London Socialite Sees The Light

LondonGirl252

MuffinTops wrote: »

You're doing well through this longer than long month. It's not easy staying on track with a £10 a week budget but I know that if anyone can do it, you can.


Well done on all the exercise too. It's nice to hear you had free and lovely things to do yesterday that kept you out of the Sunday Slump.

Thank you! It was a lovely weekend, one of the best in a while, goes to show youdon't need to spend money to have fun and be happy!

LondonGirl252

mark88man wrote: »

well done on keeping so positive - its can all get a bit of a PITA.

cheap meals that I like
* anything with a yellow sticker on it (learn when they put the reduced stuff out and get into the habit of shopping at that time
* lidl sardines and lidl beans both about 25p a can both good on toast
* lidl sweetcorn (33p) and tuna (67p) mayo - good in a wrap or a baked potato
* tray bakes - small pasta (eg orzo) or cheaper, use value rice in a baking tray with as many vegetables as you can afford and agenerous amount of stock

Oldstyle money saving has a lot of threads with bargain meals in and very tasty + a few threads on how to feed a family of 4 for a month for £20 - although you are not quite there yet

Cheers they are great ideas! Defo checking out the oldstyle boards, might be fun to challenge myself to a super tight budget one month and see how far i can go!

LondonGirl252

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

There are still three WEEKS left of January! Crap. I am never leaving the house again.

Good to see you back

Tell me about it!!! Great to have you back on here too! Do youstill have your diary? I shall have to catch up!

LondonGirl252

So far not too bad this week, my grocery shopping ended up being slightly more than planned as I had to buy batteries and a couple of necessities from the non food departments, i only spent a tenner on food to last the week so that is positive.


I lost my debit card which means I am spending on my credit card, so it looks like it's going up but once my new debit card arrives I'll switch back and pay off the difference.


Still struggling to see how im going to cover the shortfall this month, I had £285 of professional membership fees and £175 in ground rent to pay which aren't in my normal budget. Don't want to do this but I could let the CC go up by the £53 until next month then overpay £53 so by the end of Feb my credit card debt is still unchanged.


Had a good rest day Monday from the gym, then yesterday did boxing followed by some lifting, this morning did HIIT and about to leave work now to go and practise some more lifting and stuff for Sunday's competition. Tomorrow is boxing again then i'll [EMAIL="i@ease"]ease[/EMAIL] off training so im fresh for Sunday.


Flat update: We have a viewing on Sunday. My ex thinks next week now he'll have an idea of what he will or won't do so once he does I'll meet up with him to talk. Really really hoping by the end of this month I'll have an idea of where it's going and how it will affect my money.


Also planning on a salary conversation with my FD in the next couple of weeks to request a jump in this year's salary review and guage his reaction. Need to start thinking how i feel if he can't do anything whether Im happy staying here on this salary feeling peed off it's a bit low for my responsibility. Vs moving and having to start again and risk of not working out. I love this company and people so i would take something great for me to move. It's just with my finances the way they are it's difficult not to think about being able to increase my salary.


Ponderings....


LG

mark55man

In an ideal world you would have budgeted for annual memberships in advance - but we all aren't living there so I think it very reasonable to jiggle annual spends around - including use on the CC because you cant really take such a big lump when its tight

good luck with the flat - can't really add anything on that

I think you are onto a good thing in respect of your salary by effectively benchmarking your low salary when talking to your FD - although if redunancies are near you might be making yourself a target - however it seems he appreciates you enough so I wouldn't worry.

You definitely need to give him a business reason to pay more - have you taken on more than when you were offered the job - or did you accept the job on the basis of promises of progression which maybe aren't living up to expectations, or what is the average increase for people at your level.

Also (and I haven't has a P45 since the last century so I am not really qualified to say too much, but I've seen a lot) I think you can get too attached to a company - and worry too much about the personal aspect - at the end of the day and increasingly with the current flood of managery managers, employment is a transaction so if you can't stay (for whatever reason) just leave. I think you should at least start looking at whats available - often pay rises are only forthcoming when there is n actual risk of losing you,not that you're just a bit moany (sorry).

