Swings and roundabouts

November news

2013-11-21T10:36:00.000+00:00

It seems like these bi-monthly blogs are becoming a bit of a habit due to life getting in the way. However, I have kept up with the reading of my favourite blogs on a daily basis, so conscious spending is never too far from my mind.

Maisie approx 7 weeks. x

Firstly, the little kitty has taken up lots of time- from trips to the vets (v.expensive- have now set up accident insurance £3.60 per month can't quibble, much cheaper than vets fees) to chasing her around the flat making sure she doesn't get into mischief. These are the photos from our first little photo shoot.

Second of all work has been manic! And in between all of that I decided I had had enough, updated my LinkedIn profile and CV and uploaded it to a job board. I had about five interviews within the space of a few days, followed by second interviews.

Work spotted I looked all done up on my half days and offered me a decent pay rise to stay which was nice as was quite unexpected. However, a few weeks later I had a new job offer on the table, 4.5k more than I have been on which will come in extremely handy and might even start paying into my pension again (I am just that crazy!) haha.

Consequently, this month I haven't tracked my spending in the usual way but have put some money away into my savings and am having a very frugal week this week (hence the blog post). Lunches will be bought from home, I'll be raiding the cupboards for dinner ideas and I will be resisting those extra cute, extra yummy Christmas coffee shop cups.

From Monday (payday) I will be tracking my spending so as to avoid any Christmas financial hangovers. I will also be hitting the shops this weekend for a tree (on offer saving of £30, paid for with vouchers) and some decorations to take advantage of the lower price and in an attempt to beat the rush.

Stoptober.... what it means to me.

2013-10-03T21:02:00.002+01:00

I haven't blogged in a while, mainly due to being horrendously busy at work and trying to decorate our flat at the same time. This month is going to be a bit of a tough one- in addition to our usual monthly bills the service charge and water bill have also come out of our joint account- leaving £24 left to pay our TV provider, meaning we will no doubt be in our interest free overdraft by the end of the month if we use it to pay for food. We have also had to buy a new washing machine due to the one here being ancient and washing is taking about a week to dry leaving the flat resembling a sauna!

Furthermore, I have also bought a new pedigree crossbreed kitten who is due to arrive on the 16th Oct- she's a little white bundle of cuteness! However, because of these factors the food budget is being reigned in even further.

In an attempt to put off going food shopping I cobbled together enough ingredients to make this delicious chunky winter soup in my slow cooker- inspired by Frugal Queen's post a few days ago.

Otherwise I know I would have ended up grabbing something from one of the overpriced cafe chains in London, which everyone knows don't come cheap. This one dish has made four portions of soup- ideal for an Autumn lunch.

Here's my recipe:

1. Chicken stock made from the left overs from a roast dinner which I froze in Tupperware boxes and stored in the freezer
2. Tinned tomatoes- I used plum but chopped will be fine
3. Sliced onion
4. One sweet potato (sprouting crazy purple bits- I just removed these)
5. Two small white potatoes
6. One tin of chickpeas rinsed (three tins for £1.00 I think- worth stocking up on when cheap)
7. Cumin, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the above into a slow cooker and put on high for approx 4.5 hours, then blend.

By the time I got home one eve this week I was pretty hungry and with not much food indoors I was very tempted to head for Nandos- especially as I have to walk past it on my way home. However, thankfully the BF suggested just going food shopping instead so we picked up a cooked rotisserie chicken for £5.50 (made four dinners for us) some spicy Nandos sauce (which I thought was kind of expensive- but not compared to eating out) and some frozen fries and salad- coming in at a fraction of the cost of eating out.

We will be eating up our stores of food (I have lots of pasta/rice/noodles) and trying hard not to waste any food. I have also been checking out the cash back websites and considering whether I can sell some of my photos to stock websites.

Until next time!
x

We are finally in our own home!

2013-07-03T10:34:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post to say we finally completed last Friday!! It seems money is being sucked from our bank accounts from all angles at the moment, from the three months’ worth of service charges upfront (£370) (we thought we could pay this monthly) to paying for the second hand washing machine and fridge freezer (£100) council tax which has been wrongly taken for the old flat (£138- still waiting for the old housemates to transfer what they owe) to TV licenses, contents insurance, other insurances, the sofa and finally not forgetting household items. We had £850 (approx.) worth of vouchers which has almost depleted now by half, but has come in ridiculously handy. Luckily our first mortgage payment isn't due until next month (thank god!) and we had a small buffer of £100 or so.

It’s been such a busy few days so far, the spare room is still covered in boxes but I LOVE having my own home. I have lots of ideas of how I want to furnish and decorate- if you are interested please check out my Pintrest boards which can be found here.

A bit of a strange Easter week

2013-04-01T17:41:00.001+01:00

This week has been a bit of a strange one- I had two days annual leave on Monday & Tuesday as the BF had his last week to use up before the new financial year.

