Tinker tinker...

Apologies if you think the blog looks a bit weird... been playing around with it to get the margins and layout how I like, etc.

Thought I'd stretch it out a little so I don't have so much blank space around my musings.

Still a bit new to all this fancy altering blog stuff!

Online money making

Been having a bit of success with this lately.  So far this month I've managed:

* x2 £5 Amazon vouchers on Swagbucks points site
* £15.15 cashback on TopCashBack for signing up for Netflix (which I cancelled before the free period ended)
* £25 on Facebook sale (a couple of Habitat lampshades)
* £20 on Fabulous Bingo (played with a referral money bonus... no chancing my own money)
* 99p (will be less minus fees, probably about 61p) on Ebay sale

I have 13 items listed on Ebay so am hoping for more money than just the 99p I've made so far!  That was for a book, and the other books listed didn't sell.  It seems to be really hard to even sell brand new books on there. 

Also got someone coming round to pick up some old CD racks from me (that I advertised on Facebook) on Wednesday for £8 so can add that to the pot when I get it.

And am almost at my first payout on Superpoints.  Will claim 5 dollars via Paypal for that as better value for points accumulated than Amazon vouchers.  After the exchange rate this will be £3 odd, but better than nothing :)

If anyone wants to join Superpoints, using this referral link will get both of us 25 bonus points:

http://superpoints.com/join/jcsl1l

Swagbucks is my favourite though, as I find it easier to rack up the points on there quicker. If you'd like to join Swagbucks a referral link is on the right hand side of my blog.

Also, if you're interested in TopCashBack there is also a link for that one the right hand side.

Back on it

Sorry guys, been a bit slack with the 'ol blog.  Life just gets busy, y'know?

I'm such a worrier, shouldn't have panicked so much about the valuation thing... price came out low and my landlady/friend has decided not to sell.  Found out her reasoning behind it all as well - poor thing got a bill of over a grand through for some extra maintenance work.

Have applied for a job in another county as I mentioned in a previous post, and have seen another I'm going to apply for.  Still planning to get away for a fresh start if possible as my life here has been getting me down.  Makes financial sense anyway - both jobs pay more than my current job plus my second job so it's a no brainer really!

Finances are currently still going in the right direction... savings are going well and my spending, whilst not as careful as I'd like, is within my means with still some left over.  I now have over £400 built up to pay off my £772.50 credit card when the interest free period ends around November time.  Sadly, I realise my car is due a service very soon, so that'll will probably swipe £100-150 or more out of the money I've saved :(  Still, better than the old days when I would have just put the bill on my credit card and not really paid it at all!

Happy Easter by the way everyone!  I've been having a text conversation with one of my mates today who cannot understand why I'm not really an Easter egg fan...  I just find chocolate on its own boring.  I like chocolate with caramel, or biscuit, or nuts etc. but on its own?  Snooze.  Every year I either give away my chocolate, forget about it and end up throwing it away when it's out of date, or melt it down to make yummier things.  I've had a hankering for brownies for weeks now, so am thinking about making some today, but you usually use dark chocolate for them and I've got a glut of milk chocolate.  Any suggestions?

Valuation

So here we are.  I'm doing project house tidy (or rather will be when I get off my comp!) in preparation for the valuation of the flat I live in later today.

Should hopefully find out afterwards if my landlady is going to put it on the market, and at least then I'll know where I stand.

Payday

Just been paid in both jobs today, so been moving money around to see where I stand...

£12.45 saved this week from my weekly budget... would have been more but had to contribute to a present for my boss at work.  This is in my money tin as is cash; will be paid in at a later date.

Also saved:

£15 saved in second job bank account that I didn't withdraw
£4.34 saved from main bank account that I didn't use this month
£196.22 saved from extra pay in job #1 (expenses, paid overtime and holiday sold back)

Plus £7.07 cleared from TopCashBack - just waiting for it to hit my bank account.

Have transfered all this money (except for the cash in my money pot) into my new ISA, ready to use against my credit card #2 when the 9 months interest free period ends.

Annoyingly job #2 have underpaid me this fortnight, leaving me £49.82 in my buffer account when it should be more like £88 - will have to follow this up.  £36 still left from last month's council tax free month, which is good as I can use this against my new tax disc, due in April.

