This post may be predictable, but I didn't predict that my debit card would be declined when I tried to make online payments. Thankfully, dh had left his card at home so I transferred money to him then used his card. Phew.

I paid 200 to Littlewoods, minimum was 156.
I paid minimum to BOS and Tesco. While doing that, I was pleased to see that my balance transfer has gone through. It then occurred to me that maybe I could have skipped BOS's minimum payment since the 1000 balance transfer was technically a payment? Well, I'd already paid it when I thought of this.
I also paid 15 to the cot/mattress BNPL.

I'm in the middle of ordering groceries online from Tesco to be delivered on Monday. After work tomorrow I'll be getting meat from the butcher's and milk. I am going to make up a meal plan.

I also need to keep track of my spending to see where my money's going. I have a suspicion that I'm wasting a lot on impulse purchases after work.

J will be one in a few weeks, which means I don't need to buy as much formula from this pay.

Dh wants us to go bowling with the kids soon because we got a coupon for it. He thinks SG would love it.

I forgot to mention that last week someone at work unexpectedly died. I didn't work with him but dh knew him. He was out jogging when a cyclist hit him. He was ok at the time and he even spoke to the cyclist. Later he went to our local hospital then to one in Glasgow where he died from serious head injuries. They're still looking for the cyclist since they never exchanged details.

Dh declared that he wants us to go to England in September for his birthday. He wants his Grandpa to meet the kids. He sent me a link to check out hotels in the area. I don't see us being able to afford it, so I'm hoping we can compromise with days out when we're on holiday. But I will look into train fares and hotels.

I got J's birthday present from the catalogue. I used my rewards so I added zero on to my bill.

Both days after work this week I bought a few things I didn't really need. One of them was a sandwich and a bottle of juice because I was hungry and thirsty.

I still need to pay the deposit for J's cake smash next month. That's 40.00.

I paid 250 to the catalogue this morning, the minimum payment was 188.xx. I just used the money that I would have sent to cc#2. I then paid 15.00 to my bnpl item, which is the cot and mattress.

I will just continue to focus on paying off the cot and mattress because I can't manage to payoff the other item, clothes, bed and mattress, by December. The balance has to be paid off in full, otherwise it will be added to your account.

Next I will be paying minimum to both credit cards.

Since my last entry, I have been debating about whether to try to pay more to my catalogue each month. I want to start to pay off the cot, but I'd also like to pay a bit extra each month towards my total bill, even if I just round the minimum payment up.

We're hoping to start potty training soon now that SG is in her big bed.

My mum now has over 200 in her savings, 208 actually. I really want to tell her, but then I don't. I'm looking forward to the day that I have over 200 too.

Dh mentioned that he'd like us to go to England this year to see his grandpa, and his friend. I don't think it is in the budget but we will see what happens. I'm pretty sure he wants to put the train tickets on his credit card, if we did go.

Dh is away to see the new Avengers movie after work today. This makes me think that I need to reward myself, however, I did want to wait until I reached a savings goal or something. Dh isn't going as a reward, he's going because he wants to see it.

I am at 61% of my snowflake total, as of the end of April.

I spent 12.99 on a bouquet of flowers for my mum's birthday. It included free delivery and a free box of chocolates.

Tomorrow is payday.

I just wrote a massive long entry about my catalogue and Dh 's and it didn't save! The short version is that he thought I knew already. it's irrelevant if he told me, it's far too much to be paying.

I'm going to add my depressing catalogue details to my sidebar once i gather the information. In the interest of full disclosure I bought our kingsize bed on it last year as a buy now pay later, that's getting added on in Nov. Recently I decided to get SG 's mattress and J's cot as Bnpl but I do think I could get that paid off. They gave me a 10k credit limit (crazy!) Dh not as much.

I've made it clear to dh no ordering unless it's using rewards which makes the item free. And if he orders a TV I'll send it back.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

I'm paying close attention to every penny spent this month. I finally got round to using the A4 notebook that dh bought for us years ago. There's more space than in the other notebook that I was using. In this notebook I've added an envelope to put our receipts in. It should help to keep me on track.

