K&L's 2016 FTB deposit & round the world travel savings diary

savingwannabe

OMG. Good luck on ebay.

I used to go ballooning about 25 years ago. I am too old now but still dead jealous. Fabulous holiday here you come.

Can you shop at an Aldi for cheaper food?

Hutchch0920

I've never been in a balloon before but the photos look amazing!!

Success on the tax rebate front. I helped OH put in a claim for a uniform tax rebate (Thanks Martin!) and he's had letters today to say they owe him about £70...worth half an hour of our time :-)

I also found £5 in Sainsburys on Saturday and completed two mystery shopping tasks yesterday for £10.

Keffka has also put his gaming computer on eBay and it fetched £60 more than he paid for it!

So that brings our total extra cash for the year to £600, which is quite astonishing really. Although we've spent a little bit of it, it enthuses me to keep going and do even more.

Come back to edit that I've just logged into my emails to see that Ratesetter have given me my £50 referral fee and that my interest on my Nationwide regular saver has been paid and it was £20 more than I was expecting at £181! Very pleased :-D Keffka also gained £95 on his regular saver. All in all a very good month.

Skint_yet_Again

well done on the ebay sales & extra income in what a great month ! I've only sold a few things on ebay and 2 went for more than we paid for them - DS's violin we bought at car boot & a jacket similar to one worn by a band he liked when he was younger (my chemical romance?)

savingwannabe

I was dragged to one of their gigs once!!!lol.
:rotfl:

Hutchch0920

My friends used to love My Chemical Romance! I was not a fan.

Having a real think about money and future right now. No wonder there's a black hole where private pensions should be. The plethora of products and options is confusing at best. I don't really know whether I should get a LISA or not....guess I need to research it and figure if the money would do better in a traditional pension. Literally no idea.

I've opened a S&S ISA and bought into four different funds, two active and two passive. Having listened to the Meaningful Money podcast it seems I need to increase my holding in passive, so once I get paid I'll do that. I highly recommend that podcast, it is excellent.

On the upside we've saved an extra two days travelling this month and made a pretty wall chart to keep track.

I've just started using a new app where you take photos of job ads in your area. I've done loads but pretty skeptical about it as 90% of them haven't been checked yet....perhaps there's a backlog.

savingwannabe

Pensions sound so complicated and I am much older than you. I was fortunate in that I have a good occupational pension. It is a bit of a minefield and I still don't know much about it. I applaud you for investigating.

Well done on your extra earnings. I like the wallchart idea.

Hutchch0920

Payday soooon! 4 days to go and I actually have cash in my account for a change!! Usually I'd be overdrawn by now. OH and I had the day off together yesterday as I had a long weekend of cheerleading...over the weekend I spent far too much on food for what I'd like but there wasn't much I could do about it save for sitting in the restaurant but not eating anything...bit too extreme even for me.

OH and I had a walk around and did a couple of tiny mystery shop tasks so I could cash out. We also broke into our savings jar to fish out all the £1 coins that will go out of circulation soon (or is that the £5 notes?) I've never had so much change! So many 1p, 2p and 10p!!

Skint_yet_Again

Well done on having money left before payday ! I don't get paid until the last day of each month you deserve that restaurant treat

savingwannabe

I can't believe anyone cheerleads in this weather. I applaud you. It is soooo cold. I am here thinking about putting on woolly tights and knickers. I can't wait for the summer. lol.

Hutchch0920

Don't worry SW, it was a for a competition so we were inside :-) I thoroughly dislike the cold and wet too! Can't wait to throw out all my worn out tights :rotfl:

I somehow thought I'd already put my £50 in from one of my task apps but apparently I haven't so that's another £50 for the pot

I am itching to buy a house today, it's driving me a bit bananas, only another 2-3 years aha. We have the cash now but we wouldn't be living in it and buy to let just seems a bit complicated and as of December we won't have an income to patch any shortfalls of rent so it seems like a bit of a risk. Going travelling is by far my no 1 priority.