to save as much money and keep my life as organized as possible

savingwannabe

dont worry, you haven't missed much with me. I have had builders in all holiday they have been renovating my house. They are nearly done and decorators move in soon. I have been tutoring for the last two weeks in spare time to save a bit more as i will have to buy lots of furniture. Other than that I haven't done anything.

All is well and I am happy you are back!!!

Needhelpsaving

I am very annoyed today - I have been underpaid by about £200.00 and my expenses have not been put through on time!!!!!! ahhhh - how hard is it really??? I wanted to make another payment off my mortgage - rubbish.

Hope you ladies are doing better than me xxxx

Becky_2

Hi Laura, Kit & Emma

Hope you are all well. I am glad you have returned to this thread Laura. Tell me about it Laura, I know how annoying it is to be underpaid. I got £137 extra money deducted this month because of going from temp to permanent. I will get it back at the end of this month. I hope you get your money back next time you get paid. Good luck in your new job. I started a new job at the end of July this year and so far it is going well. A new kitchen how exciting. When do you think the kitchen will be completely done?

Kit, hope the scaffolding is coming down soon. Well done for doing extra tutoring to earn some more money. A trip abroad or new furniture both sounds good. Please let us know which one you are going for in the end.

This month I can only save £20, but then I had an extra large credit card bill because of a holiday plus more money deducted than I expected. I am setting aside £100 a month towards the gas/electricity and water bill and my quarterly haircut. This month I have decided to go through my wardrobe to see what I can give away to charity.

Have you bought any Christmas presents yet? We have bought one already and most other Christmas presents we buy at Sainsbury's using our Nectar points, so far this year we have 15000 points, last year we only had 10000 points so we are doing better this year.

Good luck with the challenge and your home improvements. By the way, my beauty treatment was lovely. I now have £62 in my pot so only another £10 to save before the bill comes.

Becky
x

Needhelpsaving

Hi Becky,

I will get paid the mony next month, but it just messed my plans up a bit.

Kitchen is coming along, should be finished at the end of Nov - I think we are doing well considering we ripped down walls etc ;-)

Where did you go on holiday?

Hope you ladies have a good weekend x

EC12345

Hey everyone ... I cannot believe (including myself) that the last post was around October of this year. Doesn't time fly ... I hope everyone had a good Christmas - mine was really quiet. Our weather has been terrible here and the close we live in is still like an ice rink. I live right down the bottom so it's even worse :eek:.

Hope you all had lovely presents. I got really practical presents that I wanted - loads of shower gel (probably will not be buying for six months, some hair serum and a beauty voucher (I am going to treat myself to a treatment at the end of January). In the online sales, I have also treated myself to a new coat and a couple of silk scarves to wear with blouses at work (all in the sale from M & S).

Anyway I thought I would update and let's try and get this thead started again. It is nearly the new year and so I have been thinking about my savings targets. I really need to get motivated so I have been thinking that my target until the end of December 2011 will be £2,000. I already have £304 (I reached both targets for this year) so will be taking that off the £2,000 so really it should be about £150 which I should be able to afford most months. Our boiler is really old (28 years) and in a couple of weeks it is being replaced so that is £3,000 out of savings gone so if I can save the £2,000 I can replace that amount by the end of the year.

Come on girls, let's get this started again. I really need the motivation.

Have a great new year everyone.

Emma x

Becky_2

Hi Emma,

How are you?

Well done for reaching both of you saving targets for this year. Good luck with the target for next year. What beauty treatment are you doing in January? Replacing your boiler should save you some money in reduced heating bills. Our bill is due to soon and not looking forward to receiving it but I have put aside £200 for it already.

We had a fairly quiet Christmas this year too. We spent 2 nights away catching up with family and friends. I got 2 Dr Hauschka sample kits for Christmas (on body care and one face care) and I cannot wait to start using them up. I am continuing with my no buying cosmetics challenge that I started nearly a year ago. So far I have saved £77 in my pot.

My target for January is to save £200, I know that I can definetely save £180. This week I hoping to buy a freestanding bathroom cabinett in the sale to make the bathroom look less cluttered.

Savingwannabee, how is it going with your work on the house?

Needhelpsaving - hope your new kitchen looks great now.

Take care

Becky
x

EC12345

Hi Becky, great to hear from you. One last day at home today before it is back to work tomorrow and back to the normal routine. #

Regarding the boiler, we have ordered it. We thought we would order it last week so save on the VAT - our gasman managed to put through the order just in time so we saved about £100 on the VAT increase. I also get quite stressed about people doing work in the house - when they change the boiler they are also going to put in a new hot water tank in the airing cupboard - ours is 28 years old and sometimes makes horrific noises - but for 28 years it hasn't done too bad. We've lived in the house for nearly six years and knew when we moved in that certain things would need to be replaced.

I have also been considering our budget for next year. I think we are like you Becky - there are only two of us in our house - we currently spend around £200 on food shopping but this does include all toiletries and cleaning stuff. I do the shopping in the house and am finding it increasinly diffcult to stay under the £50 target without buying everything on the cheap. I have spoken to husband and may be at the beginning of February our food shop will have to raise to £60 per week. Also the cost of the petrol is going up so my monthly expenditure for petrol will also need to go up - it's just a nightmare isn't it.

We got a really small payrise last year - I mean it was tiny but I was grateful to get anything. Rumours are that this year there will be no payrise and that our pay has been "frozen". How is your job coming along.

Well this Saturday I am taking my mum for her Christmas beauty treatment (she is having massage and pedicure) and I am having my hair cut and coloured (I got a voucher from the place for Christmas so that should cover my hair) and then I am thinking of booking a facial at the end of February as a treat.

Well done for saving £200 - for the next 12 months I am going to try and save between £100 and £200 per month.

Hope to hear from you soon.

E x

TimBear

I've read this thread from start to finish and commend you all!

I'm a newbie to this savings malarky, having only started in November but am proud of myself for already saving £1400! :j

I'd love to join in here for the support and encouragement you give each other.

Happy New Year!

Jennie-1987

TimBear wrote: »

I've read this thread from start to finish and commend you all!

I'm a newbie to this savings malarky, having only started in November but am proud of myself for already saving £1400! :j

I'd love to join in here for the support and encouragement you give each other.

Happy New Year!

Ditto.

I began a placement year in July '08 and it was the first time I saved properly other than the 3 month scramble before uni taking every checkout shift available. Though each time I did save it was for something in the short-term and any left over went with each year at uni so i really want to save properly this time.

I start a new full-time job on Wednesday and have a little overdraft to pay off first and then can save, some already earmarked for necessary car improvements. Hopefully this year will make good use of having an ISA.

Needhelpsaving

Hey girlies - I was beginning to think I smelt as no one replied for ages . . . . lol.

Good to see you all back. Kitchen is done and looks great (even if I do say so myself). Have big MSE plans this year, paying off my boiler I had to get a loan as I am not as organised as Emma!!! I have saved £100 this month and have moved the boiler loan to a 0% CC (16 months) - I think that's my MS for the month!!!

Hi to the newbies Timbear and Jennie (may I say 1987 was a great year . . . vintage!!!)

Heres to 2011, may it be an MSE year for all!!!! L x