Trying to Save

Not a lot of spending to report, thankfully. My mum asked me to collect her prescription yesterday. I walked to the pharmacy. After I collected it, I went to Morrisons and bought furniture wipes for our room. I found a 24 pack for £1.01. I took it out of the "snacks" budget since it is for the room, at least that's my reasoning anyway.

This morning I transferred £50 to savings. I also sent away my claim form for the dentist.

I feel as though this is more of a spend-less month than a no-spend month. However, I've only spent money on bills and things which were budgeted for - with the exception of my windscreen, that is. I would have loved to put that £70 into savings rather than spend it, but never mind.

Hubby is going to the cinema with his mum tonight. I'm working all weekend so it will be an early night for me.


£190.35 previous balance
- £50.00 (savings)
= £140.35 remaining

Cash envelope balances:

petrol £50 beg/£29 remaining
packed lunch £10/£5.65
snacks £10/£4.94
= £30.41 spent/ £39.59 remaining

Total saved = £52.78

£192.86 previous balance
- £16.76 (AA)
+ £105.00 (£85 road tax, £20 hubby)
- £90.75 (6 month road tax)
= £190.35 remaining

Cash envelope balances:

petrol £50 beg/£29 remaining
packed lunch £10/£5.65
snacks £10/£5.95
= £29.40 spent/ £40.60 remaining

Also, we never went to Zumba last night so I still have my £10 put aside for that.

Upcoming expenses:

phone £22.31
insurance £98.42
AA £18.98
= £139.71

That will leave me with £50.64. I'm going to claim back the money from the dentist (£45) so that will be £95 left... hopefully. Plus, any cash left over will be saved too. I might actually do this!

The weekend was nice while it lasted, but it's over now. Back to normal.

This morning before work I spent £1.35 on snacks for us. £1 of this was actually on a 10 pack of cappucino sachets. They're usually £2.55 so it was a good buy.

I haven't got any plans this week. Hubby is going to the cinema with his mum.

I may actually have a quiet week. I accidentally left my phone charger at my friend's house. I wrote on her FB page and let her know, who knows when she will check it though.

Speaking of friends, I found out yesterday that my other friend is pregnant again.

This entry hasn't really been finance-related, has it? I'll do a proper update later in the week.

Yes, for once I am home alone. In all fairness, it's not my home but it is nice to have some peace and quiet for a change. Hubby is at work for another few hours so I've got a couple more hours of this.

This weekend has been great. We went shopping yesterday (hubby paid) for food. Last night we had a roast dinner, today we're just using up the last of the food that we bought. I could get used to this.

I bought a few things for my packed lunch yesterday, and I got petrol. I got 15.45 litres, spent £21. I've got half a tank now.

Envelope cash balances:

petrol £50 beginning/£29 remaining
packed lunch £10 beg/ £5.65 remaining
snacks £10 beg/£10 remaining

I transferred £50 to MIL yesterday. DH gave me his £30 today. I took £10 for zumba (I'm sure I took money out last week for zumba but I spent it on bus fares) This week I will put that money into my bank, plus my road tax money.

Upcoming expenses:

road tax £90.75
phone £22.31
insurance £98.42

I almost forgot. I had to renew my breakdown cover yesterday. I'm paying it monthly now. There's a one-off payment of £16.xx coming out this week then £18.98 in two weeks. I really would rather keep the money but I can't be without breakdown cover.

I had to pay for my filling today. Yesterday I bought some cold relief tablets and lozenges. My mum asked me to buy her a few candles too.

£364.76 previous balance
- £2.40 (cold medicines)
- £4.50 (candles)
- £45.00 (dentist)
= £312.86 remaining

I'm expecting to have to buy some groceries for the weekend at my friend's. Hubby wants to get a takeaway, I'd rather we made our own meals. I know it wasn't in my budget for this month. I spoke to my friend, she said we can help ourselves to food. I'm not comfortable with that, I'd rather we got our own.

My mum gave me the money back for the candles.I'll use it to buy the birthday cards for my aunties.