On Monday I went to have my nails done (£15) for a gel manicure that lasts for three weeks- Whenever I paint my nails they smudge and chip off within days and I was ashamed of my scruffy nails.

We went for a (cheap!) pub lunch £8.00 for two meals and drinks, went to B&Q, chose some wallpaper for our new flat (we actually agreed! :) and I had a phone call from my Mum.

She told me had some bad news- that my Nan had died. Despite being almost 95 years old it was still a bit of a shock as I had last seen her at Christmas and she was perfectly fine. I think it was a shock because there had been a house fire. However, the post mortem revealed that she had had a heart attack, fallen and knocked one of the knobs on the cooker which had then started a house fire, which was confined to the kitchen.

Although we wasn't particularly close to her it was upsetting and I really felt for my Dad, so the week has passed in a bit of a sad, weird blur. And the funeral isn't until the end of the month either :(

However, because of this I no-longer need to borrow money from my parents for the increased deposit, which is a strange feeling as it was my Nan & Granddad's money, but also a bit of a relief.

This week we have eaten out almost every day as we have had things on, and my wing mirror was also smashed off my car as I had parked in the alley behind the flat, so I'm kind of looking forward to going back to work tomorrow and getting back into a bit of a more normal routine.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their break and sorry for the gloomy post- RIP Nan. xx

I'm back!

2013-03-22T13:28:00.001+00:00

I've been kind of awol on the blogging front, despite following my favourite blogs on a regular basis. Looking back, it has been two months since I last posted. During this time a few things have happened:

1. We had an offer accepted on a flat, with the condition the lease was extended in time for completion.

2. The lease came back 5K more than expected, prompting the seller to want to pull out of the transaction.

3. We ended up paying an increased purchase price to cover the lease extension costs + an extra £1000 on top (to cover the loan the seller had to take out?) who knows.

4. Our mortgage lender was only prepared to lend us x amount, leaving us 10k short. Cue tears and my M&D coming to the rescue with the offer of lending us money.

5. I joined the gym! Only a frugal £20 per month; so far I have been to spinning and zumba classes.

6. My car is back on the road and is now registered to my parents address (It was registered to a flat I had lived at two and a half years ago!)

7. I got a £200 tax rebate and £200 interest payment on my ISAs which covered the cost of my annual insurance.

8. The building survey & all searches are almost complete on our flat, and we have given our two months’ notice to break our rental contract.

9. The glasses I bought plus car costs (MOT, repairs & tax) have all been paid for (hefty credit card bill last month).

10. Have been trying to save as much as possible, so lots of home cooking and cutting down on waste has been taking place.

However, I have been carrying on with the packed lunches to work every day, and even at weekends if I go to the pub I have been driving so the cost is minimal.

One thing I have discovered though is http://www.nectaradpoints.com/nectar/ad where if you have a nectar card you can earn points just for watching adverts and rating them. It’s been helping to build my nectar nest egg which pays for my diet coke habit at work.

By the way, has anyone else been having a problem with what I think are spam comments? I keep getting them on one post. I'm not sure what to do with them, or even whether they are actually spam.

Blue Monday

2013-01-21T21:32:00.001+00:00

The last time I blogged we had some last minute viewings booked in; the last one of the day we loved. A ground floor maisonette, private well kept garden and newly reburbished throughout with two huge bedrooms. W had an offer accepted, only for the initial happiness to last around a week when we found out through a friend of a friend the property had a £10,000 bill coming our way from the leaseholders which could be due in around three years time due to them re-doing the fire escapes (our property didn't even have a fire escape). At the top end of our budget there was no way we would be able to afford it. We put this to the estate agent who claimed ignorance, and the price was dropped and agreed at £5,000 lower than the original asking price.

We put our searches and survey on hold whilst waiting for more information, and the Friday before new years eve I had about ten calls from the estate agent who was trying to get us to book the survey to show some commitment to the seller. They had apparently mentioned re marketing the property if we didn't get things moving. After doing some digging for myself and speaking directly to the leaseholder I found out the work was due to start in the summer just a few months after we would be moving in and the money due by the time they had finished the work. I also discovered 47 awful reviews of the leasehold company online, describing them as a money grabbing nightmare!

We pulled out the first working day of the new year, however at the end of that same day the vendor dropped the price by a further £5000 to get us to buy. We spoke to the mortgage broker who advised us we could take a home improvement loan and use the equity in the house to pay it off. We thought things were settled when we received confirmation of the new asking/purchase price in writing and email. Then surfing the property sites to compare what we were getting for our money I found the property had come on with another estate agents and there was even an open day planned for that weekend with our estate agent. From that weekend I knew the property wouldn't be ours so as not to be too disappointed.

