Trying to Save

First of all, thank you for all of the birthday wishes. I had a lazy day. Hubby got me a new phone from the catalogue - which I wasn't happy about - but it was a nice thought. I made sure he is at least paying it up now and I think he used his rewards towards it too. I'm now totally against putting anything on Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Or, should I say, anything else that is. There are a few things I wanted to get paid off this year but that isn't going to happen so I've accepted that; I just want to make sure that we don't make things worse for ourselves in the future by constantly paying for past purchases.

My mum and friend came over yesterday with presents. Also, BIL gave me thirty pounds which I transferred to savings - and made a mental note to spend the same on his birthday. I'm hoping that I won't need it.

I had an appointment with the consultant on Tuesday. He thinks my bladder problems are long-term. He said catheter needs to come out because it's been in too long. His solution? I do it myself. I will need to get another sick line from the doctor.

We were talking about goals last night. Hubby mentioned that we need to get a carpet for our room and we need blinds etc. We agreed that we need to save up for these things. We didn't agree or an amount or when to have it saved by though. The money will go into my savings account rather than keeping it separate since I am allowed to save over 5k per tax year tax-free (which has never happened) I'll just keep track of it in my notebook.

I complained to hubby that CC1's balance is barely moving, the balance only went down by under thirty pounds. Right now, my minimum payment is 44. I'll aim for getting it to 25 by December.

So, as a summary, my rough goals are:
1. start a housing fund
2. cc1 min. payment to 25

Thoughts? Anything else I should consider?

And I spent the early hours of this morning in the hospital. I don't want to go into too much info but I had sickness and cramping for hours last night. Doctors discovered that it's a feminine problem that I've got. Came home at 7am this morning and slept till just before twelve.

I've just read CCF's other blog about a slush fund. I like that idea but we don't have an EF yet. One thing at a time. I too seem to be bumbling about since we're two months into the year and I haven't made any goals yet. I should hang my head in shame - and get my thinking cap on. It's fair to say that they will be minimal goals for this year.

In other news, we were approved for help with housing.

Yesterday we went shopping. I spent £60.69 at Aldi's, my trolley was full and I got everything on my list... plus a couple of extras too, but it was just little things like mozzarella cheese and a really nice bar of dark chocolate. Later we went to the butcher's and I spent £29.64.

I'm trying to get some order back into our lives. So I'm back to proper meal planning. I'm recovering now and hope to be back at work within the next few weeks. Hubby thinks I shouldn't be going back yet but I will only have three weeks to work then I will be on holiday for SG's second birthday.

Speaking of SG's birthday, I ordered her two Peppa Pig toys from my catalogue (using my rewards of course). I had £22.52 of rewards, my order came to £26.00. After rewards were applied I was only £3.84 OOP. I think we are quite sensible when it comes to gifts for SG. I noticed on FB that a girl I went to school with, whose daughter is a bit older than SG, filled her couch with presents for her. Someone joked that it would take her until her next birthday to open them.

It's my birthday tomorrow. Hubby told me that BIL is going to give me money instead of a present cos he thinks I need it more. Should I put it in savings or just count it as cash flow? Thoughts? We might be a bit short this month but I'm hoping we can scrape by.

I don't normally post what I've paid but here it is:

- rent £243
- Littlewoods catalogue £137.60
- Vertbaudet catalogue £24.00*
- BoS CC £87.00
- Cap One CC £60.00
- four-weekly bus ticket £73.20

Total: £624.80

* This is a kids French catalogue that I got Dec 2012 for SG. I only have a small credit limit (£250)

One thing this post says to me, and I'm already aware of it, is this: most of my money goes to debt!!

Well today is payday. My work kept to their word and backdated my sick pay. However, since hubby did not get sick pay it doesn't really make us any better off. I have enough to pay all of our rent for this month but I will need to cover hubby's shortfall.

My aim this pay is to keep under budget since my next pay will not be as good. I've been paid for an extra few weeks that I won't have in March's pay.

