2012 -The Year of the Deer

summertea

Good wishes for 2012 to all,
It is here i plant my acorn small,
And hope that with my love and care,
A mighty money oak will soon appear,

The just passed year was rather mixed,
It gave some gifts and pulled some tricks,
It gave me things for which i strived,
But not in the right colour nor the right size,

But in 2012 i aim to smile,
This is the year of the anglophile,
The frugal spirit pure and strong,
Will lift me up and lead me on,

So by 2013 i will have gained,
The funds required to make a change,
The like the great and regal stag,
I shall stride instead of drag,
My feet as i roam this earthy plain,
And find my dreams, come home again.

summertea

Greetings to all and welcome to my humble abode,

For reasons unknown to me i have become rather attached to deer and stag themed objects over the last month so i have decided to adopt them as my image of 2012.

Aside from the obligatory 10k of student debt, i have very little in the way of money worries, however i have very little in the way of savings either.

This is my challenge diary for my thoughts, ideas and progress towards being financially sound enough to go get some relevant experience and get back into my preffered field of work.

In a perhaps non MSE start to the year i have granted myself one present, namely the redecoration of my bedroom in a "old/wildlife theme" a couple of animal sillhouette print duves, some old map print boxes and a new rug have made a rented bedroom feel like a clean and airy haven in which i can scheme my plans for frugaldom and financial freedom so i suspect this will do me good.

If you can't feel at home when your at home you have got a problem!

I shall meet you all on the boards my friends and hopefully i will be able to add to your stockpile of frugalling tips.

Huzzah!:D

summertea

A fine start to my Fab and Frugal year i can home today to find Mr Taxman has randomly reviewed my tax and sent me a cheque for £1087:eek:, i never thought he would be giving me any money so i photographed it lol.

Tomorrow i shall take it to the bank and once it clears and is added to my ISA i will put it on my save 12,000 total.

Many thanks to the frugalling faries :T

Incidentally for anyone who is interested after some digging about on the Hm Revenue and Customs site i found an income calculator that figures out whether you might be due a tax rebate based on the info from your P60. I thought i might double check this in April at the end of the tax year for this year just in case. If anyone else is interested it can be found here http://stccalculator.hmrc.gov.uk/UserDetails.aspx

Good Luck:wave:

summertea

Perhaps i should introduce myself properly

I'm single and celebrating the big 30 this year in April though i suspect not on my actual birthday as it falls on Good Friday and everyone will have gone away for the Bank Holiday Weekend . I rent in a shared house with one other person and his 5 month old kitten Minion who is adorable if a bit mental.

Up until November last year i had been temping since finishing my PhD in 2007 and was very bored and fed up. In November i managed to get a permenant job, unfortunately for me its in computing the one realm in which i never wanted to work.

So i am still bored and fed up but with a slightly higher and more consistent income. For all the unemployed people who are reading this thinking they would have be grateful to have any job i thought so as well however it turns out once the stress of meeting the bills goes away the feeling of unfulfilment moves in to take its place. Maybe its different if you have a family or a morgage as the money goes towards something you want and that you will have at the end of it but for me at the moment the cash just passes through my bank account on its way to the people i have to pay to exist in modern society aka my landlord, sainsburys and the train companies.

I will say that its not a bad job and it has some good benefits (e.g cheap gym membership and discounts for staff) its simply not a good job for me.

I trained as an entomologist and would love to get back into a scientific environment but to do that i need experience in the field, which i cannot afford at present as its predominantly unpaid. Additionally most studies have data collection during specific seasons etc so people want assistants who can commit to 3-4 months in the summer not weekends only as the more different people you have collcting your data the room there is for error.

The aim this year then is to save up enough money for either a house deposit (so i can rent the house and fund my work experience) or work experience and some travel depending on my feelings at the completion of saving.

I still need to get my budget set for this year and will be posting it as soon as i finish compiling the information from last years spending diary to give me a better idea. Still step 1 i have cancelled my weekly Graze boxes so thats £12 a month i will be saving.:D

Now what else can i do........:cool:

summertea

Found a couple of bargains today in John Lewis:)

Xmas roll wrap 3 meters £1
Xmas gift tags £1
Birthday roll wrap 3 meters £2

Love the xmas wrap it has little robins on it and no foil so it can be recycled after xmas along with the matching tags. I figure that the birthday wrap will save me cash in the long run as well its white with red stars on (Emma Bridgewater design it think?) i usually use magazine pages and posters etc that come free with things but since i no longer get any magazine subscriptions i don't get many these days.

