Introducing myself - Small changes, big effect!

*KT*

To buy a lottery ticket or not to buy a lottery ticket... That is the question.

*KT*

Hmmm...

I've just been looking at my bank accounts...

I'm confused and a wee bit stunned actually. It is 2 weeks and 1 day away from pay day. I still have money in my account (well, left in the overdraft if you know what I mean).

Here is where I am at. I still have the £275 uni bill to pay (holding off as late as possible, looking to pay it next wednesday when I'm in uni.) I still have ~£60 in DDs to come off and even accounting for as much as £50 for petrol and another £20 for fresh foods (I didn't take out all my food and petrol money on pay day like I planned... oops) I should still have £80 for me which is £20 next week and the week after and still £40 left over! I am also still due a cheque for some interpreting work I did that should be ~£50.

I expected it to be much tighter than this and I am wondering if I have forgotten something. I am being generous with my estimates here, better to be on the safe side. But still, what am I missing?!

Verbatim

Well done. I hope you haven't missed anything and that this is the start of things starting to get easier for you.

*KT*

I haven't been updating this diary as much as I would like to but that's because I've been busy! As I think I mentioned before I finally moved the last of my stuff out of my dads so this week I have been seperating the "rubbish" from the "would be nice to keep" from the "SELL!"

I added another 10 books to my amazon inventory last night and added another 5 items to eBay bringing my current total to 8 auctions there. Hopefull more will be added tonight but I just ran out of steam yesterday.

I am really wanting to clear out as much stuff as possible over the next few weeks. In an ideal world all my belongings could fit in my car (minus furnature) and I could just up and go if I ever wanted. Just now I'm a bit "tethered".

I have written a list of my absolute wants and my goals are now being written to match. I've had to go slightly easier on myself but I'm still on track to get to the end of the month without having to expand my debts at all. That will include paying off the current uni bill... I know, I said I'd do it on wednesday but it just didnt happen. I still have the funds there to do it though.

I got a factors bill in for over £100 that will need to be dealt with on pay day.

It's only a week until I find out roughly what is happening with my job and then another couple of weeks until my end date is known. So, before then I am trying to sort out the qualifications I already have and talk with the regulatary bodies about registering as a trainee interpreter so I can start on my scary road to self-employment.

I'm terrified but invigorated. This might even be possible...

*KT*

Oh and another mini triuph I forgot about. They put my Sky bill back up... I wasn't impressed but because I was checking my online banking often I caught it the day the DD came out. instead of moping about it or saying I'd deal with it later I went online during my break at work to get the number and called up there and then to ask what could be done to put my bill back to what it was letting them know that it was either that or I'd have to leave. I don't have a choice now. Within a 5minute phonecall I had it all sorted and my bill will now return to what it was with a smaller bill next month.

result!

One final thing, I STILL haven't been to the cinema even once since I rejoined the forums. I am really itching to go now but I think that I'm going to make that my birthday treat with bf not this weekend coming but next. Hopefully there will be something on I want to see!

*KT*

Verbatim

All sounding good KT. Which language/s are you hoping to interpret? My dd is thinking about this too. She's a Russian speaker with 1st year uni French as well.

*KT*

I'm a British Sign Language / English interpreter (who occasionally dabbles in manual Deafblind interpreting.

I'd love to have spoken languages too. I find them more difficult for some reason. perhaps I'm a visual learner.

*KT*

Pay day on Friday.

I haven't done quite as well as I planned. I started off really strict and then it tailed off. I haven't paid my uni bill yet because I've had to pay my factors fee instead. I want to pay the uni bill after my mortgage has come off after pay day. I should be able to cope with that.

I know I want to go out for my birthday and bf and I have been talking about an overnight in Edinburgh. I'll need to pay for the hotel if we do that. I'd love to go but money wise we might need to do something more local. if I'm strict with myself before then, or get more sales, or even use any birthday money then I'm sure I can make it work.

I hate that some days this all seems so easy and I can conquer the world and other days it is just plain hard.

I need a magic wand...

kaz0705

Hi KT,

Good work on what you've achieved so far- you've almost made it to pay day! That's a MASSIVE achievement!

I assume you must live near-ish Edinburgh? If your birthday is fairly soon, I'd imagine there are lots of spring deals available. And I *know* from personal experience that there are hundreds of good quality cheap B&Bs so I reckon £40 could cover your accommodation for the night.

This is again about choices. If you REALLY want to do this for your birthday, being even more strict with yourself is worth it. If being even more strict seems impossible, why not start saving for a treat in September or something? Ok, it's not a *birthday* treat then but you're not 10 anymore either- I think we can all accept that birthday treats are probably a bit of an indulgence anyway.

My boyf and I spent NYE in Brussels- 3nights in a 4*hotel and return Eurostar was just under £300 for both of us... As such, I know that if I put £15 aside each month, we can do the same again this year with no worries (I also worked out how much I spent at Christmas and am now putting a tenner aside each month for that).

The annoying thing about getting debt free is that its not frivilous or fun or spontaneous. I would *love* to go shopping and buy 3 pairs of new shoes; heck, I'd love to go on a night out and not have to look at the prices of wine to figure out the best value/best taste ratio! But, I've now (almost) accepted that what I can't have right now (spring break in rome), I can save for and have when I can afford it.

Maybe Edinburgh is worth waiting and saving up for so you can go and have an awesome time without worrying AT ALL about money? Coz, if you need to budget for the hotel, I'd imagine you'd also need to budget for food and drink and fun? (As an aside, last time I visited, my cousin booked us a table through 5pm.com or something so we got 50% off out food bill).

In the meantime: nearly payday!! WHOOP!

Verbatim

What Kaz said!

It IS a huge achievement and payday is looming. Plan what you need to pay (and save for the annual expenses) and you'll have an excellent chance of success.

On the sign language career can i expect to see you at the side of the TV screen sometime in the future? I suppose you interpret for people at hospitals, clinics, (police stations?) and meetings generally?? It sounds very worthwhile and I imagine varied and interesting.