Lisa's Debt Diary - The Beginning!

lvm

So, it's been a rather eventful couple of weeks.

Failed first part of my motorbike test before passing it 5 days later (yesterday). Unfortunately I had a bit of an accident the night before and have a broken toe and fractured rib (but still managed to pass the test! lol).

So, in a lot of pain and what's more - I'm meant to have the 2nd part of the bike test tomorrow. I'm in pain every time I move, breathe, cough, sneeze etc so no idea how I'll do this!

Have spent too much money as well - thank God it's nearly statement date and I'll just need to find the money somewhere and try and not spend any dosh for the rest of the year!

Still no luck on the 2nd job front so no extra dosh coming in yet :-(

Anyways, off for a walk about to try and ease the stiffness and work off the pain!!

girlatplay

Good grief Lis! Hope you are feeling better soon. I know how painful a fractured rib is. The worst thing about sneezing is you can't do much about it. Ouch! Good luck if you manage to do the 2nd part today

lvm

girlatplay wrote: »

Good grief Lis! Hope you are feeling better soon. I know how painful a fractured rib is. The worst thing about sneezing is you can't do much about it. Ouch! Good luck if you manage to do the 2nd part today

Thanks GAP! Good news - I passed!! Went ok with it was during that hour of heavy rain so a bit scary having never really ridden in rain before! But all good, I can now get rid of the L plates, get my light fixed and get out on some motorways (ok, maybe not too soon but at least I'm allowed now!)

girlatplay

Congratulations!! :T That rain was bad. Well done you.

lvm

So, payday has arrived at last and it's been a pretty rubbish week. Kids tried to steal my new motorbike on Saturday - little sh1ts!! So even more money to pay out to get it fixed! RAGING!!

Have a rubbish time at work - just feel a bit stuck in a rut. Found out today though I've to travel to office and do an overnight stay every week. Good thing is that it will give me a £78 profit every week or around £340 a month. Now this is to go towards wear and tear on my car and I'm really hoping nothing goes wrong with it any time soon as I really need the extra cash. The other good thing is that I am allowed a set amount of money for breakfast if I leave early in the morning. Now, they don't mind what you actually get so the plan is to stop in at Asda on the way there every week and buy some groceries (pasta, sauces etc) that I can keep in the boot til I get home. So that's about £30 a month which should do me ok.

I've got to somehow find £300 to pay a credit card bill by 16th Feb. The bill's actually just under £900 but I've managed to sort the rest of the money without having to raid savings. I've listed a couple of things on eBay but I'll be lucky if that gets me £20.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I won't be finding a second job. Just nothing around at the moment.

I'm getting more and more determined to try and raise money to buy a house quicker due to the whole bike incident. I either need a garage or a garden when I can had a shed. It gets me down sometimes when I realise I won't really be able to do this for at least another 2 years unless something drastic happens (please let me buy the winning lottery ticket!!).

Eurgh, I need to cheer up and be happy!!

girlatplay

Probably the same kids that vandalised my car when I stayed at the high flats :mad::mad::mad: I know it was some time ago but they don't seem to grow up very fast.

You are doing so incredibly well with the house savings. We all have down days but think about how much worse it could be. Time seems to drag when you are waiting for something but time flies once you have it. It will come xx

lvm

Right, I need to give myself a big telling off! 3 weeks of not updating this is absolutely shocking! Saying that, I have been on here pretty much every day but seem to be neglecting my own finances and seeing what everyone else is up to!

So, not much changed with me I don't think. Unfortunately had to take a wee bit dosh out my savings account to pay last month's credit card bill. Good thing is I'm starting to see some more expenses come through so that will build it quickly up to what it was at before. And hopefully I won't be needing to use the car savings yet (unless car breaks down which isn't unlikely given the way it's been driving the last few weeks!).

Applied for a job going at a local supermarket on Monday and application is "under review" according to the online thing. It's actually a perfect job with perfect hours - 16 a week which would make such a huge difference.

Just realised that this is about the time the council tax bills come through and I am NOT looking forward to it. Last year was ok as I had the extra Census job and was feeling very flush but now that I've committed myself to saving a lot more money, I have no idea how I'm going to pay the council tax! Decided not to put it into my monthly budget as I was hoping on paying big chunks of it as and when the money was available (and because I know how much it inconveniences the council which is NEVER a bad thing!) Going to have to really hope I get this new job which would pay the tax in about 4 months I think.

Was on holiday from work this week and aim was to get tonnes of stuff on eBay. Managed to photograph about 50 items of clothing but then only managed to get 19 things listed - it takes sooooo long! So waiting til tomorrow night to try and whizz through the rest of it if I can.

Managed to pay one of my credit cards off and BEFORE PAYDAY this month. Very chuffed! And the dreaded Vanquis one won't be as high this time so will be paying that easily this time.

Still be addicted to looking on Rightmove constantly but realising more and more that I'm never going to be able to afford a house in Edinburgh...even if I managed the £50k deposit in just over 2 yrs time, I'm going to be sooo limited because of my salary. Even with 2 jobs on the go, I'd barely get a £150k house - £100k short of what I need. Ah well, maybe I'll meet the man of my dreams before then...although saying he would need to perform a miracle to get me to agree to any joint finances!

More money-spending on the go as well - already booked up Gordon Ramsay restaurant for May and I'm paying for both myself and my Mum. Got a pricey afternoon tea at Harrods as well although here's hoping I'll not have to pay for both of us! Been checking out transport to and from airport as well and I'm sooo tempted for the £2 easybus despite the long journeys.

I think that may be just about all my news...that'll teach me a lesson for abondoning my diary for so long I guess!

Well, back to work on Monday and fingers crossed I'll hear about an interview or something!

Laters! xx

lvm

Got a nice early pay day this month - woo hoo!!

So, paid off the credit card and made a couple of little transfers to savings account. My VSP is up to nearly £250 which I'm well chuffed about. I opened 3 more Direct Savings account with RBS. One for my non-mileage expenses to go in to (I'm allowed to buy food if I'm on the road before a certain time in the morning or after a certain time at night so I can expense £15 a week now which is pretty much my weekly food shop!). Another account to help save for 2013/14 council tax and the other for buying costs of a new house. Thinking about whether this is the most sensible thing though or whether I should keep that as past of my deposit. Think I may be going a bit OTT with savings accounts - I have 7!!!

One thing that's really irritating me is that my lodger is never paying me on time although I'll never say anything to him about it. Just wish I could have all money coming in at once - would make everything so much easier!

Really need to get looking at my tax stuff for last year - I got a letter saying I owed just over £100 which would be taken back over the next 12 months but I'm sure I can work something out which means I wouldn't need to pay this.

Anyways, hopefully this will be a nice cheap weekend with not much spending. I do have those £90 of John Lewis vouchers I got from Which magazines that I need to spend on something (or sell for some cash!)

Cheerio! x

Cherryjack

Sorry i left you for so long.. i went off and had a baby lol..a little girl
Im back now and like you was not updating my diary.. or doing my budgets and went off track.. I to am back
You will get a house you know... your credit will improve and you will do well with yr savings if you stick to things. No doubt you will finally have the money and the man will then appear.. bonus! he can pay for the decorating hehe..
Hope yr feeling ok now after the horrid accident.. and i hope yr bike is safe. Keep updating, its nice to read xx

lvm

WOW...congratulations! Hope everything is going well for you and there aren't too many sleepless nights!

I'm sure we'll both get to where we want...eventually!! xx