I also picked up a gorgeous single sheet of paper that looks like an old map for 50p reduced from £2.00. It matches my bargain map print boxes from store 21. I'm currently using it as a wall poster but i might blue tack it on to the top of my chest of draws to protect the wood as well as looking pretty.:D

summertea

Ok so i have a question about frugal shopping.

My company has a reward site and if i get a relodable card to use at sainsburys i save 5% off the value on the card. I spent £1200 ish on groceries last year so that would save me £60 over the year.

But i have discoverd we have an Aldi near enough to my new house for me to cycle to. There is also a Tesco but i don't like their ethos much.

Bearing in mind that as cycling is my only mode of transport multi-store shopping trips are not my norm as it takes up a lot of time + there are the carrying issues. Would it be better to invest in saving money from one supermarket or do you think it would be better to shop around? :question:

summertea

I have also finalised my budget fort he year, yes i know its very generous especially in the entertainment areas but i rather hope to be dating this year (last date being in 2008 and all that) so i'm allowing for that early. I'm also hoping to come in under budget for the year in several of the categories and to find inventive ways of coping with unexpected costs.

I had to move house last year and all the van rental and letting agent fees slammed me, Miscellaneous category very -'ve in the £ department lol.

The Budget

Rent, Bills & Council Tax 7200
Household Products 60
Repairs 60
Groceries 1200
Eating Out 240
Alcohol 240
Charity Donations 720
Cineworld 180
Clothing & Footwear 300
Dvd's & Books 240
Gifts 480
Gym 564
Haircuts 120
Holidays/Trips 600
Insurance 120
Miscellaneous 480
Mobile 360
Socialising/Entertainment 720
Toiletries 120
Travel 240
Totals 14,244

This should let me save £255 a month so £3060 for the year.

ZTD

summertea wrote: »

Ok so i have a question about frugal shopping.

My company has a reward site and if i get a relodable card to use at sainsburys i save 5% off the value on the card. I spent £1200 ish on groceries last year so that would save me £60 over the year.

But i have discoverd we have an Aldi near enough to my new house for me to cycle to. There is also a Tesco but i don't like their ethos much.

Bearing in mind that as cycling is my only mode of transport multi-store shopping trips are not my norm as it takes up a lot of time + there are the carrying issues. Would it be better to invest in saving money from one supermarket or do you think it would be better to shop around? :question:

It depends on how you shop. Do you eat "cheap as possible" stuff? In that instance, Aldi isn't going to be much cheaper that Sainsbury stuff. If you step up a level to "cheap, but not eerily so", then Aldi will be cheaper, just don't expect the range.

Have you got panniers for your bike? If not, you can look out for them on freegle, or get one of those child carrier seats (either on the frame or on its own wheel). They (obviously) can carry quite a bit of weight and make it easy.

summertea

ZTD wrote: »

It depends on how you shop. Do you eat "cheap as possible" stuff? In that instance, Aldi isn't going to be much cheaper that Sainsbury stuff. If you step up a level to "cheap, but not eerily so", then Aldi will be cheaper, just don't expect the range.

Have you got panniers for your bike? If not, you can look out for them on freegle, or get one of those child carrier seats (either on the frame or on its own wheel). They (obviously) can carry quite a bit of weight and make it easy.

Hi ZTD,

I eat the cheap but not eerily so (love the description) in most cases as the cheapiest seems to have more salt and sugar etc in it (need to be a bit careful food wise).

I could probably manage a 2 supermarket mix so i might start goingto Aldi bi-weekly and see how it pans out.

Never thought of the child seat option i will have to look into that, i thought about panniers but i need to get a frame bit to go over the back wheel first, freegle and freecycle here i come.:T

On a shopping note Clover had coupons for blocks of butter on their facebook page earlier.

Thanks

summertea

Hmmmm

My gym has become google with equipment.

I'm trying to get back down to 8.5 stone from 8 stone 13 pounds and its been ok. Despite the fact that my fat decided last year that it was lonely and shy, hence the gathering all together on my butt.

I digress went into the gym to find that the half hour appointments you used to be able to book whee you would work out a programme with an instructor and they would advise you on posture, work out your BMI etc. Have been replaced by a large wall computer on which you fill in a 4 page tick list about you aspirations and it gives you programme ideas or you can just click on a body area and it will give you exercises for that area.

I might be crazy but the lure of a gym for me has always been the person interaction and developing a plan for me if i want exercise plans off the computer i can google and get the same level of support.

Might therefore be saving an extra £46 per month, not happy with gym at all

ZTD

summertea wrote: »

Might therefore be saving an extra £46 per month, not happy with gym at all

Have you asked if that's all there is?