All going fairly well on the financial front then.  Just got to get through an appraisal at work, and although I'm good at my job I'm so behind on my admin I'm likely to get a telling off... :(

This week's budget

Somehow I still have £18.45 left, and only 2 more days to get through...!

Have decided to put £10 in my money tin, so as only to have £8.45 on me, to try and make sure I don't splurge : )

Points sites

Been getting into points websites lately... 
Just added links to Swagbucks and Superpoints websites on the right if you want to have a go too.

These are sites you can do stuff on to earn points - surveys, watch videos etc., and points = prizes!  Or rather Amazon vouchers, cash via Paypal etc.

It takes a little while to rack up the points, but I seem to be managing it without too much effort, and a fiver claimed here and there is still a fiver here and there!

Also added a link to TopCashBack - great website for claiming money back on online purchases.

All the links are referrals... this means if you use them it will get me some points, but also get you some too : )

Woohoo

Laptop is back : )

They were able to fix it in the end, so that's made me £55 out of pocket rather than £350ish out of pocket for a new laptop, so am a happy bunny!

Paid the £55 out of the £91 saved from this month being a council tax free month, so felt fairly painless!

Just joined Twitter...

Might be nice to have to keep it short and snappy : )

And with my laptop still out of action, I can update easily on my phone!

Feel free to follow me - button is on the right.

Busy, busy, busy!

Am working a crazy amount of hours this week, what with full time work + 25 hours in my second job, due to taking some cover shifts.  However, this is helping to keep me sane, and stopping me from worrying about my housing situation etc.

Need to be more positive.  Blatantly failing on that New Year Resolution I made!

Paid in my pot of savings money this week as it was getting full... that with some online savings almost totals £100, almost.  All is now in my shiny new ISA that I set up a few days ago.

My laptop is still in the computer shop at the moment as they try to figure out what is wrong with it.  Turns out it wasn't as straightforward as it first appeared.  Fingers crossed I won't have to buy a new one... we'll have to see I guess.

Got a busy couple of weeks ahead, but after that I must get off my backside and sell some stuff... especially as I may have to move house at some point.  Got a few expensive dresses to get rid of, and think I might try a dress agency as the first port of call.  If I get a spare minute this weekend I might put a couple of things on Ebay (things I want to start at more than 99p) to take advantage of their free listing weekend.

Oooh in other news, I have a date next weekend to look forward to : )

It's all falling apart

Disturbing news today.  A friend who is also my landlady has texted to say she wants to meet to talk about the flat.  I wanted to cut to the chase and texted back to ask if she is selling it.  She said she's not made a decision yet, but has booked for an estate agent to come round and value it in a couple of weekend's time.

I am a landlady myself, and rent mine out to someone I met through my letting agency that I was using initially to set the tenancy up.  If I was to get the property valued I would let my tenant know before I even booked the appointment, and she isn't a friend.  I am quite hurt that my friend has done this without even consulting me, even though I know full well she has a right to do whatever she wants when it comes to the property.

You may ask why I own somewhere and then rent somewhere else.  I bought mine when property prices were higher and then decided to relocate back to my home town after a couple of years.  I tried to sell it just as the recession started, and the offers I got were a lot lower than I paid and I would have lost a lot of money that I'd put into the property.  I decided therefore it made the best sense to rent it out for the time being.  I ended up renting out my friend's flat as she moved in with her boyfriend, and she was in the same position as me - would lose money to sell hers.

Nothing is definite yet, but I'm already dreading potentially becoming 'homeless'.  My first port of call was to ring my dad and ask if I can move back in if necessary.  Poor dad had to put up with me sobbing down the phone, but he made me feel a bit more sane, telling me that I am 'having a rough time of it at the moment', and that he felt bad for me, and was happy to be a shoulder to cry on.  Anyway, moving back in with them is always a possibility, although there isn't room for most of my stuff, so I would have to pay for a storage unit.  And my commute would go from 5 minutes to 45mins/1 hour every day.  It's also obviously a step backwards.

I explained to my dad that the problem is I don't have the cash spare to put down a deposit to rent anywhere else (unless I use a credit card, which defeats the point of everything I'm trying to achieve), and that I am going to struggle to find anywhere anyway that will let me keep my cat with me.  The advantage of renting from my friend was no deposit to find and letting me have the cat here.

