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.

I finally got around to making the root vegetable and lentil casserole - which has curry powder in it so looks more like a curry. Either way, there will be leftovers. I searched how to make spiced onions at home, and it looks easy, so I will try that soon to go with the poppadoms that we have in the cupboard. I didn't realise it was only us Scottish that have spiced onions until I was looking for recipes.

Next week I will be making:
- pork and butter bean stew
- cheesy vegetable pasta bake
- butternut squash soup
- lentil spaghetti bolognaise

Capital One sent me a letter telling me they are increasing my credit limit next month, due to how I've been managing my payments, or something like that.

A present for SG arrived today. I used my catalogue rewards so I wasn't out of pocket - it was on sale at £3.

We've been saving all year for Christmas. We got our high street vouchers a few weeks ago yet we haven't been shopping yet. This is unusual, we normally go as soon as we get them. For the record, we have £200 plus I've got £40 on a gift card that I started a few months ago.

Three weeks in to this minimal spending and I'm finding myself stressing out. So much so, that I woke up at 5.30 this morning just to pay some bills that are due. Of course I checked my bank balance and it is getting lower. It's not going to get higher, obviously.

I've got a few more bills to pay then the rest are direct debit, so no need to worry about them.

We're almost out of potatoes but I'm going to hold off getting them for a couple of days - we've got plenty of pasta and rice to keep us going. I've already had to buy bread, milk and butter this week.

Yesterday was a NSD.

We went to Aldi on Saturday. I spent £61.56 but only £51.09 was on food. I couldn't get everything I wanted, so I picked up a couple of things before work yesterday. Spent £2.49. So I've spent £53.58 on food, and I've got £36.42 remaining. (I budgeted 90 as opposed to 140 last pay peiod)

I had to alter my meal plan slightly after I'd been shopping because there were a lot of root vegetables on offer. This week I'm making:

- cottage pie with vegetables
- spicy root and lentil casserole with rice and naan bread
- baked potatoes with beans and cheese
- leftovers

I'm feeling pretty good about my minimal spending. Cupboards, fridge and freezer are stocked so I only expect to have to buy fresh items. I wasn't feeling so optimistic while we were shopping though, in fact I was a bit moody with hubby when he tried to get something that wasn't on the list - even though I added a few items that weren't on the list because they were on offer.

The rest of my food shopping money is sitting in my small document holder. I need to withdraw the other cash for SG and household.

Today was payday. We got to see the damage a week off sick had on hubby's pay. Not good. Spending has to be kept to a minimum. Hubby suggested putting bills on the credit card - no way! We will just have to deal and get through this, it will be a learning experience if nothing else.

When SG is sleeping later I'll be meal planning and writing my shopping list.

The only thing I have accomplished so far today is to change the date of my automatic savings transfer. When I first set it up a few years ago, I could only transfer money either monthly, quarterly or yearly. Well, I had a look today and there's a four-weekly payment option, which matches when I get paid. So I've changed the date of my automatic transfer. Now it will be £10 every four weeks rather than every month. I was going to increase it a few months ago, but I never. Part of me was thinking just to delay the payment but if I start doing that I'll never want to save money. It's an evil cycle. And there's another part of me that thinks "you can do better than £10".

During this pay period I will not be paying anything to my BNPL items from the catalogue. I hate it but I had to cut a few things. I've also reduced our grocery budget and household spending. If I could think of something else to reduce, I would. Oh, obviously snowflaking towards debt is not really happening. Again.

Wow this post is sounding depressing. I can think of a few good things though:

- hubby's friend paid us back the money he owed us (£10)
- I had money left in the bank before payday
- our cupboards are full, should only need to think of a few staple items to add to the shopping list

I used the last of my food shopping money.I noticed that 500g packs of pasta were half price - 50p each - so I bought some in. I also bought in reduced mini naan breads which I've put in the freezer for when I make a curry soon.

There was a sale at work. I spent £12.15 on clothes for SG's Christmas. They were all half price, and were items that I wanted to buy when they were full price.

I made spanish potatoes in the slow cooker on Monday. We had them with wraps and then paninis the following two days. It felt like a takeaway because all I had to do was heat them up. I'll be making them again soon.

We gave one of hubby's friends a loan of money this week. It was £10. Hubby said we will get it back today. The last time we gave him money it took him weeks to give it back. We'll see.

My mum's coming over for lunch tomorrow. Normally I go out of my way to find a really nice recipe for us and then I make it. This time, I'll use what's on hand - it'll be something with lentils or baked potatoes and beans probably. I had a look at cooks.com (thanks Snafu) and found a lot of nice recipes using lentils.