Due to some unexpected expenses this month, I'll declare this month a success if I'm able to save an extra £50, ideally more would be better. Normally I only save £30 monthly, sometimes I add extra but it's not a lot. If I didnt need to replace my windscreen I'd aim higher. If I claimed the money back from the dentist that would be £45 but that just seems like cheating, what do you think?

I need a new windscreen. I'll be getting it replaced on Friday. Cost: £70 (Ironically I have the exact money here it's just for other things)

I've been walking to work and getting the bus home. Only one more day of this then I'm off work. Bus fares are £2. So I've spent £4 on bus fares.

I need to put money into a collection at work. One of my colleagues has just became a gran. I met her grandson today. Adorable.

I'm trying to think positive, despite the fact that I need a new windscreen during this No Spend Month. Some No Spend Month, but I know this is a necessity. On the plus side though, I haven't spent any of my petrol budget yet

I have a dentist appointment on Thursday. £45 I'm unsure whether to claim the money back so I can put it into savings, or wait till next month to claim it back. Is that cheating?

I almost forgot - we're dogsitting this weekend. My friend and her roommates are away for the weekend so me and husband are going to stay in her flat for a few days

£84.76 previous balance
- £20.00 (our xmas savings, DH gave me his £10 back)
+ £300 (DH replaced the money I transferred)
= £364.76 remaining

This sure doesn't feel like a No Spend Month.

I withdrew £70 today. This is money for petrol, packed lunches and snacks.

£154.76 previous balance
- £70.00 (cash withdrawal)
= £84.76 remaining

Cash Envelope balances:

petrol £50
packed lunch £10
snacks £10

In other news, my windscreen has a crack in it. It isn't obstructing my view. I phoned Autoglass but my insurance company doesn't deal with them. I'm going to go on my insurance company's website and see what can be done.

My spending and saving balances are the same as before:

Spending £660
Saving £2.78

It's been an uneventful weekend. Last night we watched The Money Pit. It was my first time watching it. It was a dvd that I'd put on our Love Film list. I never would have put Tom Hanks and Shelly Long together. I enjoyed it.

Today I went to my mum's for a few hours. When I came back we tidied our room. Then we watched Cougar Town. We still have the new episode of Bones to watch, that probably won't be until tomorrow now.

Tomorrow I'm working till 5. I'm planning on withdrawing money to put into my cash envelopes before I start (£70) I'm going to try my best not to buy anything to take to work. I have a multipack of mini cheddars, cereal bars and portions of raisins to take with me. I usually buy portions of fruit but there's a full fruit bowl so I will be making the most of that.

Every month I pay £13 for my dental plan. I'd been going to the same dentist for years as an NHS patient when they changed the criteria. I was at university at the time, so it was more than five years ago. I can't remember the specific details but because I was over 18 I had the option of taking up the private plan, or finding another dentist. I agreed to pay £12 each month at that time. It's increased to £13 now. This plan means I am entitled to:

- 2 check-ups a year
- 2 visits to the hygienist
- one x-ray per year

My mum goes to the same dentist as me. She receives benefits so her treatment is free.

I joined a health cash plan at work a couple of years ago. I pay £8 every four weeks out of my pay, this is the basic level. I can use it to claim money back for optical and dental treatments. I haven't used it for dental yet since the last few years I haven't needed any work done. I mostly just use it for optical expenses, claiming money back when I buy my contact lenses or have a contact lense check-up. I need to book one soon, I'm a few months overdue.

I'm getting a filling next week. After the treatment I have 13 weeks to make a claim. I don't know whether to claim the money back during this No Spend Month or wait till next month.

In other news, we never went to Edinburgh yesterday. As soon as we got to the train station, an announcement went out that the train had been cancelled. We'll go next month instead.

