My work are being a nightmare. I had a meeting to discuss my hours. They want everyone to be as flexible as possible. Well, I explained that I'm not. They noted it down. I asked if redundancy was on the table? No, it's the last option. At the next meeting they will give me hours that some computer decided is best (to meet the needs of the company). I'm dreading it. Someone told me that she was offered hours, but she couldn't work that late and they wouldn't negotiate with her. So, it's all or nothing.

For now, I'm job hunting and resisting the urge to hand in my notice.

So, any idea what I should do meanwhile? Minimise expenses? Put away extra cash? Or towards debt?

I spent two days in hospital with SG because she had breathing problems. It was unplanned, of course. I spent a lot of money on junk food and sandwiches for me, since SG was having hospital food. I must've spent about 20 on food, although I didn't really keep track. Hubby got a takeaway so that was another 21. I also got a taxi home for us - we had so much stuff and I was shattered. All in all, it must have been about 50 in total.

She is doing better now. The doctor gave us medicines and an inhaler for the next few days.

In other news, I just paid off one catalogue today. That was 75.02. The other one is now 330.

Today is payday. Next pay I will be short because of phoning in sick for those two days, but we will manage.

In other news, I've been thinking about budgeting for other expenses such as school stuff. Each pay I send fifty pounds to my EF. From now on, I'll allocate twenty to these miscellaneous items that could potentially break the budget. I'll have to write it down though, otherwise I'll lose track of it. Yep, it only takes a small leak to sink a ship so I want to make sure that that doesn't happen.

It's payday, but I'm a week short, so I'm going to have to take it from savings. My supervisor obviously didn't put my holidays through last month. I'll need to talk to personnel when I'm back in.

Met my friend for lunch yesterday. Spent 15.00 exactly. We went to a relatively new place, it was really good.

Found out at work that we're not getting a 20GBP gift card at Christmas. I've gotten it every single year since I've been there. I was going to count it as a snowflake as well. Oh well, I'll need to think outside of the box.

Dh and I always go Christmas shopping together, well, all of us go. We can't this year now that eldest is actually aware of everything. The plan is to divide and conquer.

For the past two months I haven't collected my payslip at work. I know what I've been paid anyway. However, it is a bit lackadaisacal of me to not collect it. Yesterday I got them. My rate of pay increased at the start of the month. Obviously, it increased so much I noticed. Nope. I had an inkling it might have increased, only because it happens every October.

I'm getting the impression at work that things are not going well. At all. I wonder if redundancies are in the future? This happened to lots of management years ago. I'm not exaggerating; a ton of them went. I remember coming back from maternity leave and noticing a lot of people were gone.

At work yesterday upper management kept getting my name wrong, or my nickname rather, so I assumed he must have been talking to my former supervisor who always uses my nickname. Before he used my full name. He only got one letter wrong but I think I missed my chance to correct him since when he first did it I was dealing with a customer and I didn't think he was talking to me - since it's not my name. Never mind.

My mum told me last week that she is saving up for her funeral. Told me she doesn't want to leave me with the burden of it. (She's fine, she was just talking to her friend about it)

The clocks went back. It didn't feel as bad as last year though when I was still doing night feeds so it's not been too bad.

Today is payday, but I have a few things to update first.

My impulse spending still seems to be happening a lot. It's mostly something for lunch after work, or out for lunch with the kids, like we did on Monday. Mostly my reason for it is to get something to eat on the way home from work because I'm usually starving by the time I finish. I need to start packing something to eat on the way home.

Speaking of work, the trousers that I wear at work are becoming a bit of a nightmare. Or rather, they have been like that for a while and now it's really starting to get to me. On Monday night I decided that I was definetly going to buy a new pair after work on Tuesday. It means going into the shopping centre and I can never be bothered, but I thought I'd definetly make myself go then.

Well, it never happened. I was three hours into my shift at work when I fainted. The first aider at work decided to call an ambulance. They came out, spoke to me about my weight, blood sugar etc and told me to get an appointment with my doctor. I was lucky enough to get an appointment that day. When I seen the doctor he told me to keep a food diary and come back in a few weeks. As per recommendation, I've now joined my fitness pal to keep track of calorie intake.

I thought I'd lost my bank card but I found it this morning.

I recently qualified for one of those mum surveys. 5gbp reward, so I should have that soon. My Survey emailed me because I haven't been attempting surveys recently. I attempted a few so that's sorted now. My attention seems to be either on surveys or swagbucks, I don't have time for both.

Yesterday I checked my bank balance only to realise that I still had money left over before payday. I transferred some to my emergency fund .

Today I woke up and seen that my pay was less than normal, although I think I was late a few times. It's not drastic though so we'll be fine.