On the Monday I found out they had had a higher offer from someone who supposedly knew about all the work and additional costs. I just wish we had been told upfront as another buyer had pulled out before us, but we were told 'for financial reasons' so we knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into. After we lost it, I felt a kind of relief, like it was meant to be for a little while.

However, after seeing lots more properties nothing seems to compare and I'm worried the prices are going to go up before we've scrabbled onto the property ladder. So that seems to be taking up most of my time at the moment.

However our mortgage is almost through, just the survey needs doing now and our family bought us lots of nice home wear and vouchers for Christmas so we only need to pay for the big appliances once we finally find somewhere.

I also had a nice surprise last week; I found out we had hit our target at work and was in fact £55,000 over target! Because we did so well my colleague and myself are going to be given £505.000 worth of high street vouchers as part of a commission scheme. When I was first told about it I thought I would get about £50 so that will definitely make things easier! I decided to get £250 love to shop vouchers which covers lots of shops including Robert Dyas & Homebase, £100, £50 B&Q and £100 Arcadia vouchers (I'm treating myself to some new clothes after all this saving malarky!) I was also told we were getting a £750 annual payrise; I thought it would be performance related and thought it was kind of mean but its automatic which I think is pretty nice as it covers increases in peoples train fare/heating bills/food etc.

This year I bought my annual season ticket and opted for the overground option only- this was £600 cheaper and means it forces me to exercise every day too. I'm now walking around two miles per day at least. I'm going to get my car back on the road and use the money I saved to pay for my car; a much nicer luxury than a bus pass!

Finally, I sorted out my health care plan at work. I decided to take advantage and booked myself an eye test as I haven't had one for around three years and had self medicated my contact lens strength which I buy over the internet. It turns out I wear my lenses too much, starving my eyes of oxygen and causing blood vessels to grow into my corneas which if not sorted out can damage my eyesight! eek!!

I can claim £60 per year for optical costs, so I ordered a four month supply of contacts £50 and away the receipt for my eye test £22 and decided to buy some nice designer glasses. I bought a D&G smart half rim pair for work and a lighter plastic Karen Millen pair for home + insurance. Though this was pretty pricy I think my eyesight is one thing worth investing in.

Phew! Think its all out now, hope you're all staying toasty and warm- until next time!

Surprise flat viewings

2012-12-07T13:54:00.000+00:00

I had resigned myself not to keep looking at flats, putting it off until after Christmas when we'd both been at our jobs longer, had a little more money and had a better credit rating. This week three flats have come onto the market which seem to tick most of our boxes and I've scheduled appointments for us to see all three for tomorrow afternoon- fingers crossed we find something! So far I think we've seen around ten and its getting a little tedious.

Christmas shopping

2012-12-03T20:22:00.000+00:00

On Sunday I made sure I was up and out on the great British high street before 11am ready to meet one of my best friends for a spot of belated birthday lunch and Christmas shopping. I seemed to do my shopping in almost one swoop, and only have to buy little top up presents closer to Christmas. What's more there were some great bargains to be had when you search hard enough.

This year see's Christmas presents stripped right back; here's what I have bought and wrapped up so far;

Mum- a decorative candle holder which holds three glass votives, found in a department sale for the bargainous price of £4.00.

Dad- Best of REM CD £6.00 from Amazon with free delivery.

Sister- Calvin Klien make up set £15.00 and knitted hairband £2.00 from TK Maxx and Primark respectively.

Sister's BF- Bench boxers and sock gift set £8.00.

Nan- Decorate black sequin embellished scarf £4.00 Primark and black box frame in which I'm planning to put some of my photography work (perhaps from the wedding) £6.00 from Tiger.

Granddad- Aftershave and deodorant set from Next £10.00 (they do some really nice smellies for men which smell like 'the real deal').

Secret Santa at work- A miniature snooker table for his desk, a minuscule £3.00!

BF- A superman onesie from Primark £15.00.

BF's sister- A vintage style burnished gold long necklace with camera pendant- £5.00.

I was pretty pleased with these as they all come in at the same price I spent on one person's present last year! Not forgetting the £1.00 gift wrap from Primark and left over box of cards from about three years ago that were £1.00 for a huge box from Wilkinsons.

This week is my work Christmas party. I was planning on buying a new dress as a little treat, but since my having to pay for a £40 cab the other week and doing myself out of my interest I'm just going to recycle the classic LBD and stand up on the train home so as not to FALL ASLEEP! lol.

Happy festive season!

Silly season

2012-11-29T21:09:00.000+00:00

Where to begin? I haven't posted yet again in a while, but things have been kind of emotional/hectic over here in my little corner of the globe. It all started when I found a property online at a good price and made the mistake of ringing the estate agent who roped us in to see about four flats half of which were out of our price range and booked in to see the mortgage broker.

