BritishBibliophile Wants A House

BritishBibliophile

House deposit is now £7004.62! :j :T

Super happy, ended the month with very little money so when I got my last pay from the old workplace on Friday I decided to just shove more than usual in to the deposit savings so I could get past that little mark.

Currently back in my parent's place, finding somewhere to live is proving to be more difficult than anticipated. Not many affordable places in areas that I want to live, at least not without the Gentleman Caller joining me, a lot of decent places are around the £800 a month mark and that's just not feasible without a second person. Need to find somewhere soon though as losing my independence really grates on my nerves. Got some Rightmove alerts set up for various postcodes so hopefully somewhere that I can afford will come up soon and not get snapped up by someone else before I can view it. Shoved even more money in the moving savings so it can cover the letting agency fees and a tenancy deposit, and hopefully have some left over for some bits of basic furniture.

Not much else to say in money terms, starting the job on Wednesday so bought a smart pair of flat shoes, a smart pair of boots, a new blouse and a new dress, so now I should be all kitted out and ready for it. Slightly terrified I'm going to show up and find out that I don't actually know what I'm doing, but I guess that's a fear everyone has with a new job.

Onwards to £8000!

BritishBibliophile

House deposit is now £7097.47!

Can't quite hit my standard £100 saving this month as the new job charged me emergency tax as the old one decided to send my P45 to my old address, even though I'm certain I changed my address to my parent's one on the HR system before I left. Luckily my old housemate is happy to send my post on to me so once I get that I can wave it at the HR at my new place and hopefully get the code fixed quickly.

This month is also going to be astonishingly expensive, friend's wedding and my sister's 18th birthday means spending cash, but nevermind, both are occasions that I'll only celebrate once! Also driving down to Essex to see the Gentleman Caller on Friday so that'll be petrol to sort out as well.

Not much else going on at the moment, started looking for house shares in this area since we're not sure how long it'll be until Gentleman Caller can join me, and while it's nice to be home I also want some of my own space again.

Just need to start preparing for winter, I really need a pair of wellies that fit, so I'll see how the bank account is looking halfway through the month and then see about buying a good pair. It's annoying as I bought a pair from Amazon last year, but I forgot to buy wide leg so they don't fit me properly, must remember to not make that mistake in the future DX

BritishBibliophile

Had to go quiet on the savings front last month as it was all on a very tight budget, along with finding the money for trips to see my Gentleman Caller I also started paying rent to my parents (it's only a small amount as I don't have an actual bed to sleep in), and so there was much tightening of my belt.

But this month my emergency tax situation has been sorted out super quickly by the HR team at my new job and so I got all the extra tax I'd paid returned to me. This, on top of the fact that I've also now done a full month between pay days, means that I've just managed to shove £300 in to the house deposit sayings, bringing me up to a glorious £7403.95!! And that will hopefully go up a bit more as I've set some money aside to cover some new clothes for work, so if I'm careful with that (and I will be) then I'll have some left over to push towards the house deposit.

Me and the Gentleman Caller are travelling down to Brighton this weekend to see a friend of mine from university, so really looking foward to that. We've rented a room through Air BnB as we'd like to use it for Rome next year and figured it would be best to test it in a country where we speak the language before we dive in :rotfl: Sadly it doesn't look like we'll be moving in together any time soon, his job hunting isn't going well and we can't afford to live together and cover the cost of a train season ticket in to London from out here as it's horrendously expensive. Trying not to think about it too much as I just end up in tears, but difficult not to think about as I miss him a lot Fingers crossed he manages to find a better paying job somewhere soon.

Apart from Brighton I don't have anything significant planned for this month, so we'll just have to see how the saving goes!

New total: £7403.95!

savingwannabe

Well done on booking nice time in Brighton and on fab savings. I hope something perfect turns up for Gentleman Caller soon. I hope you are enjoying the heatwave.

BritishBibliophile

Thank you savingwannabe! We had a lovely time, it was really nice to see my friend again as I couldn't make it to last year's event. Brighton is a bit of an odd place, not sure how much I liked it, perhaps it was because I found the architecture a bit bland (apart from the Pavilion XD), I need a nice cathedral or some old churches to keep me happy.