I am really hoping to spend less than 100 on food shopping this pay. I'm not sure how realistic this but our cupboards are pretty stocked, except for missing a few items such as tinned chopped tomatoes which I use a lot. I did just spend 21.83 at the butchers on Saturday but I am going to freeze some of the meat.

Last night we all had leftovers for dinner - except for J, that is. Also, SG has been fussy lately and only really eating spaghetti, ignoring potatoes. Last night she had noodles and loved it. I will need to buy more of them in. Tomorrow we will need to buy some items for the cupboards, but I've made sure to write a list of what I need for the meals that I'm making this week.

SG's birthday is in over a week and I haven't got her present in yet. I did see a dolls house online for 26.67 so I will have to order it. My cousin keeps texting asking what we're doing for SG's birthday. I've told her twice already we're having it a home but she keeps asking. She has booked a party for her almost three year old next month. I am really surprised about this because she is expecting #4 and I would have thought splurging on parties would have been the last thing on her mind, especially since she has gotten rid of a lot of her baby stuff. I offered her the moses basket that she had given us but she didn't want it.

So, here's total spending so far:

Shopping:
6/3: Asda 4.37
7/3: Butchers 21.83

Baby:
6/3: Asda 8.49

Today is payday. This morning I paid minimum payment to both credit cards and made a payment to my catalogue.

Next on the list is transferring money to MIL and then that debt will be gone. I'm happy to have less debt, I just wish it was mine.

Tomorrow my automatic transfers will hit the emergency fund and I will finally hit triple digits after two failed attempts last year (money withdrawn not long after reaching triple digits). I just hope it stays there for a while.

J is away for his morning nap so I got SG to help me bake a chocolate fudge cake with ingredients that we had on hand. I will buy in more flour and sugar and we will do lots of baking this month. More specifically, SG's birthday cake.

I'm back at work at the end of the month. I got my dates mixed up, I thought it was the beginning of April. I know that I'm lucky to have gotten nine months maternity leave in the first place. I need to get in touch with work to sort out my hours.

I posted the other day about how I got a bonus from work. Well it has been added to the cash flow since I realised that I had overspent. I think part of this is due to me asking Dh to buy shopping with my card. He sometimes buys extra. I give him my card a lot to use and I've not been tracking it. It's my own fault really.

From March's pay I still want to get a mattress for SG's room. We also need to get her dolls house. Originally I wanted to have gotten her dolls house ages ago but that fell through.

So I will withdraw cash this pay for the following categories:

1. Shopping/groceries: 140
2. Baby/nappies/formula: 70
3. Gas and electric: 50 (utilities)
4. Bus ticket: 73.20

Those are my normal budgeted amounts. However, I think I can spend less on shopping and baby stuff to be able to cash flow birthday stuff and the mattress.

I think it can be done.

This morning I had arranged for us to meet my mum in the local town. She's been desperate to pay for me to get my hair cut, she said she would pay for it for my birthday. It's been a few weeks since my birthday so I reasoned I had better sort it out soon.

I spoke to my mum on the way there. She hadn't left yet but I thought she would let me know when she was in the town. I tried phoning her a few times while we searched for a hairdressers. As it turns out, there are a lot of hairdressers and barbers in town, not all of them are open on a Monday though. We finally found one just as it started to snow. They had had a cancellation so they squeezed me in. I forgot how nice it is to have someone wash your hair etc. I had no signal in the hairdressers so I couldn't get in touch with my mum.

Afterwards, we went to a family friendly pub for something to eat. I spent 12.16 on a large Scottish breakfast for dh, a kids breakfast, pancakes and maple syrup for me and two mochas and a juice. Gave J a jar of baby food. Never again.

My mum never showed up despite my phone calls. It wasn't until later in Aldi that she phoned to say that she was at home. She had gotten the bus but had forgot to grab her phone. She waited ages for us then went home. We arranged for her to come over next week.

When we came home, I transferred the money from getting my haircut, from my mum's bank to mine. I also put money into her savings. She's close to triple digits now.

