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Archive for October, 2010

update, November goals

October 31st, 2010 at 06:26 pm

Well tomorrow is the first of November, already, can't believe how quick this year's gone! I managed to only complete one out of three of my October goals (get overtime) I bought things at work a couple of times, so didn't manage to pack everything for the whole month.

The good news is that I just counted and I put £29.04 to savings.Bit of an usual figure but at least it's savings.

Overtime is flowing in at work so I'm taking it while I can get it. It's extra money going towards debt or savings, the way I see it. I'm working six days this week (45.5hrs) This is extra towards my November pay (19 days to go)

I've written down my basic expenses for November. £635.16 This includes getting rid of my washing machine debt. It's the lowest debt there, it has to go. Extra expenses (roughly) are £115. This includes 2 birthday presents, paying for rest of xmas night out,money for the actual night and three xmas presents. I think I will use the envelope method for these extra expenses - obviously not the online ones though. Total: £750.16 If I can find any of the presents cheaper, great!

My goals for November are:
-clear washing machine debt
-add extra to savings*
-pack 100%

* I'd love to add more than what I did in October. However, that was unplanned and I enjoyed it. I know if I want them to increase I have to add to it I just don't want the added pressure of having to put in a specific amount. I would love to beat what i added this month.

hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Christmas 2010

October 30th, 2010 at 10:38 am

I've been saving for a cash-only Christmas since January. As soon as I get my £150 worth of vouchers I will get some more xmas shopping in. Hopefully I wil get them soon. Anyway here's what I will have to spend:

£100 high street vouchers
£50 ASDA vouchers
£20 ASDA gift card (thank-you gift from work)
£10 high street voucher (reward for completing a follow-up survey, received today)

Total: £180

I've already started xmas shopping. This is what else I want to get:

Hubby: White Collar First series (£26.99), spiderman socks (£5), Iron Man 2 (£9.99) Bought: The Ugly Truth (£7.99)
Mum: housecoat (£16), slippers (£6), wine rack (£10)Bought a few dvds already
MIL: pyjamas (£10) Bought: disney mug (£4.99)
BIL: golf book (£6.09) possibly a dvd too
Friend's son: toys (£10-£15 max)
Cousin1: clothes (£10)
Cousin2: same
pets: bones from Poundland
Friend: £10 (pamper set?)

It's going to be a tight four weeks

October 24th, 2010 at 07:53 pm

Just worked out my outgoings, I know I done that before I got paid but I done it again and I will be lucky if I have £10 left at the end of these four weeks. I'm going to talk to DH tonight, see if he can get my half for his mum's birthday. I think originally we were going to do that anyway. I'll talk to him later when I pick him up.

I pre-booked tickets for me and my mum to see the new Harry Potter movie the day it's released (19th November)I spoke to my mum tonight and she was pleased. She has offered to re-imburse me for the tickets and make it her treat since I treated her last month. I might just take her up on that offer.

Also, I bought breakfast at work this morning. It was so cold (-2) Had to buy de-icer too.

Ok, no need to panic. I'll be fine.

payday and other stuff

October 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 am

Today - well yesterday actually, it's past midnight here - was payday. I paid the usual bills online, transferred money to MIL.

I took my change to the bank. I had £6 worth of change. Also on Thursday I added £15 to savings. That takrs my new total to £171.

Hubby hasn't given MIL money towards his debt yet. That's causing a problem. The reason he hasn't is that we know we will have a meal to go to for her birthday so we will need money for that. I would pay for both of us but things are tight this month for both of us. When we came in tonight, she had her notebook out and it looked as though she was working out his debt. It's driving me crazy. I wish we had our own place. I'm expecting there to be a new sheet of paper left for hubby with his new total (should match ours though) The only new thing should be the catalogue. He is going to give her money, just not today.

I paid my xmas savings (£45) so they should be upto date.

Bought MIL's birthday present. Spent £20 in the disney store for pyjamas and a mug. The mug will be her xmas present. DH spent a lot on candles for her birthday (money which would have normally gone towards debt)

I bought cereal bars, crisps and fruit for my packed lunches for the next four weeks so they should last.

