A pound stretching maternity

MrsSave · 17 July 2016 at 8:38AM

This isn't my first diary on here, but as I'm now at a new chapter of my life I figured a fresh diary would be a good idea.

I am almost half way through my pregnancy. I'll be 20 weeks in a few days. I also have an almost 3 year old son. I do also have debts. These are:

1. Loan (set amount of £261.35 each month, except January). I have just over 4 years left on this. This is the result of lots of silly spending over the years, but since deciding to tackle these debts they have not increased so feel much more in control.
2. Next bill (paying £50 a month at the moment)
3. Mortgage (paying £601 a month).

I hate having the loan and the next bill, but I feel in control of them. I know that one day they will be gone.

Baby/pregnancy

Dc2 is due just before Christmas. I will be taking 9 months of maternity leave, and will return to work (well actually search for work) next September. I am a teacher and a contract I am on (and have been since last September) is due to end around the same time I'm due to give birth.

My hours are being cut in September, though. I will be working 1 day per week

I will try to top this up with supply work, but will be limited to the days I can work as would need to arrange childcare for ds.

Thankfully we have most things that we will need for the baby. I think all we have left to buy is a few bits of clothes (especially if we're having a girl) and a changing bag. Other than that I think we're doing ok. We kept everything from ds and have also bought when we have found bargains so are pretty stocked up.

I've also already bought most of ds' Christmas presents (I know I'm super early). I buy when I see a bargain. I'll wait until closer to the time now to see if there is anything particular he has his eye on (so far, though, he has been too young to ask for anything).

This all means that there shouldn't be major spending from now on.

Maternity leave

I hope I'll be getting maternity pay from work. I'm not permanent but have ticked the criteria for receiving it (worked for the correct amount of time, earnt a certain amount, etc). I'm still waiting to find out for sure. If not, I should be able to get maternity allowance. This bit is a waiting game!!.

The plan from here on is to budget, budget, budget.

I'm hoping that having this diary will keep me on plan, and if anyone sees the need to kick my butt, please feel free!! :rotfl:

MrsSave · 17 July 2016 at 9:12AM

Right then, that first post was a little on the waffly side!!

Essential baby purchases

I've just had a look at my original list, and the purchases I have left to get for baby are:
2 x changing mats,
Changing bag,
Clothes (this baby will be a winter one, ds was Summer. We're also finding out gender this time).

That's it. Well, unless there is something I've seriously forgotten!

Baby's nursery needs painting, but ds will do that and will be painting it neutral with paint that he already has. I bought all the nice nursery bits for ds, but didn't use them as ds slept in a gro bag so no blanket and didn't use the cot bumper. I think it was only the lampshade we used! My parents have bought the furniture for the nursery, which we are very grateful for!

General spends

I try and budget our grocery spends to £45 a week. At the minute I generally come to a little less than that, and then make it up by adding nappies or wipes. I will be bottle feeding, so will then be adding formula once baby is here.

Petrol - I was budgeting £150 a week (but was working 4 days, and spent over an hour a day travelling). Over the Summer we will plan our time off so that instead of travelling on several days, we are organised and stay close to home most of the week. I'm going to try and cut this to £125 until I start maternity leave, and then down again to £100.

Takeaways - this has increased lately. We don't spend a fortune (usually £9 at McD, £7 at the chippy or £15 for a curry, but it has started happening almost weekly so is adding up. I'm thinking 1 adult takeaway (ds in bed) and one child friendly but so not healthy takeaway a month. £25 a month on takeaways. If things get tight, then this will have to go.

Spends - Here it does get a little more expensive. Ds has swimming lessons and rugby each week. I have no intention of stopping them, I'd rather cut things out for us. He will also be starting school soon, so will be buying school uniform. I've ordered Asda trousers for him this morning £3 per pair, but the tops will have the school logo on. I budget £35 a month for his activities and £10 for school (but started the school fund a few months ago to build up to buying his first uniform). He will be in school part time until Easter so no need for school dinners (yikes!!), just fruit money of 10p per day.

SKY - This is where most people will ask what on earth we're doing!!! We're on the basic package here, and a year ago I phoned up to cancel, hoping to get the price knocked down. I did and we were paying around £12 a month. This has just gone back up to £22.50 so will attempt another call to see if they can offer us anything. We also have NowTV for the movies. We pay £9.99 per month, but at £2.50 a week, I find it a cheap night out!!! :rotfl: It's very rare we go out (twice maybe 3 times a year) so usually watch a film instead.

