Preparing for adult life ..

bma14

Ahhh - what a busy weekend! I have been so swamped with so many things that it doesn't even feel like I've been off! what a nightmare.

I've also only (just) managed to keep on top of money through all of this! I had to get a couple of things for a friend staying and needed new boots for rugby so I had to put those on my CC which i'll pay off on pay day from my personal budget so doesn't really count I suppose :P

I'll need to get back on the earning train this week and see how much closer I can get to that £999 figure before payday - which of course cannot come quick enough !

bma14

I'm back to looking forward at this debt repayment and back on the earning train My OH is off today and so kindly took my ipad to the post office for me. With any luck it will turn itself around before payday and I can put that towards my overdraft!

I totally forgot that I have a work do again tonight but I'm hoping that I can keep it down to a spending minimum!!

bma14

It's almost payday! Which can't come quick enough at the end of this 5 week month

I did quite well at my last work do and only spent £20 the whole night which was pretty good (although well and truly used up the last of my personal spends!!). I have a busy weekend this weekend too but hoping I can avoid spending by not drinking and driving instead. Me and OH are both going together so think we can justify any food requirements from the leftovers of the joint account (around £40 - that should do us to Wednesday if we are sensible with it!).

I'm quite happy with this month though feel like I could have done better. We shall see!

Haven't heard anything yet from the people I sold the ipad to so not confident it will be in before pay day (but one can hope!).

I've paid all the bills now except for BT (£35) and the finance for the dishwasher (£15). So once those two come out the OD should be sat at £1065.64. If I do manage to get the money in in time then it will pull it under the £1000 mark That would make me super happy! In the meantime I'm going to continue doing surveys etc though I've been so busy at work that I haven't had a chance to really sit down and get into it. I have earned a cheeky £10 through swagbucks in amazon vouchers though which will help keep my shopping habits at bay haha.

Looking at the figures I think I can get to a point where, come the end of my contract, I will have paid off the debt and also have a £500 buffer to help me in case I don't have a permanent job at the end of it. I'm hoping it won't get to that but at least I will be setting myself up well if the worst does happen..

bma14

Well that was one looooooong month !!

The last day before payday is my recap day. I didn't manage to get the money in from my ipad yet (they said there is a backlog at the valuing place) so I'll just need to leave that as something to look forward to next month.

My final debts balance for this month is £1060.00 which to be honest I am quite happy with as it is about £190 ahead of where I thought I would be by now. Importantly, once I am paid tomorrow and do my piggy banking it means I am going to be under that £1000 mark!

I make it that after I get paid and then pay all my bills I will be left with an overdraft of -£815.92 On top of that I then have by ipad money coming in, a tenner cheque to put in plus and extra 10 which I am expecting back for an overpayment of factor fees. I think this should be enough to start a new challenge to reduce the debt by more during May.

I have figured out that the ideal (minimum) amount for me to repay a month is £300. That will be enough to pay off my debt and also build up a £500 pot before the end of my contract at work which will set me up in a good position. This means making an extra £56 per month from various sources which I am going to try and challenge myself to do. May will certainly be off to a flying start once I get paid for the iPad that's for sure

I'm feeling a little more comfortable now that the debt is going to be under £1000. Just need to keep motivated!! :beer:

B x

Littlebirdie

Fantastic news! You are down to three digits

Before you know it you'll be below the £500 mark

bma14

Thanks Little Birdie Getting there slowly but surely!

I've had a hectic few days at work this week so hadn't had time to properly sit down and figure out what my goals for this month should be.

I think I am going to aim for £65 extra incoming. That's higher than normal but because I am expecting my ipad money so I think it's very achievable. I may even raise it to £100 if they do not take any money off of my quote.

I'm off to a flying start anyway. I have a £10 cheque still to cash and got paid an extra £11 this month thanks to the tax code change which can all go towards it. I also got £2.04 back from Scotrail for a train of mine they cancelled (while I was on it!) so got a little chunk underway since yesterday .

I've also totally taken to Swagbucks! If anyone hasn't given it a go I'd highly recommend it. Id say I've only spent maybe 5 or 6 hours on it all in and have enough points to get around £30-40 in gift cards for Amazon. Totally worth it if you dont mind doing surveys.

I'm feeling happy and confident today and in control of the money it always helps of course that I am not back to my normal budgets rather than 5-week-month ones!

kirtsypoos

Nice payday PAD there bma14

Pleased you are finding SB good - it drove me mad after my first £20 amazon voucher so I only use it occasionally now.

Have you tried prolific academic or crowdology? I've made about £40 this month from those 2 alone

bma14

Thanks kirstypoos I have signed up to prolific but haven't really got started with it - I will definitely check those two out soon! Swagbucks are annoying me because they're taking ages to pay out on a glitch that was their fault so I'll probably be jumping ship soon.


Had another piece of good money news which is what we like after a bank holiday :j

Scotrail are offering all of their season pass holders a free week to say thanks for all the delays from their upgrading over the last year, and because I have a smartcard I can pick a week to take it. My current pass doesn't run out until Friday and I don't need it until the following Monday, so I've chosen to receive it then. That means that I will only need to buy two weekly passes (around £40 each) until next payday. So I will only have to pay around £80 rather than my usual £162! That's a saving of around £80 :eek::T which will of course all go towards the overdraft! Lucky ducky indeed

We had quite a spendy weekend but nothing in the extremes. Just means we need to tighten our belts a bit this week but that won't be a major problem.

Happy Monday ... I mean Tuesday everyone

bma14

Wow that was a busy couple of weeks :eek:

I had my cousin's hen weekend and also lots going on at work. My money saving hasn't been as pro-active as it has been more recently but I'm relatively happy with where I am. The hen cost way way more than I expected it to so I put the money I got for my ipad towards that rather than into the overdraft. I'm still pretty happy with it though since I've managed to save a good chunk otherwise this month.

The best news of all is that I have been told from my work that there is an opening for a solicitor in my department which means I am able to apply for it :T I have an interview some time in the next two weeks but it's all looking pretty good because nobody else has worked in my department other than me and I'm getting on well here. So, fingers crossed, if all goes to plan I will have a job in September and the pay bump that comes along with being fully qualified :beer: That would take so much pressure off my shoulders.

Otherwise I'm now in the last 'week' of my month and payday is a week today. I don't have a great deal left of funds after the hen but we are planning a quiet weekend and there are no big plans left so I'm hoping we can get through it without needing to dip into other funds. Score!

I'll keep y'all posted on the job front!

Happy Thursday MSE'ers

kirtsypoos

Fingers crossed for you for the job bma