What have I been doing for the last 10 years???

Domayne

Good Afternoon all, and happy new year, I hope you all had a good one! :beer:

Well....It's been a long time since I have been back to my diary

I'm annoyed at myself that I didn't keep it up as the savings diary that I had intended too because without the support I was receiving on here, I didn't do quite as well last year as I had during my debt busting.......

So what have I been up too?

Well at some point in April last year, I started seeing a new guy, things were going well but we were going out a lot, spending a lot on dinners and day trips out etc....
I mentioned in the beginning of my diary that before I met my last ex, I was a pretty big stoner and only quit with a bum kicking from him...Well the new bf was also a big stoner and I sort of 'fell of the wagon' and started smoking again...It started with £20 every week or so, then towards the end of 2014 I was spending more like £40-£60 a week on it...which wasn't great for my savings, hence I did not hit my goal of 6k by the end of 2014...

There was also trips to Iceland (didn't make it to Cuba but Iceland was AMAZING!) a weekend away in Blackpool, my cousins wedding in the summer, I spent frivolously on things that I wanted and not needed such as a digital camera, a kindle, a phillips lumea laser hair remover machine and just generally not caring about 'budgets' and buying what I want.....

I am pleased to say that I have not gotten myself back into any debt though and I DID end 2014 with some savings and didn't completely forget everything I learnt here at MSE In 2014 I managed to save £3,964.12

I have just spent £1472 on a yearly travel card though so am currently at £2492.12 BUT this will save me around £250 over the year so it was a good purchase imo!

The new bf and I broke up at the end of November when I found out he had been seeing two other girls the whole time we were seeing each other, but I'm not too sad about it really as he was a bit of a waste of space anyway and now I haven't smoked any of the evil weed since NYE!

That old cliche.......NEW YEAR, NEW START!!!

I'm hoping to use my diary as I intended last year to keep track of my savings in 2015 - I am aiming to save at least £800 a month which should be doable if I stick to budgets!

My first pay of the month will be this Friday and as I had two holiday days that I didn't use last year, they are being added into my pay, I just got my payslip and I will be paid £1117.33 of which I'm hoping to put £600 straight into the savings account!

My goal for January is

- to save £1100
- have 20 NSD's

So far I am at 4/20 NSD's! :j

Domayne

Good afternoon all and happy Friday! ^_^

Finally payday! Which means I was finally able to move some money into savings! YAY :j

I had £43.87 left in my current account from my last pay so shifted that over + £600 from this fortnights pay and £2 to even out my 'pocket money' account after spending £18 on a train ticket to visit my sister/niece and bump (I'm going to be an aunty again! ) on the 31st of January!

So far my savings for January stand at - £645.87
and total savings stand at - £3137.99


My goal for January was to save £1100 but I've had to make a dentist appointment for the 24th (closest I could get for a Saturday appointment) as I've started having pain in TWO of my teeth that is awful every time I eat something even slightly cold
I don't know whether I will need fillings or they have just suddenly become sensitive but I'm also in desperate need of a clean and polish since the last time I visited the dentist was nearly a year ago and that might cut into my saving plan a little bit....
It's always something, eh?? :rotfl:

NSD's so far for January - 5/20

Domayne

Spent £6.13 on a game app again on my phone this morning
Not great since I only bought gold 3 days ago but it left an uneven number in my account so I made a PAD of £3.87 to my savings account

Total savings for Jan - £649.74
Total savings so far - £3,141.86

I have £200 in my personal spends and £17 in my purse after putting anything under 50p into my sealed pot - Not sure how much is in there but I've been saving it for about two years and I won't empty until it's completely full....so I probably have another 2 years of saving since the bottle is HUGE!!

I'm going to try and keep £150 in my personal spends account come 23rd Jan (next pay day) as I've decided to save up for a laptop but I don't want to spend anything from my savings yet so I'll pay for it out of my own 'pocket money'
I still don't even really know what I'm saving for...but I've got the bug and I'm enjoying watching my money go up rather than down!! It should be doable though as this weekend and next I'm not going anywhere and I have everything I should need....I might even be able to save more if I don't blow it on games!

I spoke about making a lemon drizzle cake somewhere on my diary last year....which I've never gotten around too! So I just went to the supermarket and bought some lemons, caster sugar and unsalted butter, spending £2.59 - I have everything else I need to make the cake, I might bake some bread too since I have all the ingredients already.
It's been 10 days since my last funky cig and I've been coping well but I tend to get bored on weekends like this where I'm just at home doing nothing so I'm going to try and keep myself busy in the kitchen! ^_^

Also this is day 10 that I haven't had a diet coke or any fizzy drinks either! Tho I am on my 3rd coffee of the day already

Domayne

Hmm so my cake is looking a little bit burnt on the outside, and on the inside it's not even cooked yet....I followed the recipe exactly so not sure what went wrong there....:cool:

Domayne

My mum said it was because I put it on the top shelf and it should be on the middle.......so I'm doing another one!
Although the first one is lush and moist inside despite the burnt outside, you can't really taste the burnt! Quite happy with my first attempt!
Went to the supermarket for more butter and sugar - spent £1.99
My aunt and uncle are here so I gave them the rest of the burnt first offering