Task: Phone up Sky to reduce price.

MrsSave · 17 July 2016 at 9:55AM

:j:j:j

Task completed!!!

I phoned sky telling them it was too expensive (I know £22.50 is less than most people pay but thought it was worth a go). The lady said all she could offer was a 25% discount, bringing it down to £16.87. I asked was there more that could be done as with freeview and netflix together it would be cheaper again, but no she said she couldn't do anything. I said that I wasn't happy and would have to go away to think about it as we were budgeting for a new baby's arrival. She then put me on hold to speak with a manager.

The result is 50% discount. Our new monthly bill will be £11.25 for 12 months. I'm happy with that :j

Task My next task is to try the netflix free trial to check out the movies. Netflix on 2 tvs is £7.49 a month so £2.50 cheaper than the NOWTV box we have, or £5.99 for 1 tv so £4 a month cheaper. If they have a good movie selection, I may cancel NOWTV and stick to Netflix.

MrsSave · 17 July 2016 at 3:53PM

I've set up Netflix and have cancelled NowTV. I've gone for the cheapest £5.99 option. That plus sky will be £17.24. I was paying £32.49. That's a saving of £15.25 per month. Not bad for a lazy Sunday!

I've also sat and started planning our Summer holidays today. I'll actually have almost 7 weeks off with ds. We're going away for one long weekend, and a trip to Longleat will be included in that, but paid for with Tesco vouchers. We're staying in Center Parcs when we're away so plan to eat in as much as possible and take food with us to save on cost. We shouldn't spend much when we're there at all.

Ds in going to continue in nursery over the Summer holidays 2 days per week, as it will be good for him, and for me (this pregnancy is far more exhausting than the last one!!).

Other than that I'm planning a couple of family days out, but again using Tesco vouchers for them. I'm also planning to take him to a couple of local places, such as the local farm park and local castle which have small fees to go in. I plan on taking him swimming around once a fortnight as he won't be having classes over the Summer and I'm worried about his confidence levels as he's been a little unsettled in the pool until very recently. Swimming costs £5 for the 2 of us.

Other than that, our plans will include things like trips to the park (not my favourite thing in the world!!!), trips to the library (ds loves 'reading' books), Arts and Crafts days at home, playing in the garden, going for walks, baking and PJ and film days. I need to work out a Summer holiday spending budget to stick to!! Yikes!!

MrsSave · 17 July 2016 at 9:46PM

In bed already. Well have been for over half an hour already

Not much else has happened today moneysaving wise, though I have sorted out our Tesco food shop for this week. I pay £3 a month for the midweek delivery saver. I find it means I don't get tempted adding silly extras and treats to the trolley when walking around. The total came to just under £40 this week, so I added a couple of small packs of nappies (size 1 and 2), baby wipes (5 packs) and other maternity essentials for ladies!!

The total is around £43 now so I'm happy with that.

Lots of treats have been picked up this weekend (mainly by dh as it happens!!). Chocolate fingers, haribos and also pain au chocolat for breakfast this morning. It's not like him to be spontaneous and buy treats so it is probably a one off (well my purse and waist line hope so!!).

Back to money saving and eating well tomorrow. We were going to have a roast tonight using a yellow stickered piece of pork that was reduced to £3.50. Sounded all good until we noticed that the pork hadn't defrosted properly, so will cook that up tomorrow night now! I might even throw it in the slow cooker for some pulled pork Tuesday. Ooooh, with corn on the cob that's in the freezer and homemade oven chips. Yum! Will have to cut the fat off and cook it for the crackling as well though!!

Right, night night to anyone that's having a nose.

MrsSave · 18 July 2016 at 4:57PM

Only 1 more day in work until the holidays. I really can't wait. :j

My pelvis is starting to really ache and I struggled to sleep last night because my hips were really sore. I'm going to send dh up the attic later to find my pregnancy pillow. I'm hoping that will help.

NSD so far today, but it's still only 5pm! I need to pick up a gift for my LSA, but may do that on the way to work in the morning!

8 days to go until my 20 week scan. I am so excited, and nervous at the same time. I've been paranoid throughout this pregnancy that something will go wrong, after losing a baby at the beginning of the year. I really need to relax. I've got little aims in my head, such as:
1. Reach 20 weeks,
2. 20 weeks scan,
3. Reach 26 weeks (baby is classed as viable).

MrsSave · 18 July 2016 at 9:28PM

I'm in bed with My new friend - the pregnancy pillow. Fingers crossed it works.

