Maria's 2012 i will bring baby up on a budget! Keeping my head above water diary

mariagti

Afternoon,

I had a bit of an oppsy today..i went for a walk with Owen and put £10 in my pocket as i needed to stop by the co-op and by a loaf of bread. I got to the shops and thought i would just have a browse in the charity shop and i found a fully lined set of mothercare curtains which have little bunnys on them for £6.99 and a pair of slippers from boots mini cub brand new with tag £1.99. So i bought all of it! So spent £9 and then didnt have enough money on me for the bread! lol.
I bought the curtains thinking ohhh there blackout i could put them in Owens room instead of putting that blind back up that keeps falling out the wall. But now ive got them home i dont think there wide enough :S but they would go fab in the 3rd bedroom for the next baby......lol

oliviarosejackson

Hi Maria,

how are you and your little man? I have had a poorly baby last week, he had an ear infection. I ended up taking him to the out of hours doctor last Sunday night as he had a temp and was just not his usual self, he was so pale and was off his food. He got given more antibiotics, which seemed to have worked (its the last day of them today), but we shall see how he goes after he has stopped taking them as antibiotics work brilliantly whilst he is taking them and he then takes a step back once he stops taking them.

Ohhh I have seen in your sig that you are saving for another baby, how exciting When are you going to start trying? We want to start trying again after we get married in April, but I should be starting on a new department at work around March, so I want to leave it till I have settled in. But it took us 9 months to fall pregnant with current LO. So I don't know when would be best to start trying, as I don't want too much of a big age gap this time. How are you saving? Are you putting a bit by each month? I would like to start saving, as we will need to get a few bits for a new LO and I would love to be able to save to have the 12 months off again and still live comfortably.

LO has just started to toddle around now, better late than never, lol. I git him his first pair of walking shoes on Sat, he looks so cute walking around in them.

How are you getting on with your grocery budget? I am really trying, but am still spending too much. We need to seriously cut down over these next few months though as we have so much that needs to be paid out

xxx

wendz86

Shame the museum was closed,maybe you can take him another day?

The curtains do sound like a bargain but oops to not having enough money for bread.

mariagti

oliviarosejackson wrote: »

Hi Maria,

how are you and your little man? I have had a poorly baby last week, he had an ear infection. I ended up taking him to the out of hours doctor last Sunday night as he had a temp and was just not his usual self, he was so pale and was off his food. He got given more antibiotics, which seemed to have worked (its the last day of them today), but we shall see how he goes after he has stopped taking them as antibiotics work brilliantly whilst he is taking them and he then takes a step back once he stops taking them.

Ohhh I have seen in your sig that you are saving for another baby, how exciting When are you going to start trying? We want to start trying again after we get married in April, but I should be starting on a new department at work around March, so I want to leave it till I have settled in. But it took us 9 months to fall pregnant with current LO. So I don't know when would be best to start trying, as I don't want too much of a big age gap this time. How are you saving? Are you putting a bit by each month? I would like to start saving, as we will need to get a few bits for a new LO and I would love to be able to save to have the 12 months off again and still live comfortably.

LO has just started to toddle around now, better late than never, lol. I git him his first pair of walking shoes on Sat, he looks so cute walking around in them.

How are you getting on with your grocery budget? I am really trying, but am still spending too much. We need to seriously cut down over these next few months though as we have so much that needs to be paid out

xxx

I hope your son is better now hun poor little man. Yay, thats his started too walk..dont they look so cute carefully stepping around. Aww what size feet is he? Owen is in a 5 already!! but then his dad does have size 11's so im not surprised lol.

We are hoping we will be ready to try around late September/October time as would really love a spring/summer baby this time. Owen was a winter baby and it wasnt much fun being stuck in for 2 months when we had all that snow 2010 and he was a newborn...all i wanted to do was walk him about in pram and show him off and i couldnt! booo
Im not really sure how im going to start saving, im waiting for Feb a fresh month to sort out how much will go in savings etc etc.
Ah we were really lucky with both pregnancies i fell the first month of trying but we did use ovulation sticks to know when i was fertile. I too would deffo want the 12 months off again so need a good some of money behind us for that. We have everything stored of owens up in the loft and all is unisex stuff apart from clothes. BUt i know if we were to have a girl next my MIL would go crazy with clothes! lol.

Grocery budget is going really good, im using lots up from the freezer and meal planning which really helps.
x

mariagti

wendz86 wrote: »

Shame the museum was closed,maybe you can take him another day?

The curtains do sound like a bargain but oops to not having enough money for bread.

Yep i will deffo be taking him on a day its open! lol, probably next week as OH has the week off.

I havent been about much as ive been so busy. Ive had a stressful week, wont bore you with details but thought my car needed a steering rack to the cost of about £500 but now ive been told its probably something small and will cost around £80...fingers crossed! Its goes in monday so nto long till i find out whats up with it. Its still safe and driveable though thank god.

