It's been ages. I see there's been some good news since I was last on. Congrats to everyone who is now debt free.

We seem to be spending a lot more on food recently. We have barely been going out, only when really essential. I'm still off work due to my health. Just trying to keep everyone safe, that's the aim.

I let my budget slack these past few months. I need to deal with it now.This morning I updated it.

Everyone is healthy here.

Well that's the Easter "holidays" over as of yesterday. It's a strange time. We played Brain Challenge the past few days, which was good for eldest.

I have been making notes on J's progress to update his teacher.

L is copying J a lot. Toddlers pick up things quickly.

We have a musclefood order coming in a few days. I need to defrost the freezer. Tesco order due next week. We now have to go onto their website at midnight to try to get a slot three weeks in advance. I'm grateful not to go out though.

Well, schools aren't closed here. The class trip and parents evening has been cancelled.

The cinema is shut. McDonald's is o it drive-thru and takeaway.

I put my hands up and admit to using my credit card to do a grocery order. Got some extra tins but nothing extreme. Anyway I've realised I'll still be at work during all of this so there was really no need. I've just been witnessing at work how crazy people can get. Epic fail but we'll recover.

Today was good. It was a NSD.

Steak pie from the butchers for dinner. Chocolate gateau for pudding. Lots of gateau leftover. I was going to defrost either pork or turkey for tomorrow but the fridge is full. So we'll have an omelette or something instead.

Lots of snacks leftover from Christmas to use up.

Note: eldest two like German chocolate snacks I bought for Christmas.

It's been so long I don't know where to start. I'm back at work now, I have been for a while. I forgot how difficult it is when they're babies and going to work. L is so excited to see me when I'm home.

We received J's autism diagnosis. We also disputed his school placement. He starts a new school soon.

We owe MIL money from at the start of the year when we were behind on hubby's credit card. I'm finally able to start paying her back.

I haven't started Christmas shopping yet.

Eldest is doing good. I am wondering if we will need to start giving her pocket money soon. I want her to learn how to manage money.

My mum bought a household item from one of those stores that charge extortionate rates (69%+) She told me she can't afford the payments so they're taking her to court. She doesn't care. This is the same place that i spent years paying an item off for my mum (I'd bought it as a gift when i was naive) It took me *years* to get rid of it. I don't understand her attitude.

I didn't mean to leave it this long between entries. Since my last entry we've had my birthday and SG's birthday. I had money in the sinking fund for that. We had a relaxed day, eating food that the birthday girl wanted. I made a chocolate fudge cake.

We had to borrow money from MIL a few weeks ago to get current on hubby's credit card. Sigh.

We received the new baby payment, then found a highchair on Amazon for £58.20. It's similar to the one that we had for the older two. The rest of the money is in my savings, allocated as the baby sinking fund. (241.80)

I was also finally able to get the school clothing grant. That money is in the sinking fund too. It'll be getting spent soon,SG has had a growth spurt.

Baby L is 14 weeks now. Sleep is getting better: four-five hours followed by two wake-ups every two-three hours.

Just for reference, and because I haven't updated my sidebar, there is 40 in the Christmas sinking fund. Not much compared to the others.

L woke up as soon as I signed in. It's like she knew I was planning on updating here.

Anyway, there actually isn't that much to update. We're still surviving here,although it's a teeny bit better now that we're five weeks in. I think I got at least five hours sleep last night -not five hours straight though.

An acquaintance offered me her daughter's baby clothes. It's so nice of her, especially since we don't see each other. She also told me to message her if I ever need to talk. I'm not really comfortable doing that, but I did say thanks for thinking about me.

I've got three more loan payments left.

Hubby has to phone the credit card company to discuss what he owes. It's all in his name, I don't even know his login details. Well, I can't remember them. I did set it up, but that was years ago.

I also checked hubby's bank account. Nothing happening there other than it had been over a month since I'd checked.

I signed up for a delivery saver trial with Tesco. I haven't been in a supermarket for a proper shop since before L was born. I'll keep it when the trial finishes. It's such a time-saver. Yes, more expensive than aldi but they don't do online shopping.

