Marginal Gains

savingholmes

£900 in expenses awaiting and rising is a scary number!

I've just come back from HP world for a second time. Loved it.

Bank switching can be a great source of cash.

Cornish_mum

Thanks Savingholmes! Bank switch happened but expenses situation is now even more out of hand😬. 

Cornish_mum

Month end totals 

Mortgage £1000 capital reduction outstanding balance 161k

Cash change minus £600 (but MrCM is owed ~£1500 in expenses and I am owed ~£150)

CM S&S ISA no change; invested £250

CM AVC minus £50; invested £1300

MrCM AVC minus £500; invested £2000

Continuing with MrCM higher AVCs we are slightly more than breaking even overall, once we take into account the outstanding expenses. MrCM has been too busy to submit his claims and my most recent lot were rejected for having the wrong type of receipts (honestly my employer really do not make it easy), so I will resubmit again. 

We are just going to keep on investing as planned, we don’t currently have much extra income to buy the dip, and I don’t want to use our EF or Ed funds for this (being super cautious and concerned about my own job security).

This month I made £120 in side income and £125 in bank switching. I also received £10 voucher from MrS for some substandard fish fingers (which contained cardboard eurgh). This month, I agreed to take on another side job, to be completed later in the year. My French side job hasn’t paid me and I think they might not, we shall see.

MrCM application for promotion was successful, he will be 2 grades higher and get an 18% pay rise. He is beyond delighted regarding the professional recognition and I am so glad to see him happy. The money is a fantastic bonus.

June was a hectic month as both MrCM and I had work trips overseas and we both also had evening events; as work gets back to normal. DS had his school residential trip, he had an amazing time and we are getting ready for his transition to secondary. DD has attended various birthday parties and play dates. We had to postpone Father’s Day (as we were attending another family event) and my birthday celebration, we are planning to have a quiet weekend for both once the term has finished. We are all really looking forward to our summer holiday, MrCM and I are exhausted from work and we are counting the days until we can have a family break. 

Spends

We had to pay our first big summer childcare bill £900, plus £270 for regular childcare (as I only had enough vouchers for one of the kids).

We also paid the rest of the money for our holiday rental £700, for August.

Groceries were £380, including a couple of loaves of nice bread from the posh bakery. I am pleased we are managing to keep to budget on this.

Commuting costs £380 (but this includes some tickets for July, as I delayed buying my monthly pass because of being overseas & the rail strike).

Take aways just one £20

Meals out £75, MrCM took his parents to dinner with the kids to celebrate his promotion whilst I was away.

Clothes and shoes for DS residential and summer holidays £60

DS new school uniform £180 (yikes)

Restocking present cupboard and school resources for DS £65 (Big river 25% sale on Lego)

Charity shop bargains (clothes for DD, nice books for gifts) £10

School trips, scout’s and PTA contributions £50.

CMs lunches and coffee £60 (still need to work on this)

Frugaling

We harvested tons of strawberries and herbs during June. MrCM kept all the plants alive when I was away for work. We have lettuce ready now to harvest. 

Managed to buy nice books at the charity shop for gifting. 

Have been really strict at cooking at home including buying a few more easy to prep meals, to avoid takeout when things have been extremely busy.

Goals 

We kept on top of spending this month mainly because we have been so busy we haven’t had the time! I am really pleased we didn’t go crazy with spending. I managed all my June goals apart from buying our tickets for Legoland and not getting stressed about work.

July Goals 

Buy Legoland tickets 

Make sure we claim for outstanding expenses.

Buy DS a mobile phone ready for secondary school.

Sort out the garden (it is very messy)

Organise a new account for MrCMs maturing ISA and  new regular savers. 

Look for the next bank switch opportunity (once we have our free cinema tickets)

Complete outstanding work tasks and then try to focus on making sure I can clear my in-tray for summer break.

South_coast

Phew 😅! Fantastic work, as always 👍

Well done to Team CM!

savingholmes

South_coast said:

Phew 😅! Fantastic work, as always 👍

Well done to Team CM!

I agree. I was exhausted just reading that!

Great news on the promotion 🙂

Cornish_mum

Thanks to you both, team CM definitely needs a holiday, 5 weeks to go!

savingholmes

Love a good countdown

Cornish_mum

The CM household are having a blissful quiet weekend at home. First time since mid-May and it’s so nice. Earlier in the week DS attended a taster day at his new school, which went really well. 

Frugal Things

I cut DDs fringe

Bought 2 toy cars for friends kids at a c/s (75p each)

Harvested lettuce and herbs from the garden.

Free cinema tickets (x6) arrived from L&£dys switch. 

4 free cereal bars picked up as a promotion at the train station.

MrCM made pizza for a Saturday night treat. Whilst the oven was on I made a banana cake using up fruit that was past its best.

Frugal Fails

DS new school had a second hand uniform pick up (all free) but I had already ordered it all. 

(However as we are doing ok currently I don’t want swipe freebies that other families might need; as so many others are having a horrendous time currently. Looking back if the current economic shock had hit 5-10 years earlier, we would have been absolutely screwed. I saw a mumsnet thread yesterday about a family who were in exactly the position we were in 5 years ago (big mortgage, huge childcare bill and moderate income, without room in the budget for rising prices). 

MrCM wanted a takeout on Thursday to celebrate delivering an big event successfully at work- £20. I also spent £10 on lunches at work. I used MrW money off vouchers but even so I need to find time to make my own lunches. 

savingholmes

Sounds like you are doing well.

Cornish_mum

Thanks Saving Holmes!