No Money Mummy to Millionaire Mummy!!

Pips_Mum

Hello!

Mums how are you managing with the Kiddos being home?

This is the first week Pip has no Nursery (funnily enough I couldnt afford the £300 Nursery wanted whilst his Education grant hours were not valid!) so we have been doing some activitys. We have been to the Surestart centre a few times, mini music on Monday which he loved and Active Tots today which let him burn off some energy! Today they also had a photographer in so me, Pip and Mr Pips all went and had a nice family photo took. We got the Family pic for free and we also bought a couple of Pip on his own as they were really nice and they only charged £5 a photo :T
If you have under 5s and have a Surestart centre nearby you have to go! I can't recommend ours enough and they have been so helpful and caring since Mr Pips lost his job.

Later today we are going into town as Godiva is stopping here on her way to the Olympics. She is a 33ft Puppet so should be quite impressive and the event is free!

Tomorrow is National Play Day and they have a free play event at the park around the corner so going to take Pip along to see whats there and get us out the house for an hour or so.

Made a couple of little payments so debts now at:

Next £0!!!:T
MBNA £700
Tesco £578
Mothercare £0!!! :T
Egg Loan £2242

Total debt remaining now is £3520!!! :j:j

Had a pallaver at the job centre on Monday as they said now I am 29 weeks pregnant I am no longer able to actively seek work so they would not pay me anymore job seekers allowance. I explained that I hadnt yet heard about the Maternity Allowance so they suggested I go onto Income support until I heard!! When I got home I rang Mat Allowance Peeps and they said they have received the claim and it was being processed and I should know by end of week or beginning of next. What a faff!

I've been looking a lot at the food/ grocery threads on here and have been following this one about a weeks food for £7.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4084527
Whilst we are not quite that desperate yet theres been some really good meal suggestions over there so I am trying to put in a couple of the really cheapy dinners in a week. Hoping to get my grocery shop for about £30 this week.

Anyhoo thats my news!
TTFN x x

Pips_Mum

I think we have some good news , Mr Pips has just had a job offer!:j Its subject to references and a couple of little terms need smoothing but its looking pretty positive! :j
Its going to be an hours commute each way for him though, and its going to be tight petrol money wise but yay its a job and will pay more than JSA!!

Now everyone please keep fingers crossed it all turns out ok x x

lucielle

Fab news. So pleased for you.
L

ragstoricheswannabe

my fingers are firmly crossed!!!!

Lemon_Tree

hi what fabulous news about Mr Pip, i'm keeping my fingers crossed that you sort everything out and he can start work tomorrow lol or at least once he's finished painting the kitchen lol

Pips_Mum

Thanks all x x

If it all goes through OK he would start on 13th august, it would be nice as we could have a 2 week "holiday" as I know I have enough redundancy money to see us through until first payday. And yes, he can finish my decorating!! :rotfl:

Pips_Mum

Well he has the contract in his hands :j

Her has to go for a 2 week induction in Kent from 13th August, thinking of going with him for one of the weeks as hotel will be paid for anyway and Pip and I can amuse ourselves in the daytime.

We went to the National Play day free event in the park today, quite a lot there but massive queues ( over an hour wait for a 7 min train ride! :eek:) still he got to do a few bits and sat in a police car.

Probably going to Birmingham on Saturday as my bestie that moved to Newcastle is a bit down in dumps so partner is surprising him by bringing him to meet us :T Thinking of going to the Sealife centre as I have a 2 for 1 voucher, or you can pre-book online for a tenner each which actually I think works out cheaper.

x x x x

elly68

hi thats great news about mr pips job so happy for you x i love the free days out with the kids planning some days out this weekend rather than just sitting about .have fun on your trips and take the coolbox

Pips_Mum

Hello!

Santander rang me and said I could have a credit card "errrrrm not interested" with £2000 balance "errrrrrr really not interested" with 0% interest on one balance transfer for 17 months "oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh now I might be interested!" guaranteed and with no credit check "ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hellow where do I sign!"
So transferred £700 balance from largest card which is evil MBNA, I can then focus on paying Tesco off whilst maintaining minimum on new one with MBNA balance. :T Ive got much lower balances now so not really going to fully benefit like I would have but really pleased I can pay more off of Tesco and get rid quicker. :T Guy seemed shocked when I said I didnt want the full £2000 just the £700 :rotfl:

They also set me up a new savings account as he saw I had £2000 of my redundancy in an instant access savings account which turns out to only give me 0.01% interest:eek: New one does everything old one did, no penaltys for withdrawing, linked to my current account so I can just move money as I need, but has 3.2% interest.

Kitchen and now living room getting back to normal after being decorated by OH woth the free paint, looks so much nicer and cleaner especially as we had a good sort out too and decluttered a bit.

Weekly food shop came to £28 and I got 2 saving stamps for chrimbo, so I was pleased.

Also did a Sainsburys online order to be delivered next week. Saw on here that they have an offer on huggies, buy economy pack of nappies for £9.99 and get 9 packs of wipes FREE! Got 2 lots of larger sizes for when Peas here (got a tonne of littler sizes during other offers) and got 18 packs of wipes free :j I had a voucher for £10 off first £50 shop with them so I also got 3 bags frozen chicken breast half price, huge sack of spuds, 5 bags rice, 5 bags pasta, 10 tins chopped toms, 2 x bags of 16 Richmond sausages that were half price and a few other bits ready for me to do my EPIC batch freezer cook so we have plenty of "ready meals" for when Pea arrives and we don't have energy to cook! Going to do it while Mr Pips is away and Pip has gone to bed.

Realised we cant go with Mr Pips when he is away as Pip has hospital appt 1st week and I have one in the 2nd, never mind. Thinking of having a couple of Disney nights with Pip whilt we are on our own, might watch them in bed with some naughty nibbles

Got the photos back from Surestart centre today and they are really, really lovely. So happy with them

Right thats all, must go to bed as I am cream crackered and we are in Birmingham tomorrow. Didnt book Sealife in the end as ticket price jumped from £10 to £15 so actually cheaper on door with 2 for 1 voucher.

Be good everyone and have a nice weekend x x

Pippilongstocking

Just wanted to say go you on the food shopping/stashing and preparing for meals to freeze! Very exciting!

Yay to the balance transfer and sneaky DVDs! X