Chica's gonna get a house! (hopefully)...

ChicaBonita

So home from work, and it's finally the long Bank Holiday weekend! Never have I looked forward to a Bank Holiday more, this week has been a nightmare for various reasons.

Got my P60 from work today, how exciting. Also got a letter regarding pensions - I understand that all firms have to do this now? I'm not sure how it will affect me, will have to ask the accounts girl on Tuesday. I've never thought too much about a pension, but at 25 is it something I should be seriously considering?

Anyway, tonight consists of red wine, and complete chillaxing before I can be productive tomorrow (that's the plan anyway). NSD for me so that's a plus for sure

ChicaBonita

I thought I would post a SOA, mainly for my benefit but if anyone has any comments feel free to share.
Please bear in mind I live with my mum, and I am VERY lucky to have many of my costs covered for me. I am aware that when I move out I will have to cover these myself (I have lived away from the home when I was a student) but for now she lets me live here cheaply.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1470.33
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1470.33

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 220 (cheap as I live in my mum's house)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 (my mum pays this..)
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 36.29 (£35.50 monthly rate, plus 79p for extra cloud storage. I am aware this is high, but I have this plan until August. My boyfriend has given me his newer phone as he got a brand new one, so once my plan is over I will be getting a sim only deal for approx £20 a month)
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 (this includes food for myself during the week, alcohol, food for work and any beauty products.)
Clothing................................ 80 (this is approximate, and is normally never this high. It can be anywhere between 15-50, but this month I have spent considerably more as I have started running again)
Petrol/diesel........................... 40 (I usually fill up my tank for about £33 depending on how low it is. This is once a month, the £40 is to cover any extra driving for that month)
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 60 (I paid this upfront out of my savings, and then pay my savings back each month)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (should probably have a fund for this!)
Car parking............................. 3 (I only pay for parking in town if I go shopping/cinema, this happens rarely, once or twice a month. I park at work for free)
Other travel............................ 10(Sometimes I get the bus into town, especially for a night out) Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 40 (I have one prescription, and I do go to the dentist, hygienist and opticians)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 (most of the birthdays in my family are spread nicely through the year, but then my bf's family are ALL in November and December:eek:)
Haircuts................................ 25 (£50 every 8 weeks)
Entertainment........................... 150 (This includes eating out and going out. My bf and I used to be a lot worse but we have cut out a lot of dinners out to save)
Holiday................................. 300 (I have one more payment for this year's summer holiday, then my spending money and clothes allowance to save. I should be able to reduce this to £100 in May/June. I want to keep this fund going as we do a city break later in the year on our anniversary)
Emergency fund.......................... 0 (I should make one )
House savings..........400 (wish this was higher)
Total monthly expenses.................. 1584.29[/b] (ah....)


Assets
Cash.................................... 5611.29
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 6211.29

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,470.33
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,594.29
Available for debt repayments........... -123.96
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -123.96 (overbudget.....need to do some serious thinking!

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,211.29
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 6,211.29

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

ChicaBonita

Soo another update.

Yesterday was a glorious first day of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Managed a 2.5 mile run in my new trainers. Went to dinner with the bf and his friends, £35 spent on food and £7.65 spent on an Uber. It was a local restaurant we went to, and we were disappointed. I'd been told by a work colleague about it months ago, and we've been meaning to go ever since. We were a party of 8, and they knew about our table for a week (so was plenty of notice to have the staff available). But when we got there it seemed they didn't have enough staff, took ages to get drinks, and someone from all the other tables had to come up to the waitresses and ask for their drinks/cancel items as it had taken too long. Then when we wanted after dinner coffees, the waitress said it was too late, but she'd check. Then she went into the kitchen (which was only separated from our table by a screen, I hasten to add) we heard her word our request "and now they want loads of irish coffees and !!!!!" Needless to say we felt awkward, and left there with a bit of a bad taste. The food was lovely, but it took so long and we were treated so coldly towards the end that it spoilt things. Yeah it was maybe later than they wanted us to be there, but we were only there so long as it took so long to get all our courses out, and we paid a decent amount of money between us. I shall be putting a review up I think! Bearing in mind I have worked in restaurants, so I know full well how annoying customers can be and how they can overstay their welcome, but you NEVER let them know that!!
Today had a facial that I prebooked a few weeks ago, £18. My skin has been bugging me lately, get rid of one spot and another one comes up. I rarely do facials and the only other beauty thing I do is my hair, so I thought I'd treat myself. I thought £18 for 45 minutes was a pretty good deal, and the girl was lovely and I felt very relaxed afterwards.
Tonight was going to be a relaxing one with the boyfriend, but the girls in his friendship group have invited me out for a girly night. He's more than happy to spend the evening playing Football Manager! I always end up not being able to go when they invite me out, and after 2 and a bit years of me and the bf being together, I'm not as close to these girls as I would like. So those are my evening plans - will pay bus fare, a few drinks and a taxi home. Hope to keep it under £25, depending on how late a night it is...

ChicaBonita

Withdrawn £3.46 from paypal from my first ebay sale this month, so that will be added to my deposit fund.

I've got a few sales ending tomorrow, one has been going crazy with bids today so I'm hoping for a decent end result tomorrow. The others all have watchers but no bids, so hopefully someone will bid at the last minute on those!

I've sold 6 items in total now on ebay, 3 that I sent out earlier this month, and only have feedback on 1 item. I'm a bit worried about this. One girl I messaged to let her know the item was on its way to her, and said she was looking forward to receiving it. And then no feedback? I know ebay prompts people to give feedback, but is it something I should be doing as well? I hear horror stories about buyers on there, and I would hate for someone to turn round and say they never received the item...

ChicaBonita

Happy Easter!