I paid minimum to BOS this morning. I've also paid Christmas savings. I think there's only one pay left of paying them, I'm going to double check. There's possibly only three or four more paydays until my huge buy now pay later (BNPL) item gets added on.

It's dh's birthday next month. It's over four weeks away so we'll be paid before then. Any meals out will come out of that pay, unless I manage to keep money aside from this one.

We've almost finished the last of the meat from the huge order I did online a while ago. I'll have to actually buy meat this pay period.

Well, I haven't managed to have a proper conversation with dh yet about the catalogue. I will do it soon (I know, it needs to be done). The only thing I did mention is that any facebook sales should be split 50/50 between our catalogues, and dh agreed. I'd better get listing some items then.

I'm still working on decluttering and organising our flat. I feel like we're getting there, bit by bit. I sorted some of the shredding pile (mountain!) yesterday and found some of dh's statements. I think he might have about 6k debt, although the statements weren't recent. Add that to mine and we're looking at 14k. Ugh. The good news is that I found a cheque and a coupon.

SG starts nursery in August. We've got an induction to go to, actually on J's birthday. We were maybe going to have people over that day but they can come over the next day, if they want to.

I need to buy in some ingredients for J's cake, and a packet of balloons for J's birthday. I can't decide what cake to make, not that it'll be fancy. I did find a healthy recipe for a small cake using fruit puree.

My manager explained about the hours in the department. Her boss only wanted her to have three colleagues, but to get the job done you need four, so she is allowed to overspend by a certain amount each week. He let her have more colleagues under the condition that she doesn't go over the agreed amount. Therefore, some weeks we are asked to leave earlier than normal.

I need to decide what meals we're having next week.

I think that's all.

Well, I phoned work yesterday to find out the reason for my low pay. The company only pays twelve weeks of sick pay; I've used all mine. My pay was government sick pay.

Hubby came home from work and checked his balance. His pay was worse than mine!! We worked it out and it's because he took sick days when I was first out of hospital. It was at that moment that I decided to withdraw one hundred pounds from the EF. Does this qualify as an emergency? To us at this point yes. I just want to make sure we can pay everything. I didn't want to withdraw the money but I can't see any other option. We've already borrowed money from family before so i don't want to do that again - although I suspect my mum might offer if I mentioned it but that would be 20-30 pounds and we need more. Goodbye goal of even reaching 200 pounds this year.

I'm trying to spend as little as possible on food shopping. I ordered from a website called Approved Foods to fill up our cupboards. They sell food that is close to or past its sell by date. It's all dry foods though. That was almost forty pounds but I ordered a lot. We should only need to buy some fresh meat and bread and milk. We go through a lot of milk, especially since I try to make sure that I drink a pint a day.

I also decided yesterday that I need to claim for my first hospital visit in December. I need to do it before next month when it's been six months. I can fill in the form today and get it sent. Hopefully they will process it this month.

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.

Yesterday was payday. After paying bills I added £45 to savings.

I managed to only spend £10 at the pub last night.

I woke up to see snow this morning. I think there's about 2 inches of it. I hope it doesn't get as heavy as the last time it was here, I'd like to try driving in it this time.

I managed to get overtime this week: seven and a half hours worth. This is practically unheard of at this time of year. I don't know if I will get any more within the next couple of weeks, I'm just happy that I got something.

Lunch challenge is going well. I've packed 100% almost every day with the only exception being Sunday when I had to buy myself dinner at work because I impulsively volunteered to stay on for a few hours to help out. I had only packed for my contracted hours so I had no option but to buy dinner.

We're going out on Saturday night with a few friends. It will be our last night out for a while.

I've been thinking that me and hubby will have to combine our finances soon and get a joint bank account. Right now we're both with different banks.

I've also been thinking that I should help hubby pay back his mum. The sooner she's out the way, the better. It also means that it will free up money which can go to savings. Hmm. I spent most of my shift trying to think of ways to come up with extra money to pay her back. I would love it if the debt was gone by May/June.

Yesterday was payday. After paying bills I added £45 to savings, so that was £20 extra. Also, the day before we got paid I transferred the money I had left (£8) I love adding to savings. I'm going to have to write down when I add to savings so I can keep track of it.

I'm going to withdraw money for petrol and a night out we've got planned for next week and put it into envelopes.

I got my car back today. I can feel the difference. I'm hoping I won't see the inside of a garage for a while now.

I only got paid 2 days ago and already Im thinking of ways to save money. DH thinks I'm like this all the time anyway but these past few days I've been constantly thinking about my outgoings for the next four weeks. So, what are my reasons? Well my MOT is due next month. I really DO NOT want to put any of it on the CC, I want to pay for it with cash. I just got rid of one credit card, I don't want to add to the remaining one any more (I put my tyre on it) I'm thinking worst case scenario that work will need done since it is an old car. Aargh! If I had money saved for car maintenance I wouldn't have this problem!

