Biweekly money update 12-25/04/2012

Well.

Finally slipped up!

Had a biiiiiit of a crazy spending fortnight – mostly because we won a fair bit of money at bingo, and I’ve just joined a gym and wanted new clothes to ‘celebrate’, there was another roller derby after party to attend (YEAH!) plus we needed a new alarm clock so I’ve spent £150 out of my not-smoking-money jar as well. And there was a (shock! horror!) surprise direct debit I hadn’t planned for AGAIN (overdraft interest from March, silly!) so I’ve actually ended up somewhat backing up into my overdraft, which is not going to be helped by next pay day being lower than normal because I’ve had a week off work. Damn it! It’s like my friend Paul says about his eating habits, little slips become landslides. I spend a bit of money then I want to spend EVERYTHING I HAVE (or don’t even have). I think it’s safer for me to just not spend at all as soon as I’ve parted with a little cash I lose all control. Boo!

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving (now my overdraft is – pretty much – gone, I’m not adding these to the ‘paid out’ at the end any more because it doesn’t quite make sense: say for example I put £60 in my jar as usual, but then spend £30 from it, I end up with paying out £90 which isn’t true!)

Thursday 12/04/2012
+£438.95 wages
-£60.00 I-gave-up-smoking-and-save-the-m0ney-instead jar
-£150.00 emergency fund
-£30.00 April roller derby subs
-£2.49 sandwich from the garage before practice
-£16.11 groceries from Tesco 

Friday 13/04/2012
-£7.00 Newcastle Roller Girls party night
-£12.30 chicken kebabs + pop 

Saturday 14/04/2012
-£1.00 lottery

Sunday 15/04/2012
-£19.48 new hair straighteners (I haven’t had much luck with hair appliances lately!)
-£14.00 gym until May (will be £28.00/month from now on)
-£10.00 petrol money for Alex
-£10.00 drinks and food at bingo
+£120.00 bingo winnings!!! (as a table we won £720 then split it between six, awesome) 

 Monday 16/04/2012
-£5.40 bus day ticket between Blyth and Newcastle
-£57.60 (!) 4 week bus ticket between Blyth and Cramlington (valid until 20/05/2012)
-£0.70 can of pop
-£6.99 mobile phone insurance
-£17.98 2 x watch batteries replaced
-£7.00 cycling shorts for Alex
-£47.98 dress and new top from New Look
-£10.95 moisturiser from Lush
-£15.00 dinner at Yo! Sushi
-£3.00 Jelly Belly jelly beans pick & mix
-£9.98 shampoo and conditioner (+ free shampoo on 3 for 2!) 
-£2.00 pop and Rainbow Drops 

Tuesday 17/04/2012
-£2.00 stickers for my helmet
-£18.74 /March overdraft interest
-£31.98 clothes from H&M*
-£25.99 new Adidas bottoms from Sports Direct*
-£29.99 new alarm clock* 
-£9.99 new iPod headphones (which ended up being shit and kept falling out my ears at the gym, fab)* 
-£1.00 sandwich from Greggs
-£4.86 groceries from ASDA
-£2.00 hangers & pop from Home Bargains* 

Wednesday 18/04/2012
-£1.00 lottery
-£11.80 groceries & household stuff from Morrison’s
-£1.00 sandwich from Greggs
-£4.00 return bus ticket Blyth to Cramlington

Thursday 19/04/2012
-£15.00 iTunes credit/£0.98 workout music 
-£7.50 groceries from Morrison’s
-£26.48 Skull Candy headphones (whoops, actually like these ones though) 
-£15.67 household stuff and lady products from Wilko

Friday 20/04/2012
-£2.20 bus from Blyth to Cramlington
-£24.30 groceries from ASDA

Saturday 21/04/2012
-£25.00 Tyne & Fear vs the Jakey Bites after party (taxi, drinks, kebab…)* 
-£1.00 lottery 

Sunday 22/04/2012
-£2.00 bingo
+£28.00 bingo winnings!!! (won £150 as a table) 

Monday 23/04/2012
No spend day!

Tuesday 24/04/2012
No spend day!

Wednesday 25/04/2012
-£4.58 McDonald’s for Sven (trade for a lift to practice)
-£1.00 lottery  

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £586.95
Outgoing: £576.00
Balance: £10.95
*money spent from gave-up-smoking jar

——————————–

EMERGENCY FUND
£150.00 paid in this fortnight / £150.00 in total
£850.00 to go

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £510.00 entered so far
£125.00 spent this fortnight / £374.30 spent so far
Balance = £135.70

Biweekly money update 29/03-11/04/2012

I PAID OFF MY OVERDRAFT.

A FORTNIGHT EARLIER THAN EXPECTED.

