GSF's Saver Diary £6000 in 9months....

Grass_Stained_Feet

Hey all, I have kind of been hanging around this forum for a bit, posting here and there, but the reason I am really here is because of my seemingly more and more impossible goal. But I am determined to make it work.

I need to save £6000 by the end of September. This is to fund 10 weeks on an vlounteering expedition in Mexico, followed by about 4 months travelling around Latin America....now if that isn't motivation, I don't know what is! I have booked myself in, and I start on 3rd Oct. So I need my £6000 (about £2500 for the charity (£250 deposit already paid) and £3500 for post-placement travel) before then! I do also need flights/insurance/wet suit/backpack aswell....but we'll not go there yet....oh dear, what have I let myself in for! I am also planning on selling my laptop (worth about £300, my car worth about £300, and it's wheels...worth £250, but that is not included in the £6000 as I will need to use that money to buy the extras listed above)

What I have going on so far.....
I have paid off my 2 Natwest Credit cards (one normal one student) and got myself an interest free halifax credit card....with a limit of 1900
I have got myself a high interest current account with halifax 6.17%AER on up to 2500
I have got myself an ISA saver direct (online/phone) with Halifax again (simple things please simple minds) 5.5% tax free. With the account I can deposit and withdraw when I like.
I have a natwest current account which will gradually die...
I have a natwest grad account with £500 free overdraft (I think! will check this, as I am in it. Also not sure when it ends...)

My finacial stats:

Aim: save £600 a month
How?
Income: £1050,00 (net)
Rent: - £160 inc bills and munchies
Petrol - (roughly-will need to check this out on past bank statements) -£60 until March, when brother leaves for Thailand(we share lifts to work), it will then double to -£120, so I will use that figure.
Latin America Fund - £600
=£170/month. £42/week....so my aim is to spend a mere....£40 a week...on the rest. *cough cough* gives me that oh so important £2 leeway...!

I am "uping my income"slightly by doing the following:
gambling loopholes
I have a part time leafleting job....supposedly-this hasn't actually materialised yet.
Slice the pie....
But at the same time I don't want to over do it....so I don't think the 'extra income' will be much.....

I have started a monster spread sheet....an overview on the front to show my progress, a second sheet for monthly updates, to see how I do per month, and the 3rd sheet is currently my in/outcome for feb. So I can actually see what I spend...

I realise that there is a thread on how much can you save...but I decided that I do need this one for motivation..even if I do end up talking to myself!:rotfl:
And...there are a lot of debt diaries but not too many saving ones....!

I also think my situation is a bit different, so though people may be interested...you never know. I have also set myself quite a big task, so having it public, forcing me to check up and keep records of stuff, will hopefully encourage me to suceed. Also any ideas/comments are welcome. Although I am not looking to change from Halifax as I only changed to them a month ago, and it is only a 9month thing.

Mucho love, and well done if you have managed to read my dribble for this long!!!

Oh and total balance at the end of Jan was £1022.45...170 under aim and that included the xmas bonus!!! (but also xmas itself)

GSF xx

Steve_xx

So, in a sentence or two, what help or advice are you seeking here?

Grass_Stained_Feet

It's a diary. A motivation.

I received my help from Martin's guides and money saving tips and as a result I think I can do this, without this site, I wouldn't have been able to...

Any tips/similar stories/interest/support is welcome

born_again_saver

Hi GSF,

I think a savings diary is a great idea for staying on course, best of luck with it! You've a very ambitious target, but with it being just nine months and with a definite aim in mind I think may just be doable.

I've found the OS board really useful for tips on cheap shopping/cooking and the like. Also I have got the Egg Money card for the 1% cashback on everything spent on it - I believe they offer 2% instant cashback at Shell in addition to this, so you could save a bit on your petrol bill if you've got one locally? You wouldn't get the 1% cashback until March 2009 though, but it might provide a nice boost for when you get back if you do your usual spending on it anyway.

If there's any way you can reduce the cost of your commute I think it would really help too - how about looking for another car share arrangement, or would public transport all or part of the way be viable/cheaper? Also I'd be a bit concerned that you've not budgeted for other motoring costs such as insurance, tax, MOT, repairs. If you had a little more time I'd suggest moving onto two wheels (bicycle or motorbike/scooter depending on the distance) as you would save piles of money as long as you stuck to a nice economical 125cc or less. Though you would have to pay to do the CBT to qualify to ride with L plates, buy a bike and helmet/clothing etc so it may not be worth it for you in this time scale.