I think that's all.

Since my last post, we have added a new family member. Baby girl arrived before Christmas. She has slotted into the family quite nicely.

I admit that I haven't been tracking finances. I forgot how exhausting life is with a newborn. I noticed some of you are doing UFMC. Ordinarily, I would have, but it's just not realistic right now. Next year I'll happily take part.

I can finally access my blog! I was giving up! I had to reset my password since it wouldn't let me use my old faithful one. Oh well.

I just wanted to check in quickly. Baby is due in just over six weeks. I feel like we're pretty organised, although I will double check everything. We've bought most things nearly new. I also found a lot of old baby clothes in the cupboard last week when we were decluttering.

I started Christmas shopping a few months ago. My aim is to now get them wrapped. I bought wrapping paper in so I'm halfway there. Next week I'll probably start.

I'm going to make up some meals for the freezer in the next few weeks. We've only got a small freezer, so I can't do too much.

I've reached the halfway point. Baby is doing well,according to my recent ultrasound. We haven't bought anything yet. However, we now need to start getting organised.

I've still been decluttering,although not as much as before. I need to step up before I add baby stuff.

I need to get started Christmas shopping soon. Luckily for me I have a 6 year old who is happy to tell me what she wants. She is an advertisers dream. I do point out to her that she can't get everything. I've started an Amazon wish list for the first time ever.

Speaking of Amazon,I've just claimed a £5 voucher from swagbucks. I need to get back on it so that it can help with Christmas shopping.

It's been a while since I last updated. Since then I've been a bit lax tracking my spending. Time to get focused again.

Last night I meal planned and wrote today's shopping list. It's payday today. I'm going to make sweet and sour chicken in the slow cooker (a first for me). I'm hoping there'll be plenty of leftovers.

I'm 17 weeks pregnant now. I'm definitely making an effort to eat good stuff. Of course, this pregnancy is already heaven compared to the last because I'm healthy.

I'm trying to continue to declutter. My mum wants to buy stuff for the baby already, but I told her I need to check what we have first. If I can get stuff nearly new,I will.

Debt is going down. I have to update my sidebar.

I've spent £112 on food so far since payday last week. Ouch. My tesco order was huge though. I've been looking into portion sizes and trying my best not to waste leftovers.

I found a bean and pasta soup recipe that I'm going to make for lunches next week. I cooked up some pinto beans and I also have cannelini beans in the freezer.

I'm going to a speech therapy course for parents of children with social learning difficulties. It lasts 6 weeks. I think it'll help a lot.

My new hours started. My first pay will be at the end of the month.I'm looking at that budget now.

It's been a while since I last updated. So, what's been happening?

First of all, I started watching a lot of budgeting videos on YouTube. Actually, I started that at the beginning of the year when Creditcardfree mentioned it in her blog. Now, I'm trying to figure out if I'm more of a pen and paper gal, or if spreadsheets are the way forward? And, do I prefer updating daily or once a week? And cash only? Right now, it's mostly cash for variable expenses.

I had a birthday. I treated myself to a new cookbook from Amazon. I had vouchers so the book was free. The aim of the book is feeding a family of four for £40/wk. I'll be making some stuff from it.

I also just spent a Christmas gift card today. I added a couple of things for the kids. I was 6.49 OOP.

I had a check up at the dentist. One of my fillings needs replaced. It'll be £56. This wasn't in the budget so, today, I made sure that my health plan is updated online. I can make the claim the same day so that's good. I also made sure that both kids are on it. They are. (Youngest has had a lot of referrals since last year. Possible autism diagnosis. We've been to lots of appointments for him. Next one is ophthalmology this month, since they really did refer everywhere).

Hmm, what else? SG's birthday is next month. She told me the other day she'd like a party. I had to tell her that's too late notice to book a party. Looks like I'll be planning one next year.

The catalogue is sitting at 95.50. There's only one more payday left for this year, so it will be gone early January. Then I'll put that money towards my credit card.

There's 18 months left on my loan.

