Getting there...slowly.

beanielou

Yes, you do need a Booker card.
I borrow someones but I think they are free to get.

girlatplay

I had a quick look on their website. I think you need to be a business or a charity to qualify for a card. I will look further when I get more time in case there is a loophole. Thank you.

£10 in purse still intact

I forgot my phone today. Really annoying. Although no one ever contacts me when I have it, I usually arrive home to numerous missed calls and messages when I forget it. The annoying thing is that I wanted to text LMG to see how she got on in one of her classes this morning but I will need to wait until I get home now.

I need to call Sky and see if I can arrange a new deal as my contract has just run out and the payments are due to increase. I currently pay £27.62 per month for basic TV, line rental and unlimited broadband. My budget is £30 so as long as it comes in around that then I will be happy. If the worst comes to the worst, I will just cancel the lot, go freeview and get a pay as you go dongle for internet on the laptop. Would be a bit annoying though

girlatplay

Well the weekend was good. Fairly quiet apart from having the girls round. They talk non-stop. Love them to bits One has been on holiday to Italy and brought us back lovely glass bead bracelets. They are murano glass and quite unusual. Mine is red and I absolutely love it. Another was having a clearout and gave me a bag of her old clothes The third brought a wee goodie bag for LMG with body spray, body butter, lip balm and a pretty wee bracelet - Links of London style. Flowers, wine, we were spoiled

So, money: I spent an undisclosable amount on the meal Got lovely chicken fillets from the farm shop. It was well worth going for them. I picked up a couple of last minute bits and bobs from Asda, including things that I can use again (muffin moulds to do the deserts in, champagne glasses as I didn't have any (60p each), etc).

I have paid all money across to cc holding account ready for when the bill comes in (around 11th) so everything is covered. I have £7 and a couple of coppers in my pocket money purse which is not quite right but I am leaving things as they are and am back on track as of today.

I will be putting £2 into bestie's hen pot when I get home so that is me fully paid up the hen accommodation. Just have to bank that which I can do tomorrow as I need to go to the bank anyway. Going to change my signature slightly as I will have my sister's hen to pay for and extras for bestie's hen so need to start saving for them.

18 sleeps to the big holiday :cool::)

girlatplay

I'm not quite sure how my head works at the moment. I took £4 out of my purse yesterday but I have £4.20 left in it. I only had £7 and some odds *shakes head in disbelief* There must have been a £1 coin hiding.

I am going to take the £26 to the bank today to pay the balance of Bestie's hen accommodation. One less thing to worry about.

All is fine with all the pots.

Back to Morrison's for grocery shop tomorrow Never thought I would miss it so much. I am looking forward to getting change out of my £40. Started shopping list already. Need to meal plan but I have absolutely no inspiration whatsoever.

My lunchtime friend comes back from her holiday this week (Friday, I think). I can't believe that's her been away almost a fortnight already. That has just gone so fast. I pray that my holiday doesn't go that fast.

17 sleeps

girlatplay

I blew pocket money on breakfast this morning. I just had a craving for a cheese twist and nothing else would do. When I got to the check out I found two cans of juice in my hands too. Hmmm...
£1.31 left in purse. I will put the £1 into the new hen pot and 31p to sealed pot.

Still no inspiration for meal plan. So far I have milk, tomatoes and hand soap on the shopping list. I have to get something down as I am suppoed to be finished at the supermarket in 3 hours time :eek:

It turns out I am too lazy to walk the 0.3 miles uphill to the bank at a lunchtime. I transferred money to bestie's hen account from another pot. I will pay in the change on Saturday when I am actually passing a bank (well almost, tiny detour but in the car).

CC bill not in yet. That will probably arrive tomorrow. I think I have enough to cover it but there is one thing not showing on it yet and I'm not sure if it will hit it in time for this statement or not. Probably not.

16 sleeps

girlatplay

Well, I might be too lazy to walk the 0.3 miles uphill to the bank but it appears that I am not too lazy to walk the 0.5 miles on level ground to collect a pair of shoes I had re-heeled!