Oh, I checked Capital One today. My new card arrived yesterday so I'm going to activate it soon. Normally I wouldn't activate it so quickly but I'm worried about security now. Anyway, it looks as though they've increased my credit limit. I now have 474.03 available, I'm sure there was less available credit last week.

This week my plan is to use up what we have. I'll probably have to buy bread and milk at some point, but that should be about it. Actually maybe chopped tomatoes too since I use them so much. So, what do we have? Well today MIL gave us some of the food she gets from her work but never wants: lots of paninis, wraps, chicken goujons and rolls. We also have plenty of potatoes, frozen veg and lentils. And pasta too.

I made my first lentil stew yesterday. I found a recipe on the back of the packet and adapted it to what I had. We both enjoyed it so much that we had no leftovers. Hubby wanted dumplings with it, I used the last of my self-raising flour to attempt to make some. We had home made rice pudding afterwards which hubby made this time. He made more than I normally do so we had leftovers (well I did)

I'm making a shopping list here, aren't I?

An observation before I read your blogs: I noticed that the price of tinned chopped tomatoes increased within a couple of days. I bought them at the start of the week and they were 31p, at the end of the week they were 34p. I should have stocked up earlier.

I spent 10 yesterday on stocking up on food. I'm trying my best but I'm disappointed when I see how little I have left in my budget - about 13. We only had chicken left so I bought casserole pork and beef mince for £2 each. I guess I'm used to us having meat a lot. That will need to change, although I will still make it for SG.

I seem to be spending a lot of time looking for recipes. I found a recipe which uses green lentils: roast chicken, tomato and lentil one pot. According to the magazine, it's 1.38 per serving and serves four. I'm sure I can make it for less. I won't be making this yet though since it uses chicken thighs and we haven't got any just now.

I've got four hours overtime at the weekend. It won't make up for hubby's days off work but every little helps I suppose.

We've used a lot of potatoes this week - we've only got two left now. Last time we had a 2.5kg bag of potatoes it took us ages to use them.

I went to my mum's today. 3.80 spent on bus fare. I've gotten the feeling before that my mum thinks we're really struggling - I guess we are in some ways. However, I brought it up today that all bills are paid on time and extra has even been paid towards cc1. Yes DH has a shortfall but we are trying. As a household I think we are ok, obviously we could be doing a lot better.

I spent 9.52 at the shops today. It would have been less if I'd remembered my discount card. I bought:

- a baguette
- cheese
- butter beans
- kidney beans
- pizza base mix
- grapes
- cherry tomatoes
- sausages
- tomato puree
- multipack of crisps

This is my first time buying the pizza base mix. It was .70 so I thought I would pick it up and give it a try over the next few weeks. I had to buy in some fruit because we only had bananas left. I was out of tomato puree. Hubby asked me to buy paracetamol for him. The crisps are for work and they were a pound from the pound shop (the vending machine at work charges .41 a pack)

No spending planned for tomorrow.

Day 3 and I spent 2.10 on bus fare today.

Dinner was baked potatoes with cheese, and some pickles at the side. For desert, yum yums given to us by MIL from her work.

We've got haggis and fresh vegetable soup in the fridge now... hubby's sorted for lunch tomorrow.

I'm trying to decide what to make this week, it's looking a bit like this:

- minestrone soup with bread/rolls (don't need to buy anything)
- bbq chicken with rice and veg (same as above)
- chilli bean soup with cheesy garlic bread (400g tin of butter beans, baguette, cheese)
- a vegetable pasta dish

First of all, yesterday I ended up spending 1.49 on two packs of salt (50p/kg) for hubby to soak his foot in , and some more tissues for SG.

Today has been a no-spender. I've been spending the day getting organised for going to work tomorrow, and cooking up food for us and SG. I've got a sheperdess pie cooking just now. First time I've made it, there's certainly plenty of veg.

I found over a kilo of dried green lentils that MIL gave us a while ago. Expires next month but I want to use them before then, so I've been trying to find recipes using green lentils online.

Mil text me yesterday to tell me that she had sandwiches dated tomorrow for me for work (lunch sorted), and to invite me to my first ever bridal shower. I told her I couldn't afford it at first, then she told me it's at the bride-to-be's mum's house. She offered me a lift home that night, or I can stay at hers. I said I would go after that. I'm not sure about etiquette at bridal showers though. Do I need to bring a gift?

I've been obsessively checking my credit card statement online for the past few days, waiting for it to update. It finally updated today. Minimum payment was 70, I paid 90. Getting close to my goal of 60 by the end of the year.