I have a feeling that the local council will not give us any help on last month's two weeks missed rent because my pay is looking good. If they don't I will just pay extra when I can over the next few months. They already know that we are in the process of applying for help.

As far as food shopping is concerned, I am going to the local butcher's tomorrow for a £26 meat pack and I will get the rest at Aldi's

My sidebar, that is. I checked my statement for CC1 and the reason my payment is so low is because it's now 1% of the balance. I can't wait until our finances are sorted and I can start paying more. I will check CC2 soon.

Next on the list is to think of some goals for this year.

I'm home alone today. It's hubby's first day back at work so he asked MIL to take SG. I would have rather spent time with her but he wanted me to take it easy.

The only things that he wanted me to do were to declutter a few kitchen drawers which he brought through to the livingroom last night. It was a long task, and I found receipts from 2012. I had a good read through them, and a lot of them were credit card receipts. Thankfully I don't have those anymore. I think we should sort through the mail weekly because a lot of stuff had built up. I also need a shredder to fully complete my job but I can't buy one yet.

Tomorrow we have been together for eleven years. I have decided to make a curry for us then. I checked the cupboards and I have a packet of poppadoms and pilau rice that will take two mins in the microwave. I've found an easy recipe online for curry, and I attempted to make spiced onions to go with the poppadoms today (recipe said they should be chilled for a few hours) so we'll see tomorrow. I didn't have mint sauce or mango chutney which the recipe needed; I'll know for next time.

I've got a batch of vegetable soup cooking right now. I had a lot of vegetables that needed using up. Now I'm happy knowing that they haven't gone to waste.

Have a great Sunday guys. Is it Super Bowl Sunday? I;m sure BIL always used to take the Monday off work to recover from watching it.

This will be another tight month, but at least it's a shorter month. I'm trying to be optimistic but it is difficult.

Our application for Housing Benefit has been delayed until we get paid because they need the wage slips that have sick pay on it. However, hubby got a letter through telling him that he didn't earn enough to qualify for sick pay. I'm hoping we can take this to the council and show them. Therefore, hubby's pay will be worse than the last pay, I'm dreading to see what he gets.

Hubby borrowed money from BIL. MIL had offered if we needed more money she would take it from her overdraft; BIL said he had savings.

I had to phone my health plan again because they never sent my claim forms. I should get them next week.

It's my birthday this month but I won't be able to do anything for it. I think we got a takeaway last year. Maybe I can make a curry or something?

I was at the hospital twice during the week. Still no luck with my catheter. Also, the midwives know who I am as soon as I walk in. That's a sign I'm there too much.

Next week I have my 20 week scan. We're not finding out the gender. I had a scan at the hospital a few days to check my kidneys and the sonographer was nice enough to give me a little pic of baby.

I really need to think of some financial goals.

I really didn't want to update until I had some good financial news to report. Since this isn't looking possible until March, I can't wait that long to update so here I am.

My statutory sick pay didn't go through in this pay. I spoke to personnel who said that I handed my sick line in after the cut off date. They said it will be in my next pay, which is thirteen days away. Since there was no sick pay in my wage, I only got paid for the 42 hours that I worked before I was sick. Also, hubby's pay was just as bad as mine because of his sick days.

I borrowed some money from my mum to pay a week of rent. I hated asking her and we are still going to be two weeks behind if I've worked it out properly. We've applied for a benefit to help us. Hubby is going to hand in the forms on Monday because they're closed today. He took it over yesterday but forgot to bring ID so they wouldn't accept it.

My statement for CC2 just came through today. I noticed that it's not due until 17 Feb so I will pay that in a few weeks.

I went to my doctor's and got another sick line for four weeks. I am still feeling tired and sore after daily tasks and I told her this. My work had made an appointment with occupational health which happened to be the day my new line started so I went to the appointment. According to OH, I was fit for work. He never listened when I told him I didn't feel ready, was still tired etc. He was really rude. His final words to me were "You're done" and I got up and left.

