Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Serious about cash...
As of today I am getting serious about cash. I'm determined not to live at home or be in debt by the time I hit 30 - and time is running out, fast. I've been staring at my budget spreadsheet for most of this morning and it seems that I'll have paid off my 0% credit cards by Jan 07 - which is *just* about in time for my 30th... I need to work on making that a bit sooner I think, it was sposed to be November 06 so I'm not sure what I've done to my spreadsheet to make it change. And that's with just paying the minimum payment until the 0% runs out, by which time I will have saved enough cash to pay them off. It's tempting to just keep moving the balances but the credit card people have cottoned onto the growing trend of credit tarts and have started charging a 2% handling fee, which is still a good deal but it's not free so not worth doing if you can pay off your card.
I am also going to speak to my parents about the possibility of lending me a huge chunk of money as a deposit on a flat... I am going to offer them a big chunk of interest in return - a lot more than they'd get in a high interest account (I think). So we'll see what they say... it's time to take control. Well, it's always time to take control but I actually feel like I'm beginning to get somewhere now. I've always said that this year of my life would be pivotal and that seems to be the case so far.
I'll be very proud of myself once I've cleared everything, I can't wait for it to happen. I am going to be very careful and try to live on as little money as possible til it's done - and beyond I spose. Having said that, until I earn enough money, I'll always owe the student loans people about £850 - which isn't much at all really. When I worked for RBS and earnt £28k I could pay it easily and I earnt way over their cut off for deferment... it's only £90 a month and hardly any interest so it's not too much of a dent but there's no point paying that off til I need to. I think I might throw a bit of a bash when I'm finally out of debt - or maybe I'll save that for my housewarming party!!
Monday 5 June 2006
Of the 48 hours that made up last weekend, I spent 14.5 of them driving around the UK in my little car, Tony. The reason being that Zenazee asked me to do her a favour and drive her up to Bury to collect some of her stuff from her mum's shed... in return I got a free trip to Blackpool. Admittedly I had to drive us both there but Zena sorted out the glamorous B&B and paid for all the petrol which was excellent of her. She also massaged my shoulders a bit on the long drive home when they began to get a bit tense. That was my favourite part of the weekend.
We left my house on Saturday at 7.30am and thanks to all the bastard football fans heading to Old Trafford for the England match, it took us about 2 hours to go 3 junctions on the M6 past Manchester... if only I was more of a football fan and had known about the match, I would definitely have chosen an alternative route - it would have been quicker to go via bloody Scotland. Anyway, we arrived in Blackpool at 2.30pm (I was the first to spot the tower as we headed in so therefore I win), dumped our stuff and headed out into Blackpool. Did a bit of shopping and then did the long walk from the tower to the Pleasure Beach. Which isn't a beach at all, it's a Theme Park. So it should really be called Blackpool Theme Park, but that's not quite as catchy. It was pretty cool though and Zena and I got some stickers made of us which are pretty funny - we didn't realise the camera was going to take 16 different photos of us so it's more of a photo story of us gradually realising and laughing like a pair of twats.
We had fish and chips for our tea, being in Blackpool it would have been rude not to, and then we headed back up to the tower on a tram. We went back to the B&B and lay down for a pre-night out nap. This was at 7.30pm. At 9.30pm we woke up. Ha ha... oops. I am blaming this on the long drive up and early start rather than my advancing years. We watched a bit of telly and went back to sleep at about 1am, got up for breakfast, and drove down to Bury which was a comparitavely short drive. We stayed at Zena's mum's for lunch, packed up the car and made our weary way home. We zig-zagged all over the place on the way home cos I was too impatient to stay on the same road and in the end it was a very easy drive. We had lots of stops which broke the journey up well... blah blah blah. God I am boring myself today. Zena was a very good co-driver, with map in hand, steering our course down lots of A roads between the M6, M1, A1 and then onto the M11. I had a really good weekend - we did lots of singing in the car, especially when I found my Smash Hits 1990 tape.
Last night my dad gave me a big hug and told me how proud of me he was for giving up a whole weekend for my friend! I think it's the kind of thing he would do cos my dad is a very selfless and brilliant person - always wanting to help people if he can - but I like to think Zena would do the same for me. Except she can't drive - so whatever the equivalent may be!
Friday 2 June 2006
Last night I let myself be taken to see the Beautiful South. Never in my lifetime did I think I would ever go within 10 miles of one of their live gigs but last night was beyond my control. The lovely Zena Barrie is quite the BS fan... probably their biggest, longest serving and most lovely fan. So much so that our tickets and wristbands were provided courtesy of the band themselves. I'm not sure why I am showing off about that. I certainly never expected to be name-dropping Paul Heaton into conversation or recounting the time he held my hand and kissed me on the cheek. I think I was a tiny bit starstruck through osmosis from Zena... knowing quite how much she adores him made me realise that there was more to him than having written two of the songs I have most hated in all my life. They were entertaining and made nice sounds with their instruments, damn them. I'm by no means converted but I did have a good night. Ended up back at the Barrie's flat, sleeping on her bedroom floor on a very comfy matress.
