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Archive for April, 2015

Goal Revision

April 30th, 2015 at 04:58 pm

I found my credit card statement. I pay 22.95% for cc#2, 39.9% for my catalogue. I am now going to focus my attention on the catalogue while paying a little extra to cc#2. I usually hate to revise my goals but I think this will be worth it.

Snowflakes will still be divided 70/30, only to the catalogue instead.

Thank you to everyone for making me see sense.

April Snowflake Total

April 30th, 2015 at 09:19 am

5.00 Found money in jeans pocket
9.00 my survey rewards
2.50 opinion outpost
5.00 paypal swagbucks

Total: 21.50

I think that I might be able to reach my goal of 150. I just need to find other sources because I haven't been doing surveys as much - very little, actually. Next month I will be on the look out for coupons and I will include my colleague discount savings, although sometimes that can be as little as .30 savings.

Just Thinking and Other Updates

April 30th, 2015 at 06:56 am

Since my last entry, I have been debating about whether to try to pay more to my catalogue each month. I want to start to pay off the cot, but I'd also like to pay a bit extra each month towards my total bill, even if I just round the minimum payment up.

We're hoping to start potty training soon now that SG is in her big bed.

My mum now has over 200 in her savings, 208 actually. I really want to tell her, but then I don't. I'm looking forward to the day that I have over 200 too.

Dh mentioned that he'd like us to go to England this year to see his grandpa, and his friend. I don't think it is in the budget but we will see what happens. I'm pretty sure he wants to put the train tickets on his credit card, if we did go.

Dh is away to see the new Avengers movie after work today. This makes me think that I need to reward myself, however, I did want to wait until I reached a savings goal or something. Dh isn't going as a reward, he's going because he wants to see it.

I am at 61% of my snowflake total, as of the end of April.

I spent 12.99 on a bouquet of flowers for my mum's birthday. It included free delivery and a free box of chocolates.

Tomorrow is payday.

Emergency Fund Update

April 26th, 2015 at 08:54 am

144.50 Beginning balance
+_2.0 Weekly deposit

______________

146.50 new balance

Yuck

April 26th, 2015 at 08:40 am

It's worse than I thought. When I ordered the bed I also ordered SG some clothes. That will get added on in Dec at 14.85 /wk. (1544.40 total )

The cot and mattress were 186 and that's due by 29/4/16 so I could get that paid off. If I don't it's 3.49 per week or 362.96 total.

So,

4517.18 including Bnpl
- 1907.36 Bnpl total

= 2609.82

Afterwards

April 26th, 2015 at 08:11 am

I just wrote a massive long entry about my catalogue and Dh 's and it didn't save! The short version is that he thought I knew already. it's irrelevant if he told me, it's far too much to be paying.

I'm going to add my depressing catalogue details to my sidebar once i gather the information. In the interest of full disclosure I bought our kingsize bed on it last year as a buy now pay later, that's getting added on in Nov. Recently I decided to get SG 's mattress and J's cot as Bnpl but I do think I could get that paid off. They gave me a 10k credit limit (crazy!) Dh not as much.

I've made it clear to dh no ordering unless it's using rewards which makes the item free. And if he orders a TV I'll send it back.

What The ---??

April 24th, 2015 at 09:12 am

I was tidying up this morning when I noticed that dh had opened his bank statement and left it lying out. I had a look at it and nearly fell over when I realised he's paying almost four hundred pounds each month to his two catalogues, in total. I freaked out when I knew he was paying three hundred, so this is probably why he never mentioned it. That money would be better off in our pocket than in theirs! It's bad enough I'm paying off a catalogue too. I hate debt.

Dh mentioned the tv yesterday, I told him we're saving up for it. After this, we are definetly doing that.

This could be a long update

April 23rd, 2015 at 02:25 pm

It's been about a week since I updated. I've been reading the blogs, I just haven't had the time to update mine. You guys have been busy. I'm really pleased that some other SA members have joined the Facebook group Organized Friends.

I'm getting by at work, still adjusting to my hours and in bed by 9 most nights. I got away an hour early yesterday because they had overspent on wages (not enough sales). Normally, I would have stayed but SG had an appointment with the speech therapist.

I think we're going to save up for a tv, I'm hoping dh will come round to my way of thinking. It'd be good to pay cash for it.

I ordered SG's mattress and a cot for J from my catalogue. SG is finally in her new bed, she loves it. Next to set up is the cot and move him into SG's room.

CC#2 updated, it's now 4052 I think. So close to being under 4k.

I think as of payday on 1/5 I will start to count my 10% colleague discount as a snowflake.

My mum almost has 200 in her savings. She still doesn't know.

Emergency Fund Update

April 19th, 2015 at 08:47 pm

142.50 Beginning balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

----------------------
144.50 New Balance

205.50 to go

Playing with Numbers

April 17th, 2015 at 09:54 am

J is sleeping, and Doc McStuffins is on, so I've been playing about with my budget. Assuming I worked my pay out correctly, I should be able to finally pay 160 to cc#2, extra to cc#1 and set aside money for June. We still need new outfits too, but I haven't decided how much to budget for that.

"We need a new TV"

April 17th, 2015 at 09:05 am

Dh's words, not mine. He told me this last night after he realised that the volume had stopped working on our bedroom tv. It's over seven years old, I had it when I lived at home.

I told him we would have to save up for one, we could possibly have one in time for his birthday in September. I'm saving up for our photo shoot first, so that takes me to June. I said we could save 50/month. I looked online and a lot of them seem to be about 150+, if he wants the same size, that is. Dh thinks we could only afford to save 5/month.

The other option would be using one of our catalogues. I don't want to because I will be getting a mattress for SG's bed soon since it didn't work out getting one from my cash flow a while ago.

