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Archive for March, 2015

Sigh...

March 30th, 2015 at 06:13 pm

So work didn't phone. I gave up and phoned them. Still no help. I've to go to a meeting tomorrow "to discuss flexibility" I thought we'd done that? But what do I know?

Playing the Waiting Game

March 29th, 2015 at 04:34 pm

I phoned my employer yesterday and had no luck. Dh spoke to his manager today - who might end up being my manager too. This afternoon, I phoned and spoke to her. The people manager is now on bereavement leave and there's someone acting on her behalf. Tomorrow they will all be in meetings so she said someone will phone me then.

In other news I've spent the afternoon baking brownies and biscuits. I just need to come up with an easy meal plan for this week.

Emergency Fund Update

March 28th, 2015 at 06:15 am

115.00
+_1.50 survey rewards
+__,50 coupon
+_3.00 paypal
+_2.00 deposit

-----------------

122.00

Using a Snowflake for Cash Flow

March 27th, 2015 at 07:39 am

I mentioned yesterday that I redeemed 25GBP paypal from Swagbucks. The plan was to send it 70/30 to debt payoff and EF. However, I checked my bank balance this morning and I'm about 12.00 short for a direct debit. I now think I'll have to keep it in my bank account, which is unfortunate. A few questions:

- Do I count it as a snowflake and include it in my total (but acknowledge that it didn't go to either debt or savings?)
-Should I try to replace this money to put towards debt and savings?
-Should I just keep 15 in my bank and send 10 to debt/EF?

Part of me is gutted and the other part is pleased the money is there.

Trying not to lose focus

March 26th, 2015 at 02:25 pm

I'm updating today purely to keep myself focused. Most of yesterday was spent worry about "what if?" so I want to try and get back on track.

The first thing I did to get back on track was to redeem a 25GBP paypal reward from Swagbucks. I wasn't as thrilled as I thought I would be doing this, I think it's my mood right now though. I keep wondering if this is the calm before the storm and whether all of my hard work this year is just going to go down the drain soon.

Dh came home from work and told me that people have been talking about me and what department I will be going to. Somehow it is common knowledge to everyone except me. Still no letter yet.

I really don't want all this hard work to go out the window. I'm enjoying paying down debt and starting an EF.

I don't know what I'm doing

March 25th, 2015 at 02:42 pm

I just spoke to my employer. They were no help about my return to work. My manager said she had spoken to the people manager about my return on Sunday. Apparently a letter is on its way to me with a date arranged for a meeting. It's cutting it close, I'm due back next week.

While on the phone, I mentioned again about wanting to change my contract. I was told that I have to honour my old/current contract until that's sorted. The entire reason I am changing my days is due to childcare. Me and DH are going to work opposite days from each other so that someone is always home with the kids. If I can't get this sorted, I might need to leave. Dh said he would pick up hours. I wasn't prepared for this. I haven't job hunted in years.

ETA: Dh and I are both contracted a Sunday. The plan after J was born was that one of us would change. He's tried.

NSD, survey rewards

March 23rd, 2015 at 02:46 pm

Today has been a NSD, thankfully. I love those.

I redeemed two 3GBP my survey rewards over the past few days. I also redeemed 5GBP opinion outpost rewards. I'm still working on Swagbucks, 300 + to go now. If I keep at it I can probably request it this week but I'm trying not to spend too much time on it.

I'm just really looking forward to those rewards so I can payoff debt and add to my emergency fund. I am easily pleased these days.

I updated my sidebar the other day. My goal for the year is to obtain 150GBP worth of snowflakes, for the first two months of the year I'm at 49.99, which is 29%. I think it could still go either way though. I had zero snowflakes last year so I'm not complaining.

Rule #1

March 22nd, 2015 at 02:35 pm

Don't Shop When You're Hungry.

I know this yet that is what happened today. We went for a walk then we popped into the local shop for milk. 16.83 later, mostly reduced items which I've put in the freezer for future dinners. As usual, it was my fault because I picked everything. I was really crabby with dh on the way there so I should have had a quick snack before we left.

When we came home, 16.83 lighter, I separated the fishcakes that I had bought and put them into two bags for SG's dinner. That's two meals. I put the reduced meatballs I had found for 99p in the freezer. I also had a one pot chicken meal so I put that away. We also got packets of jelly to make up for SG, which I need to do soon for tonight's pudding. I'm going to add some fruit to it.

We did have leftovers for lunch today so it wasn't all bad. I gave dh the last of the mince and we both had chicken curry with rice.

I'm hopeful that I will only need to buy baby cereal this week and some more milk, fruit and veg.