You shouldn't share too much personal information, but an option could be to state you are now living as a "1" and 1 can't live as cheaply as 2 so whilst you were prepared to accept your current salary (because you love the job) its now squeezing your disposable. However I probably wouldn't go there as its quite awkward really!


Anyway good luck - and "Be more CAT" - in that it is always OK to ask for what you want and never take no for an answer

Homegrown0

I think it's a great idea to approach your boss about a pay rise, but agree with Mark, you have to go into it with some ammo, so to speak.

When I asked for a pay rise in my old job, if already been job hunting and actually had been offered another role (which wasn't my ideal job) but I then had grounds to say that while I loves my job, my financial situation had changed meaning the financial element of the job became increasingly important. I'm considering the new role and they've offered me £X,000. My boss then went away to talk to her boss and came back to me saying they'd beat my proposed new job salary by 2k if I'd stay. So I stayed

It's not always as easy as that, but i do think its important to know your worth and go in armed with real good reasons why your salary should be increased (not just because you've been there 2 years etc) and what value you can continue bringing to the business.

Go for it! What is there to lose?

efes_shareholder

Good Luck with the pay situation

It really depends on how the company work , I've been at my company for 10 years and carried out a couple of roles and was only ever getting standard company rises
it got quite frustrating to see newcomers arrive and be earning 10% - 20% more then my salary however being familar with the company and how they work I knew I wouldn't achieve more without a change in responsibility or testing my worth

I started the job search and was offered a couple of roles but I didn't take this to my boss until the offer and the company was one that I was happy to do if playing devils advocate backfired - I took the offer to my boss saying I had been approached by a previous employer and within an hour he had matched what was on the table for me

It made a massive difference to my attitude towards the company but I knew I had a specialist knowledge that they would struggle to replace so I felt quietly confident knowing the company as I do that they would make a counter offer

If there are potential cutbacks it may be worth to mention any assurances you have been given regarding an improved package and plant the seed or wait until it has all been finalised and let the dust settle and then make a bigger point about increased work loads and responsibilities

mark55man

great posts - and if an accountant can't argue about the importance of the money side of life then we are in a sorry state

Siouxsie32

Delurking for a minute to say that if you still have sweet potatoes to spare and have the Joe Wicks veggie book, I highly recommend the smokey sweet potato chilli. It says it's a portion for one, but I reckon you'd easily make it into two huge, hearty meals. I divided it into three (trying to give up my piggy ways and lose a few pounds) and it was more than adequate :money:

Okay, back to my corner to lurk silently....

LondonGirl252

Hi all,


Sorry been a busy few days! Thanks v much for all the comments re salary will take all that into account, its really helpful. Hoping to find out more about the future today, having a chat with my old boss from this company as i asked him for advice on how to keep getting exposure at a senior level when im based down south and everyone else is very very north, he seemed to have a few things to bring me up to speed on. That may help the salary convo. Im definitley due an increase, the benchmarking backs it up, in addition Ive delivered a number of big changes that my peers haven't.


Thanks Siouxie32 - i have loads left so that will be tonight dinner!!


Weekend was ace, i competed in the crossfit competition, came 34 out of 40 which to be honest was to be expected given i only agreed to do it 2 weeks ago! I got a PB on my clean and jerk at 42.5kg so i was really happy with that! I was nearly crying in the third workout! It was so so tough but a really fun supportive group and would definitley do another!


Money wise, great win over the weekend... my latest energy bill came in (2nd at this property) and my direct debtis have been £50pm too high so im getting a refund of £150 and my monthly direct debits have dropped from £98 to £41. So thats my under-budgeting for the month covered and can pay off some of the over-spend on my credit card! Really chuffed with that!


I have a work dinner friday which i have pre-approval to expense so that is good and other than that just continuing to train and gym with my buddies. This weekend is walking/gym/riding. All budgeted for!


Due to meet with the ex this week to discuss the flat, we had a viewing yesterday but no feedback yet. Will keep you updated!


LG