Trying to Save

Today is payday. I was so disappointed this morning when I checked my bank balance to see that I got half of what I was expecting. Hubby is at work so I don't know what he got paid yet.

The doctor approved me to go back to work next week as a phased return on reduced hours. So, my pay at the end of this month, will probably be about the same as this was.

Yesterday I bought a second hand lightweight pram. I noticed it was on one of the selling pages on Facebook. By chance, the woman selling it lives in my town. Her husband dropped it off last night, and, small world that it is, he used to work with hubby. It was fifty pounds. (I used the money I had claimed from my health plan from being in hospital) I checked online and it's RRP is 123.

For baby number two, that is. I spent £45 online because there was a baby event. This wasn't budgeted for. Now that it's here though I'm pleased I've started.

Hubby got SG's old clothes out from the back of our biggest cupboard. I picked out all of the neutral bodysuits and sleepsuits, and some of the girly ones too just in case. My cousin gave us boys clothes so I will sort that out too. It seems like I only need to buy some more hats, scratch mitts and socks for this baby. I do feel like I should have a few new outfits on hand though since SG got everything new - it's only fair, isn't it? Or is this just what happens with a second child?

Hubby wants to use the pram that we had for SG but I hate it because it's so heavy and awkward. Also it doesn't fold down. I was looking at prams in the catalogue, they're so expensive. Whatever happens it will be a pain because we're in a first floor flat.

My mum came over yesterday. I had to borrow some money from her for bus fares and food shopping, which I hate doing. If I hadn't bought that stuff I wouldn't have needed to borrow money. Whilst here, my mum was asking what baby stuff we need so I gave her a list of basic baby essentials to pick from e.g. nappies (can never have too many) and hats and mitts.

So hubby is working late tonight. It will be his final late shift before he moves department and changes to permanent dayshift. I'm still sore when I pick up SG and put her down for a nap, so hubby wanted MIL to take her. I grudgingly agreed. It's such a nice day here I feel like I should be doing something with her, not spending the day alone. However, hubby is more concerned with me getting plenty of rest and recovering. SG will be back tomorrow morning. There's an easter fayre at the local community centre which I want to go to, so we will be doing that.

For the rest of the day my plans are simple: do nothing. I did some dishes earlier and put on a washing so that#s enough. I've had lunch so I'll go for a nap soon then get a snack when i wake up. Maybe watch some more of The Good Wife on Netflix, which I only discovered last month.

No financial news to report (except hubby overspending when I ask him to pick a few things up)

Hubby is at work, so it's just me and SG. I was inspired to attempt a little decluttering today. I managed to get rid of some rubbish and some washing that had been lying about in the livingroom. However, there's still some mess as SG was right behind me. I need to get hubby to take down the birthday banners which are still up (he said it wasn't a priority to take them down while I was in hospital, and has been ignoring them since I came out) I would do it but it involves more stretching than I want to do.

I redeemed my amazon gift card today. We will be using it to buy baby stuff since we have basically bought nothing for this baby. Ten weeks to go now so I'm going to work out what we need to get. We're also going to visit the local nearly new baby and kids shop.

I've been craving a subway for the past few days. My appetite is slowly coming back.

I had a meeting at work. My sick line runs out at the start of May. I'm hoping to be back at work then *fingers crossed* then work until the end of May to finish up for maternity leave.

I noticed my savings have hit triple figures now.

Thank you for all of your kind wishes on my last post.

Hubby has a meeting with a manager at work today. He's had to take SG with him since I can't pick her up or put her down for a nap. When he spoke to them on the phone, they weren't being supportive about him having to take time off. Fingers crossed it goes ok.

The hospital gave me a sick line for one week. I'd expected to get a four week sick line like the last time, especially since I went through so much more than before. Going to get another one from the doctors this week. Ideally, I would like to be off for a few more weeks then go back to work for a few weeks to finish up for maternity leave. I haven't spoken to anyone at work yet about when I want to start my maternity leave.

Hubby was fantastic when I was in hospital, asking me what bills were due out (of my account) etc. He used quite a bit of money travelling through to see me but I was pleased when he told me I still had some money left.

Back to just above minimum payments on credit cards, same as before. I really really want to pay 100 to cc1 like last pay but it's not feasible when you take into consideration that both of our wages will be worse soon and the fact that hubby's pay was not good from taking time off. I can make up for it soon. It's annoying; CC1 is so close to being under a thousand pounds if I made a big payment...

I noticed that I've earned enough SBs to claim the Amazon gift card. I haven't redeemed it yet.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant now, baby is due 23rd June.

