A mission to secure my future!

StrugglingYouth

Been lurking on these boards a while now, with a little input here and there. I must admit I am not in debt, but I want to use this diary to motivate me to save up as much as possible.

I work 40 hours/week, which amounts to 15 days a month! So I have a fair chunk of free time to play with/make extra money in.

I have the opportunity to retrain as a nurse within the field I work in, which I really want to do. I will work alongside studying as I wont receive any student finance due to a previous degree in a separate field.

I figure I will need around £3000 extra per year of study which is 3 years long. So £9,000 in total. I shall add this to my signature & update weekly.

I plan to document here my saving antics and heres my statement of affairs for you guys/girls to do your thing!

A few notes:

SOA shows two cars. I have two at the moment, one is up for sale currently and should fetch £1000 or so. The figures (tax,insurance, fuel) are for the car I use most.

I get fed at work, so only have to feed myself half the month which is why the groceries spend is so low. I batch cook as I abhor cooking!

The entertainment is a bit of a guess. Il keep track of that and see what it actually is. I think its less than £50 a month tbh.

Phone, Internet, TV is all under the 'Telephone/Landline' part

Water rates are high as I have no meter yet and its sorted on 'rateable value' which I think means we all pay the same in the block of flats. Is that right?

• I also teach computing on an off to a few people. The income from this varies month to month. I also do survey type things when I am off work and transfer whatever funds into my ISA from my current account I would have spent.

I keep £500 float in my current account incase I need to buy anything big, although I do have £1000 overdraft as Halifax cant work out how to swap my account onto the Reward one.. Your guess is as good as mine on that one! Maybe I should keep that £500 in my ISA earning some pitiful interest rate as I wont be penalised If I go overdrawn one month.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1050

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 435
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 67
Electricity............................. 50 - No gas here.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 22
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 30
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 110
Road tax................................ 24
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 31
Car parking............................. 8
Other travel............................ 3
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8.07
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund/Education funding........ 110
Total monthly expenses.................. 1052.07


Assets
Cash.................................... 2250
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 50
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5300

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,050
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,052.07
Available for debt repayments........... -2.07
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -2.07

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 5,300

StrugglingYouth

I have rounded the figures up for all things in the SOA. So I think thats where the shortfall has come from. I never usually spend all my wages so Il have to see where I dont spend what I thought I did. (Odd situation I know, usually its the other way around!)

Im also selling some things on e-Bay at the moment:

I have two things listed at the moment which have bids of £2.20.

I also have £13 in my paypal account from previous e-Baying endeavours.

StrugglingYouth

I have listed a Gameboy Advance + games on e-Bay today so hopefully it will fetch some money at the end of the auction!

The surveys are annoyingly close to payout yet seem to have no surveys to do:

OnePoll: £32.95/£40
Valued Opinions: £20.50 - Im saving these to aid towards Christmas presents.
Opinion World: 975 points. Can redeem £10 once 1000 points is reached.

I have however spent a little on groceries and I paid to have the car Im putting up for sale washed. Living in a flat means I have no where to wash it except on the street and I cannot hang a hosepipe out the first floor window. (If I had a hosepipe that is!) The car is up for sale on a local forum and I have already had PM's about it. So thats looking pretty good!

I have also heard from my Dad, I spent a few days with him a few weeks ago and I made my first loaf of bread at his house with a bread maker. He bought me one. So il be able to bake my own bread soon. Pretty much costs the same as buying a branded loaf but tastes way nicer and lasts much longer.

Summary:
Groceries: -£2.33
Car Valet: -£10.00

StrugglingYouth

An e-Bay item ended today so Il post that out. I keep all the packaging for things, so I have masses of it so it costs me nothing except for Sellotape. Also my bank do cashback rewards so I made a little from those over last weekend.

Household chores are on the agenda today as Im off work.

Summary:
e-Bay: +£5.70
Cashback: +£5.17

HappyGirlie

Good luck with your career and financial plans... you seem very organised, I am sure you will have great success.


I have subscribed to your diary, so I can read along your journey.


Regards HG x

StrugglingYouth

Hi HG! Welcome aboard! (My journey shall be nautical in nature)

Not much to report today, except I did my boring household chores! I bought a salt and pepper baguette & had that for lunch and I have home made soup for dinner. I also posted my sold e-Bay item and walked along the beach in a rare half an hour of November sunshine!

I also reached the payout for Opinion World!

Summary:
Opinion World: +£10.00
Groceries: -£1.45

I will update my signature in increments of £100 as I get closer to my target.

StrugglingYouth

I had a letter the other day from work saying I shall be getting a 1.5% payrise. It will amount to £50 extra a month. I will increase my standing order to my ISA by £50 each month which will make progress towards my target a bit faster.

StrugglingYouth

Opinion World is ready to pay out £10 again. I think I am going to let it build a little more as there are some giftcards in higher denominations that would suit as christmas gifts for my family. Or I might change my mind and cash it for paypal monies. Who knows?

Payday is 3 days away!
Bread maker is 2 days away!
Rugby is today! :beer:

kiss_me_now9

Have you looked at the burseries that nurses get? You can get most of them even with a previous degree I believe.

Don't forget that once you start as a student you can work extra shifts on your hospitals bank scheme, which often pays very well

StrugglingYouth

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

Have you looked at the burseries that nurses get? You can get most of them even with a previous degree I believe.

Don't forget that once you start as a student you can work extra shifts on your hospitals bank scheme, which often pays very well

Hi KMN9! Thanks for the input and for reading!

I have looked at the NHS Bursary calculator. It leaves me about £5,000/year shy of living costs as I live alone at the moment.

I am going to write a proposal to my employer suggesting I work a shift a week (more when I have less lectures) and for them to pay me the deficit each month in return for 18 months nursing at my current work place.

I will also apply to other local places as bank staff!

StrugglingYouth

I had a letter from Working Tax Credits part of HMRC. I had a joint claim for when my now ex partner used to live with me. They previously suggested they overpaid me by £502 despite my figures being correct. I spoke to them about it and they said they'd re do their calculations. Now I have a new letter saying I might owe them £1400.

Cannot win against incompetency. I have no idea where I stand and no spare money to pay it back. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will phone them tomorrow. Right now I wish I had never even bothered with any of it.