I PLANNED TO BE FINISHED BY MY 25TH BIRTHDAY AND ACTUALLY MANAGED IT WITH 14 DAYS OF BEING 24 TO SPARE!

I AM DEBT FREE (APART FROM MY STUDENT LOANS WHICH DON’T COUNT BECAUSE I DON’T EARN ENOUGH TO PAY THEM BACK ANYWAY). DEBT FREEEEEEE!!!!! … now I get to start actually saving my money, it feels awesome. I’ll be trying to build up a £1,000 ‘emergency fund’ now I’ve cut up my credit card then it’s save save save!

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving/paying down debt

Thursday 29/03/2012
+£612.24 wages (£492.70 PAYE + £307.85 holiday pay – £186.31 tax)
-£262.68 overdraft
-£60.00 I-quit-smoking-and-save-the-money-instead jar
+£20.00 from dad for clearing overdraft (!!!!)
-£50.00 board
-£29.72 food for the week + freezer stock from Tesco (I refuse to buy any meat that isn’t part of a 3-for-£10 offer so we’ll spend a bit more one trip but then considerably less on others now)
-£5.00 March photobooth picture 

Friday 30/03/2012
+£2.58 ISA interest
-£16.45 breakfast at Frankie & Benny’s with Donna + tip
-£2.80 ice lollies at St. Mary’s Lighthouse
-£4.75 two birthday cards from Paperchase

Saturday 31/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery

Sunday 01/04/2012
-£6.00 ticket for Middlesbrough Milk Rollers bout
-£6.44 crisps, pop and sweets from the corner shop (oops) 

Monday 02/04/2012
-£37.03 iPhone bill
-£5.55 new stickers for my derby helmets
-£3.47 hand cream and chewing gum from the garage

Tuesday 03/04/2012
-£9.99 forgot to cancel free LoveFilm trial and got charged for the following month, balls! 

Wednesday 04/04/2012
-£15.00 shorts for Alex (Easter present)*
-£5.35 diner & dessert from ASDA
-£1.00 lottery 

Thursday 05/04/2012
-£4.67 sushi, gum and water from the garage
-£23.62 Tesco (applied for a Clubcard today as we seem to go to Tesco after practice every Thursday now!)  

Friday 06/04/2012
-£26.09 petrol and milk from the garage

Saturday 07/04/2012 
-£1.50 cupcake at Middlesbrough Milk Rollers bout 
-£2.90 Tyne Tunnel (£1.40 on the way to Peterlee, £1.50 on the way back as I didn’t have the right change, boo!)
-£3.68 sweets and crap from the corner shop (yeah)
-£1.00 lottery

Sunday 08/04/2012
-£1.88 pop from corner shop 

Monday 09/04/2012
-£7.06 food from work for me, Alex & Sven

Tuesday 10/04/2012
-£7.65 scalp treatment prescription
-£23.00 haircut (birthday! – pre-emptive spending haha)
-£2.10 sandwich & pop from Greggs
-£1.70 bus fare from shopping centre to parents’ house  

Wednesday 11/04/2012
+£100 birthday money from parents (!!!)
-£26.41 hair dryer (a necessary spending of my birthday money as I almost burnt the house down melting my good one the day before, god dammit)
-£46.00 new mouthguards and toe stops (birthday!) 
-£1.00 lottery

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £734.82
Outgoing: £702.49
Balance: £32.33
*money spent from gave-up-smoking jar

——————————–

OVERDRAFT
£262.68 paid off this fortnight / £2,000.00 paid off in total
OVERDRAFT CLEARED!!!!!!!!

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £450.00 entered so far
£15.00 spent this fortnight / £193.00 spent so far
Balance = £257.00

Biweekly money update 15-28/03/2012

Still busy busy busy. And oh so very close to paying off my overdraft! Having a roller derby bout at home one of the weekends this fortnight killed my expenses but I decided to take the money out of my I-gave-up-smoking jar because hey, that’s what it’s there for anyway, and there’s nothing that ruins a good night like not having money. I deserved it! Right??

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving/paying down debt

Thursday 15/03/2012
+£411.35 wages
-£150.00 overdraft
-£60.00 I-quit-smoking-and-save-the-money-instead jar
+£10.00 tenner from dad (he gives me 10 for every 100 I pay off my overdraft, thanks Pops!)
-£50.00 board
-£1.99 McDonald’s breakfast
-£6.58 food from Tesco

Friday 16/03/2012
-£0.69 iPhone app

Saturday 17/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery
-£1.48 painkillers and Tic Tacs
-£19.88 food from ASDA

Sunday 18/03/2012
No spend day!

Monday 19/03/2012
-£18.85 overdraft interest
-£7.96 food from Morrison’s
-£12.44 kitchen bin and tin opener from Wilkinson’s
-£10.00 pizza + tip for driver*

Tuesday 20/03/2012
No spend day!

