New Grad DFW

moneyonmymindsam

:hello: Hi , You seem to be doing amazingly, well done. :j


Great Job on the Grocery Challenge too. Hope to be able do £75 myself next month


Keep up the good work and the incredible focus you have


Best of luck on your Journey


Sam :A

ab_saver

Ooh a visitor :hello:

Thanks for the encouragement! I've been able to blitz it by having a small enough amount for 3 months of (relative) pain - rather than prolonging it. That said, I did go on holiday...

The grocery challenge has been aided by having stocked up my cupboards with a £100 off your first 5 online shops offer over the summer (conveniently before I found MSE again). I'm in a bit of an odd situation as my OH lives here about 1/3 to 1/2 the time - but he tends to buy food when he is here so the £75 target probably reflects my consumption as a lone adult. I'm sure I could get it down further after Christmas but I'm not willing to go down too far and compromise on things like fresh fruit and veg. So if you are shopping for 1 then it's definitely doable (I confess to having done most of my recent shopping at Mr W!).

I'm hoping that a bigger and longer term goal (saving for a deposit, and also a car) won't dampen my focus. I have the wonderful MSE community to keep me on the straight and narrow though :money:

P.S. I'm sure I've lurked on your diary ... scuttles off to find it

ab_saver

NSD today :A

6 days to go to payday

Did my meter readings and some sums. It's costing about £5 a week to heat the flat, which I'm pretty happy with.

I've done some more budget-fiddling and I'm pretty happy with it. I have managed to fit in a category for "wishlist" - an idea pinched off a friend of a friend to enable the purchase of objects of desire at a sensible rate!

ETA: meal plan even further out as I accidentally left my lunch at home today and had it for dinner!

moneyonmymindsam

ab_saver wrote: »

Ooh a visitor :hello:

Thanks for the encouragement! I've been able to blitz it by having a small enough amount for 3 months of (relative) pain - rather than prolonging it. That said, I did go on holiday...

The grocery challenge has been aided by having stocked up my cupboards with a £100 off your first 5 online shops offer over the summer (conveniently before I found MSE again). I'm in a bit of an odd situation as my OH lives here about 1/3 to 1/2 the time - but he tends to buy food when he is here so the £75 target probably reflects my consumption as a lone adult. I'm sure I could get it down further after Christmas but I'm not willing to go down too far and compromise on things like fresh fruit and veg. So if you are shopping for 1 then it's definitely doable (I confess to having done most of my recent shopping at Mr W!).

I'm hoping that a bigger and longer term goal (saving for a deposit, and also a car) won't dampen my focus. I have the wonderful MSE community to keep me on the straight and narrow though :money:

P.S. I'm sure I've lurked on your diary ... scuttles off to find it

Ahhhh then we are similar as I have a plus one for a third of the week as well ..if only to scupper my budget and try and put me off track.....:rotfl:


Hats off to you though - you are really doing a grand job


:T Five pound to heat the flat , now that is impressive!


There are some really lovely people here and is always good to keep each other motivated along the way.


:beer:

ab_saver

NSD 15 today - 5 days to payday! I'm not sure it's ever been so eagerly anticipated. :j

Done a few odd jobs (replace batteries in bike lights, WD40 garage door etc. - now for a washing up mountain then 'manuscript purgatory'. As part of my job I do some academic work linked to the local (next door!) university - which I LOVE - but I currently have two academic articles I've drafted to proof and send back to collaborators ASAP and it's a bit never ending. Only one is being done in working hours so I do that and then come home to the other one (a side project left over from my student days), which I confess I frequently can't face!

The main one *needs* to be sent in tomorrow (self imposed deadline, everyone else thought researching and writing ~6000 words in less than 3 weeks was madness). I'm nothing if not stubborn, so it WILL be done by the end of the week - it's the one at home which is languishing half marked up....

Menu planning is chaos as ever - I managed to take some veg in HM BBQ sauce into work today instead of my actual lunch - that's two lunch errors in a row! :eek:
On both occasions I toughed it out as opposed to buying anything (overly committed to the NSDs/ stubborn!) but I MUST take my lunch in tomorrow as I have basically run out of snacks

OH is supposed to be coming tomorrow evening, which would be lovely - and would mean a homemade veggie curry extravaganza. Dinner will be out on Friday, and home made again over the weekend - but some shopping may be required. I still have a fair bit in and have some cunning plans for the rest.... (halloumi, carrot, and courgette burger anyone? )

ab_saver

A very MSE day! :money:

-NSD
-I remembered the correct packed lunch!
- I think I've resolved the annual leave issue by going for different dates that mean OH can't come - but I get to go see my parents for longer and save about £100 on flights :money:
- checked my online payslip and I'm being paid correctly this month (finally!) so I now have an indication of my likely pay until April - and that I WILL be overdraft-free on Monday!
-I got my big manuscript done by lunchtime - I'm very pleased with it but won't find out until next week if it's any good or not.

I'm off to the gym and then OH is coming later.

So in general I'm very pleased with myself

ab_saver

I've done it! Payday today and I have enough money to stay out of the overdraft until the next one. :j :j :j

Onwards to saving for a deposit and staying in the black

Thanks to everyone who has popped by to say hi!

beanielou

Great result for you :j

ab_saver

Thank you!
I'm sticking around as I've seen the wonders :money: can work in the long term

ab_saver

Well the past few days have been mayhem.

I've spent LOTS of money - a small amount on frivolous things (hotel choc couples advent calendar- £26 :eek: )

I'm generally in ok shape financially- have enough money left to buy flights (which will go on the now clear CC anyway for section 75), eat, go see OH family, and generally enjoy Christmas.

I've got back to back appointments at 2 different banks to set up my HTB ISA then upgrade my current account. Once that's done I'll switch my other account to FD.

I've had no energy DD this month as I was with GB and nearly £200 in credit! Will wait and see how that unfolds but my fix will be honoured

I've set myself a £75 budget for the GC but that includes Boxing Day dinner (which will be my Christmas one). OH bought a YSd porterhouse joint for the day itself - it'll be perfect after returning from a long day at about 10 at night!

Other budgets:
£350 flights - purchase on hold as I ran into the person who does the rota (irritatingly very pleasant in person given the anger I've experienced from their emails) and now I may be able to have the week I originally requested after all. I'm not holding my breath.

I have a few more Christmas gifts to get: OH sister then my grandparents, and a top up for hampers for both mine and OH's parents- budget about £80

I'm inevitably going to do some eating out - I went out for a colleague's birthday yesterday but had pub toasties and free mulled cider so quite MSE (the 3x G&Ts not so much...). I'm also meeting a school friend who is up from London tomorrow and will go for dinner with her.

All this socialising lark is jolly expensive I must say!

I'm going to see OH's parents the week before Christmas and probably to see him this weekend although that's a source of much umming and ahhing as my flat is a tip and I move to a much busier department on Wednesday.

I'll need to keep a close eye on the finances this month but all should be fine and I'll stay in the black