Went shopping this morning. Spent 51.xx although 9.99 was a Christmas present and 5.98 was on thermal socks, so not too bad actually. I've meal planned for the week.

On Monday I'm going to start wrapping what I have in so far.

Kids are going to see Santa at the end of the month, although I paid for it last pay.

I barely update these days because I'm constantly talking about the same thing: paying off debt. I have no new updates about my debt, only that I'm still paying it off. I'm still being optimistic that i will be debt free by the end of 2019. So two more years of this.

I did notice that DH is aware of the budget, although I only casually talk about it. The phrase "Is there room in the budget?" is used a lot.

I've been working on decluttering and getting organised. Despite this, I still haven't started Christmas shopping yet because I'm not sure exactly what to get eldest. Littlest is easy but I need to shop around first before I go parting with my money.

I'm going to attempt UFM in July too. At first, I thought that buying school stuff would be an issue. Anyway, last week I found out that we're entitled to a school grant. All I had to do was photocopy some forms and send them with the application form. Well, we did that on Monday. Yesterday I checked my email to see that I have been approved for the grant. The money - £90 - will go in next week.

I found out that hubby's credit card that I cleared last year, then J added to but we got a lot of it taken off, is sitting at 3k. I know J has bought some more things accidentally, but I didn't realise it was that bad.

I bought J a bed for his birthday. I spent almost 190. I had 160 set aside. He was ill on his birthday, so we didn't go out for it.

SG's has finished nursery now. One of the mums wants me to bring her over to play with her child during the summer. It seems that her daughter has become attached to mine.

What else? I signed up for an app that I installed on my phone. Apparently, by doing this means that I'll get a £10 shopping voucher soon. It keeps crashing, so I don't think I'll get it.

I'm going to try my best at UFM.

I spent two days in hospital with SG because she had breathing problems. It was unplanned, of course. I spent a lot of money on junk food and sandwiches for me, since SG was having hospital food. I must've spent about 20 on food, although I didn't really keep track. Hubby got a takeaway so that was another 21. I also got a taxi home for us - we had so much stuff and I was shattered. All in all, it must have been about 50 in total.

She is doing better now. The doctor gave us medicines and an inhaler for the next few days.

In other news, I just paid off one catalogue today. That was 75.02. The other one is now 330.

Today is payday. Next pay I will be short because of phoning in sick for those two days, but we will manage.

In other news, I've been thinking about budgeting for other expenses such as school stuff. Each pay I send fifty pounds to my EF. From now on, I'll allocate twenty to these miscellaneous items that could potentially break the budget. I'll have to write it down though, otherwise I'll lose track of it. Yep, it only takes a small leak to sink a ship so I want to make sure that that doesn't happen.

Well, it feels that way...

I bought the kids new clothes and shoes, paid for sponsored walks, a trip. I also done another Approved Food order because I had a promo code to get delivery for 1.99 ( I normally pay 5.99). My cupboards are filled to the brim. Next pay I should only have to buy fresh stuff so this should help when I get paid again next Friday.

I also realised that I don't properly budget for annual expenses, so I'll need to figure something out. I only regularly save for Christmas. Come August I will have a child at school and one at nursery. Two lots of expenses for school photos, trips, meals (well, I think they're free until Primary 3 - I have to check) Then there's birthdays. Just when I think I'm getting myself together, I realise this. I have to budget in for this stuff; I just need to sort out the details. Hmm.

Yesterday we got another letter from the council. It said that they had made a mistake sending the last letter, so we were to ignore it.

On my birthday Swagbucks emailed me. I went to my account and seen that I had enough to redeem two 5GBP PayPal rewards, which were on sale. I transferred the money to my account today, then to savings for the hotel.

I booked an activity for SG's birthday, although it'll be a surprise for her. The day after her birthday we're all going bowling and then for lunch (she's at nursery on her birthday). It's called Bowl and Dine, you get two games of bowling and a two course meal. I made sure to go during off-peak times so it's cheaper. I also need us to be home at a reasonable time, too. All in all, it'll be 48.00 (excluding drinks).

