Ruby's "Stop Spending, Start Saving" Diary

EssexHebridean

I work 15 minutes from Lakeside - thankfully I manage to resist the temptation to go there too often! Hope you enjoy your christmas party!

ruby_eskimo

Hehe what a small world it is!

I did enjoy the Christmas Party, turned into a hectic mess though in the end. Le Boyfriend and I decided not to stay over at the warehouse where it was, cue much running for last tube trains and normal trains and eventually getting in at half 2 this morning! Feeling a bit coldy but have to go to work again tonight! Have the next couple of days of though so it's all good. Got to do some uni work over the next couple of days.

As far as DFW things go, I got all free drinks last night (helps when you're friends with the host) and I used my Oyster card a lot to get cheap travel. Put £2.20 in my sealed pot but will be adding a lot more to it when I've found all the change left over in the bottom of my bag from the last couple of days.

Got to get ready for work now. Hope you are all having a great weekend!

ruby_eskimo

So I got a lift home from work this morning and the bus fare I saved has gone in the sealed pot!

After a really nice sleep I woke up to carnage in my uni email inbox. Consequently I now have to make an extra trip into London tomorrow to the library to try and get all the work done before wednesday! So that will be most of my weekly spend gone in one swoop! Oh well I'm sure I can sort something out!

ruby_eskimo

So I decided to try to get into uni today and realised that I left my student card at home just as I pulled into Oxford Circus. So in order to salvage the trip I decided to do a little bit more christmas shopping. Which I did. And then I went to Primark and was very very bad. *hangs head in shame*

zigmeister

Hey Ruby!

What did you buy in Primark?!

Sounds like you're doing really well so keep it up! *subscribes*

ruby_eskimo

Well I spent £60 (bad, bad Ruby!) and got a lot of nice things: a few pairs of tights (because I love theirs, they last ages and wash really well), a plummy top with silver beads and sequins at the neckline (which I have had a LOT of compliments about), a navy skirt with grey and beige bands on it, pair of grey vintage-y shoes to go with it, navy dress with little flowers and dots on it and a black satin one shoulder top that for some reason was reduced to £5 even though all the others were the full £14 price!

Since it's Christmas I have been on a mad dash buying presents and plus the spend mentionned above, I am now back into my overdraft *sigh* by about £400! I get paid on the 23rd and I'm going to wait till then to get the one final present I have to get and then that will be it. I'm not worrying too much about the overdraft, it's interest free and I don't have to pay it off till June. If I stick to my budget that I have drawn up I should be ok.

I joined Bingo Britain today and so that's about £150 coming my way with all the bonus money mounting up so that will be very much appreciated. Plus in the new year I am going to go through all my things and try to sell those that I don't need or use.

Oh and another thing, Natwest online banking now have the ability to set yourself savings goals and it tells you how much money you need to save each month to hit your target. Pretty good idea if you ask me. I have already set one up for the £10,000 I hope to have saved by August 2011 which will probably go towards a house deposit (not a wedding like my friends thought hehe).

ruby_eskimo

Last night was the work Christmas party where I drank a lot but surprisingly feel very good this morning. On the late shift at work so I'm sure there will be lots of gossiping going on!

As far as the money goes, £8.30 has gone into the sealed pot, won 10p on the scratchies and I get paid on wednesday! My aunt gave me a £30 cheque yesterday as a Christmas present so straight into the virtual sealed pot it goes!

ruby_eskimo

Well I've updated the sig to reflect the numerous challenges I'm taking part in now. The virtual sealed pot has now morphed into the House fund. Basically I've set myself the goal of saving £10,000 by August 2011 (when I finish my Masters). At that point myself and The Boyfriend will be looking for our first place together and it's a start on the deposit front.

We're trying to get the house ready for Christmas (don't even have any decorations up yet!) Because we've had problems with the electricity etc the house is a total mess. So I'm off to clean to bombsite that is my room and then put up my decorations!

InaPickle

Hi Ruby - I finally got round to reading the rest of your diary, and interesting reading it was, too! You really do have some well-defined goals for yourself, and I hope that they all come together well. It's nice to see that you can earn while you learn as well: in some ways it's more stressful, but it makes the financial side of things much easier. Best of luck, and I look forward to seeing what else you have to say. x

ruby_eskimo

Thanks Pickle! I'm one of those people that have to have things set out clearly otherewise I'll not get anywhere!