5 year plan for debt and mortgage freedom

katali_d

Lol, I like a bit of drama occasionally, but fair enough :-)

Your maternity benefits look pretty good, and I'm very impressed at you being able to cover your outgoings on 30%! I'm considering a baby now, and have absolutely no idea how we might manage this! I will have to look into maternity benefits more closely I think.

I'm sure you'll come up with a plan, you seem pretty resourceful!

Deeperblue

Feb 17

Little one is having her nap so I'm going to make my shopping list and head off shopping this afternoon with mum

Yeah, I think my maternity benefits are really good, considering a friend of mine can only have 6 weeks leave and needs to return full time as she only gets SMP on mat leave and couldn't afford to be part time I couldn't imagine leaving my baby at 6 weeks. I know it may seem ridiculous to some to have another baby with our financial situation but it makes more sense to do it now rather than risk 10 months without pay in my next job.

We currently have £1000 or so surplus each month when we stick to budget looking at our SOA, so that's why we could live if I was dropped to 30% pay, but it would mean no overpayments for 4 months.

The ideal would be if OH could start bringing in some money from his second job soon, which will hopefully be March/April time, and then we can start making some lump payments.

I don't really want to deliver before November as I've got an exam I really need to take then and I doubt I'd do very well trying to revise with a 2 year old and a new born :rotfl: So... that means starting to try in... *counts on fingers* .. well... we could start next month as long as I don't mind the risk of giving birth in the exam room :rotfl: It took us 6 months to conceive last time so I doubt it would happen that quickly.

~ D.B. ~

katali_d

Hi DB,

I found out my maternity pay today. I get 6 weeks 90%, 12 weeks 50% + SMP and 8 weeks at SMP. Plus another 26 weeks with no pay at all. Guess my plan for a year off is not feasible given our level of debt! And although it might seem silly, I have to think about when it becomes more risky to have a first child, age-wise! I don't think I can wait til our debts are clear sadly.

I don't think I'd advise giving birth during the exam, I don't think you'd do your best in it :-)

Hope you had a good shop.

Deeperblue

Feb 17 cont.

Katali, I agree about thinking practically about the age thing. I turn 30 next year and my family go through the menopause early, so I have that to consider. Plus all the risks associated with pregnancy and genetic problems go up as you get older... if you think about it humans were supposed to have babies in their teens and have died in their 30's 1,000's of years ago!




I spent considerably more than I intended when I went shopping today BUT, in my defence, I got -alot- of meat that will last me well into next month.

Food spend for week 3 (Feb 13th - Feb 19th): £28.05
(will need to buy 4 pints of milk for LO tomorrow which I've added onto the above total)

Total food spend for the month so far: £89.96
(though this includes cleaning stuff too)

My food shopping for the week:

3x 6 mini chocolate cupcakes................£1.47 total (reduced from £1.00 a pack)
2 fresh trout fillets with garlic butter.......0.99p (reduced from £2.50)
4x ASDA own smart price noodles ..........0.40p (never tried these before, and they could be foul. Definately not something I'd feed the LO but as a late-night snack I'm sure they'll be ok... maybe)
2x tinned tomatoes...............................0.62p total
2x tinned mixed beans........................ .0.88p
2x ASDA fruit and fibre cereal..............£2.24
Frozen Oriental mixed vegetables.........£1.01
Frozen parsnips...................................0.87p
Tandoori spice mix.............................£1.00 (not sure if this was worth it yet but couldn't see any cheap curry powder)
4x bananas.........................................0.48p
70 odd Finish dishwasher tablets...........£3.00
8 Activia yoghurts................................0.99p (reduced from £3 something)
6x ASDA own yoghurts..........................0.65p (reduced from £1.00)
6x muller little stars yoghurts.................0.45p (reduced from £1 something)
2x 500g Extra special lamb joint with apricot stuffing.....£3.68 total (Reduced from £5 something each!)
~1.5kg Silverside beef joint..................£5.99 (reduced from £13 something!)
3x chocolate moose deserts...................0.39p (reduced from £1 something)
Cajun spice mix...................................0.80p
400g Cathedral City chedder.................£2.00 (is it just me or is this always on offer?)
4x bagals............................................0.49p (reduced from £1)
Fresh cauliflower..................................0.39p (reduced from 70p or so)

Total after 10% discount - £25.92

More than I needed to spend but I just couldn't walk past that meat and not buy it. I'll use the trout for lunch tomorrow and then I've got Chilli (or possibly it's curry, I forget!) and fishcakes in the freezer which should do us for tomorrow's tea and Saturday's lunch.

