Savings Log of a 26yr old on low pay

linz

I don't know how snazzy a mobile phone yr parents are after but as a mid-range Android I can thoroughly recommend the Orange San Francisco. Just had a mate get me one at a discount as they are on Orange. Think it was £80, or it's £90 in Argos as you have to buy £10 credit aswell. As others have said, make sure you shop around and take advantage of any cashback on offer.

Here is a link to some recommendations for the best mobiles under £50 on giffgaff which is a PAYG network running on O2 network . http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Blog/Best-mobile-phones-under-50-for-giffgaff/ba-p/468371

I've recently joined Giffgaff myself and think they're ace, tariffs are lots cheaper than the main networks. (Also have a free PAYG SIM that they sent me to pass on to someone. It will have £5 credited if it's activated, PM me if you'd like me to post it.)

MoneyWaster2007

Hope your kneecap gets better soon Ampersand and thanks again for a motivational post.

somethingcorporate - I'm not too clued up on using cash back sites, is there a lot of messing about to do in order to get the cash back?

sarahevie - thanks for your post, I try my best as I'm sure we all do - but trust me I do a lot of moaning from time to time when things get on top of me..

Primrose - thank you for likening my path to the hare and the tortoise, I guess in the end it will all come good regardless of how long it takes to get there. Although I do feel like I'm climbing mt. Everest sometimes.

Linz - thanks for the link to the giff gaff website - will check that out. I had never heard of that network until you said.

On a personal note...been a bad day today...things going wrong at work...boss is an ar-sehole etc...anyway, chow for now.

ampersand

'On a personal note...been a bad day today...things going wrong at work...boss is an ar-sehole etc...anyway, chow for now.'

.......but coming here and saying so means you've done some sort of getting rid, mw - and you know it's safe here, with fellow msers who understand very much about s-h-one-t days and how they can leave you feeling. Platitude time - Tomorrow Is Another Day.

Why not tiptoe over into i-player and look for something in the Laughter/Comedy line that you can enjoy tonight?

It's been more grey, cold, rain, windy here all day long - loathe it.

But I've been to lunch with friend from next village, to use up £30 of Mr T vouchers, expiring today, at Caf! Rouge.

Just tap Cashback into the top right corner on this page, in the space marked 'Search the...', then check the Main Site and its dropdown alternative,'Forum'.
Top Cashback and Quidco seems to have decent reputations, but note Martin's proviso about the percentage of payouts which DO work.

Why not put a 'newbie to Cashback' ? on the Forum - there are so many hotshot msers there, you'll get sound advice.

Better things tomorrow mw - today's done and dusted[and it's one more for the non-smoking Champion].
Take care, take heart.

ampersand

Just wanted to say Hello, mw - hope it isn't you I've been bumping into in that dark place over the last week or so.

Your followers and supporters need to hear that-
'On a personal note...been a bad day today...things going wrong at work...boss is an ar-sehole etc...anyway, chow for now' only lasted as long as it took you to write it.
Don't be away too long - we worry:-)

gallygirl

I've just found this thread and wanted to say well done :T:T:T:T. What you have achieved on a low wage is superb

Can I make a few suggestions?

Try the Up Your Income thread and look at what is on there. How about Mystery Shopping? Young men are always needed so you should get quite a few jobs - lots of phone shops so you could research your next deal . Also some meals out - some do burger joints, KFC etc so you could have a lunch time treat for free and get paid a few £ in the process

Also register with all the survey sites - you can pass the time while watching TV and build up points which you can convert to vouchers for Amazon or High St Shops - great for Xmas. There are other sites such as dooyoo where you write reviews for points - you write very well so again you could earn a little through this.

Do you use money off vouchers? Do you have a printer? There are a lot of downloadable vouchers. A good tip is if you print one off for 50p, immediately put 50p in a piggy bank or similar so the saved money doesn't just disappear - and if you've already accounted for the saving you are more likely to use the voucher!

Did you ever buy a slow cooker? Now you have a bigger room I'm sure you can find somewhere to store it . Also start to meal plan - a little bit of effort can save you a lot of money. Do you just have an icebox? Even so you could freeze a few meals.

Before you go shopping use mysupermarket.com to look at offers at Asda and compare with prices to others, then meal plan around that. Also there is something on the shopping boards about what time supermarkest reduce things - could you do your shopping at those times and get whoopsies?

Does your sister not have any eligible friends or friends with sisters?

A few bits of constructive criticism now:

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

Up to chapter 5 I think - 'developing a !!!!!!!! radar'. Oh yeah, got £5 off this book at Waterstones

You didn't save £5 - you wasted £8.99 or whatever it cost - use the library for free (and maybe meet some girls . You could get a lot of books for free, including recipe books for budget cooking.

