Palema’s quest for a place to call home

[Deleted User]

Hello there :hello: and thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings
A little bit about me – I am a single 32 years old and still living at home with my parents. I work as a Nursery Nurse in a Nursery in Edinburgh, I have been in my job 9 years this year! I also work for Sitters, a babysitting agency. The only thing I own that is mine and of any value is my little car, which I love. I also have a gorgeous baby niece who I adore and am determined this year not to go mad on spending on her!! :eek:

For those who don’t know my story the shortish version is as follow – I got my 1st Credit Card at 18 years old, followed by another and maxed both out, consolidation loans followed and I then ran up the cards again and again! My parents bailed me out and helped me clear it all only for me to go at it again eventually ending in me not being able to get any more credit card or loans.

By October 2005 I realised I was in trouble, I didn’t know about this site then and found a company on teletext that did Debt management, unfortunately fee paying ( I didn’t know any different then) Come February 2006 I signed a Protected Trust Deed with debts of over £23K and it was the best thing for me at the time to do. I made my last payment for this in February 2009 but had to wait until September 2009 for my official Discharge letter.

From the 1st March 2009 I started saving for a house/flat deposit.

In October 2009 I was able to open a Current Account with my bank and was pre approved for a Credit Card – It even had a £2500 limit on it!! :eek: :eek:I took the card but reduced the limit to £1000, as a safety net to help build up my credit rating again. Over the next year the card was put up to a £1500 limit and although never at the max it has been close! :shocked: Some of the money I should have been saving for my house deposit has been going to paying this off.

My car was a Y reg 2001 plate and was beginning to cost me at least £500+ at MOT and service and other things going wrong so in March 2010 I purchased a brand new car (in cash I might add) with my all my house savings!

From then I have been quite lax with my house savings and have saved not alot compared to the 1st year. :embarasse

As of Christmas 2010 - I have finally paid off my Pink Friend (AKA The Credit Card!!) :j:j

So now I have decided it would be a good idea to start a new diary to ramble on to myself and anyone else who wants to read of my antics on my journey to saving for a house deposit.
I am now focused towards my house goal, as much as I love my parents, I need my own space, I’m 32 for God’s sake!! :eek:
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mooomin

*subscribes*

Happy New Year

[Deleted User]

Hi all,
I thought I would write down my budget which I am hoping to stick too!!

Income
Monthly income after tax................ 1228.03
Current Account Reward..................... 5.00
Other income will come from babysitting but I can’t put a number down for this as it really depends on how many bookings I get each month.
Account fees
Account fee................................... 13 (0.50)
Monthly Expense Details
Direct Debits
Rent.................................... 200
Mobile phone............................ 50 (-?)
Cinema Card.............................14 (0.50)
Speedway support.................... 10
Total.............................................. £277

Savings accounts
Santander 1st Homebuyer Monthly Saver.................................300
ISA (House and Babysitting)......................................100 + all babysitting
Holidays and Social.................................................................. 100
Car (including MOT, maintenance and Road Tax)......... 50
Present Fund.............................................................. 40
POD (Prescription, Optical, Dental)..................... 30
Clothes.........................................................................20
AA Savings (VSP)...................................................
VSP Money............................................13.03 plus money Rounded down to nearest £10 from my current account.
Work Christmas savings ........ 10
Total........................................................ £663 +

Other Spends
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Me money................................ £200

I am really lucky that my parents don’t take any more money off me, I wouldn’t mind if they did but they are helping me out so I can save!
All the numbers in brackets are rounded up, My mobile phone bill has not been above £35 per month for years, its normally between £25 and £30 but I like to have a buffer just incase. The extra money each month will be going into my ISA account along with my babysitting money.
~ I have allocated myself £200 per month as me money and I hope I don't always use it all.
~ Along with all this I am going to aim for at least 10 NSD each month if not more.

~ I promise to only use my Pink Friend ONLY in the event of an emergency :A

I have an iPhone (My 2nd best purchase of 2010 only beaten by my car!) and I paid £1.79 for an Account Tracker app, it is one of the best apps I have on my phone and I use it daily as my spending diary.