We owe MIL £16.22 because she picked up some things for us at Aldi's a few weeks ago. She asked hubby for it back but he told her she would have to wait until we have a proper wage.

I need to phone my health plan again. They were supposed to send me a form so I can claim for my nights in hospital but they haven't done it yet.

I can only think of one positive financial news during this whole time: I never cancelled my 10/four-weekly automatic deposit to savings. In times of need before it used to be the first thing to go. If I had kept it up we might not be in this situation.

I've been checking CC1 for a few days, waiting for it to update. Well it updated today. My minimum payment last month was £66.xx, this month it is £44.90. Just goes to show how much the payment protection insurance was costing me. Well, I couldn't bring myself to pay the minimum to it so I paid £50.00. Normally I pay £90 but I just don't have the money just now.

It's been one week since my last entry. I ended up spending the night in hospital on 30/12. I was home early evening the next day. This time it wasn't as serious though. For those of you who have ever been unlucky enough to have a catheter, I still have mine. This happened before with SG only not so early on in the pregnancy.

When I came home, I felt better so I tried to help hubby with little household tasks like tidying up the livingroom. It was too much for me and I was in pain the rest of the night. My biggest accomplishment so far has been getting my own juice and snack from the kitchen (hubby was putting SG down for her nap)

The doctor gave me a sick line for four weeks off work, so I'm one week into that. I also have a week unpaid before I had the sick line. Also, hubby has phoned in sick too to help me. I think I will be off for more than four weeks though.

For the first time in over a year, I will only be paying the minimum to credit cards. I hate to do this but it's only short term.

We still have high street vouchers left that we saved for Christmas. They can be used in a store, Iceland, that offers free delivery when you spend £25 or more. Hubby will go there soon and that should last us a few weeks and fill up our freezer.

Hubby has been doing everything. I've been offering advice about cooking on the sidelines, I had to because he made his first roast dinner. Other than that, I spend my days on the couch or napping in bed. I only just checked Swagbucks today but I didn't have the energy to try to reach the goal.

I have not even thought about my goals for this year. Although, right now, my goal is just to get through January and February. I thought Oct 2013 was tough, I know this will be worse.

This is a short entry as I am still in pain. I ended up in hospital on 19/12. I had to have a laparotomy in the early hours the next morning. I finally got out dinner time on Christmas Eve. I had an infection, but they weren't able to find out the cause.

Baby is fine. Due 22nd June.

Another post for today but thought I would just give a quick update.

Today was payday. Nothing particularly exciting since I knew my pay would be the same as usual.

I paid my catalogue bill. This is the first payment with a BNPL item added to my minimum payment because I didn't manage to pay it off (a carpet). I am a platinum customer so I get 10% of my minimum payment back as rewards to spend, however, BNPL items are not included in this. I only received £6.xx rewards for a £127 payment. It's better than nothing but I'm used to getting 10% of my minimum payment back.

I'm waiting on my credit cards updating. CC2 is first then it's cc1. I always count down the days until my statement updates so I can make a payment straight away - less interest, right? If I had extra money I would make the equivalent of two payments but I don't...

I need to buy a wedding present - gift vouchers from John Lewis - this pay period. The wedding is in a few weeks, but only hubby is going. It's at an expensive hotel and I can't drink anyway, plus I will be at home with SG. That reminds me, I need to buy their card in too.

I'll be posting some Christmas presents next week. I'll post them second class so it's cheaper.

I introduced hubby to Swagbucks, I sent him a referral. I've been watching a lot of videos but hubby likes to search. I'm not completely sure how that works so I've rarely used it. I now have 1162SB so slowly getting there.

Hubby and I have agreed to save our catalogue rewards for presents next year, like we did for a while this year.

Tomorrow my automatic deposit of £10 will be transferred to savings. It's not much but it's something. I was thinking about increasing it by a few percent next year but when I look at my credit card I change my mind.

Apart from paying bills, today was a NSD.

