So,there's good and bad news. Bad news first: we missed a payment on hubby's credit card, and despite using my credit card for some expenses to try to catch up, we still haven't caught up. And we now have more debt. Sigh. First time in 5 years that I've used a credit card. Ugh. I don't know the exact amount due; hubby knows the login details. Not really how I wanted to end the year.

Baby is due really soon. I found out yesterday afternoon that there's some new payment offered to parents, and not just new parents. Usually these things are for new parents only. Today was the first day to apply. I was tossing and turning this morning, so I applied at 5am (then went back to bed). If we do get it, it can go into the baby sinking fund. There's also a payment available through my health plan, but I can't apply until baby's here.

I was outbid by someone on eBay last night for a pair of shoes I wanted for SG. Hubby thinks I should try selling things on there. Maybe I will,in the future, certainly not in the next month or so.

This weather is depressing. The schools have been closed for three days. My grocery shopping wasn't delivered so I went to a local store to see what was there. No bread or milk. I had to buy almond milk. I've never tried it. Will it taste weird in tea? I went to the butchers too. Spent 17.95 today. This is possibly the least amount spent on food on payday ever (unless my order shows up)

I've got bread in the bread maker. Fingers crossed it turns out. I'm making a chicken pie for dinner.

Got the date of my next meeting at work: next Saturday. Speaking of work, I hope I make it in tomorrow. I know buses are running now.

I've been paying into a private dental plan for years. Well I recently found out that I'm entitled to free dental treatment due to low income. I have a card that means I'm exempt. We've had them for a couple of years, but I just thought that I still had to pay the plan. Goods news is that I don't. It'll save me £13/month.

Any money that I can save is good because redundancies are happening at work. The company used to be flexible, but they're just not now. Sigh. I'm just pleased that my remaining credit card debt is already on a 0% card, and that I took out the loan when I did. Of course, it'd be even better if I were debt free, but I'm not. 13 months left on my loan.

As much as I can, anyway. I've been looking at some budget meals. I also will plan around what we already have in - so turkey twice over the next few weeks (I had three tubs leftover which I froze, we're using one today)

Still no sign of us getting the warm home discount yet, so I'll just try to use energy wisely.

I'm going to pack snacks for when I'm out, and especially for after work when I sometimes buy a sandwich.

I haven't phoned my phone company to cancel yet. I'll do that today, but it won't impact next month now.

I'll just try my best to save money.

I don't have numbers for UFM because I didn't give it my best shot. We're having issues with my youngest, so my mind was elsewhere. Maybe I'll attempt another one later in the year.

I've just spent ages updating my details on What's the cost. I hadn't updated in over a year! According to WTC, by paying 486.54 each month, I should be debt free in 25 months. I'm not sure entirely how accurate this is, because I had loads to update. I guess I'll have a more accurate number after a month of properly updating. Anyway, I told hubby this and he is onboard.

Onwards to the Uber Frugal Month!!

I started watching a new show this week: Save Money, Good Food. It's given me some new recipe ideas. Well, apparently people are complaining because "they only help rich people" Some people are just never happy.

I've been seriously thinking about increasing my pension contributions, especially after seeing how well you guys are doing. Asking around at work, I found out that one person in their fifties is still only contributing the minimum (2%), although I think her husband has a good pension. There's also my co-worker who only just started contributing in the past year or so, when they made it compulsory.

Anyway, I was doing some shredding yesterday and I found hubby's pension statement. His pension is in the same place as mine. I found their contact details so I'm going to email them to increase my contribution, at least by a little. I still have all of this debt hanging over me so I don't want to increase it by too much (even though I know I should)

I got a bonus from work:144. I transferred 140 to savings to cover the hotel in April, so that's 290 saved now. I left the 4 in my account. I'm pretty sure that last year I had to use my bonus for daily expenses, so it's nice to use it for something different for a change.

I've been handwashing clothes. I'm hoping hubby can fix the machine though. He looked at it yesterday, tried it but it stopped with two minutes left in the cycle. Then he mentioned something about a ball... I'm hoping it's fixable anyway. He's checking again later.

I'm dropping off a couple of bags of donations soon. It's so nice to get rid of stuff. I've been doing my best to find a bag a day, which Creditcardfree talks about in her other blog. We have so much stuff.

Almost all of us are ill. I went to bed at 8 last night and I'm still shattered today. Took kids to the doctors and let SG pick a meal for dinner. This is the worst she's been.

I got it wrong. I have 105 in my bank, so I must have miscalculated.

I have to finalize my meal plan for next week - probably not today though...

Payday on Friday. I'm not planning on going anywhere tomorrow.

I'm not sure if this will work. The blogs weren't working earlier. It looks like they are now though.