My head is all over the place. In my last entry I wrote about SG's birthday, maybe? I was all ready to start back at work that week.

Went to work. You're being moved department. Okay. Go to new department who didn't even know I was being transferred. Old manager said cause it's for light duties. New department begin training me on the Wednesday after SG's birthday. You still have holidays to take. Ok I'll take from this Saturday onwards - see you at the end of March.

Eh no.

Hubby went to work next day, everything ok. Had lunch. Then had cramps, sickness etc. Couldn't keep anything down. Hubby phoned doctor. Spoke to doctor, said I can't walk to the health centre. He came here and gave me some medicine which done nothing.

Up all night being ill. Hubby phoned MIL at 6am the next morning to take me to A & E. Assumed it was just an infection like my birthday and would be home later.

No they wanted to do surgery. Again. Another laparotomy. Risk of premature labour they told me, needed hubby's consent. Doctor phoned hubby. Do surgery.

Surgery done. It was an internal hernia and my bowels this time. Fed through a tube for ten days, then only allowed to sip fluids. Baby ok, scan confirmed.

Had to stay in surgery ward, maternity couldn't take me cos of all the tubes. Constant attention from obstetrician and midwives.

Home after thirteen days. They gave me all my notes, which said that baby would be unlikely to survive. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Glad to be home.

It's been a while since I posted. I started back at work yesterday. I thought it was meant to be Tuesday but there was a mix up so it was yesterday. I've been moved department and my days have changed. This department is easier physically but there's a lot to learn. I still had holidays to take so I'm off for a week now. These new hours mean that MIL will no longer have to look after SG on a Sunday, although we haven't told her yet. Also, we will only be off one day together instead of two. Lastly, I'll be home an hour later in the evenings.. so we will have easy meals those nights.

SG's little gathering went well. The person I was worried about showing up actually couldn't make it in the end because her little boy was ill. I made enough food for everyone that was there, and I still have plenty left over to bake another cake soon.

SG got birthday money from hubby's grandpa and dad. He doesn't talk to his dad - hasn't in years - so it was a big surprise. The money's going into SG's savings (well her piggy bank just now until we open an account)

I ordered hubby a very early birthday present from my catalogue, so I'm paying that up now. I'll get him a little thing on his actual birthday. We discussed it and decided that it would be better to add it to my bill now rather than later when I'm on maternity leave.

My cousin gave us lots of clothes for the baby. She has a little boy, although some of them were neutral. If we end up having a girl I will give them to my friend who is expecting a boy a few weeks after I'm due the baby.

I'm going to try and start the housing fund soon so that we can get some flooring in the kitchen soon. This was another thing that we discussed.

I've almost earned enough SB to claim an Amazon GC.

I think that's all for now.

I spent 16.xx at Tesco on party food, although this did include a jar of coffee (2.50 store brand) and a box of decaf tea bags which were also store brand and under two pounds. I bought a six pack of bubbles for 1.50 to put into the party bags.

Hubby commented when I came home that this has turned into a party. It's true, it has; a last minute party which is really badly organised. Next year I will budget money for SG's party - or birthday event - because we will probably do something. I was organised for her gift (although we're still waiting on a sale item arriving, so that'll be a few days late) just not this.

I was going to make potato salad for the buffet until I realised that I don;t have all of the ingredients, not even spring onion. Oh well.

On a totally different subject, this morning I checked my mum's online bank account (I'm allowed to, I set it up, she doesn't have a computer) to see that she hadn't left enough money in for one of her bills, so I transferred the difference, £12 out of savings. I then phoned her and explained what I had to do. She said she completely forgot that this payment was due out this week. I used that opportunity to say why this was a good reason to have savings (says me, with hardly any)otherwise she would have been charged by her bank for an unauthorised overdraft (5/day) Needless to say, she said keep on saving.

Last night, just as I was heading to bed, I got a message from one of my friends that I had invited to SG's little gathering. She's coming with her little boy. I immediately started to look at kids party snacks online again and decided that I need to get a few party bags since there's an extra child. If everyone shows up, there will be five kids and six adults. Hubby commented that we need more adult snacks for the parents so when he comes home from work I'm going to Tesco to get some more snacks, and party bags. I'm annoyed at myself for not planning this better because I would have bought the stuff in ages ago!

I'm going to write a list soon and aim to spend as little as possible. Wish me luck.

I asked hubby to pick up some decorations for SG's birthday yesterday. He spent twenty pounds, I'm sure I told him I only wanted to spend ten max so he is paying half. We've got a lot of balloons but SG loves so I guess it's worth it, we've not spent much on her actual presents.

