NTBY's sensible living and debt busting adventure

Nottoobadyet

Baaccckkkk

Good news - work will pay for my visa renewal! WOOT! That's amazing as I've been planning on putting my bonus plus some aside for it, and now that £1000 is mine, all mine!

Bad news - a wisdom tooth is coming in and hurting and I reckon I'm going to blow most of the bonus on teeth stuff. How un-fun!

Nottoobadyet

blurgh, not doing too well over here!

I've not been sleeping well for days and days - tonight I slept poorly then woke up at 5 am and was unable to get back to sleep!! At work there was a bit of an embarrassing mistake in something I worked on which lead to a very stressed day, then last night a splitting stress headache kept me awake. I've been working way too long hours (I envy those of you that get paid for overtime!) and seriously need a break. Monday I didnt even leave the office until 9:30

Still no luck on OH's job hunt, and no real sign of him cutting his spending either.

Friends coming by for dinner tonight. Cheaper than a night out but honestly i just want to come home and sleep

Nottoobadyet

What a rollercoaster week! mid week work was awful, a mistake by me lead to al almighty s**t storm in the senior ranks. It also showed why I love where I work though - the director of my department (above my line manager) left me a bag full of very posh chocolate (about £15 worth!) because he knew I was having a carp week. Awww!

Anyway things worked their way out closer to the end of the week. Now its clear that even though there were some communication issues, our Malawi program is now $5.3m richer because of me so thats not much to sneeze at! And on Friday my boss pulled me into a meeting room and let me know my bonus will be on its way in this pay packet. Whew, things are ok then I guess!:j

Anyone know if bonuses (obviously not banker level, super tax ones!) are taxed? Same as your normal salary? Im wondering how far this will stretch me...

Nottoobadyet

The good -

Had a very low spend week and look to continue that until the end of the month. Have a free dance class tonight, a quick shop and then I shouldnt have much spending for the rest of the week so long as I keep the purse strings tight.

The bad -

Spent much of yesterday working on job search / applications for OH.

The ugly -

Just ate 2 days worth of lunch :-P nom nom nom

Nottoobadyet

No children to bond with the parents over, no dates to bond with the singles over, no gigantic spending compulsion to bond with the shopaholics over, I feel a bit like a DFW outcast! I'll just keep bumbling along then

News on the DF front has been pretty good recently - I got a bonus at the end of this month which was far larger than I thought it would be (over £900 after tax), which moves my DFD up a whole month. Result! Of course, thats only if I can keep putting aside about 40% of my post tax income every month, which let me tell you is keeping things pretty tight around NTBY towers!

This weekend Im crocheting a funky zig zag scarf for my friends birthday in April. I think I may get her a bought gift as well (I saw some pretty innexpensive earings that are exactly her style, and fairtrade), but this will make it a great gift without breaking the bank.

OH and I are going to go north this year for easter and try to do the Hadrians Wall walk. I'd say its cheaper than last years break to Cairo, but Im not sure! Hopefully there will be avaliability in hostels and cheap B and Bs most of the way. At least it will certainly be healthier!

Nottoobadyet

Oh no, my grand national bet in the office pool didnt come through :-( Oh well, back to the slog then, one £ poorer...

Had a great time on Hadrians wall - really a beautiful part of Britian, with lovely friendly people. It actually turned out to be really DF as well, since we were able to stay in increadibly cheap bunk houses for much of it. Wheee!

Now back in london and plodding on. My DFD has gone from December to September (!!!!) acording to my spreadsheets, in only the last few weeks! Thats amazing and Im really pleased. Its largely due to my bonus and some bonds that my dad found to cash for me. Debt free life is so close I can almost smell it.

Nottoobadyet

Just talking to myself here at the moment I suppose.

So everything is crashing down around these parts. My best friend was very suddenly laid off of her very good job, so we're in crisis managment on that, keeping her cheerfull and helping with job applications. OH had a bit of a crisis over the last two days, where his job essentially told him he could stay on but only if he committed for a year (!!) and accepted a salary of significantly less than needs. They also gave him a part time option which tempted him as he thought he could get some self employment stuff going bu barely covering his half of the rent (much less his repaymenets. We talked last night and we decided to go for broke and he'll just leave at the end of his contract in July. So, impeding poverty here we come! It would be so much less difficult if it wasnt for his monthly debt repayments, but hey ho.

In good news, Im working on my NSDs and hopefully April will be a frugal month. My friend loved her scarf, and since she ended up being made redundant on her birthday I am glad I put effort into her present! The weather has been nicer so I've been walking to work and saving some cash there, and meal planning to try and keep the groceries down. Still plodding...

Nottoobadyet

**crickets**

So was doing really well this month, putting aside loads of dosh. Then I had my dentist appointment, and thats thrown everything to the winds as it will be an arm and a leg to get a start on the work I need done. BWAH! Oh well, so much for that then...

winchester

Hey just repaying the favour of you posting on my diary. You're doing great keep up the good work! I will keep popping in and keeping posted.

Swinstie73

Hey NTBY, what a bummer about your friend being made redundant on her birthday, at least you softened the blow with the scarf, sounds lovely. Have you decided where to go on holiday yet? There was a bit in the paper today about the Phillipines, it looks lovely. A friend of mines from my YTS days was Phillipino and ended up moving to Bahrain, haven't heard from her in years, it's sad when people lose contact!