Anyway so do I still have to pay within these next four weeks?

- petrol
- phone bill
- car payment
- car insurance
- dental plan
- Christmas savings
- auto savings transfer
- fix leak in alloy wheel (has to be done before MOT)

The only good thing about not using my car for almost four weeks is that I didn't have to get petrol as soon as I got paid.

I'm expecting my car insurance to go up next month because of the accident.

For the next 26 days I will pack everything I need for work. Before I can do this though I'll need to buy a few things to take to work, mostly things to snack on since that's my downfall. HH has motivated me to do this I enjoyed the feeling before when I did the lunch challenge and realised how much money I'd saved.

I don't have any pub nights planned so that's good - we were out last night anyway, but hubby treated me.

OK, that's my plan. Hope I succeed!

This is what I end up asking myself a few days Ouafter payday. I mean I've been working extra, I should have money left over. I wish. I only got paid on Friday and I have £198.16 left. I'm going to have to claim the money back from my contact lenses so I don't end up overdrawn this month. I'm gutted, I wanted to put it into savings. Practically all of my money goes towards debt. Anyway, here it is:

average pay: £788 (every 4 weeks)

Outgoings:

"rent" £160
car payment £101.79
car insurance £94.83
catalogue £80
dental plan £12
phone £30 (average)
petrol £40
cc1 £40
cc2 £40
Love Film £18.99
savings £5

Total: £622.61

Note: all payments listed for catalogue and credit cards are above the minimum.

Next month my road tax is due - and I haven't got any money put aside for that. I could just kick myself. Anyway that will take me to £707.86 (Next year I'm saving for road tax!)

Ok, if you managed to read all of this, thank you. Vent over.

I would love to take all my leftover money and put it into savings/clear debt.

Got £20 GC from work today. Spent it on cousin's birthday present (£11.25), hubby's socks (£4.50)and BIL's dvd (£8.10) Total: £23.85 so had to put £3.85 to it.

Still waiting on xmas vouchers. Next year I think I'll save half with MIL and half with a woman at work. Me and hubby were talking about it today. I'm not sure if I'll even manage to spend them all when I finally get them cos I seem to be doing ok so far xmas shopping, I haven't got that much to get. I don't think so anyway.

I have overspent on hubby's xmas presents. We agreed a maximum of £50 and I've spent £70.47 (i'll need to double check this) £50 budget didn't include a dvd that he picked but I'm still well over.

That reminds me, I need to work out the rest of my outgoings for the next four weeks...

I'm working six extra hours this week. Hubby was surprised that I'm working extra. My money seems to disappear - mostly towards debt (car payments, credit cards, catalogue) so I need to get extra to try and clear it. And save too. I wish I was putting more to savings than debt, rather than the other way. In fact it'd be nice not to have any debt.

I found out that the Post Office now has a budget card. Once you have the card you can add money to it to save towards a specific bill. I think I will get one and use it to save towards my road tax next year.

I'm going to have to think of goals for next year. I'd love for us to move out, it feels like it'll never happen.

My work has been told to spend their wages. Apparently the store is majorly underspent. My manager said today that she was very flexible, if anyone wants to come in earlier/stay later. I'm only off one day this week so I didn't volunteer to do any more since I am already doing overtime. To be honest, this is the worst I've seen it, although I am quite pleased in a way cause it means I can get all the overtime I want.

In other news I have a feeling that this meal for MIL's birthday may not happen. She hasn't said anything to me or hubby but she did borrow money from hubby (she's going to give it back to him when she gets paid) I'm hoping for a night in, to be honest. Also she didn't tell him how much she borrowed. We're going to get a statement this week and check.

It was my friend's wedding on Saturday and we actually came back with money!! Originally we had over £20 left over but I had promised my mum we would give my uncle taxi money so we came back with roughly £10. I asked DH what we should do with the money? His answer: put it into savings. It's only a small amount but I'm pleased we didn't spend it all. I'm going to go to the bank soon and put the money in.

We have a few new people at work. I think this means there will be less overtime in the future, although no sign of it stopping soon.

On Friday I worked 6 hours overtime. Then we went to visit my friend who just had a baby. They offered us dinner but we had something to eat before we left. We stayed for a few hours, she and her hubby were tired since this is baby's first week home. She liked my presents. Total cost: free

Last night it was DH's friend's birthday. We went to his house. Put petrol in the car before we went. DH gave me £10 towards it. Total cost: £20 (£10 me)DH took beer that we bought last week.

