Starting over...

ladymay

Morning!

Feeling a bit better after deciding to take it easy for the rest of yesterday. I was hoping to go for a jog when I woke up but it is miserable out there so might try and get in a work out later after CLEANING THE FLAT which has to get done!!


To do today:


- Clean flat!
- Budget for rest of year
- Check dates for wedding fairs and weddings booked in over next 12 months
- Draft Halloween and Christmas marketing emails
- Email boss re: availability
- Send commission to agent
- Pay for promo pictures
- Sort out promo pictures
- Sort out Ebay card details (need to pay some fees)
- Sort out wardrobe
- Pick blackberries

Happy Sunday! xx

ladymay

Ok, so here's where the budget is (I don't do a SOA because my earnings are all over the shop!):

Current A/C: £1864.46

Work booked in up to end of year: £6815.80 - with potential to book more in

Total: £8680.26

And the dreaded outgoings...

Accommodation: £1600
Gifts (mostly Christmas): £500
Clothing: £100 - very tight but except for winter boots and tights I have everything I need
Hair and Beauty: £50 - 2 x £15 hair cuts and a couple of treats
Health: £20 - dental exam is done, just need my prescriptions hopefully
Furniture: £100 - my new reading nook
Groceries: £450 - average £25 a week
Fuel: £350
Phone: £40
Insurance: £56.51
Business Costs: £300
0% CC payments: £168
Misc / contingency: £200

Total: £4234.51

Potential savings for year: £4445.75

I've allowed myself some pretty generous allowances, such as for groceries (I'm on the ship over half of the next four months) and gifts (because I love Christmas!!), and for things like clothing I've stripped right back because I really have to start thinking about my frivolous spending...

So - assuming I stay healthy and can do all the allocated work and book in a few more gigs, by mid-January I could have £5000 saved!!! That's really blooming exciting, I'd love it to be the start of my mortgage savings but at the very least it'd be my six months of bills covered in an emergency :cool:

Time to crack on with the rest of my to-do list!

ladymay

- Clean flat! Done yaaaaaaaay!
- Budget for rest of year Done
- Check dates for wedding fairs and weddings booked in over next 12 months Done, waiting on confirmation email for details
- Draft Halloween and Christmas marketing emails Done, will be sent off in the next couple of weeks
- Email boss re: availability Done
- Send commission to agent Done
- Pay for promo pictures Pending but not confirmed
- Sort out promo pictures Done
- Sort out Ebay card details (need to pay some fees) Done
- Sort out wardrobe Done
- Pick blackberries Not done, it's been piddling it down all day, plus I have plenty of fruit to last the next 24 hours

Finished my to-do list :j:j:j plan is to eat yummy food and binge watch Suits until I fall asleep.

UncannyScot

A most excellent and successful day

I have also completed my list of "to do's" and we are going settle down with home made pizza and a few homebrews and binge on the final season of Fringe before bed

ladymay

Sounds like a perfect Bank Holiday evening, Uncanny - cheers! :beer:

ladymay

Morning! :wave:

The rain has gone away woohoo! It looks sunny but there's definitely a freshness in the air, perfect conditions for driving to Southampton later.

Not too impressed with my new savings account at Bank of Cyprus - after opening it last week, it won't recognise my details in order to register for online banking. I requested a call back and I got an email asking me to call them, which isn't what I asked for...? Anyway, I'll hopefully get it sorted tomorrow but it's not a great start...

Plans for today:

- Enter online singing competition
- Finish packing and tidy room so it's not a pig sty when I return in a fortnight
- Gig at new nursing home client
- Head to Southampton and stay with friend before heading back to the ship tomorrow

That's it really! Looking forward to a relaxing morning.

Enjoy the last of the Bank Holiday, everyone!

ladymay

Well I'm at Portsmouth ferry terminal ready for another fortnight at sea! Spent the night at my friend's and had a few drinks, bit of a sore head but a couple of hot cross buns sorted me out - I know it's wrong but I'm so happy they're available all year round now

Just had a quick look at the bank balances - I'm waiting on £160 in invoices to be paid but my main contract was paid today. The new savings account is now up and running so I transferred £2017.62 over there just now :j I think I'm going to do what I used to with my credit cards and skim my current account regularly. I know there are apps that do that now but I like being aware of the process of transferring 78p or whatever it may be... every little helps, as they say!

Only spends in the past two days have been £5.80 for a bottle of wine and a bottle of lemonade, and £3.50 for lunch today.

My current account now has £700 to last the month of September. £400 is for rent, and as I'm only home for seven nights this month, even with my friend visiting for a couple of days I shouldn't really put a dent in my balance (especially considering she's pregnant so no expensive booze to buy haha).

I'm really glad I've got my head back in the game money-wise! Next steps are to get my Irish and UK tax returns done and sort out my NI contributions... I know I have an underpayment in a previous year that I have to get sorted, and I also need to transfer my Irish payments over this year; after March next year I might not be able to move it so easily :eek: anyhoo, my only week off the ship in September is already chockablock with work and family so all these jobs will have to wait until October.

Right, back to work I go!

DebtFreeDuo

Just checking in, it sounds like everything is going really well for you! If you can stick to your budget and put all that money away then it would be amazing for you.

ladymay

Hi DFD! Thanks for the support :beer:

Ok, just catching up on life after leaving the ship on Tuesday and a crazy day yesterday. Finances are all updated, here's where I am in terms of the budget I set for the rest of the year

Accommodation: £400 / £1600 - this is going out this week
Gifts: £6.60 / £500 - ice cream for Mum and me
Clothing: £10.99 / £100 - replacement watch strap
Health and Beauty: £0 / £50
Health: £0 / £20
Furniture: £0 / £100
Phone: £10 / £40
Insurance: £56.51 / £56.51
Business: £118.83 / £300 - new promo shots and backing tracks
0% CC: £42 / £168
Misc: £37.37 / £200 - mostly fun food and drinks

Total: £800.12

Total remaining:

Accommodation: £1200
Gifts: £493.40
Clothing: £89.01
Health and Beauty: £50
Health: £20
Furniture: £100
Phone: £30
Insurance: £0
Business: £181.17
0% CC: £126
Misc: £162.63

Total: £2452.21

I'm still having trouble controlling my spending over the little things, although I'm much more aware of it now. My biggest non-essential spend at the moment is alcohol, which is obviously bad for several reasons. I'm really struggling to find the headspace to concentrate on anything other than ship work and gigs. Life is really blooming hectic atm... I know it'll all be ok, just a little overwhelmed

ladymay

Just got home from a chaotic fortnight of work :j:j:j

Plan for tonight:

- Pick up pouffe and shoe rack I bought (for a fiver!) Shoe rack wouldn't fit into the car so it's being delivered tomorrow, pouffe is here
- Call the Grandmother Left a message, she's off galivanting as usual
- Update all finances and budgets
- Plan meals for the week
- Send invoice for work I'm doing tomorrow
- Unpack
- Laundry
- Make list for tomorrow
- Catch up on MSE Diaries