Sigh...

Emergency Fund Update

March 21st, 2015 at 12:15 pm

It's Saturday so 2GBP was automatically added today.

113.00 Beginning balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

-----------------

115.00 New Balance

Little tidbits

March 20th, 2015 at 06:40 pm

Thanks for all of your advice on my last post. I decided against applying for the new credit card. When I next signed on to my bank the offer was gone, so I took that as a sign. I'm happy enough with my current cards, well as happy as you can be owing money to The Evil Empire (I think LR used this phrase a lot, it's more than appropriate). I seem to be doing ok paying them off, bit by bit, so I'll just keep at it.

I redeemed 3GBP my survey rewards today. That will reach paypal in 8-10 working days.

I go back to work in less than two weeks. Dh and I will be working opposite days. Nothing has been confirmed about my return, I don't know where I'll be working. Hopefully they will get in touch soon. I did hear that the people manager's mum has cancer so she's had a lot of time off. Still, my current/former manager could let me know.

I updated my sidebar today with my new balances. 4878.57 total credit card debt.

4 credit cards?

March 18th, 2015 at 08:39 pm

I signed on to check my bank balance this evening and an offer of a 0 percent credit card appeared. I think it was for 15 months. If I apply I would transfer some of cc#2. My only issue is that I'm not sure I could juggle three cards. As it stands right now I technically have three:

1. Capital one - transferred balance to a zero percent card in sept
2. Bank of Scotland - 4k balance
3. Tesco - zero percent

Could i handle another?

This & That

March 18th, 2015 at 02:09 pm

My employer left me a voicemail the other day, so I returned the call. It was my manager who phoned. She had seen a holiday/vacation request form in the office with my name on it (dh put it in for me) and was surprised that I was coming back. I guess she thought since I had been so ill before finishing up from having those two surgeries that I wouldn't be returning. She asked what hours I was looking for and I explained. She has to check what vacancies the dept has but I don't expect to return to my old department when I'm back. I might even move to dh's dept, his manager told him there's plenty of hours going.

I went shopping today and spent just under thirty pounds. I seem to be averaging 30/wk. This is with a very specific list though, and I did add on a few items (tissues) at the checkout. However, we would normally have to buy more nappies but we've got a lot of them from when dh found them on offer last pay.

My mum now has more savings than me, she doesn't know though. I noticed that she is only spending about two thirds of her income. She has an unofficial buffer in her bank account. I'm sure she would wipe it out if she needed it though.

After VS from oz blogged about her progress, I checked my progress. I have reached 32% of my goal (113/350)

Birthdays etc

March 17th, 2015 at 08:55 am

SG turned three yesterday. I baked her a cake. She loves her dolls house, so it was a good buy. Dh picked up an extra present for her, Paddington bear on dvd. She's more interested in her dolls house though. We will probably need more furniture for it in the future but right now she's happy with what came with it - sixteen pieces I think.

I have to admit that I haven't totaled up our spending recently. I have been writing it down though. I resisted the urge yesterday to go to the local cafe to buy lunch for SG's birthday, we had leftovers instead for lunch and dinner.

I'm about 800 or so swagbucks away from redeeming 25 GBP Paypal rewards. I'm looking forward to the day when I can redeem it.

Emergency Fund Update

March 17th, 2015 at 08:49 am

I forgot to do this last week.

111.00 Beginning balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

--------------------
113.00 New balance

237.00 to go to reach my goal. It's actually seeming reachable now, although I still have a lot to go.

Just as i thought

March 12th, 2015 at 07:35 pm

Dh set up the wii fit tonight so i could check my weight (We havent got scales ) I was last on it 294 days ago when i was pregnant and I've lost 12lb since then. I knew i had lost i just didn't think it was that bad. My current weight means I'm really underweight. I'm going to make more of an effort to get up before kids and have breakfast, and make sure I have lunch too.

Emergency Fund Update

March 10th, 2015 at 09:34 am

108.00 Beginning Balance
+_2.25 Opinion Outpost rewards
+_,_75 Tesco coupon

------------
111.00 New Balance

239.00 to go to reach my goal of 350.

Debt Paid

March 10th, 2015 at 09:28 am

This morning I paid off what we owe to mil: 190. It feels good knowing we don't need to worry about that now. Dh is happy because they still aren't talking.

I redeemed 7.50 of rewards from Opinion Outpost.

I ordered SG's dolls house. I had a coupon for 2.50 off. Another snowflake. They seem to be few and far between this month though. I am still aiming to redeem 25 GBP paypal rewards from Swagbucks, although I haven't been meeting my goal so it will probably be April before I can do this.