We spent a busy few weeks viewing properties, most of which I would get attached to, could imagine living in but weren't quite right for one reason or another. And then I stumbled across one online, great price, iffy location but once we went to see it it was the best location we had seen. The flat was great, decent sized kitchen, fitted appliances, bathroom a decent size and we wouldn't have to do any work to it. The mortgage was affordable, as well as the ground rent/service charges.

We put in an offer, it was accepted and it seemed things were going our way. However, I was told different stories by each of the estate agents I went to see the property with, such as four people had pulled out previously and that was why it was such a good price. Immediately alarm bells started ringing, and I went to visit it with my mum who asked the seller all the practical questions I had overlooked such as how old the warm air heating system was, how old the flat roof was and which type of construction the building was. The seller clammed up, went pink and I couldn't help thinking she might be hiding something.

At my wits end we went to see the estate agents again to try to find out what was going on, only to find out no-one had put an offer in until a week before us which wasn't accepted. The property had been on the market since August 2011. Feeling rather uncomfortable, worried, stressed out and emotional I thought it was probably best not to even get a survey done as we were worried from the off it wouldn't be worth the cost only to find out what we expected and pull out anyway. The fact the estate agents couldn't get their stories straight worried me, and ultimately we didn't want to buy a flat that we couldn't sell in five-six years time.

After imagining living there, and starting to plan next year- holidays etc I couldn't help but feel disappointed and fed up for the whole weekend afterwards. As Christmas is approaching there is very little choice of property on the market but curiosity keeps me coming back to the property websites to check just in case.

There is one flat online in a great location, we went to see another flat in the same block previously, but this isn't available to view until February which seems ages away. Hmph! I know I shouldn't but I cant help but feel sorry for myself and that we'll never have our own home.

Coupled with the fact I rushed in too quick before withdrawing the offer of pulling my money out of my two ISAs and fixed rate 5% saver, losing out on all the interest because I thought I would need access to the cash soon.

I also fell asleep on the train after a work night out in the city and ended up at the end of the line at 12am and had to fork out £40 for a cab home, and the student loans company has started taking my repayments after two years taking £60 this month. Queue not a happy bunny all round. Chin up and soldier on and keep saving, nothing else for it I guess.

Sorry for the essay! advice please?

Happy first birthday little blog!

2012-10-29T11:01:00.001+00:00

I'm doing the wedding photography so have been practicing my portraits!

My tiny little corner of the internet has been up and somewhat loosely running for just over a year now. And on its one year anniversary we went to see the mortgage adviser Though he kind of told me what I already knew (he said I'd clearly done my homework!) I don't think the BF actually believed me, but now it seems he is on a roll in terms of looking for properties to view.

After the appointment we had two viewings, one was almost like having our own house. It was a maisonette in a quiet area with communal gardens and a garage. However it was priced a little higher than I want to go as I want the monthly payments to be manageable and with the ground rent etc it would leave us with not a lot of spare money to live on. The next flat was in a small block, good location, garage and space but wires were sticking out everywhere and the plumbing was a bit weird in the bathroom.

However, I feel like we are finally getting somewhere and cannot wait to find 'the one'. We've started looking early, though I think we are probably looking at getting something going through after Christmas.

I haven't been blogging much lately as the BF is around in the evenings and weekends and I tend to do it when I've got an evening to myself. I've also had a hen night, a uni reunion and a cousins 21st birthday party so the weekends have been spent out and about. I did manage to stash away an extra £80 last month on top of my usual savings so despite the busy-ness I've come in under budget. However this month may be a different story with my Aunts wedding, my birthday and our five year anniversary to contend with :S

Pumpkin soup

2012-10-11T08:55:00.000+01:00

I love this time of year when the supermarkets stock pumpkins ready for Halloween at great prices; at the beginning of the week I picked up a medium sized pumpkin for 87p to make some soup with. Last night I whipped a batch up to eat at work at lunchtime. I also wanted to use a few fresh ingredients up in the fridge as I'm heading home for the weekend in a few days time.

Ingredients

Half a medium pumpkin
One white skinned sweet potato
A small handful of shallots
Some sliced onion
Two cloves of fresh garlic
One stock cube
Dried Italian herbs
Peanut butter
One yellow pepper

I chopped all the ingredients up, boiled them for approximately 15 minutes and blended with a hand blender (£5 from Asda smart price, which was a moving in present from my mum). This made three portions of soup which was poured into old (clean!) glass jars, as well as one portion which I poured into a Heinz baked beans fridge pack carton which I'll probably freeze for next weeks lunches. I haven't tasted it yet- oopsy!- so I'll let you know how I get on at lunch.