I think that's all for now.

I've spent a while today looking through the cupboards deciding what to have. I'm going for a bit of shopping early tomorrow so I'll start my meal plan from then.

- Tacos
- Leftover mince from tacos, need to find inspiration
- Gnocchi pasta grill
- Potato and brocolli bake

At the beginning of the year I decided to focus more on credit card one rather than credit card 2. My reasoning was that it was the smaller balance so would be easier to tackle and it would make me feel better seeing the balance going down.

I put snowflakes towards this credit card for some of the year, not the whole year as I had planned.

Well, I totaled up the total interest that I have paid on credit card one this year. I also totaled up the PPI payments that I'm also getting charged on it. I remember having Payment Protection Insurance for credit card two and I cancelled it, so i think I will be doing the same soon. Anyway, here's the numbers:

Total interest: £457.65
Total PPI: £134.62

At the beginning of the year my balance on this card was £1679.16 and my minimum payment was £83.96. Now it is £1323.30 and £66.17

I've reduced the balance by £355.86.

In total, I've paid £592.27 in interest and PPI.

Ouch. All I can say I will never use this card again.

Just a few thoughts...

I'm going to get back into the habit of meal planning again. I haven't done a proper meal plan in weeks, and even hubby has noticed! Back to planning meals again, it's good for the budget.

Another thing I'm going to do before this year is over is to total up the amount of interest I have been paying on credit cards and catalogue. This was a suggestion from snafu and I think it's a brilliant idea. There's nothing like seeing it all in black and white for motivation.

I need to think of goals for 2014.

Last night hubby and I had a conversation about saving vs paying down debt. He said that because we only work part-time, it's only possible for us to either save or pay down debt - we can't do both. Ideally I'd like to increase my automatic savings deposit to £20, which isn't a lot but right now it's only at £10

I've been thinking a lot about next year. At some point, I will be on maternity leave again. The first time I was on maternity leave I used my credit card a lot whether it was for car repairs, petrol or shopping. I refuse to let it happen again. Hubby said he will do a lot of overtime while I'm off to make up for the money I will be losing (roughly £100 less than what I take home now) While I would like hubby to do some overtime, I know that if I can decrease my credit card and catalogue minimum payments life will be a bit easier. Right now, my catalogue payment is £127 and I pay £90 to both credit cards. I just realised that is £307. That's one of the reasons why I'm trying to pay off any BNPL items that I have on my catalogue so that they don't get added to my bill.

This post is all over the place. If you got this far, thanks for reading.

On 18th January our utilities will increase by 3.7%. I just read this news today. I switched to this company a few months ago because I thought it would save us money. According to the news, the big six energy companies are hiking prices.

In April our rent will increase by 3%.

This year we each saved £10 every four weeks towards Christmas. Next year we're going to double that and save £20 each.

I need to increase the amount automatically deposited into savings. Right now it is £10 every four weeks. After years of blogging, it should be more.

One of my Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) items is due to be paid by 30th May. It's £199. When I get paid I will make the first payment of £40 towards it. I will factor this into next year's budget.

My statement for CC1 updated. My minimum payment is 66.17. One of my goals for this year was to get this payment to £60 - so close. I'm going to pay it today. I need to update my sidebar, my new balance is 1323.30. Looking at my sidebar, it was 1679.16 at the beginning of the year. I've reduced my balance by £355.86. It would have been more if I had kept putting snowflakes towards it.

I've been trying to go onto swagbucks daily. I now have 823SB. I put a £25 Amazon gift card on my wishlist.

I've been trying to think of some goals for next year. I've got nothing specific yet but tackling credit card debt will of course be one goal. I'm going to try to make realistic goals for next year, especially since baby number 2 is due. I found when I had SG that my goals went downhill.

I need to blog more often. When I post often, I'm more aware of my finances. This pay period I have spent £30 on takeaways - yet I said at the start that the takeaway that was £9 was my only splurge. Well, it was until Sunday after work when I was exhausted and a takeaway looked good. £21 later... We finished it the next night but I've been feeling bad all week.

