Mini LBM - need to get back on track!

littlegreenpeas

Hello FN


All sounds very positive and any interest saved is in your pocket and not someone elses.:D


Keep going your doing fab.


LGP

FacelessNumber

£65.36 on diesel today, and £3.50 on a photoframe to match one we got at Christmas. So I still have £84.64 left in my fuel budget and no further spends on food so far, although I will be nipping out to get some milk in a minute.

Finished and submitted my essay so very pleased with that. Also won £5.20 on euromillions so will buy another ticket when I cash that in

2 days left at work so planning on doing some baking for my last day which will probably require some more small spends.

Edit: £12.13 at Tesco on the small grocery spends! Walked there in the windy rain...ugh!

FacelessNumber

Well I haven't been on here for a while for a number of reasons. I started my new job on Monday and it has been a pretty hectic week - worked Monday - Saturday. Hours are quite variable at the moment and need to see how it is going to pan out moneywise but the people I'm working with seem very nice and it's a small company which makes a change for me.

Also went on holiday for a week - bit of winter sun was lovely!

And the big news was.....OH proposed!! Which was a massive surprise, and gives us another money mission to work on! So my to do list for this week is:
Contact estate agents re house selling - compare prices etc.
Play with budget as my new job means not getting a full pay until March (paid in arrears which I wasn't before).
Write a list for each room that needs doing before house viewings.
Organise new work stuff - it involves carrying around a lot of stuff with me which I've never had to do before!

On top of that the OPs will probably slow down as we really need to save for a wedding - my parents will contribute but we don't expect them to pay for the whole thing of course! So I need to work out some targets for that as well. Haven't checked accounts re: January spending targets yet, am about to do that

FacelessNumber

OK a few numbers crunched:
Groceries so far this month total £101.73 out of my £150 budget. If I have time tomorrow I will do a very planned shop and see how much we can stock up on out of this as we only have to feed ourselves til the end of the week with the remaining £48.27.
Fuel so far £127.37 out of £150 budget. Fuel spends back up to £300 budget after this as my new job involves a lot more driving - won't get any mileage back for a while.

Got my half month pay from my old job and am £221.94 short for essentials - fuel, bills etc. Currently have £279.62 left from this month plus a few quid in my purse which leaves only £57.68 for spending. On top of this I will only get less than half pay at the end of February meaning I will need to find another few hundred quid for that. I do have a small amount of savings, so won't need to go into any debt but it is disappointing that I will have to restart my emergency fund!

Therefore any spare time this month will be spent finding things to sell and making money in other ways! Counting out the coppers jar will probably happen as well!

Grrr also just remembered OH spied a crack in my windscreen today which leaves another £75 to find for my excess for that and I won't gain any no claims this year either.

Calfuray

FacelessNumber wrote: »

Well I haven't been on here for a while for a number of reasons. I started my new job on Monday and it has been a pretty hectic week - worked Monday - Saturday. Hours are quite variable at the moment and need to see how it is going to pan out moneywise but the people I'm working with seem very nice and it's a small company which makes a change for me.

Also went on holiday for a week - bit of winter sun was lovely!

And the big news was.....OH proposed!! Which was a massive surprise, and gives us another money mission to work on! So my to do list for this week is:
Contact estate agents re house selling - compare prices etc.
Play with budget as my new job means not getting a full pay until March (paid in arrears which I wasn't before).
Write a list for each room that needs doing before house viewings.
Organise new work stuff - it involves carrying around a lot of stuff with me which I've never had to do before!

On top of that the OPs will probably slow down as we really need to save for a wedding - my parents will contribute but we don't expect them to pay for the whole thing of course! So I need to work out some targets for that as well. Haven't checked accounts re: January spending targets yet, am about to do that

Congrats!!! :j:T:j:T

glitterjunkie

FacelessNumber wrote: »

OK a few numbers crunched:
Groceries so far this month total £101.73 out of my £150 budget. If I have time tomorrow I will do a very planned shop and see how much we can stock up on out of this as we only have to feed ourselves til the end of the week with the remaining £48.27.
Fuel so far £127.37 out of £150 budget. Fuel spends back up to £300 budget after this as my new job involves a lot more driving - won't get any mileage back for a while.

Got my half month pay from my old job and am £221.94 short for essentials - fuel, bills etc. Currently have £279.62 left from this month plus a few quid in my purse which leaves only £57.68 for spending. On top of this I will only get less than half pay at the end of February meaning I will need to find another few hundred quid for that. I do have a small amount of savings, so won't need to go into any debt but it is disappointing that I will have to restart my emergency fund!

Therefore any spare time this month will be spent finding things to sell and making money in other ways! Counting out the coppers jar will probably happen as well!

Grrr also just remembered OH spied a crack in my windscreen today which leaves another £75 to find for my excess for that and I won't gain any no claims this year either.

Big congratulations on your engagement FN! Weddings don't have to be OTT expensive, lots of ways you can save money like making invitations etc yourself! I know it's a bit rubbish when you feel like you need to start again with your emergency fund but well done for having it in the first place, means you didn't have to get in debt/put it on the credit card

Thanks for the tip about checking daily interest, I hadn't thought to do that but it sounds really motivating. ..off to check mine! x

FacelessNumber

Hi glitterjunkie

I found the interest thing really motivating! Thanks, yeah I know it's good that I have the money there, just feels a bit rubbish that it's going to be gone!

So hours at the new job are less this week which is nice, although does mean less money! Otherwise not much to report, just trying not to spend money

FacelessNumber

Well I have done my January number crunching for the end of the month!
Managed to OP an extra 50.39 meaning that so far this year we have OP'd £270.53.
Put £100.79 into a wedding fund (I haven't actually opened an account for this yet so am just keeping track of it!
£136.85 spent on groceries last month (£13.15 under budget )
£132.37 spent on fuel (£17.63 under budget )

For this month I currently have £51.18 spare on top of essentials BUT I think I will go over this with work expenses etc. I have some things to sell when I get round to it which will help to make up the difference. My aim for this month is to NOT dip into my savings, even though I'm not getting paid for a full month.

I have lots of bits and pieces to do with bank accounts - opening and closing them, and will be trying to get round to that next week.

Also need to speak to Halifax as our fix on our mortgage comes to an end in March but as we are planning on moving, not sure if it is worth going for another fix or just going onto the standard rate short term! Any advice would be gratefully received.

Keep smiling everyone

FacelessNumber

Well my car is doing it's best to screw me over! Hit a pothole which was submerged in water earlier this week, blew my tyre and cost £96ish to fix (although luckily I am capable of changing a wheel ).

Also have a crack in the windscreen which needs sorting. All in a month where I don't get paid due to starting my new job! Argh!!

Busy weekend coming up so hopefully won't cost me too much.

FacelessNumber

Well it's been a while! Lots of work, lots of car repairs and lots of stress / worry.

My job has got to the point where I am seriously considering retraining and going for a career change....financially feasible without too many problems. But I'm struggling to make a full decision - giving up on 3 years of training and 5 years of experience (profession specific) for something that I might not enjoy and won't know until I try.

Am leaning towards the change, I'm young enough to spend a year retraining, and I have my current career as a fallback option - will always be able to get a job in this field. As you can tell from my rambling my thoughts about it aren't particularly defined yet!!