A pound stretching maternity

MrsSave · 27 April 2017 at 9:27PM

I have no idea what has happened, but somehow ds2 is already 4 1/2 months old. :eek: Where does time go, and why are my babies growing up so fast??!!

I've just sorted May's budget and it is going to be a tight month. The positive is that we've got a kitchen full of food and there doesn't seem to be anything else major we need to buy. We've got around £230 'spare' money for the month, but that needs to cover food, petrol, nappies and any other bits and bobs.

Ds1 has 3 parties over the next week and a half, but I'm pretty sure I have enough in the gift drawer to cover those, will be checking in the morning.

I think I'll stock up on nappies for the month tomorrow, so we know that's sorted. Food wise, as I mentioned, our cupboards are full. We still have a few different bits of meat in the freezer, plenty of tins and jars, and loads of frozen veg. I'm hoping all we'll really need each week are fresh fruit, milk, bread, a bit of meat and then stocking up on bits like potatoes, pasta etc. I love cooking, and own every herb and spice under the sun, so I'm not too worried about not eating nice food. I also buy plenty of whatever fruit/veg is on offer so there's always something in the house.

We do have a little money in other pots, and Dh has offered to move some money from the business account over to help us, but to be honest I think it will be good for us to see if we can do this.

I've signed up to a park savings account, for their gift cards. We will use this for buying Christmas gifts for people. It seems that every Christmas there are extra children to buy for (Lots of nieces and nephews, and more on the way!).

I will update more often, and have a browse through some other diaries too!!

MrsSave · 27 April 2017 at 9:29PM

I did forget to mention, ds1 is now having school dinners. That's £12.50 per week. :eek:

With regards to council tax being changed to 12 payments, I received another letter saying there had been a mistake so we are back on 10 payments. It seems that this happened to many people around here! I could request to change it, but I do like the 2 'free' months!

MrsSave · 28 April 2017 at 5:26PM

I had a look this morning for party gifts, and I have enough in the house so need to go buying! Other than that today's been pretty quiet. I've bagged up ds2's 3-6 month clothes and hung up his 6-9 month ones. We've been out for a walk/fresh air and collected ds2's formula from the chemist at the same time. We walked the school run both times so no petrol has been used at all.

Freezer food dinner of ds1's choice tonight and he wants sausage and chips. Will get that started soon. I have already put a bottle of wine in the fridge! Despite being on maternity leave, Fridays are still a chill out night with a glass or 2 of vino!

The bank holiday weekend shouldn't be too spendy. (Thankfully). Ds1 has 2 birthday parties, so I'm thinking Monday will br a play in the garden/chill with a DVD kinda day! Ds1 still has plenty of chocolate left from Easter so he may even get a treat

hannahroberts1985 · 28 April 2017 at 5:37PM

Check out Argos they have a play doh bundle sweet shop for £27.99 in the sale but it can be split to make about 5 birthday gifts. I stocked up the other day. X

MrsSave · 29 April 2017 at 4:32PM

hannahroberts1985 wrote: »

Check out Argos they have a play doh bundle sweet shop for £27.99 in the sale but it can be split to make about 5 birthday gifts. I stocked up the other day. X

That's a fab idea, thanks.

I'm waiting for some money to hit the accounts that I'm owed. It should be this weekend which will be brilliant. It will mean a little extra spending money this month. It's not a huge amount, but every little helps. I've got almost £30 in topcashback as well at the minute so I'm just waiting for that to become available. It states an average of 18 weeks, and it's been over 14 now so it may be very soon. If we get both of those, things will be so much easier next month.

We've been invited out for food with my parents tonight, but have already been told it's on them.

Otherwise the past few days have been spend free

other than the usual bills (and dinner money now!), but they're all budgeted for and I don't count them as spends!!

louby40 · 29 April 2017 at 4:48PM

Are you in Wales then Mrs Save as dinners for EYFS/KS1 is free in England. Such a saving for people I think. The school I work at also offers a sandwich choice too, I have about 2 children out of a class of 30 that bring their own packed lunch!

Can't believe your DS is 4 1/2 months - time just flies doesn't it! My eldest got his first job on Wednesday! :T:T:T

MrsSave · 30 April 2017 at 3:36PM

louby40 wrote: »

Are you in Wales then Mrs Save as dinners for EYFS/KS1 is free in England. Such a saving for people I think. The school I work at also offers a sandwich choice too, I have about 2 children out of a class of 30 that bring their own packed lunch!