Hubby has the day off for SG's birthday so we've invited a few toddlers over,we'll have family over the day before. I'm going to buy some snacks at Aldi tomorrow but not too much. I might just make some jam sandwiches, cheese sandwiches and buy some cocktail sausages, fruit and crisps.

I went to the doctor's yesterday. I should be back at work next week. Then I'll be counting down until I finish up for maternity leave.

My cousin text me yesterday asking if we could buy clothes instead of chocolate for her boys at Easter. Last year I went to Tesco and spent £30 on two outfits for them, and I used my credit card. This year they will get small gifts.

Speaking of gifts, there's a few that I need to buy this week. They're all for two year old boys.

I blew just over half of our grocery budget today:

- 38.99 at the butcher's
- 2.23 for bread and lettuce

Total: 41.22

Ten pounds was also added to my EF today, this is my automatic deposit that goes in every four weeks. That brings my new total to 85.00.

Today is payday. This is what I've paid so far:

- Littlewoods 138.32
- Vertbaudet 12.00
- BoS 80
- Capital One 90
-Christmas savings 40
- bus ticket 73.20

Total: 433.52

I wanted to pay 100 to Capital One (cc1) but hubby's pay was less than we thought it would be. Also, due to this, I'm only budgeting 80 for shopping rather than 140.

I must have baby brain. My urologist phoned today to see how I was getting on, and to check if I have picked up my antibiotics. I told her I had forgotten. Then someone else phoned from the hospital to confirm that I've got a UTI. I don't know how I forgot. I was too tired to pick up my prescription today - I had two naps then woke up tired. Crazy.

My mum came over for lunch. While she was here I reminded her that it's a new month so she needs to make a payment to her debt (I do it online for her, it takes less than a minute) She complained that her cable bill was due, she would see how much she had etc. This company are letting her pay it back interest-free. I mean, really? I told her I would check her balance - yep she had enough for both. She was surprised when I made both payments within two minutes. She got her money today too, actually she didn't know it was in. I'll wait a few weeks before transferring to her online savings. Since agreeing to save in Oct/Nov I have barely mentioned it to her since I know she will think of an excuse not to do it. I just look forward to the day - well, you know what I mean - when something breaks "order me a new x from your catalogue" and I can say "your savings will cover it"

Speaking of savings, mine finally updated. The building society was having technical problems.

Next thing to update: CC1.

Instead of ordering food shopping online, I went to Aldi today. I spent £29 and that included a silverside beef joint which is cooking in the slow cooker just now. It also included a bag of frozen prawns that I bought so I could attempt to make fried rice.

Hubby's friend gave us the money back yesterday. We need to get gas and electricity later so we will just use that money.

I noticed that I set up my 1/wk to begin on Saturday there, instead of this Saturday. My savings balance hasn't updated yet but the money's out of my account. It's only a pound but I'm wondering where it went? I'll check again tomorrow.

Today was the day that minimum payment for Capital One was due. I'll check in a few days to see if my statement has updated. I love seeing the balance going down.

I just wanted to update again, mostly for my records. After my last post, I logged into my current account to set up a transfer of 1/wk for 41 weeks to my tiny EF. This is the savings from paying off hubby's BNPL item before April. It starts next week. I started to think that hey one pound each week isn't much, I bet I won't notice if it increases to 2/wk when this finishes. So I set it up. This won't take effect until December.

I'm going to have to add a line in my budget for this now. I doubt I'll even notice though.

This morning I checked my bank account and was pleased to see that I had a bonus from work. I knew that today was the day that bonus was given, I just assumed that I wouldn't get one because of being off sick. Well I got 180. I sent 100 to Capital One (cc1) and paid off the rest of hubby's BNPL item (33) I might just order some food shopping for delivery online and that will be it.

Hubby thought I should put it to CC2 but I told him I was determined to get cc1 down since it's the lower balance. It makes me feel better. When I get rid of it, hubby wants me to use it for food shopping and then pay in full to help my credit rating.

I like the idea of saving the interest "saved" from paying off the BNPL item. Do you think it's silly to set up a transfer of 1/wk to my EF? (if my bank will let me, that is)

SG is still sleeping so I used that time to check over my budget for next pay period. Everything has now updated with the new minimum payment so there will be no surprises. Assuming that my pay is reasonable, we should be ok. I've updated everything in my notebook, and I just tick it off as I pay it. I also use Excel to budget too but I think I prefer physically ticking items off when they're paid. In my budget, I've put that I'm paying 100 to CC1. Fingers crossed I can do it since I am still on sick leave. I'll make it work, I want that debt gone.