I am facing redundancy later this year, as my sector is disappearing, being wiped out by government cuts...  My dad suggested to me I look at jobs further afield, and maybe have a fresh start somewhere, as he has picked up on how unhappy/stuck in a rut I am at the moment.  He thinks it would do me good to start somewhere new and perhaps he is right.  However, I will still have the same problems of finding a rental deposit and being able to take kitty with me.

Perhaps I should look into selling my flat, even though I'll make a loss on it.  I could use the profit to pay off my debts and then I could start again.  I have always been loathe to do this, as it won't leave me with enough to buy another property, and makes the whole getting on the property ladder a total waste.

Why does life have to be so hard?  2011 was bad and this year is turning out no better.  I've always been very independent, but suddenly the idea of having my parents around me feels quite nice.  I feel I need the love and support at the moment.

30p

That's all that's left of this week's budget, to last until Friday!  Donated £1 to charity by buying a cupcake (wasn't completely alturistic haha) and spent £2 on a sandwich.  Must make sure I take lunch with me on Thursday, or admit defeat and spend a bit of money out of budget...

Savings are currently up to £71.32 with £20 to add from my bingo winnings a while back.  Trying to do 'risk free' bingo at the moment to make a little money - basically the principle is to sign up to sites that offer free money to play with (the one I signed up with was via an account on a points site and I got £5 free to play with), or to sign up to sites via a referral, giving some bonus money to play with, and then go for it!  Some of the sites require a £10 deposit, but I am only doing this with sites that I get £10 back from immediately via referral money.  Basically the idea is, spend no money or only money I can definitely get back, and make money by signing up via cashback websites, or by being lucky enough to win some!  Lucky I don't have an addictive personality, as I imagine some people would keep spending their own money on these sites...  I personally find online bingo pretty tedious.

Credit card #2 is now at £772.50 following my 0% balance transfer of £750 for 9 months to pay off my friend and the existing balance on the card, plus the £22.50 balance transfer fee.  Decided to set up a savings account to put the money in that I'm saving up towards paying this off (as I like to have different accounts to split up my money), and decided a Cash ISA is the best way forward, as they have the best interest rates.  Have decided that rather than using this account as a temporary holding area to keep the money separate from my other spending, I might save up the money to pay off the £772.50, and then pay it all off in one hit just before my 9 months 0% interest is up.  This would give me 9 months' savings interest on the money rather than making no interest on the money by paying it off my card in bits, quicker.  I think this is the best idea, although I won't like looking at the credit card balance barely coming down over the next 9 months!  I will of course, have to pay minimum payments so it'll come down a little bit in that time, but psychologically this will be a weird thing to get my head around.

Best get sell, sell, selling to start raising the money!

Blown the budget

Already!  Friday's budget of £30 is down to £3.30 to last me until next Friday (9th)... yikes! 

I barely bought anything last week and ended up spending just under £16 out of my budget, with the other £14 going on £2 coins, £10 of which were purely random, £4 of which were me deliberately buying £2 coins at job #2 to stop me spending on the penultimate day of my budget.

However, the flip side of this, is that I needed to stock up this week, with cat food, toilet roll and the like, as well as food, meaning my supermarket spends were high.  On Friday night I bought a couple of things, and then on Saturday did a Sainsbury's shop.  I'm getting increasingly annoyed at the Basics Range... just keeps going up and up in price every time I go through the door.  Basics Blueberries, were 90p, now £1.15.  Basics Fruit & Fibre, was 60something p, now £1, etc. Starting to wonder if I'm going to be priced out of eating...!  I might shift my buying to Tescos and Morrisons going forward... Tescos often have good reductions on stuff going out of date, and Morrisons tends to be generally cheaper, and their Value range is ok. 

Almost everything seems to cost over £1 now.  And I continue to get really upset over how much cheese is!  £2.20 for a small block of mature cheddar has always seemed a lot to me :(

Just as well I get fed breakfast and lunch 3 days a week in one of my workplaces.  And working evenings for my second job often stops me eating dinner, so instead I eat a small snack, which can work out cheaper, though I don't know how good for me that is.

