Hopes and dreams for a new home...

Iris_Blue

Good morning !

Its just a Victoria sponge cake LP but I'm so proud of it. I'd like to start putting pictures on here of them but my phone has a naff camera and I only own a camcorder not a camera. I should sort that.

I can't believe how much DD runs me ragged, I wouldn't even know I had baby blue as he never crys, just plays and giggles all day.Its very difficult juggling everything when they are so young, but can be equally as hard when they are teenagers its just different problems you get with them.

No wonder you've not been about as much LP as yours are all little ones.

Hope its come through for you by now Michelle. I would have thought that you would be fine not getting the email as there was no questions on it just clips of what you have already seen , todays mail is the one you need.



Today I’ve woke up to some TCB money clearing. £13.50,:j I’ve opted for the Amaz0n voucher as you got 68p extra as a bonus offer so it’s now £14.18. I’ve put this into the ISA and made a note to myself that I need to use the voucher against nappies next time I buy from there. It gets so complicated juggling our money about like that sometimes but I wasn’t going to let the extra 68p go by having the money go into my bank account instead. It doesn’t make any difference to me as I buy from there anyway.

I still need to write my ebay listing up and clean the wardrobe which will hopefully be today. I need to go out for staples to Mr M’s and I’ll walk depending on the weather. (the car is now fixed so I have the family one back ) I'm going to use my P c0 ne vouchers there as I have £9 to use and I don't get hassled there for using them unlike at Mr A.

I’m hoping for a productive day but seeing as I’m suffering from a 3 day old hormonal headache now my energy levels are low. I really need to start taking my well woman vitamins today but I forget to look after myself as I'm too busy looking after others. Must try harder!

cha97michelle

I have a feeling that i am not going to get it Iris. I did a survey on the same show last week for someone else, perhaps they know this. Oh well. I will concentrate on filling in my cleaning diary instead.

I know what you mean about waking up and haven't been taking care of yourself. That is what i need to do more of too, and less time sat in front of here.

Hope your day continues to be a good one. x

Iris_Blue

Another £10 into the Isa fund from a maintenance credit (I think my last one for a while )

We had (another) sit down to talk about finances last night and we are really debating whether to move or not. When I phoned the tax credits the other day I asked for an estimated figure for when my mat pay finishes and she said we wouldn't get anything, payments would remain the same. We both think its got to be wrong somehow but won't find out for sure until late April. DH gets a good wage but its got to be wrong.

I think I'm going to have to go on that child minding course I was booked in for for January but didn't go to, I know at the moment I couldn't really find the time to look after someone else's child properly with the babies being little but I suppose by August when I'm qualified I would have.

The EA phoned yesterday to discuss where we are up to. I'm really annoyed as they failed to tell us that our potential buyer had received an offer on theirs and put in an offer on another house around the corner from ours that's in need of a major refurb. (which has all fallen through now..ha ha .What goes around! ) I wish I would have said something at the time but I was shell shocked as we was just plodding along waiting for them to sell. I think that was really rude of them. They should be keeping us informed. I've reduced the price now to £124,950 so we'll see what happens.

Looking at figures on the spreadsheet overpaying £221 pm from now till Dec '11 gets us at £79,995.( Current figure £85,222) We've talked about staying and blitzing this mortgage which is lowish (£601pm) I know its not low compared to some out there but it would double if we moved. I suppose knowing what we are going to get financially when my maternity pay finishes will be a factor in the decision. We've been hit hard money wise this past week with losing the child maintenance, some CB and next my money of £500pm Its a good job I got rid of the last of the credit cards.

We are looking at a new car (ex demo) this weekend , which will dearer in insurance but better on fuel/road tax than our family car. Ours in now out of warranty, so we want to change it. It's still very very expensive but a lot cheaper than the Nissan GTR DH wanted so we are getting there! He is comprimising and I love him for it.:kisses2:

Does it ever get any easier ! Please tell me it does!

cha97michelle

I think there is always going to be something you need to think about money wise. Nothing ever stays as you want it does it. You sound like you are driving yourself a bit mad with it all there.

Not really sure what your DH brings in, but we only get £1600 wages, and £40.50 CTC, and i am just thinking to myself we have not told them about his wages going up, so i think we are going to owe them some back. Shoot. Best look into that this weekend too.

CathT

Michelle I am still convinced your CTC are too low. Ours are going down to around £40 a week for one child as income has increased to £32k. I can't wait for the 5th/6th so i can see how much better off we will be by me taking maternity leave.

Iris i'm with HF too and the credit system is annoying, why not just tell us on the same day!

That's unfortunate about your prospective buyers pulling out, have you still been having viewers?

Iris_Blue

I just don't understand how it can stay the same when my mat pay finishes.

He comes out with £1850 after his pension comes out plus a yearly bonus which we thought he'd get about £7k but didn't factor in that he wouldn't have been there for whole 12 months and another bonus which they didn't get this year ( we don't know what this is as no one speaks about bonus' there. Strange! ) so I think they will owe us some back. Tax credits we get £147p.w as we have baby blue so it'll go down when he's one.

I hate the not knowing part of it all.

When you last posted your SOA I thought that I didn't know how you juggled it all , and to have savings too. It's impressive.I know you were together before you had children ,which helps.

My personal bugbear is that I wish me and DH would have met earlier in life instead of "starting out" together now. We've been together 5 years next month I'd have loved him to be the father of all my children but he says 14 would have been a bit young to have started having babies with a 20 year old! :rotfl: I told him I wouldn't have even looked at him then!

I guess my problem is that I'm not where I wanted to be in life at the age I am now and I'm in a rush to get there now.

Iris_Blue

No Cath but it didn't bother me as we were waiting for these buyers and the property we want is rented out 'till June.

We really don't know now whether we should stay or go and until we know about the budget and the tax credits we'll have to sit on it.

wantabetterlife

Hi Iris, i read some of the detailed budget report and from what i can see, the threshold for tax credits has been lowered to £40,000, so your oh is probably just over this. The threshold used to be 50 something thousand. Unfortunately they are also completely doing away with the extra amount for a child under one year...it doesnt exist after today :mad:.
We like you will no longer be receiving anything at all.
Hope that helps

Iris_Blue

Thanks for the info WABL.

He should be under £40k then as he was made redundant, I'm sure he won't have earned that much with the bonus being low.

I'm not very good at budget stuff. On the threshold for tax credit bit - Does that mean just his wage or both of our earnings for 2010 ? So anything above that amount you don't get credits at all ?

Both of that information is going to hit a lot of families hard.

CathT

I am sure you need to include your income too. It's very unfair as personally i don't think 40k is an awful lot as a joint income yet these families are being penalised. We earn slightly too much for help with nursery costs, seems as though one way or another we all miss out.