Went to view a houseshare last night. Couple were very nice, house was nice, but in the end I think I'm going to pass. Me and Gentleman Caller are going to look at a few areas this month to see what we like, and then we're going to work out a budget between us to see if we could live in one of these places in the New Year. He's struggling to find a new job, but living in this area would mean he has a slightly shorter commute to his current place, and I can get a train to my job too. It's just a case of working out how much it would all cost and if we can afford it between us. At least he's open to the idea of moving up here before getting a job. It also gives me a few months at home, which means I can save a lot more towards the deposit.

Sat down this evening to retrieve my petrol money from my budget and also managed to TT a lovely £8.17! Also got paid interest on the ISA a few days ago and didn't notice, so that's a nice little bonus! And this weekend I'm not going anywhere (need one occasional weekend where I'm not running around like a blue-arsed fly) so that will help me stick on budget for this month. Do still need to get my new wellies though...

New total; £7440.08!!

BritishBibliophile

Little update as not much else going on at the moment. TT of £3.84 brings me up to £7443.92

Haven't seen the Gentleman Caller this weekend as he was working, but he's hopefully coming up next weekend so we can have a look at a few potential areas to live in. Since I haven't gone anywhere I've used the time to get my website ready for Christmas, taken some new photos, uploaded a few new group packs, ordered more packaging, so now I'm all ready for the festive season on that front.

Total: £7443.92

BritishBibliophile

Pay day and I'm really enjoying this new pay plus living at home combo XD Put just over £400 in the house deposit, getting ever closer to the £8000 mark, will definitely hit it before the New Year. Depending on how November goes I might get there quicker, already set aside some money for Christmas so that won't all hit at once either.

New job is going well, been there for a few months now and I feel pretty settled. Gentleman Caller isn't having any luck with job applications, in fact he was very disappointed this week to not get an interview for one that we both thought he'd be a good fit for I shall continue to keep my fingers crossed for him.

New total: £7876.06

nyc_451

Have I told you that I love your writing style??

And well done on savings, you're very consistent

BritishBibliophile

Awww thank you Blue Mango ^_^

Mid-month update, just did a TT of £2.64 in to the house deposit, and popped some other money in to the easy-access savings ready for the New Year.

It was my 30th birthday on Friday, so I had the Thursday and the Friday off work. Gentleman Caller was off work all week so he came up Wednesday night and we had a few days together, which was lovely. The whole thing culminated with a lovely lunch out yesterday with my family and his, first time the two sides had met and everyone got along, which was a bit of a relief XD Although as my Dad pointed out, even if they hadn't got along it would only really have been a big problem if me and Gentleman Caller felt that that was the case.

After the lunch (and back home for some cake) Gentleman Caller went home with his parents. So today I've been tidying up ready for the new week. Got all my ironing done, went for a nice walk across the fields, and then went through the box that contains my important stuff and sorted out a lot of bits and pieces. While Gentleman Caller was here I went through the numbers I'd done and shown that we could indeed afford to live together, even with him in his current job. So that looks like it will indeed be going ahead in the New Year My parents gave me a John Lewis giftcard for my birthday, and I also found some vouchers from my old job that can be used at Argos, along with some cash from the collection my old department held when I left, and all my Clubcard vouchers. That's all now in an envelope marked "Furniture Money" and kept to one side, also ready for the New Year.

Although that said, I have realised that Clubcard Boost is on at the moment so I should pop in to my local Tesco and see if there's anything there I want for the flat that I can use some of the vouchers for (I'd like to save some for a magazine subscription), maybe a few basic things like a laundry basket and a washing up bowl, because I'll be a grown-up! :rotfl:

Less than 6 weeks until Christmas so I really need to begin sorting that out too, so much coming up in the next few months!

New Total: £7878.70

BritishBibliophile

BROKEN THE £8000 MARK!

Get paid Friday so thought I'd check how much is left in my current account. Had over £100 left, so decided to just pick it up and pop it all in the house deposit. I also paid a bag of 20p pieces in last week which I forgot to note on here (must remember to join the 20 pence savers club in the New Year) which helped as well.

Super happy that I managed to hit £8000 before the end of the year, only because I'm living with my parents at the moment, it wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't got my new job and moved back here.

Started browsing Christmas presents this week. Especially books. My Mum had massive problems with Amazon when getting a few things for my birthday (kept getting emails saying they tried to deliver but no one was in, which is not possible in this house as my Dad works from home and always expects parcels as my brother orders a lot of things too), I suspect they're now doing crap service with their free postage to try and get more people on Amazon Prime. But that means that I MUST get books ordered this weekend so they arrive in good time.

Onwards and upwards to £10k!

New total: £8004.39