Adding to the fact my supermarket shops were fairly hefty, Sainsbury's gave me x2 £2 coins in my change meaning I have to save them, hence why I am left with so little to live off for the rest of the week.

Let me think about what I'm going to need to buy.  On Monday I am not in my usual place that feeds me, so I will need lunch.  Evening dinner I have stuff in for.  Tuesday and Wednesday should be ok as I'll be fed at work, and have stuff to eat in the evenings.  Thursday I will need lunch, and also something to get me through my Thursday evening job #2 shift.  Friday = new budget.  I think I'll be ok.  Cheese sandwiches if nothing else now I've forked out my £2.20! ;)

Hoorah! Back online :)

Using my work laptop... now why didn't I think of that before?!

Kaput computer :(

Hence my silence, and this very short post.

Fan is broken, can't have it on more than about 5 minutes at once as it overheats :(  Getting quotes at the moment regarding fixing it...

Saving splendour

Feeling rather smug at my newfound saving prowess...

In the last 6 weeks (i.e. since I started), I have saved £60.81 through a variety of means:

* my £2 coin saving resolution
* my saving everything not spent at the end of each budget week
* my saving everything not spent in my second current account (that job #2 gets paid into) at the end of each payment fortnight
* my collecting 'road kill' - random coins I find wherever

I have also made £20 through online bingo, and claimed £45 of Tesco reward points to use on dry cleaning.  My dry cleaning bill was £48.25, of which I only had to pay £3.25 :)

At some point, possibly when I get to £100, I will use this money to pay down my credit card.  Happy days.

I heart my bank

Sadly blogger.com wouldn't let me put an actual heart symbol in that title.

I love my bank. That's something I didn't ever think I'd say!  Here's why:

Every 3 or 4 months they send me options for my credit card (this is my small credit card, not the hefty one I'm paying off).  The options are, to do balance transfers onto it from other cards at a 3% fee, with the amount transfered staying at 0% APR for 9 months, or to transfer funds from my credit card into my current account to do with them what I choose, with this amount also at 0% APR for 9 months. 


I've never really given these offers much thought before.  However, this time, I thought about it.  I owe a friend £450 (originally £700) from when I hit a crunch point with my finances - my light bulb moment, you could say.  I feel this hangs over our friendship and I want it gone.  However, it makes financial sense to pay off my credit card first as I pay interest on it, and then pay off my friend, even if it's not great for our friendship, but I have been struggling with this more and more lately. 

I decided to take decisive action.  I decided £100 from my work bonus would go on this debt, bringing it down to £350, and then I would borrow the remaining £350 on this deal on my credit card, giving me 9 months interest free to get £350 together (through eBay sales etc.).  This would have the advantages of paying off my friend, having time to pay this off my card interest free, and a specified time limit to get my arse into gear to pay it off.

So I rang up the bank to find out more details.  I used the 'Saynoto0870' website to find an alternative number to the 0845 number on my letter so that it would be included in my mobile phone minutes.  This meant working my way through several departments to get to the right one, but a free phone call.  I eventually spoke to a very helpful lady in the credit card department, and asked her various questions about this deal - how it would show up on my statement, what the APR would be at the end etc. etc.  She then pointed out to me a useful loophole - that I could borrow the £350 that I want AND also borrow enough to cover my existing balance (just under £400), transfer this £700 to my current account, and then use £350 to pay my friend, and £400 to pay my credit card bill.  This then means my existing credit card bill becomes 0% APR for the next 9 months, as well as the money used to pay off my friend.

What a great idea!  Now, why didn't I think of that?!  We worked out that even with the balance transfer fee I would still save money, as the fee on my current balance would be £12 and I pay that in interest over 2-3 months anyway.  The remaining £10.50 of my fee would be on the money transfered for my friend, but that's a small price to pay to get that debt cleared and my friendship less awkward.

I asked the lady if I could do this deal every time it's offered just to make my balance interest free, and she said yes.  She put me through to the balance transfer team and it's all sorted, they told me it will take up to 7 days to go through.