Has anyone noticed how the papers (or is it just one I pick up on my commute?) has been full of doom and gloom over the last few days- first energy is predicted to go up by 10% in the new year, then petrol prices are ever-increasing, and then I read this morning that food prices are set to rise due to the heavy rainfall. Ergh! We'll just have to keep plodding on with it all.

The fight over the central heating dial has started again

2012-09-26T09:02:00.002+01:00

A snap from this mornings rain filled walk.

Like last year the fight over the thermostat dial has begun, with me turning it down a couple of degrees so it doesn't come on and turning down the radiator dials and them turning it up and leaving windows open. Grr! I can't wait to control my own temperature and bills.

In other news, payday came and went. I was thinking of buying a new autumn jacket in the price range of up to £50. However, I just dug out my old jacket which is proving fine, so some money saved there. Money from this months pay has been shifted to the ISA and the saving spreadsheet will be updated this week.

Last month I made it through saving an additional £200, so tucked that away in the ISA. I also managed to have a pretty cheap last weekend and saved the money I need to pay for the next six month water bill. Even though its good news I'm feeling quite frustrated and just want to get to my end target quicker.

Anyone else feel like this?

x

We've (almost!) done it... I think

2012-09-24T13:28:00.000+01:00

This month was quite a good one for myself, as I managed to earn about £400 approx extra for leaving my last job with holiday to spare. I spend a couple of hundred on new clothes and shoes as my wardrobe was looking quite empty and scruffy. However I did sell half of the vouchers I got from my last job to my sister so that covered the cost of one pair of shoes (a padded canvas shoe-ideal for walking/cycling as I had to throw my old trainers out).

Other than that though it was a good saving month, I managed to squeeze away an additional £200 into the savings account. And yesterday while browsing yet more property websites I popped onto a well known bank's mortgage advisor. I entered how much deposit we currently have (10%) and the monthly fee came out at £750, under a 5 year fixed term first time buyer exclusive. If we carry on saving we should have a little more, I entered this amount in and the monthly fee came out at £730- not too much difference but am aware that over 30 years this adds up...to roughly £7,000.

So I think (and hope!) we won't have to stay any longer than necessary in the house share (eight months to go!) as long as we get the mortgage approved (credit score hopefully improving- need to check soon) and find somewhere we want to buy. I think the plan is to carry on saving, then we can make a more informed decision nearer the time- we may use the extra saved money to buy the sofa, re-decorate etc instead.

The temptation now would be to think the hard work is done, but I guess no amount of savings will be too much. I do know I want to book a sunshine holiday (a bargain type one) in the new year and put my car back on the road too so I have a bit more independence. I can't wait for the new year.

September Sunday.

2012-09-02T19:22:00.000+01:00

Evening all,

I can't seem to believe it's September already- though the recent chill in the air and it turning dark outside by 9pm are starting to make it more and more obvious. Soon it will be my one year blog-o-versary, Halloween, our five year anniversary, my birthday and Christmas! Whoa!

Anyhoo, I think I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon a little. I think my frugal-y habits have become ingrained in everyday life, but despite my own posts becoming few and far between I'm still an enthusiastic reader of those I follow.

On the finance front, the BF was paid all his overtime again, clearing more money than the previous month. With the extra cash he has finished paying off his credit card re-payments to me, its all gone about six months earlier than we anticipated so yay on that front.

The saving spreadsheet shows we have the grand total of £19,359 just a few hundred pounds away from the minimum we'd need to buy a £160,000 property- so if things carry on we should have more than a 10% deposit, hopefully reducing the monthly re-payments which I'm pretty pleased about. I was thinking of maybe booking an appointment with an advisor next month just to see what our options are and where we need to be etc.

Finally, after chatting to some new colleagues at after work drinks last week someone told me I can get an overground train straight into where I work. Not only has it made my commute much easier, it means I won't have to fork out for tubes and buses next year. In comparison a season ticket for rail only is approximately £500 less over the year than the price of a full travel card- so I can put this money towards getting my car on the road as I'm starting to miss the independence of having it.

x

Where has August gone?

2012-08-20T22:22:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure where to even begin...the last time I blogged was exactly a month ago. The break wasn't intentional but I just felt I couldn't continue documenting every tiny thing as I was getting frustrated with things not happening quicker, so I'll try to start at the beginning where I left off what's been happening.

My new toy :)

First of all I handed my notice in at my last job, and despite the team dropping down from three to one they were prepared to let both myself and my manager walk away. Fine. The worst bit, they hardly even bothered to speak to us before our last days, which coincidentally were just one day apart. Then a few days before he was about to leave they said he could come back.

Needless to say I wasn't very happy about the situation with the management, but the rest of the teams I had worked with over the last eleven months were lovely. The people I worked with have a collection whenever someone leaves, and they bought me this Kindle case as well as a £10 amazon voucher so I could get downloading and reading straight away which I thought was pretty nice.

