Time for another Money Diary, it’s been a little while!
Friday
It’s payday and I wake up at 2.30am and can’t get back to sleep so it’s time to do some online banking / sorting my savings out. Pop £125 in a decorating pot, £40 away for Christmas, save into my easy access saver (basically my maternity and emergency fund!) and Lifetime ISA. I also have standing orders an InvestEngine account and to our joint account and my own Bills pot for my contacts, phone bill etc so I know what’s left in my balance in my personal current account is mine to spend. Put £75 into another pot for my nails and brows this month as my nails are falling twice in a payday which is unusual but no worries if I budget for it.
£3.74 for my grandads birthday card from Moonpig.
Luke buys pastries for us as I was feeling crap and I pop to the Coop on the way back from my nails and buy him a meal deal and some other snacks £5.42. I always is the Coop deals on my membership card and I can also use student discount there so the total came to £8.02 before I used these both! Student discount and the Coop offers come off reduced items too.
My nails were £30 as I had a bit of fun nail art this time!
We sell a food/cake mixer thing we’ve had for a couple of years and only used maybe 3-4 times on Facebook Marketplace – £35 in the joint account. But we’ve got an HD scan booked for baby after work which will be another £35 to pay out but we’re breaking even there so it’s all good! We paid £35 pre-diary when it was booked which isn’t in this diary.
Pub before scan for some nachos and an orange juice and lemonade. £17.80 but L pays.
Spend: £39.16 (Personal)
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Saturday
Start the morning with a Baby Academy class which was one of their free ones. This one was an introduction to breastfeeding which was really interesting. You can save £50 on Baby Academy ultimate courses with my link if you’re interested any mamas to be. It’s a referral link – just so you know!
I buy a few bits for baby’s room for the decor on Etsy. £17.95 knitted name And £20.75 door plaque which are super unnecessary but so cute and we just really want them!
Head out to see my friend and her little boy to take her some big cardboard boxes for moving house. Get home and I pop out to Wilko and Aldi.
£7 Aldi (personal account) as I buy their knock off TanLuxe tan drops for a fiver which are insane and a candle for another friend who’s moving house as well soon. £20 food shopping as a top up for a few days.
Spend £66 in Wilko on our joint account for paint for our decorator to come and revamp our dining room in a few weeks, a bathroom hook for towels, some frames, loads of random bits and bobs for the house that I had on a list we needed.
Make some dinner and then spend £39.40 on John Lewis on some cot bed sheets and a mattress protector for baby’s Next2Me cot. Babies are well spenny already before they even arrive!
£1.83 – Order some prints for the frames I bought in Wilko from FreePrints.
Spend: £86.93 (Personal) £86 (Joint)
Sunday
Up early as usual, watch Love Island. I like to get little admin bits that build up on my inbox and my lists done on Sunday mornings. Book my car’s annual service but I pay for a service plan monthly so it’s free and they pick it up for free which is equally useful as it would be a faff taking the car there to be honest, best for it to happen when I’m either at work or WFH.
Have a sort out and get rid of a few things on FB marketplace just free because they’re random things you don’t know how to price like wooden coat hangers and my old gel nail kit! Sort a bag out for charity and get some more clothes together to go in the garage bag of stuff that doesn’t fit anymore.
We head out for a nice Sunday lunch somewhere we’ve wanted to try for a while. Luke pays as I got those John Lewis bits yesterday.
Sell a couple of bits on eBay and also spend £2.89 on a tempered glass phone screen and my labels for the sales are £6.
Spend: £8.89
Monday
+£14.40 comes into my account from eBay which is £12.40 profit after the labels.
WFH today and our cleaner is here but she has to leave early so only £22.50 this time. We head to East Midlands Outlet for some Instagram content. I was kindly gifted a Denby voucher but we end up spending an extra £22.40 on two extra plates as we wanted four of each thing we were buying but a bargain really for everything we got. Wagamamas for dinner, Luke pays as I got Denby stuff. Sold a Desenio print on the way home +£5 into the pot!
Spend £22.50 (Joint) £22.40 (Personal)
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Tuesday
Post all parcels including those eBay bits and print and an ASOS return for Luke on the way to see my Midwife before work.
Head to the office afterwards and we have a little Caffè Nero tradition going on. £7.20 in here for two coffees and a pastry with Meerkat discount but my colleague sent me £4.50 for her coffee and pastry snack. Plus, my coffee was terrible and I had a voucher on my app the server wouldn’t let me use so I complained and Nero’s gave me a couple of free drinks on my app so not all bad!
Spend: £2.70
Wednesday
My midwife wanted me to pop for a scan so we head to the hospital – £4 parking for an hour and £6 coffees for us both on the joint account. WFH for the rest of the day and I spotted some kids books on Facebook Marketplace the night before for just £2 so I pick these up on a lunchtime walk. It’s 10 books worth £50 if you use the price on the back and they’re really cute and in good condition so perfect for when baby’s old enough for story time.
Spend: £10 (Joint) £2 (Personal)
Thursday
Send L £8.50 for a pizza from a van that comes to our estate every few weeks for dinner that night. They’re so nice and sometimes just can’t resist! Ham and mushroom for me.
When L gets home from work I pop to Tesco for a mega food shop as we’d not done a proper shop in ages. £96 including £14 for some non alcoholic gin that was on Shopmium (join with my link and get free Pringles!) which is really nice for a treat and other big items we don’t usually buy like £4 on dishwasher tablets and £5 L’s shampoo. All in all about £75 for our actual food shop which is pretty usual for lunches and dinners. I felt like I really got loads for my money on the shop it was massive to be honest!
Spend: £8.50 (Personal) £96.83 (Joint)
A big, big spendy week after payday but I knew I’d be spending more on the run up to baby coming so I’ve allowed myself a bit extra plus I’m still saving a little bit for maternity leave.
Personal: £170.58
Joint: £215.33
Made: £52.40 from eBay / Facebook Marketplace and £125 worth of Denby plates and mugs which were gifted in exchange for content.