My sunburnt legs are more than just sunburnt. They are burnt. Just my shins down to my ankles. I am such a nob its unbelievable. The skin looks like an old lady's and my legs have swollen up a tiny bit meaning my ankles don't really look themselves. I put loads of aftersun on last night but I think I'm going to need something a bit more industrial... this is the second ridiculous thing I've done in May. The first one was falling into the sea in Brighton at 4am and getting my phone wet, well drenched, and all my numbers floated off into the English channel. I am such a twat.
I am also going to speak to my parents about the possibility of lending me a huge chunk of money as a deposit on a flat... I am going to offer them a big chunk of interest in return - a lot more than they'd get in a high interest account (I think). So we'll see what they say... it's time to take control. Well, it's always time to take control but I actually feel like I'm beginning to get somewhere now. I've always said that this year of my life would be pivotal and that seems to be the case so far.
I'll be very proud of myself once I've cleared everything, I can't wait for it to happen. I am going to be very careful and try to live on as little money as possible til it's done - and beyond I spose. Having said that, until I earn enough money, I'll always owe the student loans people about £850 - which isn't much at all really. When I worked for RBS and earnt £28k I could pay it easily and I earnt way over their cut off for deferment... it's only £90 a month and hardly any interest so it's not too much of a dent but there's no point paying that off til I need to. I think I might throw a bit of a bash when I'm finally out of debt - or maybe I'll save that for my housewarming party!!
Monday 5 June 2006
Of the 48 hours that made up last weekend, I spent 14.5 of them driving around the UK in my little car, Tony. The reason being that Zenazee asked me to do her a favour and drive her up to Bury to collect some of her stuff from her mum's shed... in return I got a free trip to Blackpool. Admittedly I had to drive us both there but Zena sorted out the glamorous B&B and paid for all the petrol which was excellent of her. She also massaged my shoulders a bit on the long drive home when they began to get a bit tense. That was my favourite part of the weekend.
We left my house on Saturday at 7.30am and thanks to all the bastard football fans heading to Old Trafford for the England match, it took us about 2 hours to go 3 junctions on the M6 past Manchester... if only I was more of a football fan and had known about the match, I would definitely have chosen an alternative route - it would have been quicker to go via bloody Scotland. Anyway, we arrived in Blackpool at 2.30pm (I was the first to spot the tower as we headed in so therefore I win), dumped our stuff and headed out into Blackpool. Did a bit of shopping and then did the long walk from the tower to the Pleasure Beach. Which isn't a beach at all, it's a Theme Park. So it should really be called Blackpool Theme Park, but that's not quite as catchy. It was pretty cool though and Zena and I got some stickers made of us which are pretty funny - we didn't realise the camera was going to take 16 different photos of us so it's more of a photo story of us gradually realising and laughing like a pair of twats.
We had fish and chips for our tea, being in Blackpool it would have been rude not to, and then we headed back up to the tower on a tram. We went back to the B&B and lay down for a pre-night out nap. This was at 7.30pm. At 9.30pm we woke up. Ha ha... oops. I am blaming this on the long drive up and early start rather than my advancing years. We watched a bit of telly and went back to sleep at about 1am, got up for breakfast, and drove down to Bury which was a comparitavely short drive. We stayed at Zena's mum's for lunch, packed up the car and made our weary way home. We zig-zagged all over the place on the way home cos I was too impatient to stay on the same road and in the end it was a very easy drive. We had lots of stops which broke the journey up well... blah blah blah. God I am boring myself today. Zena was a very good co-driver, with map in hand, steering our course down lots of A roads between the M6, M1, A1 and then onto the M11. I had a really good weekend - we did lots of singing in the car, especially when I found my Smash Hits 1990 tape.
Last night my dad gave me a big hug and told me how proud of me he was for giving up a whole weekend for my friend! I think it's the kind of thing he would do cos my dad is a very selfless and brilliant person - always wanting to help people if he can - but I like to think Zena would do the same for me. Except she can't drive - so whatever the equivalent may be!
Friday 2 June 2006
Last night I let myself be taken to see the Beautiful South. Never in my lifetime did I think I would ever go within 10 miles of one of their live gigs but last night was beyond my control. The lovely Zena Barrie is quite the BS fan... probably their biggest, longest serving and most lovely fan. So much so that our tickets and wristbands were provided courtesy of the band themselves. I'm not sure why I am showing off about that. I certainly never expected to be name-dropping Paul Heaton into conversation or recounting the time he held my hand and kissed me on the cheek. I think I was a tiny bit starstruck through osmosis from Zena... knowing quite how much she adores him made me realise that there was more to him than having written two of the songs I have most hated in all my life. They were entertaining and made nice sounds with their instruments, damn them. I'm by no means converted but I did have a good night. Ended up back at the Barrie's flat, sleeping on her bedroom floor on a very comfy matress.
My sunburnt legs are more than just sunburnt. They are burnt. Just my shins down to my ankles. I am such a nob its unbelievable. The skin looks like an old lady's and my legs have swollen up a tiny bit meaning my ankles don't really look themselves. I put loads of aftersun on last night but I think I'm going to need something a bit more industrial... this is the second ridiculous thing I've done in May. The first one was falling into the sea in Brighton at 4am and getting my phone wet, well drenched, and all my numbers floated off into the English channel. I am such a twat.