So, prior to handing my notice in myself and some of the other 'grads' spent about six weeks orgainising an office Olympics, which unveiled the bossiness in some. Anyways, at the final event we were all given £75 worth of vouchers to spend as a thank you which I thought was pretty nice. I was going to spend it on new work clothes as mine were looking worse for wear and wanted to look presentable when I started my new job. Then I thought, why not spend it on something I wouldn't buy myself... like a Kindle?

I voiced my thoughts to the BF, to his horror as he was planning to buy me one as a present with the extra money from his new paycheck. I was never keen on the idea of the Kindle, thinking what's wrong with a good old book. But I didn't expect to love it as much as I do, haha. I find I can hold it one handed so read much quicker and I think its actually more enjoyable to read on. So much so I whizzed through the Hunger Games trilogy in just a few weeks. I read the majority during my week and a half off, and whilst we went to Bournemouth for a long weekend. (I'm now saving the vouchers to use as presents instead).

Beautiful Bournemouth

The weekend away was part of my birthday present to my BF, along with some Lyle and Scott t-shirts and socks- they had a 50% off sale on their existing sale if that makes sense so I bagged some pretty good bargains there. Secondly, the weekend away was purchased through one of those gift websites, but luckily I have a friend that works there who was willing to give me his 30% discount code.

One day at work the deal popped into my inbox, £100 for two nights stay in a three star spa hotel with breakfast too, which after the discount came to £70. I also made use of the free tickets for SW trains that they gave me when I bought my season ticket so our travel there and back cost absolutely nothing. It was so nice to get away, have some time together, the rain held off all weekend and we even managed a swim in the heated outdoor pool!

BT Live- London 2012

We spent the rest of our week off together cycling about, pottering around and generally enjoying each others company. One day though I did venture into central London to meet an old uni friend. We went to BT Live to watch the Olympics on the big screens. She had just got back from holiday and constantly is at her overdraft limit so we thought it would be a nice, cheap day out.

I packed a picnic but when we got there we were told that we weren't allowed to bring food or drink in. We sat outside along with all the other people cramming ourselves with food to avoid wasting it before heading through security to watch the games and to see some cheesy boy band and Alexander Burke. Once again, despite threatening to rain the sun came out- yay!

Practicing my portraits

Hmm, what else.. ok. So the BF got his first paycheck, and enjoyed his first month as the breadwinner, a feeling I think we both enjoyed. He then got £300 a few days ago for the scrap copper they pulled out the air con units, so this month has doubled his old salary.

He's so excited, has opened his ISA, put £1000 away so far and has paid me back a chunk of the money he owed me for paying his credit card off earlier in the year. He's going to give me the last £135 on Friday when he gets paid and he'll be debt free :) I had to 'borrow' the money from him this month because I had to pay back my season ticket loan, meaning I had to pay for six months worth of travel all in one paycheck. Needless to say, I havn't been able to put any money into my ISA this month, but will be putting my 'travel' money in whenever I get paid to make it up.

Sunday afternoon photo session x

I think now he's earning more (for now anyways due to getting paid more to work nights) meaning he can contribute towards our deposit a bit he's getting used to the idea of buying a property and that it might actually happen, and he was even looking online the other day too at a property website whereas before it was always me getting excited and planning.

Finally it was time to go back to work- I've been at my new place for nine days now and I didn't realise it would be so surreal and hard trying to learn all the new processes, finding out where all our log ins etc are kept on the shared computer drive, even the new journey has thrown me.

I can't get the tube anymore so have been getting the bus, which has been kind of annoying. The queues are rediculously long in the morning, and there is so much traffic. However, today I managed to walk without getting lost which took me half an hour and is quite a good work out too. I tried walking home, but bumped into someone I used to work with and got all confused and lost my bearings :S.

Coupled with the fact its been horrendously busy due to about ten different university clearing campaigns going live on the same day I've been pretty tired when I get home, especically as I hardly ever leave on time anymore. But the time flies by, unlike my last job which is always a good thing right?

Ok so I hope I havn't bored you too much, I think I'll be posting more regularly again now I'm hoping to get back into my old routine.

Budget bath time continued.

2012-07-19T23:30:00.001+01:00

Continuing on from last nights post I returned home from dinner with my mum and aunt (hello voucher-cloud!) to no face wash.

I saw this aqueous cream on the side, I bought it ages ago when my eyelid swelled up (don't ask) I only needed a tiny bit, but they only sold it in huge tubs, which I think were pretty cheap.

Tonight I had to wash my face about three times with water and use some tissue to shift my mascara but my make up seems to have come off, as well as the rest of my make up. I just hope its richness doesn't make me break out.

