Hi all!

It's been almost a week since I've been online - travelling with work has pretty much flattened me out so i'm just getting myself together after a busy few days.

Money
Money-wise, it's not the best. Our spending pot for the month has £6.72 left in it and pay day isn't for another 20 days It's a combination of things really - my husband spent £130 of unbudgeted money before a trip away and only recouped half the costs (in cash) from the other people on the trip, rather than 3/4 and of course with it being cash, the account wasn't replenished so the cash is just in his wallet.

In addition, we are only one month into the gifts/ clothes fund and the money that we have in there has been decimated by school uniform purchasing and we've had 3 family and 2 friends birthdays this month, so those funds have had to come from the spending account.

Ah, if only I'd started building up this fund earlier!

Anyway, i'll need to rejig things a bit and probably save less than planned this month to boost the spending funds so that we can eat and other essential things.

To Let:
Our flat is back on the market for renting and the tenents are moving out in just over 4 weeks so i'm really hoping we get some people through the door and ready to make my flat their next home! Otherwise, all of our spare income for the next however-many months will be going towards paying the mortgage and factor fees until someone takes it. This month's mortgage is covered but the next mortgage payment is due at the end of September so we need a tenant by then or we need to have £450 saved to pay.

Nursery fees:
This month was the last month of paying 100% fees for my youngest. His funded hours have kicked in and September is the first funded month so we'll be saving a little over £100 per month on nursery fees. This will just be rolled into our budget and contribute to either savings or CC overpayments, depending on what my budget for the month looks like. Glad to finally be here, although it's still a LOT of money to be forking out.

Days until pay day: 20
Days until half term week off: 63

The gifts/clothes fund may have been decimated but that proves it is necessary firstly so well done in recognising the need and putting it in place.

Last month of 100% fees

I can't believe you are counting days until half term break already

Haha I've had a hard week DIA so I need something to look forward to! We don't even have anything planned at the moment, it's just a week off with the kids at this point. Just looking forward to a week not thinking about work!

You're right - the gifts/ clothes fund is MUCH needed. I also always forget how busy with birthdays August is. We have no birthdays next month, just my sister's 1st wedding anniversary (which i'd like to mark, just because it's her 1st) and our wedding anniversary which i'd like to celebrate with a meal out if we can. Other than that, I'm hoping it's a quiet month next month!

Today is a day of buying school shoes, shirts, gym shorts... wish me luck! I have £66 left in the budget for this category and my mil is buying the shoes (or giving us the money for them after) so I think the £66 should cover the remaining!

Huabmd earned a little extra money yesterday so that's given me a bit of comfort after the disaster that was this month. We need to spend next month recovering our budgets!

Because my pay rise wasn't paid last month it'll be backdated until 1st July so should have a bit extra in my wages at the end of the month. Not sure how much but it's a relief to know there'll be a bit extra to spread.

Good luck with school uniform hunting.

i think you looking forward to things in the faraway future is actually great and something I want to begin to emulate myself

Thanks DIA - we were really efficient today! Got everything we needed from M&S in about 20 minutes (including trying on) and spent £53 which included trousers, gym shorts, jogging bottoms for outdoor gym, new socks and shirts.

We then spent £72 in the shoe shop for his school shoes and he was in need of new trainers so because we bought school shoes we got 20% off the trainers. My mil will give us the money for the shoes back at some point as she insists on buying them. It's very welcome

All in all, a productive day!

The kids had a ball at a friend's birthday party (the gift came out of my stash) and then we had visitors in the evening so they are knackered (as am i!).

Not sure how it is Sunday again already though? The weekend always flies!

It's Tuesday. Not a lot to say about today, just plodding on with work.

Good things:

1. Pay day is but 16 days away!
2. I just cashed out £20.69 from PA after my £10 survey submission was finally approved! When it arrives in my account, it'll go straight into the holiday fund bringing it close to £150
3. £500 in the Christmas fund (will be £600 come pay out)
4. £500 in the 'forgotten about' savings account which I'm hoping to keep forgotten (but might be needed to help to cover Christmas)
5. It's looking fairly likely that we will qualify for bonus this year (which is payable in the December wages). It'd be nice to put this in the holiday fund to pay for a summer holiday for us next summer. I'm hoping to clear £1k after tax.
6. My car insurance for both cars is up next month so i ran a quick comparison and I should be able to get it down in price, saving £10-15p/m. We are still not in a position to pay it outright this year, but that'll be the goal for next year!

Bad things:

1. It's still 16 whole days until pay day...
2. Life is BUSY! So, so BUSY!
3. My fridge and cupboards are empty...well, fairly empty. Really need to make that better without spending a fortune. Off to do a meal plan.

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