Silly student debt diary

greensalad

Just got added to our Sky account instead of just the BF.

Going to try and haggle my way down. We are currently paying £78.20, which is going up to £82.70. If we wanted multiroom on top it would be £93.95.

Virgin are offering the same thing we get for £56.98, that includes multiroom. But I would really rather stay with Sky.

I am going in with a budget of £60 for the full package we currently get, plus multiroom. That makes it a reduction from £93.95. That's a 36% reduction. People have said they have got up to 50% off so I think it should work well and I've got my numbers to back me up.

monz

Let me know how you do with Sky x

greensalad

Tried to get onto Sky live chat but I need to pretend to be my partner, so I'll have to get his passwords off him this evening and give it another go.

Just created a spreadsheet to work out my student loan repayments. 19 years to repay, I'll have paid it off by 2033. Ouch!

greensalad

Not too bad a spend this weekend, though I'm a little over on my budget. I'm currently £19 over budget but I should be able to get that back by spending less in Manchester when I go in a few weeks time.

BF and I have been really good with takeaways but have subsequently spent more on groceries than we expected. Also my Mum is coming to visit tomorrow so I expect we'll go out, so I'll have to keep a check on the joint spending account.

Looking at my bank account I'm a little concerned I seem down extra on what I expected by a huge amount. I should have £190 left for the month but I appear to only have £107, so that is really quite concerning. I have extra money set aside if I really need it but it's weird because I was so accurate on my spending and have written everything down. Urgh.

Groceries:

26th - £60.17 Sainsbury's
27th - £6.76 Asda
28th - £13.27 Sainsbury's
1st - £50.16 Tesco
1st - £15 Tesco fuel
1st - £9.13 Asda


Total so far: £154.49
Monthly budget: £160
Remaining: £5.51

Definitely not going to last me until the 22nd is it! 20 days!

greensalad

I really need to get better at writing on this!

This month has been pretty bad, lots of silly overspends although I have to say I haven't been feeling the pinch as much as I usually do by the end of the month so perhaps it hasn't been as bad as I thought.

Needing to finish some work and then I am to be paid £307 for it, with a further £358 coming in a few months when the project is over. Hoping to get it paid by the end of the week, stash some for the tax and the rest should make a nice dent in the credit card. I have pretty much given up on the OD and would rather get the CC paid off.

Getting paid on Friday. It's going to be a tough one as I'm going on holiday AND bf's birthday in one month so a lot to buy.

Current plan is:

1st payday
£800 utilities and rent
£175 groceries, entertainment and fuel
£214 to credit card
£88 boyfriend's birthday present
£40 boyfriends' booking for birthday day out
£21 car savings pot
£214 credit card pay off
£30 set aside for food and work lunches for 2 weeks.

Second job pays
£225 for holiday spending money
£105 for holiday car hire
£15 for getting to the airport
£35 for petrol abroad
£130 into the tax pot

Freelance income
£100 christmas and birthday savings (so I don't get in this pickle again!)
£30 for last 2 weeks before payday food, groceries etc
£27 more in the tax pot
Leftover to OD

I really need to get better at not spending on my credit card when I do pay it off and also keeping within my budget for hobby supplies as this is where all my extra goes.

greensalad

Payday yay!

Going away for the weekend to visit family, it's BF's birthday next month, and I'm going on holiday with family so I've really had to plan every last penny.

Today I have spent:

£802 - bills/rent/utilities
£175 - groceries, fuel, entertainment
£88 -BF's birthday present
£40 - BF's birthday day out
£100 - driving up north this weekend (petrol + food + activities)
£30 - work lunches and extra food if needed
£66 - car savings (maintenance + saving for next year's insurance)
£7 - clothing - needed some comfort shorts for wearing under dresses this summer
£144 - paid off credit card

That's it for now. Still got two payments to come in from second job so one of those will go on holiday spending money and the other will go on tax, savings and credit card.

greensalad

Had a good weekend, fairly low spend.

Spent £54 on petrol to visit family, under budget.
Spent £7 on food while travelling, under budget.
Spent £80 at the festival I went to, over budget
Spent £7 on comfort shorts, under budget by £18!
Spent £20 on shoes for holiday, not budgetted for.