Friday tomorrow, with free company drinks from about 4.30ish. :)

Budget bath time

2012-07-19T10:32:00.000+01:00

I run out of face wash yesterday so had a hunt through all my toiletry supplies and came across this Johnson's sachet of gel facewash and moisturiser. I usually throw these samples in the bin, but the sachet contained enough face wash to double cleanse to get all the city grime off which I was pleasantly surprised by.

Next, not wanting to waste my nice shower cream oil on shaving my legs I grabbed this cheap bottle of conditioner to use as shaving gel. I'd read some good things about this conditioner on another blog and thought I would give it a go as my hair was feeling kind of dry- however it made my hair greasy within one day, so its been relegated.

Finally, I dug out some scented body lotion which I never get round to using. I'm determined to get through my piles of toiletries, including mountains of Soap and Glory products amongst others before (fingers crossed!) we can move out. I really don't want to move, or throw out this kind of stuff.

After having a quick sort through of products though I seem to have accumulated a couple of bottles of shampoo I don't really want to use on my hair. Does anyone have any alternative uses for shampoo? If so please let me know.

The Olympics...

2012-07-18T11:31:00.002+01:00

I don't know if my mind is being swayed by reading the Metro, but I'm really not looking forward to the Olympics. So much so I've booked the main two weeks off work to escape London. We'll be meandering around Surrey trying to avoid the crowds instead.

I was sent these by a colleague this morning http://thatbigeventinlondon.co.uk/ though I quite like the green one, and think its pretty funny I can't help but feel its another way to rip people off during this time. By all accounts the food and drink prices are extortionate within the Olympic park too.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the upcoming Olympics.

PS. thanks Astra for following and advising me to get that follow button back on my blog, I'd completely forgotten about it!

Ten days to payday....

2012-07-15T14:54:00.001+01:00

With ten days to go my pocket money has run dry, and so I have found myself on Pintrest furiously pinning away as if money is no object. If you fancy checking out my boards here's the link http://pinterest.com/swingsand/.

I'm not sure whether its a good thing or bad thing lol, all this material wanting but I do like to look at my ideas all together if that makes sense?

Does anyone else have Pintrest, if so, or not what are your thoughts?

Happy Sunday xx

Thursday wants... damn the clever advertising!

2012-07-12T11:49:00.001+01:00

I was sitting at work this morning and a H&M marketing email popped into my inbox. I usually have a quick look and file in the miscellaneous folder. This morning, as I have accepted the job offer, knowing I'll have a little extra to play with next month I find myself itching to reach for my credit card even though for this month I have about £3.00 of my own personal income left as its been a few busy-ish weeks so far. The total comes to £35, but I've already spent £50 of my pay rise money/ the 2.5 days extra holiday I'll get paid for part of the BF's birthday present. Do I freeze my cards in the freezer as mean queen suggested, keeping only my joint account card for emergencies? What do you guys think?

Decisions, decisions....

2012-07-09T16:09:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post as I'm currently at work- last week I had a very informal, very unexpected interview with someone from a rival recruitment advertising agency thanks to a friend putting my name forward and the power of LinkedIn.

We met for coffee, had a chat and I have just received an email with the job offer. The salary is 2k more than my current salary, and my current manager and friend has been treated kind of badly by the company after almost five years and is leaving too. I'm kind of in limbo as to what to do, the extra money is enough to cover my monthly train fare, which means things won't be as tight and I can carry on saving as I am now a little more comfortabley. It also means we will be able to borrow more money next year (fingers crossed)....only I've been burned before. What if I leave and it's worse? But then I will never leave and never know. Decisions, decisions indeed. Only time will tell, I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow and then will have to hand my notice in and see what happens because if I go too that leaves just one person in my department.

July's happiness revolution

2012-07-04T12:16:00.000+01:00

Happy 4th July everyone- if you can believe it's July with all the rain we've been having. Anyway, moving swiftly onto this month's good stuff... here goes!

1. Looking forward to a birthday surprise weekend away in Bournemouth I booked for the beginning of August with the BF. I planned it so we can make use of the free south-west train tickets I got through buying my annual season ticket, and so that it is in the middle of my two weeks off work.

2. My mum confirming my parents will be able to give us at least £5,000 towards buying a property next year.

3. A girlie university reunion taking place on Saturday night- we haven't been all together in about three years so should be super exciting!

4. Reading the 50 shades of grey trilogy; I treated myself to these as well as the first hunger games book from Waterstones last week when I got paid. At £23 they were kind of a treat for me and my bookshelf. It's been so good to get into a book again that holds my attention.

5. Quality time at the weekend with the BF, never before in our four and a half years of being together have we had this. Last weekend was so nice.