I texted my friend to let him know he'll recieve all the remaining money from me hopefully next week and he's delighted.  The small amount of strain in the relationship is now gone :)

Oh, and I found out my usual APR on that credit card isn't 19.9%, it's 18.9% :)

Flurry of coins

That's £2 coins - 3 coins yesterday alone as well as some earlier in the week!  My new weekly budget started yesterday and I'm trying to get back on track after the expense of 'birthday month'.

A bit annoyingly though job #2 have only half paid me.  I was meant to be paid two weeks' holiday but have only been paid one :(  So am going to try and live off one week's budget for two weeks if I can!  A challenge is always good...  However, I'm already down to £18.68 after buying a couple of things yesterday and having to save £6 of £2 coins!

In better news though, job #1 have given us all a bonus!!!!  This is unheard of, but I think it's to make up in part for no cost of living rise on our salaries for several years.  They gave me £390, but after the taxman and student loan company have had their extra share I'm left with about £250.  I've decided to use this to pay off my ex who I owe £145 to (and to be honest I want no ties with him at the moment so this is especially useful), and going to use the other £100 to pay towards a friend I owe £450.

I still have the £29.50 left from my council tax free month at the moment which is good.  I also have £20 winging its way to me from a bingo site - a points site I use (will explain these at some other point) offered me a membership to a bingo site, with £5 free to play with.  I used it, and made just over £20, which I have withdrawn to my bank account (just waiting for it to arrive).  That's free money :)

And it looks like we might have made it,

yes, it's looks like we might have made it... to the end.  Guess the song?!

Anyway, I'm talking about getting through my birthday month financially sound, and still not having added a penny to my credit card balance!

Payday for both jobs is this Friday and I have £7.63 left to last me through tomorrow.  An update on the birthday month spends:

*£7 - present for L's birthday (her b'day = 6th Feb)
*£20 - meal out on Thursday for A's birthday (his b'day = 14th Feb)
*£17 - meal out on Friday for my birthday
*£3.90 - drinks out Friday night for B's birthday (his b'day =11th Feb)
*£36.20 - train to London for R's birthday party on Saturday  (her b'day = 10th Feb - she's my birthday twin)
*£10 - to top up my Oyster card to get around London
*£8.50 - food at R's birthday party
*£36.11 - drinks at R's birthday party (buying a round is what made that so high)
*£12.54 - lunch on Sunday in London with S
*£0 - lunch meet up on Monday with RS (his b'day = 12th Feb) - he treated me : )
*£15 - extra petrol put in as been driving around so much
*£10 - petrol to holiday cottage (we spent more than that but that was my share)
*£17 - food and drinks on holiday cottage break


So a grand total of £193.25 on birthdayish stuff.  Wow, that's a lot of money.  Though it wasn't so long ago I'd have thought nothing of spending that on a shopping trip... and that is why I am in this mess!  At least I have finally adjusted my spending habits.

I am impressed that I have restrained myself into still keeping £29.50 left over from it being a council tax free month, which is going towards kitty's yearly jabs, which she is booked in for in a week or so.

However, all this enjoying myself has left me with only a couple of pounds buffer money remaining.  Having taken 2 weeks off job #2 (I have to take a full week off to be allowed a weekend off, and I wanted 2 weekends off), I will only be paid my bare minimum this Friday (i.e. 8 hours for each week holiday pay), meaning £0 to add to the buffer fund to build it back up.  So no, fall back plan available for early March :(

Had a lovely time though.  The break away in the cottage was perfect - just the right amount of good company, good wine, and good food, mixed with ample amounts of sympathy and disgust around the bestie-and-ex situation.

Today's the day

Today's the day I leave for my cottage break with friends.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Just so much to sort out before I go!

Hoping I'm going to have enough money to see me through... thinking the tank of petrol to get there might have to be put on my credit card, ooops, but the girls will chip in towards that.

There's one less of us going now... my best friend.  She's recently started seeing my ex and try as I might to be ok with it, it's turned into a big old mess.  Tricky when you've been friends with someone for 25 years, but bearing that in mind, she, out of everyone, should have been the last person to mess with my head or hurt me.

I sense our friendship will never be as close again :(

All the more reason to meet new people I suppose, and to enjoy this weekend with my other friends (who all back me up with this situation).  My actual birthday last week was wrecked by the ex and best friend PDAing all in front of me, so this will be my PROPER birthday celebration :)