Minty's incredible disappearing £700 thread...

mintymoneysaver

Gorgeous morning here. Had an eventful day yesterday with a child in my class deciding to pass out on me as we were talking about blood! Needed a nice glass of wine last night to get over the shock.

Money wise still doing fairly well. Sold a CD on Amazon for £7 so that needs to be posted today. Still haven't had my first statement from Barclaycard yet, which is what I'm waiting for as I want to know what the DD will be so I can set up a standing order for more than that.
The joint account still has nearly £500 in it and I'm really loath to spend any of it now that I'm determined to keep hold of it! I think I'd started to see it as 'There's £700 to spend' rather than 'how much of this can I save?':rotfl:Some of it will go as daughter 2 needs £15 pocket money and some new clothes ( she's absolutely desperate as she's grown since last winter so is still living in one pair of jeggings and t shirts.) So it's a trip to town on Thursday for which I thought I could allocate £100 including an outfit for nephew's christening. Daughter 1 also needs a new pair of boots for school, but they're only £25 from the market and she has worn the last pair to bits so I don't begrudge her that!
Good point is that my ISA has over £500 in it now, left over from the bonus. This is for the driving lessons, plus hopefully the ski trip once I can get OH to see that that's a fair allocation of the funds!

Anyway off to work, hope all is going well for other people x

mintymoneysaver

Sooooo tired tonight, it's been a busy week. As well as the fainting child on Monday, I had one yesterday who decided to push cotton wool down her ear as she had earache, but pushed it so far we couldn't reaach it and her mum had to take her to A and E!
Spent money I didn't need to yesterday on my downfall, books! They were for my classroom, so can probably claim it back from petty cash though.
Have had to add to the credit card as needed to order christening present on the net and I always use my card then.

Got a good weekend to look forward to with a friend's 40th. Staying at their house, and it's only at a rugby club so hopefully the drinks won't be too expensive! Can wear a top I've already got, so no outlay needed there either, although I am getting my hair coloured tomorrow.

Have put £30 in my holiday savings as I decided it was better than nothing this month. So:

My account- £200
My credit card-£109
Savings account £480
'family' credit card- £76
£1390 on joint credit card cleared!
£3000 on BIG credit card ( 0% for 16 months) still waiting for statement, wish it would hurry up!
£30 in holiday fund
£530 in ISA

mintymoneysaver

Wahay, the Barclaycard statement has arrived! Not quite as bad as I first thought, but not far off it! The total I owe is £2973.81, and the direct debit this month will be for £66. This is going to come out right at the end of the month, so I'll have to leave enough in my account for that, but I've then set up a Standing Order for £60 to come out on the first of the month from then on, and I'll also try to throw any extra bits of money at it as they come in. Even though it's a huge amount ( to me!) and I'm going to have to sort it on my own, I feel far happier, as I have nobody to answer to about this.
Obviously though, i've still got to make sure it never happens again by keeping a more careful eye on the rest of our spending!

Did take daughter shopping yesterday, but it was a much cheaper option than first thought, as she found a dress and cardigan in the sale at New look so I spent a grand total of £15.99 on her! And it was all done and dusted in an hour, which if you knew my daughter you would appreciate was an incredible feat! She's got to be the only thirteen year old I know who doesn't like clothes... She still needs shoes, but that will be a quick trip to Wynsors, and less than a tenner, and still needs some other casual clothes, but now that we've got the Christening outfit they can be bought gradually.

Spent £5 on myself, for a necklace for the Christening in the M&S sale, but it means that's all I need to buy as I had an outfit, but it just needed a bit of 'tarting up!'

Savings account £475
'family' credit card- £76 but clothes not on there yet.
£2973.81 on BIG credit card ( 0% for 16 months) still waiting for statement, wish it would hurry up!
£30 in holiday fund
£530 in ISA

mintymoneysaver

End of my working week again, I love Wednesdays!:j
Haven't spent too much this week, although we did go out for our tea on Sunday night, which went on the credit card ( could have paid cash, but I like knowing it's still in the bank!) Have also bought my nephew's christening present, plus the shoes for daughter 2.
My own account is running a bit low after a party at the weekend, so I need to be careful with that, and to make sure I have enough left to pay the direct debit but everything else is still going well! I have a £10 cheque to pay in there though, plus am waiting for approx £10 from Amazon, so that will help. My main problem at the moment is our Halifax is closed for refurbishment at the moment, and that's where I need to pay stuff into. I can jiggle things around on the internet, but you can't pay in cheques there, can I?
It feels good to know that even if I paid the credit card now I would still have money in the bank, usually I'd already be thinking it had to come out of next month's money.....:T

