josiebabie's change of life diary

OrangeFairy

Welcome back Josie!!!!!

Loving the MSE spends!! I need to start thinking of cheap activities with the school hols starting!!

Glad to 'see' you back :j:j:j

josiebabie

Hi OF! :hello: Glad to be back, should really have come back sooner as I got a bit lapse...but onwards and upwards! Hope you're all OK and your girls are doing well, I had a sneaky on your new diary last night but was on iPhone and not computer so didn't read a lot.

Today I have been naughty...I have spent £130 on tickets to see my favourite band!!! BUT... My ticket was a birthday present from my lovely mummy Stitching Witch and the other three people will refund my on Monday when they all get paid... It was just a bit of a scary outgoing!

Got the nursery invoice today, for some reason it was cheaper than I thought? I don't normally read them and just pay the same "normal" amount, I wondered how my arrears had gone down so quickly! I had budgeted to pay the "normal" amount again this month but I am sooo tight this month I need the extra £20ish this has free'd up.

I am working tomorrow, which will be £97 in over time for me, again...REALLY need this because of the halving in tax credits. DB3 asked the other night if I'd be better off without him living with me (he thought his income affected my tax credits, but I only get childcare TCs) and I laughed! Because of my TC I now NEED him to live with me to help with my bills! :rotfl:

Right I need to go get the washing off the airer and hang another load on...am having to wean myself off the tumble dryer again...bad times!

Jx

josiebabie

Money in purse: £4.20
Money in bank: £142.67
Bills still to pay: £0.00
Diesel still needed: £0.00
"Left over": £0.00
DAYS TIL PAYDAY: 3
DAYS TIL TC's: 25

This looks a bit odd at the moment as TC's have gone in but not wages, so unable to do this properly at the moment.

I run the bills/diesel/food etc from payday to payday, so currently don't need any more diesel but have other stuff going on.

***PLEASE DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME, THIS IS NOT AN SOA FOR SCRUTINY, IT IS HOW IT IS AND I AM HAPPY WITH IT ***

26th July-26th Aug projected budget etc:-

Outgoings
Rent: £600
Nursery: £778 (two month's worth)
Car tax: £60 (half this month, half next, due end Aug )
Debt: £546.80 (Can't wait til this is gawn!!!)
BT: £40.50
Netball: £15.00
C. tax: £123
Home ins: £14.54
Charity: £4
Lecy: £100
Water: £28.07
TV: £12.43
Spotify: £9.99
Diesel: £80
Food: £100
Mobile bill: £48 (:eek: eeep! Was texting and phoning from Tenerife though...! lol)
TOTAL OUT: £2512.33

Income
Wages: £2018
Lodger: £200
Ex: £100 (minimum)
CT/CB: £282
TOTAL IN: £2600

Leaves:
£87.67
-£9 Already spent on gym for me and friend
-£3.25 ticket delivery, not accounted for when told friends the price!
+£4.20 in my purse
£79.62 available, will now keep my spending diary on here too!

josiebabie

Well a bit of good news, the ex has upped his bit to minimum of £200 this month! So I have been able to breathe out a little bit....to keep up to date
"Spare" monies after budget re-jig = £175.42

I have spent:-
£10 on MOT test at work
£9.98 on contact lenses for a month
£23 on entertaining kids at Moors Valley, ice creams and mini-train and entry
£10 on diesel for Moors Valley (above normal petrol budget)
£30 put aside for friend's birthday party
Sub total: £92.44

Tomorrow I need to pay Green Thumb £15 for quarterly lawn treatment - I paid £270 for new turf a few months back, I am not leaving it to it's own devices!!! I was supposed to pay this today but due to being a "Small Things" addict I left my purse at home.

So this leaves £77.44 "spare money"
I also have £60 of my diesel budget
And also £68 of my food budget

josiebabie

Hello hello hello!
Update on the spends £6 on a bottle of wine for daughter's nursery tombola...they were having a bring a bottle day! :rotfl:

So that leaves £71.44 spare money. Bought that last night after posting so today is still a NSD Have paid Green Thumb today but that was a budgeted for bill I don't count that.

Been in a really bad mood today, mixture of DB3 upsetting me yesterday and a whole lot of I-don't-know-what really. I hate it when that happens, being in a bad mood for no reason!

