From Bad to Good and back again

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs!

And so continues my battle:

Money saving failure: I ran out of breakfast things, so had to buy breakfast out.
Middling money saving event: bought breakfast from Pret was so disappointing I won't be rushing to waste £4 there before work again.
Money saving success: I stocked up on biscuits for £1 to last me a few days, and I managed not to eat them all. So as a result of not spending 63p per bar on two Snickers, I have saved the grand sum of 26p. If I do this 16 times, I will make up for the money wasted on the disappointing Pret breakfast.

I am pretty sure this is a case of being pennywise and pound foolish, but for this evening it is success enough.

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs!

Everything was going so well. With a week to pay day, I had a relatively generous £25 a day left to get me through and was on track to save £300. Then I booked a trip away. I had anticipated the trip, but I hadn't quite saved for it, so I will have to make up for it next month and the following month, which I don't like doing, but I haven't been away since last year, and I am not getting in to debt, so I figure it is just about justifiable.

I also need to bite the bullet and "invest" in some new work clothes. I saved up to buy them last year, and the money is just sitting in a crappy low interest savings account, but knowing how long it takes to accrue savings, it seems an obscene amount of money to waste. I also don't like buying clothes.

The good news is that by Friday, I will have managed to keep my spending diary for a whole payday month (from one payday to the next). Just looking at the month gone, I think I should really start making a few cuts now, instead of waiting for the three months to be up, as I had originally planned. I will give that some thought and maybe set myself some (easy) challenges at the weekend.

In fact, I might be really bold and set myself a small challenge for the week: not to buy a single coffee out. From small acorns and all that...

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs!

I am not sure how people manage to update their diaries so often. Perhaps they are more dedicated than I am.

Anyway, I got through last week without buying a single coffee out. My spending diary is complete for a whole month, but I haven't dared tot up the totals. I also had an evening out courtesy of work, so my socialising costs for last week were down. As a result of this, I "rewarded" myself for being good. I stocked up on decent wine and bought a few treats as I didn't eat a single meal out all weekend. I hope this is acceptable MSE behaviour. If I like food, surely not eating out as my weekly treat but spending an amount of money equivalent to a mediocre dinner out for treats at home is ok?

I also spent part of Sunday batch cooking, so I now have 6 dinners in the freezer. I think this partly compensates for my massive overspend at the supermarket. Today I made my own lunch instead of buying it, and I didn't buy any afternoon snacks, so I made the grand saving of £5, minus the costs of ingredients.

My short term goal is going to be to take lunch to work twice a week, and eat it out the remaining three times. I know that this is hardly earth shattering, but since I took my new job on a reduced salary, I no longer have a cleaner. I work quite long hours, and trying to balance this with doing exercise, maintaining a semi clean home and having a semblance of a social life is frankly a bit much. My overall aim is to achieve something approaching a balance, which lets me enjoy myself with in reason but save enough money to pay off my student loan a year early.

In a future entry, I shall have a long rant about student loans. I think Martin recommends them as a cost effective way of investing in your future, but as someone who has been repaying one for coming close to a decade, I am not entirely sure I agree.

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs!

I am making some progress - I made lunch twice last week and once this week, and it is only Tuesday! I haven't bought any coffees out since my pret disappointment. I have bought some new (much needed and planned for) work shirts and sent a pair of suit trousers to be repaired while I regain my fitness and slim down into my historic suit size.

The exciting road to financial stability...

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs!

I have a money saving dilemma. I have received a tax refund (sounds a bit like community chest in Monopoly) for a sum which is just about the outstanding amount I owe for the phone repayments for my iPhone. I had anticipated this, and was planning on paying off the phone, as I only took out the wretched contract because my old phone died, which I had planned on keeping for another year, and then saving up the difference every month so I can pay cash for a new handset the next time I suffer a technological failure.

However, last week, one of my most frugal relatives died of a long term illness. On both sides of the family, the financially prudent seem to be afflicted by all sorts of misfortune, whilst the spendthrift are blessed with long and impecunious lives. As his illness worsened, he implored my father to spend, rather than save money, lest he suffer the same misfortune.

Anyway, this cheery tale has made me wonder whether I should blow the tax refund on some new clothes for my holiday, in an attempt to stave off a swift and painful terminal illness, or whether I should pay off my phone contract so as to stop me from having to worry about the heating bill in my long and penniless dotage.

kittycatfan

Hi id blow the money on holiday clothes and take your changes lol as we all got in the end so you may aswell enjoy buying new clothes

in_need_of_direction

It's not that the impoverished live longer, it just seems that way for them.

peaceandfreedom

Istartedontherighttrack wrote: »

Anyway, this cheery tale has made me wonder whether I should blow the tax refund on some new clothes for my holiday, in an attempt to stave off a swift and painful terminal illness, or whether I should pay off my phone contract so as to stop me from having to worry about the heating bill in my long and penniless dotage.

Ha ha, a new spin on the 'you can't take it with you' approach to money management - can't quite see the link between buying new clothes and staving off terminal illness myself :rotfl:.

Why not spend a small percentage of the tax rebate on clothes and throw the rest at the phone bill.

And speaking of phones - it is not obligatory to buy an expensive handset - next time a phone dies and you don't have the cash to replace it, beg an old one from one your mates until you DO have the cash.

Istartedontherighttrack

Evening MSErs,

I have returned from my ruinous but highly enjoyable holiday and feel relaxed but poor. I have probably spent more than I should. I have kept up my spending diary, but can't face adding it up. Perhaps I will save it as a treat for next weekend.

I tried to do some soul searching whilst on holiday, but the best answer I could come up with is that I need a bigger income. I won't get a pay rise in my new job for another year, so I think I need to come up with some alternate money making ideas in the interim.

I pay off my credit card bill in full each month, which is one of the few MSE behaviours I manage to stick to. Unfortunately, since I started returning to my spendthrift ways, the bill is usually bigger than the amount of money left over in my current account at the end of each month to pay it off with, so I am paying the remainder off with the following month's salary payment. This is not good. In fact, it is how people end up addicted to Wonga.

I am going to give myself 3 months to get back to a state where my credit card bill is covered by the amount remaining in my current account each month, which will require a proper budget, and a more severe one than the one I have failed to stick to. I shall also draw up a list of things I need to buy and only buy those things (which is pretty much what I have been doing, but I still feel slightly too extravagant).

Sorry this is so repetitive, but it is at least useful. I can see what my mistakes are, and also that they are pretty ingrained into my behaviour, and now I am working on getting rid of them.

Istartedontherighttrack

Afternoon MSErs!

I have not been very good at keeping this updated, or at limiting my spending generally. I sat down and worked out I can get back on budget in a month if I live extremely frugally or two months if I live less frugally. Then one of my (much repaired) suits ripped at the ar***. I have actually saved up enough money to buy a replacement suit, but this money is sitting in an account which pays an extremely low amount of interest. After years of paying the bank interest most months, I get a strange satisfaction seeing the bank pay me a derisory figure every month. Now in a Scrooge like manner, I am reluctant to let this pleasant situation end, and would prefer to go to work in rags.

After years of reading this site, it has finally dawned on me that I also possess valuable skills which will let me do work at the weekend and make some additional money. If all goes to plan, I intend to use this to pay off my student loan, which will make me almost £200 a month richer and will be akin to having a large pay rise. Thank you for inspiring MSErs with all your tales of doing surveys and things.

I am now going to go out for a distinctly non-MSE lunch out.