Snafu asked about making scones. I found a recipe here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/scones_1285

It's basically the one I've been using. I'm sure a few of you have baked scones before - I'm thinking My English Castle, CJ and Brenda? - but I could be wrong.

I can't believe it's nearly the end of the year! I still have presents to wrap!

Things have been busy here. We took the kids to Edinburgh's Christmas last week. We impulsively went on the ferris wheel. Hubby wanted to since he'd never been on it before - me either, actually. I saved 20% off the ticket price thanks to showing some ID. Next year, I'm booking the rides in advance.

I spent a lot on food. In the end, the kids were exhausted so we never went to see Santa. However, I had seen him the day before we went (didn't go well - lots of tears) and he is visiting SG's nursery tomorrow.

I baked brownies to give to SG's nursery staff. I handed them in today.

My mum's dog was put to sleep last week. I wish I had seen him recently,but it has been a few months. She had to borrow money from her friend to pay for it.

In other sad news, I found out that one of my neighbours died. I'd heard that he had cancer. I seen his wife shopping herself, but I wasn't sure if anything had happened, and it's not the sort of thing you can just bring up. Anyway, it was confirmed that he died a few weeks ago. I'm going to post through a Thinking of You card. Originally, they were getting a Christmas card but I can't send *both*

I better head to bed soon. That's all for now.

Hope you guys are having a great Thanksgiving!

I'm pretty thankful for SA. I'm so glad I started this blog so long ago.

In my last post, Creditcardfree asked about my catalogue debt. Unfortunately, I still have it. The good news, however, is that if I compare it to 7th of April this year - days before the loan was deposited - it looks miles better:

7/4/16:
2655.99 (my catalogue)
3251.45 (hubby)
2404.83

Total: 8312.27 (eeek!!)

Today's figures are way better, thanks to the loan:
659.00
829.15

New total: 1488.15

In other news, I've finally seen the dietitian. She prescribed me supplement drinks and told me to have a milky pudding every night.

Since then, I've been signing back into my fitness pal. I neglected it for so long before.

I thought of a few more things:

11. I've never broken any bones
12. I hate sports
13. I'm Facebook friends with a few bloggers
14. Once I get round to it, I'll have one as a friend on My Fitness Pal too (it's on my list, luckily this password is easy to remember)
15. I've had two emergency surgeries - both while pregnant
16. I'm not religious at all
17. I hate haggis and black pudding. Not really a fan of shortbread either (these are all Scottish)

Ok I think that's all. There's some lame stuff there.

I don't have twenty interesting facts, but here's some:

1. I started this blog ten years ago
2. I took a two year break when I forgot my password
3. I've got a psychology degree
4. I met my husband when I was 17
5. My husband went to the same primary school as me.
6. I've met one fellow blogger - I want to meet more!
7. I've been to Greece, Paris, Spain and Dominican Republic
8. I think my blog has made me more sociable - weirdly, well as much as an introvert can be
9. I want to see a lot more of the world
10. Still dreaming of the day that in debt free

And I basically have nothing to show for it.

I wanted a new job - I'm still in the same place. I have been looking but it's taking ages.

I still have debt - and it's not getting paid off an at an alarming rate. It's just the same.

I'm just all talk and no action.

I need to reign in my spending. Friday was a high-spend day for us. We took the kids to get new shoes (44.85) then we went for lunch (17.17). We actually went to the same pub restaurant that I met VS in a few months ago - well, the one in my hometown. While there, we found out its closing down within the next couple of weeks. After lunch, we went to asda where I spent 10.58 on some packed lunch stuff and some food.

I'm going to introduce more meat-free days. I got a burrito while out for lunch. I let SG try it and she loved it. I told hubby I'll be making it soon. I also still need to try the lentil bolognaise recipe from Eat Well For Less.

Catalogue debt is now under 2k: 1972.66. So, not my much, but it's something. It's just my credit card debt, and the loan, obviously, that's much higher.

The plan for the next few weeks: using what we have and shopping the value range.

I made a mistake last month which I'm paying for this month. I had to withdraw money from savings to help our current financial situation. Sigh.

I definitely want us to get away next year, although now hubby is wanting to visit his friend. We've all never been there, so it'll be good to go. I think I'm in a rut.

I've started to think about Christmas. SG mentioned a couple of things so I'll search online to find the best price. Adding to my asda savings card hasn't really worked, although there is still time. I'll probably get a lot of there books/games from the nearly new shop in town. I also might book an official Santa visit for the kids with breakfast, we'll see. Working Saturdays doesn't help since most things are on a Saturday. Again, it's a work in progress.

