ruby's "Stop Spending, Start Saving" Diary

ruby_eskimo

Hehe thanks Pickle! Does anyone else other than you actually read this thing?

Anywho, the christening went well, didn't get broody at all! I used to say I would never have kids but I'm starting to come round to the idea!

Got an email response from Lush saying that the manager was going to talk to all the staff today and that they will send me some free goodies. Their customer service is really good! But I'm not buying from that store any more. Will just be satisfying my cravings when I go back to uni and have all the london stores to go to!

As far as MSE things go, I have a lot of overtime booked for the coming week. It works out at over £300 extra to go into the car fund. I can't decide if I want to save and save and buy a car outright or get a loan/car finance? I also want to save for a Macbook Pro as a graduation treat for when I finish my masters. My laptop will be about 5 years old by then and to be honest it's starting to slow down a lot already. Plus by then I will be looking to do my Phd and will definitely need a reliable computer to work on (and Dell aren't the most reliable in my book!)

InaPickle

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

Hehe thanks Pickle! Does anyone else other than you actually read this thing?

I'm starting to think the same about my diary! :rotfl:I guess us with small amounts of debt are less attractive than the people with big debts to bust.

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

Got an email response from Lush saying that the manager was going to talk to all the staff today and that they will send me some free goodies. Their customer service is really good! But I'm not buying from that store any more. Will just be satisfying my cravings when I go back to uni and have all the london stores to go to!)

That's good. I hope they do talk to the staff. And if you have to go to London every time you want some Lush, you might use a bit less!

ruby_eskimo wrote: »

As far as MSE things go, I have a lot of overtime booked for the coming week. It works out at over £300 extra to go into the car fund. I can't decide if I want to save and save and buy a car outright or get a loan/car finance? I also want to save for a Macbook Pro as a graduation treat for when I finish my masters. My laptop will be about 5 years old by then and to be honest it's starting to slow down a lot already. Plus by then I will be looking to do my Phd and will definitely need a reliable computer to work on (and Dell aren't the most reliable in my book!)

Hmm...well, avoiding loans is generally a good idea, unless necessary. Think of all the interest you will pay! Could you realistically save up enough for whatever kind of car you want? It sounds like a good idea, to me. Then you can get to grips with your trendy Mac. (You geek! )

madhatter90

Hi, Ruby_eskimo. Really enjoyed reading your diary there, I admire your ethic towards saving versus loans! Keep up the good work!

ruby_eskimo

So I haven't been around much but life is being really crap at the moment. Work is awful, we are so short staffed and things are being made worse by all the new initiatives that are being brought in. On an even worse note, my Masters has been cancelled by my university. Basically I am the only returning student this year (the others dropped out) and they didn't have enough interest for a new intake. So now I have to be privately tutored by my "Course" leader for an entire year. I'm really not looking forward to it. It means that work will have to be a bit more flexible so I can make these sessions but I'm not sure it will work out like that.

On a better note, the driving is going well. After 10 hours of lessons, I am comfortable driving, even went on the dual carriageway yesterday (and did 65 mph!) I just need to learn the manoeuvres now and get a little more confident in my decisions.

With all the rubbish happening at the moment I am rewarding myself with retail therapy which is not doing my bank account very well. I am doing some overtime this week to get me through to the end of the month. But the savings are still there, I'm just not being able to add to them! Hopefully if I get back into this I will be able to stick to my budget next month. I've got to start saving for my holiday at Christmas!

InaPickle

Geez Ruby, that sounds awful!

I can sympathise on the short-staffedness front: at work loads of out temp summer staff have left, leaving us a bit up the creek.

As for the Masters...that's really, really, really pants. The only good thing I can say is that the quality of your tuition will be AMAZING given that it's one-to-one, however the chances of turning up to class unprepared are zilch!

Well done on the driving, and I hope that everything else pans out for you. x

ruby_eskimo

So yet another long break from the forum and what have I been up to....

Nothing much really!

Work is still its amazingly boring/stressful self. However I know things could be worse so I am sticking with it.

Driving is going well, booking my theory test today!

