Silly student debt diary

greensalad

Trying to get back into the swing of posting here. I must say it's a tad disheartening that it's only me that reads this! I've been talking to myself for many pages. But I guess it's not about who reads and more about me having a permanent record of what I'm doing.

So I'm going to get into the habit of writing here every day again, including checking spends on a Monday and planning on payday.

Today

I will go to Asda for a cheap lunch to last two days
I will list my old camera on eBay
I will continue tidying the craft room and hopefully sew a little of my blue dress
I will check for the Halifax cheque when I get in, though I'm not hopeful.
I will pester my client who was supposed to get back to me this weekend.

In terms of money, today will be a low spend day (just lunch), we have stuff in the freezer for dinner.

Tomorrow

Hopefully a NSD unless we need dinner
Will do polls, very close to cashout
Will request payment from Quidco

AleMrsT

Hi greensalad, :hello: I'm still here, reading your updates and following your progress. Don't be disheartened, you're doing great.

greensalad

AleMrsT wrote: »

Hi greensalad, :hello: I'm still here, reading your updates and following your progress. Don't be disheartened, you're doing great.

Ha thanks! I just felt a bit lonely :P

greensalad

I've been working this evening on my budget for the next month. So between now, and around 15th September. It includes all the incomes I expect to get between now and then and how they will be spent. It's not all a lot of moneysaving I must admit, but I have a holiday coming up (the last for a very long while!)

£411 client
£94.50 business expense
£265.94 Barclays OD
£25 work lunches
£25.56 personal food

£40 client
Holiday savings (Dirndl)

£40 OnePoll
Holiday savings (Dirndl)

£36 WPA
Holiday savings (Sophie)

£22.82 Quidco
Misc

£100 eBay
£75 Holiday savings (Dirndl)
£25 Holiday savings (general)

£50 Halifax
Sewing

£1470 end Aug
£849.13 utilities
£175 joint spend
£44 car
£40 work lunches
£40 other food
£100 CC
£100 phone
£20 home things
£63.87 christmas
£38 beauty


£500 mid Sept
£168 tax savings
£100 holiday savings money
£200 paid to credit card
£32 misc category on YNAB (not sure what to do with it yet)

£1470 end Sept
£841.38 utilities
£175 joint spend
£95 holiday money
£44 car savings
£80 work lunches
£80 personal food
£100 misc (divide into categories)
£54.62 CC



I still have a further £1128 of work from clients outstanding that has yet to be billed (the work hasn't been completed) but that will come out over the next few months and will really make a dent. What with no more holidays and already having saved a chunk for Christmas it's looking pretty rosey! The only spend I have between holiday (Sept) and Christmas is our anniversary. We are staying at a local hotel and having dinner there, should be about £100 each which I think is great for a mini-break!

misselvis

seems as though you have given this honest and realistic thought. Sometimes we need to look outside our perceived comfort zones.

greensalad

Checked in on my eBay, up to £105 of goods! Eeek! Also achieved my £40 cashout limit on OnePoll, have requested the £40! Going to take a while for all this income to get here, I'm still constantly checking the post box for the Halifax cheque but I'm guessing they'll be taking their time

Today

NSD = 2 (I only started counting mid-August)

:starmod: Drink shake for lunch
:starmod: Finish up all washing so it's done before the weekend starts and I can focus on other chores
:starmod: List my DSLR camera for sale (hoping for about £50-£70)
:starmod: Redraft the back pieces of my dress pattern onto paper ready to do final toile.
:starmod: Have shake for dinner


Tomorrow

:starmod: Don't go over-budget on dinner with BF's family
:starmod: Tidy at least one room fully (bathroom probably)

greensalad

I had to pay a deposit for part of my holiday so I ended up having to shift money around on my plan.