I decided to bite the bullet this morning and pay off the rest of the Christmas tree which was one of my Buy Now Pay Later items from the catalogue. I reasoned that we got through the last six weeks so paying an extra £35 to get rid of debt is nothing.

Next on my list will be an item which cost me £199. Payment is due by 31/5/14. There's a few smaller items due before then but I'm not sure how much I afford. I'll start paying this off next pay,which is the middle of December.

I think my Christmas shopping is almost done. I haven't bought anything for my friend's kids yet - I never see her or hear from her - so I'm hoping to get something in the sale for them. Also I need to get a present for the grannies from SG. There's also my mum's friend who always buys SG something. Again, I'm thinking sale.

We're having Christmas dinner at MIL's, with my mum invited too. I'm expecting MIL to ask for x amount per person like she did two Christmases before. I mentioned this to hubby, who had completely forgotten that we had given her money before. I might check my old blog entries to see how much she asked for - although, prices have increased since then...

We've been invited to a wedding in January. I think only hubby will go though. Their gift list at John Lewis went live today so I checked it out earlier. They're asking for gift vouchers, so I haven't bought any yet. If it was actual gifts I would have picked this morning before anyone else had looked at it; I'm not so worried about it being vouchers. I actually checked twice just to be sure.

Went to the shops with SG today and spent £9.xx on some fruit, cheese, apple pie, custard and a bar of chocolate. Tomorrow we're going to get a few things at the supermarket. I haven't done a proper shop since we've been paid, I've just been picking up things here and there. I think that's worse in a way because I'm probably spending more.

I found some unopened Christnas decorations in a gift bag and some wrapping paper.

I spent £15.88 on groceries yesterday.

As a treat last night, and only splurge this pay period, we got a takeaway. Spent £9.20.

Total spending: £25.08

After we went to mother and toddler group, I stopped at our local shopping centre and bought me and SG a sausage roll each (Hubby's idea, he says he does it occasionally for them) Went to the local cafe because I reasoned it would be cheaper than the bakers which recently opened in the local shop. Spent £2.30

Hubby phoned earlier and suggested that we get a coffee tomorrow while we're getting some more Christmas presents. I reminded him that we still have other things to buy that we have to use actual money for (vouchers are already paid for) so I don't want to fritter away money on coffee here, a sausage roll or two there.. He said just a coffee. I'll be standing my ground. If I happen to get hungry I'll go to the supermarket or Boots and grab a meal deal because that will be cheaper than eating in our favourite coffee place. Of course, I know I could make us sandwiches to take - maybe I will if I have time. I haven't even wrapped MIL's presents yet, going to have a nice bath then do it after that. I've been exhausted all day.

Used all of my catalogue rewards today to order two presents for SG's Christmas. I had 28.98 rewards and I redeemed 28.00. They should arrive next week.

Today is payday. The first thing I done today was check my bank balance - it's looking healthy, for now anyway - then pay a few bills. I paid my catalogue bill then I paid £30 to my BNPL item (£35 to go, due 13/12 which is my next payday, so need to make sure I have money the day before)

I logged on to swagbucks and have managed to earn 6SB this morning. Thanks to reading CCF's post I realised that I don't have to let the videos play the whole way through.

I need to wrap MIL's birthday presents today since the meal is tomorrow. All in all, we spent 99p on her and that was for her card. I bought wrapping paper for 20p a few months ago so I will use that.

I'm waiting on both credit card statements to update. It will be CC2 first then Capital One.

I got a letter yesterday from another catalogue wanting me to join. "Get £15 off your first order of £35 or more" No thanks. They must send their letters out at this time of year because I've never had one before. They obviously know people rely on them for their Christmas shopping. I've got almost £30 of rewards to use in my Littlewoods catalogue so that will be used for a couple of toys for SG.

