Sparkle is sorting out her finances

sparkleisshopping

Things are going ok here

My OH is doing really well with his budget we set for him which is great news. The wedding planning is going well also and I've had a few more RSVPs too.

I cracked on friday and went into new look and bought some clothes as I wanted something new to wear to my friend's hen party which is next weekend. I bought 3 necklaces, 2 sequin tops and a dress that's a bit nautical all for £22.50 - god bless the new look sale. The dress is too short though so that's going back tomorrow which will save me £12.50 so I think a tenner for two tops and 3 necklaces isn't too bad really. I also have been really slack with my ebay so I will get some stuff listed today even if it kills me! I'm also going to pop to the supermarket for a couple of bits and I will go swimming afterwards. It's lovely weather up north today so I am finally able to get the sofa covers through the wash and out on the line (they're too big and bulky to dry on the rack indoors). Does this mean summer is on the way? Hope so!

Lemon_Tree

hi sparkle just found your diary, you've done really well in such a short space of time, your ebaying had been amazing, much better than i ever managed.

sparkleisshopping

Hi Lemontree and welcome to my diary! Thank you for the kind comments about my ebaying - I've had a bit of a lull over the past few weeks but I'm back on it now

Today has been a good day :j I got my letter from work telling me what my bonus is. I thought it would be about £500 but it's more than 3 times that - I really can't believe it and I'm over the moon as my industry has suffered a lot with the recession so to get a bonus at all is great So, we can afford the new tent we want (which is this Vango one if you want to look - http://www.wildday.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?id=8502 ) as our current tent is about 50% gaffa tape and 50% tent. It's done us proud has old tenty - we must have done at least 20 festivals in it and numerous camping trips as well but it's suffered badly over the last year or so mainly from drunken folk at festivals :rotfl:I'm also looking forward to getting some of those balances in my sig to £0 and that Lloyds overdraft will be my first priority. I'll do a proper budger after I've been paid so I know how much I have after tax etc.

I took a TV booster ariel back to Argos today - we bought it when the sky box went pop but it was a bit rubbish and had a different set of channels each time you turned the telly on. We'll eventually need an ariel when it goes digital for the little telly in the bedroom but in the meantime I could do with the £14.99 in my pocket more so back it went.

After I'd done that and posted my ebay parcel I parked in town and met up with my boyfriend at the pub and we met with the caterer for our wedding. She was lovely and we're so excited about the food! The caterers are vegan which suits me fine as I'm veggie but don't eat eggs or milk (I was vegan for ages but it was the cheese that lured me back to the dark side) and they put together the most amazing curry banquet - she had just got back from a month in India so had loads of great ideas for dishes. We paid the deposit (using the rent money we get from our lodger - check us!) and we're all ready to go there

And in other moneysaving news my boyfriend saved another £2 coin from his change for the money box - he's getting quite into the £2 saving bless him. Also, our lodger is away for the weekend so we have the house to ourselves - hurrah! Today is definately a good day.

Moneytroubles_2

Hiya Sprinkles!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello - you look like you have got off to a good start which is brill xx

sparkleisshopping

Hi Moneytroubles and thanks for reading

I had a bit of an overspend in Asda at the weekend - my normal weekly shopping bill for two of us and two cats comes in at £45ish and I spent £79 in Asda :eek: That's loads less than I would have spent before I started being MSE, where an average shop came in at £110ish. I felt really sick as I was going round the supermarket putting things in the trolley - we pretty much stuck to the list but it still came in really expensive. I normally go to Morrisons or Lidl and usually don't have my OH with me so I guess in future I'll have to leave the OH at home as I had to restrain him a few times from putting random things in the trolley. And I think asda has more tasty noms to tempt me than Morrisons so I'll keep with them to avoid temptation.

I've got a few more bids on my ebay stuff and I hope I get more before they all end on Wednesday. I've prepared a listing for one more thing today too.

Wedding prep is coming along well - I appear to have 215m of fabric on its way to me for making marquee decorations and tablecloths so hemming all that will keep me busy for the next few weekends! My friend has made a start on the bunting for the marquee she's making for me - I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends.