Wednesday 21/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery
-£2.00 roller derby number tattoos

Thursday 22/03/2012
-£7.98 food from Tesco

Friday 23/03/2012
-£7.40 hand cream prescription
-£1.36 sweets and pop from Home Bargains
-£5.92 duct tape and sweets from Wilkinson’s
-£5.60 lady products

Saturday 24/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery
-£6.29 Subway
-£48.80 bout after party drinks and taxi fares*
-£15.00 drunken kebab

Sunday 25/03/2012
+£3.00 sold CDs on eBay
No spend day!

Monday 26/03/2012
-£12.34 food and household stuff from Morrison’s
-£2.09 sandwich and pop from corner shop on walk home from Morrison’s (oops)
-£1.75 some toothpaste that was reduced in ASDA that Alex wanted even though we have tube upon tube of toothpaste in the house already

Tuesday 27/03/2012
-£4.50 return bus fare Cramlington to Newcastle
-£2.00 2-for-2 bottles of pop
-£5.00 book
-£3.50 M&S sandwiches

Wednesday 28/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £424.35
Outgoing: £475.40
Balance: -£51.05
*money spent from gave-up-smoking jar

——————————–

OVERDRAFT
£150.00 paid off this fortnight / £1,737.32 paid off in total
£262.68 to go

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £390.00 entered so far
£48.80 spent this fortnight / £208.00 spent so far
Balance = £182.00

Biweekly money update 01-14/03/2012

Busy busy busy busy – my blogging is really going to suffer over the next few months as we have three home bouts coming up and the programmes need to be sorted in advance and it eats up all my computer time – realistically I should be back to blogging ‘properly’ in May some time.  Crazy money fortnight as well because we got our annual operations bonus at work (not a whole lot after tax but better than nothing!) and I spent all the money I’d earned selling my belongings on some IKEA furniture and a night out.

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving/paying down debt

Thursday 01/03/2012
+£550.58 wages (£503.87 PAYE + £188.43 annual bonus – £141.72 tax)
-£200.00 overdraft
-£60.00 I-quit-smoking-and-save-the-money-instead jar
+£20.00 tenners from dad
-£50.00 board
-£8.00 sandwiches
+£5.00 Amazon gift voucher
+£0.80 credit card balance
-£15.00 takeaway + tip for driver
-£30.00 monthly roller derby subs 

Friday 02/03/2012
-£20.00 gift for pregnant friend going on maternity leave
-£0.59 card for said friend
-£1.00 pink grapefruit squash
-£8.26 general spending in Boots
-£5.75 plastic balls from Amazon
-£17.80 carvery 

 Saturday 03/03/2012
-£5.40 bus day ticket Blyth Valley/Tyne & Wear 
-£0.86 Home Bargains
-£1.00 shortbread
-£4.99 something car related
-£6.10 ASDA 
-£1.00 lottery

Sunday 04/03/2012
-£8.38 Subway

Monday 05/03/2012
+£1.96 ISA interest
No spend day!

Tuesday 06/03/2012
No spend day!

Wednesday 07/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery 

Thursday 08/03/2012
-£5.88 pizza, custard doughnuts and chewing gum

Friday 09/03/2012
-£4.00 bus day ticket Blyth Valley
-£2.78 Wilkinson’s  
-£20.00 curry + tip for driver
-£35.02 ASDA 

Saturday 10/03/2012
-£0.72 can of Pepsi
-£5.75 Mother’s Day card + new pen
-£1.00 lottery
-£57.83 IKEA furniture*
-£3.20 IKEA food*
-£4.50 taxi Blyth to Newcastle (split between six)*
-£20.00ish drinks in Newcastle *
-£6.40 bus fare Blyth to Newcastle x 2

Sunday 11/03/2012
No spend day!

Monday 12/03/2012
-£5.40 bus day ticket Blyth Valley/Tyne & Wear
-£1.25 M&S sandwich
-£6.77 ASDA 

Tuesday 13/03/2012
-£1.99 McDonald’s breakfast

Wednesday 14/03/2012
-£1.00 lottery 
-£6.99 mobile phone insurance  

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £578.34
Outgoing: £628.62
Balance: -£50.28 
*money taken from piggy bank of cash I earned from selling my old stuff  

Came out in the red again but considering more than £80 of what I spent didn’t come out of my wages but rather from selling my possessions I think that’s pretty successful! I’ve got a hard fortnight coming up next as I’ve worked less shifts than normal with being on all nighters (boo) and forgot to have my holiday pay added on (double boo!) but I’m sure I can manage…

——————————–

OVERDRAFT
£201.96 paid off this fortnight / £1,587.32 paid off in total
£412.68 to go

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £330.00 entered so far
£00.00 spent this fortnight / £134.20 spent so far
Balance = £195.80

SELLING POSSESSIONS PIGGY BANK 
£0.00 earned this fortnight / £98.14 earned so far
£82.14 spent this fortnight / £98.14 spent so far
Balance =  £0.00 (wipe out!)

