Catriona's Credit Card Countdown

beanielou

Enjoy your weekend

catriona79

bellevie wrote: »

Fantastic work on your savings!

I'm glad L2 is nice, its unfortunate a lot of people are suspicious of quieter people. Happened to me a few times through out teens - early 20's, ironically it was always the loudest of the group that would be the most suspicious? L1 will come around given time I'm sure.

I am impressed at how much time you dedicate to studying. I want to do a course through work but I just don't see how I'll find the time, after work I am shattered!

Hope you enjoyed your walk x

Hello Bellevie,

Thanks for your message, I was just on your diary yesterday and see that you are doing well, your savings pot is growing.
Ha, you have a point definitely, re suspicion over quieter people. I am an introvert at heart, but quite an extroverted one (if that makes sense); so I can put it on for a while, if situation requires it. But because I have been at the receiving end of the treatment you write about, I empathise with L2 and am a tad worried. Hopefully this is now the end of it though, as they seem to get on, and the house and atmosphere is the nicest they have ever been. I did the right thing and I'm glad I didn't listen to L1.
The house is also clean and the new lodger even unpacks the dishwasher! So nice to have help with it! Also, lovely to have chats with L2, she's lovely.

catriona79

Money wise, I'm not sure that I'm doing that well. So annoying. I am not spending any more now, but I think I'm picking up the bill from Xmas and my sales shopping.

But on the plus side, I got some clothes that are v nice for a fraction of their price, and I do that every year, but then don't buy much outside of sales, so sod it! Plus, they are coming in useful for the dates too
When I have got myself out of the ditch, I am going to set up an account where I'm going to transfer clothes money every month and then when the sales come, I will spend it guiltlessly. But for now, it's paying off the mount of debt. Which currently stands at £12k, with all the uni fees on top of what was there before.
According to trusty YNAB I'm about £4200 off debt neutral. Fingers crossed, this will go down to £3000 after Feb
payday, then £1500 in March and £0 in April. Worst case scenario, 25th May, on my birthday, I will definitely be debt neutral, as that's the date of the lodger income coming in. But fingers crossed I can do it in the next three months. It has helped that there is no council tax bill in Feb. also, from the April salary, I'll have got an increment which will take my salary up to 36k, (though this will come down a bit again in Oct - thanks David Cameron). So hopefully that means an extra £50 a month for a bit, or maybe a little bit more, my current salary is 34,750. I'll have to look at one of those calculators.

So, Valentine's Day, eh?

I went on a date last night with a v clever Spaniard. Liked him a lot, not sure re attraction, but had an interesting conversation! Another thoroughly decent male. He texted this morn to say he'd had a "wonderful time". So that's good feedback. We will see.
Also, got a date (diff man) scheduled for next Saturday in London. Brunch. I'm in London anyway, so thought I'd finally give it a go. The man seems very interesting to me, but we will have to see.

catriona79

Orange_Ena wrote: »

I hope you managed to get some of the things done on your list. Decluttering seems to be a constant battle, and then it's the old, I'll hang on to it just in case dilemma!

It can't be long until payday can it? 14 days for me :T

Have a lovely relaxing weekend Catriona

Hello Ena,

11 days till lodger payday and 14 till work payday! Cannot wait
13 days for you now?

A relaxing weekend is always a good thing, hope you are enjoying your time off and not putting too much pressure on yourself. X

catriona79

beanielou wrote: »

Enjoy your weekend

Thank you dear, you too

catriona79

bellevie wrote: »

Hope you got all you had planned done on Weds.

Have a nice weekend

Thanks Bellevie, you and DD and Mr T have a great weekend too!

catriona79

Monday done!

Hope everyone's had a good day and is now relaxing?

I've been on a non-spending roll, woo hoo. Had my good friend's birthday in London but I have been really good. Saturday lunch in ikea - meatballs @£5! Haha! Then a big meal out on Sun, but £43 is ok for three courses and in London too! Most of the people there earn over £150k (traders etc.) but funnily, they had a problem with chipping in £5 for the tip! :eek:

Otherwise, saving continues. Shop at aldi today, £18 and should last three days. The Rest Of the week will be eating out of the freezer.

Pay day in 6 days, next Monday;
Lodger money should arrive this Friday - cannot wait!!!!!!!!
This month has been really bad, paying off Xmas and my uncle's visit, and uni fees... After this month's salary has come in, I will be on a bit more of an even keel.

Still thinking about how best to get to where I need to be with studying. The cogs are whirring. Can't wait to leave HR.

AspiringButAnxious

Wow! Fancy being so tight when earning that much :mad: How would they like to earn the same per hour as awaiter?

I'm having a spendy month too — must be something about February!

catriona79

Ha, I know ABA. It was a bit embarrassing. They asked for service charge to be removed etc. eek. We left a really bad impression.

Early morning for me today, woke up and thought I'd read for a bit. Think I had a bit too much to eat last night. I took a little jacket potato and a salad in to work, and with it I took a tin of tuna. I had prepared the tin opener next to the tin the night before, but forgot it somehow in the morning!! So then only had the tiny potato and a salad for lunch. I started at 7.45 am and by 4.30 pm I though, sod it, I'm going home!:)

Money wise, the plan, if it can be achieved is to try and save 1600 every month for the next three months, in order to become debt neutral. That means minimum going out, but that's fine, I don't mind. I've also got some theatre tickets that I've already paid for that I'm going to use and ask friends along (they will give me money back), so I will have a few pennies from that too.
I will have to be very careful with what I spend on food, too.

Also, £50 from Nationwide for messing up my mortgage arrived in my account. So that can start the ball rolling.

I have subscribed to MFiT, and have set a target of building up saving from 0 to 30k in three years. I will start counting from the day before my next salary comes in.

So, the way I am going to do it is to move £400 to my second FD account and use that to buy food and for all discretionary spends. The more I can economise on food, the more I can go out, or buy treats. Hopefully that will focus me more than my regular set up.

catriona79

I forgot to factor that in, but a positive is that I will be moving up an increment and temporarily get a 1% pay rise, so maybe that will mean £50 more a month? I won't really know until I get my end of April payslip. The 1% will then be promptly removed again in October as part of a terms and conditions reduction. But the increment will stay.

I have been thinking of returning to uni to finish off a degree I had started before my divorce. This should help me get onto the doctorate I want to do in future. I need to get away from local authority HR, which is a constant source of worry and anxiety and get into a job that allows a bit more security. I can do it! Just got to be smart about it. Feeling more optimistic at the thought of reducing my working hours too. Halving them in fact. If that can be done. I'll have to wait and see what the lecturers say on the course, how many days a week commitment the course is. I could do three days a week, and work 2 days. I doubt it my work would allow me to work any less than two days a week.

At least my bills are paid for, with the two lodgers, which is great. I just need some money for food and petrol. I have 2 years left of the course. It will have to be carefully considered, but anything is better than what I'm doing now. It's not only unsatisfying and wrong for me, it's also completely unstable and anxiety-inducing. I can get more satisfaction out of my job than this! Better late than never.

When I left the course, there were no prospects of employment - I will have to see whether this has changed now. An Internet search seems to prove that it has. But more research will have to be done

I'll keep saving for now.