Can't believe your DS is 4 1/2 months - time just flies doesn't it! My eldest got his first job on Wednesday! :T:T:T

Yes I'm in Wales. We could opt for packed lunch, but I'd prefer that he eats school dinners. He used to be a brilliant eater, but has become so much more difficult recently and I've already seen a little improvement. Thank you for your suggestion, though. It is definitely something to consider if things become extremely tight. Well done to you eldest. I bet he's excited about his first pay packet! Time does fly!

Food shop was done this morning. Ended up doing a mixture of Aldi and Tesco. We ended up spending £28.02. We should have everything we need for the coming week now!

The money that I was supposed to receive yesterday didn't arrive! I know it will come, but it's a case of when!!

The rest of our bank holiday weekend is going to be pretty quiet. There is a race in our local town tomorrow, which includes a fun run for younger children. We're going to take ds1 along to it. It's £3 for the entry. We will eat lunch before going so no extra cost there. Otherwise, the rest of the weekend is about chilling out, a film, a few jigsaws and some toys! Ds1 is shattered, so once both birthday parties are finished, a rest will do him good.

MrsSave · 9 July 2017 at 8:36PM

So apparently it is already July, and I've been missing from here for ages

Well, maternity leave is not going brilliantly financially. It didn't last time either! I only have around 6 weeks left until the 9 months paid ends, so we're going to ride it out until then. There have been a few bigger expenses that we didn't foresee, and just generally we've been spending more than we're earning.

I don't have a job to go back to, so I've already started looking at different jobs. I won't be going back to teaching, but will end up needing to work full time. We've decided that dh will reduce to 4 days a week and he can look after ds2 on his day off. He then has the opportunity to work later during those 4 days or do a few hours over the weekend. Basically, we can't afford for ds2 to be in nursery for more than 2 days a week (I'll probably start off earning minimum wage, or just a little higher....it'll be worth it long term though). We've got family available for 2 days childcare.

Both boys are doing great. It's ds1's birthday soon, and he's having his first proper birthday party. We're having a joint party with another child, so halving the cost. He's so excited! Ds2 (who's 7 months!!!) has started weaning, and whilst weaning we've been trying him back on cow's milk. He seems to be tolerating it, so fingers crossed he will be fine on dairy.

Food shopping seems to be getting more and more expensive. I started shopping at Aldi to save money, but the bill was more and more each week so I've now gone back to getting home deliveries.

I've started saving with Park for Christmas. I found putting a little aside meant I was dipping in to the money. By doing it this way, I can't spend what I've already paid.

Right, I need to spend some time nosing around this site and especially the DFW board to find my money saving mojo!

MrsSave · 10 July 2017 at 11:00PM

Posting 2 days in a row, I'm pretty sure I deserve some sort of sticker for that :rotfl:

Today I've created a new spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets!) totalling all our monthly expenses ready for job hunting. I've seen one job advertised today that I may go for. It's only 3 days per week, which isn't ideal, but would mean only putting ds2 in nursery 1 day a week (saving of around £170/month there!). It's just down the road which mean minimum petrol costs and is in the field that I've decided to retrain into. It's not exactly what I want to do, but will mean some good experience and then once the boys are a little older I'll be able to progress.

Anyway, it's all hypothetical, because chances are I wouldn't even get an interview. Working 3 days would mean extra time for studying. Ive been gaining new qualifications on this maternity leave, 2 more exams coming up!

Other than that, I've not been up to much today. Spreadsheets and studying! Tomorrow I plan on taking ds2 swimming whilst ds1 is at school. That will cost £4.40. I'm then making spaghetti carbonara for dinner. Other than that I'll do more studying :eek: whilst ds2 is asleep.

MrsSave · 10 July 2017 at 11:34PM

Oooooh, I just checked my topcashback as I'd had almost £30 waiting to be paid out (was stuck at stage 2 of 3 for ages!!!) and it's ready! Sent to my bank account. I was a little tempted by a gift card for Argos or Toys r Us for Christmas, but at the minute every penny counts!

I've then updated ynab (somehow my old ynab lost everything and wouldn't work, so I've gone for the new one). It's not pretty but at least I know where we stand!

A pound stretching maternity

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