BritishBibliophile Wants A House

savingwannabe

Bibliophile, you really are an inspiration young lady. You will be a millionaire by the time you get to my age. We can all learn from you.

BritishBibliophile

Aww thank you savingwannabe, I doubt I'll be a millionaire though XD Especially after the past 2 months of terrible amounts of spending!

Good to be feeling focused again though. I keep looking around my room and seeing little bits and pieces I should try selling on eBay, I'm going to need to move out sooner or later and it would be good if I had less stuff to drag with me.

No paperwork yet from Nationwide, if I haven't got anything by next week then I'll pop in to a branch and see what the problem is, other than slow postage.

Got £9.80 from Quidco so that's been put to one side to go in the deposit savings, I've added it to the total for the time being. I haven't added the £17 in loose change though as I haven't paid it in yet, doubt I'll have time to get to the bank tomorrow morning so it'll have to wait until Saturday.

Also just requested a payout of £9.10 from Ciao, they appear to have caught up on their "Diamonds" payout as I didn't get anything last month despite getting lots of very good ratings, and then I got twice as much this month, so I think something went wrong in April. Nevermind, got there in the end and that money will go to the deposit too when it comes in.

This weekend my corner of the District line is down, which means replacement bus services, which are free! So I don't need to worry about topping up my Oyster card. Instead of doing my food shopping on Friday night I'm going to get something out of the freezer for my dinner (normally I buy something to eat cold when I get back with the food), and then go shopping on Saturday, and get a free bus back!

On less money saving news I'm tempted to go to Caffe Nero this weekend to get some more blog posts done for my history website. For some reason I find it a lot easier to scribble out posts when I'm in there, not sure if it's because my laptop doesn't recognise the free wifi or if it's because other people are making my tea for me XD But it seems to work. I'll see how I feel at the weekend, after one trip down the road I may not want a second!

Pay day next week, hope my ISA is up and running by then so I can go in to June on a high note.

New total: £6595.23!

thrifty-hayley

Well done, keep up the good work! I'm also saving for a house deposit so I'll be cheering you on

BritishBibliophile

Thank you thrifty-hayley!

So this weekend has been a major eBaying one. Relisted some old beads that failed to sell last time, also put up some old comics I found in a file, some old biscuit cutters that are still in their original wrapper, some magnetic bookmarks there were a Christmas gift a few years ago (nice thought but I rarely use bookmarks DX), a football freebie I got 2 seasons ago, and then I found a lot of patterned paper from when I used to make greetings cards, so I dug out a paper punch and cut loads of squares out and stuck them up in the crafting section.

There's a good chance that none of that will sell, but you never know, and if it sells then my Paypal account will be happy (my website's hosting fees need to be paid at the end of June) and if they don't then at least I tried.

Also managed to really annoy myself on Saturday. Friday I got a letter from Nationwide asking me to bring my passport in to my local branch so they could check my ID before approving my ISA. No problem, I was going in to Richmond on Saturday morning for food anyway, so I decided to get up early and go and get it all done then.

Got up nice and early on Saturday morning. Went in to Richmond, got my food, got the free replacement bus service back, put food away, felt very happy with myself for getting it all done. Then at 2 in the afternoon I suddenly noticed the Nationwide letter, exactly where I had left it on Friday. Cue me swearing at myself because the branch was only open until midday and the whole point of getting up early had been to get to the blasted bank XD

So my ISA is delayed by a week and if I don't get it done next Saturday then I'm really going to be peeved with myself. Loose change is also still sitting on the bookcase, looking at me accusingly.

Gentleman Caller is coming round this afternoon so I need to go and start dinner for us, doing pork and chorizo casserole, it gets left to bubble away for about 2 hours, only the second time I've made it!

Pay day on Friday, looking forward to it.

savingwannabe

Sorry about ISA delay but hopefully that isn't much of a set back and you are having a good day today. Your casserole sounds great. Yum. Roll on my summer hols and then i can cook properly too!!

BritishBibliophile

Finally got my letter from Nationwide yesterday, 2 weeks after I waved my passport at them. Not particularly impressed with the speed but never mind, ISA is now open.