I can't wait till our debt is cleared and we have increased our savings.

Ordered DH a dvd online for xmas, it was on sale (£7.99)

wedding,work

October 19th, 2010 at 10:19 pm

It was my friend's wedding on Saturday and we actually came back with money!! Originally we had over £20 left over but I had promised my mum we would give my uncle taxi money so we came back with roughly £10. I asked DH what we should do with the money? His answer: put it into savings. It's only a small amount but I'm pleased we didn't spend it all. I'm going to go to the bank soon and put the money in.

We have a few new people at work. I think this means there will be less overtime in the future, although no sign of it stopping soon.

overtime, savings, goals

October 14th, 2010 at 06:46 pm

I was worried there for a while about not being able to get overtime. However, as it turns out, I didn't need to worry. I worked seven and a half hours extra today. For the next two weeks I am working six hours extra each week. I'm hoping that the overtime will help me to increase my savings and clear debt.

Speaking of savings, I just transferred another £4 over taking my balance to an even £150. This leaves me with just over £10 when my phone bill comes out next week but I don't mind. We have nothing planned next week, I pack everything I need for work, I have just under half a tank of petrol... I'll be okay. I'd love to have hundreds left over each month - well every four weeks- but that just doesn't happen for me.

I checked my estimated expenses for next month: £725. I think I should be okay as long as I watch what I'm doing, which I usually do. I need to get my outgoings sorted, I need to put more into savings!

frugal customer

October 11th, 2010 at 09:47 pm

I had a frugal customer today. The first thing she said to me was: "i've got three coupons" I thought, oh so nice to see someone using coupons! I sctually had a nice conversation with her about using coupons, mostly about her using coupons since I hardly ever use them. She said she got them in our store magazine, so I said I would look out for them. One of the things she did say though is that she's become frugal as she's gotten older. Hmm, probably not compared to fellow SA bloggers.

paying myself

October 10th, 2010 at 07:36 pm

I love online banking. I just transferred £4.04 from my current account to my savings account. It's a small amount but it means I've saved something. I would have transferred more over but I'm still waiting on a couple of things coming out of my bank this month (roughly £44 worth)

Bought another dvd for my mum for xmas again today. £2.70 I'm keeping track of my xmas spending in a small notebook. I've only bought things for my mum so far but I know what I'm getting DH. In fact, I'm hoping to order it soon, just so I know I've got it.

I'm so pleased I've added to savings! Now I need to update my sidebar.

surveys, xmas shopping, upcoming expenses

October 9th, 2010 at 12:57 pm

While hubby was working last night, I was registering with sites that will reward me for doing surveys. I've only registered with a few but i feel like I'm doing something. I checked my email this morning and there were a few surveys waiting for me. So far this morning I've done three surveys, and that was just on one website. I've asked to be sent as many surveys as possible. I'm enthusiastic right now so I've been checking my email a lot. I don't know how long it will take me to build up enough to redeem my points but I will give it my best shot.

I ordered a dvd for my mum for Christmas last night (through my cashback site) It was only £2.99. I'm trying to get little things out of the way so that when it comes to Christmas shopping with my vouchers I'll know exactly what I'm getting.

I usually get offered a lot of overtime on the run up to Christmas so I'm hoping it will be the same this year. Generally, after xmas there's never any overtime going, so my plan is to get as much overtime as I can just now (maybe even build up a buffer/cushion in my account? any ideas about how to go about doing that?)

I'm starting to think about goals for next year, although it is a bit early. There's just so much going through my head right now, I need to get it sorted out. I know I've got my road tax due in a couple of months, MIL's birthday... that's all I can think of just now.

Wow. This has turned into a long post.

insuance update

October 8th, 2010 at 05:41 pm

I don't usually post twice in one day but I received an email requesting that I phone my insurance company as a claim had been made. I phoned. The woman I spoke to just wanted me to confirm that I had been in an accident and she wanted to hear my version of the events. She said that my insurance company will deal with the third party and, it sounds like, I won't be affected until I renew my insurance next year because I am a risk now. I'm hoping that my insurance won't go up too much next year.