Not much to report. Went to Aldi's for milk and fruit, and I ended up getting a couple more things. I was hoping to spend £7, I spent £9.09.

I was out of the house from 8am-6pm today. That's the longest I've been out in a while. Trust it to fall on SB's sixth birthday. I came home to find that they had increased my daily goal to 60 - I've been doing fine with 40-50. Well I have 45 now so working on the rest. I'm Team Red but I think I've barely contributed anything, although it helps that the birthday challenge didn't start until 12pm GMT.

I brought my own lunch today but never brought drinks. I spent some money today on a few bottles of water and juice. I also bought a few more snacks, I really underestimated how thirsty I would be there plus their waiting room was so hot. It was 1.30 for a bottle of water from their vending machine, they didn't have a water cooler! I really grudged that one. Unfortunately though I had to drink plenty today though. I did make a note of how much I had spent, at least at first. I think it was almost three pounds on drinks.

Good news is that the dreaded catheter is gone, at least for now anyway. If I am able to keep doing this myself then I should be ok although I've to phone her if I have any problems. Last week she told me that if I still have bladder problems and I am able to do this myself, further on in my pregnancy the catheter will have to go back in - just out of being practical more than anything else. It will be impossible to do with a huge bump! My bump with SG was neat but I still thought I was big - each to their own, I guess. I certainly can't imagine doing this in the final few weeks of pregnancy.

Oh well I better go back to Swagbucks and try to make my goal.

Not a lot happening here:

- withdrew £20 for gas and electricity
- paid hubby's underpaid tax 11.55
- bought a baguette for me and hubby to share 2.90
- multipack of sweets to take with me to the hospital tomorrow 1.00
- paid 6.00 to BNPL item (it's a knife block set)

Total: 41.45

Hubby told me I should have just paid extra to my credit card rather than paying his BNPL item. I told him I don't want him to pay that interest but he said he was ok with it - his payment plan was 0.52/wk. Well that will be paid by April.

I've been clearing out the fridge today. I made tuna fish cakes for SG from leftover tuna mayonnaise and leftover potatoes. I put two in the freezer to use another time, so I hope she likes them, I adapted the recipe to what I had. If SG doesn't like them, then we will have them. For lunch I will use up some more cooked potato and have a sandwich with that. When hubby comes home from work, he will have the last of the chinese from last night. There's also two baguettes that MIL gave us that I might try turning into garlic bread then freeze that.

I've got a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes that need using up. I'm going to parboil some of them today then put into a container in the fridge to be used for wedges or mashed potato. After that I will make the tomato and mozzarella pasta that I was meant to make a few days ago. There will be leftovers so we will probably have that for lunch tomorrow.

I've got a rough idea of what I'm going to make this week:

- tomato and mozzarella pasta
- cottage pie
- pizza with pepperoni, leftover mozzarella and peppers (forgot I had a pizza base mix from a while ago)
- corned beef hash

I was playing about on Whats the cost this morning. If I am able to pay 100 to CC1 every month I will have it clear by the end of April 2015. Then, if I pay 180 to CC2 that will be gone by June 2018. Of course, it sounds great in theory but I will try my best to put it into practice.

I also want to make sure that we have some sort of an EF because that's what caused a lot of the credit card debt in the first place - that and unnecessary spending . Part of me wants to save 10/fortnight rather than every four weeks but I don't know if I have the room in the budget for it just now. It does work out as only ten pounds extra every pay period.

Yesterday I posted about hubby's BNPL item and how I wanted to pay that off. Well I should have just put something towards it because I spent 22 pounds on a chinese takeaway tonight. The worst part is, it was my idea! I'm feeling so hypocritical right now, and guilty. I told hubby the next time we get one it will be planned. I was meant to make pasta tonight but SG was at MIL's and I guess part of me thought that we deserved a treat...

In other news, hubby's friend asked to borrow ten pounds so hubby is giving it to him tomorrow. Told hubby that when he gives us the money back it's either going into the EF, starting the housing fund or towards debt. Opinions? I know that it's only ten pounds but if I don't make a plan it will probably just get spent on some unplanned purchase when I get the cash.

Do I really need to post twice in one day? Well, no not really. However, I do actually have some more financial news.

