Keeping Myself On Track....

benten69

As per the title, this thread is just a little diary to keep myself on track. I have 2 medium term goals in mind. First I want to finish my emergency fund. This should take me to middle of the year, saving pretty much every spare penny I can get my hands on.

Once that is done my next goal is to save up for a new touring / adventure motorbike and associated equipment. I have plans for a tour across mainland Europe for summer 2020 if I can keep myself on track financially.

So far I am nearly 3/4 of the way towards my emergency fund goal and have not yet started saving for the motorbike / touring. Despite that I spent all weekend looking at motorbikes, accessories, planning my journey, etc, etc :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Better sooner rather than later I suppose! Anyway, feel free to join me if you wish, but this is mainly here to keep myself on track. :beer:

savingwannabe

Hello and welcome. This sounds like a great thing to save for. I look forward to reading your progress. Happy savings :beer::j

riotlady

Welcome and good luck with your savings!

benten69

Thanks for the welcome! Been doing a couple of QMee surveys today and made a measly £1.12, also got another £0.11 in cashback from a small eBay purchase at the weekend.

However it all helps, so I am not complaining. An extra £1 a day will be £365 over the year, more than I would make in interest in even the 5% current accounts.

benten69

Been doing more surveys and stuff to make a little extra tonight. Not too bad, made just over £3.50 as there was nothing on TV worth watching except Top Gear.

Currently waiting on pay day (a week away) in order to make a proper dent in my goal and put some real money into my savings.

Not sure about others but I always seem to get really motivated in the fist week after pay day and I've put away a good sum and then really struggle the last 1-2 weeks. Maybe it's because after pay day the money just sits and doesn't seem to grow (other than a little here and there) until next pay day. Need to figure something out to keep me more motivated.

benten69

It's finally Wednesday! Happy hump day! Never brought any breakfast with me today (do'h!) so I might pop out ot Greggs and get a porridge for £1 and I've already made £0.93 this morning on surveys, so free breakfast for me.

Earned £10 in surveys this week so far which isn't too bad.

benten69

Thank god it's Friday!! Been a long week, I badly need a shave and some well deserved rest. Work has been busy recently. However, in saying that pay slips are out today (pay day on Tuesday) and the overtime I've been doing looks like it's going to help with my goals.

Should be able to put away a few hundred once I actually get paid. Also earned around £20 this week from surveys & a complaint to the bank about being on hold for 25 minutes when their machine said it would only be 2 minutes got me about £5 without even asking. Just mentioned to them that there was something wrong and it needs to be looked at, as it shouldn't say a 2 minute wait for a 25 minute wait.

So that was nice. Time for a nice brew and then I think tomorrow I'm going to torment myself by going to the local bike dealership and looking at all those shiny new motorcycles I can't afford....might take one for a test ride though just to help narrow down the one I'll be looking for in the future.

savingwannabe

Hooray for Friday. Days away from work. Yay. OMG to getting money out of the bank. The surveys sound great. Well done you.

benten69

So....I went out yesterday and took a couple of bikes for test rides, really wish I hadn't now as I am desperate to go and buy one more than ever now! Was so close to actually putting down a deposit on a brand spanking new bike, but I kept a level head and convinced the sales man I would "sleep on it" before deciding which bike to buy and be back later.

Reality is I knew exactly which one I wanted and was desperate to throw my money at him and take it away there and then, but nope...common sense prevailed (for once).

Just wish I had more money so I could go and buy it now. Crunching some numbers last night I think (all going well) I should be in a position to start really looking for one in just over a years time. By then I will have a good emergency fund to fall back on and the money to buy the bike outright without finance and all the interest that comes with it.

Deep breaths now....trying my best not to run back to the dealership and shout "TAKE MY MONEY" haha

savingwannabe

Well done on self control. Good on you.

It's payday in a few days. You are getting closer and closer. Hope you had a good weekend.

benten69

Thanks! Yup, it's payday tomorrow (thank god)!! I'll just be happy once I've completed my emergency fund and can start saving for the bike itself, it will feel like I've reached a proper mile stone once that day arrives.

Had a pretty good weekend, thanks. Just fed up with the cold now, needs to just go away! Woke up this morning to be greeted to a car covered in frost :mad: