Dreams and wishes....

Kittikins

Hello! Hoping that if I start being even more sensible about saving by accounting for myself on here, I'll get to where I want to be faster....

A bit about me: My lovely DD, Miss Kittikins, and I live with my parents in their house, where I grew up. We've been there for 4 years and I think we all need our own space most of the time....I'm divorced and retained as a teacher 4 years ago (where has the time gone!!) and love my career so much. I pay 'keep' to them of roughly 1/3 of my take-home pay, and try to save as I'm very aware that a mortgage/rent would be far more than I'm currently spending!

I met a wonderful man, KW, last November, after 3 years on my own and a few interesting relationships before that. We have a long-term plan to get married and spend the rest of our lives together, but we're trying to be patient and do it when we feel financially ready. He earns much less than I do and is very frugal. I'm sometimes more of a waster....have just managed to remove a lovely £4.60 necklace out of my online basket on Debenhams, as I know I really don't need it!

I've been used to being very frugal, Miss Kitty didn't know you could get a tin of beans without a dent and a yellow sticker on it til she was about 6, but have got out of the habit and can be rather emotionally driven to spend. Sometimes life gets me down and I'll 'treat' myself to something, be it food, books, clothes I rarely wear, a present for Miss Kitty.

Kittikins

Recently, KW and I have started saving for our future - him in a terramundi and me in a Marmite jar We aim to save money such as:

* roadkill - money we find down the back of our sofas, on the pavement etc. I recently found a nice shiny £1 coin

* anytime we resist the urge to buy a choccy bar or something, we'll put the equivalent into our savings

* I got a very small tax rebate this week and put the cash into the jar

Oh, and we also save our coppers for when we go to the seaside and spend half an hour with Miss Kitty in an arcade on the 2p machines I've got 6p to put in his special pot for that! Talk about rolling in it!!

I counted up my money yesterday and have over £50

Kittikins

I have £8 cash and £4 Mr T vouchers in my purse as of today and spent nearly £2k (or probably more if truth be told....) on an amazing fortnight in Swansea learning Latin with Miss Kitty (and KW joined us for the first few days down there, which was lovely for us all).

I had to pay for course fees, an unexpected addition along with accommodation as we decided we were enjoying the course so much, we stayed for a second week, lots of food and souvenirs. In my defence, I did buy a couple of Christmas presents and birthday presents in the sales, and we had the most fantastic time away, which was very much needed.

Kittikins

Now that we're back, I've checked my bank accounts and have updated my finance spreadsheet.

Miss Kitty and I would like to buy (rather than rent as ultimately it's cheaper and more secure) our own flat or house, but live in one of the most expensive parts of the country. I've recently been looking at shared ownership resales, but even then don't seem to earn enough to get the mortgage on even 50% of a place

Having sold my house when we moved in with my parents, and recently paid Miss Kitty's school fees (private school) in advance til the end of Year 11, I have £48,900 in savings. They are really not in the best place, being scattered around a load of very low, a cash ISA or some-monthly interest bearing bank accounts, and now that I've paid off the school fees, I really should put the money into a 'proper' savings account and not let myself touch it at all, not even for extra weeks of summer holidays.....

I'm organised enough to put money aside each month for car repairs/servicing and pay my credit card off in full each month, I only use it to get the MrT vouchers (but foolishly have twice now, in less than 6 months, forgotten to pay it off on time, so have probably scuppered my chances of getting a mortgage for a while )

Kittikins

Anyway, I'm going to record here every time I *save* money by not buying something or get cash into the jar. I aim to not spend from the car unless it's for moving into the dream home purposes.

It's going to take me years probably to get to where I want to be, married to KW, with Miss Kitty happy and continuing to study, but KW and I have this swoonworthy goal in mind.

I've told MissK that for the rest of the month, I'm rather skint and thankfully we have a few events coming up that are already paid for. I'll just make sure we always take a picnic and try to not let my head get turned by pretty, shiny things in shops in the meantime!!

I really do have to get back into school mode as those lessons won't plan themselves and this month will race by if I'm not careful....

Kittikins

Today won't be a NSD as I'm about to go out and pick up some clothes I've ordered for MissK, only one item will be kept as I've just ordered lots of different sizes and styles for her to choose from as she hates shopping; and also have a mini Co$tco trip to do, on my way to KWs for a much-needed reunion cuddle or two, as we've not seen each other since he left the holiday a week and a half ago.....

* don't buy any snacks, I still have biscuits and water in the car from our return from holiday yesterday
* don't buy anything other than what's on my shopping list!

Skint_yet_Again

Hi KK well done on your savings so far ! I think the latin course sounds like a great life experience for miss kitty and sounds like it was worth every penny. If you can at least save money in other areas like Christmas presents it helps to pay for the things that are worth it.


I've been trying to save where I can. Since DS left college he has worked and paid his way from day one but I still have very little spare money, not that I'm complaining as I can afford to pay for bills food etc, am just trying to have a social life too ! Not easy on £50 a month.


