“Let it go”, move on and start enjoying life

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The weather didn’t hold but at least the garden is looking lush with a good soaking and there’s a lovely fresh smell in the air.

I’m really looking forward to going home and visiting family/friends in a few days but a little worried the negative impact on the old finances. A) I’ll spend more money than usual and I have to shutdown my ebay shop which now that my paid job has finished, is my only source of income. I keep thinking about putting it off for a month or so but it probably won’t make much difference financially. I’m determined to have fun this summer and not let another one pass me by unnoticed.

I have to make £250 to pay my DD cluster on the 19th. I’ve worked out that I’ve only 5 potential paypal transfer days between now and then. So I need to transfer £50 each time to hit target. Of course that’s assuming I don’t spend anything…which is a big challenge.

I’m taking my National trust card away with me, so I’m planning to base most days out around that. My parents will probably buy the mandatory cream teas (shhh...don’t tell my SW consultant), so main spends will be petrol and meals out with friends (probably both going on cc). Of course, there is the small matter of the great little charity shops and bootsales near to where they live – but we’ll see. I’ll just withdraw my normal £50 for the week and it will just have to last.

I’ve had a good play around with my spreadsheet at the weekend, in between listing. I really need something to focus my mind, rather than just surviving month to month, which to be honest is starting to depress me. In the long term, I really want to buy a house again. My OH seems stuck on the idea of renting but I think this is mainly due to the fact that he hates DIY/gardening and renting means he has an excuse not to do it. He is also extremely analytical and states that renting makes more sense financially.

At the moment he is probably right, but the fact is that he’s been saying that for the last 15 years. I’ve come to the conclusion that the time won’t ever be right and if had his way, we would never buy another house. Even if this makes sense financially, I DO want to buy a house. OK, it is expensive and you have the responsibility of maintenance but there is something wonderful about owning your home (even if in reality, most of it is actually owned by the bank). I love pottering around the garden and deciding how to decorate the inside. However, I’m having difficulty in explaining this to OH in a rational analytical way – anybody else have this problem?

In the meantime, I’m going to start a savings pot which I’m going to call my ‘little old cottage fund’. I have a picture in my mind of an old English cottage with oodles of character, and a pretty garden. I’ve already worked out that I would probably be able to scrape together a large enough deposit by the end of 2012 (when some long term policies mature). There is the small matter of needing a 40-60k job to afford the accompanying mortgage but I’ll have to have a think about that one.

Anyway, back to reality and packing up sales from the weekend.

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Current Debts : £1150 credit cd – will clear in June.
Money earned so far in June credit £410 (will clear on 9th )
Currently due to go overdrawn on 19th June (need £250 to clear)
Predicted end of June figure (-£448.48 doesn't include cash pocket money £150-£200)

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I’m back after my week away. Took out about £100 spending money and have £20 left, which I’m trying to make last until the end of this week. One pub meal for two (£20) and a tank of petrol went on the old credit card.

I still had a good time even though I was watching the pennies. We visited a couple of National Trust properties for free, using my heavily discounted and cash-backed Nat trust membership. Only need to visit one more and the membership has paid for itself….then the rest of the year will be absolutely free.

Just need to avoid the cream teas, which is difficult. Mum treated me to one at the first house but then announced that she could make them cheaper and much tastier herself. Did I mention that she was a natural MSE? So we took a flask of coffee and some sandwiches to the next one.

I bought her a plant as a souvenir which will last longer than a trip to the caf! (and it only cost £2). She saw some large plant pots which she liked but the prices were frightening. However, we went to a local market the next day and they had the same pots for a fraction of the price and they came as a pair. It is her birthday soon so she got an early pressie.

I met a couple of old friends for a meal. I offered to drive so that kept the spends on budget.

I took my laptop away with me and have been checking for any bargains. I am planning a short trip in August and saw the Travelodge sale, so whizzed on there and picked up a £15 room. At the time, they only seemed to have Sunday nights at the lowest prices. Not sure whether I was too late or if they will release more. I’ll keep checking. It’s in a seaside town in August so I thought I was pretty lucky to get that. I’ll try the late booking sites when it gets a bit nearer. I could manage with just a couple of nights but as it’s a long drive, I would have liked to stay a few days and take in all the local attractions.

The money from selling my endowment has come through. I sat down last night and squirreled it away in little pots, mostly in accounts with the best interest I could find and withdrawal penalties, to stop me nibbling away at it.