Uni is well...strange. I have been tagged onto a module from another course which is ok, but I feel like I'm wasting my time with it. I have so much other stuff to think about that I can't be bothered! I feel like I'm reallt disorganised at the mo.

Been away for the weekend, stayed with my best friend from uni and her boyfriend. Made me really want to move in with my BF but we will have to wait another year till I've finished the masters and have a bit of money behind me.

Saving is going ok, I'm on track for the house deposit according to Shatwest's savings tracker. Just need to put more effort into saving for the car and laptop now!

Hope everyone is doing well!

EssexHebridean

Hi Ruby - glad to hear you're hanging on in there!

Re the savings, have you analysed your current spending on "random stuff" and then fed a few items into Martin's "disincentivisor" thing - you know, the thing where you input that cup of coffee and a muffin each morning, and it tells you that by cutting it out you'll be able to afford a 2 up 2 down cottage in the Cotswolds, or something like that anyway! Might give you that extra focus when it comes to those "I'll just treat myself..." moments.

Sounds like you need to talk to your Tutor about the uni thing? Hard enough doing a course like that while working as well, you really don't need to feel uncertain about what you're working on as well!

ruby_eskimo

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Hi Ruby - glad to hear you're hanging on in there!

Re the savings, have you analysed your current spending on "random stuff" and then fed a few items into Martin's "disincentivisor" thing - you know, the thing where you input that cup of coffee and a muffin each morning, and it tells you that by cutting it out you'll be able to afford a 2 up 2 down cottage in the Cotswolds, or something like that anyway! Might give you that extra focus when it comes to those "I'll just treat myself..." moments.

Sounds like you need to talk to your Tutor about the uni thing? Hard enough doing a course like that while working as well, you really don't need to feel uncertain about what you're working on as well!

Funny you should say that about the demotivator...I did just that this morning! I really am trying to cut back and will be limiting myself to £20 a week again on my spending. The real problem i have is evilvbay! I mean yes sometimes it helps when I can get something a lot cheaper than retail, then I am happy, but its rubbish for all those "I'll just treat myself" moments because I never see the actual cash I'm spending. I need to close my account I think!

I have a meeting with my tutor today (well i think I do, she sent me an email not 10 mins ago and said "we can discuss this further when I see you tomorrow"...should I email her back and say didn't she mean today?) It's getting rather difficult when I'm in a lecture being taught one thing, I have to then tell her what I've learnt, she then takes a week to decide if I need to to know anything more on the topic and then gives me a piece of paper with an assignment on it. I am quite unsure what I am supposed to be doing this report on. AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH :mad: And I am suppsed to carry on like this for the rest of the year? The woman is dictating to me what I should be doing for my dissertation. Her idea is completely different to my own, but to be honest, her's would be a million times easier to do!

Better get back to doing some work!

ruby_eskimo

Hello there! So I'm back (once again, how many times am I going to say that!) and well not much has changed around here! Except...I have decided to sod saving for a house and focus all my energy on saving for a car. In a couple of months I will have the £4800 I need, which includes £3500 limit for the car itself and £1300 for insurance and tax. Then after that I can concentrate on saving for a house knowing that I don't have finance to worry about or insurance payments for an entire year! Kind of takes a whole load off my mind because I've been worried about juggling car payments while still saving for a house and thought that I can really only focus on one thing at a time!

The only debt I have hanging over my head is my pesky student loan, which isn't decreasing all that much to be honest. Oh well, at least it's a positive debt that I can't really do anything about, just got to keep a track on how much they are taking each month!

On a different note I'm going to Prague next week! Been out spending a little bit too much on warm clothes but it will worth it!

Hope everyone is keeping well and I hope to keep this updated more regularly!

InaPickle

Hello Miss Eskimo!

Firstly, what an appropriate name for this weather. Secondly, I think that's a wise decision: what's the point in earning interest on a loan when you have the money sat in the bank? Thirdly, figure out what it costs you to run your car this year (tax + MOT + service + insurance), divide it by 12 and save that amount per month in a seperate bank account to make sure that you don't end up in a horrible mess when it comes to renewing any of the above (can act as a secondary emergency fund if absolutely necessary as well).

All the best. You seem to be doing very well. How's the Masters going?