Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Thanks Drawingaline - I'm definitely going to check it out.

Yesterday I got notification that my credit card limit is increasing on one of my balance transfer cards. Normally I am not interested but on this card I am as this means I can balance transfer the last balance which I am currently paying monthly interest on, anyway this is something to pick up in March as the increase does not apply till end of Feb.

I know its only tuesday but I have challenged myself to just spend money on travel and not on any extras until friday afternoon. I am also making good progress on the 1p a day savings challenge and looking forward to payday on thursday. My last from my old job - I have no idea what I will get paid. I just know it won't be enough to cover what i need it to cover but onwards and upwards!

Drawingaline

How is the new job going? I am loving mine, it is alien to be sitting at a desk as not done that since 2007, but I feel like I am using my brain and being an important part of a machine type thing. (as a cleaner I know I am an important part of my clients life, but in a different way).

Queen_of_the_Hive

Drawingaline wrote: »

How is the new job going? I am loving mine, it is alien to be sitting at a desk as not done that since 2007, but I feel like I am using my brain and being an important part of a machine type thing. (as a cleaner I know I am an important part of my clients life, but in a different way).

Hi Drawingaline, the new job is fab and yes I completely get you with the office environment! I was previously in Catering for two years and equally loving having a desk. Hope the invoices are making more sense for you. I'm going to pick up my studying again this weekend. I've not touched the books since Oct :eek:

Queen_of_the_Hive

Happy Saturday,

Yay I've made it to second weekend to NOT work! Actually I'm busy cleaning the flat while the kids are with their dad, so while I am waiting for the floor to dry I thought i'd post a quick update.

So this week was week 2 in new job and I was paid from my old job. I had no idea how much I would be paid. Fast forwarded to this week - all was good pay wasn't a lot but not as bad as I expected. phew! So my final full amount of personal debt I have has (hopefully!) peaked at £10,569.02 gulp! So setting this at the peak of my mountain I need to climb down. So on the back of that I have paid off a little bit of my debt and really trying hard to not spend on unnecessary things.

The other big finance task of the weekend is research Monzo savings & adding to my 1p a day savings challenge.

darrannah

congrats on the new job, glad you're enjoying it

beanielou

Glad new job going well.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Saturday,

I have to confess I am being a lazy lady today! After two weekends of full on cleaning I'm trying to actually relax and enjoy my time being kid free so today is a lazy one at home. Tomorrow is back to reality.

So this week i've had sick kids. The youngest was being sick on sunday and the older one came home from school early yesterday and was green. Today he is with his dad and dad's g/f.

This week I have made a slight change to my journey to and fro work and walked part the way instead of getting the bus to give me exercise and save a couple of quid. So far so good! I've also made a mini balance transfer by taking £533 off my big credit card bill which is costing me interest every month and put it on one of my current balance transfer cards. I'm going to do another transfer at the end of feb when the credit limit increases on the balance transfer card so it will mean all my debts will then be on 0% - yay!

On my current spending allowance I have £60.34 to last me 14 days. Ideally want to spend less but still need to get some groceries this weekend for this coming week.

Last night I discovered I can get friends and family railcard with Tesco rewards points - don't need to renew mine till May but definitely making a note of this for May.

I've also been having a bit of fun looking at hotel options for my big birthday in December. I basically really want to stay in a certain hotel for the night. Its expensive for what I am used to spending but somewhere special. Prices cheaper by booking and paying in advance so some food for thought...

Queen_of_the_Hive

Happy weds,

Im nodding off as I write todays diary entry. So its been a pretty quiet few days spending wise just the usual routine of work etc. I'm back on my diet - not following any prescriptive routine but I had some success a few months ago with my fitness pal which was recommended on here so here I am on day 3.

One of my regular savers matured this week - sadly the 5% interest rate has now dropped to 2.75% for this year which is pants but I'm still going to recycle my money into it. Its slowly helping to build a house deposit.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Its saturday evening and I have just watched Casualty, v sad episode with Duffy's funeral.  and thought it would be a good time to update the diary, this is a much cheery thing to do before bed.. 

So this week has been reasonably quiet, thursday turned into a no spend day as I worked from home so saving on the travel costs hurrah! I've been doing my usual saturday shopping trip to Lidl and bought a bit extra than I have in the last few weeks as school holidays start soon and the kids are eating machines atm. 

On friday Google photos pinged up photo memories from the same date last year and on this day myself, my partner and little one went to view a house going up for sale at auction locally. The house was a wreck, needing extensive works but was one of those exciting properties with plenty of scope to make lovely. I live in London and everything is very expensive so a girl must keep working, saving and dreaming. Last year I viewed a handful of auction properties as and when they came up locally, hopefully I can do the same this year too! I didn't have the funds to buy it but was definitely inspirational. I was planning to take a walk to the house tomorrow but with the weather warnings from this storm due its not looking likely. Anyway flash forward to this point in time, little man has started nursery at school & is loving it and I am now back in a full time job & about the receive my first proper pay cheque which I am really excited about. This is the first month I think I will actually be able to chip away a bit of the debt mountain too so there must be something about February which agrees with me! So although my progress is very slow I am making some footsteps towards being able to buy a home in the future. 

This weekend I have also made a couple of money saving recipes from Jack Monroe's website. They were lush and I'll be carrying on with some more of her recipes in the coming weeks.

I have been thinking a bit about ways I can be sustainable. I am pretty good at wearing my clothes till they are tired but interested to find out more about natural fibres and clothes and for now would like to focus on what I wear for work as I have come to realise I need to add a few new pieces to my working wardrobe. In my house we also like to drink tea so I am going to investigate loose leaf teas and getting a loose leaf tea pot for two as we go through a lot of tea bags. eek plastic tea bags. Have a good week everyone.

Baileys_Babe

If you are planning on using loose leaf look at getting a 'tea sock', saves a lot of hassle, you can use it in either the teapot or mug.