From here to maternity... Trying to be debt free

LittleBit_2

Change of plan. Hubby is going to buy me a bundle of maternity clothes for £25. There are 21 items, so even if some of them don't suit it's still a fab bargain. We will still have £50 to tide us over for the rest of the month

LittleBit_2

Morning, it's chilly up here in Yorkshire. I'm sat at work at the moment, counting down the days til I can go on maternity leave. I have my 12wk scan on Monday, so fingers crossed that goes well.
Money wise we have had a cheap weekend. NSD Saturday, and we only had to buy bread and milk on Sunday.
I'm at work now til Thursday so should be NSDs unless anything comes up. I think the car needs servicing soon, so will pester hubby to get that booked in. As long as nothing major needs doing, then we should be able to cover that with the money I've put to one side for it over the year.
This evening hubby is going to paint the hallway (again!) and I am going to pick up 4 bags of toys for the boys from Freecycle. Aparently it's dinosaurs, transformers and all sorts of other bits, so DS1 will love them. Will stop at my sisters for a cuppa too, as it's over in her neck of the woods.
Hope everyone has a good day x

rubber_soul

Hi LittleBit,

Just came across your diary! I'm pregnant as well- nearly 14 weeks with twins Slightly concerned about the cost to be honest!

Will be following to see how you get on and hopefully spur me on! How many weeks are you now?

LittleBit_2

Rubber soul - I was 11 weeks yesterday. I have a feeling that when I have my 12wk scan they may move me forward by a few days though. Do you have any children already?

rubber_soul

No, they will be our first! Childcare looks very expensive- I don't think it will be worth me going back to my current job full time due to the childcare costs for two- I'm looking for a career change in the next couple of years (hopefully!) so have that to consider as well.

I bet you're tired with 2 little ones, I'm knackered and it's just me (everything is left to poor DH anyway as I've been pretty ill with sickness) Will you get maternity pay/allowance?

runninglea

Hi

Well done for posting - seems a shame to have to move especially with a young family and especially with housing market as it is. It could take ages to sell.

Can you not look at staying, either by cutting costs or working part-time in evenings etc. I know it is difficult when oh comes home and you go out to work.

We do it, I get home at 5.30 and oh goes out to work for a few hours. It is hard work but having that couple of hours on his own with them will be nice for the kids and OH.

Otherwise look at trimming your outgoings - entertainment is high, as is pet insurance

LittleBit_2

rubber_soul wrote: »

No, they will be our first! Childcare looks very expensive- I don't think it will be worth me going back to my current job full time due to the childcare costs for two- I'm looking for a career change in the next couple of years (hopefully!) so have that to consider as well.

I bet you're tired with 2 little ones, I'm knackered and it's just me (everything is left to poor DH anyway as I've been pretty ill with sickness) Will you get maternity pay/allowance?

Yes I will get maternity pay. If I don't go back to work I will get 9 months SMP which is roughly £125 a week at the moment.

Oh and yes I'm knackered. The boys are usually pretty good though and don't give me too much hassle. I'm lucky too in that I don't really suffer when I'm pregnant, apart from tiredness

LittleBit_2

runninglea wrote: »

Hi

Well done for posting - seems a shame to have to move especially with a young family and especially with housing market as it is. It could take ages to sell.

Can you not look at staying, either by cutting costs or working part-time in evenings etc. I know it is difficult when oh comes home and you go out to work.

We do it, I get home at 5.30 and oh goes out to work for a few hours. It is hard work but having that couple of hours on his own with them will be nice for the kids and OH.

Otherwise look at trimming your outgoings - entertainment is high, as is pet insurance

Thanks Runninglea

I know it's a bad time to sell, but ideally we would like me to stay at home with the children, and the mortgage amount on our SOA if for interest only :eek: What really scares me is that the interest could shoot up and then we wouldn't be able to make our payments.
At least if we could move somewhere cheaper we could make sure it's manageable on only 1 wage.
We bought this house when we both worked full time and had no children. Now I've reduced my hours by 2/5 and we pay out £600 a month childcare, and with another on the way it's just not sustainable. We need to try and get out of the house now before we get stung.

LittleBit_2

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I'm so tired today. I love my days at home with the boys, but they're so exhausting. Who knows how tired I'll be when number 3 arrives. We were naughty yesterday and went to Pizza Hut for tea. It was total laziness because it was getting late and we were in town anyway. It was less than £20 for all 4 of us, but was still money we shouldn't have spent. I've also ordered some round knitting needles from Ebay as I can't fit the number of stitches I want on my straight needles.
We have no plans for the weekend apart from getting a new stair carpet fitted tomorrow (so we need to get £40 to pay the fitter). We might take the boys to the local country park if it's warm enough, and maybe visit my parents.

LittleBit_2

Loads of snow here today. It took 40 minutes to do a 5 minute trip to the childminders. I've taken a day off work today to get the house valued. There were supposed to be 2 valuers coming, 1 at 11 o'clock and 1 at 3 o'clock. The first one has just cancelled as the valuer is snowed in so hasn't got to work. I wonder if the other one will make it? I just really want to find out how much the house is actually worth and if we're in negative equity or not.
We desperately need a supermarket shop as we have nothing in the fridge, freezer or cupboards hardly. I've been trying to convince hubby to go, but I will probably be better off doing it myself, as he always ends up spending a fortune.