Ready For My Fresh Start

PurplePhoenix62

Thank you for your comments, everyone

With the delays for some of my letters, my start date is 2 months later than planned now but with my living situation here and with my family being quite flexible it doesn't impact anything, really other than being able to do more overtime where I am now. So I'm fine with it all and my current employer is happy I'll be with them for a little longer. 

I've spent my day so far finally looking at a budget planner I ordered a couple of months ago and as long as I stick to using it, it should be a very helpful tool. The first page is financial goals I want to achieve in 2024 so it gave me a chance to sit down and reflect on realistic goals I want to achieve and it allows you to write smaller goals at the start of each month so I've sat and done that for January. I've also earned about £5 on Prolific and cashed that out as well. 

The rest of the day will be for catching up on washing and doing some of my SE work. Speaking of that, where I didn't do much of it April 2022 to April 2023, I owe a whole £1.80 to pay by 31st January - I'm sure I can manage that  I'll sit down tonight at some point and look at how much I have earned so far since April 2023 - it again won't be a lot - and going forwards will make sure I set the money aside each time I get paid to make sure I never end up with a HMRC debt again (one of the smaller ones I have which will be paid off on 1st March. 

My goals I have set up for 2024 in my planner so far are:

- Reduce my debt for a third (hopeful for more, but just the monthly payment should bring it down to this)
- Christmas 2024 to be funded purely by money I have set aside throughout the year (never managed this)
- Actually have some savings set aside/an emergency fund
- Specifically save for annual expenses (car insurance, MOT, service, etc)
- Pay off phone contracts to only end up with one affordable one
- Pay off my car finance (this should happen in November just with the monthly payments anyway but I plan to try and pay it off early)

[Deleted User]

Are you able to put figures to debt and income? Posting a SOA can enable others to make give further suggestions and ideas about bet clearance.

PurplePhoenix62

[Deleted User] said:

Are you able to put figures to debt and income? Posting a SOA can enable others to make give further suggestions and ideas about bet clearance.

It's something I'll do further down the line - things aren't going to be 'stable' in terms of living costs or income probably til May. I'll pay low rent, then no rent, then go onto a full tenancy and my income will vary over that time up and down as well so I'll take each month as it comes then do a full SOA when settled

PurplePhoenix62

Evening all

I've had some of my forms come through for the new employer today so all feeling real and exciting  
I cashed out another £8 on Prolific this morning and done another £6 in surveys since I've been home. The plan going forwards is to either leave those amounts on PA until the end of the month or squirrel them away into a pot, but with it being December every penny counts until payday. On that note, I should just scrape by with the last few small presents I need to pick up and petrol to drive to my familys when I finish Christmas Day morning and that's without anything else I'll get through Prolific. 

My employer doesn't pay until the last working day of the month even in December which I am eternally grateful for, as I've always just wasted in on unnecessary last minute gifts or nights out in all my other jobs. I just need to nip out this evening and get something cheap for dinner and maybe a cheap bottle of wine as it's been a stressful set of shifts at work and I did a little overtime today as well. I go onto night shifts tomorrow night so won't get a lot done tomorrow where I'll be trying to get some sleep in, in the daytime. 

Not much else to report at the minute! Secret Santa presents at work need taking in tomorrow, we use a website where you can make a wish list and spend up to £20 - I've only spent £11 on mine as adding any of the other gifts that went on would have taken it over. I feel a bit cheap, but never mind. Whoever has me requested I put something on mine which I don't normally do, so I asked for some coffee syrups

PennysIntoPounds

If you find it a mental boost to transfer survey money at the end of the month absolutely do that as these boosts are important for perseverance! But remember it's not earning you interest while it's in their coffers... and sites/apps might fold taking your money with them so make sure to judge how much you trust them
Speaking of which, I really need to use a voucher so thanks for making me think of it!

Enjoy your dinner and wine, hope your night shifts and day sleepings go smoothly 

PurplePhoenix62

PennysIntoPounds said:

If you find it a mental boost to transfer survey money at the end of the month absolutely do that as these boosts are important for perseverance! But remember it's not earning you interest while it's in their coffers... and sites/apps might fold taking your money with them so make sure to judge how much you trust them
Speaking of which, I really need to use a voucher so thanks for making me think of it!

