Back in control...now to stay there!

stiltoncheese

Pretty boring day for me today. No plans to spend any money and we're not going out anywhere either.

Will watch the F1 qualifying and have a put a load of washing on. Just need to put away the dry clothes on the airer and hoover and polish. Then the rest of the day will be spent chilling out. Feeling really uncomfortable with this pregnancy today so glad we don't have anything planned to be honest.

Wish payday would hurry up though. I want to see my loan come down to £800 and know I will only have 5 more payments to go

Aloofdragon

What a lovely little diary x And wow your one busy lady considering you have a lil un and a new born about to arrive shortly !!! Do you know what your having ?? and a massive well done on your savings so far, loads rave about YNAB I must look into this too.. I am a little like yourself itching to start ready for the new year too, have a lovely evening hopefully resting lol x

stiltoncheese

Thanks Aloof. You're very kind, as I tend to waffle on! We're having a little girl, so I will have one of each Will be lovely as this is our last baby so fab to get to experience both sexes.

Definitely look into YNAB. I am the queen of budgeting and using spreadhseets so never thought I would get much from YNAB but it has totally changed the way I look at money. Whilst I always knew what money I had left in my account for bills and things, I never tracked my savings or adhoc spends so seemed to fritter money away or not save properly. Now I can account for everything and all the virtual pots really do let me see what I need for future bills etc. Best £30 I ever spent!

Do you have a diary Aloof...I may take a wander over if you do x

stiltoncheese

Up nice and early with little man today so grabbing 10 mins on here while he's happy with his toys.

Still nothing planned for today and I'm glad really as it's so miserable outside. I can handle the cold weather but I hate it when it rains, as it restricts you so much more.

Need to get the bedding off to wash today but hubby is still led in it. Off upstairs shortly to evict him otherwise I won't get it dry on the airers in time to go back on the bed.

Otherwise, lazy-ish day planned again. Might make some pizza dough to make a pizza for tea tonight and we will have to stop and watch the final F1 race today. Really hoping Hammy takes the title

Bed to be stripped and washed and clean clothes to be put away from airer. I swear my washing pile just never seems to go down. I can get to the bottom of it and hubby will suddenly materialise with loads of things that haven't been put in the basket.

Anyway, happy relaxing Sunday everyone

stiltoncheese

Hamilton won...yay! We really enjoyed sitting down to watch it and not having to do anything else for a few hours.

Sold another item last night, so another £2 into the £1 pot. Have someone picking up another item for £3 this morning, so that will go into whichever pot she gives me the coins for. Not sold the last few bits still, so need to bump them up again or find another selling site to put them on. I must say I much prefer the local selling sites to Eb*y...no fees to, no parceling up stuff and no going out to post stuff. Guess you might miss out on people bidding higher amounts, but most of my stuff is odd baby bits I no longer need that won't make much more than a few quid anyway.

Must re-do the mealplanner for the coming week and place an online food shop to come for tomorrow morning. Last one of the month and am slightly down in the budget, so will be a few cheaper, easier meals this week. We try to have one really nice meal a week, and the rest is a mix of old favs like chilli, cottage pie etc and 1 cheap meal like jacket spuds, or egg and chips. I try and make sure we have a roast every Sunday though as I do enjoy them.

stiltoncheese

Food shop ordered and menu plan written. Ended up spending more than I had planned to, but got a load of bits on offer towards Christmas, so it will make the next few shops a bit cheaper anyway. Might as well get the stuff I need while it's saving me some money instead of at full cost in a few weeks time.

The woman never turned up to collect the item she bought for £3 so I will message her later to check she still wants it. Benefit of the doubt as it has been the weekend and she may have just genuinely forgotton she was supposed to collect it. If not, will bump it up and offer for re-sale. At least you don't have listing fees etc on the local selling sites.

Been reading a few diaries on here this morning. Some of them are very inspirational and makes me more determined than ever to make sure I stay on top of things. I want to be able to say I have savings for 'X' instead of saying I am broke all the time. Really want to do loads of the challenges too, but I am committed to 3 of them already for next year, and don't think it's possible to do any more really...I just won't have the money to put aside for them too.

stiltoncheese

Just waiting for my shopping to arrive. I hate putting shopping away, it's one of those jobs that always seems to irriate me. Do love having nicely stocked fridge, freezer and cupboards though.

Woman turned up this morning to pick up the item she was supposed to get yesterday. £3 paid, so another coin into my £1 pot and £2 pot. Just waiting on the item I sold on the weekend to be collected now. That was for £10 but the woman asked if she could pick it up this weekend...to coincide with payday I assume. Was going to use that to pay back into my son's account as it's his, but I have transferred him the money out of my remaining £20.01 instead and will just keep the cash. Leaves me £10.01 to last until Friday but I have nothing left to spend now so will transfer it into emergency fund on Thursday night

Did 3 hours overtime last night (did it sat up in bed with hubby while he watched TV haha) so it wasn't too bad. One bonus of being able to access work servers from home I guess. Need to do another 6 hours this week so will try for another 3 tonight and another 3 on Wednesday night, so the rest of the weeks evenings are my own. Put in my expenses claim online too, which should be almost £200. It's too late for this payday, but will be a nice bonus in my pay after Christmas and will be going straight into the car fund for service and MOT in April.

Ah...shopping just rolled up.

stiltoncheese

Had a reasonably productive day today. Put the food shopping away and dinner is all in the oven. Managed a load of washing, so basket is empty for now, and it's all drying on the airer. Clean clothes put away too.

Can't be bothered to do this overtime tonight at all, especially as today is a non-working day, but I really could do with the money. Won't be so bad once I'm logged on to the servers and actually making a start, but the thought of it at the mo is pretty depressing

Oven beeper is about to go off so better so and sort dinner out. My work never stops!

stiltoncheese

Did my 3 hours overtime last night, sat up in bed in my pjs again . Feel shattered this morning as my son woke a couple of times in the night too. 3 more hours tonight and then that's it for overtime the week. I will be in the office tomorrow and Friday though, so it's not the end of my working week sadly.

Overtime claim I put in the night before last was approved yesterday morning, which is fab. I have just missed the cut off point for it to go in this months pay though, so will get it at the end of December like I thought. Will have another one to put in then too, but that will be submitted before the cut-off point and paid in the same payslip. Both should be for about £230 which is great. Should have 36 hours ovetime paid in the same pay packet too, so will be a nice bumper month.

Need to bump up my items for sale again. Still got about 5 things I want to get rid of as they are taking up a lot of space and we just don't have the storage space here at all. Should make me another £15 if they do eventually sell.

Transferred my last £10 into my emergency fund pot today, so bank account now sitting at 1p! Payday on Friday though and have £20 in there petrol tomorrow. Will be able to take advantage of free parking at work due to various appointments so no parking fees to pay, and I have stuff to make a packed lunch for tomorrow and Friday.

Next mini-target is to see my savings up to £3500

stiltoncheese

Ooops, didn't manage to get on at all yesterday as was working and did more overtime last night.

Payday today, yay! Am logged on quickly at work just to update, but I will be able to update my signatures etc later on tonight when I can log on properly. Sad that I am looking forward to updating YNAB and my spreadsheet and moving the money into my various savings pots.

Was a bit naughty as DH had filled the car up with fuel on the weekend and neither of us has used it since, so didn't need to put my final budgeted £20 in yesterday after all. Will transfer it over to my emergency fund I think as I will only spend it on crap otherwise.

Hoping to finish off my Christmas shopping online tonight. I'm almost done anyway, but have a few final gifts to order. Just wrapping paper to get then, and the food nearer the time.