Money Saving Mojo 2

a_silver_lining · 8 February 2018 at 2:20PM

Update
Spent an hour today and edited SOA to show new income and accurate bills. I called around and found out exact amounts. Surprised my mortgage is under 95k!

Have eaten a lot of cake today but not gone to the post office yet. I am going to make a cuppa and package up the bits and head out.

I have lowered some prices on ebay for my old auctions but still haven't posted more.

a_silver_lining · 22 February 2018 at 1:14PM

I've been a bit up and down financially since I last checked in.

Making extra Money
I've hit 17% of my 2018 target. £10 from Quidco, £125 from a bank switch (second bank account I set up purely for switching and 5% saver) and the rest from ebay sales, LOADS of small ebay sales. They really do add up.

Spending Review
On the down side I'm £14.55 over my £270 monthly budget this month and 5 days to payday with a food shop needed.

Looking at my spending the biggest spends were £65.39 on eating out!! So takeaways, dinner out, coffee, emergency food.
£50 on the house as my contribution to the neighbour putting up a shared gate for our alley.
£48 for night out. A rare one for me as I'm not a going out person.
£33.70 for 'making money'. This is postage. Technically this has been covered by money in my paypal account (I've left all 'made' money there and trying to not transfer it over to my main account so to build up extra savings) so I'm technically £20 under my monthly budget.

upcoming Spends...
Next month I have my birthday and I'm debating asking for money towards buying a specimen plant. We have a big staff discount and I'd love a tree fern or a large olive tree to add height to my garden.

I am also booking a trip back to Ireland with my partner. It will be our one holiday this year. Flights are cheap and we are trying to borrow a family car to save £180 on renting a car. The main expense is that we are staying in a holiday cottage this time. Usually we stay with family but we want to test out living in an area we could consider moving to, as my partner is Irish.

- Actually booked whilst typing this, it's £230 for me. My plan is to use the £425 sitting in my spare account to pay towards the £300 regular saver and so not transfer over this £300 into savings. Instead I will send the £230 to my partner to pay my half, and £70 into savings. I'll try and spend less this month to see if I can recoup some money... perhaps I need a pot of money for spends like this.... perhaps my 1% challenge should be additional monthly spending money for holidays and fun and my £550 saved out my wage be the untouched savings... hmm...

To do list
- This month I switched all my direct debit dates to line up with payday, so I need to check in on payday to see how much 'excess' money I have in my account as a buffer for if I overspend. I'm being quite tight with my budget so this money will be needed I think. Done, but ongoing issues with concil tax taking a double payment.

- I have been doing well with ebay. Goal today is to post some parcels, leave some feedback, consider accepting some offers on items / reduce items. Annnd I really need to photo my next batch of items, clothes and start listing them this week. Items posted, reductions made, clothes photod bar a few which need to be ironed first. Need to list hem

- Food shop, healthy and in budget. I'm working towards defrosting the freezer so need to meal plan with that. Foodshop done and will cover a lot of March. Meal planned in it for healthy meals

- Check out MSE birthday freebies as mine is a few weeks away and a great way to treat myself on this budget!!

a_silver_lining · 25 February 2018 at 9:42AM

Saving Update
I posted on the 'Save 12k in 2018' thread on the saving forum and so thought I would check back in here. I last checked in there on 03.02.18 with £2295.20 / 10k saved. Now at £2835 / 10k saved.

£250 saved in regular saver (annoyingly comes out three days before payday so I have to wait to count it.)
£125 from a switched bank account.
£118 made from ebay sales.

To help me keep track: £1250 Hsbc 5% saver, £100 Orbis, £400 Wealhify, £260.30 paypal (1% challenge), £525 in TSB account £300 TSB 5% saver. Debt 2800/10k.

This month I have £100 going to the debt, £250 going into my HSBC regular saver.

I need to give £230 to my partner for our summer holiday and so £70 rather than £300 will go into my TSB account.

I aim to spend below my monthly £270 spending money and to raise more from ebay to make up some of this 230.