Pre-ordered a book for hubby's birthday from the kids, and I'm going to treat myself to one too. The money won't come out until my September pay.

One of those weeks when I complain about something petty - work - then something serious happens and throws me off. The serious thing was that my mum ended up in hospital, they think she had a mini stroke. My uncle was there with her when it happened and he stayed with her at the hospital. I was on the phone to him loads while she was in hospital. She got out that night and I went to visit her the next day. It was a stressful night.

In other news, my loan is now under 7k.

Hubby upgraded his phone, the payments are the same as before.

One week till payday.

It's payday. I went shopping. I spent 48.xx in lidl. I got a taxi back. Another six pounds.

I really want us to visit hubby's grandpa next year. I checked out train fares. Today I put aside forty pounds towards it. I still need to talk to him to arrange it.

I'm having some issues with my mum. I've been dealing with her finances for years. The other day she was really moody with me over her money, when I had done exactly what she asked me to do (transferred x amount to savings). I told her she can deal with her own finances now, I don't know how I ended up with the job in the first place. She needs to get a handle on it, it's not my responsibility.

It's been a while.

Our washing machine has been acting up, so hubby has been watching videos on YouTube. He's attempted to fix it a few times but there's still problems. I'm hoping we'll only need to buy a part to fix it.

We still have about five hundred pounds worth of credit card debt that J added on (by buying add-ons on Google play). I want to get a zero percent card for it so it doesn't impact debt payoff.

Hubby used all of his catalogue rewards to buy some household items: bath mats, shower curtains etc.

Speaking of hubby, he's noticed his tablet is really slow compared to mine. He knows we'll have to save up to replace it. It won't be anytime soon.

I want to get a wireless keyboard since we can't afford to replace our laptop yet. A new laptop is ages away yet, but it can go on the list.

After days of me pestering him, hubby finally spoke to an adviser from Google play this morning. He agreed to refund the last fourteen transactions, which is a grand worth. Hubby didn't think any of it would get refunded.

I'm so pleased. However, I still want to transfer the rest to a zero percent card.

I've started the process of switching husband's bank account. There's a chance we could be moving again so I'll put the money aside for that.

I had fraudulent activity on my account again. The bank refunded the money.

I'm doing some overtime tomorrow, I was stressing about the credit card so I agreed to it.

There are no words.

Everything was great, or so I thought, until two days ago. J has a bad habit of clicking or rather, just touching stuff on hubby's phone. I actually had to transfer extra money to hubby's bank account a few weeks ago because J had bought a few games (clicked on the ad, that's all) Hubby said he would link his Google account with his credit card in case it happened again.

I thought I was being pretty observant, taking the phone off him whenever I noticed that he had it. Then the screen on hubby's phone broke and he started to use his old phone. But then he seen some games were downloading. I asked him to check his credit card balance online. Lol and behold, over 1k worth of transactions. A lot of them were 79.99 transactions.

So now I have extra debt. Unwanted debt. This was not part of the plan.

I have to check Husband's credit rating and try to get it transferred to a zero percent card.

This is a big bump in the road. I'm just hoping it won't derail me too much.

It was payday on Friday. I realised the same day that I hadn't received my new debit card so I had to go into town then go to my bank then husband's so I could put money into his bank then come home to pay the bills. It was a long day, added to the fact that I was down about the election results.

A while ago, hubby and I were talking about how he wants to switch banks. Well my bank has an offer: recommend a friend and when they switch you both get 100GBP. I hope I've read and understood the eligibility criteria properly. I want to use it towards a moving fund in case we do end up moving this year.

I'm meeting VS from Oz this week. We arranged the final details the other day.

I'm aiming to fully track spending this pay; I've been lax about it.

I've started the process of closing my catalogue. The online adviser who I spoke to didn't question why I wanted to close it - he said any excuse will do. He is refunding the 3.53 to my account.

Catalogue debt is now less than credit card debt.

I need to meal plan and write a shopping list today. We've been using things up.

I took SG to a birthday party last week. It was her friend from nursery so I wasn't looking forward to going and not knowing anyone. I didn't know what to expect but it was after lunch time so me and hubby decided she picked that time to save some money.

When I got there I noticed a huge buffet straight away. There was also a dj, face painting and a tattoo station, a colouring station and later on a minion arrived. There was also chocolate fondue with strawberries and marshmallows; SG loved it. Is this the new standard for fifth birthday parties? Or is she just trying to outdo each previous years birthday parties? I don't know. As I said, I'd only just met her.

Speaking of birthdays, it is my littlest's birthday soon. We are still thinking low-key.

I still desperately want to get a new job but I think the chances of it happening this year are slim. I have however started to write my cv since it's been non-existent for about ten years.

I think that's all.