It's payday. I've spent the morning paying bills. Later we're going to Edinburgh Anyway, this is what things look like so far:

£35.78 opening balance
- £2.78 (savings)
= £33.00
+ £781.76 wages = £814.76
- £13.00 (dental plan)
- £25.00 (savings)
- £160.00 ("rent")
- £300.00 (husband)
- £56.00 (catalogue)
- £65.00 (credit card 2)
- £41.00 (credit card 1)
= £154.76 remaining

Total saved = £2.78
Total spent = £660.00

This has all been on bills though, plus I'm due £300 back from hubby so it's not that bad.

I don't usually post twice in one day, but I've been thinking about what rules I will follow for this month. Here's what I've came up with:

1) record all spending from June's pay
2) record extra savings that I make this month*
3) all leftover money in bank will go towards Moving Out Fund
4) leftover money in envelopes will be divided between my emergency fund and car fund

*this probably won't apply until the end of the month when I will see how much I've got leftover. I won't include my normal savings (£25, £5 automatic)

I just checked my bank balance and the £13 for the dentist hasn't came out yet, so there's no spending to report.

£35.78 opening balance
- £2.78 (savings)
= £33.00

Total spent = £0.00*
Total saved = £2.78

Tomorrow is payday so obviously money will be spent then. I usually transfer DH's money to his mum's account too. Next week he will put the money back into my account. We've been doing this for a few months now.

I usually order from the Avon every month or so if I see something I like. I ordered mascara last month. Last night, hubby's mum gave me the book to see if I wanted anything. I took it upstairs and half-heartedly flicked through it. I gave it back to her that night. This will be one month when I'm not ordering.

Hubby's mum isn't going anywhere during her two weeks off (which starts next week) Her trip fell through.

*My car payment came out yesterday. I guess I should count that in my spending category? And my £5 transfer to savings too? I guess I will have to count that in this month's savings.

Today is the first day of my No Spend Month. I'm pleased to report that I haven't spent anything. However it's easy not to spend anything when you haven't got the money. Two days till payday and I have £35.78 in the bank, £13 is due out, £20 towards hubby's debt so that will leave me with roughly £2 left.

I worked until 1pm today so I'm having lunch just now at home. Today gave me five hours extra whih will be in July's pay. Later, I'm going to my mum's for dinner. All in all, a no-spender.

I've been feeling ill these past few days. Yesterday when I came home from work at half 5 I went straight to bed. Hubby woke me up three hours later. Today I came straight home, put on my pyjamas and lay in bed. Normally I go to zumba today so I saved £3. It's going straight into my emergency fund.

Well, this No Spend Month is actually happening. TarWalker is partially joining me. She is aiming to save $150, I haven't actually thought of how much I'd like to save. It will be good to see how June turns out.

For this No Spend Month I will:

1)only purchase necessary items
2)withdraw cash for variable expenses which are already budgeted for - once it's gone, it's gone

Variable expenses: petrol (£50), packed lunch (£10) and snacks for room (£10) I've got a stack of envelopes waiting to be used.

Right now I'm thinking that all money saved will go towards savings.

May was a busy month, we had a wedding and a party. I overspent at the party. June will not be the same. However, I did manage to start both my EF and car fund.

I only have one goal for June: complete a No Spend Month.

I've been thinking a lot about making June a No Spend Month. I have two birthdays in June but I only need to get them cards so I'm sure I can make it work. This month I spent more than I had planned so I'd like to make next month a better one. Obviously if I do decide to have a NSM I'd pack 100% at work. I'm in the habit of doing that anyway and I budget £10 every four weeks for snacks/drinks etc to take to work.

I haven't spoken to DH about it yet but it is me that wants to do this, not him. The only problem I can see is the temptation at work since I work in a supermarket but I can resist, I've done it plenty of times before.

Hmm... now I'm actually thinking more about it, I think I can do it. I'll pay my bills and buy necessities (which are already budgeted for) and nothing else. Anyone want to join me?

My leftover money is slowly disappearing. I'm choked with the cold so we went to Morrisons to pick up a few things. £23.80 later we were done. That leaves me with jus over twenty pounds left and I told hubby I'd give him £20 to help him pay back his mum so, effectively, it's gone.