Tomorrow my automatic savings transfer of ten pounds will transfer. I need to increase this but I know I need to reduce debt too. I don't want to increase then have to take money out of savings.

I had some time to myself today so I started decluttering my side of the room. While sorting through things, I found a book about Whitney Houston that I'd bought last year for either my mum or MIL. I must have forgotten about it because it was under a few books. I'll give that to MIL for her birthday along with the photoframe and DVDs that we bought using our rewards.

I keep forgetting about swagbucks. I've only got 89SB so I can't imagine how long it will take to be able to redeem rewards. Any tips?

Tomorrow is payday, thankfully. It's been a tough six weeks, but not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yesterday hubby found twenty pounds in an envelope that we must have put aside months ago, so we used that today to top up our gas and electricity. It couldn't have happened at a better time.

After my last post, I did a search for paid surveys online and swagbucks came up. At first I thought it was a mistake, but no there's a site in the UK. Right now I have 72SB. I'm not sure how often I'll get on it though, but I'll try my best.

Thank you for all of the kind messages on my last post. It seems, however, that, what five weeks, maybe into this pregnancy and me and hubby are disagreeing about what we should do when baby number two is here. He wants me to give up work, whereas I think I should just reduce my hours a bit? I brought up our debt, but hubby seems to think we'd be ok. The main problem is that we don't think MIL can cope with two under three's and hubby doesn't want my mum to babysit (trust issues etc) We both work on a Sunday so if I could get my day changed then the problem would be solved but we would hardly see each other at the weekend. I don't know why I'm thinking about this now. I haven't even registered with the midwife yet.

I checked my email and my phone bill is going to be £33. Ten pounds more than normal, and more than I'd like. Hubby used my phone because his phone wasn't working so I guess that's why. I will be keeping track better this time around.

Made a homemade birthday card from SG today for MIL. We used some of my rewards from the catalogue to get a photo frame which will be from SG. Still need to order a gift from us, but hubby will use his rewards. I told him he has a budget, so look at gifts within the budget, not what you really want to get, We told our family the news and MIL wants to go out for a meal for a double celebration (her birthday is next week). Apparently BIL will pick up the tab as a birthday present. I hate the fact that he's paying but then it wasn't our idea.

The Christmas tree that I bought from the catalogue last year - yes I bought a tree and put it on Buy Now Pay Later, crazy - is due to be paid in two paydays. I will get that paid off. I refuse to pay interest on a tree.

I forgot to mention that this pregnancy has cost me 9.99 so far. I bought a Clearblue pregnancy test. I think I will try and keep track of my baby-related spending.

Found SG's library book that I thought I'd lost. It's funny, I wasn't even looking for it.

It's been six days since my last post. I've found myself making a few impulsive purchases after work, mainly on reduced items. Apart from that, I have been trying my best to rein in spending.

My credit card statement updated so I made a payment. My minimum payment is now 68.54... so close to my goal of 60 for this year. I hate the fact that it's so close, yet so far.

I didn't meal plan this week, we've just been eating what's on hand. Surprisingly, our cupboards are still quite full. Although hubby did say that we really need to get more paprika in. It's one of our favourites to use when making wedges.

Now for the news... We found out last week that we're expecting baby number two. I tried to get a doctor's appointment on my last day off (Monday) but had no luck, so I will be trying again today. We haven't told anyone yet, although we will be telling our parents soon.

Work has been busy this week, and my days have been long. I've been leaving the house to get the bus before 7am and not getting home until almost 7 that night because my bus never showed up. The first night that I missed it I was standing opposite McDonald's and I was freezing... but I never went in.

I found a dress in the sale for SG's Christmas. It was £3.00.

I've been distracted this week - had a few things on my mind. I will probably leave that until another post for now though. But the good news is that we still have food money left.

I'm working four hours extra this weekend. Hubby is doing a nightshift after his dayshift.

My mum's coming over today. I was meant to meet her for a coffee but I'm not feeling well so I've invited her over here instead. I think hubby gave me his cold.