So I think it'll even out. At the moment I am £77 over budget for the month but I still have holiday coming so I will try to cut back on my spending there to reclaim as much as possible.

I'm being really good with my pre-paid card, only spending on that card so I know I only have x amount available at any one time.

I've decided I am going to take my credit card and debit card out of my purse. I only need them for online shopping which I tend to do at the beginning of the month anyway so I can prepare. By taking the card out of my purse I only have quick access to my prepaid card and that always has a very small amount on it. If I truly get stuck I can use the Natwest app to withdraw more via my phone but it's a bit of a faff so food for emergencies.

In other news, after visiting much of the North of England this weekend my partner and I have really decided that the South East is not for us. We've been contemplating moving for a while, simply because we want to buy a house and it isn't going to happen in SE. We are considering Leeds. It's a long way off yet but perhaps by 2017 we would move. I think the idea is to move into rented (because rented is so much cheaper) and get settled while we save our deposit and then buy. Also my Mum is considering moving to Yorkshire herself. She works for the police so will always be able to find a role up there, and they actually get paid more! She could afford to buy a lovely cottage in a village, no mortgage, and still have enough left to buy herself a property to rent. She has had no proper pension most of her life and has always been worried, but with a small property to rent and no mortgage she would be able to do quiet well on her small police wage + state benefit. She's only 50, so it's a way off yet but I think she really wants us to move there too as the plan really works well if I am up there, especially as she gets older.

So yes, exciting stuff in the future. Now I just need to focus on getting this last £3k or so paid off my overdraft and credit card so we can really get ready to buy.

greensalad

Also excited I've got two potential new clients coming through for design/web work! I'm currently halfway through a design & build which will hoepfully go live beginning of August. I've just quoted for an e-commerce site (I don't think it'll happen TBH) and also a property website for my cousin's-girlfriends-dad that I'm pretty sure will go ahead, could be a nice dent in the OD!

greensalad

Yesterday I got a rebate for something unexpected, £58. It has paid for the unexpected holiday sandals I bought and helped towards my overspend at the knitting show. I now have £361 left of my budget for holiday, with that expected to come to £426, so looking like a £65 overspend this month. I will aim to bring this down over holiday but ultimately, it's not the worst overspend for a very expensive month.

August is set to be a fairly quiet month. My boyfriend's birthday is coming up but I've already bought his present and his day-out tickets. So all I need is enough for a cheap pub lunch. I should be getting some client work in so that will help alleviate the overdraft. My DFD at present is about April next year, but with extra client work I should be able to do it before Christmas which is my true aim.

Yesterday

- Joined the gym (a joint spend) and purchased gym clothes (got a fantastic discount).
- Purchased lunch which is good for today too.
- Had dinner from leftovers and cupboard ingredients


Today

- Having a NSD with lunch in the fridge
- Sainsburys man coming with week's delivery, will have salmon with veg and rice for dinner
- Going to the gym for a quick 30 minute workout after Sainsburys delivery
- Got some client work to do when I get back so that I can charge them soooon!

Tomorrow

- SD with £15.11 left on my lunch card to get the next three days of lunch. We usually go to Costa on Friday's (most people go twice a week but I limit myself to once a week) so I think I'll have some leftover
- Chilli night will do it in the slow cooker and put it on in the morning
- Playing mini-golf with work. We haven't been since last summer so it's a nice team-building thing

greensalad

Yesterday

- Impromptu pub visit yesterday but boyfriend treated me so still a NSD
- Gym clothes arrived and are mainly great except for the sports bra. I've arranged it for return and have had to order one £5 more expensive but it's adjustable so I think it will fit better
- Went to the gym! I am so unfit, but starting somewhere
- Sainsbury's delivered so lots of nice food in the house now
- Did some design work

Today
- Mini-golf after work £8.50 but I won't be staying for food
- Doing some design work
- SD as getting lunch for the next 2 days (chicken salad)
- Prepare chilli con carne when I get home ready for BF to put on in the morning
- Tidy house

Tomorrow
- SD as going to an exhibition with work, £8 for the evening, good chance to mix with some colleagues I don't usually see outside of work
- Will put chilli con carne in the slowcooker so me and BF can eat separately but still have a cheap meal