Good luck with your savings and BTW your KW sounds lovely and you sound really happy !

Kittikins

Thank you Skinty Lovely to see you on here x £50 is very tight...do you use Groupon? KW and I tend to buy meals and the odd day out on it. I'm going to be going out for dinner in the week with a girly chum and am hoping to persuade her that we should go to Zizzzi's as they have 25% off food this week, and I love their vegan salad....so it would be a win-win if she likes it there as well!

Back from a lovely evening with KW, it is harder to say goodbye each time, as I'm not able to spend as much time with him as we'd both like and now that I know that MissKitty thinks he's perfect for me......I've been reminded by my parents that they are not unpaid babysitters /childminders, but of course, living with them precludes me getting a babysitter in!!

Ah well... we had a lovely evening after I'd been very sensible and had not spent a penny more than I needed to in Co$tco on the way; we cooked a Thai green veggie curry using YS veggies that we froze a few weeks ago and used up a jar of curry paste that had been languishing in the fridge for quite a while...

We then looked at our holiday photos, chatted about life, love and the universe and before we knew it, it was very late!!

This morning, I got up with him at 6.30, and headed off for a swim before coming home. I have a membership at an amazing pool not far from the school I teach at, and am trying to make the most of it, either alone or with DD, as I need the exercise (it's the only form of exercise I really like and am remotely good at), and I like thinking of how much I've saved to be in the amazing pool with very few people enjoying a leisurely swim, rather than crammed in like sardines at the only decent public pool in the area.

When I filled up the car with petrol, I resisted the temptation to go and buy a chocolate bar - there's tons of fruit at home and I knew I would be able to have a really good brekkie rather than waste money. Going to put £1 in the pot for that, as I also resisted the urge to waste money yesterday, so it feels like a saving

I've got to go and hopefully pick up a prescription after lunch, I say hopefully as I'm not sure if I ticked any boxes on the repeat prescription sheet, so I may not have anything to pick up, or may have all the items, when I only need one of them....

I've booked my car in to our lovely mechanic for a service before the end of the school holidays. Realised that he's been looking after the family cars for 40 years, from my granny's car down to mine! He's ultra cheap and reliable and I always like getting a service before winter, especially as I do a lot of driving on single track country roads

I've started knitting a "scarflette", courtesy of MFi3's blog pattern, hopefully I won't get bored with it, but as it's only 25 stitches across and just one piece, I hopefully won't! Depending on how it turns out, I think I'll give it to KW's mummy for Christmas, as she's very crafty and will hopefully appreciate it.

http://mortgagefreeinthree.com/2013/11/keyhole-scarflette-another-stash-buster/

I have a track record of starting something and getting bored within a couple of rows, so am feeling immensely pleased that I've knitted about 8cm already, lol. I've only ever finished 2 things in my life, and they were both baby sized....

I had wanted to buy the very expensive boots the other day because they had a free offer of a lovely floral scarf which I had wanted for the same purpose, but fingers crossed, my cheapie boots from the bay of E will be perfect, I already had the wool in stock and so will "save" £65.01 by doing things this way!!

If it turns out to be as nice and easy as it seems so far, I've got some other wool to make one for KW's sister

I also discovered I had a brand new, still in its packaging, solar desk lamp from I!ea which I bought a few years ago when DD and I were nearly at exchange on a flat purchase. I'm going to regift it to KW as I know he'll love it, and he gets loads of sunshine in his sitting room through the gorgeous sash windows

As he only earns minimum wage on all of his 3 part-time jobs, which don't make up a full time position, money is tighter than tight, and so he often has candles burning rather than spend money on electricity. Thankfully his heating is included in his rent, but he's still careful with it as he doesn't want to take the mickey.

I'm so honoured that he was the one who started the savings idea and he's doing the same as me - putting money away every time he resists the craving to splurge unnecessarily, and saving his coppers for our seaside jaunts.

Anyway, that's probably enough of my ramblings for this morning.

savingwannabe

Hello you sound utterly lovely. You are going to fit in so well here with us, welcome Kittikins. :T:j:beer:

I have been inspired and I am going to take all my fleabay watch things off the watch list as I am broke after reading your post.:)

Skint_yet_Again

Well done on resisting the chocolate KK :j
I use groupon, also deals on this site and directly registered with zizzi, prezzo etc so they email me deals too, especially around my birthday Had a 2 for 1 mains recently at chimichanga. My local pub also does 2 for £8.99 with some good vegi options for my friend. Not sure about vegan though. I usually ask for tap water in restaurants so only pay for what I eat.


I read somewhere on here about burning candles under terracotta pots - not sure if they work or are any better than just candles on their own - found this link on a quick search


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4818270


I wish I could knit, I tried to learn but was useless at it Now my hands are too painful and can only manage basic sewing too.


Saving the pennies soon adds up and putting money in a pot when you resist buying something is a really good idea.

savingwannabe

Salve, I loved latin. I only did it for O level but adored it. What course did you do?