I opened hubby's catalogue statement earlier and noticed that in April a new BNPL item will be added to his bill if he doesn't pay it off. Ok so I know that he has a lot of BNPL items so this isn't news; what bothers me is how little it is: £39. His statement basically said you can pay this amount OR pay an additional £41.65 in interest and have it added on to your minimum payment. Let me think about that... no way! I'm sure we can come up with the money by April. I'm not sure if DH will be as bothered as me by it - probably not - but I'd like it to be gone. After paying off two BNPL items last year I'd like to at least know that I paid off *something* albeit it's only 39. Hmm I'm going to check the calendar - how many weeks until 4/4?

My other news is that, for the first time ever, I have made my daily SBs goal for three weeks in a row. One more week to go.

I had to go and see a specialist at the hospital in Edinburgh today. It isn't local, and it took me ages to get there. So there was some money spent. I need to get two buses to get there. After I got off the first bus - using my ticket so no spending required - I checked the bus times only to realise I had over half an hour to wait. I bought a few snacks (1.88) then I had to pay for my ticket (4.00). After my appointment I was so hungry that I bought a lunch time meal deal - sandwich, juice and crisps - which was 3.79.

I brought some snacks with me but I finished them while I was waiting on the bus. I also had a bottle of juice with me but by the time I got to the hospital I was finished.

After all of this spending, my appointment was actually ok. Although I have a feeling I will be back there again soon - she's going to be in touch. At least the next time I will have a better idea of bus times and I'll pack more snacks.

CB is not the only one with some budget changes. We got a letter today stating that our rent will increase by 3% in April. The letter didn't state the actual amount though, just how much the new rent will be annually so i divided that by 48 weeks to get a figure. (We get four rent-free weeks a year. Rent is payable in 48 installments) By my calculations, it's increased by just over 2 pounds each week.

Another change is that I'm starting to pay back tax from last year. I don't earn enough for them to take extra tax out of my pay so I have a direct debit set up starting next month. That's 9.33 for twelve months.

I think that's all... for now.

Today I went shopping. I spent 30.45 although I was only 45p out of pocket. How was that possible? Well I used the last of the high street vouchers that we had saved for Christmas. There were a few impulse buys at the checkout when I realised that I was under thirty pounds - and change isn't given when you use a voucher - so I made up the difference.

I should only have to buy milk and bread between now and payday.

Today I made a payment to hubby's barclaycard. The minimum payment was 18.77, I paid 20. The payment isn't due for another three weeks and normally hubby would just pay it then. I hate seeing the balance so close to the limit. Of course another payment will be made so that he doesn't go over his limit again.

Hubby went shopping with MIL yesterday. We only needed a few things and he spent £15.xx. We've now got £7.08 left to last us until 7th March. He did get what I asked for, he just got lots of it, plus a few extra things too.

I've got pork cooking in the slow cooker just now with cider, apples and onions. I found the recipe on my local butcher's FB page. We'll have that with mashed potatoes and veg tonight.

The rest of the week we will have:

- spicy root and lentil casserole
- mozzarella pasta bake
- minute steak fajitas
-minute steak pasta

I got a pound of minute steak pasta from the butcher's in my meat pack and I put it all in the freezer without dividing it up so I'll need to cook it all up this week. I could probably freeze the leftovers though.

I've really been making a conscious effort to use up leftovers.

I made corned beef hash for the first time this week. We had a lot left over so when my mum came to visit I sent her away with some. As it turns out it's a really cheap meal to make: tin of corned beef, mashed potatoes, baked beans, onions and tomato sauce. In the oven for 10-15 mins.

Sent hubby to work with some beef casserole.

MIL brought hubby home yesterday and gave us some hamburger pasta that she had made and a sausage and bean casserole. Me and SG had the casserole tonight, I just added some grated cheese. Hubby is going to have the pasta tomorrow since it's one of his favourite dishes (his mum used to make it all the time)

I've been checking our grocery budget and we have 22.37 left to last until payday (7/3). I only need to buy milk at the weekend so I'm not worried. Yet. We do have a full fridge and freezer so there's no reason to stress.

Went to the doctor's this morning. He gave me another four week sick line. I'm hoping my bladder problem will be more manageable within that time and I will be back to work then.

Spoke to hubby about how we have to "claw our way back" financially. I've been reading Martin Lewis's forums and I get his weekly emails. Anyway, there's a store cupboard challenge that I would like us to do soon and then put the extra money towards credit cards. Hubby's card was over the limit due to charges (gutting after I thought I sorted it last year) so any extra he can put will be good.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=20967

I was thinking last night that I really should have my savings balance on my sidebar. Everyone else does. On that note, actually, LR has been motivating me to save more... I was reading her old entries and thinking "look how quickly her savings increased, if she can do it, so can I!" So thanks for the motivation LR!!