Dh is away out to work this morning to pick up his bike. While there he is going to try and talk to his manager about changing days when I'm back. He's also handing in my return to work form. If he can't swap days I hope I can.

Tracking spending

March 8th, 2015 at 09:12 am

I'm paying close attention to every penny spent this month. I finally got round to using the A4 notebook that dh bought for us years ago. There's more space than in the other notebook that I was using. In this notebook I've added an envelope to put our receipts in. It should help to keep me on track.

I am really hoping to spend less than 100 on food shopping this pay. I'm not sure how realistic this but our cupboards are pretty stocked, except for missing a few items such as tinned chopped tomatoes which I use a lot. I did just spend 21.83 at the butchers on Saturday but I am going to freeze some of the meat.

Last night we all had leftovers for dinner - except for J, that is. Also, SG has been fussy lately and only really eating spaghetti, ignoring potatoes. Last night she had noodles and loved it. I will need to buy more of them in. Tomorrow we will need to buy some items for the cupboards, but I've made sure to write a list of what I need for the meals that I'm making this week.

SG's birthday is in over a week and I haven't got her present in yet. I did see a dolls house online for 26.67 so I will have to order it. My cousin keeps texting asking what we're doing for SG's birthday. I've told her twice already we're having it a home but she keeps asking. She has booked a party for her almost three year old next month. I am really surprised about this because she is expecting #4 and I would have thought splurging on parties would have been the last thing on her mind, especially since she has gotten rid of a lot of her baby stuff. I offered her the moses basket that she had given us but she didn't want it.

So, here's total spending so far:

Shopping:
6/3: Asda 4.37
7/3: Butchers 21.83

Baby:
6/3: Asda 8.49

Emergency Fund Update

March 7th, 2015 at 07:22 am

96.00 Beginning balance
+10.00 Four-weekly deposit
+2.00 Weekly deposit

------------------
108.00 New Balance

Payday

March 6th, 2015 at 10:22 am

Today is payday. This morning I paid minimum payment to both credit cards and made a payment to my catalogue.

Next on the list is transferring money to MIL and then that debt will be gone. I'm happy to have less debt, I just wish it was mine.

Tomorrow my automatic transfers will hit the emergency fund and I will finally hit triple digits after two failed attempts last year (money withdrawn not long after reaching triple digits). I just hope it stays there for a while.

J is away for his morning nap so I got SG to help me bake a chocolate fudge cake with ingredients that we had on hand. I will buy in more flour and sugar and we will do lots of baking this month. More specifically, SG's birthday cake.

I'm back at work at the end of the month. I got my dates mixed up, I thought it was the beginning of April. I know that I'm lucky to have gotten nine months maternity leave in the first place. I need to get in touch with work to sort out my hours.

Worst idea ever?

March 5th, 2015 at 06:06 pm

So dh still owes 190 to his mum. If he doesn't get it paid off of her credit card this month, interest will be charged. I looked at the budget and by paying minimum to my credit card and minimal spending elsewhere we can make the payment. I am crazy for paying less to my debt, I know.

ETA: Dh wanted to put it on his credit card.

Cash Only March

March 1st, 2015 at 10:03 am

I posted the other day about how I got a bonus from work. Well it has been added to the cash flow since I realised that I had overspent. I think part of this is due to me asking Dh to buy shopping with my card. He sometimes buys extra. I give him my card a lot to use and I've not been tracking it. It's my own fault really.

From March's pay I still want to get a mattress for SG's room. We also need to get her dolls house. Originally I wanted to have gotten her dolls house ages ago but that fell through.

So I will withdraw cash this pay for the following categories:

1. Shopping/groceries: 140
2. Baby/nappies/formula: 70
3. Gas and electric: 50 (utilities)
4. Bus ticket: 73.20

Those are my normal budgeted amounts. However, I think I can spend less on shopping and baby stuff to be able to cash flow birthday stuff and the mattress.

I think it can be done.

Emergency Fund Update

March 1st, 2015 at 08:36 am

My weekly deposit of 2.00 was added to the emergency fund yesterday.

94.00 Beginning balance
+2.00 Weekly deposit

--------
96.00 New Balance

February Snowflake Total

March 1st, 2015 at 08:16 am

As usual, my snowflakes were from survey rewards. I actually did better than last month.

5.00 Paypal (Swagbucks)
12.50 Opinion Outpost
9.00 My Survey

Total: 26.50

I have been allocating my snowflakes 70/30. 70% goes towards cc#2 while the other 30% helps to slowly build my emergency fund.