London Socialite Sees The Light

LondonGirl252

Right, at work - no tears so far! Here's the important post - stats since last months payday, if this dont cheer me up nothing will!

Debt- Last month £11,930.57 - This month £11,310.01
% - Last month 11% - This month - 15%
No of debts - Last month 5 - This month 4
Paid off - last month £492.92 - This month £620.56
Savings - Last month £18.50 - This month £130.50
Share save - Last month £1,000 - This month £1,100
Amount better off compared to last month £832.56
Amount better off compared to LBM 30.09.2011 £3,259.15

I have to say I am pretty darn pleased with all that and tomorrow will make them so much better, so can't wait to post next months stats! LOL

I logged on to the employee shares website yesterday and I have a tonne of shares in the company I had no idea about, they do different schemes and I'm in share save which is fixed and will mature in 2014, they also do "Buy as you earn" So each month you pay in a certain amount, they translate that into shares - however many shares that is, they match with 2 free. I used to pay £35 a month into that until I began the money saving mission then decided to wait until I was debt free. But I also have 2,500 shares in the bonus issue section, I knew I had a few as they always give 10% of your bonus in shares but last year that was only 50 and this years - 175 - wont be added untill tomorrow so that 2,500 was a nice surprise.
Based on yesterdays share price it all had a value of...... £4,808!!!!! HOWEVER, all the free shares have a vesting period of 3 years, so the 2,500 and all the matching shares from Buy as you earn aren't technically mine yet. Only the bonus ones 50+175 and the ones I have actually bought are mine and taxable too, and if I leave them in there for 3 years then they become tax free. I hadn't really considered how valuable these shares are. I started paying in to them in Nov 2010 so in Nov 2013 they will start to become mine and I can think about what to do with them. Obviously they are subject to the share price changes so they may become worthless if the company does badly but we are reporting good profit this year despite the downturn in the economy so fingers crossed the markets will pick up and the share price will rise.
The share save scheme money I pay in is guaranteed return, if the share price rises you make profit, if it goes down you just get back what you paid in plus interest.

So all in all, I currently plan to become debt free summer 2013, just after that these shares begin to mature and in April 2014 I have my guaranteed £3,600 share save money, that could well be a brilliant start to my savings journey and what a motivator - to aim to have all that to myself and not a penny to the banks! Now, who can fast forward time?????

happihorse

Wow - what a lot of mixed emotions!

So good to hear about your freind - fantastic news and like you said, it really puts life into perspective.

Really good news on the money saving front too. It sounds like you have more than made up for last months slightly lower results! :beer:

As you said, there are still plenty of positive on the job front too. I know how nice it is to be in a job you love, but at the end of the day nothing lasts forever and you never know what other opportunities this change will bring you. Just make the best of it your can. Like you said, you will be fully qualified soon which will bring lots of benefits but would you have been happy to stay in your current team forever?

Chin up.

allybee101

Fantastic news about your friend!
I'm sorry work is a bit stressful at the moment, you've focused on the positives though which is really good. I hope it all works out ok.

And those stats are looking pretty awesome!

mellonicoley

LG I feel exhausted reading your last two posts, what a rollercoaster ride! SO glad to hear about your friend and of course about your excellent bonus

Make sure you use a little of the bonus money to celebrate your friend's health and for achieving your 25% milestone. Got to treat yourself every now and then!

We also get bonuses at my workplace, but won't get them until end of June. I'm really hoping for a good one to help me pay off my Very account as that debt is costing me an obscene amount at the moment.

By the way, the parallels between us are scaring me a little. I just started studying CIMA, I also work in the property industry, I'm based in London and I also have a bunch of shares I can't touch until 2013... I'm pretty sure we're not the same person though

LondonGirl252

happihorse wrote: »

Wow - what a lot of mixed emotions!

So good to hear about your freind - fantastic news and like you said, it really puts life into perspective.

