The hilariously over-optimistic goals I am setting myself in 2010....

dalleDF

Ok, so I have been feeling guilty about the shopping so I'm going to list two pairs of shoes I've hardly worn on eBay.

I have also rounded up all stray toiletries and put them in one place in an open box (it's a crate actually!!), in a very visible place so I can see them while I'm getting ready in the morning and I might start working my way through my stash a bit faster. I have to move house in 3 months and I don't want to be carting all this stuff with me.

Operation Weird Food continues - I'm trying to resurrect a disgusting green soup I made and then shoved in the freezer. I'm thinking if I add cream that might help? Cream improves most things, I find. The cauliflower and elk curry was very nice in the end!

juicyjackieb

May I ask is the house moved planned? Will that effect your budgeting?

dalleDF

The house move is a massive pain. The landlord wants the flat back so he can live in it for six months. Then we can move back in after that, if we can agree a price with him. Obviously he is trying to put the rent up, which I am arguing with since it's such a big inconvenience for us to find a new place for six months, along with all the costs that come with it. Would love to do it without having to use bloodsucking estate agents who want to charge you £50 for printing off a piece of paper. I can't wait till we have a house and we don't need to be subject to the whims of landlords. But anyway, essentially we will have to move at least once, and possibly twice, this year, so I am having to factor that in to my budgeting. By the time we move I will be debt free, but I will have to put a fair whack aside for deposit, agent fees, removal van hire, and god knows what else.

juicyjackieb

Eugh I hate moving!! I had lived on my own for 8 years until september and moved 3 times during those 8 years. I used private landlords from Gumtree because the fees those agents charge is a bloody disgrace. I had mostly good luck with my private landlord (although the last one kept popping around every other week to "check up on the house".) But the rent was £375 pm for a 3 bed house so I didn't care!

Hopefully you will find a nice cheap place - you never know you might get yourself in a better temporary financial position to get that deposit fund up.

dalleDF

So I got my online shopping delivered today, had a panic about my spending and sent almost all of it back, bar the pair of work trousers which I will actually wear a lot. At least it was free delivery and free returns for the rest of it!

But worse, from having just a small balance on my Barclaycard, it has gone up a fair bit today because I booked our summer holiday! I realise in the long term it will work out cheaper because we have managed to get bargain flights by booking so far in advance, but I wasn't anticipating having to shell out for holidays yet. We decided to do it because we realised some of the accommodation we wanted had already sold out, so we had to move fast. Anyway, it's done now, (although I owe the boyfriend about £100 for the part he paid for) but it's annoying because it's thrown my debt free plan a bit out of whack. I have fiddled around for ages in YNAB trying to balance the budget and still hit my DFD. It's going to be difficult but if I live like Scrooge for the next few weeks I will hopefully manage it. I can't bring myself to cut the amount going in to my regular saver, although this would definitely help. That can be my plan in case of emergency.

Got a big fresh food shop coming tomorrow with lots of meat for the freezer. Big batches of slow cooker stews will keep us fed for the next month with any luck!

dalleDF

Ok, so payday finally came! Money dutifully logged in YNAB and every bit of it given a job (and then some!). I paid the whole balance off on my Barclaycard, which includes holiday cost, so at least I won't have to pay anything else for that until it comes around (with exception of £100 to boyfriend). So now I have to decide whether to keep the card for emergencies (in the freezer?) or chop it up. Would rather use my actual cash emergency fund for emergencies, but you never know when a CC might come in handy. The Lloyds one is definitely getting the chop once it's clear - I got it for a balance transfer, APR is something horrific like 25%. Yow!

So, when my DDs go out in Feb I will only have £500 to pay off my CC on Feb's payday, keeping me on track for the DFD I wanted (as long as I can keep costs down this month). I have less than £40 budgeted now for food for the month, after I did my big shop, and £50 for general spending money. That is going to have to do.

I have updated my signature with my savings for this month as well. Emergency fund is doing well at least! Glad it's locked away from my prying fingers.

I'm going to be into my overdraft by a hundred quid or so by the end of Feb I think, but I don't get charged for that so it's not too bad. I've still got the matter of the bounced cheque to resolve, which will keep me from going further into my OD. I am also chasing a big chunk of money from unpaid freelance work from ages ago. The way this is going I may need to take the guy to small claims court. I have a pretty watertight case but I hope it doesn't come to that. If I had had that money sooner I could have been debt free last year like I wanted!

Oh well. Hopefully it will come in in the end and be a lovely bonus to reward my debt busting hard work!

juicyjackieb

Omg congratulations on clearing the Barclaycard!!! That's mega ��������

And you definitely need to take that person to court, when it comes to money, your money, show no mercy. Better in your bank than theirs.

dalleDF

Thankyou! Yay, am very pleased to have cleared it (not for the first time, sadly! have run a balance up that many times). Can't believe I now have only £500 of debt left, and actual savings! So close to the finish line now.
I am prepared to be a !!!!! to get that money back. I was almost prepared to let it go, but it's actually unfair, I did work hard on those projects and although the business I was working for went under, the guy running it is successfully doing something else now, so I reckon it's time to pay up!

Hope savings challenge is going well Jackie!

dalleDF

Very tired tonight after a really busy week. I'm excited to have a night in snuggled under blankets with my book and a cup of tea. Flat is freezing even with the heating blasting and me wearing everything I own.

Almost booked myself in for a pedicure as a little weekend treat, then I looked at the budget and my small allowance, and decided I will instead do it myself at home to save £20. I would like a new pair of warm pyjamas as well but I think this may have to wait unless I can find a decent cheapo pair in Primarni.

Cooked something weird with cabbage, sausages and chicken stock which has made us 2 dinners each. I'm going to do a lamb curry in the slow cooker tomorrow.

Got to £33 on Ipoll so I can cash that out as soon as it is approved.

I'm 28 days booze free today.

That is all.

dalleDF

Good news today, got sent a replacement cheque for the one that bounced, seems there was a bit of a mix up. So I will pay that in on Monday and it will go some way towards fixing the big red minus I have in YNAB for February. Looks like I will about £50 in to my overdraft by the end of the month IF I stick to the plan, but that's fine. I just hate when the number in the budget is red instead of green!

Withdrew the amount I budgeted this month for my subs at the gym, that is sitting in cash on my desk which is maybe a bit dangerous, must make sure it doesn't get used for an 'emergency' takeaway.

Splurged a bit in Tescos as I needed a couple of bits to make my lamb curry. My flatmate has moved out today and my best friend is moving in tomorrow and she's been having a rough time lately, so I bought a cheapo bunch of flowers and a mini bottle of cava to put in her new room to cheer her up. The question is, do I put this in YNAB as groceries or spending money? Champagne counts as groceries right?? I wish it did. So today I am checking old flatmate's cleaning is up to ladies' standards, will no doubt end up going over it all again like OCD Cleaners. I bloody love that show.

In other news, am slightly concerned that my boyfriend doesn't have a pension. His work doesn't run a company scheme and he doesn't really understand what it's all about. So next week when we both have an evening off I am going to cook dinner and teach him about pensions. We know how to have fun.