Mouche’s adventures with her first mortgage (while coping with her first baby)

tootoo

Hi Mouche - is your lo as feb12 baby?

I have an account in my name for my girls (so they can't touch it when they are older until I see fit - house purchase etc) and they also have their own accounts which I will let them use. The money in here is designed for when they are able to learn to drive etc. You can withdraw with our accounts as I am the named person (I can't remember the correct word this morning!).
Happy Sunday

mouche

Thank you tootoo…I like the sound of that ‘named person’ thing. I will look into it further as I am saving to try and put LO into private school (our local primaries are pretty dire) and the more interest I can earn on the savings the better. At the same time, I will need to spend it in the next ten years so don’t want to end up losing control of it.

Right, MSE news – spendy Saturday as usual though not as bad as some. £5 on fruit and veg at the market. Lovely F Hinds has fixed my ring so am wearing it again. £11.49 on a McDonald’s lunch – OH had a craving; £38 odd on Tesco shopping. That included Advent calendars for me and LO – he chose Peppa Pig for himself and Thomas the Tank Engine for me. I also spent some vouchers I got for surveys long ago on a contribution to the food bank. Thank you to GreyingPilgrim for inspiring me to make a donation for the first time. We went specially to Tesco instead of Morrison’s to do this. Hopefully, the milk and jam etc. will brighten the day of someone somewhere.

We also spent £20 on haircuts for OH and LO. LO was a star! It was his first barbershop haircut and he sat there calmly as if he has a haircut every day of his life! He didn’t even flinch with the clippers and razor. He looks like a proper little boy now. I have to admit to a little tear over his transformation from curly moppet.

Sunday I had a driving lesson followed by LOs first toddler football session. He seemed completely stunned to begin with but he got into it much more as he went along. OH was running around with him and helping him (it’s encouraged) and both of them got some much needed exercise and had a lot of fun. I think LO will enjoy it more as he gets used to it. Certainly be the end he was kicking the balls into the goal and high fiving the coaches with the rest of them. It’s a really nice session and the coaches were good so it will be a nice thing for OH and him to do on Sundays.

mouche

Not much news today other than OH was able to leave work early last night so we saved the taxi fare for LO to come home from nursery. My money has also been safely transferred to my new easy access savings account and the interest will be paid on the 10th of the month.

Oh! The sofas have arrived. Am working from home because of it and after much moaning and head scratching about how to get them into the house, they have been delivered and positioned. They are a lot bigger than I remembered! Our house is now overflowing with sofas as we haven't got rid of the old ones yet. At least one of them will have to go before Christmas or LOs kitchen won't have anywhere to go.

I have also decided to buy an ironing basket (currently ironing pile lives on top of the dining table) and some storage boxes as LOs toys can no longer be contained in the toy box from last Christmas. If I hide the mess perhaps it will go away....

P.S. - Forgot to put in an LO moment! One day last week when I brought him home on the bus, we were walking along the pavement when he suddenly spotted our shadows. I don't think he's ever seen shadows before - certainly I've never pointed them out to him. But he straightaway got very excited and pointed at them saying his name and mine. It's amazing how they develop into little people in front of your eyes.

mouche

Have just been doing my Christmas shopping online. I don't actually have many people to buy for - just OH and LO. My friends and I have an 'only for the kids' deal so also needed 4 kids gifts of which I'd already bought 3 when Argos was doing their 3 for 2 offer. OH and I just get little things for each other.

So how much did I spend on LO, OH and one other child? Errrrr...about £85. That's not counting LOs main gifts which we've bought already for about £110. In my defence - £5.99 of that is a book for me.

So for Christmas/ birthday (they are very close together), LO will get:
1) Ikea kitchen with (utensils and play food provided by my parents)
2) LeapPad2
3) Play Doh with cutters and rolling pin
4) Paints and paintbrush
5) Bob the Builder jigsaw
6) Lego Creative cars
7) Peppa Pig bookset
8) Maisy bookset (may give this to him later as he also has a set of Thomas the Tank Engine books that I bought right after he was born )

For me that sounds like a lot for a 2 year old that I have sworn not to spoil. But it is for two occasions after all. Plus, he rarely gets any new toys during the year and I think he has been getting bored of all the existing toys.

