Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

greent

I liked lycra vest tops - I just pulled it down - worn with a shirt/ cardigan over if necessary.

museumworker

I have some Primarni vests i bought, but my stomach looks so awful and I only have leggings to go with them that I can't bring myself to wear them. Plus I am SOOO hot most of the time, the idea of layering 2 tops makes me feel faint! Am sure come autumn that tactic will work. Perhaps if I got a skirt that covered up my tummy I could wear the vests with that? Although you'd see my bra straps (which I don't like showing), and I'd have to keep my legs fuzz free. Goodness me, there is so much to think about!

mini-mw still doing well - I managed to get 5 hours sleep last night (broken!) compared to about 2 1/2 the night before :j. I did however have half an hour episode of double vision yesterday, so am going to try and rest up today. DD has a cold so is feeling awful, coughing and sneezing everywhere, and being generally quite rude. Am hoping it is just feeling under the weather, although any tips on how to manage a large age gap between your children would be much appreciated.

museumworker

Pay day :j - and today I got my extra allowance for looking after the emergency phone for work, that is only paid out twice a year. So double :j:j!

Having topped up the current account, I have £410 spare from my salary that we can put into savings or OP, will talk to OH and agree its final destination. I also only spent £40 on myself last month from pocket money -- so that means I can start saving to buy OH a xmas present from my personal spends/use towards a planned girly holiday next year.

Yesterday did a shop at Mr T, and used various discounts and vouchers to get a £70 shop down to £49- then today took back a dress that didn't fit and got a DTD on a box of chocs (were a gift, honest!). £17 refund = only £32 spent - that included a dress for me, babygros and vests for Baby, nappies, box of chocs, as well as enough food to hopefully stretch everything out til next Thursday. Plus I found a tenner just lying on the floor! Am pleased to have used my Bounty vouchers, and definitely want to look into becoming more voucher savvy.

For those who missed the exciting news in that: I now have 3 outfits to wear .

£10 OP made from tenner found on floor in Mr T .

DD is off to her dad's and we don't have any visitors planned til Sunday, so hoping for a relaxing couple of days with Baby and OH. We only got woken up every 3 hours last night, so a definite improvement.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done, it is hard to get out and about with a new one, so you are doing very well to keep your eye on the financial ball too!

tootallulah

Apologies for being late with my congratulations. But here they are, well done you and much happiness to your extended family. It sounds like you are doing brilliantly well. I hope that you have a lovely summer and enjoy your maternity leave.

museumworker

Thanks Toots, really good to hear from you. Summer seems to be evading us at the minute, but am delighted the baby has arrived and despite the major lack of sleep am really enjoying our first few weeks together. I hope all is well with you, and you are enjoying your summer too.

OH's payday and another OP to report
£1,247.01 OPed, made up of £207.01 standard OP and the rest is expenses/leftovers from OH's salary. :j:j! I LOVE 4 figure OPs!

We also put that £410 into savings, and another £300 scheduled into FD 8% saver. Does anyone know what the interest reverts to on that after a year? We have made 12 payments now, so wondering if it is time to get a better rate elsewhere.

We also had our mortgage statement through yesterday, current balance is £168,137.43, before today's OP.

Peonie

That's an amazing payment and as you are on annual leave.

museumworker

Thanks Peonie, I was quite surprised by the size of it, especially as have been disappointed last few months with smaller than expected OPs.

But thinking about it we have paid for a number of things this year - for the baby, the fridge, furniture, freeview+ box, summer camp for DD - so shows what we can do when there aren't any major purchases to fund. Also, I have paid the last installment of my travelcard this month, saving £107 pm and our childcare costs will go down by approx £160 pm so being on mat leave should hopefully leave us a bit better off!

£70 OP made today, from cashback from new fridge (which we LOVE btw, am really glad we got it).

This morning we went to local NCT sale - got lots of clothes for baby and a couple of outfits for DD for £11.55 - bargain! MIL bought us all tea and homemade cake too .

My nappies are taking a bit longer than expected to dry so will probably need a few extra. Any recommendations on reusable nappies?

Looked into FD and it will revert to 0.5% so need to find new, better savings account, probably a cash ISA to take advantage of tax benefits.

icklehelen

It sounds like you're doing really well and congrats on the amazing OP - wish I could manage sums like that!

Which nappies are you using?
I use a combination of different ones (some through my choice, others I was given 2nd hand but it works for us!)
I use bumgenius btp and aio for daytime as these dry quicker and then use tots bots bamboozles/terries at night as these are more absorbent and now only use one per night! These do take longer to dry (and in this weather it does make me wish I had a tumble drier!) but I have enough extra to keep us going!!

Did you get the free bumgenius aio (pay for p&p) from Babame through Bounty? I ended up getting more of these as they were fab at the beginning (my lo was 5lb 3oz) and I also used muslins with xs wraps!

I think the offer is now extended to a reduced price btp nappy too - even if you decide you don't like it you can always get your money back by selling it on

Also check out all the 2nd hand sites - I got some of mine brand new on there for a bargain price as they were an unwanted present!

Sorry this is so long winded - I'm a cloth nappy geek!! I love them and am so glad I have been able to use them (I had friends laugh in my face when I said I'd be trying them!!)

Hope this helps

ickle

ultrarunner

Very well done for such a large overpayment whilst on maternity leave!