Hump day

Almost half way through the week.

I’m working longer days today and tomorrow and whilst it’s not a really long working day my commute means that I’m out of the house for around 13 hours, i left home at 7am this morning and will get back at 8pm ish if all goes well.

I lasted until 11am before I started on my lunch, bah- I could have caved even earlier but managed to stay strong 💪🏻 

Money Talk 💴 

This morning I filled out all the relevant forms to start the mortgage overpayments, I’m feeling quite proud of myself as it gives you an estimated saving and mine said I should pay the mortgage off 8 years early!!! Right now interest rates are quite low so if they rise at any point obviously things will change. 

I checked my credit score too, after I read a blog and they recommend it, I wasn’t expecting it to be this good and after a difficult time with money in the past it’s a relief to see that I’m doing well, even if it has been a struggle at times.

Online Banking 

Last year I opened a Monzo bank account, it was quite random as it’s all online and there are no branches to visit. 

They offered a £5 incentive to join and paid it into your account when you first used your card, so I thought I had nothing to lose.

Whilst it’s not my main bank account, or one that I have direct debits and standing orders coming from, it’s turned out to be a great little resource for saving money and organising spending, you can organise your money into pots and I have quite a few on the go as you can see below.

Each month I transfer a set amount from my current account into Monzo and then divide it into the pots shown, the bus fares pot has a hefty sum in it at the moment as the children haven’t been travelling to school since March and I’ve still been putting it aside so it’s saved me a good sum. 

Christmas (Shhh... I know it’s July 🙂) should also be well covered by the money I’m saving each month, we only buy for our immediate family, and token gifts for a few friends. 

The MOT should also be covered when it’s due at the end of August, any additional work will have to be paid for our of the main account. But at least there will be something to help out.

Our Holiday doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening now - although they’ve only cancelled up until 10th August at the moment, the pot was for spending money so that will just stay where it is for now.

As you can see there’s £19 left in the current account until payday on Friday, that’s what’s left of July’s food budget. Not bad. 

All those little bits in pots all over the place equal a nice little £2247.46 (I have one more pot not pictured with £200 in it that I’m saving for a special occasion 👌) I think I’m doing alright!!! 

Money saving - want or need?

A bit of background...

When I had my first baby I was very young and very, very poor, I was a single parent almost from the day he was born and money was extremely tight.

Almost everything I had for the baby was either a hand me down from my best friend’s mum or from car boot sales, I remember buying a high chair from a car boot for a fiver, it had a cigarette burn on the tray, and so I cut a plastic placemat out to fit in and cover it up. Seems crazy thinking back that someone would put a cigarette on a babies high chair! Back then I really needed to save money on everything- it wasn’t a choice.

Over the next few years things got worse financially and then a little bit better, things have improved gradually ever since and now we are finally ok, this doesn’t mean that I want to waste money on unnecessary stuff, even though I no longer need to count every penny. I’d much rather save on the boring stuff and spend on holidays and enjoying life.

I believe that some things are worth paying the extra for if they make your life easier and reduce the day to day stresses, it could be a frozen pizza or a cordless vacuum cleaner, it really depends on how much of an impact it makes on life and ultimately if you can afford it. I’m no longer ‘skint’ And there’s money left over after the bills are paid, but I’ll never forget how it feels to worry about paying bills or what you’re going to eat that day.

So that’s partly why I’m always trying to save money, if I’m honest I’m not great at it as I can be a bit of an impulse spender, but I do try and that makes a difference overall, My aim from next month is to start making mortgage over payments as we have a long term left and a relatively large mortgage. I want to save enough this month to pay something extra and then hopefully increase the payments as time goes on.

Here’s yesterday’s spends:  

Boots have a £10 Tuesday - the first I heard of this was yesterday when I walked past a store and there was a display at the front (I’m obviously the target audience) 

I picked up some toothbrush heads - genuinely think £10 was a good deal for these and a Pixi face cleanser, I got a set of these products for Christmas and I really like them, I’ve been using this   

Kate Somerville goat milk cleanser  that I was given as a gift and love but just can’t justify buying with my own money.

I also spent £3.08 in Waitrose on two tins of beans and some baked goods that were yellow sticker bargains. 

I’ll leave it here with a fun photo of one of our tortoises enjoying some watermelon...