Every four weeks, hubby gives MIL money, £300 to be exact. For most of this year, hubby has been asking her to write a list explaining exactly where his money his going. Well, today she wrote the list. According to the list, the £300 is made up of:

£160 digs/rent
£15 broadband
£35 gas and electricity
£30 figurines*
£60 break money*

We disagree with the last two. The figurines are comics which DH gets every month, they started off as a gift a few years ago for his birthday. We checked the letters and the total is less than thirty pounds. As for break money, hubby works four days a week. We get paid every four weeks. Hubby gets £3 for each shift... well that only totals to £48, where's the other £12 going?

We can't do anything about is until next pay at the end of August. DH has already given her this month's money. However, he's going to talk to her before next payday. We'll take control of his break money and the figurines. For his break, we will buy juice etc so he's not spending/spending less at work. I'm just glad we finally got an answer.

Today was payday. Usually I post an update in the morning but I was working all day today so I couldn't. Anyway, I added my usual £25 to savings, taking my balance to £541.15.

Hubby has finally come round to my way of thinking, well sort of. After a few arguments with a certain person he declared that he "wanted out" and he "didn't care if it was one-bedroom cos it won't be forever" Well you can imagine how pleased I was. However, the one-bedroomed flats that Ive looked at this week require a £675 deposit, and I have less than £600 in savings so clearly it isn't happening yet. When it does happen it will wipe out my savings, so I would love to have more than the deposit saved.

Hubby disagrees with one aspect though: he thinks we will be fine just having the deposit saved, I don't. Plus, I also pointed out to him that neither one of us has a lot of disposable income which can be used towards household bills. And we both have debt.

I don't know why I've spent so long writing about something that isn't happening yet. Oh well, I can dream.

I finally have more than £500 in savings! I went to the bank today to add money. I had £20 leftover petrol money plus £2 in change. My savings balance hasn't been this high since March 2009 when I was saving for our wedding. How bad is that?

We went to England yesterday for hubby's gran's funeral. It was a lovely service. His grandad wants us to come and visit soon. We're both off in September so it would be nice to visit him then. I don't want to drive there so I'm going to compare train vs coach. Travelling by coach will be cheaper but I'll have to see what hubby wants to do.

After a few hours shopping yesterday, we got hubby a suit for the funeral. He also needed a shirt, a tie and new shoes. I think I spent close to £200 yesterday, so my contribution from my emergency fund, £17, really didn't make an impact at all. I mean I knew it wouldn't, I just wanted to know that I hadn't put it ALL on to my credit card. Hubby thought I should have just left it untouched, well it's too late now.

I got my new credit card statement in for credit card 2. Due to my increased payment this month I'm close to reaching my goal. I've updated my sidebar to show the new balances. I've also updated my balance for CC1, although I won't receive the statement until next month. I'm miles away from my goal now.

I found out yesterday that I've managed to drop a dress size, which isn't a good thing. I had to buy a 6 (US 2?)instead of my usual 8. A few days of not having proper meals and I'm down a size. Once my mouth's better I'll be back to normal.

We found out today that hubby's gran's funeral is on Wednesday. I'll need to get the day off; hubby is on a week's bereavement leave. BIL is going to drive us there, it will take about 3-4 hours to get there.

I had to make an emergency dentist appointment today. I thought I had an abscess or something similar. I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep or eat anything properly since Tuesday night. I woke up at 5am this morning to take ibuprofen. Well, it's better to get these things checked out sooner rather than later - especially when you have a funeral to go to.

I felt like a hypochondriac when I was explaining to the dentist what I thought the problem was. As it turns out, my wisdom teeth are coming through. The bottom one is here; the top one is causing the problem. I can't remember exactly what she said but basically I have an infection in the left side of my mouth, so the left side of my face is swollen. Eating is a nightmare, but not half as bad as when I (try) to brush my teeth. The dentist gave me antibiotics so hopefully they'll work. Please be gone by Wednesday. (The antibiotics were free, the dentist said they're included in my plan)

We're going shopping tomorrow to get hubby's suit and my outfit. I think he needs shoes too. I'm fine for shoes. I spoke to my mum today, she said I have black trousers at hers. However, I'm sure I gave them to her because they were too big for me.

It's been so long since I used my credit card that I had to really think of what my PIN is. Well, I think I've remembered it.

Thank you for all the nice comments on my previous entry. This entry is longer than I thought it would be. If you made it this far, sorry about all the dentist talk.

My husband's gran passed away last night. We won't know until Friday how she died, although they think it was a cardiac arrest. She was in her late seventies and in great health, 50+ years married.

The funeral will be next week I think. We'll have to get the day off from work,possibly two since we will have to go to England. Hubby will need a new suit, and I need a new trousers and a top. I have clothes that I could wear but they're old. We went to a funeral in January (friend's sister) and they were ok because I never had my jacket off so they couldn't see my faded top.

I told hubby I'd put his new suit on my credit card since my EF won't be enough.I think it may be enough to get myself a pair of black trousers and a top. I probably will have to add to it. I'm torn about using it though, especially since I'm putting hubby's on to my card. I mean, a new outfit is not an emergency.

