2019 My Light bulb year!

Shashwoo

Hi all,

I'm Sharon, almost 40, married to the wonderful MrP for almost 7 years and together for almost 12 years.
Me and the husband differ in the mindset of money. He has always been a none spender and me, well it burns a hole in my pocket as soon as it touches.

Lately though my life has been changing, not sure if it's the whole being almost 40 and getting a sensible head on me or what but last March we gave up smoking (Using a Vape) and since I had a bit of a health scare we've now cut right down on our drinking.

Over the years I've tried lots of different ways to curb my spending or try to save, none of them have seemed to work though.
So I am trying a new way, one I hope will stick :rotfl: I seem to not spend so much when it's physical money rather than just getting my magical card out and never seeing what I spend.
So this time I have worked out how much we need for petrol, groceries and bait and just get that amount out of the bank, same for entertainment we look at a budget and agree an amount and I pull the money out of the account.

We don't as a rule have a lot of debt, it's under £10,000 and it's only that high as we needed a new car to replace the old banger last year and got the drive way done.

We are going to Thailand for my 40th birthday in June/July this year so we are saving up like mad for that. Tickets have been bought and now we are saving £500 per month towards spends so money is tight but for a good reason.

I don't know what I expect to get out of doing this diary I am just here for the !!!!!! and giggles I suppose.

I want to get into doing surveys, is there anyone who can let me know which survey sites are the best?

I will update things more when I get home bit hard to do at work.

Shashwoo

Ok so i've got a £2 pot and today I have put 3 in. I also have a tin that I keep silver and copper coins in and i've had a sot out and filled that up a it.

I feel good knowing that I am saving and not spending on junk as I usually do.
I'll do SOA tomorrow night and put it on here.

Hubbys pay day is on Wednesday so more saves to be allocated then.E

FEELING HAPPY!!!

VegQueen

Good luck with the diary!

I'm very jealous of the Thailand trip!!

For surveys, I signed up for Prolific, Panel Base and YouGov. Prolific I cashed out about £20 in less than two weeks. YouGov I actually signed up for ages ago so had a few points in my account already but it is a long way to reach the £50 cash out. I have only recently signed up for Panel base but you get £3 automatically for signing up and cash out amount is £10 so should be quite quick to get some money.

Shashwoo

VegQueen wrote: »

Good luck with the diary!

I'm very jealous of the Thailand trip!!

For surveys, I signed up for Prolific, Panel Base and YouGov. Prolific I cashed out about £20 in less than two weeks. YouGov I actually signed up for ages ago so had a few points in my account already but it is a long way to reach the £50 cash out. I have only recently signed up for Panel base but you get £3 automatically for signing up and cash out amount is £10 so should be quite quick to get some money.

Thank you so much for your survey suggestions, I will take a look at them tonight when I get in from work.

Thailand is something we've worked hard to save up for, 137 days and counting haha

Shashwoo

This is a weird one, it's my hubbys payday tomorrow and we still have around £170 left..... honestly we're usually lucky to have £10 left on payday eve.
I also started a £2 jar and put 3 in there last night and I am hoping to make a good start on our £1,000 emergency fund.
I'm ashamed to say we don't have one but I am aware how important it is.

Shashwoo

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1375.15
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1663.38
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3038.53

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 482.7
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 32.5
TV Licence.............................. 12.83
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 43.74
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 13.59
Car Insurance........................... 50.5
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 17
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 37.83
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 59.89
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 350
Holiday................................. 500
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2230.58


Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 136000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 83439.7..(482.7)....2.59
Total secured & HP debts...... 83439.7...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax Personal Loan..........7742.15...238.......0
Creation Loan .................600.72....75.09.....0
DFS Sofa ......................646.14....29.37.....0

Ok I think I've done this right..... I think tonight I will go through it properly and see what I can trim down.

Shashwoo

Well I have signed up to Prolific and started doing some surveys.
I have made a grand total of 61p hahahaha but I do have over £2 waiting to approve and it says once it gets to £5 I can have it via Paypal. This will come off one of our debts, free money is good money.

As today is Friday and my hubby was paid on Wednesday today is the day to withdraw money and decide our weekly entertainment spends.

This pay is the longest as I don't get paid again until the 25th of the month. It is also the one where we have the least left.
It is also the one we need the most money for as the hubby is taking our son to a gig in Newcastle which they will need money for and as I am driving them it will be extra petrol. Also we are going out for a meal on the 15th for Valentines. Being all MSE about it we are waiting till a day after so we don't get caught up in the hike of price for Valentines.

I am still optimistic that we are doing well, I haven't used my bank card since the 25th January and we still have a little money to roll over from last pay both in my purse and in the bank.

I think this scrimping is actually sticking and my spendful wasteful ways are finally over.

Shashwoo

So, been doing prolific surveys and I'm up to £4.98 with a £1 study pending. I am so excited as I will use the money to pay off one of the Creation debts we have.

Money has been going ok, I seem to be better at the withdraw and use method rather than using the debit card.
It's a long and expensive month for us this one as we're going for a meal on Friday (day after valentines to save money) and hubby is taking our son to see a band he likes on Sunday so I will drive them to Newcastle and pick them back up again.

So extra petrol this pay and a meal with wine but it should be ok.

Hope everyone is doing fine and if you stop by then thank you.

enthusiasticsaver

Spending physical cash often seems to work in curtailing spending rather than using plastic. Well done on saving for Thailand. Your soa looks good except you need to allocate something for emergencies if you don't have a fund. Your assets shows £1000 in cash though so is that not for emergencies?

The bit at the bottom of the soa is missing showing what you should have left over each month but it should be just under £500 a month if you take your expenses and unsecured debt repayments from income. From the sound of it though you do have money left over some months and if you have been saving for your holiday presumably it is pretty accurate.

There is nothing in presents though. Sounds like you have been doing well anyway. Keep up the good work.

Shashwoo

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Spending physical cash often seems to work in curtailing spending rather than using plastic. Well done on saving for Thailand. Your soa looks good except you need to allocate something for emergencies if you don't have a fund. Your assets shows £1000 in cash though so is that not for emergencies? - The £1000 is savings for Thailand, totally agree that we need to start an EF savings up though.

The bit at the bottom of the soa is missing showing what you should have left over each month - Yes, I thought this too however it didn't have it on when I completed it for some strange reason?but it should be just under £500 a month if you take your expenses and unsecured debt repayments from income. From the sound of it though you do have money left over some months and if you have been saving for your holiday presumably it is pretty accurate.

There is nothing in presents though. -Yes, it's not entirely accurate but it's close enough for now to get the gist Sounds like you have been doing well anyway. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your help and comments, I totally appreciate them. We're not in anyway drowning I just want to try and save as much as possible and pay the debts off quicker.
I think that once Thialand is out of the way, this will free up £500 per month that we could use to pay things off quicker.

Shashwoo

Well today I opened an Everyday saver internet account. The thinking behind it is that I can squirrel away little bits that we wouldn't really notice and once we have a decent amount we could go and do something..... go for a meal or a day out.

I've got the hubby to sign up to Prolific too (using my referral code obvs haha) thing is, I've got £4.98 balance and £2.10 pending and I've been doing it a couple of weeks now , He signed up yesterday and is already on over £7 with another £4-5 pending!!!
We are going to use the Prolific money as extra debt payments, free money we would be stupid not to huh?

I am going to pop into somewhere on the way home for a meal deal type thing, it is Valentines day after all a 2 for £10 or something, nothing flash as we are going out for a meal tomorrow.

Happy V day to you all xx