I'm in for the rest of the day now. Stay warm everyone.

I went shopping this morning. Spent 23.xx at the butcher's and 5.69 in Co-op.

We spent the rest of the day trying to declutter and organize our livingroom. Tomorrow is SG's room. We have a lot to get rid of.

My bank still isn't letting me transfer to the credit card. I tried this morning, despite the fact that I haven't found any more snowflakes. What a pain.

Months ago, snafu suggested tracking upcoming expenses and what was needed, what was the plan etc. I've got an idea in my head but I haven't written anything down. This is roughly some of our upcoming expenses:

March: Mother's Day, SG's third birthday
Plan: minimal spending on Mother's Day, buy flowers/chocolates and a card unless I think of a better idea. Actually I have a photo frame from xmas that I haven't printed a picture for yet so I may just use that.

SG's birthday: buy dolls house. Make cake, with her help. Buy card and wrapping paper - check stash first to see if I have anything appropriate. Less than 50GBP hopefully.


April: my mum's birthday, back to work, cousin's boy's birthday
Plan: find out what she wants, possibly take her out for lunch or make a cake for her and invite her over here for lunch. Hmm.

Work: plan packed lunches, buy tea bags to store in locker.

Cousin's son: outfit, 10 max.

May: pay deposit for upcoming cake smash and family photo shoot in 40

June: J's first birthday, cake smash and photo shoot.
Plan/spending: 80 for rest of photo shoot/cake smash, less than 10 for cake ingredients. Make snacks if we have any guests over.

I think that's all for the first half of the year.

This morning I checked my email to find that my bank had replied to my message. They basically said that they know that they're having technical problems which they are trying to fix.

I had a look through my pile of shredding and found an old credit card statement. I was going to phone and pay with my card but that wasn't an option. The options were: go into the branch (5 working days to process - payment due in a couple of days), pay using online banking with a different bank (not working) or pay with a Bank of Scotland current account. Well, I switched banks five years ago but dh has a current account with BoS so I decided to pay via his bank.

I transferred the money to dh then I logged on after confirming his details with him. I had to set up a new payment recipient, which then had to be confirmed via a phone call once I clicked Confirm. They gave me an authorisation code too. I told dh to wait by his phone. It was an automated call. He confirmed the number then my payment went through. It takes two hours to reach the account this way. The only thing is I didn't pay the 5.60 extra, I just paid 130 (minimum was 75). I will probably hold off applying snowflakes to cc#2 until I get this sorted properly. I really don't want to but I'd rather do it through my own account and dh doesn't know that I'm doing this. (He knows I'm putting extra towards debt though)

ETA: I don't want the 5.60 to "melt" in everyday spending. Should I just transfer it to savings until my bank is up and running again? I was going to send it back to paypal but that seems more complicated.

It's payday. I woke up an hour before the kids hoping to get all the bills paid and get some stuff done. I've managed to get a lot done, except pay credit card #2 because my bank is having technical problems. I went to view my credit card statement and make a payment using my card but there wasn't an option for it. I also wanted to make an extra payment of 5.60 which is from the survey rewards. It'll have to wait for now; I've tried at least three times.

I signed on to a few survey websites but I didn't qualify for any surveys.

I cancelled the graze box that I get every two weeks. I'd agreed to their new sharing package which is on special offer at 10GBP. Plus I also had my usual box which is 3.89. I was thinking about it today: do I really want to spend 13.89 on healthy snacks from them when I can just go to Aldi and buy their big packs of fruit and nut mix, and salted nuts etc. In the end, I decided that it was best to cancel it. I've cancelled it before but then they've sent me a special offer email and I've signed up again.

I signed on to What's The Cost today after I had paid cc#1. I usually do this on payday. I can't manage to pay 160 towards cc#2 each month like I wanted to so it's looking like it won't be paid off until early 2019. Of course, I will do my best to get it gone before then.

It doesn't look like there will be any snowflakes, of the money kind, heading my way this week. There's plenty of the frozen kind.