I have created an emergency fund with a month’s outgoings in it, plus enough to pay off my credit card when I receive the next statement. I’m going to allow myself to dip into this but any funds must be repaid the following month. I know the suggestion is normally for 3 months wages into an emergency fund but over the last few months I’ve learnt that I’m more motivated if I don’t have access to a slush fund that’s too easy to dip into. I will increase this amount if I buy a house, to plan for emergency repairs. We rent at the moment, so the only generator of nasty financial surprises is the car and the dog. We have insurance for the latter and the car was serviced/mot-ed recently so cross fingers, we are safe for a while.

Then I have created 2 longer term pots. One is my relocation fund, which has enough to move house back to my home county. Might be on the cards in a few months if I don’t find work locally.

The other is my ‘little old cottage fund’ for when I buy my dream house. I’ve locked this one away in an Isa and a penalty withdrawal high interest account. The plan is to add as much as I can to this fund over the next 18 months with a purchase date of late 2012 or early 2013.

Anyway, I need to get back on track and concentrate on earning enough to support myself month to month. I can’t allow these savings to disappear and need to be really strict about sticking to budget. My target is to earn at least £350 during the remainder of the month.

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Current Debts : £1800 credit cd – will clear in June.
Money earned so far in June £653 (will clear on 17th). £200 behind target for 17th.
Currently due to go overdrawn on 20th July (before dipping into emergency fund)

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I received my credit bill today and have paid it off in full. Hopefully, this may save some interest. From next month, I’m going to try and resist using it for anything other than fuel and ebay postage and pay it off in full every month. My usual spend is £500. I don’t have any large purchases planned for July, so I’m going to aim for £300. August is going to be hard as I have car insurance due and my little trip away, but let’s focus on July first.

Last payday from paid job tomorrow and then I’m back to relying solely on my ebay sales again.

On that note, I’d best get back to it.

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Current Debts : £1800 credit cd – paid off in full. Now debt-free and trying to stay that way.
Money earned so far in June £771.24 (will clear on 17th). £78.76 behind target (£50 a day) for 17th.
Currently due to go overdrawn on 20th July (before dipping into emergency fund)

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Been quiet here. Weather has been very wet and windy but at least it means I haven’t been out spending money. Doesn’t do much for my goal of ‘getting out and enjoying the summer’ though.

I’ve slipped behind on my daily earning target so I need to pull my finger out on that one. I listed a few large things in the local paper yesterday and had a couple of calls already, so hopefully will gain a few pounds and some space.

On that latter point, I’ve decided to put together a spreadsheet for reducing the amount of clutter I have in the house. If I’m going to move, I will only be able to afford a small 2 bedroom place, so I need to severely cull the boxes and boxes of stuff I’m hanging onto.

Here I have the luxury of a room as an office and another as a stock/junk room. Both are bursting with boxes and shelving. I need to somehow combine these two rooms into one to fit in my new house’s 2nd bedroom, or find one with a tardis-type feature. Plus I have an overflowing garage.

I keep looking at the huge amount of sorting I’ll need to do, getting de-motivated and not doing anything. So, new plan. Create a master list (done) and then every day try and tick something off the list (no matter how small). I‘ve been trying this for the last few days and even after such a short amount of time, I’m beginning to feel I’m making progress.
I’ve divided some of the larger tasks into bite size chunks to help.

Today’s task involves emptying out a bulky cupboard in the office, to free up space and putting it in the local paper. It takes up a lot of room but the storage space it provides is impractical (drawers). It’s current contents is very old paperwork which in the large can be shredded, so I don’t need to find alternative storage

But first, I’m going to do some ebay listing to see if I can give the old earnings a boost.

Hope you all have a productive day

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Current Debts : Nil
Money earned so far in June £875. Approx £300 behind target (£50 a day).
Currently due to go overdrawn on 20th July (before dipping into emergency fund).

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Kept busy yesterday and had a massive tidy of my office. Cupboard is empty, dusted off and is in the local paper. I’ve had a bit of interest but not sold it as yet. It never ceases to surprise me how many people make contact to ask if it is still available, you confirm and ask them when they would like to come to inspect/collect…and you never hear from them again. The local paper seems to attract tyre-kickers. I’m going to give it a few days and then try my luck on ebay.

I’ve rearranged the remaining furniture and now have loads more room. It’s now a much nicer room to work in and I’m going to try to keep it this way, as it brightens my mood. One of my new rules, is that if I’ve sorted an area, I’m then not allowed to put any junk there (no matter how temporary). This is going to be difficult when I get down to the last few areas to clear but it stops me simply moving stuff around.