I also got some other news today. My mum is going to England soon so she has asked if me and Hubby can house sit and dogsit. We're looking forward to it: our own space! It will only be for a week, and we will both be working, but it will be nice to come home from work and make our own meals and basically just have time together.

regular savings

October 8th, 2010 at 03:28 pm

Today I set up a regular transfer from my current account to my savings account. It doesn't start until next month. I've made sure that it will come out of my account on the same day each month. It's only a small amount (£5). It was originally going to be more but spoke to DH and we agreed it's best for me to start off small. I don't know why I didn't think of doing this sooner. I know many of you guys regularly transfer money to savings. I'm obviously going to do my best to add to savings each month, and clear debt, but at least this starts me off.

FB

October 6th, 2010 at 10:16 pm

I'm on Facebook a lot, probably too much if I'm honest. Anyway tonight I noticed one of my friends had posted this as their status:

YOUR PHONE NUMBER IS NOW ON FACEBOOK!! NO JOKE... Go to the top right
of your screen, click Account then Edit Friends. Go to the left side of
your screen and click Phonebook. Everyone's phone numbers are now being
published. Please repost to let your friends know this is happening so
they can remove their number!

I checked my friendslist and I could see everyone's mobile numbers. Just thought I'd post and warn you guys too.

update

October 5th, 2010 at 09:55 pm

I'm working 6 hours extra this week, and, if I'm lucky, I'll get a shift next week too. DH sat down with me tonight to work out how much I'll need next month and it's not as bad as I thought. There are a few things I can tweak like the Christmas savings, I could pay half this month and half next month, if need be, as long as I get it cleared by next month.

Dh now owes MIL just over £600. Back in June he owed £1400 so he's slowly getting there. We worked it out tonight how much he owes, although we haven't got the official number off MIL but it should match ours. If she disagrees we have it written down in a notebook to show her.

update

October 5th, 2010 at 09:55 pm

I'm working 6 hours extra this week, and, if I'm lucky, I'll get a shift next week too. DH sat down with me tonight to work out how much I'll need next month and it's not as bad as I thought. There are a few things I can tweak like the Christmas savings, I could pay half this month and half next month, if need be, as long as I get it cleared by next month.

Dh now owes MIL just over £600. Back in June he owed £1400 so he's slowly getting there. We worked it out tonight how much he owes, although we haven't got the official number off MIL but it should match ours. If she disagrees we have it written down in a notebook to show her.

Desperately seeking overtime

October 3rd, 2010 at 06:45 pm

It's only the third of October and already I'm hatiing this month. Why am I stressing?

- payment increase of £20 p/m for catalogue (own fault for ordering laptop)
- behind on xmas savings so will need to make that up in three weeks when I get paid (£45)
- DH's birthday pressie due out at end of the month £60

Thankfully we have money put aside for the wedding we're going to in a few weeks otherwise it would be bad. Aargh!! I'm going to speak to my manager this week about overtime.

I'm not the only one who is skint. MIL is looking for a new job cos she's not getting enough hours in her current job. Yesterday she was talking to me and hubby about making cutbacks - one actually. I've been saying to DH for ages that she should get rid of stuff she doesn't use/need. I don't know how bad things are but we will see. If she cuts the internet I'll go to the library. I said to hubby a while ago, did MIL have savings? He didn't know. In her old job she earned a lot more than now - I don't know how much- but she never watched her money. DH said it would be hard for her to save as a single mum. Well between me and hubby she gets £460 every four weeks - that doesn't include what hubby's brother gives her. Plus hubby gives her extra towards debt that he owes her. I don't know...

Hubby has cleared a lot of the debt that he owes his mum. I've been writing it down, however she said to hubby that next week she will give him his new figures. We already know. We've been keeping track of it.

This has turned into a rant. I'm off to read your blogs now Smile

today's spending

October 2nd, 2010 at 05:58 pm

Ideally i would have loved to have a NSD but that just wasn't going to happen. Had to transfer money to MIL this morning (which DH gave me back today) This money ended up being used for food in Farmfoods. Also we had to put the lottery on for MIL.

So here's my spending:
Farmfoods £18
Lottery £10

Bought stuff for packed lunches and food for dinner tonight.