I've now got I stack of stuff in the freezer! 1.5kg beef joint, 500g beef joint, 400g of chicken and two 500g lamb joints.

Need to bake some bread tonight/tomorrow and think what meals I'm going to have next week.

Oh, I also bought some stuff for LO's birthday cake as they were on offer at the Haldanes.

Spends:
Birthday cake stuff £7 ish.


Got to start thinking about baby names soon :T So excited!.... and a little bit scared!

Hope all you ladies (and gents?) are having a good week. I watched that 'Beauty and the Beast' on 4 OD yesterday which wasn't bad. May watch the last episode tonight.

Randomly... do any of you knit? I taught myself how to do basic knitting just before LO was born, but never got further than knitting a 5x5 inch square that was supposed to be a cardigan one day :rotfl: I'd love to learn how to do it properly. My nesting instinct makes me want to knit

~ D.B. ~

katali_d

I'm so impressed by your shopping abilities, I spend more than you and never manage to get anywhere near the amount you do for the money!

How old is your LO going to be?

I turn 30 next year as well! (about a year's time in fact!) and haven't had any children yet.

I can knit, very basically, but I've forgotten how to cast on (and off) so I'm going to have to go see my mum next week I think for a reminder. There's a knitting thread on here, don't know if you know it? Where they knit for charity. I'm sure some of the peole on there could point you in the right direction. Although now I don't know whether to keep any squares I manage to knit for a baby blanket!

Deeperblue

Feb 17 cont.

I only manage to stay in budget because of the discounted stuff I buy which gives me 50% off my weekly shop on a good day :rotfl:
If I brought all that stuff at full price it'd be costing me much more.


My little girl will be 2 next week and so around 3 when the next one comes along, with any luck. I turned 29 last month so I guess we're not too far off each other

It's weird... all the birthdays in our family cluster around December and January, and if I get pregnant in the next few months the new little one will be the same

I think it's such a difficult decision when thinking about the best time to have a baby. But there never is a 'perfect' time. Have you had the 'when' talk with your OH yet Katali?

~ D.B. ~

katali_d

We're trying online supermarket shopping at the mo, which gives us the chance to compare prices at different supermarkets and not impulse buy, and stick to budget, but does mean we miss out on any store discounts. Oh well.

That's a good age gap to have I think!

3 of my family are Jan-Feb, and my dad is June! I always think his is good, cos it nicely cuts the year in halves with presents, between Christmas and birthday! My OH is Nov, so this end of the year is pretty full for us as well. The decision is difficult, I'm trying to plan it on maternity leave. I teach, so I'm trying not to spend too many holidays on maternity leave. I'm hoping to be due late Jan next year, so I can work til just after christmas, then go back a couple of weeks before summer holidays. That would be the ideal for us I think, as we can only afford 6 months max leave money-wise. Also, avoids the issue of having your child be the youngest in their year when they do get to school, which lots of children struggle with!

Deeperblue

That means there will only be a couple of months between us trying :T Well done for organising the timing, but you do realise your little one will probably arrive at the most awkward time possible? :rotfl: I doubt I would conceive this month if we started now, but sods law I would just because it would make my exam a -real- pain in the a** :rotfl:

~ D.B. ~

katali_d

Lol, yeah, my OH did point out yesterday that I couldn't actually guarantee the timing, but I like to plan anyway Means we should start trying in the easter holidays You should prob wait til next month before trying then, I'm a firm believer in sods law!

skaps

Just been reading all the latest posts and Im a teacher too. Im 29 and am planning to have a baby soon. Thats a good idea Katali about having the baby in Jan as I cant afford to take too many months off work either. Though seems a bit scary to try so early was thinking that I would start in the summer. Got half term to think about it more carefully though.