I had two butternut squashes to use up, so I roasted one with red onion and feta, and I made the other into a curry for tomorrow.

This month is depressing me. So far, less than two weeks since payday, I've spent 143.09 on groceries. I did include the money DH spent on snacks for the kids today while they were out. Tomorrow I actually need to buy a few more groceries, but it'll be the bare minimum.

Tomorrow I need to buy a new jacket for SG and jeans for hubby.

On the plus side:
-I've paid 209 to the catalogues this pay (less debt)
-I've put money aside for SG's birthday present (dress) next month (we might be going out for it too, but I don't want to splurge too much...)
-we have food to eat

I made saag also and lentil tomato Dahl for the first time tonight. I'm freezing the leftover dahl, I really don't want it tomorrow.

Crisis #1:
At work, the system for holidays is this: fill in the form, give to your supervisor or manager, get the form back which tells you whether it's been authorised. I did this, a year in advance. I have the slips.
Last week I left work knowing I was on holiday. The next day, there was a phone call from work. I had to call them back. It rang out. When I finally did get in touch I was told that they didn't know I was on holiday (therefore, no pay). I told my supervisor I had the slips right here. Luckily, she was fine with it and it's now been sorted (and I don't have to withdraw a week's pay from savings)

Crisis #2
Got a letter this morning saying we're no longer getting Housing Benefit (aka rent paid) because we had ignored other letters asking for details. We never got any other letters. I'm still going through this one, we're waiting on somebody phoning us back - probably next week, I'd guess.

Had a birthday. We went our for lunch. Spent 28.xx. The plan was to have tacos that night for dinner but we were all really full, so we're having them tonight instead.

Hubby got invited to a stag weekend in England. He can't go because we don't have enough money for both. It's still nice to be invited.

I think this is my first update this month. I never leave it this long normally. Things have been busy.

I've been spending a lot of time the past six weeks or so, working on a hobby, I guess you could call it that? I'm being optimistic and hoping that I can turn it into a career within the next year or so. I need to do some studying first, amongst other things.

I cancelled Amazon prime yesterday. I barely used it during the free trial. I barely had time to watch my usual programmes never mind adding more to my list.

Hubby joined something, I'm not sure exactly what it is. Anyway, every month he gets a 5GBP Amazon voucher. So that is sitting in my Amazon account now. It's something to do with tv or something. If I can make myself do a swag bucks survey I could get another voucher, for ten pounds I think.

Got the kids Halloween costumes. Spent less than a tenner.

I have one more BNPL item left to pay off. The catalogue keep trying to tempt hubby with offers but they're so bad. Also, he's not allowed to. He's banned.

I need to pay for nursery photos soon. We never got them last year, we just kept the little copy that they gave us.

I think that's all.

Yesterday was payday. Nothing exciting. I paid both catalogues and the last of one of the Bnpl items - a hoover- that hubby bought this year. Just one more item to pay off now.

I've updated my sidebar. I'm hoping that by June 2017 most of the catalogue debt will be gone, and I can put that money towards my credit card. Hopefully I qualify for another 0% card, but I'm not counting on it, just in case.

Husband switched bank accounts a few months ago. We were both rewarded 100. I've transferred mine to savings (holiday fund). Need to sort hubby's PIN before we can transfer to my bank, then to savings. He's lost it. I told him that I'm really going to have to save if we want to go *anywhere* in February. Nothing will be going on a credit card (only if hell freezes over, or pigs fly).

SG's is a great consumer. She keeps asking for every single toy she sees. I told her we'll be writing a list for Santa. J, thankfully, is none the wiser.

I've had to change the amount I put into savings. Well, as of Saturday it will change. I've decreased it by 18gbp; I'm now saving thirty pounds each pay period (Four-weekly) I still dream of paying back the money I withdrew this year - that's why I increased it in the first place - and having five hundred pounds in it, but hopefully next year.

Paying Hubby's credit card each month has added to the budget (thirty something pounds). I hate withdrawing from savings so I thought it made sense to decrease it.