Really good news on the money saving front too. It sounds like you have more than made up for last months slightly lower results! :beer:

As you said, there are still plenty of positive on the job front too. I know how nice it is to be in a job you love, but at the end of the day nothing lasts forever and you never know what other opportunities this change will bring you. Just make the best of it your can. Like you said, you will be fully qualified soon which will bring lots of benefits but would you have been happy to stay in your current team forever?

Chin up.

Yeah my heads all over the place!

It does, I'm delighted after they found the other lump we really thought it would be back to square one but now she can go back on the meds that keep her thyroxin stable and in a few weeks will be back to normal!

Thanks

You're absolutely right, I think if I didn't have so much other stuff going on that I'd be feeling better about it all, have been thinking about it a lot today and I do think once I settle back in it'll be fine! I'm not letting myself get any more negative about it or it'll show in my work. I need to give a good impression or I'll never get off to a good start there!

LondonGirl252

allybee101 wrote: »

Fantastic news about your friend!
I'm sorry work is a bit stressful at the moment, you've focused on the positives though which is really good. I hope it all works out ok.

And those stats are looking pretty awesome!

Thanks allybee

LondonGirl252

mellonicoley wrote: »

LG I feel exhausted reading your last two posts, what a rollercoaster ride! SO glad to hear about your friend and of course about your excellent bonus

Make sure you use a little of the bonus money to celebrate your friend's health and for achieving your 25% milestone. Got to treat yourself every now and then!

We also get bonuses at my workplace, but won't get them until end of June. I'm really hoping for a good one to help me pay off my Very account as that debt is costing me an obscene amount at the moment.

By the way, the parallels between us are scaring me a little. I just started studying CIMA, I also work in the property industry, I'm based in London and I also have a bunch of shares I can't touch until 2013... I'm pretty sure we're not the same person though

Haha tell me about it, looking forward to my long weekend to digest it all!

Thanks, I will do I plan to have a riding lesson and will see whats left after debt busting! I need to speak to my friend to see what she would like to do to celebrate, this morning she still sounded very much in shock!

Fingers crossed for your bonus, it would be fab if you could get that one cleared, its horrible seeing how much they cost us!!!

BLIMEY!!!!! That is freaky!!!! Its really rare to have so many parallels!! Where are you up to with CIMA? Let me know if I can help at all, I know how stressful it can all get

My FM has managed to haggle down our broadband as we kept going over by a tenner a month and it was up for renewal so she rang and pretended to leave and now we have it unlimited for £6 less a month so thats a few quid saved!

LondonGirl252

Hi guys!

Writing with a much clearer and happier head today!

Went out this am and had a lovely ride and cantered round most of the park - not sure if me or the horse had the better time!

Then went to Nationwide and withdrew £1,200.

Then walked across the road (thank fully avoiding muggers) and paid £879.37 into my Santander Loan account leaving the balance at ZERO

WOO HOO 2 debts down 3 to go!!!!

Have come home and paid a chunk of NW c card as well, so will update siggy now and here are the current balances:

Halifax CC - ZERO
Santander Loan ZERO
NW CC - £1,760 (after today's payment)
PO CC - £3,721.22 (with this months DD due to go out around the 21st)
NW Loan £4,610.46 (with a DD of £104.79 due to reduce that in a few days)

Total: £10,196.77
Still due to go out this month: £197.84
Meaning that by pay day: £9,998.93 BELOW £10k!!

CANNOT WAIT

LondonGirl252

PS the rest of that cash is my £300 for £10 a day for the month! LOL I didn't go crazy promise!!!

turbo.jet

That last post has really put a smile on my face after what has been such a sh1tty couple of weeks. Thank you! I'm so pleased. Like I've mentioned before I had a few times like these where you get a windfall and can make such a big change to your overall position in a short space of time. It feels so good doesn't it.

MASSIVE congratulations on getting below the £10k mark. A great milestone to achieve. Looking forward to seeing the impact on the percentage paid off.

If I recall correctly you are graphing your progress right? How does it look today?