I don't know if this will be possible. It's payday o the 27th and I have no spending ahead... so...:

February spending review
Food shopping 102.29 (2.29 over budget) This was done at the end o the month and so unused. The plan is to eat this and freezer food to try and spend £50 in March
Eating out 65.39 This is so high considering that I now take lunches into work. I need to focus on this in March
House specific 50 (garden gate, a irregular spend, but I think i is good t budget in for irregular house spends as maintenance happens)
Night out / Entertainment 69.85 Irregular spend,
but I will need to set an entertainment budget
Making money Posting for ebay. Technically this sat in my paypal account so brings my overspend this month down a bit
Travel £16
Stuff for me £11 Screen cover as mine smashed
Lottery 10 I need to decide if I stay in my work syndicate
Total 364.25 / 270

Eating out and ebay postage would bring me into budget this month, so I'll focus on that. I'm lucky that this month I had some buffer in my curren account and didn't pay the £100 ongoing payment to my debt so it hasn't affected me... but needs to be addressed or I need to rejig my expectations.

a_silver_lining · 27 February 2018 at 11:57AM

Debt Payment
Payday and £100 paid off debt, so now at 2900 paid of 10k.

I had a chat with a colleague yesterday about my feelings about the family debt. I hold a lot of anger and frustration there. I've realised that paying it sooner, prioritising it over my savings will relieve a lot of that frustration. I debated getting a loan to pay them back as that would motivate me to pay it quicker... but I know that's risky and impulsive. I need to stick to my plan of paying the regular saver to them, when it matures. and make up the deficit.

Savings/ Emergency Fund Review
I will not aim for my 10k savings Instead the focus will be on an emergency fund. I will keep my £300pm regular saver as my emergency fund. By August it will be at £2100, so enough for a boiler repair or another emergency.

Debt Plan Review
So I'm going back to my initial plan.

By the end of August my £100pm repayment will have increased the repayment to £3500/10k.

My regular saver will then mature to be about £3100, so if paid directly to the debt will be at 2/3rds, £6600/10k repaid.

So I need to find £3400 by the end of August to be debt free. I was aiming for earning and saving £2018 this year additional to my wage, so that will be focused on this amount and act as an emergency fund I can dip into until August.

I presently have available for August £260 in paypal, £400 in Wealthify, £225 in TSB and checking my main account about £300 floating in there. So £2215 to find for the end of August. I don't know if it will be doable but at least I will be debt free by Christmas by the look of it...

Goals for Today
Day off today so I will iron and photo the last ebay clothes and then post them online.

I will package and try and get through the snow to post ebay parcels on time. Slipped on the ice once!! but all ok and parcels sent

I will finish looking at birthday discounts ready for my birthday

£10 of ladies socks or tights birthday voucher received from MandS - off to a good start. Will spend this Saturday.

Found a free Hot Yoga session from a place I tried before. I normally shy away from places like it, but I've decided I will go this Sunday 10-11.30.

a_silver_lining · 2 March 2018 at 12:46PM

£230 transferred to my partner to pay for our holiday. The remaining £70 transferred to FD.

To help me keep track: £1250 Hsbc 5% saver, £100 Orbis, £400 Wealhify, £260.30 paypal (1% challenge), £295 in FD saver, £600 FD 5% saver.
Savings 2905
Debt 2900/10k.

To do List
My dad sent me £100 for my birthday to buy a big plant, so we are going shopping today

I am also going to 'spend' my £10 MandS voucher on socks so I don't forget and waste it.
Went and bought my socks. They came to £12, so £2 reduces with the £10 voucher. They surprised me by honouring the 20% sparks discount off the remaining £2, so I paid £1.60. Just a heads up to use the discount with the voucher if anyone else receives it

Have emailed council tax people as although I knew my bills would be all over the place due to changing my direct debit dates, it seems the council has so decided to take a double payment from me. I want to see my bill for the year ahead and be able to see that this double payment isn't lost to them. Really annoying as makes it difficult to see clearly what excess money I have in my account. Thank goodness I have that small buffer in the account!

a_silver_lining · 8 March 2018 at 6:37PM

So a very spendy day for me!

On top of the £235 spent last month booking our summer holiday (and only trip away from home this year, not that that helps justify it much)...

