Russell's 'New Leaf' Spend Less, Make Money, Pay off Debts Diary

minniepoos_2

Hi Rusty! I was starting to wonder what had happened to you!

Hopefully you'll get back into 'wagon life' easily - you were doing so well before so I'm sure you'll be ok.

I'm kinda off the wagon too at the moment. It's been a horrendous couple of months, but I plan to get back on very soon.

Good to see you back on here

rustysmart

Thanks Mini, think I am semi back on the wagon! Just done a quick signature update (pay day today!) and it looks better than I thought. I'm off on holiday next week which has already been paid for and spending money purchased, so in theory I only have 3 weeks of spending this pay packet - if you can see my logic!!

I seriously need to sort my credit card out - it's on 0% but it looms large at the back of my mind. In addition to this, my savings are looking rosy at the mo but actually will diminish next month as I'm buying a new (well second hand) car as a little runaround. It's been nice having one car in the family but we can't keep it up in the winter.

Thanks for the post Mini, I will try to update the diary a little more often now I know I haven't fallen out of the wagon into a ditch!!

rustysmart

Quick signature update (things are ticking over nicely!)

Also great news about my salary from September, if my calculations are correct then I stand to get £180 extra each month (new pay scale etc etc) which is great news for the money saving - I'm already planning extra savings etc!! Hopefully it all goes through ok!

rustysmart

Back from my weeks holiday in Spain and feeling refreshed and ready for more moneysaving. I've had an app on my iPhone that manages budgets for ages now but have never used it as the budgets were per calendar month. It turns out that after an update or two they now set the budget starting on a date of your choice which is great for me as I get paid on the 23rd of each month. It's proving useful already as I've taken some cash out and spent a little bit and it's really clear how much I have left until next payday. Using my excel spreadsheet to manage this was fine previously and I will continue to track outgoings on that too but I really like the 'instantness' of inputting it into my iPhone there and then. Let's see if it helps, will keep you posted!!

rustysmart

Morning everyone! A day of gardening ahead of me and tidying the house - oh what joy! At least I won't be spending any money today. Dinner tonight over a friend's house too so something nice to look forward to.

If I have time I may invest it into a little money making scheme!!

rustysmart

Im looking for a long term investment and I may just have stumbled across what I'm looking for. Halifax run a Sharebuilder account (details on MSE website) and you can buy small amounts of shares for a low price and build up a portfolio. I've signed up for some more information as I'm quite interested by it - what I like most is that for the first time I would have an account that 'can't' be touched for the long term whilst still being able to build it up. Many long term accounts need a high deposit which I don't have so this could be an interesting move!! Will keep you posted

rustysmart

Well I've done it, taken the bold (and possibly stupid) move into the share dealing world! I've opened a Halifax ShareBuilder account and set aside a regular investment of £22 a month. I know that seems a random amount but £20 is the min. and there is a £1.50 commission charge on each deal so I thought £22 seemed logical. I will regularly invest this amount amount every month and choose which shares to buy on a set date. Coincidently, the next share buying set date is tomorrow so I have chosen my shares ready to be purchased - these are then bought for me. I'm not expecting the money to come rolling in and I know I can lose money too - but I thought it was a good way of putting a little away each month that in a year or two time I could see an increase greater than a savings account. Here goes!!

rustysmart

Oh, and on a boring note I've just purchased my car insurance for my new car - £60 saving compared to previous insurer and £30 Quidco too!

rustysmart

Not much to report today - couple of book sales this week has seen a nice little income, but nothing that is going to break the bank.

It's a couple weeks until payday yet, but I'm liking the use of my budge app on my iPhone to help me keep track of what I have left (iXpenselt lite) - whilst it hasn't necessarily changed my spending habits, it has certainly made me more aware of them.

My share purchase went through ok yesterday so for the first time in my life I now own shares, all be it 26 shares - not going to break the bank again on that one! I think they are up 1p each today so 26p up can't be bad, let's hope there isn't a market crash tomorrow!!

rustysmart

Loving the feeling of being back on the moneysaving wagon. I have just over £100 to last me two weeks (pay day) and feel there is no reason to even dip into my overdraft this month. Got a few things planned, but shouldn't need to go overdrawn to cover them. This takes in to account I've bought the new car insurance and I'm paying for the car at the end of the month.

Have a great weekend moneysavers!