My car insurance renewal came and its only £298 which i think is a great price for the car i have. But im still going to compare see if theres any cheaper prices out there. (when i have time that is)

Ive got my pregnant friend coming round this afternoon, so ive been buy cleaning this morning lol

wendz86

I must say having a spring baby is lovely.I went on walks nearly everyday when poppy was tiny.

Sounds very stressful, cars are so expensive. Fingers crossed it is only the cheaper thing. Car insurance sounds good though! Ours was nearly 900 eek.

Have a lovely afternoon.

oliviarosejackson

Hey Maria,

My little man is a lot better at the moment, really hoping it stays that way too. He does look so cute, he is still waddling around, lol. He was measuring a 4 on sat and he was measuring as a 4 in Oct when he had his first pair of cruising shoes. The man in the shop tried him on a 4.5 and they fitted perfectly.

A spring/summer baby is lovely, my DD is a july baby and as well as the weather being nice its also good with regards to their birthdays, parties and presents. DD needs new toys when her BD comes around, as she has played with her christmas toys enough, whereas DS is a winter baby (Oct) and by the time christmas came, he was still trying to play with all of his birthday toys. I am a January baby too and it's horrible having everything in one go. I get nothing to look forward to later on in the year.

We have savings put aside at the mo, but they are all for home improvements. So once we do get pregnant I am going to start saving for baby then. As with my mat pay I get virtually full pay for 6 months and then down to stat pay for 9 months. I am also hoping to up my wages when I move departments, as I will be working shifts so will get a little bit extra I am also due a payrise as of next month too.

We still have all of LO baby items in the loft, a few I have gotten rid of and there are some things that I would want new too. I am really hoping for a girl, but it would be more sensible to have a boy, as we only live in a 3 bedroom house and we can't afford anything bigger. So DS and baby will have to share a room.

You were lucky with falling pregnant, I really hope it happens like that for us next time. I am starting to monitor my monthly cycle as of this month and we are hoping to try April/May time and I shall get some ovulation sticks once we start. I want to be prepared for this baby in all ways, lol.

Hope you have had a lovely week. I am so glad that the weekend is here xxx

mariagti

£900 for insurance Wendy!! Ekkk!!

Ahh yes your so right Olivia about the whole present thing having birthday presents then xmas presents and then nothing all year round. I said to OH when Owen was one it will be hard as he gets older on his birthdays as you cant have bbq's or parties outside. Its cold to go out for the day to the zoo etc.
Thats fab you get good maternity pay from your company. As im on only 15 hours now a week i wouldnt qualify for SMP next pregnancy. But should qualify for Maternity pay from the government.

I had a good grocery shop yesterday spending £39...£4 over budget but i did buy a shower curtain costing £2.50. I bought it to put over the carpet underneath the highchair as ive started letting Owen hold the spoon now and our carpet is cream!! :rotfl:

Owen has been a whinge bag since yesterday afternoon, im pretty sure its due to a back molar tooth thats coming through. I felt it a couple of nights ago..very random as his only got 6 at the front so far and now a random molar at the back.

OH phoned Homebase about the furniture as they didnt call on the 22nd when they said they would about delivery. And they said he will get a call on the 5th of feb now about delivery. Its a joke! I want to cancel as ive found much nicer and better quality dinning sets on Very but he says wait until the 5th and if they dont call again we will cancel. hopefully we can actually cancel though? I googled Homebase and it looks like many people have had problems with them.
Thing is OH's mate is buying our old set and with have already put him off 2 weeks and i dont think he will wait any longer. so we either loose our buyer or have no table or chairs for god knows how long!

I done great on my Ebay sales £95 in total. All the stuff i sold i had won or was given like the m&s vouchers from sky. So it was all profit

Oh and i was able to order another £10 voucher from Shopandscan as my food diary points went in. So i chose Outfit voucher as i badly need a new top.

wendz86

Well done on the grocery shop, you are doing good with the budget.

Hope Owen's tooth isn't causing him too much trouble.

Don't blame you for being really annoyed about the furniture, sounds like a nightmare. Would be very off if they didn't offer a cancellation after messing you around so much.

Ebay sales sound great, even better it was things you got for free.

mariagti

Evening,

Sorry i disappeared for the week! Owen has 3 teeth coming through, 2 of those are back ones and in the past two days his had really bad nappy rash flare up and also a rash on his cheeks because of the teething. Its also been maniac at work, so glad ive got 4 days off work now phew!

A replacement washing machine seal was sent Monday and we recieved it Tuesday! At last! hopefully we can try and fit it witht he help from a Youtube video at the weekend. Fingers crossed anyway, ite been about 3 months since we have had a working washing machine now!

Now its Febuary i can put the grocery spends in my sig to keep track of what im spending. Last month i managed the £35 a week budget well so fingers crossed for this month.

Ive ordered another £10 voucher from shopandscan after i was awarded for another week of food diary. So i will add that to my siggy too.

Ive been sent an Olay face cream to review along with tones of £3 off coupons and mini samples of Olay from savvy circle:D:D

I hope everyone and babies are well xx