I spent £243 on a year gym membership today. To justify it, I have kept up regular home exercise over the past month, so I feel I will keep it up. Benefited from an overlap of two deals they had going, free induction / sign up cost and 3 months free if paid upfront. I also got a joint membership with my partner to save a little more money. Works out at £20pm, and I get gym classes included, so I feel this is just what I need. It's a 15 minute walk from home, so going tomorrow after work for the induction.

The money from both had come out my savings and not added to debt. I have tried to tweak my money to make up this £500, but it would leave me with £250pm for food, travel, clothes, everything... and I don't think I am strict enough. So I have moved my 1% challenge money over and that has left me ok.

I realise I need to either spread my repayment out further or get stricter.... or make more money.

Feeling super wobbly about my goal of paying back the debt and my feelings around my spending.

On the plus side, I posted my ebay items and took a mazzive bin bag of unsold items to the charity shop. I spent some vouchers on a lovely big book to store my sentimental pictures and letters in as I will be kondoing sentimental items soon.

Savings now £2700, so -250

a_silver_lining · 12 March 2018 at 7:53PM

Update
So after doing quite well the past two months I have had a major dip in my mental health. Well. More a minor dip, though it feels big right now.

I could sense it slipping slowly, just getting more anxious, coping less well with issues that arose and getting a bit teary at small things. I think the dip in the weather, sales being low at work due to the weather, a fall out at work and so a slightly tenser atmosphere and then 3 items not being received by buyers on ebay has tipped me a little.

I need to pick myself up though and keep moving forward. I missed my first gym class today but am dressed and ready to go to my induction tonight. I have sold a few ebay items so I am going to package them tonight to post on my day off tomorrow. I need to raise refunds through the Post Office so need to get together my receipts together tonight.

Tomorrow is an expensive but productive day. Hair cut and dye, then dentist, study at the library and then my night course. I really just want to sit on my bum on my day off, but I am going to try and get myself to all those things.

Finances
On the plus side I have now officially allocated my regular saver to be debt repayment money. So my savings now stand at £600. My emergency fund at £795 and 4150 of 10k paid on my loan, a whopping 41.5%.

I have £250 being paid off just before payday and £100 being paid off just after payday, so will be at 45% paid off then.

I'm waiting for a £40 cashback from my Wealthify account and will then withdraw that money and put it into the emergency fund.

a_silver_lining · 26 March 2018 at 7:58PM

Another £250 into my regular saver just before payday. £1500 in there now saved towards debt repayment.

Although I managed to pay £250 into my debt saver, £300 into my regular saver and £100 to my family debt it wasn't a great month spend wise.

I threw a lot of money at a gym membership and a holiday, spent all my extra money made this year on them and dipped into my overdraft. I've gone through my bank account and my phone saving log isn't correct so I had spent more then I thought. I'm going to have a chat with my partner tonight and rethink some spending for the month ahead.

My April Plan
£250 budget
I know I need cat food, which I buy in bulk at £30. I will try and buy in less.
Cat needs a vet visit and jabs, this is going to be £60 I recon.
I have £10 work lottery.
£100 is my general food/ toiletry/ cleaning spend so I will work on this.

I need to budget for some of my partners friends visiting. She was talking about an escape room, I'm hoping we can cook at home to make it cheaper but I think I need to budget £50 for this.

And that's my lot. Unless I make any money, which may become spending money.

Thinks I wanted to buy but may need to wait... more garden compost. Some pots to hold my indoor plants (I was looking at ones totalling about £40-50 so I'll rethink).

a_silver_lining · 29 March 2018 at 8:45PM

#81 @ 4500/10000 45%

Paid £100 straight off debt. 3k paid directly to family member now and 1.5k in the regular saver.

I really want to hit 50%, but I don't think I can up my £350pm. Calculated that the remaining 45% will take me just over 15 months to repay if I don't dip into savings. I will have 5.5k saved by then though, which will be a good emergency fund. That's if I stick to budget!

-

Today I managed to hold out spending money at work. I have worked out from looking at my spending that £65.37 was spent on coffee, lunch, plants, impulse bits. So that's m focus this month.

a_silver_lining · 30 March 2018 at 2:22PM

3rd day at work I've managed to not buy any coffee. I've also returned some plants I picked out but I will buy some soil and try growing them myself to be cheaper. I want today to be a NSD if possible!

Money Saving Mojo 2

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