Bi-weekly money update 16-29/02/2012

Oops! I can’t believe I haven’t posted on here in over a fortnight, although I have been a bit busy with roller derby activities and kind of sort of looking into making a side income – but more on that later! For now let’s look at how ‘well’ I handled my earnings over the last pay period…

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving/paying down debt

Thursday 16/02/2012
+£453.12 wages
-£200.00 overdraft
-£60.00 hooray-I-quit-smoking-fun-money jar
+£20.00 tenners from dad
-£50.00 board
-£20.00 petrol money for Alex
-£5.52 Yakult and Tesco sandwiches

Friday 17/02/2012
-£21.18 overdraft interest
-£16.79 ASDA
I always forget that the ‘bottom’ £1,500 of my overdraft isn’t interest free until I’m hit with a charge – luckily this was right after pay day instead of beforehand! Dropped quite a bit of cash at the supermarket as well but bought a lot of freezer stock to cover other meals. 

Saturday 18/02/2012
+£68.14 cheque from Music Magpie
-£1.00 lottery
I will do a post on dealing with Music Magpie some time this week – it looks like I made a great amount of money selling my old stuff but in fact I sent them over 100 discs and came out with less than £70 so it’s not as amazing as it looks. I also cancelled my credit card today – I know what I said about keeping it until I’d built up an emergency fund but if something major DOES happen it only had a £500 limit anyway and I’ve got more than that in my ISA which will be used to clear my overdraft in April AND it felt awesome to finally cut it up into tiny weeny little bits.

Sunday 19/02/2012
No spend day!
Because I’d been a total genius and made sure we bought pop and chocolate when we were at ASDA earlier in the week so we wouldn’t spend much more at the corner shop.

Monday 20/02/2012
-£3.20 bus fare Blyth to Newcastle
-£6.94 food in M&S
Off to the midlands to see my best friend Janet!  Train journeys must always be accompanied by purchases from M&S food hall – not exactly the cheapest but beats buying anything in the station by about 25% and anything on the train by at least 700%. £2.60 for a cup of tea? Have a word with yourselves! 

Tuesday 21/02/2012
-£1.49 charity pencil
-£3.49 Greggs
-£0.30 toilet in Birmingham New Street station
-£0.69 chocolate bar
-£2.60 bus fare Newcastle to Cramlington
… and back home from the midlands as I had work the next morning, boo. Bought Alex a lovely Warwickshire & Northamptonshire air ambulance charity shop pencil as a souvenir.  

Wednesday 22/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery 

Thursday 23/02/2012
-£4.18 2 reduced price pizzas
-£4.86 Yakult
Dinner from the garage across from work – normally expensive, but almost-out-0f-date pizzas were on offer, score!  

Friday 24/02/2012
-£17.49 groceries from ASDA 

Saturday 25/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery

Sunday 26/02/2012
-£4.27 sweets + crisps + pop from corner shop
-£19.00 new skort for roller derby! *
After the success of the previous weekend I fell back onto my old ways, oops. We’ve given up chocolate for Lent though (!!!) so hopefully that might keep junk food purchases down until April.  

Monday 27/02/2012
No spend day!

Tuesday 28/02/2012
-£4.90 groceries from ASDA
-£5.00 photobooth picture
Photograph for one of my 2012 challenges, sneaking February’s in JUST in time! 

Wednesday 29/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery
-£1.49 double cheeseburger from work (oops)
-£1.80 2 x 500ml Diet Irn Bru (on offer at the garage)
Only bought the Irn Bru because the cash machine at the garage wasn’t working so I had to buy something to get cash back and they were 2-for-£1.80 which is a bargain I cannot refuse! We went to see Rammstein at the arena that evening and I didn’t spend a penny… I did spend £100 on the tickets like but zero pence while I was there!  