Not much happening on the money front. I got some money in from CSA but it is nearly all gone since I have had to pay out for bits and bobs.

Getting my hair done tomorrow (budgetted) and will pop to the bank on my way home to do the money stuff.

Two weeks today at this time I will be in an aeroplane with my wee girl, somewhere over the Atlantic looking towards sunnier places 14 sleeps

girlatplay

Went to the hairdressers on Saturday morning, then popped to the bank, popped to the charity shop to drop off my sis's stuff, popped to cash for clothes with sis's and LMG's stuff and popped to travel agent to pick up tickets (!) wooo. I felt very productive.
Had a bbq for Father's Day yesterday :beer: It was a bit cloudy but bearable. It got quite cold by the time we were finishing up so that was good timing really.

When I checked my online banking this morning I noticed that my balance was £10 short. Turned out that when I had paid in cash on Saturday the teller had put it through as £16 instead of £26. I called the bank this morning and luckily their cash had been £10 over so they apologised and paid it straight into my account. That is the second time that has happened to me in that same branch (different teller though). It happened with £100 a couple of months back.

I am in desperate need of this holiday. I need to escape from here (home, not MSE) for a bit and enjoy myself. A tiny part of me is looking forward to getting on with saving once I get back though :cool:

Going to start meal planning soon for Wednesday's grocery shop. Nothing like being organised

girlatplay

Child benefit in this morning so £30 to birthday fund, £30 to Xmas fund, £20 to LMG's "needs" account and £2 to buyout holding account. Got £210 in the Xmas account now. Everything is going to plan so far

The meal plan is coming along well. I have Wednesday and Thursday planned and I have them covered without even going to the supermarket! On Friday I am going to a local hotel with my sis with the ITISON voucher that I got the other week there. I don't think cheese and prosecco really constitues a "meal" but I can snack when I get home so nothing required on the meal plan there. Just Saturday and Monday to plan as we go to my parents' for tea the other two nights. I have some ideas so I will go over them with LMG later.

Next week I will only be shopping for Wednesday and Thursday nights as we head off on Friday. Ooooh, it's a bit scary when I put it like that :cool: *starts preparing meal plan for next week to see if it can be incorporated into this week's shop*

Sis's birthday on Monday. I think I might have a card already but I'm not sure. Need to check.

It's such a beautiful day here. Wish it was like this more often.

beanielou

Lovely day here too.
Also wish was like that more.

girlatplay

Yesterday it rained only between the time of me leaving work and getting to the car. Typical. My family were all laughing (sympathetically) at me as I truly looked like I had taken a shower with my clothes on. If they hadn't seen the 20 minutes of rain then they wouldn't have believed me.

I have been playing around with my spreadsheets. Again. I have had a long, hard think about what I really want. I have decided that I should really keep the money I have already saved as a large emergency fund in case of unemployment or the like. It is what I had planned anyway but I am going to ring fence it and not count it into my savings towards the house buyout. I am prepared to use some for that purpose if so required but as a last resort / if I am a couple of £k short. I am going to save up a deposit for my forever home from scratch. I have adjusted my sig accordingly.

So, the first £130 is in the house deposit account - 3% regular saver ISA which pays the interest monthly. I have already had 3p interest, wooo Got £59.30 back from ScottishPower so added that. Gotta start somewhere

Saving a baby emergency fund (calling it "mini" in my sig in case anyone misunderstands ) of £500. That will be enough to cover washing machine breakdown, etc. If/when I use it I will just top it up again afterwards.

Spreadsheet with projected expenditure to the end of the year now made up. Of course, this will be tweaked as the year goes on but it gives me a good guide to how much I am likely to save. I need to get the baby emergency fund up to £500 before I can save much more in the house deposit account so that will be the first focus when I get back in mid July. After June, savings to the house deposit account will likely recommence at September's salary (end Sept).

Got the dentist this afternoon I have Dental Phobia. It took me a very long time before I could even say the word "dentist" without crying. My dentist practice is very good though. They specialise in nervous patients which is the reason why I am now able to go. I don't want to discuss it. I am shivering just typing this. It is just my 6 monthly check up so all will hopefully be well.