Trying to Save

142.50 Beginning balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

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

205.50 to go

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.

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.

140.10 Beginning Balance
+_2.40 Survey rewards

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

142.50 New Balance

207.50 to go to reach my goal of 350.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

134.05 New Balance

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.

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.

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.

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)

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?

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.

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

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

122.00

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.

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 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.

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.

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...

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

113.00 Beginning balance
+_2.00 Weekly deposit

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

115.00 New Balance

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.

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?

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.