K&L's 2016 FTB deposit & round the world travel savings diary

It's been an interesting couple of weeks to say the least! Usually most of my additional income comes from Roamler but I've had to diversify as there's been a big lack of tasks. So I tried out a StreetSpotr task which had me go into a fairly rough area of London to purchase a drink in a bar, the locals were all friendly but still I felt quite out of place!

I've managed to get enough points on Swagbucks and Bounts for £5 payouts and nearly there with Pinecone, and some of my QuidCo cashbacks have been paid. Aiming for £150 this month, and at £44 so far.

Keffka's parents sat him down for an hour long conversation the other day to let him know that the house is likely to go by the end of June one way or another, but I am hoping their negotiations with the bank to stay longer are fruitful. Moving out is not altogether a bad thing. Rather than get our own flat we've decided to go into shared which will limit the damage to our ability to save so we should still be on target for about £20k by the end of the year....just. It was going to be £23k but such is life. The positives are that being closer in to London should shorten my commute, I can start to commute by bike again, and it wont take us so long to get home every night. It'll also mean I can pop out to see my friends without the headache of it taking so long to go see them. There will also be a lot more job opportunities for Keffka. In addition we won't have to put up with his family's constant negativity and whining and we can finally live how we want.

I totally agree Saving Wannabe! Bring on the privacy :-D

Don't have much to report this month apart from it's been a slow, hectic, tough month. I've got £9 in my account until 26th...although I've just cashed out £29 from Roamler so that'll get paid in the next couple of days.

Work this month has been quite something, we decided to move on a load of projects which all need delivering within a few weeks of each other, so I've been working hard to get everything completed. It's been really draining mentally. Plus I am trying to achieve a goal in one of my sports and so I've been at training almost every evening which is what is needed to progress but I have to sacrifice all my down time on week nights.

It's been super slow on the extra money front, Roamler has been particularly abysmal, although one of my other apps has just put up a load of £8 tasks.....just they need doing before 5pm...while I am still at work, so that's going to be a job for this weekend. Only made £70 of which most still needs to be paid. On the plus side one of the tasks asked me to buy a conditioner which I would be reimbursed for so I got a nice one for £6 by John Frieda. I also notice I can go do it at other Boots stores.....I could get a year's supply for free basically! :rotfl:

It's been tough on the money front as I started out with less than usual due to overspend the month before, and I am determined to keep a lid on it so I've not really bought anything other than food. I've also broken my phone. I have insurance....been paying £10 a month for the last 23 months :eek: for the privilege of a new iPhone at £25. They were trying to make me upgrade instead but that seemed daft having spent all that money, may as well claim. I can always upgrade later but I want to move to sim only which will halve my bill.

Next paycheck is likely to get swallowed up paying deposit for our new room wherever it is. I really can't be doing with the headache of finding a new place, this will be the 20th time I have moved all my worldly belongings in the past decade...it really does make you re-examine what items you use and don't use. I have a load of books and things like that that I enjoy owning yet never take out the box. One day I'll have a bookshelf but not until we buy our own house....so what do I do with them in the meantime?!

In the same vein I've also decided I don't like a load of my clothes and have noticed I only tend to wear the same x amount so now seems like a sensible time to have another clear out ahead of moving.

Thanks drcee!

Update from us, Keffka's mum had another melt down over some pans that we left in the sink because the dishwasher was on...we're now being instructed to vacate by the 15th June because "we're costing her money"...need I mention we offered to pay her rent before but she said no. Anyway So that's 13 days notice to move. Brill.

Luckily for Keffka this will be the 20th time I've moved...maybe we should get a caravan instead?! So I've spent most of the morning trailing spareroom for listings and have set up a couple of viewings for this eve. I am taking her 'out by the 15th' requirement with a pinch of salt. We know as well as she does that the bank haven't suddenly decided to bring their eviction date forward....so what's she going to do? Change the locks? I doubt it.

Anyway back to the business of moneysaving. In the end I managed to scrape through the last few days of the month without blowing the budget, Hurrah! I've set aside my usual savings amount to be put down as a deposit and rent. I haven't quite decided how much we should be spending on rent really. There's a part of me that's saying, come on £600 inc bills will do it, and the other part that's saying £780inc bills for what you really want...that's pretty reasonable. Half of it is that Keffka hasn't found a new job yet so that's totally up in the air budget wise. Thankfully his Mum's 'get out' threats have kicked him up the butt a bit.

Bank holiday weekend was awesome! We went up to Newcastle for a competition and stayed in a lovely AirBnB. So Saturday we spent most of the day sat in the car, and then sat in the arena...we walked home that evening to get our steps in for the day. We were a bit naughty and went to Nandos but damn was it delicious! On Sunday we went in to the town centre and bought Keffka some summer clothes with some eBay money. We then went to the Life Science museum which I would highly recommend. For our ticket price (£14 each - no discounts ) we also got to look at the Body World exhibition which was both grisly and fascinating. Keffka really enjoyed the planetarium section too. There was something for everyone. I really enjoyed the laboratory bit where you can sort of do your own experiment. In the evening we went to Pizza Express with a 3 courses for £13 voucher - bargain! Also the waitress let us pick whatever dessert we wanted which was a lovely little bonus.

On the Monday we went up to Alnwick Castle where they filmed bits of Harry Potter and some of Downton Abbey. We were there about 4 hours and it really wasn't long enough to be honest. I'd definitely go again and take more time, plus look around the beautiful Capability Brown gardens. We did have a go at archery and I think we've found our new couples activity for when we cant go gymnastics anymore!