Women and cats will do as they please! :)

TheMagician

Hello Diary

I had the most amazing news today! I passed my exam! :beer: and with the best mark yet, so I'm chuffed and everyone at work have been congratulating me all day.

So what does this mean to me?
Well, I will get my usual pass bonus and raise :money: So that's great.
It also means I won't have to re-sit and sit an extra exam due to new 2015 syllabus. This was a level finisher too so one level down, two to go :T
I have also made my FD very happy and proud, he's been rooting for me for the last year, doing everything in his power to help me with my studies. So I feel glad I didn't let him down and proved I'm worth all the effort he's put in.

With every exam (8 to go) I'm getting closer and closer to qualifying and then it'll be a completely new chapter of my career and there'll be some big changes I'm looking forward to very much.

Just as important, my little one had his Christmas play today and it was lovely and he made me very proud

All in all, what a wonderful day. Feel all my dreams surfacing and all the plans bubbling underneath. There's so much I still don't know but I'm going with the flow of what I feel is my destiny and I know I'm heading in the right direction.


From the financial point of view, it's been a dire month. I'm looking to save around £300 which is ridiculous and totally unacceptable.
The payments that cost me my savings:
1) £100 orthodontist
2) £240 bill
3) £130 mum's present
4) annual contents insurance £104
= £574
and a few smaller amounts. So I could have reached my target of £1000 but life happened. Moving on from this and I absolutely am still aiming for £15k, I'll have my little bonus for Jan's savings, then should get a much bigger one in Feb, I'll carry on getting wage increases with every exam so another 4+ expected in 2015 plus the usual annual raise. I'll also keep my eyes peeled for any extra income I can bring in and try to cut on groceries since everything else is water tight. If all else fails I'll just magic some :rotfl: hence my name

OK, so there's the plan, I'll be coming back with my 2015 goals tomorrow

Lovely evening everyone

Magician

Jonesy88

Yay! Congrats!

TheMagician

Hello diary

Jonesy88 congratulations to you too :j

So I'm here to write down a list for 2015

This year I will aim to achieve:

1) reach my 15k target, I'll need around £1.1k pcm
2) pass at least 4 exams
3) write down one or two feasible business plans or make my mind up completely on the path I will take career wise. Without a clear purpose and plan I'll never get there so I'm laying the foundations now.
4) see if I can be given new roles at work that aren't particularly time consuming but teach me something new and give even more control and responsibility
5) carry on enjoying immensely being a mummy and spending lots of quality time together with DS

And most importantly! Have loads and loads of fun doing all of that :T

TheMagician

So here comes my last financial update of the year.

This month I have managed to save a whole of £300. It's not what I was planning but the next few months are going to be great so I'm drawing the line here, adding it to my savings and making sure this doesn't happen again.

We're flying out tonight so I know I won't be spending on anything else this month and the savings are safe.

I haven't been this excited about Christmas in a long time, it'll be a great holiday for us and I'm very happy to spend it with all of our family.

Don't know whether I'll update again before we're back so Happy Holidays everyone and I hope you've achieved everything you set out to this year and do even better in 2015 :beer:

Magician

killerpeaty

Have a wonderful christmas magician! Just read through your thread and you're doing amazing.

Just a suggestion as you're saving, you could get a club lloyds account (4% on 4-5k) which gives you access to a 4% regular saver and you can choose to get 6 vue tickets a year.

Oh oh oh AND massive well done on passing your exam!

TheMagician

Thanks killerpeaty I'll look into it :money: and thank you for the support and reading through the thread. Lovely

I logged in to post that I took DS for a celebratory lunch and as we walked out of the restaurant right there in front of me on the ground was lying a crisp £20 note, just staring at me and shouting 'pick me up' :rotfl: Looked around, there was nobody there so we're £20 richer, or shall I say it paid for the lunch :money:

My second £20 note this year, what a way to start the holidays

We're off to get packing, lovely Saturday everyone.

Magician

TheMagician

Happy New Year everyone :beer:
Still on holiday till Monday and we're having such a great time, it's been truly relaxing.

Only back to update my NSD which I achieved 11 of and to wish everyone an amazing start to the new year, hope all your dreams and wishes come true. I'll update next week in more detail.

The Magician

TheMagician

Aaaaaand we're back

We have had the most amazing holiday, spent copious amount of time with family and friends. Can't believe its been 2 weeks, feels like just a short moment. Going to book another 2 weeks for August with my Feb bonus and we can't wait

Back to business right away. Paid electricity bill, childcare fees and car tax for a year £145. I did see something shocking...getting charged extra to pay by DD? Am I missing something?.. :rotfl:

Looked at finances, looking good at the moment but need to keep a close eye on food, spent £18 tonight and got enough for 3 lunches and dinners for both of us.

DS off school tomorrow so a wonderful friend is looking after him for me. Going to book my next study course tomorrow very excited.

So all is looking ship shape and I'll be sure to keep updating.

The Magician

judi24

Just read your thread Magician - you are doing really well! Great news on passing your exams! I am a good bit older than you and a single mum of 4! and still studying! I am currently doing a Masters so can empathise with you - I have 2 more assignments and a the dissertation to do this year and I will be done!


I love the fact that you give your DS responsibility over the entertainment budget - I have just done this too with my younger 2 (12 and 10) but with the caveat that it needs to be something active (DS is and x box fanatic and I struggle to get him moving and DD3 is also a couch potato given half the chance!)


Your plan of buying your house is great and by the sounds of it you are determined and motivated to do it! So best of luck

TheMagician

Hi judi24 How lovely to 'see' you

I have lurked on your thread and I think you're amazing! You work full time, study masters, save and pay off the debts, look after your kiddies and unfortunately have to deal with a not so nice ex! Well done and keep going, you seem determined and I know you'll do very well.

Well, today was very exciting! I booked onto my next course 4 full days for £760, one day a week for 4 weeks, thank goodness I'm not paying for it :T So theoretically I can do my next exam end of Feb. Previously I had to study weekends but I've arranged with my fantastic FD to go on a day release so hopefully I can finish the studies sooner, this is a huge help for me. Plus, I might meet some new people which is always good and of course get to have a break from work. :T all round.

Bought myself a lovely treat today Since I don't really drink tea or coffee and can't take caffeine, I love quality herbal teas which Teapigs is so good at making :A And they've just released some new ones so I just had to order some. Can't wait to try them all. It cost me £30 but will last around 6 weeks or so. Quality tea and skincare are my only vice and even though I'm saving it's not something I'm giving up I must drink 5 mugs of herbal tea a day at work
Oh, and I love nail polishes but not going to buy any for a long time, still got at least 20 colours to use up. My colleagues are asking me to do their nails on lunch breaks since they think I'm really good at it but I've never done anyone else's nails but mine so not sure. Guess I could try First one for free and if they're happy maybe start charging a mate's rate :rotfl:

Read quite a few books whilst on holiday, really enjoyed it. Thinking of what to read next...someone's who's an inspiration to me biography maybe. Will have a look on amazon later.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday night.

Magician