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Archive for August, 2013

Some Thoughts

August 30th, 2013 at 07:57 pm

The envelope method is working for me. However, next payday I may adapt by dividing my budgeted amount in 4 (possibly using four separate envelopes then, keeping the other three at home) Grocery money is dwindling down fast, think I may have lost track somewhere or I need to increase my budget.

I realise that I haven't snowflaked towards CC1 for a while. I need to get back into the habit.

I planned all of our meals for this week, but didn't have time to update. Now I'm going to start thinking about next week's meals.

Hubby has done a bit of overtime. We're hoping to have some extra money for when we're both off next month.

Separate Envelopes

August 26th, 2013 at 06:39 am

I spent over half an hour last night trying to work out what I'd spent in each category. It's less time consuming to use separate envelopes for each category so I'm doing that instead now.

Here's the balances for each envelope with the original amount in brackets.

Household: £17.85 (£20)
Nappies/misc: £24.04 (£40)
Food: £82.98 (£120)

New Method

August 24th, 2013 at 01:53 pm

Every four weeks, when I get paid, I start off the pay period well by writing down what I've spent - then I start using my debit card for purchases and lose track. Well for this pay period I've decided to use the envelope method. However, I've just put all of the money budgeted for this pay period into the one envelope. It's not as crazy as it sounds, it's my food shopping money (£120), SG's nappies/misc (£40) and household items (£20) Therefore I won't be using my debit card for any of these purchases. I've been putting my receipts into the envelope too.

One goal completed

August 23rd, 2013 at 07:33 pm

I paid off the rest of the fridge freezer today so no interest will be added and my minimum payment won't increase. I've got a few other Buy Now Pay Later items that need to be paid off next year, so I will make that one of my goals for next year.

Update

August 22nd, 2013 at 07:58 am

Wow it's been almost three weeks since my last post. I meant to update sooner but my attention was diverted elsewhere when we discovered that SG had her first case of head lice... We noticed this about dinner time one night, so I hurried over to the local pharmacy to get some treatment. I was stressing about how much this would cost - but we got it through the minor ailments service. It's still not away yet, and we all have it. I've been to the doctor's to get more treatment. He told me it's harder to get rid of in the hot weather.

It's payday tomorrow and I have £1.40 left. I had to transfer some money from savings to cover some spending too. It's times like this I'm thankful for savings, although we still haven't bought our bedroom carpet yet.

I've still been planning our meals.

Found a make-up bag reduced to 50p so I'm going to give it to MIL for her birthday, alongside her other gift (usually pyjamas)

I haven't added any more snowflakes, due to money being so tight.

Meal Planning

August 4th, 2013 at 09:00 pm

- Chicken enchilidas
- Leek and potato soup with crusty bread
- Baked potatoes with beans and cheese
- Omelette/frittata with chips

Financial housekeeping

August 4th, 2013 at 07:22 pm

I saved £1.30 using coupons and then 10p using my discount card so I sent a payment to the credit card.

Used my catalogue reward money to order my friend's birthday present. It was £9 but free to me.

I spent £5.xx shopping yesterday, will need to find my receipt.

Update

August 2nd, 2013 at 12:11 pm

Spent £61.36 on food shopping so far. Three weeks to go. I've budgeted £120 but I'm hoping to make it less.

I am going to try to snowflake towards debt this month, despite things being really tight this month.

Spoke to hubby and we agreed that he will consistently do overtime, if he can get it. I hope he manages to get some.