£411 client
£94.50 business expense
£276.54 debt savings
£20 work lunches
£20 personal food

£40 client
Debt savings

£40 OnePoll
Debt savings

[STRIKE]£36 WPA
Holiday savings (Sophie)[/STRIKE] - RECEIVED AND STASHED AWAY

£22.82 Quidco
Misc

£110+ eBay
£105.44 debt savings
Anything leftover to Misc

£50 Halifax
Sewing/crafts

£1470 end Aug
£849.13 utilities
£175 joint spend
£44 car
£40 work lunches
£40 other food
£163.87 CC
£100 phone
£20 home things
£38 beauty


£500 mid Sept
£168 tax savings
£100 holiday savings money
£200 paid to credit card
£32 Misc

£1470 end Sept
£841.38 utilities
£175 joint spend
£95 holiday money
£44 car savings
£80 work lunches
£80 personal food
£100 Misc
£54.62 CC

greensalad

Updating to my income list.

Work

BF's Mum wants a website for her new business. We discussed it a bit at her birthday meal but she is totally happy for me to take charge which is nice (I've been dealing with very attentive but very professional clients recently so it's nice to have someone I can just present a design to and they'll be happy with it!)

This means I'll have three web development projects on the go at once! But Client #1 is due to wrap up soon (just going through testing this week) and Client #2 is just entering design stage so quite far behind in the process. Now with Client #3 it will be a quick turnaround project that I should be able to turn around during amend time of Client #2.

I've still yet to here back from Former Colleague regarding copywriting job he wanted for big multi-national company. Maybe my rate was too high? I doubt it, I hadn't quoted much for it. Maybe that'll come back round. Would be a nice £100 a month guaranteeed.

Outside of work

Had a lovely chat today with my cousin's girlfriend. I met her on holiday for only the second time and we got on really well. They're a both a few years younger than myself and BF and it was really nice to speak to someone who seemed interested in our lives. They were very interested in talking to us regarding work after uni, living et cetera. Cousin's GF was asking about living costs and rent (they go to the same uni and live in the same city that me and BF went to) and we had a good chat about the future, working, buying houses and stuff. She's a really headstrong girl and very committed to getting a good job and earning money well. It's nice to talk to someone that reminds me of me! And also it's nice to have someone ask me for advice! I gave her a list of all our bill costs so she can try and work out the budget for their new flat together.

Money-saving

Bits for holiday are all budgeted now. I've also started keeping a Christmas shopping list on Amazon and have hooked it up to camelcamelcamel so if prices drop I can grab it a little cheaper. I know what I am getting BF and have a small present idea for Mum. Instead of saving in my pot for Christmas I'll just save until I have enough for each present and then purchase it. That will reduce Christmas stress shopping too.

BF is away so I've got a big pot of soup to last me 2 days! Visiting a friend this evening and she is cooking me dinner so I will repay her some point next week but that means free dinner for tonight which is nice

Budget plan

£255 client
£11.98 business expense
£107 christmas present
£136.02 debt repayment

£411 client
£94.50 business expense
£140.52 debt savings
£20 work lunches
£20 personal food
£38 beauty
£20 misc
£77.98 CC

£40 client
Debt savings

£40 OnePoll
Debt savings

£36 WPA
[STRIKE]Holiday savings (Sophie)[/STRIKE] - RECEIVED AND STASHED AWAY

£22.82 Quidco
Misc

£110+ eBay
£105.44 debt savings - £94.50 DEBITED AND STASHED SO FAR
Anything leftover to Misc

£50 Halifax
Sewing/crafts

£1470 end Aug
£849.13 utilities
£175 joint spend
£44 car
£40 work lunches
£40 other food
£201.87 CC
£100 phone
£20 home things


£500 mid Sept
£168 tax savings
£100 holiday savings money
£200 paid to credit card
£32 Misc

£1470 end Sept
£841.38 utilities
£175 joint spend
£95 holiday money
£44 car savings
£80 work lunches
£80 personal food
£100 Misc
£54.62 CC

greensalad

Squeeee! After posting that bit long post, I got paid by both client #2 and client #3 in minutes of each other!

Spent time going through YNAB and allocating it all. This means I now have £500 in my debt savings pot, enough to clear my Barclays OD (where my current account sits and the one that really upsets me the most). I'm going to call the bank right now and set up an appointment to pay off my overdraft and update my account to a non-student one (which means contactless card, that's kinda fun!)

Bobarella

Great going Green Salad!