Katy has got her financial incontinence pants on!

Katy83

There's a used needle on my driveway. Have phoned the council and they are sending someone round to pick it up. I'm shocked at the fact it is even there! :eek:

Katy83

I've had a proper look at my finances today and realised that for the first time since my LBM I am properly skint.

I lent my sister £100 earlier this month on the promise I would get it back. I did get £60 but that has left me £40 short. She is a student and I know she doesn't have the money and I don't begrudge giving her it but I was kind of annoyed when my mum said just to let it go. I don't think they understand that I am now budgeting down literally to the last penny and that £40 will mean that unless I save it elsewhere I am going to be £40 over my overdraft limit at the end of the month. I tried to explain but I just got a lecture about how much money I earn and how £40 isn't going to make any difference. I don't know, am I being unfair?

I've spent £260 more doing the flat up to rent out than I had originally budgeted - mainly due to the fact that I needed an energy certificate, landlord registration and some bits fixing in the boiler. So that is what is leaving me short. I've just sent off my old phone to fonebank and I'm expecting my Scottish Power refund in the next week or so.

Those should total about £300 so thankfully I'll be able to pay that £40 back to my barclays account and then I'm going to put the extra £260 back into my halifax piggybank where it came from. I was sort of hoping I could save that money elsewhere by budgeting but I think for now it needs to go back so I have a sort of "cash float" to fall back on. I might be able to re-coup some of it later in the year.

My friends who are coming up to visit later in the month, I'm going to need more than the £100 I've got left for food, petrol etc. before payday (on the 30th) for them coming. Even if it isn't a huge amount.

And I've got the worry of this unpaid leave and paying back my tax-free bike. I'm not sure how much I'll have to pay back but I am getting a bit worried I might have to pay the full cash price - £800. :eek: Although I reckon I've probably paid about £300 of that after tax already. Wish I had kept the paperwork now, it's a bit of a worry.

Think I'm going to get myself off to the gym for a shower and a quick swim. OH has still not finished putting the bath back in...apparently it will be done by the end of the week. :rolleyes:
xx

Katy83

Okay, so, have managed to make a bit more progress on the money front. My cheque from fonebank came through yesterday so that is getting paid into the bank this afternoon. £50 of that needs to go to Barclays to make up for the money I lent to my sis and the other £90 is going into the halifax account to start paying back some of the money I used for the flat. When I get my Scottish Power refund that can go back into there as well and then pretty much all but £40 will have been paid back.

One thing I have realised (and a few people on here have said this to me before) is that I am going to have to have some sort of emergency fund available. I mean, just thinking about it, if something goes wrong at the flat I am going to have to pay for it and I'll be forced into borrowing the money. So, I've decided I'll start putting £40 a month into an emergency pot. If, at the end of the year I haven't needed it I'll put half of the money into the debt and keep going from there.

Still haven't got a start date for my new job yet so I can't work out when I'll be taking unpaid leave. Did a bit of a calculation and with 3 days unpaid plus having to pay £500 back for the bike then I will be about £200 short in January based on my current commitments. So, what I'm going to do is work out how much I'll get combined in Nov & Dec wages and then split it in half and that will be my income for the month.

I doubt that I am going to be able to meet my 100-day target for paying off the virgin card. Might have to wait until February but I don't think it will have a huge effect on my final DFD because I won't be getting that money deducted from my wages anymore so I'll be about £40 a month better off from that. Going to leave it as a challenge at the moment though, it's still something to work towards.

Am going to drop my paperwork off at the new company this afternoon so hopefully that should be everything they need and they can give me a date. I really can't wait.

It's been a pretty tough DFW week one way and another. Particularly because I don't know what my income is going to be like over the next couple of months. I've definitely played it too tight and left myself not enough. Thank god I got my phone cheque at least and I'll definitely be putting money away into that emergency fund in case this happens in future.

In other news, I stopped taking my iron tablets because they were doing funny things to my stomach but I am starting to feel tired again. Think I need to start the tablets again and then when I've finished the course go and get soem multivitamins and iron. I really am starting to feel blobby again and I want to get back to the gym but I'm just feeling exhausted. Really am going to try and make the effort this weekend, even if it is just swimming 10 lengths or something. I just don't feel up to all the hardcore exercise at the moment...