If we actually do save up for this, it will be the first household item that we've paid cash for - all the others were ordered from our catalogues/given to us when we moved in almost three years ago.

Emergency Fund Update

April 16th, 2015 at 07:14 am

140.10 Beginning Balance
+_2.40 Survey rewards

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

142.50 New Balance

207.50 to go to reach my goal of 350.

An Update

April 16th, 2015 at 07:07 am

Both of my rewards were credited to paypal the other day: 5.00 from swagbucks and 3.00 from my survey. I transferred them to my bank this morning, then immediately sent 70/30 to credit card #2 and my emergency fund.

I noticed that Suits is now on Netflix, and I found disc four from season 3 I think that I had from Love Film. I sent the discs back yesterday and officially cancelled it this morning. I use Netflix more these days anyway.

I've been better with shopping after work - I have only been buying essentials. Starting next month, I think I will do one online grocery shop to save myself some time.

I need to start putting money aside for J's cake smash/family photo shoot in June. I should have done it already. We also need to buy new outfits for us all.

I am so pleased with my emergency fund balance. As Decisive Paradox noted, it's the highest it has ever been. I just hope I don't need to use it anytime soon.

Dh is taking the kids to a birthday party out of town on Saturday. I never got the holiday so I can't go.

We got a cheque from our utility company for 4.96. I need to get it to the bank soon.

Emergency Fund Update

April 12th, 2015 at 08:01 am

138.10 Beginning Balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

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

140.10 New Balance

I'm not as sure that I actually will reach my goal now that I have been doing surveys less, and not doing swagbucks. I do have enough swagbucks right now to redeem 5GBP Paypal so I'll need to do that. I know I can look for snowflakes elsewhere though.

Emergency Fund Update

April 10th, 2015 at 07:52 am

134.05 Beginning Balance
+ 2.55 survey rewards
+ 1.50 found money

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

138.10 New Balance

211.90 to go to reach my goal of 350 by December 2015.

Work/Life update etc

April 9th, 2015 at 06:57 am

I'm off today so I finally get to update here. I've been too tired at night to do it.

I'm slowly adjusting to 4.30am rises,although I'm in bed by nine most nights. I've not even been watching once upon a time on Netflix, I've been too tired.

Last night Dh and I sorted out our holiday/vacation requests. He's handing them in today. It's mostly just for J's birthday and Dh's.

I've abandoned swagbucks, I just don't have time. I might try on my days off though.

I found a five pound note in my jeans pocket. I'll be counting that as a snowflake.

I've been shopping after every shift so far. I haven't totaled up the damage yet.

I need to come up with another easy meal plan. We had three days of chicken this week after I cooked one in the slow cooker.

I think that's all. I'm away to see what you all have been up to.

Emergency Fund Update

April 5th, 2015 at 08:01 am

122.00 Beginning Balance
+10.00 Four-weekly deposit
+_2.00 Weekly deposit
+_,_05 Interest

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

134.05 New Balance

Adjusting & it's only been a day

April 5th, 2015 at 07:57 am

My first day back at work didn't start well. First of all, my alarm chose to act up that day and it didn't go off. Luckily for me my real-life alarm aka J, stirred at 5.30am and woke me up. It was then a quick rush to get ready then leave.

I had to go to the ATM before work to take some money out to get change for my breakfast. When I got there, both of them were out of order. I went into the store and bought a sandwich filler to use for lunch (I brought bread). I got cashback from my purchase. I still needed change though, so I had to ask them to give me change at customer service.

I finally headed to the colleague entrance only to find that my card wouldn't let me in. When it came to swiping in, my card wasn't recognised. It wasn't until two hours later that I spoke to someone and got a new card. I then had to tell my manager who assured me that my pay would be ok.

I didn't get home until 5pm because I had to pick up some shopping. Dh isn't thrilled that I'm out most of Saturday and he's working on a Sunday. It's going to be difficult to plan things together as a family. We're both off tomorrow but my mum's coming to visit. I'm sure I will work something out soon.

Finally!

April 3rd, 2015 at 08:51 am

I phoned work this morning and I finally got through to the manager I wanted to talk to. She said she had tried to phone me, but couldn't get through. That sounds like she only tried once...

I go back to work tomorrow. My new contract is 24.5hrs over three days, which is an hour less than my old contract. I also start earlier, with one 7am start and two 6am starts. This means that I will be home earlier though, so that's good, it will just take a while for my body clock to adjust.

We got a takeaway last night - my idea. I've got dinners made for the kids made in advance that are in the freezer. I need to make up a packed lunch for tomorrow.

I haven't done a full working week since December 2013, before my first surgery. It's going to be a shock. Plus I need to learn what to do in the new department.

Payday: A Day Early

April 2nd, 2015 at 08:52 am

It is strange getting paid on a Thursday. It must be because it's Good Friday tomorrow.

This morning I was able to pay extra to both credit cards. I also paid my catalogues. Debt, debt, debt. I'll have to wait until Saturday for my emergency fund balance to increase.

Upcoming expenses this month include my mum's birthday and my cousin's little boy's birthday.

I lost track of spending near the end of March there, I think I was just feeling sorry for myself and having a little pity party. For April, I will make sure all receipts are put into this month's envelope (which I'm about to go get)

I need to phone work today. Someone was supposed to phone me yesterday, but they didn't.

March Snowflake Total

April 1st, 2015 at 09:04 am

I managed to accumulate 25.50 worth of snowflakes for March. I'm more than happy with this.

2.50 TESCO coupon
12.50 Opinion Outpost
0.50 Baby cereal coupon
10.00 Papyal (swagbucks)