In other news, hubby's birthday is fast approaching. When I got him the tv from my rewards in April/May, I said no presents on his birthday since that is a big enough gift. As it turns out, I've bought him a game he wanted and a book. I'll be making a cheesecake too. I'm going to get SG to help bake the cheesecake and blow up some balloons. We might get a takeaway, I'll see.

I'm on my phone, so excuse the typos.

I picked SG up from nursery today and she told me that her feet were hurting her. After I dropped her off at home, I went to tesco to pick up an emergency pair of trainers for her. I found a pair half a size bigger than she was wearing, on sale for two pound.

I've been using the Notes app on my iPhone to keep track of spending. It seems to be working.

I finally added another ten pound to my Asda Christmas savings card. This should cover the cost of what we spend at the butchers in December - hopefully.

It turns out that my mum actually didn't have a stroke, at least according to her specialist. She is getting an mri soon to confirm or find out more.

Spoke to a random guy at work today. His partner works in the same place as me too. He was telling me that every two years they take their entire blended family to Florida, costing them 9k. He suggested I do this in the future with the kids (we were talking about holidays) I said that we'll take the kids to England first since they've been nowhere.

I think that's all.

EF:
144.61
+_9.50
________
154.11

Holiday Fund remains the same: 40.00

New Balance: 194.11

Things are a bit tight this month. Hubby and I are making sure to use up everything we have. It'll be cheap meals until payday in a couple of weeks.

My cousin is hoping to get married this year, so I'll need to budget for that. The kids aren't in the wedding but I'll still need to make sure that they look good. I don't even know how much kids formal outfits are so I'll need to research that.

Loan payment is due out next week. I'm so excited for it to be under 7k.

I still keep getting letters from the catalogue company, so my account must not be closed.

I'm not impressed. This year is going in far too quickly.

Things are going ok here. I sold one of J's old playmats for 17gbp.i had given up on it ever selling, but I bumped the post up yesterday and somebody commented and picked it up the same day.

We're meeting my cousin and her kids at soft play later. It will be 9gbp entry total for the kids. I'll be packing lunch.

Catalogue debt is now sitting at 2177.66. Next month it'll be under 2k. Progress. Also, my loan will be under 7k next week.

I seen my mum this week. I think she has abandoned her idea of saving up now that I'm not involved. I'm leaving her to do it.

I was feeling upbeat until I checked my credit card statement this morning: I got a late payment fee! I can't believe I let this happen! Apparently it only takes that to ruin my mood. I'm getting over it now.

I paid both of hubby's catalogues yesterday. Minimum payments are about 160.xx now in total. I also paid 30 to one of hubby's buy now pay later items. I'll be so happy the day that I can stop using that phrase.

I took SG shopping for a princess outfit for the birthday party that's coming up. While there I also bought her a few other things. Next on the list is a little present for the birthday girl. I'm thinking crafts,something small.

I've increased my weekly savings deposits. I owe money to my emergency fund so this will help to pay it back.

I tried to add money to my Christmas savings card but the till wouldn't accept the transaction; if this happens again I'll just put the cash aside.

I'm in the middle of making a meal plan and writing a shopping list. It's a weekly habit. I need to transfer money to hubby's account until I get my replacement card. Unfortunately, my bank is updating its systems right now so I can't do it yet.

I've enjoyed this pay period, actually having some money spare. But I don't want to get laxadasical. I want to get out of debt. I need to replace money I've used from savings this year. Lucky Robin's post reminded me that I need to have a moving fund if we do end up moving. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed buying things that we needed. In fact, I still need to get armbands for the kids so we can go swimming - once j is better, that is. And hubby wants his friends to meet J soon so that will involve some spending no doubt.

Things are feeling pretty good right now. Life at home is good, I'm not stressing as much although we have a lot of decluttering to do if we are moving. I have a really great friend. All I need to do is come up with a plan to be debt free in ideally three years. Then this means we can travel more and do things.

Now, what will I blog about when I'm finally debt free? That is the million dollar question.