MSE Pregnancy Club 23

Gillyx

lovecrafting wrote: »

do you have plenty of ingredients for pastry? tomatoes for the bolognese and lasange erm what else

Oh don't be silly, I'll be buying JustRoll can't be bothered with faff of making my own.

Plenty of tomatoes, bought loads of tins when they were bashed in M&S a few months ago, poor OH had to carry them all home :rotfl:

Loads of value pasta, when it was down to 9p a bag a few months ago too.

Kira000

Gillyx wrote: »

Well drumroll please, I've finally started a Sainsburys Food order, only taken me about 2 weeks this is the big one for batch cooking, so any suggestions ladies? I've got mince already for bolognese, lasagne and chilli. Chicken for curry and casseroles and beef for pies anything else you can think of?

Obviously lots of potatoes, so you can maybe do the topping for shepherds/cottage pie? We also stocked up on some pasta bake sauces, and lots of dried pasta (and tins of tuna!)- so we can just do the "tip into an oven dish, pour over and cook thing".

Gillyx

Ahh good idea, it'd just be for me, so I'm happy enough with some veg/salad stuff thrown into a pasta bake.

We're in Ireland, we always have loads of potatoes :rotfl: Was thinking Roast Beef etc cooked and sliced and put in little containers with gravy, used to do this for my Gran and she loved it, so may do that too.

Didn't think about cottage pie, another great idea, thanks xxx

Kira000

Crabapple wrote: »

Thanks Kira, I might still do it, but you weren't making the shops sound fun and I'm also old, decrepit and unfit!! We don't need a lot of stuff (although each time I say that I come back with a ton of things I didn't think of).

Sorry Aimless, that is pretty rubbish of him. Also really annoying that it seems to be just back pain rather than baby. Labour vibes needed all round I think!

I'm feeling guilty watching DH do the cleaning but haven't got off my backside. Does that make me a bad person?!

Well for me, it really wasnt much fun . And i love shopping. If i hadnt got a £5 of clothes when you spend £10 to use by end Jan, i may have just not bothered, but i couldnt bring myself to waste the voucher. Only went for 3 things, and actually spent £53. Terrible. Wont be able to do that when i am on mat pay. I'm in denial at present as Decembers pay was only £7 less than usual, and Jan will be 90%.. Its Feb when it will start getting interesting!

Lots of labour vibes all round for sure.. So many boldies and nearly boldies! My bump buddy LauraLou hasnt been around for days, so i am convinced she has popped and not made it on yet.

Just had a lovely text that made me happy. My old boss, who left our company, who i worked for for 5 years, and really looked after me (and came to our wedding), just said she will come in and visit me at the hospital when i go in on Weds and have to stay for 24hrs on obs. No one else (friends or family) has offered, other than DH of course. Lets hope i'm still available to see her, and havent just been whisked off to delivery!

Oh, and dont feel guilty watching your OH clean. I'm sure he has sat watching you on many occassions without even worrying about if he should feel guilty!

Lucy1973

Just bought suitcase,pjs,nighties and slippers for hospital. Will probably start packing properly tonight or tomorrow.

Crabapple

DH has apparently worn himself out with the cleaning and now gone for a nap...

Shopping wise, if Gilly still needs ideas, as well as stuff in the freezer I've also bought packets of rice either to microwave with something or risotto type stuff, and tins of ravioli and the like for a really quick meal when we can't be bothered. Also got pasta sauces for the same reason.

I made two big lasagnas specifically and been making extra of pretty much every meal for the last 4 weeks or so and putting the rest away.

Kira, I'm looking at the same situation with pay and not looking forward to Feb. I did get more money than usual in December thanks to a Christmas bonus but not enough to get too excited about. Jan will be 90% and then it's poverty!! Child benefit will be coming in, and we might just be able to get the minimum amount of tax credits but I don't know for sure yet. I'm going to speak to them when baby finally makes an appearance.