Domayne

My plans to write more in this diary and keep myself on track are not going too well! Neither are my spending diary or NSD's...I've kind of forgotten how many NSD's I'm at now............Oops.
I don't think I can be bothered with the NSD's tbh...I mean if I don't spend anything for 4 days and then blow my whole budget on the 5th day...what is the difference?? I think I might just plan to stick *in budget* and not stress myself out with the whole NSD's and logging everything I spend thing, I find it really boring
Saving £150 of my spending money is also a fail this fortnight as I'm currently down to £110 and will have to spend a bit more before Friday. Also my work colleague needs to borrow £50 as she says she won't be able to get to work for the rest of the week which annoys me because surely getting to work should be one of your top priorities!!! She always makes sure she has her cigs tho :mad:
I'm OK with saving just under £100 though because at least it was my spending money and I didn't dig into the savings
Most of the money I've blown has been on a ton of books for my kindle! Every time I break a £10 in my account though I shift over the balance to my savings and have saved another £33.73 doing this! ^_^

Total savings for Jan - £683.47
Total savings so far - £3,175.59

MuffinTops

Hello Domayne,

Sounds like things are going pretty good for you, except maybe the baking - which is a tricky little minx at the best of times.

I agree that if you find something boring then it's best to find an alternative. I don't like counting NSD's too much either as I know I'll spend that saving somewhere later in the month. I do like knowing I've gone a whole day without spending anything though.

You're doing really well with your savings. You may not be reaching your target, but you're still doing great and it's good to see that you see that too.

Congratulations on almost being an Aunty again! How exciting!

Domayne

Hi Muffintops! :hello:

Haha yeah, re the baking - I am actually quite a good cook!!...I mean the food always tastes great...It's just the presentation usually leaves a LOT to be desired
This weekend I made pulled pork in coca cola and these potatoes that I kind of made up as I went along but they were DIVINE!!! Will definitely be making them again, although probably not too soon as they were really unhealthy and drenched in salt/garlic olive oil xD
My dad usually does all the cooking in the house but his back is completely done in, he hasn't gotten out of bed since xmas day except for the bathroom and Dr/hospital appointments, he has to have a disc removed or something
So me and my mum have been sharing the cooking - Her during the week because I don't get home til about 7.45-8pm and then I cook on weekends, but I really enjoy it and it keeps me busy ^_^
My mum isn't a very good cook though tbh, her food is usually just bland/boring/tasteless :rotfl:

Thank you! I'm so excited to be an aunty again!!
I think she is due May 26th or 29th although she has chosen not to find out the sex, I'm hoping for a nephew - One of each!

Spent £8.22 on a PC game today (The settlers - Rise of an empire)
So I moved the £1.78 'change' to the savings account!

Total savings for Jan - £685.25
Total savings so far - £3,177.37


Got my payslip today - I will get £887.07 on Friday but since I have the dentist on Sat, I'm not sure how much that will cost me but I need to add £414.75 to savings to hit my target of £1100 in January! I will hit it though!!! :T

Domayne

Deleted my last entry because it wasn't a very nice rant.
Also I got the money that was owed so it's all good :T

Moved £7.07 to savings to round down but will update properly tomorrow after the dentist

Total savings for Jan - £692.32
Total savings so far - £3,184.44

Domayne

Back from the dentist! Apparently my teeth are sensitive because there is an exposed root....but I don't need a filling???
Doesn't make any sense to me, but guess that saves me some money!
Spent £105 for check up/clean & polish/x-ray
All looks good though, so I don't need to go back until April for my next clean...I booked the appointment while I was there so that I don't end up leaving it another year until my next visit! :rotfl:


Moved £525 into my savings from my current account and £7.74 rounding down from my spendy account which takes the total too

Total savings for Jan - £1225.06
Total savings so far - £3,717.18

I reached my goal!! and exceeded it! :jI still have £170 in the spendy account after a trip to morris*n where I spent £32.04 on shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/razor blades/make up remover/wipes/baby oil and super noodles :P£10 and some change left in my purse...Annoyed at myself though as I was being lazy and should have bought all of that at b**ts where I would at least get advantage points, instead I got 140 match and more points which was carp!Also spent quite a lot on my game yesterday - £60!! :eek:
This is because they were having a deal where if you buy, you get 20% extra for this weekend, There was also a new reward card and I needed the item (I collect them and have all 3113 of them, so yes, I NEED it otherwise my OCD won't forgive me) that was the last stamp on the card at $100, go figure!

No more spends planned until next weekend when I go to my sisters though so it's all good, £180 is more than enough for the next fortnight! :T

I was feeling bored yesterday so did my yearly expenses...Not sure if I did them 100% accurately because I'm still not great with this stuff but this is how I worked it out

Approx 4 week period - £1770 (Get around £886 per fortnight but rounded down)

Outgoings

Rent - £250
Pet Insurance - £30.10 (Need to look at changing this, was £17.12 then they put it up to £24, then 2 months later up again to £30.10 and I've never even made a claim!!)
Phone - £15
Netflix - £5.99
Savings for niece - £50

(travel sorted until 28.12.2015)

= £351.09

So in a 4 week period I'm left with

£1418.91 ish

Yearly - £23, 010 (£1917.50pcm)

Rent - £3,250 (every 28 days)
Pet Insurance - £391.30 (every 28 days)
Phone - £180 (pcm)
Netflix - £71.88 (pcm)
Savings for niece - £600 (pcm)

= £4,493.18

Left over - £18,516.82!!!

I still give myself £100 a week, I can't help it, I like to fritter money away on carp, which mounts to £5200 a year!

So theoretically, if I don't spent over my £100 weekly allowance I could save £13,316.82 a year!!!

Ok enough waffling, time to take the dog for a walk! :rotfl: