Lala's FTB Saving Diary

Lala2015

Hi everyone! :wave:
I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas & New Year! :santa2:

I lost track of my previous diary during Christmas as everything was so hectic, so here I am; at the start of a new year & a brand-new diary which has previously helped and will help me manage my money!

To start things off; my two biggest goals are:

FTB House Deposit - Aim = £40,000.00 (ASAP). Currently at £28,415.00 = 71.03%

Emergency Funds - Aim = £5,000 (ASAP, But I've worked out - realistically, this will be Jan 2020. Currently at £710.00 = 14.20%

I paid my car finance off last year (yay!) and yesterday I brought myself a Iphone 6S outright (£615.00!) I did get this on 0% finance (approx £52.00 per month for 12 months), but if you could see the state of my current phone, you'll agree the purchase was justified! (Completely shattered screen, everything is almost unreadable. It died a last death on NYE when I placed it on the side of the sink in a club toilet, and it slid into the ONE SINK full of water. Now it doesn't make or receive calls, I can only communicate via WiFi!)
The original plan was to buy my next phone outright (as I'm trying to cut down on the amount of DDs I have) and to then get a rolling sim-only deal I've found online from GiffGaff that gives me EXACTLY what I need for £9.00 per month! I also need the new number to cut off the non-stop messages the ex sends me - apparently there are ways around blocking someone :rotfl:

I am quite stringent with money already and buying a mobile outright for that much money was a huge decision for me! Using these forums has really helped me gain inspiration and ideas on how to save just that bit more!

A little background (which explains my financial situation a bit better!):
Due to the end of a long-term relationship last year, I left the flat I lived in with with my ex. I therefore had to find somewhere to live alone (my parents could not take me back in as my sister had returned from university and I had acquired a gorgeous kitten who is my partner in crime )
I now live alone in a lovely flat in the SE. It is expensive (£895 rent per month alone :eek:), but that's the way it is in this part of the country. I work full-time and earn £29k per annum.
I manage month-by-month and somehow I manage to save approximately £200.00 per month into my FTB savings & £50.00 per month into my Emergency Fund; but this can fluctuate.
I have been saving for a home since I started my very first part-time job when I was 16 (during school). I am also saving for all the additional fees that come with buying a home separately, so my deposit will in fact be the deposit amount.

So that's my story!

I go back to work on Monday and I can't wait - I absolutely love my job. I'm working from home on Tuesday as I need to be in for when my new phone is delivered.

I have one more social event to go to this month (prior to payday); it's a close friends birthday and I've just discovered Uber and according to the fare estimator, this will half what I normally pay for a cab! Luckily the venue is only 20 minutes away. I've budgeted £50.00 for the night and it's not going to be a 'mad' night out as she's a new mummy, so just a get together & a few drinks with the girls - I'm looking forward to it!
Other than that, no real expenses until payday apart from my standard utilities, all of which have been budgeted for and leave me in the black according to my monthly spreadsheet!
I'm feeling positive & looking forward to what 2016 will bring! :T

Lala2015

Morning everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday?! I'm trying to get my brain into gear ready for work tomorrow! My manager has been lovely enough to allow me to work from home on Tuesday as I am waiting for my new mobile to be delivered, so really I only have a 4 day week to ease myself into

I have a great money-saver to start the year off with: My 'new customer' 12 month discount for my home broadband runs out in January so my bill would have increased from £17.70 per month to £25.50. I called up my provider & spoke to someone on the phone, who said they will call me back when the retentions team was available (which was nice!)
After talking on the phone, they reduced my bill from what would have been £25.50 to £14.70 due to 'customer loyalty discount!' I am very impressed! Not only did it take all of 10 minutes and a simple phone call, now i don't have to worry about the switching process (as I was shopping around with different companies).

Every penny helps when you only have the one income!

I'm going to spend the rest of my Sunday cleaning my flat, prepping my work bag & making my lunch for tomorrow and I plan to end up on the sofa, watching Netflix!

Lala2015

Hi everyone :wave:

How are we all?

I'm so glad I was able to work from home today, I felt really ill at work yesterday and even worse when I woke up this morning! I had a runny nose, sore throat and slight fever! I've been working on my laptop all day. My new phone was then delivered (yay!) and I have drank my body weight in coffee, lempsip and herbal tea! :coffee: I've had a quick nap and feel so much better, I just need to shift this runny nose before my night out on Saturday! Does anyone have any tips?!

I paid off a little of my credit card today - £37.43. I'm also due a refund of £28.00, so once both these credits clear, I'll have £100.00 to pay off before my statement due date (which is the end of January). This is quite a bit more than usual, but that's down to the nights out for Christmas, NYE and a few presents.

I've also been gaining my points on SB's & YouGov today. I'm halfway towards another £10.00 Amazon voucher on SB. I have found SB a massive help since I joined last year. I joined in July and at the end of the year, I had about £90.00 in Amazon vouchers which sorted over half of my Christmas presents, result!
This year, I'm starting from now (yes, mad... I know!) and if I have a considerably larger sum by say... September, I can use some of the vouchers towards things other than Christmas gifts.
I'm also about three quarters of the way to gaining my £50.00 cash from YouGov. When I get this, this will go directly into one of my saving accounts.

I'm also waiting for my £30.00 Quidco tracked cash to be ready for pay-out, then I can add this into one of my savings accounts.

I feel like I'm on the right track!

savingwannabe

Hello Lala, Happy New Year. You sound very determined and cheerful. Hurrah for 2016.

I don't know what this Yougov is? I am going to try to do things to get Amazon Vouchers and discounts this year to help with Xmas. I found my xmas and holiday fund amazing as for the first time I am not broke in January and have even put an extra £100 into the mortgage fund. Hurrah for MSE.

Lala2015

savingwannabe wrote: »

Hello Lala, Happy New Year. You sound very determined and cheerful. Hurrah for 2016.

I don't know what this Yougov is? I am going to try to do things to get Amazon Vouchers and discounts this year to help with Xmas. I found my xmas and holiday fund amazing as for the first time I am not broke in January and have even put an extra £100 into the mortgage fund. Hurrah for MSE.

Hi Savingwannabe!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

It's a survey site - you earn points and when you have 5,000 points you get £50.00. It does take a while, but you don't need to qualify for the surveys. I'm looking forward to getting the £50.00!

Ahhh well done you! It's such a good feeling putting that bit extra aside

System

Hello my dear!

So glad to hear you're enjoying your new job. Sounds so much better than your last one!

Buying the phone outright is a fantastic idea. Next time I get a new phone I will definitely be doing the same. At the end of my last contract my phone still worked perfectly and I sold it to my Dad (I would have given it to him but he insisted). I think this time I'll keep my phone for as long as it'll last and just get a sim only deal! I don't need a new phone to do anything my iPhone 6 doesn't, cope perfectly well as is!

Are you feeling better? xxx

Lala2015

sauceoclock wrote: »

Hello my dear!

So glad to hear you're enjoying your new job. Sounds so much better than your last one!

Buying the phone outright is a fantastic idea. Next time I get a new phone I will definitely be doing the same. At the end of my last contract my phone still worked perfectly and I sold it to my Dad (I would have given it to him but he insisted). I think this time I'll keep my phone for as long as it'll last and just get a sim only deal! I don't need a new phone to do anything my iPhone 6 doesn't, cope perfectly well as is!

Are you feeling better? xxx

Hi Sauce! How are you my lovely? How is living with the parents?

This job is SO much nicer, even the flexibility alone is unbelievable! I e-mailed my manager last night gone midnight asking if I could work from home as my poor little kitten was unwell and I needed to make an appointment with the vet asap this morning - she didn't even bat an eyelid & said that is fine. My employer is all about promoting flexible working which is such a huge help!

I feel a bit better, thank you Still rather rubbish (I'm sitting here with a load of tissue up my nose as we speak haha :rotfl:) I feel fine really apart from this horrendous runny nose, my poor nose area is so dry it hurts! Typical as I'm meant to be going out on Saturday!

I think I should be fine as long as I keep my head down at work to make the days go faster, drink lots of hot drinks and have early nights up until Saturday!

My friend (who is a single mummy to a 2 year old) and I booked our tickets to Ladies Day in June last night! I'm so excited! I was going to go last year, but this is when I was with the ex & he didn't want to go with me, he went with 'the lads' instead and I stayed at home I think / have flashbacks about what I put myself through and I really don't know why I did it!

This year, myself and my friend are bringing the little one, then when her mother has finished work, she is coming to collect her so that us two girls can have a few drinks/go to a bar/have dinner and come home. I brought my ticket at the cheapest rate (£55) and will need to put money aside from now on for the day itself, possibly a dress, and cab money for the journey there and back.

I'm really excited to see what this year has in store - so far, so good! :T

savingwannabe

Yay, onwards and upwards.

I hope the cold get's better soon too.

Lala2015

Happy Sunday everyone!

How are we all?

I have £73.50 left to pay off on my credit card for this month (the payment is due at the end of the month). I think more than likely I'll have to pay this off using my January wage, which isn't too bad.

I'm on-track for the rest of the month... and jeez, has this been a long month or what?!
I'm going to be really boring today and stay inside, watch Netflix and Ebay some bits of clothing. I'm currently am writing this entry with a face mask on! :rotfl:
Sort-of finance related... I have a blind date on Saturday..! Just drinks in the local area. I'm so very scared!! :eek: I will of course pay my way, but he has already mentioned about 'being old fashioned' and he will cover everything... We shall see! Wish me luck - Eeeeeep!

I get paid on the 21st and cannot wait!

savingwannabe

Hurrah that is something to look forward to. I am just looking at the rain which is pretty bad here in the south east. If it carries on like this we will end up swimming. I am having a lazy weekend watching my Kodi Box.

Have a good day.

System

Hello!

Are you all ready for your blind date?! Good on you, you deserve to have some fun. I find if my nose is sore like that have a nice hot shower before bed, try and decongest as much as possible then pop some vaseline all round the sore bit (a lot of it) then in the morning you wake up and it's way less sore. Hope you're feeling better now!

Living with my parents isn't so bad! I've not really been home much, lots of driving back and forth to Norwich where my friends live and coming home late at night. Buckling down on their business accounts today because I'm doing them as a way of 'paying my way' until I'm hired

Still enjoying your new job? xxx