Blinking in the brightness of the lightbulb moment

chevalier

you have 300 odd left over each month. Do you really have this left or not? If not where does it go? I would suggest a spending diary therefore.

200 is a lot on groceries as you have identified.
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Cat2011

ZTD - lol, My course is on the Immune System and this module is about Autoimmune diseases and this essay is "Describe the approaches being used experimentally and clincally to treat autoimmune diseases". All very interesting stuff, but getting fed up of writing now! I want to enjoy the sunshine!! Nearly done...

Chevalier - Thanks for the input. Yeah i don't really seem to have that left. Partly its because I used to pay £350 into the mortgage account, but thought it was better to reduce that to £200 so it *just* covers all the bills and put the extra £150 towards my debt repayments. But that means I should still have >£150, think it comes down to being lazy and eating at work. Hmm actually, looks like I forgot to put my gym membership in.... Think I'll have a look through last months accounts and see where it all goes!

ZTD

Cat2011 wrote: »

ZTD - lol, My course is on the Immune System and this module is about Autoimmune diseases and this essay is "Describe the approaches being used experimentally and clincally to treat autoimmune diseases".

Wooh... I can see why that would ruin a Sunday...

Cat2011 wrote: »

All very interesting stuff, but getting fed up of writing now! I want to enjoy the sunshine!! Nearly done...

Yes, you enjoy the sun - it's good for you

Cat2011

Managed to have a NSD today :T, and finished my essay!! yay - no more study til October :j (now just have to wait for the marks ) Even managed to cram in a very quick cycle in the sunshine. Just got a couple more jobs to do this eve then off to bed... Haven't had a chance to check out last months finances, will try and do that tomorrow eve.

chevalier

well done on finishing the essay. nice one. if you look at the last 3 months accounts you may get a more accurate picture of your finances for your SOA.
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Cat2011

Yesterday would have been a NSD, except I had to get fuel. But I was organsied (for once!) and checked out petrolprices.com first, meaning I went to Waitrose which was a bargain 134.9 (normally 138.9 here). Not had time to check out my previous accounts to get an accurate SOA, and packing tonight for Austria (yay!), back next week, so will sort it all out then. Will try not to spend too much in Austria...!

Cat2011

Wow, its a long time since I've posted!

Had a fab time in Austria, didn't really spend too much, and managed to persuade several friends to come along so that made it cheaper too .

I paid for the accomodation in Austria, and am being paid back by my friends, so wacked it on my 0% spending card, and will put their payments in my ISA.

I've also defected from my current gym :eek: . It's gorgeous, but costs £50 a month, have now joined the not-quite-so-nice gym, which is £29 a month. Had my induction there yesterday and the guy was very helpful, and gave me lots of exercises to do with weights which was exactly what I wanted. When I joined expensive gym a couple of years ago, the inductor basically said do 20 mins on the treadmill, 20 mins on the stepper and a few sit ups, and I haven't spoken to any of the staff since! So hopefully it'll work out at the new gym.

I did have a little ponder about giving up the gym entirely. But although I have debt, I am able to pay it off steadily. Sport is very important to me and I definitely get my moneys worth. I don't go out drinking every weekend, do (fairly) good food shops etc. So think it's worth it for the quality of life it gives me.

Tho having said that I am pondering about returning to uni next October, which could mean needing to pay off my debt, plus saving about 10k on top..... guess I'll see if I get in first - no point worrying about things that might never happen.

I've recently discovered I can get an Amazon Seller Account (which I'm sure the whole world knew about before me!). So I've been shoving all the books that are gathering dust onto there. Have sold 2 so far (whoop! :T). But have learnt my lesson re: pricing, as I made a whopping 12p profit on one of them after Amazon fees. Doh! So have now changed the minimum I charge to take the fees into account. Love the fact that it's so quick to list a new book for sale, and it just sits there til someone buys it, no risk of it selling for 0.01p like on eBay if no one bids. Speaking of which - must get things on eBay too. Will wait for next fee-free weekend.


To Do this week:

Cancel magazine subsciption DONE - they're going to send me a cheque for £11.25 which can go to ISA
Cancel itemised billing on my mobile
Visit Santander branch and give them what-for about failing to open a current account for me DONE
Tile the bathroom (as cheaply as possible!)
Post book sold on Amazon DONE
Put more books on Amazon DONE

ZTD

There is also this site: http://www.greenmetropolis.com/

Cat2011

Woohoo! I won the lottery!

Well, I won 15 quid... but it'll do. Still a bit annoyed at myself about buying the tickets, not very MSE. Was having a read of the payment a day boards, so decided to transfer all the money on the website (I bought the tickets online) into my savings account. Also rounded down my bank accounts to the nearest £5, so that added another £7 or so... Think I might try rounding down my accounts on a regular basis, and adding that money to the savings account.

Thanks for the link ZTD. I'll probably add the books which are being sold by others for 1p on Amaz!n (and therefore mine prob won't sell) to green metropolis, might make a little more there.

Waiting for my experiment to finish then dashing to the gym this evening to finish off my induction. Then dashing home to meet a friend who's coming over to watch some DVDs with me. Mr T is also visiting tonight, which is great as my fridge is empty!

I seem to have been non-stop at the moment. Which is actually a good thing I think. I got stuck in the "can't be bothered to do anything" rut, which was a bit depressing. Sent off my application for volunteering at the hospital and with St Johns, so hopefully will have that organised soon. I was feeling guilty for not doing anything *worthwhile* to help others, and had answered far too many surveys etc. about whether I did any volunteering (the answer was always no). So thought I may as well do something about it!

Cat2011

Had a bit of an up and down day today. My results from an experiment I did yesterday were not very good, so I'm going to have to repeat it :mad: . Tried going to the gym this eve, but the guy that inducted me hadn't finished my program, so I didn't know what weights to lift, and there were loads of men in the free weights area, so I got all intimidated and ran off.... . Going to go back tomorrow morning when hopefully it's more quiet and give it another go.

On a brighter note I seem to have got the hang of staying within a budget (touch wood!). 11 days til payday and I still have some money in my account - enough for a bit of fun spending and another tank of fuel :j.

Planning to tile the bathroom at the weekend, which I have no idea how to do! Going to be a steep learning curve!