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £541.26
Outgoing: £459.19
Balance: £82.07
*money taken from my cup-of-tenners-off-my-dad   

A whopping TWO no spend days this fortnight, and if you ignore my lottery tickets then another three, pretty good. Most of my ‘balance’ is from the Music Magpie earnings that went straight in a piggy bank but at least I didn’t come out in the red like last fortnight. My next pay will be a bit bigger than normal because my annual bonus will be on it too so fingers crossed I don’t go crazy with it…

——————————–

OVERDRAFT
£200.00 paid off this fortnight / £1,385.36 paid off in total
£614.64 to go

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £270.00 entered so far
£00.00 spent this fortnight / £134.20 spent so far
Balance = £135.80

TENNERS FROM DAD CUP
£20.00 earned this fortnight / £50.00 earned in total
£19.00 spent this fortnight / £49.00 spent in total
Balance = £1.00

SELLING POSSESSIONS PIGGY BANK 
£68.14 earned this fortnight / £98.14 earned so far
£0.00 spent this fortnight / £16.00 spent so far
Balance =  £82.14

Biweekly money update 02-15/02/2012

Okay, so here’s the new system, let’s see if it makes more sense! From now I’ll be running my money updates from pay day to the-day-before-pay-day which for me is from a Thursday to the not-next-but-the-one-after-that Wednesday. Of course, nothing is simple because along with money in my bank account I keep my hooray-I-quit-smoking-fun-money in a jar, reward tenners for paying off debt from my dad in a cup, whatever I make from selling possessions in a money  box – and I’ve made additions and withdrawals from all 4 of these this fortnight. Try to keep up?

green = earning
red = expense
blue = saving/paying down debt

Thursday 02/02/2012
+£462.03 wages
-£97.00 credit card = CLEARED!!!
-£60.00 hooray-I-quit-smoking-fun-money jar
-£100.00 overdraft  
-£30.00 monthly roller derby subs
-£50.00 board
+£20.00 tenners from dad 
 -£4.00 buy-2-for-£2 Yakult
-£50.00 train tickets to Nuneaton*
Pay day!  I was so chuffed with myself when I finally paid off my credit card, the thing has been haunting me for years – need to build up an equal emergency fund before I can cancel it though. I got two tenners from my dad this pay day, one for paying £100 off my overdraft and another for clearing that damn card, whoop whoop! I also ~technically~ put £60 into my cigarette money jar but then withdrew £50 of it straight away for train tickets to see Janet next week, SO EXCITED. 

Friday 03/02/2012
-£10.88 groceries at ASDA
Food for two people for the weekend, not bad really, and it did include some freezer stock and rice which we’ll be using for other meals. 

Saturday 04/02/2012
-£5.99 key!
-£1.00 lottery
I paid a whopping six pounds to get a fancy design on my new key (!!!), I don’t know how much cheaper a standard boring key would have been but I think it was worth it .

Sunday 05/02/2012
-£0.79 song on iTunes
-£6.17 orange squash, sweets, pop & crisps after practice
+£6.00 selling DVDs
Ooohhhh after practice junk food cravings, you are my financial downfall, especially with it being a Sunday evening and the only shop open being the local newsagents who charge just that little bit more. Ah well. 

Monday 06/02/2012
-£3.49 DVD for Rebecca 
-£14.45 birthday present for Janet
Didn’t leave the house on Monday but still managed to spend almost twenty quid – thanks, internet shopping. At least they were both presents and not something selfish right? Right???

Tuesday 07/02/2012
-£4.50 return bus fare Cramlington to Newcastle
-£3.95 Valentine’s chocolate for Alex
-£2.25 macaroons
My rescheduled dinner date that I was supposed to go on the previous week but my phone bill came out and I couldn’t even afford the bus was this evening, and having the amazing friends that I do it was actually paid for, oh my. We ate at Wagamama but were decidedly uninspired by the desserts so we went to Fenwick‘s food court where I bought some macaroons and my date had some blueberry cheesecake. I also bought £7′s worth of shampoo, conditioner and face was but because I went to Boots I could use my Advantage Card points and spend no actual cash at all, yay!

Wednesday 08/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery
I think I’m doing so well and enjoying many no-spend days, then I remember this direct debit.  

Thursday 09/02/2012
+£1.00 selling DVDs
-£15.49 shopping at TESCO (groceries + food/drink for bout!)
Last chance to go to the supermarket before another Newcastle Roller Girls away bout which meant stocking up on things to eat and drink on the coach and groceries for the rest of the weekend.  

Friday 10/02/2012
No spend day!

Saturday 11/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery 
-£5.00 parking in Newcastle
-£3.15 2 Krispy Kreme doughnuts
-£2.00 2 cupcakes
-£8.00 birthday present for Janet
I think I deserve a round of applause for barely spending anything on a bout day especially when there were loads of amazing stalls – the only thing I actually bought at the bout venue was a cupcake each for myself and Alex, and a present for somebody else! And it’s practically illegal NOT to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts when we stop at Wetherby Services, so… yeah. 

Sunday 12/02/2012
-£3.74 sweets & pop after practice (again!)
When will I learn?  

