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Home > Archive: May, 2011

Archive for May, 2011

Saved myself £3

May 31st, 2011 at 08:19 pm

I've been feeling ill these past few days. Yesterday when I came home from work at half 5 I went straight to bed. Hubby woke me up three hours later. Today I came straight home, put on my pyjamas and lay in bed. Normally I go to zumba today so I saved £3. It's going straight into my emergency fund.

Countdown to a No Spend Month

May 30th, 2011 at 10:46 pm

Well, this No Spend Month is actually happening. TarWalker is partially joining me. She is aiming to save $150, I haven't actually thought of how much I'd like to save. It will be good to see how June turns out.

For this No Spend Month I will:

1)only purchase necessary items
2)withdraw cash for variable expenses which are already budgeted for - once it's gone, it's gone

Variable expenses: petrol (£50), packed lunch (£10) and snacks for room (£10) I've got a stack of envelopes waiting to be used.

Right now I'm thinking that all money saved will go towards savings.

May was a busy month, we had a wedding and a party. I overspent at the party. June will not be the same. However, I did manage to start both my EF and car fund.

I only have one goal for June: complete a No Spend Month.

Considering a No Spend Month

May 29th, 2011 at 07:52 pm

I've been thinking a lot about making June a No Spend Month. I have two birthdays in June but I only need to get them cards so I'm sure I can make it work. This month I spent more than I had planned so I'd like to make next month a better one. Obviously if I do decide to have a NSM I'd pack 100% at work. I'm in the habit of doing that anyway and I budget £10 every four weeks for snacks/drinks etc to take to work.

I haven't spoken to DH about it yet but it is me that wants to do this, not him. The only problem I can see is the temptation at work since I work in a supermarket but I can resist, I've done it plenty of times before.

Hmm... now I'm actually thinking more about it, I think I can do it. I'll pay my bills and buy necessities (which are already budgeted for) and nothing else. Anyone want to join me?

Leftover money; new laptop

May 28th, 2011 at 09:25 am

My leftover money is slowly disappearing. I'm choked with the cold so we went to Morrisons to pick up a few things. £23.80 later we were done. That leaves me with jus over twenty pounds left and I told hubby I'd give him £20 to help him pay back his mum so, effectively, it's gone.

My mum just got a new cable package and it includes broadband. She doesn't have a computer so she asked me to order a laptop for her from my catalogue. I done that yesterday. She's going to give me money each month towards it.

The other day I paid £2 extra towards CC1. Just a small £2 payment. I didn't know if it would let me make such a small payment, but it did.

They're started!

May 25th, 2011 at 07:02 pm

My emergency fund and car fund, that is. I took TarWalker's advice - thanks! -and started small. Before I left for work this morning I put £1 into an envelope for my emergency fund and done the same for my car fund. After work hubby's mum phoned and asked me to pick up bread. She gave me the money when I came in. I put the small change into money bags that I take to the bank every few months and I put the pound coin into my emergency fund.

Been slacking off

May 24th, 2011 at 06:54 am

I admit it: I haven't tracked my finances properly this month. Normally I write down spending on the same day in my notebook but I just haven't. I do know that I will have £50 left over this month but it looks as though I'll have to get a new tyre. I've had to pump my tyre up a few times within the last couple of weeks.

We've been quite busy - party last Saturday and a Wedding the week before that. That'll be me for a while though.

Hubby has spoken to MIL about what he owes her - she disagreed with what he was saying... until he showed her his notebook that he uses to keep track of what he's paid to her. She wanted to keep his notebook. Sorry, no. She copied down the last few payments into her book. By the way, he's at £600 now.

I need to get a filling next month. £45

My mum offered to give me money to put money into savings. I declined and told her to open up her own savings account instead (she doesn't have one)

I got some overtime at work, not as much as last month, but it's still something.

It doesn't look like I'm going to achieve my goals this month. Next month I'll probably just make one goal.

Revised goals

May 7th, 2011 at 09:00 pm

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my goals for this year. Based on advice, I've decided it's best to change them. Here are my new goals:

[] £500 to moving out fund (£296 to go)

My original goal of £800 incuded hubby's contribution; this one is based only on my contribution.

[] Reduce CC1 by £70

Balance as of 7th May: £807.59

[] Reduce CC2 by £50

Balance as of 7/5: 2032.98

I know this CC has a huge balance and I have a lower goal amount for it. However, I've been checking previous statements and my balance has only been lowering by as little as £4 monthly!

[] EF to £50 (£50 to go)

[] Car Fund to £50 (£50 to go)

[] Save for a cash-only Christmas

Unrealistic goals

May 4th, 2011 at 09:32 am

I've decided that my goals for the year are unrealistic. I don't know why I made so many when I haven't made a dent in any of them. I know I won't clear 2k worth of CC debt which is on CC2. It's too late into the year to change my goals, I just better get working on them. I really better get started on the car maintenance fund and EF. If I'd had them in the first place I wouldn't have had to put over £700 on CC1.

Goals for this month are to start car maintenance fund and EF.

Holiday

May 2nd, 2011 at 11:44 am

We found out today that MIL is going to America in a few weeks with her friend. She can't remember exactly where she's going but said they will be spending three days in New York and three days in Las Vegas. They will be away for twelve days. Her friend is paying for the trip, I'm assuming she will be paying for MIL's spending money too.

EF

May 1st, 2011 at 05:10 pm

I met up with my friend last week. We were talking about money when she said to me: "do you know you're meant to have 3 months pay saved for an emergency?" Yep. She was quite surprised that I knew that, she only knew cause someone had came to her work to speak to them. I told her I knew about it because I've spent a lot of time online finding tips to save. However, I haven't got an EF. I wish I had one so I could have said: "Yep and I've got one"

I tried to start one last year but it turned into Moving Out Fund. Well I spoke to hubby and told him we have to start one. So that's my new goal for 2011: start an EF.