I dropped off two bags of donations this morning. They were all baby and kids stuff. The place that takes them has recently relocated to a bigger premise, I had a good look around but I never bought anything. I've made it a rule that I can't buy anything when I'm dropping off donations.

I'm still waiting on my 3GBP PP credit from My Survey.

I'm close to redeeming a 5GBP AGC from Swagbucks.

I went to Aldi after dropping off the donations today. I spent 18.xx. It started to snow while I was out so I was in a hurry to get back.

I'm still waiting on the double wardrobe arriving that I ordered about two weeks ago.

I think that's all. I'm just waiting. Waiting for snowflakes and a delivery.

Minimal spending here today.

I went to the Post Office to post two parcels: 5.60 I thought they would cost more than that because they were quite big but they were under 2kg each (1.3kg and 1.5kg)

I also bought two packets of biscuits and a cereal variety pack. 3.19

That's all really.

It's only been a few days since my last post but I thought I'd better check in.

We're slowly getting better here. Two nights in a row, SG slept in our bed. Last night was her first night back in her bed and she slept all the way through - from 7.30pm-10am. J was up a few times but seems to be getting better.

It's been snowing here. Yesterday I went to Aldi to get chicken, fruit and veg. Spent 18.xx. It was -3 when I went out. I spent ages waiting on the bus so I actually regretted leaving in the first place.

My credit card statement updated yesterday. I updated my sidebar but I was too tired to write a post here. I've decreased the balance by 70.20 since my December statement. This is way better than last year already (although I really shouldn't compare, this time last year I was in a sorry state)

My mum phoned me yesterday, pleased that the money that she receives was increasing. I transferred 10 to her savings, although I wanted to do more. I suspect she would freak out if I done more, I just worry that she's in her fifties and has barely any savings (less than me).

I received two emails from Opinion Outpost today but I din't qualify for the surveys. Hopefully I'll qualify before the month ends.

I've got a sleeping baby on me so I thought I would update.

My mum doesn't want me to pay her Christmas savings. She thinks with all my debt I can't afford it. She asked me to transfer ten to my account to replace what I had paid.

This money will help to offset the cost of the double wardrobe I ordered. 18.99

I've redeemed a 10GBP Amazon Gift Card. Still having problems redeeming PP so Amazon is my best bet from now on. I'll get my PP rewards elsewhere.

The first payday of 2015. I paid 130 to CC#2, not as much as I wanted to, but better than last month's payment of 85 (plus a 3.50 snowflake)

I also paid my 30 to cc#1. And over 200 to my catalogue. Ugh.

I've told dh we're spending as little as possible on shopping this month.

I've started doing the surveys that Opinion Outpost email to me. Anything to get more snowflakes really. I've redeemed 2.50, just waiting on it crediting Paypal.

I can update my EF balance tomorrow when the payments hit. I might start doing what Lucky Robin does and make a separate entry for it, when I've got more in it.

From the store, that is. Nowhere exciting. I forgot how crazy it is at Christmas. I woke up early this morning and went to Aldi with my list. I was there for it opening at 8. Spent 27.xx and managed to forget a couple of things I'd forgotten to put on my list, silly me (although I couldn't find tomato puree in Aldi)

I came home, settled J eventually for his nap then left to go and put in a prescription for J at the pharmacy, then got the bus into town again, this time to Iceland. I dropped off some carrier bags on the way there. Traffic was manic so i was glad to be walking. Spent 10.06. I was going to pick up the turkey crown from the butcher's on the way home but DH phoned wanting me to come straight home.

I fed J when I came home because DH was exhausted from looking after both of them - mostly J, this morning. He's used to SG,not so much J. Dh made me a cup of tea and I had one of my homemade biscuits . Dh is going to the butcher's soon.

I'm gutted i forgot a few things but I'll make do. It would have been worse if I'd forgotten my list.

I was in bed by 9.30 last night. About ten minutes before I crashed out I noticed that MIL had text me. She wanted to know if it was ok to drop gifts off on Monday. I said it was okay. Today she text me again thanking me for the Christmas card that SG made for her. Then she added pics of the card to FB.

Our tree is up, but not decorated yet. Although SG seems happy enough with it. It will be decorated by Saturday because I won't have the chance to do it tomorrow when DH is at work and when he's home we're going to our friends to drop off the kids presents.

I've not done much today. DH got the tree out of the very back of the big front cupboard and then we sorted through our jackets deciding which ones to recycle/donate. We also found a hanging wooden side cabinet (if that's even its name) for the bathroom, and a few mirrors that DH is going to put up.

I went for an hour and half nap this afternoon. We didn't get the tree up until four ish then we had to get dinner ready.

I've organised a Graze chocolate treats box (3.89) to be sent to my mum next week. She asked me for a box of chocolates but I haven't got them so I decided this would be a nice touch instead. I wrote a personalised message and it will be delivered for free on Tuesday.

I looked at next month's budget and added a category for an allowance and gifts, ten pounds each. We'll see how that goes. I hope to find snowflakes to throw at debt and savings too.

I'm waiting on my credit card statements updating so I can see how much I've paid off this year. I know that it's not as much as I would have liked.

And by "etc" I really just mean more trains.

Today started off well (after I eventually got back to sleep) Before we left I had put on a load of laundry and hung it up to dry. I also managed to put away other laundry - I see this as all very productive.

We left at 12 ish to get the bus to the train station: 3.00 spent.
Got two train tickets (kids under 5 are free):12.80 and got the train at 12.36 roughly.
We were in Edinburgh for one ish but we managed to get lost because I didn#t write down proper directions, just what buses we needed. Eventually we got the bus (3.00) You would think we were tourists because everything's changed since we were last there years ago.
SG's appointment went well. We were told we could claim travel expenses so we tried to find the building to go to. We walked there to find out it was closed. Then we realised that we spent all of our change on the bus to the hospital so we needed to get change. By that point we decided just to walk back to the train station. J needed fed and we needed a hot drink. We got one about forty minutes later in the starbucks next to the train station (9.xx)
We were literally right next to the station. We checked the board and seen that our train was leaving in two mins. We hurried to the platform, jumped on, and we were taking off our coats when the tannoy announced that it was going to Glasgow which is the opposite direction. And nowhere near home. We got off at the next stop and I was expecting to have to pay another train fare. We went to the waiting area and spoke to an advisor who wrote a note on the back of my ticket and told us the next train was due in a few mins which would take us back to Edinburgh. We'd gotten comfy when it was time to leave to catch the train (third one of the day) When we got to Edinburgh we had about ten mins to wait for our train. It thankfully showed up on time and I double checked with the conductor that it was actually our train.
It was after five by the time we got to our train station. And it was raining. We checked times and realised we'd missed one of our buses but not the other. Well it drove past us. It was at least another half hour before the next bus so we decided to walk. We were two bus stops away from home over half an hour later when the bus drove past. We got home at 6 and gave sg a quick bite to eat.
I'm so pleased that we had snacks with us. DH filled the bag with enough healthy snacks for sg to last the whole six hours and we had a litre bottle of diluted juice to drink.
I've decided to add in a misc/allowance category for all these coffees etc.

I came home to read on FB one of my friends ranting about how much she hates wrapping. My first thought: I'm in the Christmas spirit, and I was so pleased at myself for having most of it done.

I think that's all.

Took the kids to see Santa today. SG took to him in the end but J slept through it all. Cost: 1.50

Before our visit to see Santa, we stopped in at Greggs for two mochas, a flavoured water and a sausage roll for SG. Cost: 5.90

We also went to Poundland where I spent £5.05.

My cousin and her kids came to visit when we came home. We exchanged gifts for kids and I gave her ten pounds to give her eldest son for Christmas because I forgot to get his gift card in.

DH is away out for a meal for his work's night out.

I was playing about with next month's budget and I included my new, ideal figure of 160 towards CC2. Doing that apparently leaves me 50 over budget. I'll take a more detailed look later but if that's true then I can cut back on shopping or something to make up for the extra payment. I'll also be on the lookout for snowflakes, of course