Last night was very good. The weather was awful (pouring down with rain) so got a lift into town. Spent £16.96 in the pub, and then £6 as an entry fee into a bar for me and another girl in the group who had no change (she bought me a drink at the bar). Then £5.58 on an uber home. Was a later one then planned, but had a great time dancing.
Total for the night = £28.54

Progress on savings fund
I had £14.66 ready to withdraw from paypal, so that's been withdrawn and put into my deposit fund. This now stands at £5,629.41/£15,000. Creeping up.

Had some success on ebay
My listings ended today. A girl messaged me about one of my dresses last night, sounds like it was perfect for her and she placed a bid and won it today. Also sold a pair of shorts. Got one more listing finishing in 2 hours. It's been listed a few times and a few watchers but no bites so far. Relisted my items that didn't sell, and straight away got a bid on an item, so pleased with that.
I will count those sales into my fund once they are available through paypal. I'm still having to wait 21 days for each payment to be accessible as I build up my ebay profile.

I've been a piggy and had some Easter egg chocolate, and spent most of the day napping as I didn't sleep very well last night after those drinks:o But that's what Sundays are for I suppose.

Going to see a West Ham tribute game with the bf tomorrow. He's been bugging me for ages to see a game, and they will be moving from their old stadium soon, so I guess it was about time:p Going to take ages to get there as the tfl rail line is closed for works, so it's a replacement bus service to a central line station, and then on from there. The joys of tfl!:eek:

Payday isn't until Thursday, and I can't wait. I'm currently in my overdraft, and so that will be put out my budget for next month. I came into this month in my overdraft as well. Need to be extra good in April, although if I'm honest there's nothing I think I NEED, it's just those little impulse buys that add up. Oh, and although I sell on ebay, I also like to buy so need to break that habit.

Reading
I finished a book today - A knight of the seven kingdoms by George RR Martin. I'd borrowed it from the bf who is obsessed with game of thrones and was thrilled when a new book came out, even if it is a book of novellas! I really like the main books (not so much the show), but this book was a bit....flat. I felt that he repeated phrases SO much throughout all the stories, and while the last story was a bit more punchy, in the other two it didn't feel like much even happened...even when it was a major plot twist it felt blah. Not impressed!

I also used up a product - origins drink up intensive mask. I have had a couple of tubes so far and love it, so will be repurchasing at some point. I will see if I can get it cheaply somewhere.
I always track my use ups (it makes me feel good ok!) and I'm aiming for 150 this year. Bit behind schedule for 2016 though..
January - 10
February - 15
March - 7 (and I can't see anything else finishing before the end of the month, although I have a Jimmy Choo perfume that is on the last few squirts)

PatrickStar

Stop buying on eBay! Hahaha, that's how some of my problems started :P

Good luck with the sales on there. I gotta get mine going.

ChicaBonita

PatrickStar wrote: »

Stop buying on eBay! Hahaha, that's how some of my problems started :P

Good luck with the sales on there. I gotta get mine going.

Tell me about it!! I've bought a lot this month but that's it for now I think...I hate conventional clothes shopping and so find it a lot easier to go on there when there's something I need. Although I caught myself bidding on a Michael Kors bag yesterday as mine has seen better days. Luckily I was outbid and it eventually went for £40 over my budget, but oh I was so annoyed with myself!! April would be a tight enough month as it is without that as well.

You should get the sales going it's so satisfying when things sell lol. I was going through my boyfriend's wardrobe on Sunday, he lost a lot of weight before we met and he has a lot of branded stuff that is too big for him but still in his wardrobe. We've decided I will sell it for him and he'll get most of the money, and me a "finder's fee" haha. He did say to me though, "do people ACTUALLY buy clothes on ebay?" He finds it all a bit weird, but when he sees the stuff I've bought this month for a fraction of their RRP, he's very surprised.

ChicaBonita

Yesterday was a fairly cheap day considering we went to the football! It was a testimonial match, so was light hearted and the players did a lot of messing around haha. I did say to my boyfriend though that I'd like to go to a proper match now, get some action going!!
Spent money on the train (zone 4 to zone 3), and one bus - most of the buses we got were rail replacements so didn't cost anything. Spent £2 on 2 bottles of water (£1 per bottle). And that was it! Bit ridiculous to do all those train works on Easter Bank Holiday though. Meant it took us about 2 hours to get home!

Posted off my two ebay sales from the weekend. I seem to be selling a couple of things every week, but this is good - slowly delucttering and nice to be able to add a few pounds to the deposit fund when paypal lets me!

Still eagerly awaiting payday...

Claree__x

I used to love testamonial matches when I went to the football! I used to go every week so a testamonial was a wee bit different and it used to be players from my childhood coming out of retirement for it and stuff so it was great!

ChicaBonita

Claree__x wrote: »

I used to love testamonial matches when I went to the football! I used to go every week so a testamonial was a wee bit different and it used to be players from my childhood coming out of retirement for it and stuff so it was great!

Yeah it was good fun, it was cheaper than a normal ticket and my bf's been bugging me to go to a game for a couple of years, so good as a taster haha. There were some amazing goals, a retired player scored one by falling on his back and flicking the ball into the goal with his foot hahaha.

Update:
I'm following a training plan for my half marathon using the mapmyrun app, so yesterday I did a 2.2 mile run in the pouring rain! But I hadn't done any exercise over the Bank Holiday weekend so I couldn't skip any more lol. Felt good though.

Tonight I will be going to boxercise, so that's a fiver, and then we always go to Tesco on the way home to pick up some dinner. Need to get some toothpaste and some chicken for work lunches too. Only have a £20 note so hoping to spend less than a tenner in Tesco. Then payday tomorrow!!!!!!!