I checked my bank balance and noticed that a payment had came out earlier, so I actually had some money spare. I added £15 to my moving out fund. Only £5.85 to find now!

I was playing around with next month's budget - extra to savings, extra to debt etc - when I realised that I don't have a category in my budget for my car fund and emergency fund. How am I supposed to add to them consistently if they're not in my budget? Silly me. Well of course I've added them to my budget now. I've budgeted £10 for each of them, although really it should be more than that.

I don't know if it's just me but I find it difficult sometimes trying to cover everything: adding to moving out, EF, car fund. I know it will be worth it in the long-term though when I have sufficient savings so that I don't end up using my credit card to cover emergencies/car repairs.

If only I had built up my emergency fund first. I might not have all of this credit card debt if I had.

One of my goals this month is to get my Moving Out fund to £500. I need to add £20.85 to do this. Well, I haven't managed to yet, I did however buy season 8 of Smallville (£13.50 with my discount, plus hubby is paying for half of it) Not a necessity, obviously.

I almost took my change to the bank today. I only have two bags though so I'd feel a bit silly going in with only two pounds worth. Hmm. I do also have the money that MIL gave me for buying her wine (£4) That would be £6, which isn't a lot, but it's something. I don't have a problem transferring small amounts online, it's just going into the bank I feel like I should have more to put in. Either way I'm going to try my best to reach £500 before the 29th.

It's nearly time for me to leave and pick up hubby from work. I had a nice, relaxing day. I only spent £3.15 today so that was good.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that hubby is definetly going to help me with CC2 (almost half of the balance is his) He hasn't helped me before because I've known that he has other things to pay, plus it's MY credit card, I have to pay it. Well he's going to contribute as from next month. I know some of you may be thinking that we should have a joint account already so we really shouldn't have any issues like this.. but we haven't got one yet. I don't see the need to yet as, unfortunately, we're not running a house. We both, however, know each other's bank balances and always check in to see where we're both at.

I also had another conversation with hubby about my other credit card. He wants me to use it to fix my power steering - sometimes it's heavy, sometimes light - and my rear windscreen wiper. I want to save some more money first towards it. He views my credit cards as the only way of fixing my car; I'm trying - slowly - to build a car fund for these sort of problems. I haven't added anything to my car fund or EF yet this month, I really should.

I'm halfway through my new book. The author is actually Rosamund Lupton, not Lipton, just in case anyone else wants to read it. If I hadn't met my friend I may have almost finished it. Oh well, it was nice to catch up.

One of our friends just got a house with his girlfriend, and her daughter. Is it bad that I'm envious of them? We've been invited over tonight so I'll get to see their house.

Hope everyone has a great day since I think I'm about eight hours ahead so my day is almost over. In case you haven't guessed the time difference between London and New York is mentioned a few times in the book.

It's been a quick week. I've spent most of it working. We had some nice weather but I missed it all.

I spoke to my friend, she's upset but ok. I think her little boy helps her to take her mind off it.

My new book arrived: Sister, by Rosamund Lipton, so I've started reading it.

We went out to eat last night, then we went to see the new Transformers movie.

Today I'm meeting my friend while hubby is at work. I've not seen her in ages.

I've mentioned that I pay all of my bills online. On payday I paid all of my bills that were due (just waiting on the other direct debits coming out for others) Well I signed on yesterday to view my credit card balance and I've been charged a late payment fee of £12. It was due on the first, I paid it on the first. I'm so annoyed at myself for letting this happen. This won't happen again.

In other news, I'm enjoying spending my "fun" money. I've ordered a book from play - Sister - just waiting on it arriving. I also bought myself two cookbooks: one devoted to baking, the other easy pasta dishes. Not that I ever cook. The most time I spend in the kitchen is when we're both off and I make us breakfast and lunch. I really want to cook something soon though. Oh I've spent £7.09 on myself. (I budgeted £10 - small amount, I know)

I received some bad news from my friend. She's lost her baby. It's still inside her. She's going to the hospital tomorrow. I told her I'll be thinking about her when she goes in. I didn't know what else to say.

1) Get savings to £500 by 28th July. To do this I only need to add £20.85. Small savings compared to last month. However, this month I know I have a cinema trip and I've actually budgeted for "fun" so we'll see how I do. The reason for aiming for 28th July? I get paid again on the 29th.

2) Read my new book. I just ordered myself a book from play out of my "fun" money.

3) Find Hajime no ippo book for hubby/Start ordering Naruto books for his birthday if I have no luck

I always have a productive mornning on payday, mostly because I pay all my bills online and transfer money to savings online. This morning I've also been to the shops and back. I had to pay mine and hubby's xmas savings to my work colleague. She finishes up today for her holidays so I had to give our money to her. That's another thing ticked off the list. And it's not even 9am yet (almost).

My auto savings transfer and my normal savings were added to my Moving Out Fund today (£30) New balance: £479.15 My no spend month definetly helped my savings.

I paid extra to both credit cards this morning. With credit card 2 I'm taking a new approach. I added the minimum payment and interest. I paid that amount (£78) to the card. They also charge me for repayment cover, which I agreed to when I first got the card, but I haven't accounted for that. I figure two out of three isn't too bad.