Next target – my bedroom. Box up stuff that I’ve temporarily moved in there (from a now clear area – see what I mean?) and get a few loads of washing done.

If I get all that ticked off, then I’m going to treat myself with an evening of crochet.

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Current Debts : Nil
Money earned so far in June £912. 5 days behind target (£50 a day) – hopefully catch up at the weekend when I have a few auctions ending.
Currently due to go overdrawn on 20th July (before dipping into emergency fund).

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Hope everybody had a good weekend. I was beginning to think that the weathermen were having a late April fool joke with us on Friday night. I was sitting there with several layers of jumpers, wrapped in a blanket (did I mention I feel the cold?), whilst the weather report was forecasting a heat wave. Well, I guess it was nice and warm yesterday and looks promising today. Let’s hope it stays around for a few weeks but I don’t think I’ll pack away the last jumper quite yet.

I sold my cupboard in the local paper finally – but even the eventual buyer bought on his 2nd appointment. The first he cancelled about 5 minutes before he was due to arrive. I know there are no fees (in comparison to ebay) but buyers from the local papers are certainly more hard work…no-shows, tyre-kickers and hagglers. I’ve got a few more large items to sell, but I’m going to list on ebay this time.

A few sales at the weekend so a morning of packing is scheduled. On the funds front, I got a surprise bonus from my old part-time job (a £15 tax refund). Plus a payment from Amaz*n for the books I sold last month. Every little helps.

Plan for the week/ final push for June:

Financial – see if I can add another £100 to my earnings this month. Investigate the new high int savings account on MSE, cancel PC insurance (still not sent back).

De-clutter for house downsize – Give winter woollies a wash and box up, clear top of desk, table and small cupboard in office.

Fun – investigate new dance class I’ve heard about, phone about volunteer steward opportunities in July.

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Current Debts : Nil. Keep cc spending to a minimum.
Money earned so far in June £1106. Still 5 days behind goal of earning £50 a day.
Currently due to go overdrawn on 20th July (before dipping into emergency fund).

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Sorry for the absence – …bit of a gap since I last updated my diary.

My main goal for the summer was not to let it pass without fully enjoying the warmer weather. Well.. I’m happy to say that I have been out and about as much as possible and had a great time - all on a budget. I managed a short holiday (in the uk) surrounding a business trip. So had a few days afterwards pottering around the coast. I booked all the rooms from the late booking sites, via the cash back sites, so cheap prices plus a small bonus when they track. For one particular night, I splashed out on a slightly better small hotel in a beautiful spot and when I checked-in the hotel manager upgraded me to their best room. It had a stunning view and a spa bath.

I had budgeted £100 spending money for the week and only spent £50. This included food as well, so I’m really pleased with myself. The first part of the week, I had a free hot lunch provided but was on a room-only motel basis. So before leaving home, I packed my cool box with loads of fruit, diet milk-shakes, cereal bars and cup a soups. I had a kettle in my room, so ate breakfast and supper from supplies. The last few days, I was in B and B type accommodation so ate a full English which kept me going for most of the day.

Apart from that, I’ve spent the summer exploring the place I’ve lived for the past 20 years but not really visited. Plus loads of volunteering at local events and festivals…which has been great fun, providing experiences that normal visitors don’t get to see plus free admission.

Now as I feel the season changing, it really is time to take stock and get back on track money-wise. This month I only paid the minimum on my credit card and have used up all of my emergency float. So need a virtual kick up the proverbial.

I can’t put it off any longer…I need to get a part-time job to bolster the income from my little business. I still have just enough in my relocation fund but only just – so absolutely must not definitely dip into this savings account.

Plans for September:
Financial – get a part time job or possibly a full time temp assignment for October. Stop procrastinating and get listing on ebay….aim is to earn £1000 by the end of the month to prevent going into the red. I’m at £300 currently so should be possible.
De-cluttering – finish clearing bench in garage so I have some working space (need to empty 4 large boxes) and try and make my office a nicer place to be.
Fun – Allowed 1 day trip to a craft show at the end of the month.

Plans for October. I’ve seen a 2 day motivational workshop I’d like to go to but with travel and accommodation, it will cost around £250 to attend. I can’t really justify it at the moment but am trying to use this as motivation to pull my finger out.

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Current Debts : credit card - £700 - does include £350 annual car insurance so not too bad.
Emergency fund– need to pay back 2k
Estimated balance in current account at end of month £-400 (1st priority to sort out)