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

mouche

Hi everyone...haven't updated in quite a while thanks to a combination of mood swings, a nasty cold and general laziness - plus the fact that my laptop has expired and am having to use my mum's precious one.

Not much to update though knowing myself, that won't stop me nattering on! Baby is doing fine in there - am nearly 36 weeks now and will be having a planned C section on 24th Jan. I have a healing issue that results in raised lumpy scars called keloids. After much thought I've decided that if I must have nasty scars, I'd rather have them at my bikini line than in my nether regions so have requested a C section. Not long to go so am gearing myself up mentally as best I can.

Financially, I've been on mat leave since 1st December so have had 4 of my 6 weeks of full pay. Will be a smaller amount at the end of Jan and then onto SMP so will have to start drawing on savings from February.

But have managed to make some OPs in December and January from money leftover in the accounts at the end of the month (OH has been a superstar on the frugal front back in the UK - to the point I'm wondering what he's eating as he doesn't seem to be buying much food!). Plus mum made me use some money she had given me for safekeeping to make a £1000 OP. She says to pay her back after I've paid off the mortgage!

So after all that my outstanding mortgage is now £1,89,974.44 - under the £190,000 mark - yay! My next mini-target is to get under £184,000 by the end of 2012. That will mean finding an extra 100 every month - probably difficult on maternity pay but am determined to try. Also a secret ambition of getting under 180,000 but that will take an OP of 455 every month, which is not going to happen unless we get a lump sum from somewhere. Better just stick to the 184,000!

Will post again later and will catch up with all diaries as soon as I can. Take care everyone!

starnac

hey mouche found your diary. glad your mum and dad are spoiling you. i totally agree with your decision to have a section. i had to have stitches on both my children and worried about what the scar would look like and feel like for my DH if you know what i mean i had a smear not long after having DD and was told by the doctor doing the smear that my scar was very neat and that did help me knowing that. i think i would choose to have the scar somewhere less intrusive too in your situation.

hope you are keeping well. make the most of relaxing while you can. glad your DH has got quite a bit of time with you both too

Hurdler

Hey mouche... Happy new Year!

Well done for dipping under £190K

mouche

Thanks starnac and hurdler!

starnac, thanks especially for your comment. I've had a couple of 'too posh to push' comments from people I know so it's really nice to have someone understand my decision.

Had a 112 pound payment from Quidco today (110 from Sky and 2 from cheapsmells) so split it into my 4 pots and made a 28 pound OP. Have also updated my sig with some goals for this year.

poorbutrich

mouche wrote: »

Thanks starnac and hurdler!

starnac, thanks especially for your comment. I've had a couple of 'too posh to push' comments from people I know so it's really nice to have someone understand my decision.

Had a 112 pound payment from Quidco today (110 from Sky and 2 from cheapsmells) so split it into my 4 pots and made a 28 pound OP. Have also updated my sig with some goals for this year.

Gosh, people are so quick to judge. Whatever you decide will be the right thing, ignore people who think that their way of giving birth is the "right" way and look after yourself - best of luck with everything.

Congrats also on the massive Q payment! Your target of £100 a month OP sounds very doable to me as you're brilliantly efficient and organised. Hope your DH is actually eating though :rotfl:

mouche

Hi everyone who is still reading this. As you may have guessed my LO has arrived and disrupted all my diarising on MSE! Yes, I now have a lovely little boy who will be 2 months old very soon. Those 2 months have gone by in a bit of a blur despite being with my mum who is doing the lion's share of childcare. OH was also here for the first month and he was a huge help as well.

Currently, mum and I are doing alternate days so I have the night 'off' so to speak and am therefore able to use the computer.

On the OP front, I am now on SMP but this is actually higher than I was expecting so we are ahead at the moment on maternity budget. I guess I will be able to judge better once I get back to the UK in early May. I haven't kept very good track of my OPs but I have made some and the mortgage is now £1,88,935.71.

My parents have been paying for everything for baby here so have had very few expenses for him. We've also got loads of stuff as gifts so we have a stroller, bottle sterilisers (he's on formula as breastfeeding did not work out for me - I'm still upset about it as I really wanted to breastfeed), the promise of a car seat from my husband's boss, the promise of nursery furniture from my mum and loads of other stuff.

I haven't managed any additional income - we are still in the process of suing our ex-landlord in small claims court. My husband is due for a big bonus at the end of this month though. I will probably stash most of it in our contingency fund as I want to meet my target for that fund sooner rather than later.

I will do my best to catch up with everyone's diaries over the next few weeks. I wouldn't call it a routine but things are becoming slightly more organised in my new life now so hopefully I will have some time for MSE again. Hope everyone is fine. PBR and starnac, I hope that your LOs are doing well.

poorbutrich

Hello again Mouche! Just thought I'd come over to your thread and congratulate you on the birth of your son over here too!

Your mum sounds wonderful! It's just so nice to have someone to wash clothes and other chores that free your time up so you can spend it with your son. You sound like you've taken well to motherhood and I am extremely amused that you were impressed with maternity pay! It's the first time I've not worked and to live on £128 a week is proving quite difficult. It would have been impossible if I'd not saved up some of my salary while I was pregnant!

Please don't beat yourself up about breastfeeding. It really isn't for everyone. I had a very tough time at the beginning and was nearly in tears everytime DS showed signs of hunger. I also switched to formula but it didn't seem to agree with DS and his skin flared up so I had to breast feed while gritting my teeth. It isn't as natural and easy as everyone makes out, that's for sure!

Sorry to hear about the landlord thing - that's not what you need right now. Hope you can continue to update your diary. Take care!!

mouche

Thank you PBR! I'm getting used to being a mummy though I suspect it will be another steep learning curve once I'm on my own in the UK. Well, Mr Mouche will be there of course (and I'm missing him dreadfully so it will be a mental relief to be back with him) but who will I run to when baby is yelling and I don't know why?!

I was impressed with maternity pay because my expectations were so low to begin with! Then again, there is no SMP in India and even the most enlightened workplaces give only 3 months maternity leave. So I should be grateful for whatever I get in the UK - and I am really. But as you say, it would be impossible to survive if I hadn't saved up for mat leave.

I tried very hard to breastfeed but LO was a very tiny fellow when he was born and simply couldn't open his mouth wide enough. And on top of that my milk came in very late and very little. I had lactation counsellors help me and took all kinds of supplements but it was no good in the end. I did manage to pump and give him a few feeds of expressed milk everyday for a month so hopefully he got a few of the benefits. I still have bouts of guilt that maybe I should have tried harder - but at the time I did the best I could. Anyway, my sis and I were both formula fed and we turned out ok so hopefully he will too. Good on you for managing somehow though - it takes a lot more effort and bravery than people (especially male paedeatrician's - will gripe about them later!) realise.

No news on financial front. A family friend has just bought a house in the UK near us. It's a smaller house so smaller mortgage plus he and his wife share the house with her sister, bro in law and niece. The sis etc pay them rent in cash which covers a good chunk of their mortgage. Am tempted to do the same with our massive attic room but am concerned about finding a reliable lodger...

TwinnyD

Just found your diary, always like the ones with LOs arriving :T It's great that you're still motivated whilst on maternity leave which is so hard financially.
Agree with Poorbutrich about not beating yourself up over breastfeeding not working out, sounds like you did all you could and gave him lots of goodness in the month you were expressing

Hurdler

Congratulations mouche!!!