Diary of a Yo-Yo Money Saver...

Tiggy10

After having LBM number 1447686! Its time to sort my finances out!


I go through phases of being incredibly frugal, restrictive and obsessing over money, followed by giving myself a 'month off' which I take as a free pass to go crazy and as I have done this month have £0.00 in all three of my accounts. *sigh*


I am 25 next month, I have a good job as a teacher and I want to start saving for a mortgage - I need to grow up financially!


The Debts:
- £500 interest free student OD and will remain interest free until August 2015
- £200 non interest free overdraft costing approx. £2-£5 a month
- £400 ish pounds on a Santander loan for a laptop I took out at uni - paying £38 per month D/D.
- £9000- ish car finance to ford - paying £180 per month
- £250 credit card - I pay off in full each month but usually run it down to £0 and treat it as my own money and not like the emergency credit building fund it should be. However I don't earn any interest on this.

The Plan:
pay off everything except the car (this I will let run its fixed term course) by the new year (ambitious?)
Start saving for my own place.

SOA to follow....

Writing this down will definitely give me more drive and focus.
thanks for reading!

Catchamonkey

Hello! I started my diary today too. I'm also hoping to clear a few debts by Xmas. Let's be ambitious together! Good luck!

Tiggy10

My Monthly finances/ own version of SOA:


Income : £1439.50

Outgoings:

Rent shared : £325 live in south east - this is cheap for a 1 bed.
Car finance: £181.01
Car Insurance: £77.66 0 no claims as shared a car with mum while I was at uni. renewal in oct - will *touch wood* have 1 yr no claims and ill be 25. car is insurance group 5 so very low.


Mobile Phone : £50 give or take locked in for the next 18 months
Laptop Finance: £38.01
Home insurance shared: £4.53
Teaching union subscription: £8.66 essential for my job!
Council tax shared: £47.50
Tv licence shared: £6.06
Water rate shared: £18.50 on a meter but its averaged out across the year.
Electricity shared: £30 (summer) on PAYG - landlords choice.
Gym: £31.20 get discount as a teacher - did quit for 6 months to save money but I put on 1.5 stone and had no stress release from my job.
TV/Internet shared: £20 again locked in for 18 months (only £5 per month is towards the BT vision tv channels)
Sofa finance (OH name so don't see as my debt) shared: £15.86
Teaching union savings bonds 10 year no risk plan: £25

TOTAL: 878.68


Money currently paying towards debt: £100


Remainder: for food, socialising, fuel, cosmetics and clothes 460.82 - of which I always manage to use down to the penny....




So my challenge for August is to live of ten pounds a day out of the remainder for above activities.


I have 1 trip to the dentist at approx. £18 and 1 birthday present for my mum I already booked at £22.


I should be able to save an extra £130.32 (& its my birthday so Im hoping any money can go towards debts too )

Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated!!



Thanks for reading!

Tiggy10

Not much happening today been to work, now only 1 and a half days to go!


NSD today. spending my evening cleaning and writing up a meal plan. Have a freezer full of YS food that needs some creative working into a meal plan!


Hope everyone is having a great day!

Tiggy10

Checking in for the day! Last day at work tomorrow for the summer. Went to town, bought the children some cheap pencils on a 3 for 2 at wilkos. Most of my children dont even have a pencil at home to write with, work in a quite deprived area.
Bought a pencil sharpener to sort them out- scanned in at 1p! Bargain!

Going to miss the children, have had a lovely class this year!

Picked up some washing powder and comfort from savers. Got a tonne of washing to do when im off!

Free lunch tomorrow as the year 6 chn have a picnic with the teachers before they are off to secondary school.

Waiting for payday to tackle the debts!

Tiggy10

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, very hectic and slightly emotional last day with my class for the holidays.


Today my first day off for the summer:
- had my lie in
- must speak to my sister about a potential free trip to cornwall in the hols!
- need to ring the dentist realised my apt is next Wednesday and payday is Thursday.
- ring up and book an eye test with my free voucher in the post
- DEEP clean of the kitchen!


most importantly NSD.

tiger_eyes

Have you considered a home gym rather than a gym membership? You can buy gym equipment relatively cheaply - I got my exercise bike for about £80 - so if you cancelled your gym membership, you could start saving money within two or three months. I squeeze my equipment into a tiny studio flat and it doesn't even disturb the neighbours.

Tiggy10

tiger_eyes wrote: »

Have you considered a home gym rather than a gym membership? You can buy gym equipment relatively cheaply - I got my exercise bike for about £80 - so if you cancelled your gym membership, you could start saving money within two or three months. I squeeze my equipment into a tiny studio flat and it doesn't even disturb the neighbours.

Thanks! My problem is I am lazy, I have two or three gym buddies and they keep me motivated. I suppose I also use it socially. Maybe I should start deducting my gym money from my sociallising fund instead!
Thanks for the comment!

Tiggy10

Been quiet for a few days just trying to get through until payday.
Payday is here!! yay


Made a big payment today £250 - cleared the credit card.
Decided to do this instead of the overdraft as its higher interest - even though I pay it off in full every month I decided I need to stop using it as my own money.


My dilemma now is do I cancel it - afterall I got it as a credit builder- I have used it for over a year now paying off in full every month. or do I just cut it up and let it show as unused credit that I have but im not using for a while? im not sure what will be better?

ruby_eskimo

Hi, I am also a yo-yo moneysaver, but more determined than ever to get back to a debt free place. Well done on paying off the credit card. I've kept mine in case of emergencies. E.g went on holiday, hotel wanted a card to swipe in case of charges to the room, OH had forgotten his so I had to use mine. Also needed 2 new tyres on the car unexpectedly and didn't have the cash so on the card it went. I'm starting to build up an emergency fund for things like that but until then, it's nice to know that the card is there just in case. I think it's all down to personal preference / situation really.

Tiggy10

thanks, that's a very good point, at the moment I don't have an emergency fund - hence previously owing to bank of mum. I think I may have to keep hold of it, hide it until such time I have a back up plan!


Good luck on your debt free journey!