Spent some time this evening registering for online banking, so no doubt that'll be another 2 weeks before that gets sorted, and I've applied for both my old ISAs to be transferred in, so once that's done I can pay in the money I've set aside and then finally work out where I am in terms of savings, because I've got no clue any more :rotfl:

As a result of the confusion it's all quiet on the savings front at the moment!

BritishBibliophile

So this week has featured a flurry of letters from Barclays, Halifax and Nationwide informing me of every step of my ISA transfers :rotfl: Feel sorry for all the trees that have been wasted, but now everything is in one ISA account and last night I moved the money I'd set aside in, and today I went in to my local Nationwide branch and paid in my loose change as well.

Overall my new deposit total is £6723.25!! Well chuffed with that, onwards to £7000!

In other news, after months of job hunting and interviews, I've got a new job! Nice payrise, so should be able to save more once I'm all settled in. Got to work my notice, which gives me time to pack up my room and move it back to my parent's place, and then hopefully the Gentleman Caller will be able to look for a job in the same area, and once he's sorted we can then move in together. Currently looking for somewhere to live on my own, might be a shared house or it might be a flat if I can find a cheap one, not sure yet.

Only problem is I've been living in London for 4 years and I've accumulated a LOT of stuff over that time, so need to have a clean out while simultaneously packing. Going to sell as much stuff as possible too. Going to need to buy a car and save for a rental deposit, but if I can stay with my parents for a month then that'll keep costs down and help save for renting without affecting the house deposit.

Right, need to go and work out a plan for packing everything up.

savingwannabe

Fab news on job and on moving in with Gentleman! Yay to you!!!! All in all it's falling into place methinks.

BritishBibliophile

It's certainly exciting, going to be a while before Gentleman Caller can join me (unless he's lucky enough to find a job quicker than I did), but we'll work something out in the mean time.

Paid in £107.94 to the deposit savings which gives me a new total of £6831.19!! I'm soooo close to the £7000 mark but this is another expensive month due to the move, also need to buy a dress for my friend's wedding in September, already found the one I want so just need to organise it.

Listed a bunch of things on eBay over the weekend, some of which have got bids on. Found a few more things while packing that I need to take photos of and list. Money from sales will go towards the dress.

Unfortunately I'm working this Saturday so that means Sunday is going to be my only real day to get more stuff packed. I've got three bags that need to go to the charity shop but I don't think they're open on Sundays and I really need the floor space. I don't think I'll be able to get down to them after work before they close, so I'm a bit stuck for space at the moment.

Main aim for Sunday is to clear out the big box I have in my wardrobe, which currently just has a bunch of old handbags and shoes in it, which I'll probably also donate. The last of my books can go in there and then that's my bookshelf all clear. I've managed to get some cardboard boxes for free which I've started to pack kitchen and home bits in, my DVDs are mostly packed and those that are left can go in the last book box, and then it's a case of clearing my desk as it's full of stuff I don't really use which can mostly be scrapped.

Oh, also need to go through the books I've sorted out and work out which ones Amazon will buy off me and then send them off for whatever few pennies I can get and donate those Amazon don't want, and also need to take some old DVDs and Gamecube games to a CEX for a few more pennies.

I'm planning on getting one more cardboard box which will be my "Living" box, so it'll have my chargers, my laptop, camera, Kindle, a few small books, my toiletries and other bits and pieces in it, so I can have that and my suitcase in the living room I'll be sleeping in at my parent's place, and everything else can be stored wherever there's space, so hopefully I won't drive my Mum too mad with all my possessions :rotfl:

BritishBibliophile

Did a little TT of £2.65 in to the deposit savings.

Just ordered my dress for my friend's wedding in September, she's been my friend since we were in playgroup together so it's going to be lovely to go to her wedding. Ordered the dress from a shop on Etsy, quite expensive but I had over £40 in my Paypal from selling off lots of stuff in the past few weeks, so that knocked a good chunk off the cost, and managed to remember to put my parent's address since I'm moving in 2 weeks and the dress won't arrive for at least 3.

Dad and brother came by on Sunday to pick up a load of my stuff. Most of what's left is either being sold, donated to a charity shop or thrown out. Got some more bits of photograph and then list, but I'm determined to not take too much extra stuff home when I don't need or use it!

Had a lovely weekend with the Gentleman Caller, and he's round next weekend too, making the most of the time while we can.

New total - £6833.84