Newbies - spending more than we earn

Rache_2

jcr16 wrote:

just a thought , now although it not always good to secure debt against your home , but how much is your home worth , do you have any equity or is mortgage 100%. as i was thinking if your gonna ask your bank if there anything they can do for mortgage , sometimes it cheaper to borrow more at a lower rate , if that makes sense.

Not much equity as we've only been there two years and the market is steady on our area. I think we'll save more money by trying to get rid of the debts rather than extednding the mortgage. If anything, we want to be in the position to overpay our mortgage, as the bonus of our variable rate is there's no penalty for overpayments. (That's a LONG while away yet, mind you!)

Rache_2

Kateelizabee wrote:

Rache, have you tried packing them before you put them up on ebay? If you did that then posted them on your lunch hour, it may save time. Just number them and keep a record book so they don't get muddled up

That's a really good idea.

At the moment I'm doing some postgraduate exams so I'm working through my lunch hour but once they're under way, I'll definitely think about doing it this way.

Rache_2

bommer wrote:

With regards to your books for work have you tried organisations/charities connected with what you do. I work for a charity and we have a library that has a whole host of books connected with the business world. I have also just completed a uni course and even when you leave you can still be a library member for a fee I think it was £20 per annum. Might be worth speaking to one if you have one locally?

Yes, I'll do this I think. I'll speak to our local postgrad library about it this week.

Alleycat

Good for you Rache! It was just down in your outgoings baby stuff and nappies, so I assumed you were using disposables!

Rache_2

Alleycat wrote:

Good for you Rache! It was just down in your outgoings baby stuff and nappies, so I assumed you were using disposables!

Unfortunately our nursery aren't keen on cloth nappies, and the stuffables don't suit him, so he wears them at nursery. We buy own brand nappies for that. So I suppose "We've bought all the nappies we'll ever need" is an exaggeration - more like we've bought all the nappies we'll ever need at home!

Alleycat

What reason have the nursery given for not being keen to use them? At the end of the day, you are a paying customer and they should be taking your wishes into consideration. Our nursery happily use them, we do provide the occasional disposable for painting and messy play when they sometimes strip them down, but have said that all they need to do is take them off and bung them in a waterproof bag which we have provided. They don't even have to clean the pooh off though they do this for us anyway. If its because they haven't ever used them before, maybe a brief demo would help?

Rache_2

Alleycat wrote:

What reason have the nursery given for not being keen to use them? At the end of the day, you are a paying customer and they should be taking your wishes into consideration. Our nursery happily use them, we do provide the occasional disposable for painting and messy play when they sometimes strip them down, but have said that all they need to do is take them off and bung them in a waterproof bag which we have provided. They don't even have to clean the pooh off though they do this for us anyway. If its because they haven't ever used them before, maybe a brief demo would help?

I know that; I will chat to H about it. They never actually refused, we never pushed it, but at the time they were doing the whole "expressed breast milk" thing (all the other babies were on formula) so I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot by appearing awkward and asking too much of them. But you're right; we're paying customers. now he's on cow's milk would be a good chance to try again I think. We can be honest with them; we need to swtich to cloth full time because we're broke!

Alleycat

Oh, this all sounds so familiar!! We were the only ones at nursery using expressed milk as well and I have to admit to feeling like a bit of weird hippy type, lol! What got me was when going through the form with them on her first settling in period they just asked which formula we gave her. No mention of using expressed milk at all. Eh??

Re the nappies though, are you using ones which require folding as there are instructions with diagrams on the kittykins or nappy lady site (can't remember which one) which would be useful if they need it.

Anyway, off topic, sorry!!

sarah_elton

Just a suggestion on the book side if libraries aren't too useful.....

Your hubby could start a work library. What we do in our department, is there's a spare cupboard, and when people have finished with books at home they put them in there. Anyone can go there, take a book to read, bring it back. We don't bother with checking in/checking out so there probably are a few that go walkies, but it's an easy way of recycling and getting to read new things for free (albeit forgoing any money you might have made out of them on Amazon/eBay).

Yorkielass

sarah_elton wrote:

Just a suggestion on the book side if libraries aren't too useful.....

Your hubby could start a work library. What we do in our department, is there's a spare cupboard, and when people have finished with books at home they put them in there. Anyone can go there, take a book to read, bring it back. We don't bother with checking in/checking out so there probably are a few that go walkies, but it's an easy way of recycling and getting to read new things for free (albeit forgoing any money you might have made out of them on Amazon/eBay).

That's a great idea Sarah - especially as lots of fiction books don't sell well (or for very much at least) on Amazon etc. - most barely cover postage - would mean you couldn't really be fussy about the type of book - but if you read several a week I guess you read a pretty wide range anyway.

The same goes with sharing books with friends - my mum's always taking books into work for people to read and bringing others back - gets her own books back in the end - most of the time but it means you get to read new releases or things you might not have bought yourself.