Oh well, it's done now and all LOs stuff is budgeted for - I put aside some money to spend on him every month and that tends to pile up as I don't spend that much on him anymore (a lot used to go on formula and nappies). So the LO budget is usually quite healthy and can stand a few raids like this occasionally!

The other stuff, I can cover with our pocket money.

Right, any other MSE news? The water softener guy came but the plumbing in our house seems to be really complicated and all hidden in the wall so he wasn't able to work out a way he could do it. He did suggest I get a plumber in to find out where some pipes go/ come from and get them to go in a more useful way so maybe I will do that next year. For now thought, that's £640 not spent. Have booked a boiler service on Friday as it hasn't been serviced in 2 years.

What else? OH picked up LO from nursery last night so another fiver saved. He also went in for a new phone contract that is £2 more expensive than his current contract BUT he got a free tablet plus all sorts of other stuff so I think that was quite MSE of him. I was getting him a tablet for his birthday so now he wants a steam mop instead.

tootoo

I've just treated myself to a steam mop (well I got a bargain obviously!) and I am really impressed.

Tahlullah

I got one when ebatty were doing a daily deal. Very mse! But, as I am such a slovenly person, as informed by my very knowing friend, I haven't used it that much. It does a great job very quickly, but the novelty has worn off for me. It's not as if I have gone back to using a mop, I've just stopped cleaning! So much easier!

mouche

Thanks for popping by tootoo and Tallulah. I think I will get one though I suspect it will lie unused in the corner after the first two enthusiastic uses!

Well after a spendy Friday, we had a quiet weekend as OH was working both days and LO and I stayed home. LO has developed a fascination with TV that is quite worrying and spent a lot of the weekend watching his favourites. He has now learned to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ and ‘I love you’ and uses them with devastating effect on me when he wants something!

Our updated electric bill came and after the corrected reading and some care in switching off lights etc. the debt is down to £63 something. So I think I don’t need to worry too much about it. If we continue to be careful, we ought to catch up on the debt in 3-4 months. The gas bill hasn’t come but I am tracking myself and I don’t see how we will get the debt down as consumption is up despite us being careful not to use the oven unnecessarily. Can’t really avoid using the heating in this weather though I am trying not to switch it on before 6pm.

No MSE activities other than not spending anything but I did do some decluttering. I got 1.5 hours to myself while OH took LO to football and used it to empty LOs toybox of all his baby toys – one big bag in the garage for sorting through for ebay/charity/memory box. I also – believe it or not – conquered the ironing mountain. I can see the dining table again!

I’ve decided that instead of fretting about the state of the house, I will set myself one task a week and achieve it. Last week it was the ironing. This week it is:
1. Maintain: Keeping on top of ironing
2. New: Sort and file all our post (have about six months worth cluttering up the old TV table).
3: Bonus: Take photos of 5 items to ebay (won't start ebaying till Jan to avoid PO madness)

Today I have brought in lunch so don’t expect any spending except on the taxi. Though if it remains mild, I may attempt the bus. Or OH might finish on time – he’s exhausted after working all weekend so I suggested he try to finish early so he can get some rest.

Two surveys on Onepoll today so up to £25.50.

BlueMoo

I’ve decided that instead of fretting about the state of the house, I will
set myself one task a week and achieve it.

I think that is the way to go. Sometimes it can seem a bit overwhelming, but I just try and split the jobs into rooms and then tackle a room a day if that makes sense. Though obviously the kitchen is an ongoing target. I tend to do a swish and swipe during the week of the surfaces and hob keeping them clean, but tackle the oven/fridge/cupboards over the weekend.

*****

LO sounds like a cutie and is growing up fast!

gallygirl

BlueMoo wrote: »

I tend to do a swish and swipe during the week of the surfaces and hob keeping them clean, but tackle the oven/fridge/cupboards over the weekend!

What is this cleaning oven/fridge/cupboards of which you speak

BlueMoo

What is this cleaning oven/fridge/cupboards of which you speak

:rotfl:

I'm sure you are a secret cleaning ninja!