6. Two weeks off work at the end of the month.

7. A surprise job opportunity presenting itself to me last week, fingers crossed it pans out as I hope.

8. Making more progress using my DSLR camera manually. I need to keep practicing as my Aunt has roped me into taking photos of her wedding in November, where I'm also a bridesmaid :S

9. Completing another shoestring month within my allocated budget, and being one month closer to our/my? goal.

10. Listening to the sound of morning rain while dozing in the morning.

2012-06-21T14:04:00.001+01:00

I haven't been posting as regularly as I used to, primarily because I've been practicing my photography more than I ever have before. Over the long bank holiday jubilee weekend, with the weather rainy and a couple of free afternoons to spare I decided to learn how to use my DSLR camera properly- using the manual settings.

It had been annoying me that I wasn't able and didn't know how to create images like the ones I saw all over the photo sharing website Flickr. So I started exploring the site, looking at the settings people had used to take certain styles of photos, researching on the net water photography and started experimenting. Since, I havn't been able to put my camera down and its been holding my attention for most of my spare time.

If anyone is interested I've updated my Flickr page a lot recently, and I'm quite pleased with how its coming along http://www.flickr.com/photos/57811197@N04/. Since I've been learning how to use my camera I haven't spent too much money. However, the main things that have happened this month are as follows; the BF has started his new job (yay!) which means that he no longer gets free food at work and our food shop is a bit more expensive as a result. However, as he's been working nights (boo) I've been making extra portions of my evening meal, making a portion for me for lunch the next day and a dinner/lunch for him too. This means that I won't be able to siphon off as much from our joint account as I had been doing previously, but that we'll be better off in the long term :).

Next, whilst out on a media night (the freebie music quiz) myself and two others got a little carried away after a few drinks, and we ended up breaking my friend (and managers) kindle- eep! Its quite a long story and a little awkward for me but basically I think and hope that on Monday (payday) we'll chip together to buy a replacement for him.

Approaching payday and taking the kindle replacement into account I have £32.00 left over in my budget- I would have had £64 but hit the H&M sale. For £32 I got six tops/dress type things and a pair of every day wear- smart enough for work shoes. Though my clothing situation isn't extremely bad it definatley needed topping up. I only wanted to spend £14, but I spotted some cute dresses which were £3 and could resist buying three- think they call it stockpiling lol!

I need to buy my Dad some beers as a belated fathers day gesture and a gift bag for the freebie champage which I'll give my M&D for their anniversairy- hopefully I can put away around £25 which I'll put towards BF's b'day present, along with any spare funds from next months pay to soften the blow in August- until next time!

2012-06-09T18:29:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted in a little while, it seems my creative efforts are being poured into my photography at the moment; as I seem determined to overcome my fear of using the manual settings on my SLR camera. I mean I was given my camera after bugging my Mum & Dad for a proper camera just over a year and a half ago which they bought me as a combined birthday/Christmas present. Its time to move on from the auto function.

I've been researching settings on the net and trying new things; I've posted some of my personal favourites for you to see. Anyways, I've also been getting these horrible migraine type headaches, I'm not sure whether its the weather or related to the contraceptive pill I'm on but whatever it is I've not been feeling myself for the last few weeks.

On the finance front I picked up about ten extra hours of bar work over the jubilee weekend, which always comes in handy and will cover expenses such as Father's day presents etc and my sister's birthday present. I also did a mystery shop in the week, and my Quidco has updated to confirmed, now I just need the payment run to run smoothly and for the money to actually materialise into my bank account.

I also went to another media music quiz, this time we came second taking home with us a bottle of champagne each which will be saved for possibly my Mum & Dad's wedding anniversary. My name was also pulled out of the hat to win a spot prize- I won a three month subscription to premium Spotify (an online music streaming service) worth £30.

Not much else to say; there's another two weekends left before payday; one will be spent bridesmaid shopping with the family and at my sister's birthday BBQ and one will be spent with an old friend in Kingston. I think I should make it through as I have about £140.00 left.

June's Happy list

2012-06-01T18:30:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the month again; this month I've been noting down the little things that make me happy as I go along on my phone so have found it much easier compared to when I was compiling May's happy list. Here goes-

1. The feeling of laying on cool, clean bed sheets after a bath- priceless!
2. Yummy poached eggs on seeded toast. A lovely weekend breakfast....
3. I had a craving for brie and pickle on crispbread so treated myself as it wasn't in our normal shopping list.
4. The warm sunny weather we've been having, especially the longer evenings.

5. Discovering a cool new photography iPhone app- Marblecam. Try it!The pics above were all processed with it.
6. My credit score increasing by 37 points.
7. Completing another month within my shoestring budget.
8. The upcoming jubilee weekend- Four whole days off!
9. Cycling in the Surrey countryside
10. The best of all this month, the BF's new, better job!!! - though have just found out for the first six weeks he'll be working nights 10pm-6am. The down side, I won't see him as much as I thought I would, the upsides, he'll get time and a half pay, my sleep won't be interrupted in the middle of the night like it is now and we'll still have weekends together.