Positive/success story - long time lurker

doodledo_2

What a lovely story. Best of luck to you and your lovely family

lvm

Well done! You've done so well for yourself.

Must say though...can't believe your employer allowed you to continue your long hours and travel at your stage in pregnancy - absolutely shocking!

Well done and glad you're all ok!

savingreallyhard

Thanks for all the lovely messages everyone!

In terms of being 'frugal' I know there is a lot of info on this site! It is all good but can be a bit much to take in. For me the trick was to focus on a couple of areas where we spent quite a bit and cutbacks were realistic. There is no point fretting about big costs if you can't change them. For us our biggest expense (more even than our rent) was petrol. Hubbie drove 150miles a day in one direction and I did 110 the other! But we had no control over this and couldn't change it so it wasn't worth stressing over. It just was.

We really saved money on food. We had been chaotically shopping several times a week, eating takeaways maybe once a week and chucking quite a bit of gone-off food away. My husband is very fond of expensive meals like nice steak! I started carefully planning meals for the week and eating cheaper stuff. I got better at recalculating things when I found reduced stuff whilst I shopped. But above all it wa about the weeks plan and the power of 'the list'. We discovered local suppliers where we could get really high quality food at good value. We have a roast most weeks (chicken or pork as they're cheaper!) and I use every bit for other meals and stock. If you are careful it is a good value meal. I found a local game supplier and we now eat lots of game - it's actually often quite cheap because people don't know what to do with it. This keeps my red-meat husband happy! And I can now make a mean venison stew, making a moderate amount of cheaper cut go a long way and taste yummy. And we make our own lunches - I oculdn't believe how much we were spending on them!

We've also become quite boring and stopped going out much at all. For weekends we go for big walks - free and healthy. If I don't go into town near shops, I can't buy stuff!

I don't think there is any magic bullet. You just have to find your own way. I do think it help to focus on one or two areas - whrere you think you can make a difference. One of the advantages of working long hours (or beign busy with kids) and being tired is that you have no time to spend money!

At the moment I'm finding that a baby is actually quite cheap. You don't need most of the stuff they try and sell you and most things can be got second hand. There's lots of fun, free things to do together from walks in the park to nursery rhymes at the local library. But I think as kids get older that gets harder and they want to do expensive things! I don't know how to square that particular circle!..

I will go back to work after a year but I really admire anyone who is managing to continue to raise a family on one income. I do think it's sad that we seem to be creating a world where people can't do that (or at least find it very hard to afford rent or a mortgage).

Good luck to all you others out there.

beanielou

Thank you for taking the time to share your story.
Enjoy your year 'off'!

Squirrel29

I love your story. I was able to have 18 mths off with my son nearly 19 years ago and loved it. I also remember the pre debt days when I once bought a £5000 car on my debit card!!!

sparklystar_2

oh what a lovely story, thanks for sharing as it's very inspirational to hear from others. I'm currently pregnant with babe number 3 and will (fingers crossed) be able to take a year off due to lots of budgeting, saving and paying off debts over the past year. With DD and DS I had to return to work full time after 5 months and so very excited about the prospect of taking more time off this time around. Currently saving for a bigger car and this will be the first ever bought without taking out a loan.

CashRequired

Congrats! I too am a little bit of a lurker, and i find this website an invaluable tool when it comes to money management. I will post my thanks on my upcoming DFD :j.

nerak_y

You sound truly reformed and very happy. Congrats on baby and enjoy every minute of it!

nerak_y xx