Enjoy your dinner and wine, hope your night shifts and day sleepings go smoothly 

True, I might open another little savers account on my Chase bank account and just move the payments as I get them into there until the end of the month

PurplePhoenix62

Speaking of Chase and surveys, I really should actually use my Chase account as my main spending account with the small amount of cashback you get for spending from there each month. That means digging out the card that arrived months ago and activating it, so it's on my to-do list for today. 

I did another £6 survey on Prolific this morning so cashed out that and the bits that got approved from yesterday, a total of £11.40 into my bank. I also logged back into Shoppix and made sure my Tesco's receipt from yesterday went straight onto it. 

Need to wrap my Secret Santa gift before I go into work tonight as well, the other bits I'll wrap when I wake up tomorrow. There's an opportunity to start a bit earlier tomorrow for some OT so think I'll email work shortly and confirm I can do that. It's been offered at double time, so it's an extra £84 ish pre tax. 

I need to call the credit union with work today and close that savings account, there's an odd £5 or something sat in it, I pay in £10 monthly but always end up withdrawing it so it's never really served much of a purpose other than holding that tenner for a week or so until I could withdraw it again. I'm going to look into the fixed rate savings accounts with the banks I am with and look at opening one that I then can't withdraw from for 12 months as it's so easy to move money around as and when otherwise. 

Right, best crack on with my ever growing to do list....

PurplePhoenix62

Hello DiaryLand

Made no progress at all on my to-do list yesterday but logging on to write on here reminded me to find and activate my Chase card so that's all done. The Credit Union call will have to wait until they are open again in the new year but there's no rush on that. 

Work never replied about me going in earlier today which is odd as they'd also sent round work emails about starting earlier if possible so I'm assuming it's just got lost amongst other stuff so I've got a lot more time before work than I expected! Nothing on PA so far today, but I guess it's that time of year now. 

Secret Santa pressie was wrapped up and taken in today, got a few more bits to wrap today but I didn't have much to buy to start with, so not much to wrap. 

One very proactive thing I have done last night/today is decide what to get my mum for her birthday and look into the postage costs. She lives overseas and normally I only remember about 2 weeks before and by then my only options are to buy an overpriced hamper from a company where she lives for it to arrive in time. However this year I've decided on two books she wants and will order those as soon as I get paid (birthday is early Feb) then post them out. Postage is horrendous but it's still cheaper than buying them out where she lives and one actually isn't even available until March where she lives. The other things that throw me off are Mother's Day and Fathers Day are different there, but they are written into my new planner for the relevant months to buy a gift the month before and make sure it's sent out in time. 

Super busy night at work last night but I've got about 7 hours sleep today which is quite good for me on nights and ready for more of the same tonight! Roll on 7am Monday when I'm off until the 3rd January  

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Good luck.  Just getting everything organised and having full awareness is a great start.  

L

PurplePhoenix62

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas

I ate and drank plenty, then spent yesterday mostly relaxing and catching up on sleep! Dog sitting for my dad again today so hoping to get them out for a walk shortly then sit down and try and make some extra pennies for the rest of the evening. 

Our payslips got sent out today so I know for definite the minimum I'm working with for January, if I can get some more of my side work done before the end of the month I'll have a little extra to put into the budget. 

I spotted on another of the many diaries I've been reading that Zopa have 'Boost' savers that you have to give varying amounts of notice to be able to take the money out so I've set one up for Christmas 2024 and it needs 95 days notice to withdraw so I should be able to keep that money safely set aside! I sent over my last £1.50 until Friday more as a symbolic thing than anything else, I literally won't need to buy anything before Friday and wanted to put something in it!

Not much else to report at the moment, just counting down the days until payday so I can update my debt signature again and get my January costs out of the way - I have a royal mail redirect to renew, mum's birthday present and to my sister for her wedding accommodation costs