Monday 13/02/2012
-£28.00 renewed rail card**
-£3.00 more stuff for Janet‘s birthday
-£3.00 two cards from Paperchase
-£12.00 bottle of Jack Daniels*
-£5.25 tube of Bepanthen
-£1.00 NUFC money tin
-£2.95 almond milk bubble tea 
-£3.49 M&S chocolate mousse cake*
-£8.70 dinner from the chippy*
+£1.00 selling books
Wowza, Monday was a surprisingly expensive day. I’d set aside the tenners from my dad to renew my 16-25 rail card (expiring TWO DAYS before my trip to Nuneaton, excellent timing) but what I hadn’t planned for was having my Zelda tattoo touched up (I just popped in to say hi!) which meant buying a thank you card & present (the Jack Daniels) and a new tube of Bepanthen. I justified taking the  cash for the JD out of my cigarette money jar though, I think that’s fair enough, it was still part of a ‘fun’ expense. Then we were celebrating Valentine’s Day a day early because of my work schedule but that came out of the jar as well, so really it wasn’t that bad. 

Tuesday 14/02/2012 
-£6.99 mobile phone insurance
So close to another no spend day, then hit with a direct debit.  But at least I knew it was coming out this time.

Wednesday 15/02/2012
-£1.00 lottery
One day.  

——————————–

TOTAL
Incoming: £490.03
Outgoing: £559.23
Balance: -£69.20
*money taken from my hooray-I-don’t-smoke-any-more-jar
**money taken from my cup-of-tenners-off-my-dad   

All in all, a confusing and expensive week! Hopefully from now on I shouldn’t have a negative balance every fortnight, it’s just I was spending more than I earned these 2 weeks as I had some ‘big’ things to pay for from not just my wages but my cigarette money jar & tenners from my dad as well. There won’t be birthday presents, Valentine’s Day shit, train tickets, rail cards and thank-you-for-my-amazing-tattoo gifts to buy every fortnight though, and with a bit of luck and self control I’ll have more no spend days than a measly one-out-of-fourteen!

——————————–

CREDIT CARD
£97.00 paid off this fortnight / £500.80 paid off in total
-£0.80 to go = CLEAR!

OVERDRAFT
£100.00 paid off this fortnight / £1,185.36 paid off in total
£814.64 to go 

CIGARETTE MONEY JAR
£60.00 entered this fortnight / £210.00 entered so far this year
£74.20 spent this fortnight / £134.20 spent so far this year
Balance = £75.80

TENNERS FROM DAD CUP
£20.00 earned this fortnight / £30.00 earned in total
£30.00 spent this fortnight / £30.00 spent in total
Balance = £0.00

SELLING POSSESSIONS PIGGY BANK 
£8.00 earned this fortnight / £30.00 earned so far
£0.00 spent this fortnight / £16.00 spent so far
Balance =  £14.00

Valentine’s Day (on the cheap)

I like Valentine’s Day.

There, I said it!

Apparently it’s cool, heck based on my shopping experience today it’s pretty much expected of everyone, to hate on February 14th. Cool people wander around the special card and gift stands in pretty much every shop this time of year making snide comments about commercialism and how much of a bitch your girlfriend is because she wants you to buy her a card or equally unreasonable – but sod being cool. I like this day! And not just when I’m in a relationship either, I like to give stuff to my friends and family too.

And you really don’t have to spend hundreds of pounds on whoever you’re buying (a) gift(s) for, unless you have hundreds of pounds going spare it’s probably a bit daft to do that really, so the old soulless money-grabbing commercialism argument is a bit weak . Saying that though 2011 was mine & Alex‘s first Valentine’s Day as a couple and I think I went a bit overboard, I know for one I bought him new Triple 8 Hired Hands wrist guards (ahhh, roller derby love!) and a pile of other little things. This year though we had a strict card-and-chocolates-only policy and being in super saver mode I stuck to it quite happily. I got him a cute card from Paperchase for £1.75, knocked up a mix CD (ahhh) and had a personalised chocolate heart done (don’t want to get the person who made it for me in trouble with their bosses by posting a picture but suffice it to say it was hilarious and profane and only £3.95!). And that’s it!

We actually ~celebrated~ Valentine’s Day today, on the 13th, because I’m at work tomorrow night. We had no grand plans but we did treat ourself to tea from the fish and chip shop (just over £8 for the food and I had a massive can of Irn Bru for 49p from the paper shop to wash it down with, take THAT fancy restaurants and posh supermarket 2-for-£20 deals!), spent some time in bed (hello!), exchanged gifts and cards and were generally soppy. I’d say in total, as a couple, we did Valentine’s Day for £20 maximum, and it was still meaningful and lovely and all that guff. Hooray!

