2009

Debt
Student Loan: £11952.02 at 0% APR.

Assets
Checking: £96.81
Emergency Fund: £523.36
Short Term Savings (On-Hold): £0

Well, I made £205.21 from web-design so far this month, so I beat my goal Smile

I also got a nice little tax return, because I overpaid my income tax for this year, so that went into the EF - bringing me to over £500, which makes me *very happy*.

I have spent more than I budgeted - I went to Cardiff to see some friends, I had bugeted £50, and actually spent £70 - I bought my friend a present while I was there, and spent a bit too much on expensive coffee shop atmosphere. But it was a very fun trip, and gave me some much needed 'down-time'.

I also, apparently, forgot entirely to budget for my National Insurance tax ! Don't ask me how, as I've paid that every month for two years... but that was £12.

And finally.... bought kebabs twice this month :/ And they are pretty pricey! I had planned for them once, but the second time was because I was making soup in the slow cooker, but started it waaaay too late, so it ended up not being ready until 10.30pm. So we got kebabs. *sigh*

£96 to see me until the end of the month. Should be easily doable Smile

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Monochrome Rainbow - Stylish, Affordable Web Design

Debt
Student Loan: £11952.02 at 0% APR.

Assets
Checking: £705.78
Emergency Fund: £523.36
Reserve Money: £160

Yay for pay-day!

I invested in a few things that will save me money in the long-run. I bought a dressing-gown (stops me turning the heating on). I bought eco-friendly washable sanitary towels (everyone is going ugh - but I work in waste & recycling, and know full well how much landfill is created by thousands of disposable sanitary towels! ... not to mention the price of buying new ones every month). I also bought a mop, because I didn't have one... and yeah. My kitchen needed to be mopped.

The Reserve Money is a gift P's parents gave to us. How nice not to have to use a gift to pay off debt! I think I will probably use some of this money for Christmas, but for the moment it's sitting in limbo while I decide what to do with it.

- My vegetables are growing well, and we're thoroughly enjoying having fresh chilli peppers on demand.
- The new house still makes me very happy every day.
- We have our fingers crossed for a job that P. would be perfect for.
- We're out of high-interest debt and growing our EF slowly.

Goals for November

Take frugal food shopping to the next level. Food is really our only constant fluctuating bill. Everything else is a fixed expense. We already cook almost every meal from scratch, make our own bread, eat left-overs, utilise our slow cooker, and eat peas and pasta and rice a lot. However, I need to ensure we get a better deal on meat (going to try a different supermarket, and be more flexible and only buy what is on offer, rather than look for the best price for what we want), and I need to keep the misc. extras from making their way into my trolley...

So my goal is to spend £30 a week or less on food. I have that vaguely divided into; £10 for meat/protein staple. £10 for veg, potatoes, pasta, and fruit. £10 for misc. items like milk, honey, cereal etc.

Increase the EF to £600. Is it possible? As long as that side-business keeps rolling along...

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Monochrome Rainbow - Stylish, Affordable Web Design

[quote="InterfaceLeader"]Debt
Student Loan: £11952.02 at 0% APR.

Assets
Checking: £110.37
Emergency Fund: £600.44
Reserve Money: £150

Hit £600 for my EF.

Have started taking driving lessons. Although pretty expensive (I estimate at least £400 going on learning to drive) I think it needs to happen. Driving would put me in line for better, higher paid jobs. It would allow me to go to the cheaper supermarkets. It would enable us to go to see my friends without spending a fortune on bus tickets.

At two lessons a week, I'll be spending £50 a week on it. I'm spending the reserve money first, and then 'extra' web design income, but I am also prepared to take some money out of the EF to pass. I'm hoping to have people put some money towards the driving test for my Christmas present.

I've also acquired a credit card, and after a bit of faffing with the pin finally got it to work today. My intention is to buy groceries with it, and pay it off at the end of every month. This will build my credit score. I have no intention of using the credit card for anything else.

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Monochrome Rainbow - Stylish, Affordable Web Design