Squizz's Fizzy Diary

Cheery_Daff

Good news on appraisal though Squizz! (have you heard re interview yet?!) Raising your profile indeed :eek:

redsquirrel80

Blah.... that was not the best weekend ever. OK, so no interview (I don't meet enough of the criteria apparently). Bit disappointed but been doing a lot of thinking, and I have a plan to at least make the most of full-time wages for now (whilst keeping an eye on what else is out there).

Other than that I've been fighting off cold bugs and generally grumpiness all weekend. It would appear I've been hiding the grumpiness quite well as when I apologised to Mr S for being grumpy he hadn't noticed I was! Probably tried to do too much with feeling a bit run down - still went to the market, and fruit picking, and then on Sunday had to deal with loads of fruit and veg that needed preserved in some way. Now have lots of jam but didn't have enough energy to do much else. Didn't get to any of the music festival stuff Did fall asleep on the lawn (on a blanket) for about two hours in the afternoon.

Just to add to my grumpiness, we have no hot water and the kitchen sink is blocked up or something and smells rather unpleasant - Mr S should be phoning the plumber around now...

Anyway, time for a cuppa then back with the big money plan thingy

hypno06

Hmm, sorry about the grumpiness - I have felt a bit "meh" over the last few days, and almost didn't go to a planned housewarming yesterday as a result, then a friend of a friend was struck down at lunchtime yesterday with an aneurism, and I reminded myself about living for today, did Shred, dived in the shower, and dragged my sorry self to the said housewarming, where I had a lovely time.

It'll pass, and doing the big money plan thingy will help detract from other stuff.

In "bring your lunch to work" news, I have crumpets, and fruit plus a cup a soup. £2 will be transferred into my Morocco pot. Have you brought your lunch in.......?

Karmacat

Awww.... sorry it felt bad... and sorry about the interview too You do a lot, you know! Even your downtime is studying, tho I know you've had the long weekends recently. Any chance of a luxury pamper DIY evening? Tho the big money plan sounds v exciting :j:j:j

redsquirrel80

Sorry to hear about your friend

Yep it will pass, got lots of good things going on really.

And yes in the midst of the jam-making, I also sorted out lunches for the next few days - have bulgar wheat with greek salad and a bit of Mr S's homemade bread. Worked out cost at about £1, so saving somewhere between £2 and £5 compared to what I could be spending!

hypno06

Lunch sounds yummy!

Karmacat

redsquirrel80 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your friend

That passed me by _pale_ apologies - thats awful news, Hypno.

And yes in the midst of the jam-making, I also sorted out lunches for the next few days - have bulgar wheat with greek salad and a bit of Mr S's homemade bread. Worked out cost at about £1, so saving somewhere between £2 and £5 compared to what I could be spending!

Woo hoo :j

hypno06

Karmacat wrote: »

That passed me by _pale_ apologies - thats awful news, Hypno.

It is a friend of a friend, so not someone I know personally, although my friend is in a great deal of shock, which is pretty crappy in itself.

However, it has served as a reminder to me that we only get one chance of this life, and therefore I have to make the most of it and not waste it.

So, I will take a positive from such horrid circumstances - it really is about all I can do.

redsquirrel80

You're absolutely right Hypno.

Hi Karma :hello:

Downtime is a funny thing - I used to be very good at doing nothing, but now I'm not so great - have at least been making a bit of time to read things other than course books recently, but still a bit rubbish at relaxing. Pampering.. well, maybe when we have some hot water!

So, the plan.. the plan is to pay £2500 off my debt by the end of the year (bringing it to just under £3000), and put another £2500 into savings (bringing them to £3000).

OK, so this is a five month SOA. The black figures are an estimate based on current spending, which I need to get a grip on as it is starting to expand according to what I earn. The red ones are where I can identify savings, e.g. I don't really need many new clothes (I think I'm fine for winter stuff but I do want a pair of waterproof trousers - how glamorous :rotfl:) or books (I do need a couple of text books for my next course, but there are hundreds of novels in our house I haven't read). The sheet music figure is a bit of a guess depending on what happens in flute lessons - I do have some stuff at home and at my mum's but it depends if I need to buy any new things. Flute lessons figure is based on one hour per fortnight (of course, assuming that I get on with the teacher etc etc).

Grocery / eating out figures are a guess as I don't really keep track of these - going to keep a spending diary in August so I can see if these are realistic.

Mobile contract - ooops moment here - thought I was on a lower plan than I was, but it runs out in August so need to see what I can do with that.

Outgoings

Rent 1750.00
Phone 225.00 100.00
Groceries 500.00
Eating out 150.00
Lunches 100.00 50.00
Toiletries 50.00
Clothing 150.00 50.00
Badminton 150.00
Books 100.00 50.00
Sheet music 50.00
Flute lessons 300.00

Debt payments
CQ 1 1309.16 (debt paid off!)
CQ2 910.00
Overdraft 280.84
(Total 2500.00)

Paris trip 300.00

Total 6325.00 Total 6000.00


Income
Salary £6150
Job 2 £1650
Total £7800

Balance 1475.00 1800.00
Extra needed 525.00 (= 3.50 a day) 200.00 (= 1.33 a day)


So, clearly, the red budget would make things a lot easier. I can hopefully make an extra £1.33 a day through a few eBay sales, and some other bright ideas that might come to me when my brain is actually working. I don't really want to cut back too much more than that - there's got to be some perks to working full-time, such as erm, badminton and meals out!

There are a couple of things I haven't budgeted for - my dad's 60th birthday and that festive occasion that tends to come around near the end of the year (far too early to mention the word yet). Got some ideas for homemade stuff for a few presents but otherwise not sure how to deal with this.

Phew!

Karmacat

Squizz, do you do surveys and whatnot? I know they take time, but they build up the Amazon vouchers quite substantially, and its amazing what can be bought on Amazon. And groceries .... I know you eat such a lot of your own food, but when you have to buy in supermarkets, like oats or whatever, do you do the Value/Basics thing or not? Hmmm.... you've already mentioned you're not sure of that figure. I think you might be pleasantly surprised! I hope so, anyway. Good luck on all the renegotiating of bills.