6 months to freedom / Race against the bank

littleweasel

Yesss...balance transfers completed, payments made, and 61% of the way there. *parties* The transfer to the Oasis account was a few pounds too much - I need to call them to close this account, will do it at lunchtime. My debt figure is looking so much healthier...it's not looked so good since before uni!!

My bank account is not looking quite so healthy - really hoping that Paris isn't going to blow the budget. On one hand I want to go and have a great time with my friends (it's a sort of birthday trip), on the other I don't want it to leave me penniless for the last 2 weeks of the month. I can't decide if December will be expensive or not...I don't think it will be, since the money I spend on presents will be cancelled out by staying at my parents' place for 2 weeks (Hotel Parental is all inclusive!)

They pay us early in December. I hate this, since it means that January is the longest month ever. I'm not planning on touching the money until Jan 1st.

littleweasel

Lord, this month is expensive. I'm going to end up spending on credit cards, though at least I can avoid paying any interest because I cleared my Barclaycard today and will continue to clear in full.

On the plus side, earnt another £5 Amazon voucher on Swagbucks. I've got £25 in there...am going to treat myself to a cheap copy of Brave New World :-P

I could do with maybe selling some stuff on ebay/getting rid of old DVDs and CDs. It won't be much, but it would cut down on the amount I spend on credit, and help with the whole 'decluttering' thing.

Today's lunch is leftover potato curry from last night. Sooo yummy :-)

littleweasel

I've got an interview for one of the two promotions I applied for (not heard back on the other yet). Next Tuesday. Eeep. I've taken Monday off to prepare for it as this week is incredibly busy.

I came tantalisingly close to getting this job a couple of months ago, when I interviewed for exactly the same role, but I messed up the case study by putting too much emphasis on the preliminary stages (wasn't quite sure what they wanted).

Desperately hope I can manage it this time. The salary increase would allow me to pay my student loan off in 5 years instead of 15 (!) (this is only at 1.5% but there is 15k of it. I don't count it as a debt because the interest rate is so low and it comes directly off my salary) in addition to saving for a house. That would be a massive, massive change. At my current salary, which is OK but not much for London, buying seems like a very distant dream indeed!

littleweasel

Been AWOL, spending too much money. Also that interview didn't go great, dammit....must try harder next week. At least I will find out this week about the result of today's so that will give me a kick up the bum to put everything into next week's interview...

littleweasel

Well! A lot to catch up on.

November was expensive. In the end I didn't end up making that big a dent (with a knock on effect to this month as I put £200 ish on the credit card which I then paid off in full this month).

On the plus side, November was fun and I have stuck to my slightly more virtuous path of not wasting too much money.

The really big news is that I got offered TWO new jobs - both promotions, same salary, just slightly different departments. The pay rise is about £17k a year! It's going to be hard work, no doubt, but I am just...overwhelmingly happy and relieved. Suddenly all the things which seemed an impossibility - paying off my student loan, saving to buy a flat - seem more feasible. My plan is to save most of the increase to speed things up - maybe I'll give myself £1800 or so to live on and save the rest.

I will need to come back and post this month's budget - the absolute worst thing would be to start living up to and beyond the level of my new salary. I've seen enough people on these boards on good salaries but struggling with mountains of debt and I know there's something in the way I think which means I could quite easily become one of them!

HeadAboveWater

Fab news about the job! :j

the absolute worst thing would be to start living up to and beyond the level of my new salary. I've seen enough people on these boards on good salaries but struggling with mountains of debt and I know there's something in the way I think which means I could quite easily become one of them!

Honestly? I think that because you've had your LBM before the big salary hits, you'll be fine It's when you've got stacks of money coming in and still get yourself in debt is the problem. I'd suggest your priority is to get your debt cleared, then when it's gone, use that money (and more?) for savings instead. You're already budgeting every month so keep doing that. And yes allow yourself a bit more money to enjoy too. That's why we work in the first place, right?

littleweasel

Aww, thanks. I hope so! I definitely have some sort of splurge gene...sometimes it all just seems to go out of the window. It's helped that I want to declutter (loads of shopping is not compatible with this!) but I have to try hard to resist diverting that money into holidays, 'experiences' etc. I don't mind buying the occasional expensive thing or spending on a holiday, but it's important for them to be considered spends that I've budgeted for. Still learning how to do this I think.

The salary change adds about £800 a month...if I could resist spending it, that would enable me to save £10k a year assuming living costs etc stay the same. At some point I'm going to want to stop flatsharing, but I'm 27 and I reckon it's OK for another few years. Also I love my current flat and get on well with my housemate - no point fixing something that isn't broken. The size of deposit needed in London is truly scary but if I could be disciplined with saving, it's definitely doable.

Thinking about it, there is no reason why I can't continue to live on £1700-£1800 a month. The bulk of that is already disposable and I can continue to spend it more sensibly - taking in lunches etc, not wasting money on fees and debt interest. Also I'm sort of hoping my new job will keep me so busy I won't have time to waste money!

HeadAboveWater

littleweasel wrote: »

no point fixing something that isn't broken

Exactly!!!

Also I'm sort of hoping my new job will keep me so busy I won't have time to waste money!

:rotfl:

There is also that!!!

Scuff

:beer:

huge huge CONGRATS on the job(s)!

I agree with your idea of carrying on living what you're used to and throwing the rest at the debt - you don't miss what you didn't have before! Then when you get debt free your savings will rack up like crazy too, and it'll all be yours

Awesome!

littleweasel

Yay! No more debt :-)

That said, I am doing a bad job at paying off the stupid things (now that one balance is interest free for ages and the other is not accruing much interest I seem to have lost momentum). Because I put 200 on my Barclaycard last month I spent £200 this month paying it off in full...consequently, I haven't got much to throw at the standing balance, especially with Christmas looming. I think I will wipe out the overdraft between this month's payday and end of December payday (hurray!) but I'll still have ~£250 on the interest free card. Could be worse I guess.

I'd have more to spend on it if I hadn't done a cheeky bit of shopping yesterday *blushes* I need to be pretty smartly dressed in my next role and so I justified buying a blouse and a pair of smart trousers from Zara. Hmm...well...no more shopping (for me anyway) this month.

I'm doing my budget a bit differently this month - it's just the breakdown of disposable income as I've already done my grocery shop, paid all bills etc. Doesn't include Christmas presents as I have a separate budget for those.

I'm giving myself £300 - this is totally doable as I'm likely to be staying with my parents from the 18th or so til the 28th.

This week:

Piano lesson £25 (I owe him £10 from last week)
Secret santa pressies £5 x 2 = £10
Present for friend's birthday £15
Taxi £20 (I have to get a massive box back from a friend's place and can't take it on the bus)
Misc coffees, money wasting vices etc £10
= 80

Next week
Work drinks £20
Train tix £30
Piano lesson £15
More work drinks (!) ('tis the season) £30
Misc coffee, money wasting vices etc £10
= 105

Week 3
Piano lesson £15
Take my grandparents out for lunch £50
Misc coffee, money wasting vices etc £10
= £75

Week 4
CHRISTMAS!
Misc coffee, money wasting vices etc £15
= £15

= £275 with 25 'spare' (likely it will go on small things that I forget to budget for like the occasional bus fare etc)