My Account tracker app is listed as follows on my phone and is my spending diary

Bank Accounts
~ Reward Current Account – My main account
~ Cash – I found it easier to keep track when I withdraw money from my account
~ Easycash – Amended after advice from FF and thinking it over ! I'll be keeping £20 in this account as contingency money and for transfering money into for paying cheap flights with some airlines!!
Savings
~ 1st Homebuyer – Home savings account
~ ISA Home – The other part of my house savings
~ Car – All things car related
~ Clothes – For when I need new clothes
~ Holiday/Social – As it says holiday and social savings
~ POD – Prescription, Optical, Dental
~ Present Fund – As it says saving for presents
~ VSP – My Virtual Sealed Pot
~ £1 Coin Jar - £1 coins
~ £2 Coin Jar - £2 coins
~ Coin Jar – All other coins

Credit Card
~ My Pink Friend – Emergencies only from now on! :A
As you can see it is pretty easy to follow and I never go anywhere without my phone so I am able to update my app anytime.

MSE Challenges I am part of:
~ Virtual Sealed Pot Challenge (VSP) I Run this one
~ Sealed Pot Challenge 4
~£2 Savers Club part 5
~ Crazy 2011 Clothes Challenge

~ I am also going back to do the monthly NSD Challenges to help keep me focused on saving as much as possible

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[Deleted User]

Hi all,
1. [strike]To pay off my pink friend aka the CC!![/strike] Done before Christmas 2010 :j
2. Save, Save and Save some more for a house deposit! (Hopefully have a decent deposit by late 2012)
3. Put ALL my babysitting money into savings for my house deposit.
4. Try to leave all savings in their accounts instead of dipping into them each month.
5. Keep using my phone app to keep track of my spending. ( I use it constantly anyway as its a great way of seeing how much I am spending and on what!)

ND FINALLY - Not so much DFW
6. [strike] Get to my goal weight at WW [/strike] (So close – as of 18th December 2010 I was 2lb from my goal weight!!) ACHIEVED 29/01/11 :j:j

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mooomin

Palema wrote: »

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]~ Easycash – [/FONT][FONT=&quot]I use this initially for my babysitting money am going to transfer it once a month into my ISA so I am not putting in little dribs and drabs.[/FONT]

This is the only thing I would change

Your Easycash is earning you nothing. Not one penny. Nada.

You earn interest each day on the total balance in your ISA, so every time you increase the amount you're earning yourself more lovely tax-free interest. You should see the statement on my ISA - it's deposits of £1 per day and if I wasn't signed up for paperless statements then the statement would run to pages!!

Transfer the money as and when - it will make you better off by a few pounds a year!

[Deleted User]

flying_fresian wrote: »

This is the only thing I would change

Your Easycash is earning you nothing. Not one penny. Nada.

You earn interest each day on the total balance in your ISA, so every time you increase the amount you're earning yourself more lovely tax-free interest. You should see the statement on my ISA - it's deposits of £1 per day and if I wasn't signed up for paperless statements then the statement would run to pages!!

Transfer the money as and when - it will make you better off by a few pounds a year!

I know my Easycash doesn't earn me money, It was my bank account while I was in debt on the TD and I have it as a standby account now. I usually have at least £20 in there, and was using it for my babysitting money before I applied for my ISA last week.
I never thought of putting money into the ISA in dribs and drabs. Just thought it would be easier to do in one lump sum. Will start transferring babysitting money over after my next babysitting job

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mooomin

One last thing before I start my 2011 thread...

If your ISA is with Halifax/BoS then make sure you're in the ISA Reward thingie. It pays higher interest but is still instant access.

weeclick

ooh good luck I too have just started my own diary for saving for a house deposit - I have subscribed

[Deleted User]

flying_fresian wrote: »

One last thing before I start my 2011 thread...

If your ISA is with Halifax/BoS then make sure you're in the ISA Reward thingie. It pays higher interest but is still instant access.

It is the ISA Reward I saw it and thought it was a good interest rate so went for it

weeclick wrote: »

ooh good luck I too have just started my own diary for saving for a house deposit - I have subscribed

Thanks Weeclick
I will search out your diary - Good luck with the house savings

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Buffythedebtslayer

I too am living at home, it has its pros and its cons! Once I am debt free I shall save my backside off to get a house desposit!

Thanks for running the VSP thread btw


Good luck with everything xxxx

[Deleted User]

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

I too am living at home, it has its pros and its cons! Once I am debt free I shall save my backside off to get a house desposit!

Thanks for running the VSP thread btw


Good luck with everything xxxx

Thanks Buffy
I love the pros and hate the cons!! But at the minute its what needs to be done to get where I want to be. I am definately more focused this year and I hope this will help me in the long run.

I really enjoy running the VSP thread - Its taken off this year for some reason and with lots of newbies and not so many carrying on from last year, and everyone seems to be really liking the idea of it!
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