Anyways I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on. Good luck!

Steve_xx

Grass_Stained_Feet wrote: »

I'm not (obviously any ideas are welcome, things I have missed).

It's a diary. A motivation.

I received my help from Martin's guides and money saving tips and as a result I think I can do this, without this site, I wouldn't have been able to...sorry about the sentences, but they are rather short.

OK I understand and I may be able to offer some help now.

Regarding the travel expenses, there is a Citicard Mastercard from Shell that will rebate you 3% on petrol purchases from Shell stations, and 1% off of all other purchases. See here for details:

http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/cards/shell/cards_shell.htm?source=3664&gclid=CPChgYvstpECFQ1uMAoduES6NA&merchant=citi

Get yourself a Quidco account. see here:

http://www.quidco.com/

When you have the Quidco account set up you go via Quidco and open an Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account. That will net you a £50 cashback to your Quidco account. When that's set up properly go to your Quidco account again and set up an Alliance & Leicester eSaver Account and that will get you a further £20 cashback from Quidco.

Do the same again via Quidco with HSBC and open a bank account and you'll earn a further £20 from Quidco.

You only need deposit £1 in each of these accounts.

How does all that sound for a little booster to your funds?

Grass_Stained_Feet

born_again_saver - thanks very much for the support and advice as far as the car is concerned there is nothing I can do about that now but when my brother goes away I may look into another car-share....I can't get a bike as I have to go on the motorway for work, there is no easy way not to....and I can't do publica transport as it is £6 a day so £30 a week anyway, and adds an hour! onto my journey time (no joke....) There is someone I could share with, thing is she gets in an hour and a half later than me, which is inconvenient, but more importantly crushes my over-time idea....but we shall see what the situation is when the bro goes.

What I will do is try and drive at 60-65mph, as tedious as it is it does save me money, being in a 4gear drive... I paid my Tax in bulk in oct/nov sometime as was insurance and the MOT was in august. Although I am due to pay breakdown cover....may have to look that one up! Last time I repaired her was last week....wouldn't be too suprised if I have to do that again before the 9months is out, you're right!

I don't have a shell garage near me think maybe I'm better off just putting it on the interest free credit card and earning interest on the extra cash I have as a result?

Steve-thanks for the quidco info, that sounds top notch! One question, is there any reason not to get so many bank accounts? I already have 2 current accounts, a grad current account and a flexiaccount with nationwide, should I think about closing any of these? I don't use nationwide and am weening off natwest current.

Steve_xx

No reason why you shouldn't have several accounts with differrent banks. In fact it can be a good idea because if one of these banks launches a high interest paying account, it means that you don't have to go through the ID rigmarole if you want to open one of these accounts.

paulboy83

You are probably best off not closing the Nationwide account, I used mine when I went travelling and must have saved myself hundreds of pounds in conversion charges over the 6 months I was away

Grass_Stained_Feet

paulboy83 wrote: »

You are probably best off not closing the Nationwide account, I used mine when I went travelling and must have saved myself hundreds of pounds in conversion charges over the 6 months I was away

Yeah good point, I have heard something about that, thanks!

I shall open up the accounts you metioned then steve, thank you

Grass_Stained_Feet

Hi, I just went to the Aliance and Leicester site via quidco, it says I have to fund my current accoun with £500/month?

Grass_Stained_Feet

End of Feb Stats:

I did really well this month :T. I actually somehow managed to save £940 this month :cool:

Although To be fair it is because
a)people owed me money and
b)my bingo winings came in.

Although I did only spend £424 including rent, which is on target for expenditure :j

Outgoings were:
rent £160
petrol £60
car £40
RAC£32
Gym £22.50
Gift £20
Fun £50
Other £20

Thing is next month has a lot more 'Fun' lined up,I have already bought my first gig ticket...I plan to go to a meet up with my uni friends half way across the country and go to a friends gig.....which is in stark contrast to the February Hermit that I was!

I am going to try upping my income as much as possible....try and find myself a part time job/Slice the pie more (maybe) and anything else I can think of...we shall see how it goes.

I have convinced my boss to give me an extra half hours work a day, which will up my income by £70 a month (I think)