I want adventure in the great wide somewhere

belleandthebudget

Well diary and lovely DFWs, it's lunch time at work and so far today has been a NSD! The first I can remember in... well, a very long time.

Had too many meetings this morning to get breakfast in our cafe or snacks mid-morning. For lunch I had a portion of the lasagne rolls I cooked up last night - much, much better than expected.

I'm a passable cook so I always surprise myself when something is super tasty. I'd say they were better than a lasagne ready meal I would have paid £4~ for.

I brought a packet of choc chip cookies from the kitchen and I have cup-a-soups in my filing cabinet so I think I'm going to snack on those if necessary this afternoon and keep it a NSD. Not the healthiest of snacks but baby steps!

Will also be the first day I haven't had any Diet Coke/Coke Zero in a looooong time. Probably a nice break for my stomach!

Tonight I think we'll try some chilli or sausage casserole to mix things up and make sure I'm not eating pasta all day.

Feeling so positive about how the cook-fest turned out. I still can't believe how much food I made for relatively little money. Maybe this is the key to scrubbing away that debt.

On a house keeping note - for the past couple of weeks I've made a huge effort to keep the apartment sparkling. I have two flatmates one quite new (replaced a lovely couple) and one has been there since the start of the year but I'm sick of waiting for people to clean up. It seems to be a student-esque standoff to see how long before I'll crack and clean despite the fact we're all in our late twenties.

I've decided to stop letting it annoy me and just get on as if it were my own place. Have felt much better since then - it's a nice place to live again. I would much rather that than have a fight about it. And I'm not willing to pay for a cleaner.

freckles1_2

I regularly have that standoff with my brother. He's such a slob. I can spend hours scrubbing the kitchen to perfection, I have one night at my BFs and I come home to the sink overflowing with every single pot/dish/cutlery/utensil we own!! It's ridiculous.
Sometimes I think 'right, I'm not doing it anymore' but truth is I'd rather a clean home than live in a pig sty so I guess it's down to me.

House sharing with non-family can be harder though!! It's much easier to make up after an outburst at a sibling than with a flat mate.

When I house shared I drew up a rota for the jobs that got me down the most e.g taking the bins out - we had lots of recycling boxes and two larges bins because there were 6 bedrooms. If I didn't take the bins out the garden would've been full of rats!
I just made the rota, stuck it to the fridge and told each housemate when I saw them that that was the plan - they all agreed it shouldn't be down to one person so worked out ok in the end!

belleandthebudget

I'm been desperately trying to avoid a rota system! I think enforcing it would just get stressful and people would start to hand in the excuses - I'm out that night, I'm on holiday, I haven't been using the kitchen, etc. etc. but I agree it would be great if everyone pitched in.

If it's the worst thing about my flatties though then I'm happy with that. It could be a lot worse!

belleandthebudget

Felt a little disheartened yesterday looking at some if the diaries where people were able to cut down enough to pay £1000+ off their debt each month. I would have to stop paying rent to do that! I know everyone's situation is different but it really is frustrating how expensive London is. I pay more than double the rent I did in the posh part of Glasgow (and live with an extra flatmate) and that's considered a good deal down here. Bah.

I work in TV/film though so would be very difficult to find work elsewhere (though salary doesn't compensate for that).

Bit of a whine this morning, sorry! Will eventually post my budget/soa as I do have one.

Anyway, good morning DFWs!

NoOneAround

Know how you feel Belle
My sister has lived and worked in London for about 15 years and hasn't been able to afford to buy on her own and she's in IT on a really good salary Properties prices and Rents there are ridiculous .


Keep plugging away!:)
x

belleandthebudget

Thanks NOA! It's good to get it out with a bit of a rant.

Today is looking to be a very LSD already. £0.78 for poached egg and toast this morning but I'm a fire marshal at work so I get a free lunch once a week and today's the day! Then off to ballet class (included in my gym membership) and if I'm peckish after that (usually not though) I've got plenty of food in for dinner from the batch cook.

Feels good not to be pandering to expensive lunches, snacks and cans of Diet Coke.

belleandthebudget

So, long overdue but my SOA/budget going forward!

