Earthmother's Diary

neverdespairgirl

Hi - just a couple of things.

Nappies @ £40 a month, that seems very expensive to me? If you go for a special offer on, for example, Huggies, that's £22 a month working on 7 nappies a day.

Petrol - if you don't work, £130 seems a lot on petrol?

earthmother

Hi

I did get the special offer at Sainsburys for nappies last month, but normally we're looking at about £8 a pack, and just over a pack a week, plus nappy sacks (use washable wipes) hence the £40. Unfortunately, we've yet to find a cheap brand that fits/works for the little guy.

I haven't come across any offers as good as the one you mentioned - where is/was that?


Petrol - it is expensive yes, unfortunately we have a very poor consumption car (Toyota Previa), and do a lot of short hops/urban driving (school, medical appointments etc). There is also a longer out of town journey about twice a month (uses £10 petrol, sometimes more). The £130 is based on £30 (half tank) a week, although I can shave that by £5 a week in the warmer months as school runs are not needed so often.

neverdespairgirl

I had a quick look at the Tescos website - which has Huggies on special offer for 11p each :j

earthmother

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I had a quick look at the Tescos website - which has Huggies on special offer for 11p each :j

Thanks - just had a look though and the only ones I can see at that price are the Newborns - we need size 6 (he's 21 months), which are from 18p per nappy.

I always check, but unless there's something like the Sainsburys 1/3 off deal last month, Boots virtually always wins, especially when there's a code around (got £10 off my last bulk order).

neverdespairgirl

earthmother wrote: »

Thanks - just had a look though and the only ones I can see at that price are the Newborns - we need size 6 (he's 21 months), which are from 18p per nappy.

I always check, but unless there's something like the Sainsburys 1/3 off deal last month, Boots virtually always wins, especially when there's a code around (got £10 off my last bulk order).

In Pampers, I guess he's Maxi size? (15 - 40lb). Tesco are doing those at 15p per nappy at the moment, I think.

http://www.spiritofnature.co.uk/acatalog/1767.sample.html for a free sample, can't hurt!

Have you considered cotton nappies? we use them, I think they are great.

earthmother

Thanks

Size 6 is Extra Large (last size) - as far as Tesco goes, Pampers and Huggies are the same price at that size.

We did use Moltex for him for well over a year, until the budget got too tight. To be honest, cotton were always out of our budget as far as set-up costs went, and he's actually already trying to use the toilet (watching two big brothers does that I suppose), so hopefully we don't have many more months buying nappies at this rate anyway.

earthmother

Well, I managed to get half an hour last night after the kids went to bed to work through a plan of action with hubby.

I did a Debt Remedy on CCCS yesterday, and on special measures it would take about 2 years to clear the debts (assuming all interest gets stopped sharpish). It would take about the same amount of time, if a little more money, to snowball (as in my sig), and we'd maintain a better credit rating, so we're going to try and do that rather than go on a DMP for now.

We've given ourselves 6 months, and then we'll look at it again.


The next 6 months are expensive - second son will need kitting out for school (£140 on footwear alone :eek: ) , and we have to renew our Motability car - but I've done the projected budget and whilst everything will be running tightly, if we can get through it, we can get through anything, and it'll be (relatively) plain sailing from August onwards.



Wish us luck

lauradora

Good luck!!:D

Have you been opn the os board to look for money saving ideas like recipies and cleaning alternatives etc?

earthmother

Hi

Yes - the OS board was what brought me to this site originally. Although admittedly I don't post there that often, I lurk most days and get lots of ideas

Actually, reading your sig, I think it might be worth trying the grocery challenge again (failed miserably last year), might help keep me on track - this month is the tightest for some reason.

earthmother

Oh pooh! Was just doing the weekly books, and realised that in my SOA/snowball calculations I'd used old footwear costings. We were told this month that two elder sons (who wear supportive boots at £60 a pair when out) should also be wearing them indoors. Because of the school policy of no outdoor shoes indoors (they're supposed to wear plimsolls - we've managed to send trainers so far), it means I need to buy two pairs of boots each time.

So, whilst it's only a few pounds when split over the months, it adds up, and means my DFW has shifted from April to June 10 :wall:

My target latest possible date to be DF is the August Bank Holiday 2010, which is when youngest son starts school, so this means I have very little leeway left now *groan*