I was back at work today. Asked supervisor for overtime so I'm working on Thursday. DH is working nightshift on Friday.

I'm doing well tracking spending, especially DH. Basically I'm aiming not to spend money on anything that I don't need. I'm going to look online for my friend's wedding present tonight.

In other news, I spoke to my friend about staying at hers when we're on holiday. The offer's still there so we're going the week of our anniversary for a night.

Well not really, MIL is home. DH is working tonight, he's covering a shift. It's good because he hasn't done overtime in a while.

As soon as I stepped into our room today I noticed MIL had been in our room. DH hates when she does it. I do too but he has proper arguments with her. The last time he brought it up they had a huge argument and MIL used the phrase "it's my name on the house" It's times like that when I wish we had our own place. Hopefully tonight won't turn into an argument, although by every right it should, DH has told her that we deal with our room. It's silly how I know she's been in. She's tidied the room and put Farmfoods bags in the bin. A few weeks ago I bought bin liners for our room which I've been using. MIL doesn't know about them, I keep them in a bag (which, in fact is out in plain sight) DH does though, and he would have used them.

Packed everything today. One more day to go and I've reached my goal. I'd like to challenge myself for July too.

Another NSD today.

Came home from work to find mail from my bank. I can now check my bank details online and transfer money from my current account to my savings. This could be a good and bad thing (easy to put money in, easy to take out...)

DH and I spoke and we're going to have to try and rent somewhere. Private let is expensive though but we may be entitled to some sort of housing benefit since we are in low-paid jobs. It'd be fantastic to have our own space, I wouldn't mind struggling at first, it will be worth it.

I have finally paid back MIL, which means another goal for this year has been met. I've forgotten how to edit it though, so my list of goals hasn't been updated yet.

I paid two bills online before 7 this morning - then I went back to sleep. I really only woke up to check my bank balance.

Hubby and I haven't done much today, been lazing about. He has a night out tomorrow, I'll be home probably watching a dvd with a glass of wine.

So what's coming up this month?

1) Meal at friend's house
2) My cousin's birthday
3) Cinema with my mum to see Sex and the City 2

I think that's all, hopefully I won't be spending too much this month (well I'm going to limit my spending)

Have a good day!

That was how much overtime I got today. Hubby worked 4 hours extra too. I'm going to try and do as much as possible this month. It was a long four hours, there wasn't much to do. I'm just glad I managed to get some overtime, I guess that's all that's important.

I'm off for two days now, I won't be doing much though, just taking it easy.

I'm going to keep track of my spending this month. Well for four weeks until my next payday, just to see how I'm doing.

Not mine, a woman at my work. I'm covering her shift on Wednesday so she can go to the dentist. Anyway by doing her shift I'll be working 8 hours extra this week

My manager wanted me to work today but I said I couldn't because I've got studying to do, and I knew I was covering her shift on Wednesday.

I think I might end up in my overdraft a bit. I have to make three bus trips into the city for my exams. It works out as about £13 for the three days plus bus fare in the city.

A woman at my work text me yesterday asking if I could do her shift tomorrow. I'm already working tonight so I was considering not doing it. Then I thought that I have a lot to pay for so I really should do it for her. Anyway I told her I would so I'm working tomorrow, so that ruins my plans of having my first no spend day in May. Friday I need to go into uni so there's more money that I'll need to spend.

Total extra hours this week: 11

Sales at work have been quite bad recently - well the store seems to think so. From now on, there has to be no unauthorised shifts done by colleagues. My manager doesn't even have an overtime sheet up for next week. I have been relying on overtime to pay for my holiday. Apparently the GSM will authorise any overtime. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining because I have studying to do, but I still have money to pay towards the holiday. I'm trying to think about what I should do if it gets really bad and there isn't any overtime up for a while. Try and do overtime in another department? Ask to come in earlier than my starting times? I really don't know. One thing's for sure, I'll write down everything I need to pay for and work out what I have left from it. I have until June to pay the holiday so hopefully I will work something out.

I think that from Saturday onwards I'm just going to work out my wage from my old pay. I'm definetly opening a savings account once I've paid for the holiday.

No more news to report today...but is only about 5.30pm.

My wage wasn't as much as I thought it would be. But I forgot to deduct NI and tax off from the total, so the total before any deductions was right, it was just the one after.

Now I've got a problem because we got a letter from the tv licence company and it said that we have to renew our licence. I tried to do that last month, i gave them my card number so they could take the balance out of my account but for some reason it hasn't worked. I think my mum is going to help me pay it since she knows that I've got a lot of expenses this month.

As of next month I'm getting a pay rise. Then in October we're getting another pay rise. I'm wondering if I should try to live on what I'm earning just now so that I can try and save some money.