Savings account £456
'family' credit card- £171
£2973.81 on BIG credit card ( 0% for 16 months)
£30 in holiday fund
£530 in ISA

mintymoneysaver

Good morning! Lovely morning here, will have to persuade OH that he really does want to cut the grass, while I tackle the pulling up of rubbish.
Have had a few bits to pay out for this week, sent nephew a cheque for his birthday and got brother in law some vouchers for his. I also spent £25 on stuff in Tesco, as I bought a wine box and a few boxes of choccies to be put away for people for Christmas as they were on offer.This is when I usually start to wonder where the money has gone, but I can see now, thanks to this thread.
Am going to finish paying the ski trip off on Monday which will feel great. It doesn't have to be paid till January but I want it gone before Christmas.
Have got to give my mum £22 as well as I took a top back for her that I'd paid on my card, but that will come back off the credit card bill so it's swings and roundabouts really.
Got a lovely weekend ahead of me, with my nephew's christening tomorrow, but at least it won't involve spending any more money!:rotfl:

mintymoneysaver

Gosh, that money soon starts to disappear once you take your eye off the ball, doesn't it!
Family credit card has now gone up to £250. Have bought train tickets to York for half term, vouchers for brother in laws birthday, shoes for daughter 2. There's still £450 in the 'savings' account, so it's still positive, but it just shows how easy it is for it to disappear.

On a good note, the skiing is paid! No more to pay on that, which frees up a good amount. The credit card statement will be due on Saturday, so what I can actually do is pay that off too, with the money still in the savings, and that means next months £700 should all be actual cash, not payback time!

Off to London on Saturday, and I still have some money in my account to pay for that. Not as much as I'd like, so will probably have to put a meal on the credit card, but that's not too bad...
Half term next week. York is paid for, and I'm taking my mum so she'll buy lunch! Got a prize of £25 meal voucher, so we can use that for lunch out one day, and then off to Blackpool on the Thursday. Using my tesco vouchers for the fair though, so we'll only need to buy fish and chips!

Of course there's still the little matter of a huge Barclaycard bill, but at least the rest of my life is under control!

mintymoneysaver

Had a fantastic day in London yesterday and didn't spend 'too' much. Unfortunately the £68,000 diamond ring I fancied was just a little out of my price range so I settled for some posh chocs from Fortnum and Mason. Used a 2 for 1 voucher for our lunch, and bought a Christmas present or two, so feeling quite pleased with myself!

So to finance, just about enough left in my bank account to cover the first direct debit, and then I'll be paid the day after.£277 on the credit card at close of the month, but £350 left in the 'savings' account ( gave daughter some money for school clothes, and paid for lunch in London) so I can pay that off with £75 left over to next month! That hasn't happened for the longest time. I haven't had any big expenses on it this month, but I have also definitely been more careful, and it really feels good! So will update when I get paid, with next months figures and expenditure!
Half term now, and looking forward to it. Hope everyone else has a good week x

mintymoneysaver

A week later and everything that needs paying has been!
The skiing trip is paid, the family credit card is paid, All the things I've bought off Amazon for daughter's birthday are paid, and my first payment for Barclaycard has gone!

My £700 is already done to about £670 ( I'll update when it's all gone through) but that doesn't need to pay too much off!
It still needs to pay daughter's £50 allowance ( won't need to pay that next month as she's got herself a part time job till Christmas)
a cheque for £14 to my in laws as I bought a few bits when I was out shopping with them the other day, and they paid. There's also about £20 as a dancing show deposit and £15 for other daughter. My aim would be to keep £500 in there till the end of the month but we'll see how that goes!

So:
Savings account approx £600
'family' credit card- £64 ( bits from York this week, meal out etc)
£2967( originally)- £2847 (approx) on BIG credit card ( 0% for 16 months)
£60 in holiday fund
£275 in ISA ( ready for daughter's driving lessons)

Lovely sunny day here, and I plan on getting a bit of the garden sorted this afternoon, before marking some books ready for school tomorrow. Hope everyone else is doing well!

beanielou

Driving lesson prices are so scarey.

gilly1964

beanielou wrote: »

Driving lesson prices are so scarey.

Sorry to crash the thread - but tell me about it :mad:

DS started in July £23 per lesson and most driving schools round this way insist on 2 hours each time - so £46 per week.

We are already up to over £700, with the theory test to book, the practical test to book, before we even think about getting a car and the insurance:eek: