gratefulforhelp's austerity measures

gratefulforhelp_2

Discovered i had some unused clubcard vouchers and swapped them for £30 pizza express vouchers for half term ents. Also a tenner off online shop.

baby had a busy night last night so we are really tired, and A level marking starts today so if i disappear that's where i have gone.

SmlSave

Any luck with the banking?

Hope the A Level marking goes ok

gratefulforhelp_2

LOL went to pay cheques into the DDs deposit accounts to discover the BS moved out of our town in December!! So not exactly progress!

Provision for children's savings is so poor, especially between CTFs and the junior ISA.

CathT

Good luck with the marking.

We had a fab local branch of my bank in the village next to me - sooooo handy. Unfortuntately is has now become a different bank which is a bit of an inconvenience. Although I did open an account and got cashback so I don't have to go into town to deposit cheques etc.

Hope you get more sleep tonight.

gratefulforhelp_2

Thanks, cath.

Forgot to say puppy graduated basic training last night, she has a certificate and everything!

gratefulforhelp_2

DH is feeling yucky, end of half term exhaustion and a cold, i think. We have the fire lit here, its blowing a gale and persisting down.

AS Chem marking has started, a day and a half to half term. AF order being delivered. DDs love the french chocolate spread.

DDs both have mild colds too.

DH has partially sorted the banking, will have to do the rest in half term.

Have reached a bit of a plateau in the weight loss, I need to not buy any more clothes until I have lost at least another stone.

gratefulforhelp_2

Time for a bit of a stock take...this was me when I started my diary

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Aims for the next 18 months...

1. [STRIKE]February purchase puppy. We have a year at home together, and plans in place for it when I return to work, which may be part-time anyway. [/STRIKE]
2. [STRIKE]At the same time, start maternity leave[/STRIKE].

3. [STRIKE]March baby arrives safely (God Willing).[/STRIKE]

4. [STRIKE]At around this time, change car (12 years old, 130k miles, 5 seater) for a newer 7 seater 4x4. We need a 4x4 as work will dock our pay if we miss due to snow days, plus having to drive in ditches to avoid tractors and the loony drivers who follow the hunt. 7 seats as there will be 5 of us plus the dog [/STRIKE]
5. Continue to overpay the mortgage throughout, without incurring extra debt apart from the car debt.

This last one is a work in progress. I obviously hadn't expected we would lose MIL, part of the point of the big car was to drive her around and to get to visit her safely.

DH has inherited some money, and some more to come in stages.

1.Next week I will pay off the car credit cards, so we will be debt free again.

2. In the summer we are getting some major work done to the house (re-roofing plus).

3. We are also changing our downstairs loo into a shower room, provided some of the money comes through, in the summer.

I have realised we have 11 years 'til DD1 starts uni, and we have three of them to get through degrees, with luck. If we used CS money to overpay the mortgage (we never count this in our budget as it is unreliable) and continue current overpayments and pay off the max allowable without penalty this year and next, then we would be MF by 2022 when uni costs begin.

4. Next step, convince DH this is the way to go...to get rid of a massive £1550 per month mortgage payment (and that's without overpaying) would go a long way towards paying uni costs.

Is it logical??

gratefulforhelp_2

Baby is in bed!!!

And as an aside, the AF "lucky box" for a quid is v.good value, 6 packets of crisps, two four packs of nice cakes, an instant mocha coffee and some polish cup-a-soup!

gratefulforhelp_2

DH has taken DD2 to ballet, DD1 is wheezy. DH likes the mortgaga strategy. Mucking out girls' rooms and ebay listing is the plan.

twinklie

More marking for me today. Best start thinking about cracking on really. Woo.