Today has ended up being a nsd, I need to fit more of them into my life! I've amended my food order, but it still comes in at around £43 so I'm happy.

Hottest day of the year tomorrow, apparently.

I've never been a fan of the heat, mix a pregnancy in with it and it's far worse!! Yuck! I've got fans blasting all over the place as it is, I dread seeing my electricity bill!!!

Night night, off to browse through some diaries!

MyLastFiver · 18 July 2016 at 10:01PM

Hiya, I like your style, insisting on a 50% reduction from Sky. We'll have to try that! Hope you aren't suffering too much in the heat!

MrsSave · 19 July 2016 at 1:46AM

MyLastFiver wrote: »

Hiya, I like your style, insisting on a 50% reduction from Sky. We'll have to try that! Hope you aren't suffering too much in the heat!

It's definitely worth a try! I genuinely phoned up to cancel around a year ago, and the lady on the phone gave me a similar offer and told me that when it finished to phone back as there should always be offers on accounts.

It's officially too hot for me, which has meant I've been online shopping :eek: I did pick up some bargains though! I bought a monitor from a well known baby store, and received a £15 gift voucher from them which has just been emailed through. I decided to have a look at changing bags and found a certain brand that I'd been looking at online, but decided were too expensive had 20% off. Using the £15 voucher, the bag cost £21 instead of £45. I should get another gift voucher from them as well which I'll use to get a changing mat. They're usually £16 so will only cost £1. I'm happy with that shop!!

I'm currently sitting in the living room with the Fan blasting in my face. It's so hot, but know I'll wake dh if I turn the fan on in the bedroom! I may just go and chuck all the ingredients into the slow cooker ready for the pulled pork, so all I'll have to do in the morning is throw the meat in!

MrsSave · 20 July 2016 at 7:36AM

Didn't manage to get on here yesterday. It was my last day in work for the Summer and I basically did nothing once ds was in bed! I did have a couple of spends........the middle of the night shop, my LSA gift and a quick pop to the co-op for some wraps for the pulled pork.

I've got a Tesco delivery coming this morning. I also need to phone asda as I'd ordered school trousers for ds, and they turned up yesterday but long length ones. I've double checked my order and I definitely didn't order long length! I'm not willing to pay for delivery for more so will phone them up today to see what my options are. I don't live close to an asda (unfortunately).

I also need to pick up some flowers today for my mother's birthday. I always get flowers from the supermarket. I always find they last really well and are very reasonable. I also need a wedding anniversary card for my hubby. I'm going to take my son to the library today to exchange some books, but we might stick to our little local one and have a walk down to it.

I'll be joining a supply agency for a little extra work for September and October (though I completely disagree with them) on Friday so I need to sort out to make sure I've got all the relevant paperwork ready.

Dh has started to paint the nursery. As thought, the paint hasn't cost a penny.

I hope everyone has a lovely day in the sun!

MrsSave · 21 July 2016 at 4:57AM

Thankfully yesterday was a little cooler! Though I am now full of cold with a sore throat. What a great way to start the holidays.

I did have a couple of spends yesterday. I ordered a couple of Christmas presents for my son. Total price should've been £50, but I got them for £22. They're things my son will love so I'm happy with that. I took a maxi dress to be shortened as it as so long on me! It's going to cost £5 to get it done. I then picked up the flowers and a couple of other bits in Tesco, which came to £9.50. Home delivery came in the morning so we now have a house full of food! That cost £43.42 so within budget.

Ds made a couple of butterflies from a Mister Maker craft set I'd got for free as a free trial. I've cancelled the subscription now as it's £6 per box, which is a shame as it was good fun and we really enjoyed making them together. We might make some corn flake cakes today. I've got plenty of corn flakes in and ordered cooking chocolate with our food shop (35p for the value stuff!). I think I'll pull out an old Argos catalogue for some cutting and gluing activities as well.

It's my mums birthday so we've been invited to hers for birthday cake at the end of the day, but if I'm still feeling yucky I really don't want to pass this cold on. Hubby is going to be late home this evening so just me and ds for dinner. I have no idea what we're going to have. I've got a bit of pulled pork left, but is it too much to have it 3 nights in a row?! I could do a cheaty, easy meal of waffles, fish fingers and beans. Or a pasta dish. Pasta bake possibly.

Anyway, I'm blabbing on now. It's almost 5am so not sure whether to try a little more sleep or not.

A pound stretching maternity

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