Learning to Live on Less!

White_Iris

:j Yay! I got the job! :j

I'll hopefully be starting in a few weeks, so I should get my first paycheck at the end of August. By my calculations it should be in the region of £300, which doesn't sound much but it will really help our situation. The manager also said there would be the opportunity to do more hours to cover sickness and holidays, so some months it should be a bit more. So pleased, it's really made me feel better about myself and our situation. I can finally do something pro-active to help pay off our debts and buy a new house.

ETA - I've just used on online salary checker and they think I'll get nearly £400! Can't wait to see!

No news on when we'll exchange contracts on our house sale but I've asked our solicitor to chase things up, so fingers crossed that will happen soon.

jwil

Huge congratulations :T :T :T :T

Hope you get some good news about the house soon too

White_Iris

Busy few weeks, lots going on but none of it money saving so lets gloss over it.

I've suddenly got my stockpile-groove back so I've cleared some space in the kitchen and airing cupboard and I'm beginning to start bulk buying food and toiletries. I went to our local Asda yesterday (it's the other side of town so I don't usually go there) as I know their macaroni is half the price of Tesco and I usually make macaroni cheese once a week. I bought 6 bags, which should last about three months. While I was there I also stocked up on DHs toilettries on 3 for £5 (he's really fussy so this was a good deal, saving about £12 if I'd bought them separately) and breakfast cereal at £3 for 3 boxes. Today I went to Morrisons and picked up 6 bags of their value coffee (I really like it even if it is value), which should keep me going for a few months.

I'm out of money now and will have to wait for next weeks grocery budget but I'm mentally listing all the non-perishables we use and what would be worth stock-piling when I can get it for a good price. I also need to check out the price of dog food online and see if I can get it cheaper than the Pets at Home price.

Still no news on the house sale, our buyers solicitor are still waiting for their local searches to be completed. Apparently there's a back log and it could take a few more weeks :mad:.

White_Iris

Finally heard from our solicitor today and it's good news, we're at exchange of contracts and should complete at the end of next week.:j

First thing to do will be pay off and cancel our "spending" credit card, then cancel our landlord insurance and find some cheap contents cover (and hopefully get some cash back). After that the plan will be to pay off the remaining credit cards (0% deals and never used for spending as we can't remember the PINs) and start saving to increase our deposit. We've already run some figures with our mortgage advisor and once the credit cards are paid off, even with our remaining loan debt, we should be able to get a reasonable mortgage. Unfortunately not enough to buy the house we're currently renting but that was always a bit of a dream anyway.

Still no news on when I start work but I'm hoping it will be at the start of August, so I'll get a full months salary on my first pay day.

We're on summer holiday now and with DH at home I probably won't get the chance to update much (like I've been great at posting recently anyway! ), so have a good summer everyone and see you in September (but hopefully before!).

debtfreewannabe321

Fab news about everything WI So pleased things are going in the right direction for you'! I am also trying to think of ways to up my income right now and help the budget....think I need to be a little more pro-active like yourself! Have a wonderful summer if we don't see you before September! xx

jwil

That's fantastic news, WI :T:T:T:T

Have a lovely summer

White_Iris

Busy few weeks and I'm fairly pooped but happy!:D Started work and it's great, lovely people, I feel like I've been there for ever and I've already managed to get three extra shifts to boost by paycheck! :money:

The house sale went through as expected and we've now paid off and cancelled our spending credit card, banked a few ££ towards a deposit for the next place and saved about £30ish on home insurance, so all good! I've also come up with a repayment plan for our remaining credit card debt (although until I get my first wages I won't know for sure it will work - I may have grossly overestimated how much I'll be paid :eek:), so that should be gone within 12 months (maybe sooner if we're committed).

A few financial dips though - our gas and electricity costs have gone back up by £30 despite an initial drop of £30 when I switched tarif (I knew they'd underestimated how much we use :mad:) and now that we don't have the rental income, our budget is down about £45 a month, which shouldn't be too much of a problem from September once I get paid, but it's causing a bit of a headache this month. I also need to pay for parking at the new job which is £5 a day (:eek:) - it's a town centre location and no long-term free parking for miles. I'm going to try to get lifts as much as possible but I do need to factor that in, as well as slightly increased fuel costs.

Overall though, things are finally heading in the right direction :T.

jwil

Great news that the house all went through ok :T

Hope all the other financials settle down soon.

White_Iris

Phew, summer holidays almost over and first month at the new job completed. Back to normal next week (well the new normal, now that I have a job instead of being a SAHM ), starting with a massive clean and tidy of the house and making a start on some eBaying again. I'm aiming for a money neutral Christmas and September is usually when I start planning what I need to buy and how I'm going to pay for it.

It was really nice getting a paycheck again, although it wasn't quite as much as it should be as I was taxed nearly £100 as I've been put on code OT. After 20 minutes on hold to HMRC, a very nice and efficient man fixed it for me and I should get it back next month. If I get some extra shifts again, along side the back tax, I should have a very healthy paycheck in October. Aside from the tax issue, there were also a few other inconsistencies in my paycheck, which I've queried with HR, the differences between my calculations and what I was paid were relatively minor (less than £30 in total) but I still need to make sure I'm being paid correctly.

So when my wages arrived I put 10% in to my own savings account and put £175 towards paying off credit card number 1. We had already budgeted £75 towards this, so we're now paying it off at a rate of £250 a month. I'm aiming to have this cleared by next February. Once that's clear it will be cancelled and the payment snowballed to our remaining credit card, which should then be cleared by August 2015.

Once all the credit card debt is gone, the money will be saved towards a deposit on a new house - I'm aiming for £5000 by December 2015, we currently have £3000 saved.

DH has now gone back to work and in the next week or two, we should find out if he's getting a pay rise this year. If he does, depending how much it is, we need to look in to increasing our emergency savings. We currently have £200 saved and I'd like to aim for £1000 as soon as possible. I may also put some of my wages towards this.

Better go check I've got everything ready for the children to take to school tomorrow - big day, very exciting!

lucielle

Wow, sounds like you are beind very determined. Just curious about the £3000 savings, would that not be better put towards the debt then you aren't paying as much interest?
L