I’ve also started us on a new, slightly crazy but super awesome financial challenge that I read about on Today’s Letters, and it’s sort of a new sealed pot challenge. Basically the gist is… yeah, I really can’t write about this very well! The original post makes it sounds all romantic and hopeful and beautiful and something you wouldn’t mind talking to your grandparents about even but when I say it, it just sounds exactly how it is: the gist is that we put a pound in a tin every time we have sex. There you have it. Unlike the original challenge we won’t be using it to save for our 50th wedding anniversary because a) we’re not married b) we’re not getting married and c) we will probably fill this little tin with money before we’ve been together five years never mind fifty (I’m not boasting, it’s just a small tin hahaha). Not even completely sure exactly what the money will be used for – next Valentine’s Day perhaps? – but it seemed like a fun challenge and it’ll be nice to ~reminisce~ about ~times passed~ when we open it up and count up all the pound coins too!

I wandered around Newcastle for hours looking in every shop imaginable and could not find a money tin that you have to open with a tin opener – until I went into Poundland and they had hundreds! It was either NUFC or Dora the Explorer, I think I made the more appropriate choice. 

Two very important things I forgot to blog about!

1. I HAVE PAID OFF MY CREDIT CARD.

For the first time since, well since I had it probably, this thing is CLEAR. Okay, so being a student credit card it only had a £500 limit in the first place but it had been right down at the bottom of it for years and as of last Thursday it’s finally all GONE, never to be spent again! I’m not cancelling it just yet and I won’t be until I’ve paid off my over draft (over £800 to go yet) and built up a £1,000 emergency fund, but it’s sure as hell staying firmly in my purse. Whoop whoop!

2. Rather early on in the life of this blog that’s supposed to be about a 24-year-old university graduate on a shit wage and still living with her parents… I’ve decided to move in with my boyfriend! Not for a while though, I’m doing the financially sensible thing here and waiting until my overdraft is clear as living with Alex is going to be a little more expensive than living with my mam & dad, so we’re looking at late April at the earliest. But it will definitely be worth the extra expense (awww) AND it will give me loads of stuff to blog about over here, get in.

1/2 weekly money update 30/01-01/02/2012

Okay, I’m starting a new system! I realise I’ve been running the current ‘system’ for less than a month but as Janet kindly pointed out on my last weekly money update, it’s kind of hard to tell how I’m doing overall when I get paid one week, don’t get paid the other and there’s no real way to compare what I’m spending to what I’ve got.

SO, instead, I’ll make this fortnightly, running from a Thursday pay day to the Wednesday before the following Thursday pay day. Which means the next update will run from February 2nd (tomorrow!) to February 16th. You get me? So you can actually see what I do with my pay over the two weeks I have it, how much I manage to save overall, what I’m spending on what and so on. Cool!

That does mean I could sneakily leave out my spending for the past three days as they wouldn’t be included, but in the interests of transparency, here’s how my week has started. The last three days before pay day are so grim!

Monday 30/01/2012
No spend day!

Tuesday 31/01/2012 
-£2.60 – single bus fare Cramlington to Newcastle 
-£2.55 – 80 box of Yorkshire Tea
-£1.75 – card from Paperchase
-£2.00 – 2 x bags of sweets from Poundland
-£15.29 – ~feminine hygiene products~ and a LOT of dry shampoo
-£1.68 – jar of kimchi and some Chinese sweets
-£3.00(ish) – eggs & 2 litre Diet Irn Bru
+£1.74 – ISA interest
Made the ginormous mistake of going to town with money in my bank account, oops! To be fair, I went in having planned to buy the tea, the dry shampoo (okay not in the quantities I came away with, I was only going to buy ONE can but there was a 3 for 2 offer and I had a double Advantage Card points voucher so it seemed okay) and tampons. Then I remembered there’s a certain ‘holiday’ in less than two weeks but I picked up quite a cheap card by my normal standards (it’s pretty rad but I can’t show you yet in case he‘s reading) and then I was meeting my mate Sammy to go over to hers for dinner so I picked up a very small fraction of the cost. Not bad!

 Wednesday 01/02/2012
-£35.00 – phone bill   
-£2.60 – single bus fare Newcastle-Cramlington
-£1.00 – lottery
+£6.00 – selling DVDs & books to mates
Remember that post about direct debits sneaking up on me? Well, for some reason I was convinced my phone bill came out on the 3rd of the month. Luckily this time I didn’t go extra-overdrawn but it meant I had to be super sensible and cancel some dinner plans in Newcastle – coming home from Sammy’s in the morning, back into town in the afternoon and then after dinner getting to roller derby practice on the buses would have wiped me out never mind paying for some food. So I stayed home all day and got a free lift to skating instead, where I at least made some pennies from my unwanted belongings. Gotta get out of this debt, man!