My mum just got a new cable package and it includes broadband. She doesn't have a computer so she asked me to order a laptop for her from my catalogue. I done that yesterday. She's going to give me money each month towards it.

The other day I paid £2 extra towards CC1. Just a small £2 payment. I didn't know if it would let me make such a small payment, but it did.

My emergency fund and car fund, that is. I took TarWalker's advice - thanks! -and started small. Before I left for work this morning I put £1 into an envelope for my emergency fund and done the same for my car fund. After work hubby's mum phoned and asked me to pick up bread. She gave me the money when I came in. I put the small change into money bags that I take to the bank every few months and I put the pound coin into my emergency fund.

I admit it: I haven't tracked my finances properly this month. Normally I write down spending on the same day in my notebook but I just haven't. I do know that I will have £50 left over this month but it looks as though I'll have to get a new tyre. I've had to pump my tyre up a few times within the last couple of weeks.

We've been quite busy - party last Saturday and a Wedding the week before that. That'll be me for a while though.

Hubby has spoken to MIL about what he owes her - she disagreed with what he was saying... until he showed her his notebook that he uses to keep track of what he's paid to her. She wanted to keep his notebook. Sorry, no. She copied down the last few payments into her book. By the way, he's at £600 now.

I need to get a filling next month. £45

My mum offered to give me money to put money into savings. I declined and told her to open up her own savings account instead (she doesn't have one)

I got some overtime at work, not as much as last month, but it's still something.

It doesn't look like I'm going to achieve my goals this month. Next month I'll probably just make one goal.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my goals for this year. Based on advice, I've decided it's best to change them. Here are my new goals:

[] £500 to moving out fund (£296 to go)

My original goal of £800 incuded hubby's contribution; this one is based only on my contribution.

[] Reduce CC1 by £70

Balance as of 7th May: £807.59

[] Reduce CC2 by £50

Balance as of 7/5: 2032.98

I know this CC has a huge balance and I have a lower goal amount for it. However, I've been checking previous statements and my balance has only been lowering by as little as £4 monthly!

[] EF to £50 (£50 to go)

[] Car Fund to £50 (£50 to go)

[] Save for a cash-only Christmas

I've decided that my goals for the year are unrealistic. I don't know why I made so many when I haven't made a dent in any of them. I know I won't clear 2k worth of CC debt which is on CC2. It's too late into the year to change my goals, I just better get working on them. I really better get started on the car maintenance fund and EF. If I'd had them in the first place I wouldn't have had to put over £700 on CC1.

Goals for this month are to start car maintenance fund and EF.

We found out today that MIL is going to America in a few weeks with her friend. She can't remember exactly where she's going but said they will be spending three days in New York and three days in Las Vegas. They will be away for twelve days. Her friend is paying for the trip, I'm assuming she will be paying for MIL's spending money too.

I met up with my friend last week. We were talking about money when she said to me: "do you know you're meant to have 3 months pay saved for an emergency?" Yep. She was quite surprised that I knew that, she only knew cause someone had came to her work to speak to them. I told her I knew about it because I've spent a lot of time online finding tips to save. However, I haven't got an EF. I wish I had one so I could have said: "Yep and I've got one"

I tried to start one last year but it turned into Moving Out Fund. Well I spoke to hubby and told him we have to start one. So that's my new goal for 2011: start an EF.

My plans are simple today: go to my mum's and watch the Royal Wedding. I wasn't born when Charles and Diana got married so it will be nice to see William and Kate. Everywhere I look there's wedding souvenirs, not that I've bought any. Every magazine cover is all about William and Kate, particularly about how much weight she's lost. Anyway, I'm just looking forward to seeing her dress.

I'll need to wrap my mum's birthday presents later.

All in all, a no spend day planned

We're still here. I phoned the housing association and the woman said we would be waiting "a substantial amount of time" then asked me if I'd considered private let. She also said that we needed 300 more points to get to the top of the list. I'm going to make an appointment to meet with a housing officer from our local council, see if that will do any good.