In household: 3 adults (me and two flatmates so I'm only financially responsible for myself)
Income: £1522.00 after tax

695.00 rent/bills
Includes my contribution to council tax, gas/electric, internet/phone line, water and TV license.
293.00 credit card payments
This is my current repayment to credit card although the minimum is only £100. Would pay this off by December 2015.
150.00 groceries
Have previously spent MUCH more than this every month but my cooking marathon/MSE forums have made me realise I could probably cut this back even more!
075.00 gym
This includes my ballet class every week, other gym classes, access to the swimming pool/sauna and full gym. Given my health problems I feel, in my instance, this is an important spend and not frivolous.
050.00 eating out/entertainment
I'm trying to get better at saying no to people and suggesting low-cost alternatives to restaurant dinners but this is typically my downfall.
050.00 emergency fund
Haven't previously had one but since my CC is 0% until almost 2017 I wanted to stock a small one up.
042.00 mobile phone
Contract ends in November and I'll be keeping the iPhone but swapping to a 30 day rolling contract at half the cost.
030.00 flights/trains home
My parents live in Scotland and I live in London. I try to visit 4 times a year and they'll often help with costs but I would prefer if I didn't have to ask that of them. Always try to get the cheapest option.
025.00 opticians
This is for daily contact lenses (can't wear fortnightly or monthly cause of dry eyes) but means I get free eye tests and a free pair of glasses every two years.
020.00 clothing
I've been trying to buy more clothes second-hand and get quality classics rather than trendy tat but would be amiss to not include something here.
020.00 cosmetics/toiletries
I used to be much more spending here. Now my only splurge is nice moisturizer and SPF because if nothing else it's important to be to take care of my face.
014.00 dropbox/dreamhost
This is internet storage and hosting costs as I have my own domain and after losing all my photos/files several times now back up on dropbox.
015.00 presents
Christmas and birthdays. Only really buy for my parents, brother and best friend. Everyone else gets a token gift, baked goods or a card.
015.00 oyster card top up
I have a Zone 2 to 3 card which is deducted from my pay before it gets to me via work but have to top up when I pop through Zone 1 though I try to take routes that avoid it!
008.22 insurance
Contents insurance for my stuff!
007.50 hair cuts
I go three times a year. Luckily pretty cheap as my hair is very, very thick/long and used to get charged ridiculous prices before I found my current hairdresser.
005.00 prescriptions/medicine
I have to buy two sets of my B12 shots every year (then doctor's store them) but obviously not often enough for a pre-payment certificate. Have to carry antihistamine everywhere also cause of quite serious previous reactions to food.
005.00 household supplies
Cleaning stuff, bin bags, toilet roll and the like.
001.84 amazon music
This stores all my music in the cloud and lets me play it on different devices. A real lifesaver at work as I can access all my music to keep me going.
= 1521.56

I pay into a pension at work and have critical illness cover which are deducted before I get my wage. Also, my work gives me free private dental and medical cover which is fantastic.

financially_exposed

belleandthebudget wrote: »

014.00 dropbox/dreamhost
This is internet storage and hosting costs as I have my own domain and after losing all my photos/files several times now back up on dropbox.
042.00 mobile phone
Contract ends in November and I'll be keeping the iPhone but swapping to a 30 day rolling contract at half the cost.

Not sure how much of that is hosting, I'm paying less than £5 per month for my website with Zen. I'm using free dropbox and google drive for now.

http://www.zen.co.uk/business/hosting-and-domains/web-hosting.aspx

For mobile phone, check out giffgaff too, they use O2 signal but for instance, for £12 per month you get 3GB of data and 500 minutes if you have your own phone.

belleandthebudget

Thanks FE! I only pay slightly more for hosting but includes the domain name. Dropbox I have to pay for as I take up more space than allowed on their free version (even with referrals giving me extra space). The amount paid on both of these is actually a little less than £14 but they're paid in dollars so I always round up to make sure I have enough despite changes in exchange rate.

I've never tried GiffGaff before but I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for the recommendation! I spend a lot of time on the phone to my parents so not sure 500 minutes would cut it for me (I have unlimited right now) but I'm sure they have other deals that might suit better.

financially_exposed

They have £18 for 2000 minutes and unlimited Internet But perhaps you can find others, not sure.

Personally I think I will be fine with their £12 package as I'm rarely exceeding 200 mins for voice and my mobile internet needs are not high. I don't use my personal mobile at work and I have a landline at home.