A year of saving but maybe also spending a bit too!

Time2count

Not a great deal to report. I'm still tackling the saving mindset, but I have added a £40 'me' pot each month and I have even spent it this month, couple of new (in the sale) light jumpers and a new purse as the zip broke on my old one and after 3 fixes it wasn't up to much lol. I did need the jumpers as I have warm for winter jumpers and t-shirts for summer but nothing for in-between and I was fed up of being too hot but I detest clothes shopping so it was literally pop into the shop look at the sale rail grab 2 in my size and 'right, that'll have to do' 😂 I really miss my old jobs that came with uniforms!!!
Poorly relative still poorly but slowly starting to mend, could be a few more months in hospital though. I've been back over Easter and expect I'll visit again next month but it's difficult to do a 6hr journey on a Friday after work and then the same on the Sunday.

Hasn't the weather been glorious? Today was the first time this year I've moved from winter coat to summer jacket. Slightly scary as I'm not sure what I'll be doing to cope when it gets hotter, I've already switched to my summer duvet and haven't slept with the window closed since January, I think I may need to invest in silent fans if such a thing exists!

I don't post much as nothing much happens money wise, however I do read all your diaries and keep up with your exciting escapades!!

Skint_yet_Again

Good idea to have a ‘me’ pot. Agree about this inbetween time of year. I’m sure the jumpers will last several years as hopefully it will soon be too hot for them too. I’ve switched from thick jumpers to cardi so it’s easier to take it off & on again in this changeable weather!

Time2count

I am hoping to find a couple of nice cardigans SYA, but I don't like feeling gape-y so ideally I need something with a zip but that still looks smart enough for work. The irony is, I ended up back in my warm jumpers last week, it was chilly!!

I had to spend £165 at the opticians a couple of weeks ago, however I was nearly £500 in credit with gas/electric so I requested a £200 refund so that covers the glasses and enough left over for a meal out tomorrow. We are meant to be going to a Mayday event but the weather doesn't look particularly promising for that so we shall see. If it stays dry it'll be visiting all the lovely food stalls, if it's wet we might go for a nandos or maybe the harvester. I don't like not having my plans firmly made but every time I check the weather it's changed again.

I am hopeful to get the heating fully off soon, at the moment we're having it on for an hour here and there which I do feel is very extravagant for May! 

Train strike on Tuesday so that will add an extra hour and a half to my commutes which isn't filling me with joy, at least it's a shorter week though.

I'm going to start a new pot for glasses as I'll most likely need a different prescription in another 2 years so £7.50 a month should cover that or at least most of it.

Time2count

Well May hasn't been the warmest of months, I'm ashamed to admit it but I have still had my heating on some days, today for instance it's dropped to 15 degrees in my flat so I have ended up putting the heating on for 45 minutes to bring it up to 17 degrees.
I managed to get myself a nice zip up cardigan and we did the Mayday event in the rain, the food stalls were worth it 😉

I've been very fortunate in that a relative received an inheritance which was vastly more than they were expecting so very kindly gifted me £2000! I immediately put half away in savings but have had a lovely time splashing the cash a bit, mainly buying for other people - clothes for my son, some spending money for my God daughters when they go on holiday and paying for a meal out with a friend. I've only spent £250 of it but it did feel good being able to spend without thinking of it!

So although it's been quite a spendy month it was bonus money used 😃
In terms of my actual spending I'm doing better than I planned. I think mainly because I've put myself on a bit of a diet and have noticed the positive effect it's had on my grocery spending! It's not a long term thing, I just wanted to lose a stone before the summer and am halfway there!

Poorly relative is back home and defying the odds and recovering well. So grateful.

All in all, despite the weather, May's been a good month for me.

Skint_yet_Again

I heard on the news this morning that may 2024 has been the warmest on record. I thought last May was warmer and drier! 

Lovely of relative to gift you £2000. Good idea to save half and enjoy the rest. 

Glad to hear your poorly relative is recovering well 

Time2count

Thanks SYA.
May 24 the warmest on record?! Not where I live that's for sure! I usually have the heating fully off around Easter, not this year though.

I've seen a 5 year ISA at 4.1% which I am tempted to switch to. My current ISAs are both 5.25% so feels counter-intuitive but my hunch is the rates will be dropping over the next year and if I wait too long then I worry that the best rates will be around 2-3%. I'm going to ponder on it some more but I do think it's what I will do. Ideally I'd like to wait til October when 1 of them matures. I also need to get a passport or something so I have some photo ID to open the new account. So I guess that should be my first step.

Have had a nice lazy weekend but next weekend I really must do a thorough spring clean as I have only done the basics for the last couple of weeks and am starting to feel disgusted with myself!

Time2count

I am currently in a bit of a savings slump. I've had to put quite a bit on the credit card over the past week, all work stuff which will be reimbursed but that made me naughty and I have added a few small purchases which weren't needed but I went ahead and did it anyway. And then I took my weekly grocery cash out early and have spent half of it on just bits and pieces. So I now have a choice - pay myself back from 'my' pot or pull the belt in tighter next month to rectify. I will wait til Tuesday to decide, all my bills will go out on Monday and I'll get my expenses paid back on Tuesday so I will see where I am then.
On the plus side when I looked at my bank yesterday I was trying to work out how I had an extra £160 odd in the account. Took a while to figure it out, it was my interest from 1 of my accounts which made me rather happy 😊 Foolishly I dumped the whole lot straight into my ISA, what I should've done is used that to rebalance myself. But that ship has sailed. 
There are 3 of us in my office, the other 2 spend £10-20 a day on coffees, lunch, snacks etc and over the past week I've joined in a couple of times, just a few pounds each time (coke and biscuits) but it's not part of my spending plans so shouldn't have happened. I honestly don't know where they get the money from!

Time2count

I confuse myself every month.
I know my income is X and my expenses are y. To make my life easier everything including savings and my monthly grocery etc money is set up on DD or SO. My main account has income coming in and expenses going out and that's it.
So in theory £x goes in £y goes out and it's the same amount every month. The balance should be £5.14 after that. And yet every month that is not the figure I get. Doesn't matter if I calculate with pen and paper, a calculator or on excel I should have £5.14 unaccounted for. And yet it never matches. This month I had £10.18 unaccounted for. Yes I should be happy but it's meant to add up! I know I have factored in the new TV licence rate and I am still paying the old rate but that doesn't account for £5.04.

I just wish it added up. Every month it's a different figure. And yes I've checked the DD amounts are what they should be. I can't figure it out and it's driving me mad! I actually work in finance so I'm quite comfortable with figures, just have to work out what's going wrong. I am tempted to cancel all the SO and move that manually although the SOs are all round figures so I'm really not sure what the error is.

On another note, I have paid off the credit card spends (except the work stuff as the money for that comes through tomorrow). I used a small amount of my 'me' money for this month and a little from the gifts pot (I bought a stack load of cards last week).

Skint_yet_Again

How annoying it must be for you that the figures don’t add up. At least it is in your favour 😆 Are you getting any interest added monthly? 

Time2count

Yes it's annoying but like you say at least in my favour. I'm considering getting my wages paid into a different account and then having a SO set up to the main account for the DDs and seeing if that makes it work.
I do get interest into this account but not till the 5th/6th of the month so it's not that. I'm more frustrated that I can't fathom it out!

Went to Aldi this morning but they didn't have the cola drink so will have to try again another time!