I'm so excited about my bonus and I'm well chuffed that I'll be able to get some balances paid off. I think I am going to spend my bonus on a new tent, wedding shoes, silver mary jane shoes with green crystals on them, a service for my car, a couple of cds and finally, the outstanding balance on my Lloyds card (not the full amount; my bonus isn't that fat :rotfl:) after I move £3850 onto my new 0% card (which has a £4k limit). That sounds a bit like the Generation Game doesn't it! Perhaps I should get a toaster and a cuddly toy too. I'm also excited about doing a new SOA after I have made the final payment on my nationwide loan- that will be a good day when that's paid off :cool:

Lemon_Tree

i'm so jealous of your bonus, we don't get them at my place, in fact it's been years since i worked anywhere where you got a bonus. lol sounds like you've got good plans for what to do with it

keza

hiya sparkle! how r u? ur doing fab! keep up the good work! ur ebay sales are fantastic! i do love a bit of ebaying! such a good feeling getting some money for old tote! well done on the bonus too! hoping to hear about mine this week then i can see how much more work i gotta do to clear the credit card! keep smiling xx

sparkleisshopping

Hi Lemontree, it's a shame you don't get a bonus my boyfriend doesn't either where he works. My bonus made the student loans company and the taxman very happy lol - between them they snaffled almost half of it which is a pain, but hey, these things happen.

Hi Keza, am doing well thanks - hope your wedding prep is coming along nicely - it's very exciting this getting married lark isn't it! I like ebaying, well, I like the bit where the money comes in, it's the photographing, weighing, measuring and going to the post office I don't like lol. Hope you get a fat bonus and you can pay loads off the credit card

I've just had a quick whizz around internet banking as it is payday today. Have paid off all but £30 of my fd overdraft, put money into my bills account, paid my friend what I owed him, left £500 in my spends account and put the rest into my lloyds current account so that is acutally in credit for the first time in a million years - hurrah! I'll do my totals on the 1st April when I know that everything has gone out for the month.

I'm off down to Brighton today and I'm really excited! It's my friend's hen weekend (she's a classy girl so there won't be L plates and plastic w!llies thank goodness) and we're all staying at another friend's house who lives in Brighton. I'm going to withdraw £120 and I have about £8 in my purse. I owe a friend £21 for my share of the hotel room for the same friend's wedding and I have about 10 ebay parcels to post today so after that I'll have about £90 which is plenty for a weekend away I think. I have bought a box of wine, 4 bottles of interesting cider (on offer in morrisons - 4 for £5) and a massive carrot cake and I think we're just going out on Saturday night (and maybe for lunch on Saturday daytime). Oh, I'll need to pay my share of the petrol but we've packed the car with five people so that shouldn't be too much. So, I should really get on and get things done as I have to pack, tidy, go down the gym and to the post office all before 2.30pm when my friend picks me up!

Right, I'm going to go and do stuff - see you all later and have a fab weekend!

Lemon_Tree

hope the hen night went well.
i'll have to get over not getting a bonus lol I've done my almost daily whizz around the internet banking sites and nothing much has changed which i supose could be thought of as a good thing i supose but doesn't help me change my signature on here.

sparkleisshopping

Hi Lemontree the hen night was great fun thanks!

I'll do my totals on the 1st and update my sig, but my balances are all looking good which is nice. Today I requested a refund of £6.02 from an old phone account and have joined the rac through quidco instead of renewing at the ridiculous £50.50 they quoted, which will give me £20 cashback meaning I've only paid £13.50 for a year's membership which is nice I still haven't received any payout from quidco - I hope I get something soon as I have £50 in there in various states of tracking.

I've been making tablecloths for the wedding over the weekend and they are coming along nicely. It looks like I've over-ordered on the fabric but I can sell whatever's left over on ebay. They are now all folded up in a big stackabox waiting to be hemmed. Not going to do any more this evening as it's getting on and I want to relax. I'm off to get the laundry in then we're making mutter paneer for tea tonight - nom