So I am online this evening doing surveys and updating this. Have been refunded £65 for ticket purchases from friend this evening, so I am all square on that front. Really need to get it in the bank so it doesn't get spent....wonder if DM is going into town tomorrow on her Grandma day...? I am one of those people that prefer the money to be in the bank and use debit card for everything rather than drawing cash "pocket money"

Nursery arrears are nearly cleared!!! £175 to go, from £4000! Admittedly a lot of this was due to an error with my childcare vouchers but I still had a huge amount I had to pay off myself, I think about £1900ish? A sale of a car and a couple of great bonuses from work have really ploughed through this, the only thing is they weren't charging me interest and the rest of my CC's are! But hey, if DD got kicked out of nursery due to the arrears then I wouldn't be able to work, fact!

josiebabie

Nothing spent from diesel budget or from food budget by the way!

josiebabie

Money in purse: £5.00
Money in bank: £398.50
Bills still to pay: £175.49
Diesel still needed: £60
Food budget remaining: £68
"Left over": £100.01
DAYS TIL PAYDAY: 27
DAYS TIL TC's: 18

Looks OK at the moment! I have a birthday night out probably including £20 taxi home to come out of the "left over" pot as well, about £50 in total? Will just have to be careful with buying rounds etc cos I tend to just go all out and get in there! Will defo buy something cheap to drink at friend's house first, I like Lidl's Brambles red fruit cider!

Tomorrow I am taking DD swimming with some friends of mine, we will do this then come home to my house for lunch, so will have to get a few extra bits in for that, need to bake cakes tonight. Have just called DB3 and he will stop somewhere on his way home to pick up something for inside them. So these will all be baked from stores. I have to go to Mr T's tomorrow morning anyway to do a shop. I am currently researching low carb alternatives to bread, any suggestions? No I'm not diabetic but I am trying to reduce my carb intake as I eat soooo much bread/white pasta/potatoes/starchy stuff. I will sit here tonight and price my Mr T's list then hopefully be able to pick it up on my mob so I get it right!

Today was another "bad mood day", think it was because I didn't make my bed this morning. I know how that sounds but it does seem to affect my mood, I am a lot clearer in the head if I have made my bed in the morning.....hippy stuff....:rotfl:

stitching_witch

josiebabie wrote: »

Today was another "bad mood day", think it was because I didn't make my bed this morning. I know how that sounds but it does seem to affect my mood, I am a lot clearer in the head if I have made my bed in the morning.....hippy stuff....:rotfl:

I know exactly how that feels, and straightening the scatter cushions on the sofas. If I walk in and see messy cushions it puts me in a bad mood for the rest of the day!

Aren't we weird??? :rotfl:

josiebabie

Money in purse: £1.70
Money in bank: £349.74
Bills still to pay: £175.49
Diesel still needed: £40
Food budget remaining: £45
"Left over": £90.95
DAYS TIL PAYDAY: 25
DAYS TIL TC's: 16

I wasn't particularly happy with yesterday, was supposed to be a very LSD but ended up driving to friends house then she drove us to Basingstoke, I paid for swimming (because she drove) £11.40 for two adults!!! Then we went to Frankie and Benny's which she was raving about, but I thought it was distinctly average and spent £15 on food for me and DD! Will definitely NOT be doing that again!

Right a quick update from me as I have a to-do list as long as my arm today, mostly revolving around outside and housework, so gotta get going! Might report back later. Ciao xxx

josiebabie

Money in purse: £8.15
Money in bank: £206.97
Bills still to pay: £99.99
Diesel still needed: £40
Food budget remaining: £38
"Left over": £37.13
DAYS TIL PAYDAY: 19
DAYS TIL TC's: 10

I am very unhappy with today, I seem to have spent a lot of money on nothing at all! I know this isn't really the case but am annoyed. We went to the nursery's summer fayre today, they charged us £1 per family to get in, then 50p/£1 per activity (£1 for 5 minutes on the bouncy castle!!!). They also didn't have any non-dairy snacks (DD allergic to cows milk), although the nursery normally caters for her with non-dairy foodstuffs because the managers kids are also non-dairy. I was thoroughly disappointed to be honest. Anyway, onwards and upwards!

Recently my spends have been:-
56p real money spent in Mr T's, £2.50 vouchers on shoe polish and insoles,
£10 out of my "spare money" pot on diesel to get to bro's house - he paid for my hair cut while up there and the cafe visit :T
59p new home card for friend
99p bag of lollies (two given out, rest in stores)
99p pack of 8 bubble envelopes for ebay sales (ending tomorrow)
£4.99 on mini present bought for the boy, who has helped me a lot recently with car issues but also it was his birthday monday just gone
£4.16 spent at nursery fayre - was quite pleased I only had a £10 note after this and they had no change!!!
£1.15 spent on choc chips for baking

One thing I have noticed from this is that there are some items that should come out of the groceries budget but I take them out of my "spare money" budget, need to look into this a bit closer. I use a note pad and paper at the moment but need an app for my phone that works and works well.

DD is with me this weekend and so we are having a quiet night in, a friend has leant me a DVD she mentioned the other day and I had never heard of. I will watch this later!

Right, better go make DD and me some tea now and start to settle her down after our exciting day all over the place today!