Phone - if you had a cheap phone it would have cost say £15 a month. You're paying £17.50 a month more, for 24 months. Is it worth an extra £420 over the 2 years? If the answer is 'yes' then fine (if you're sure you couldn't have got it cheaper ). What makes it worth the extra? Not that you can phone whenever you want as a £15 contract would have done that. So, you're paying extra for the 'toy'. You have internet access at home so don't NEED it on your phone - did you WANT it £420 worth? These are the decisions you need to make every time you make purchases like this.

Check out the DEMOTIVATOR - that will help you decide how important something really is to you.

Really, it's not about cutting all fun out of your life - it's about deciding what you really want, then finding the cheapest way to achieve it.

I hope you're back soon as your diary is really inspiring. Well done :kisses3:

MoneyWaster2007

update coming in a moment...just got to put a load of washing on...:D

MoneyWaster2007

Firstly, I've been absent from this thread for a while because my laptop broke and I've just replaced it with a netbook.

So...this month has been a bad month for me financially. It started off when I decided to put the brakes on the saving and treat myself to a new top to go out in - £50.00 - and a new pair of trainers - £20.00. So that was £70.00 in total spent and there I was thinking 'it's ok I can still save £100.00 and make the £900.00 turn into £1k at the end of the month'...happy days!! (or so it should have been...) But then came the laptop problem. It was an old laptop to be fair and it gave me the nudge I needed to upgrade it. So I used the £100 I was going to save and my mum and dad gave me £100 in advance as my birthday present, together totalling £200 which was the exact cost of the netbook. So...still within my budget - just. Then...I remembered my sister also has a netbook but hers' is hooked up to her tv so that she uses the tv as the monitor...so in a moment of madness I bought a monitor cable aswell for £25.00 - which meant for the first time in months and months, I had overspent my wage!!!! To compensate I transferred £30.00 from my Car Fund to get me through this last week before pay day - which I will have to put back on Friday.

So... a few mistakes there then. Firstly I should have got the netbook cheaper by searching out the best deals online (using someone elses internet). Secondly, I didnt need the monitor cable and if I really wanted it should have waited a week until pay day to get it. Bit annoyed with myself. There is always the option to return the cable and free up £25, but I may aswell keep it now as it is something I wanted...

...on a lighter note, I am still a non - smoker...7 weeks 3 days since stopped :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

gallygirl - I really wish I had got a sim - only contract for £15pm, but I was yet again fooled by the advertising and have been lumbered with a mediocre phone which I am paying completely over the odds for...:mad: (will not happen again). I like your post, lots of useful suggestions in there - thankyou.

Going swimming today

atypical

MoneyWaster2007 wrote: »

so in a moment of madness I bought a monitor cable aswell for £25.00

This sounds like a very expensive cable! Can you return it? VGA cable for £1.91 or HDMI cable for £1.32 at Amazon.

ampersand

Ah, it's always good to find you've posted again mw - regardless of highs/lows.

Yes, I'd take that cable back pront0, esp. with petrol prices here up 4p per litre last week.

Okay, we like your new top and trainers - they look good, but that's your spendy treat time used up for a bit. We have loads of v. trendy students and teens/business smart older peeps in buying clothes when our charity showroom opens. I have to say £20 for new trainers these days seems a real find - so well done there!

Next size up CONGRATS are for you carrying on with swimming. You will be benefitting in mind, mood and body by keeping up with this...and looking toned for summer, too.

But BIGGEST and BESTEST of all HAS to be 52

Well done, you're well on your way to making each of those days a week - and that's your first year!
Enjoy your new Netbook too - [although Freecycle's always worth remembering]

MoneyWaster2007

I returned the VGA cable earlier and got a full refund :T

Thanks for pointing that out to me atypical - you just saved me a few quid!! I guess I should remember in future that whenever I need/want something, I should research the net first to see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere.

The netbook itself cost £200.00, however when I checked the Argos website, it is £179.99!!! You can imagine my annoyance at this - Jeez!!! Anyway, I went down to the Argos branch I bought the netbook from to ask about getting a £20 refund - and they were shut! Typical!!! Will have to nip in after work tomorrow. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5084289/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%2C+PCs+and+phones%7C14418968/c_2/2%7C14418968%7CLaptops+and+netbooks%7C14419039/c_3/3%7Ccat_14419039%7CNetbooks+and+mini+laptops%7C14419042.htm

Thanks again Ampersand for another motivational post :T:T:T