Wow, long post!

Keeping_Motivated

For the iron can you change to a differnt brand/type to see if that helps your stomach?

Just wondering why you will have to have some unpaid leave? Can the 2 jobs not coincide? Sorry if I am being thick.

As for the tight money situation at the moment? Have you anything you can ebay/amazon/magpie etc?

Katy83

That's a good idea KM, the iron tablets I've got are just the ones the doctor gave me. I might see if I can get some other ones this weekend.

The unpaid leave is because the office in my current job is closed over Christmas and I don't have enough holidays left to take the time off (my holiday year ends in March). I think I have about 4 and a half days and I need at least 7 so it's all a bit confusing. And that's if they want me to start the week after New Year, if it's the week after that then it will be more like 12 days...

Yep, I am going to look at doing a bit of ebaying in the meantime. I've got a lot of DVD box sets I could put on there. Got the cheque for my phone put in the bank this afternoon so that should help...

Katy83

Woohoo, got my Scottish Power refund cheque this morning! :j Thank goodness for that, I'm going to pay that into the bank this morning. That should mean that I at least have enough money to stretch to the end of the month now.

Apart from that I'm going over to my parent's this afternoon to go and look after the dog tonight. Quite looking forward to it, will get a chance to spend a bit of time with my Grandma and will have full control over the tv remote! OH is going to have night in with one of his mates tonight so it's probably best that I'm not home to see it. :rolleyes:

It's wet and windy out today - perfect weather for staying in and staying warm tonight!

Lemon_Tree

hi, i don't think you're being off about your sister not repaying all she borrowed, in our family we've always worked on the basis that if it's a loan and you don't repay it, then it's not there to be borrowed again.
I had a strange conversation with MIL last weekend (before she stopped talking to me but that's another story) about there being no point to saving for things cos you could die, guess she doesn't appreciate that annual bills, christmas, emergency funds all need to be paid for etc and it's easier to do that monthly. I think she sees savings as just being us hiding money away not that it's for a purpose, i think she thinks i'm rediculously tight as we say we have no money even though we're working but she just doesn't get the real world. Guess that's why one of her daughters is about to get a provi loan for christmas pressies because saving is a waste of time.
sorry for the hijack but you're not the only one whose facing family who think you should be able to just spend like water or write amounts off without a thought.

Katy83

Thanks LT don't worry about the hijack, it's kind of comforting to know I'm not the only one in the awkward position with family. It's hard when they keep saying that you are being tight and have no reason to be skint when you are earning what you are. I keep trying to explain that is the sort of thinking that got me into this mess in the first place.

Sorry to hear you are having such trouble with your MIL. Lots of people seem to have that "oh but you could get hit by a bus tomorrow" attitude but they don't seem to realise that you probably won't.

EssexHebridean

I always think that some of the people who come out with the "hit by a bus" line are saying it as though they are almost hoping it'll happen, just so they can be proved right! All too often it's said with positive relish, isn't it!

Well done for getting yourself sorted out for the month Katy. Our last few months since buying OH's car have been ridiculously tight - it was only today when I properly scrutinised the bank account that I realised that it was Virgin taking their DD too early in the month that meant we were actually running out of money for the first half of the month, but had "spare" in the other half! Of course, I've been gleaning all the spare cash off into the savings, hence at the start of the following month we're short again! Doh! Rang them today and changed the dates - so simple! :wall:

Sounds like the friends who are coming to stay are pretty good ones, so why not just explain to them that money is a bit short, and that you're going to need to come up with some cheap things to do. Might be worth visiting your local tourist information for ideas on where you might be able to take them for low spend.

missymoo81

hey hun just thought I would pop in as I haven't been over to your diary for a while, you're still doing wonderfully well though, and you really have your head screwed on!!

I know what you mean about budgeting right down to the last penny, I do that and then something always comes along and throws it up in the air. Having an emergency fund I think is a really good idea, would take extra stress off of you too.

As for the iron tablets, I would definitely try changing brands as keeping motivated said, as I was allergic to something they used to put the ingredients together in some multivitamins and it brought my skin out in spots?! Very strange, but I think it proves that all tablets are slightly different.

keep smiling hun, you're doing wonderfully.

x