TOTAL
Incoming £7.74
Outgoing £67.47 (bloody iPhone)
Balance -£59.73

DEBTS 
Credit card: £403.80 paid off / £96.20 to go (no change)
Overdraft: £1,085.36 paid off / £914.63 to go (-£1.74 interest)

So that’s the past three days then. Hopefully with my new pay-day-to-pay-day system it will become a lot clearer whether I’m being good with my money or not, and you can look out for my updates every other Wednesday evening. Thanks Janet!

Weekly money update 23-29/01/2012

Oof, quite an expensive week for me, especially as this included non-pay-day-Thursday so I had very little incoming to balance anything out, and I only managed one no spend day. My major downfall was Saturday, but where there’s a roller derby event away from home there’s always spending on food! It’s amazing how quickly the little costs add up as well, I knew I hadn’t done very well over the past few days but I was shocked when I added all the outgoings together.

Monday 23/01/2012
-£4.50 – return bus fare Cramlington to Newcastle
-£1.65 – plate rack
-£0.50 – whisk
-£4.10 – magnetic whiteboard
-£1.00 – whiteboard pens
-£1.00 – tin opener
-£8.00 – bath mat 
Went shopping with my mam on Monday  which would normally be a financial disaster but I was actually very good (and my mother was very generous – check out the amazing new trainers she bought for me in the Schuh sale!). All the household stuff was paid for with money I made last week selling books so the only thing that came out of my wages was the rip-off bus fare. Have you guessed what my exciting news is yet??

Tuesday 24/01/2012
-£0.30 – toilet at Glasgow Queen St. station
-£3.00 – 2 x can of root beer 
-£1.00 – packet of wild grape Pop Tarts 
Off to Glasgow for a training course with fellow manager Emma at the Argyle Street store, everything was paid for by work bar the 30p I had to spend to get into the toilets in a train station because I couldn’t wait another two minutes hahaha… and there was an American sweet shop nearby which we just HAD to check out so I dropped some cash on root beer for Alex and some exotic Pop Tarts for myself… that shop was AMAZING but everything was just too expensive really (I actually wanted to buy a box of Twinkies but they only sold them individually for £2 so bugger that for a laugh). Oh and me and Emma had Subway for tea but it was free for both of us thanks to my Subcard points.

Wednesday 25/01/2012
-£1.00 – lottery
-£0.40 – Monster Munch
-£2.25 – sandwich
I actually commented right at the end of derby practice that ‘wow, I haven’t spent any money today!’… but then we went to ASDA on the way home and I was starving. The sandwich was pork & apple and delicious if that makes it any better?

Thursday 26/01/2012
-£1.31 – credit card interest
-£5.00 – passport photo
-£5.55 – dinner 
Another sneaky direct debit popped up on Thursday, although a rather small one as my credit card is almost paid off (whoop!) so the interest is almost negligible now – but not completely. Also went to ASDA and bought some dinner for the two of us and did my first instalment of 2012′s attempt at taking a photobooth picture a day – it’s going to cost me £60 over the course of the year to complete this challenge but it’s definitely worth it, just look how cute we are!

Friday 27/01/2012
+£1.00 – found a pound coin whilst retrieving a pen from down the side of my bed, get in
No spend day!

 Saturday 28/01/2012
-£3.98 – McDonald’s breakfast
-£1.00 – lottery
-£7.98 – food at M&S
-£3.20 – 2 x Krispy Kreme doughtnuts
-£6.26 – McDonald’s tea (!)
-£1.38 – iPhone apps
Buying food when I’m out somewhere is one of my greatest financial weaknesses, and on Saturday we were off to Sheffield as Alex was playing in the Tyne & Fear vs The Inhuman League bout and I was announcing. I bought breakfast for me & my mate Stiff in McDonald’s in town, some lunch and snacks in M&S and a doughnut each for me and the boyfriend at Wetherby services… then when we were in the pub after the bout we were told it was going to be a 45 minute wait on food orders so we went to Sheffield McDonald’s, oops. And when I got in I was reading about iPhone photography apps so I bought two but they were fairly cheap.

Sunday 29/01/2012
-£5.47 – chocolate, pop & milk
-£14.00 – takeaway (chicken kebab) + tip 
Major blow out today, but we had planned for it – we’re really cutting down on take aways but agreed we could have one a month as a treat, and with the bout yesterday and January almost ending this weekend seemed like the best time.

TOTAL
Incoming £1.00
Outgoing £83.83 (!!)
Balance -£82.83

DEBTS 
Credit card: £403.80 paid off / £96.20 to go (-£1.31 interest)
Overdraft: £1,083.62 paid off / £916.38 to go (no change)

Just three days to get through before pay day, and about £50 left in my account and about a tenner in change in my purse. Very doable, even if I have a dinner date on Wednesday, eep!