NTBY's sensible living and debt busting adventure

Nottoobadyet

Had a great time with mum - spent a bit more than I hoped but it was a great time and she had a blast. All good then.

Payday on friday! Yay!

Nottoobadyet

OK so big news first. Yesterday, OH was called into the office, so to speak, at work and told that changing rules from head office mean that his job (which is now nearly full time) may be gone in June. JUNE!:shocked: He had recently been getting lots of signals that his job would become permanent, so this is a very unpleasant suprise!

BWAHHH not good. Hes been working on a few different self employment things (hes working on a proposal for another one now) but it will mean a drop in his already low (ish) income for the imideate future unless he goes out on to the job market again, and if my friends experiences are anything to go by, theres not much out there. He has monthly payments on debt, and though I can afford where we live on just my income its not going to be pretty for his self esteem or my debt busting. Maybe its all a blessing in disguise and will give him the kick up the £"$ he needs to really get moving? I dont know

Arg, life was supposed to be getting easier!

On good stuff though, Ive been saving a lot through close budgeting, and putting more away for debt, though I guess that may turn into more of an emergency fund now. I also had my review at work, which was really positive, which bodes well for a bonus in the coming months and I was promised a lot more travel, which saves me money by keeping me in places cheaper than the UK! I **may** be going away week after next, so I'll keep you all posted.

Hugs this way please!

Swinstie73

Hugs for you NTBY! That's not good news about your OH's job, thought this recession was supposed to be over eh! Hope you can keep on track with your debt busting, we should be debt free around the same time, well here's hoping for both of us!

Nottoobadyet

Thanks Swinstie! Its great having the MSE community, I dont want to embarass him by going and bawling to all of my friends...

But yes, lets keep each other on the debt-busting track, come what may!

Nottoobadyet

OK so feeling a bit better today. OH will find out today what the deal is with the job, and hes already gotten his behind in gear on job hunting. I hope it works out without too many hitches.

Stupid issue is that I had planned to do a 3 week, long-haul trip with him in October, which was a good time for this job as he would have just finished a big project. Its meant to be a 30th birthday / 5th anaversary present for him and I have saved up to buy a pair of tickets. Now the most sensible thing would be to go in July, wich is unfortunately a bad time to go to any of the places I had in mind!

Any suggestions on someplace truly exotic thats not in the middle of its rainy season or far to hot to move in? The previous short list was Nepal / India, Sri Lanka or the Phillipines (which would have had to be in January, not October).

Nottoobadyet

Well, evidence that OH hasnt had an LBM - when we were talking about how we would manage with a working gap and he reassured me that he had another £5000! Great I thought, until I realized thats actually the credit avaliable on his card! er, not so good then!

Anyway, still lots of movement on looking for a new job. More than anything really Im worried about his self esteem - it sucks for him to have come to the UK and gotten into loads of debt to get a masters then find himself underpaid and then unemployed while his friends back home (where the recession hasnt hit) make very decent money in interesting jobs. It also cant be nice that his younger lady (me!) is making more in something rewarding while hes tredding water. Poor bloke.

1666hby

Hey nby, well done on all the debt clearing so far and thanks for the tip about veggie mince. I'm a carnivore but in a mean way so I will check this out. In return, my tip for great veggie curries in London is to visit Drummond Street, very close to Euston station. Full of wonderful veggie curry houses with low low prices (much cheaper than Brick Lane imo), customers mainly Asian Londoners and random Londoners, few tourists know about it. Some are licensed, others let you bring your own drink if you want. You can dress up the expedition with a cultural visit to the British Library nearby if you wish.

Nottoobadyet

1666hby - I know it very well! I work near warren st. My favorite curry house (the pakistani one with only arabic on the sign) is there. Theres also a fab African restaurant that has no kitchen, the guy makes things at home and warms them up for you in a microwave, but somehow its not awful! In fact, its great and very friendly, lots of yummy veggie stuff and my carnivore friends say the meat is good too! So great tip :-)

In other news, my combination budget and spending diary is working wonders. Im keeping a spending diary (kept in sync with my bank account) in the collumn next to the budgeted amounts, so I can see when I am getting close to the end of the my budget for things and see when I havent budgeted enough / have budgeted too much - for example I find that I was underestimating the amount I spend on transport, but overestimating what I was spending on electric. As they say, watch the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves...

Nottoobadyet

Whaaaa the visa for my work trip didnt come through. Im super dissapointed! I was really excited to go and it would have meant a whole week of not having to feed myself! and I'd get expenses back! poo :-( really unhappy.

Recovered by buying dinner out for me and OH. At least it was budgeted!

Sigh. Going to go sulk now.

Nottoobadyet

Ok so to motivate myself Im making a list of things I will save for once Im debt free.

So next year, in my debt free life, I will pay for:

1. A new laptop. My old one is a virus ridden wreck from my first year of university. I use my work one most of the time at home which is probubly quite naughty.

2. Dentistry. My teeth have been neglected as of late and I think going in for a big (scary!) check up will lead to lots of bills, so I'll need to budget for this.

3. A house deposit / emergency fund, to soften the dips!

Just imagining what I can do with the extra £7-800 I pay towards debt each month makes me want this out of my life!