Kira000

Crabapple wrote: »

Kira, I'm looking at the same situation with pay and not looking forward to Feb. I did get more money than usual in December thanks to a Christmas bonus but not enough to get too excited about. Jan will be 90% and then it's poverty!! Child benefit will be coming in, and we might just be able to get the minimum amount of tax credits but I don't know for sure yet. I'm going to speak to them when baby finally makes an appearance.

Its horrible isnt it! I've been saving like mad since we decided to TTC- but we "caught" bean our first month of trying so didnt have as much time to save as i planned, and i'm paranoid that my calculations are wrong and i'll run out of funds before i go back to work . We wont be eligible for TC either, as DH has just had a raise, which just puts us out of scope on combined salary.

No Christmas bonus at our work- our pay round means if there are performance bonuses or pay rises it will be payable in March-ish. Unfortunately, our work has a crap system of forced distribution, which means they have to artificially lower some peoples performance grading to make the numbers add up. Inevitably, they look for easy targets to downgrade who wont/cant make a fuss, usually people leaving the company, or who have changed teams/jobs- that means i'm right up there this year, as if they have to under rate someone, it will be easier to do it to me, when i wont be there !!!!ed off for 6 months of the year, than someone who will be there all year disgruntled. So i'm all prepared for a teeny rise/bonus if any at all. Hey ho.

I have SOOOO many unwearable clothes though, that once bean is here, and i'm in a routine and able to get around, i'm planning on doing a mass ebay for a few months, to supplement my income, and the walking to the PO, should help lose the baby pounds too, as well as clear some space!

Gillyx

Good idea r.e the microwavable rice Crabapple thanks.

I really feel for you ladies on SMP, to be used to a certain amount of money coming in and bills to pay etc with suddenly a lot less it must be a stressful thought. In one way I'm glad I was in a crappy situation to start with as I don't have that to contend with I'm sure though we will all manage and of course it'l be worth it

*Ro*

Lucy - if you are anything like me you will pack and re pack quite a few times !!!

Gilly - what about desserts surely a few apple pies are required!!

Re child tax credits we are going to apply for a proportion of this years amount based on the current tax year rather than last as we have a drop in income due to me leaving work feb 11. I know that we will still have to provide details of prev tax year and evidence but every penny counts!!
As far as applying for April 12 it's a big:eek: fat nada as they have dropped the threshold hugely see hmrc website though it's best to check as if you have certain circumstances you may qualify.
Hubbys salary will be squeezed as he will have to pay more into pension and after no pay rise for ages wait for it he could get 1%:eek:

I have decamped to bed as cant sit as too uncomfortable and have been lying on left side for ages as if lie on back bubs crushes/kills me .... My stomach has started its nightly tightening bh's so my solution is to wolf down cadburys heroes..... Have been stressing about Dylan as not comfortable with arrangements for Dylan but mum says her responsibility etc but don't want her fretting about him when I need her to ensure hubby does not hit the deck whilst in labour!!!!!!!
Labour vibes to boldies......
Ro xx

Crabapple

Kira000 wrote: »

Its horrible isnt it! I've been saving like mad since we decided to TTC- but we "caught" bean our first month of trying so didnt have as much time to save as i planned, and i'm paranoid that my calculations are wrong and i'll run out of funds before i go back to work . We wont be eligible for TC either, as DH has just had a raise, which just puts us out of scope on combined salary.

I'm not sure if we will qualify. We wouldn't based on both our salaries, but then I won't be getting mine and I don't know how they take into account the SMP. However, I'm certainly going to ask even if it only gets us another £500 a year - won't be more than that.

I had no chance to save until after May when we got married, as spare money went to that (and we did not blow a massive budget by any means, just have never had lots of money left at the end of each month). We should have enough to get by, but DH is worried. I handle the budgets as he will otherwise put his head in the sand and get scared by financial paperwork!

It made me smile at work when I was talking to some of the other women - the younger ones seemed to have no idea how poor the pay was and thought that our firm would give us lots of money! I basically horrified them all when they realised that they would get nothing more than SMP and how much that is.