Hubby decided the day after the argument that he couldn't stay at my mum's, he thinks they would argue all the time. I just want out of here so I'm trying to start being more active concerning moving out, it's like I just came to a standstill. I'll stop moaning from now on and do something about it.

It was my day off yesterday. I put the washing on. I hung ALL of the washing out. I hoovered upstairs and downstairs. I took the dogs out. Twice. I brought all of the dry washing in. I tidied. I filled and emptied the dishwasher. Do you want to know what I didn't do? I didn't thoroughly clean ONE frying pan before I put it in the dishwasher. This clogs the filter, apparently. Big no-no. The second I got in tonight with hubby MIL made it perfectly clear that we weren't following the house rules.

If you want to live here, you follow the house rules.

To be honest, I don't really want to live here. We were talking about either moving in with my mum or declaring ourselves homeless. We haven't decided anything yet. One thing's for sure: the sooner we're out of here, the better.

I don't usually leave it this long between updates. Oops.

Not that much to report to be honest. I set myself a budget of £10 for snacks etc for my packed lunch. I have just over £2 left and that has to last me until we get paid again (two weeks on Friday).

I worked seven and a half hours extra at the start of the month. I'm working on Saturday (5 hours extra). Hubby's working too so I thought I might as well make some money out of it. Plus, it get's me out of the house.

I'm going to phone the housing association on Thursday. I meant to do it last week but I didn't have the house to myself. People have been telling me that we need to let them know that we're still here; we still want a house.

I completed all of my March goals. However, I did end up taking money out of savings. I suppose it's better than using my credit card. At least I can replace the money and benefit from it in the future.

I've been trying to think of realistic goals for April. For April my goals are:
[]get overtime
[]pack 100%

It's Mothers Day on Sunday. I redeemed my rewards from my catalogue (£23.13) and ordered my mum a bunch of flowers and chocolates. It only cost me £1.87.

It's my mum's Birthday this month. I just need to buy her card, I've already got her presents in. We're treating my mum to a takeway on her birthday so will need money for that.

We came home on Tuesday night, it was great to get away. I have to admit I enjoyed it, if only it was permanent. It's not all good news though, a few days into our trip we started spending money for food, not a lot, but some. This money wasn't for our holiday, it was for my bills which are due out within the next few days. Today I have to go to the bank and take money out of savings to replace it. We spent £100. This included travelling too. We had plenty of Pot Noodles but a few days in we were getting bored, next time we're bringing different pasta dishes with us. We came back with four Pot Noodles so hubby is going to take them to work.

I got my credit card bill before we left. I took a good look at it when I woke up this morning. It's at 2k now! I have to get that balance down.

We discussed using savings to pay off debt while we were away. Hubby thinks I should use my savings to make a dent in the credit card; I'm against it. I told him I will feel bad enough taking money out to replace the money we used. However, I can see his point though. I know that if we don't have debt or have less debt we can put more into savings. But I do feel better adding to savings. Maybe if I had a few grand saved, or even £1000 it wouldn't bother me, but it does. We need savings to get out of here.

I may have to withdraw some money from savings. I spoke to my mum yesterday and she asked if she could borrow money. The reason she's asking is because she owes the phone company £172, and she doesn't have it. When I told her I'd have to take it out of savings she told me not to do that, however, I will to help her. I asked her how much money she actually had and she didn't know. Tomorrow we're going to check her balance and see what she's got. My mum's hoping to pay the majority of it, with me just helping out a little. It's due in seven days - well, less now.

In other news, we will have very little to spend on our trip next week. I think I may only have about £20 spare this month. DH has more leftover than me. However, he needs to keep money in his account for a few things that are still left to pay. He knows we're not going to spend a lot, we're going to see his family and get away from here. The only place I really see us spending money on is transport. Hubby was talking about taking his cousins to the pub but we'll see. Basically I'm going on this trip with the intention of spending as little as possible. Hopefully his family are in walking distance.