About time I sorted myself out

[Deleted User]

poppytattoo wrote: »

This community really is wonderful isn't it.

Certainly is, there are some really helpful and friendly people on here.

Good luck with SOA, I'm sure someone will be able to give you ideas xx

poppytattoo

Hi everyone, hope everyone has had an okay week and that you have an even better weekend.

Nothing much to report really - not had any available balance for a while but we're managing on the food in the fridge and cupboards, doing my best not to buy anything. We've got a big birthday party tomorrow so I will need to buy a card and some little gift - and I'm taking my grandma out for a brew and a slice of cake tomorrow morning, will use the change in my purse for that if I can.

This lunchtime I'm off to McDonalds for the free fries! Anyone else?

poppytattoo

Hi everyone. Anyone else really struggling with this whole Black Friday/Cyber Monday thing? I keep seeing things I really want but don't need and feeling annoyed or sad I can't have them. Things like £5 flights or £15 theatre tickets. BUT - it's proof of how far I have come, because two years ago I was in a lot more debt and would have been happily purchasing everything I fancied. Never mind eh.

This week is a mad one - I have two birthdays, one work christmas party, one sports team Christmas party plus I'm travelling a lot for work. I can feel my jaw tensing up but I'm determined to try and enjoy myself this festive season and not get bogged down in work/uni/the pressure of having a bloody jolly time on very little spending money.

I'm also struggling with what to buy my boss in the work secret santa. What do you get someone who has everything, and especially very expensive taste, for under £10? I'd love to hear any suggestions!!

db2016

something to make them laugh, if they are humourous.

or something off the back of a favourite of theirs, a tv / movie / music etc themed thing they like - eg a keyring, poster, book, mug of their fave ^

poppytattoo wrote: »

I'm also struggling with what to buy my boss in the work secret santa. What do you get someone who has everything, and especially very expensive taste, for under £10? I'd love to hear any suggestions!!

poppytattoo

Thanks db2016, that was great advice. In the end I got them a digital download code for an album by an unsigned artist (it was a genre they liked, and the name of the album was the same as one of boss's favourite places) they were really chuffed with it! I found it a few pages into a Google search of some of their favourite things. It only cost me £8, too!

db2016

glad it helped! ive done similar in past, made a "mix cd" of things they liked or titles that said something about them etc (eg if a song exists with their name) and packaged it up "nice"

poppytattoo wrote: »

Thanks db2016, that was great advice. In the end I got them a digital download code for an album by an unsigned artist (it was a genre they liked, and the name of the album was the same as one of boss's favourite places) they were really chuffed with it! I found it a few pages into a Google search of some of their favourite things. It only cost me £8, too!

poppytattoo

Gosh, I have been incredibly lax about posting on here. I miss it, to be honest! I always feel better after updating, so I've updated my signature - it always feels good to see how much I have paid off in the past two years, especially when I'm feeling a bit flat.

After the wedding at the end of last year and the honeymoon in January, we said we would have a quiet few months, but it hasn't worked out that way at all. Hen parties, baby showers, birthdays - I know I really should be saying "no" to more things, but these are close friends and family and they all spent so much time/effort/cash travelling to my wedding/hen last year that I don't want to let them down. We will manage, we always do. But suddenly the months ahead are really filling up with stuff. 

Saying that, I'm still trying to be really careful with what I buy. My extravagant purchase this month was £12 for a new pair of black work trousers - I had a job interview and felt I couldn't get away with wearing my black jeans like I have done for the past few years! I have a second-stage interview next week, which is exciting. If I were to get it, I would be earning a little bit more (negotiable, but I told them last time what salary I was looking for and they haven't balked and still asked me back in for the next stage). 

Husband has also just got a promotion at one of his jobs - it's a little bit more money, but a lot more hours, so we've both been very busy as I'm trying to complete some uni work around real work. 
I really, really want to sit down and do an SAO but I just can't find the time - not an excuse - I will aim to have one done before the end of March, when I've got some deadlines out of the way! 

poppytattoo

So I didn't get the job - very disappointed although had lots of positive feedback and they said they might be able to hire me in the next month or so - they've ended up taking someone on for a different role. So we will wait and see what happens there, but in the meantime I have two new job interviews lined up. I'm annoyed that I spent money on a folder and printing for a portfolio for them - which I don't feel I can ask for! So still onwards and upwards, still trying hard, March is expensive with lots of family birthdays, mum and dad's anniversary and mother's day. We have a nice trip to London planned for the end of the month - this was a Christmas gift so we haven't paid for it - and we plan on using our tesco vouchers for eating out etc. 

Still really struggling with my overdraft at the moment so have just now applied (and been accepted for!) a Tesco credit card at 0% so I can use a money transfer and actually make some positive steps towards paying it off. Quite excited to be honest! And then I'm wondering if when the card arrives and I make the money transfer, should I then lower the overdraft limit? My guess is YES. 
  

poppytattoo

Happy Friday 13th everyone - I had another job interview this morning that went quite well and seemed quite positive, although the 2nd stage would be a tour of the company & meet the team and they don't know if they can go ahead with it due to coronavirus! 

Feeling pretty stressed about everything at the moment but made myself a really nice packed lunch today so looking forward to that. Hope everyone has a nice weekend...  

poppytattoo

Hi everyone, I hope everyone is safe and well.
I've really fallen out of the habit of posting here, everything has been a bit of a whirlwind. I haven't managed to get another job, the market in my industry has kind of crashed so no-one is really hiring. It's getting me down as I'm starting to become really miserable with the team and work I'm doing now, and would definitely like to get out sooner than later - but I know that it could me much worse, so I'm staying grateful that I at least still have my job for now and can safely work from home. 

My husband has been furloughed from his main job, which is not too bad, although we are taking a bit of a hit as the majority of his earnings tend to come from self-employed work he does on the side, and we're not sure whether he can claim any assistance for that whilst also getting the furlough payments. I am glad to have him safe at home though. 

So I am trying to stay focused and carry on being productive with work and university, but I am feeling quite low at the moment. Posting here always seems to cheer me up a bit - I think it's just the safe space to blurt out all your feelings! 

Not having my usual outgoings (e.g. travel, eating out - well, anything, really!) has meant that this month I've managed to keep back some cash, nearly £500, which is a nice silver lining. This is despite the fact that our oven broke and we needed to pay for a new heating component, plus I paid off in full a suit I bought for job interviews (I had it set up for installments), and a new battery for husband's car which broke. I can't quite work out what to do with the additional cash - I've put it in my savings account for now for safe keeping, and my instinct is that we want to plough it into paying off the debts, but I also feel like this is a good opportunity to have some savings set aside for the first time in my life. It's made me think about how much of my money just vanishes and I know I won't get an opportunity to save like this again when everything goes back to normal, but I do want to be even stricter with myself going forward now I've had a taste of what it's like to not worry about making it to the end of the month. I've never had that before. 

We also want to start planning to have a family. I know it's expensive but we've been waiting for a good time for 8ish years now. If we wait to try for pregnancy until my debts are paid off, that will be a good few years away. (We're thinking hopefully I can get a new job, then wait a year until I get stat maternity pay, then start trying).

What I can't decide is, is it more sensible to put all extra money towards paying off debt, or would it be a good idea going forwards to have an emergency/potentially children fund on the side? For example, to put £400 into the debts and keep the last £100 as the beginning of a savings pot? I really can't decide.