My mortgage free mission!!!!!!

CathT

frugalfrog wrote: »

Just checked on HMRC to see it tax credit calculator was updated yet. i was a bit too optimistic, no change yet. I will have to wait after the bank holiday weekend!

I've checked calculator this morning and thought it was the new one? Possibly not though as it gave me a figure of £195!!

frugalfrog

is that a week!?!?! or a year

CathT

Out of curiosity i put income £31,999 for the year due to threshold change, I assumed the figure was for the year but will re-check!

frugalfrog

Just checked tax credit calc. It does look like the new figures are in there. However there is no option to say that this years income will be £2500 or more less than last year. However putting estimated figures based on what DH is currently earning we should be entitled to around £2800 per year (£233 per month), which is a healthy figure, however, will go down as soon as I start earning something.

Also, we sold my Mini :j only got £4,500 for it as it needs some new tyres & a service, but that in the bank is worth more than it sitting on our drive. Will also cancel the insurance policy I took out in January, so hoping to get back around £300 (depending on fee). Now to fix the problem on DH roadster as selling to his Dad (who has already given us £2K towards it!) so should be another £1000. All to go into my savings pot & will take out bits when we need to pay bills... Going to have to keep well ontop of this financially, have been in constant employement since 15/16 yrs old, never really had to worry about paying bills before:eek:

Back to studying should stop getting distracted. However way ahead of my study plan, gave myself 4 weeks to study this textbook, 1 week later and I'm onto the final chapter Think I may have a break this weekend to enjoy some family time :beer: not had a beer in a VERY long time...

frugalfrog

I've been thinking & I know I'm a little late, but decided on a few New Years Resolutions...

1 - Start reading again! I have been a big reader all my life but since having my little girl, I feel I dont have any time to myself, and if I do its sitting infront of the TV zoned out. I've been reading the same book since Christmas (Murakami's Kafka on the Shore) and just finished last night, I dont remember the last time it took me 4 months to read a book! So I am going to set my target to read all the unread books on my bookself by end of year!!! Thats 11 more books, so 12 books in total for 2012 (nice round number). Starting on Captain Corellis Mandolin tonight.

2 - Already really started this one - Spend no more than £200 on food a month. Done well up until now, hoping to keep it up and maybe even reduce to £150!

3 - Make use of the second hand shops near me! I've recently discovered the wonders of charity shops! I bought some lovely summer clothes all Next/Sainsburys for my little girl for 50/75p. Such a bargain! and a couple of board books for 25p on BOGOF! My only concern is if I wander into the grown ups book section as I have a bit of an addiction for books! and my resolution no1 may be increased!

4 - Cut back on Elec, Gas & water! I changed the heating timer to only come on for 1 hour in morning and 1 in evening & turn on manual when its cold. But only have the temp to 20C at highest.
I've been walking around the house turning off plugs/lights. We are a bit lazy & forgetful & quite often leave things like the laptop charger on without any use. Not using the tumble dryer unless its an emergency. Will be easier now we are coming into summer... (well sort of!)
Having very few baths & only showers! We have a very large bath which must cost a fortune to fill & I was having a bath a night at one point.
I am keeping track of my usage weekly & hopefully will see the figures reduce.

5 - Get my house in order & decorated! When we moved into our house I was 37 weeks pregnant, then developed pre-eclampsia so was in & out of hospital. So I did no unpacking & did little sorting & chucking before we moved. So all the [EMAIL="!!!!"]!!!![/EMAIL] we accumulated in our old house was transferred over here. Want to finally get round to sorting things out. Selling on Ebay anything worth selling :money:& chucking everything else.

6 - Finally GET QUALIFIED!!!! and start working!!!! My next exam booked for next Thursday & I can take the exam in my local town, which is a bonus. No travelling down to London! :rotfl:Feeling quite good about it, all my chapter assignments have been marked & lowest mark was 95% My aim is to finish all these ICB exams by September. Was chatting on another forum (bookkeeping one) looking to see what else I could do after & someone suggested doing the IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants) qualification. Which is more aimed as Self-employed accountants instead of the ACCA (have to work in a practice), which I am looking into once I have completed the ICB.

I am a bit of a planner / list writer & it feels good to set myself targets for this year. :j

frugalfrog

Ok nothing to do with MFW/MSE but I need to rant!

Why is it that mothers seem to think they know more about bringing up your child (their grandchild) than you do! :mad: Grrr - My mum is a bit of a nag & I do love her dearly but some things she says and does gets right on my nerves! She always questions my parenting decisions...

I exclusively BF until 6 months & my Mum said "why dont you try her on a bit of formula, it wont hurt, then you wont have to be attached to her 24/7", the point is I LIKE being attached to my daughter 24/7! ...

"why dont you give her some water" at the point I was physically stopping her feeding my daughter water (at under 6 months when exclusivly BF) - the WHO say that exclusively BF babies do not need any water & should get all their nourishment from BF. Water may fill up their tummy's so they dont get the full nourishment that they would from breast...

at 4 months she said "well you were both on solid foods by 4 months" all current medical recommendations say to leave to 6 months...

after we started baby led weaning "why dont we get some pots of puree to see if she likes it" NOOO! ....

"ohh a bit of sudocrem will clear up that rash" - I have previously told her I was only going to use natural paraben/chemical free plus I hate sudocrem as it is difficult to wash off, plus its not good on my cloth nappies....

I use cloth nappies & love them "why dont I buy you a packet of pampers to use when we go camping at the weekend, it will be much easier" No its no more difficult using cloth vs disposable....

my now 10 month old, she noticed she was doing her "poo face" - "you should get her a potty, your brother was put on the potty from birth", ummm I think she is a little young to start potty training ...

and today, parents are round helping decorate the hall & my little girl refused to go down for a nap due to the noise in the house (my Mum is a little deaf so when she speaks she does tend to shout), "she wont always want an afternoon nap... when shes at home with only you she gets bored as you dont play with her" !!!!! :mad: I am with my little girl all day & she does like to play on her own sometimes, she likes to have her toys around her and she picks which she wants to play with ie looking at, banging together, spinning round etc When my Mum comes round she sits right in her face and "plays" with my daughters toys ie stacking blocks, but doesnt let her play with them herself, My little girl likes to knock over the stacking blocks and grab at them, but my Mum takes them off her and stacks them again, just allowing my daughter to watch ....!!!!GRRRR!!!

Ok probably everyone has similar issues, but it does annoy me :mad:

icklehelen

Your rant has spurred me out of lurkdom!! (I love your thread as I am in a very similar situation - 8.5 month lg, exclusively bf, cloth bum etc)

You aren't on your own I'm sure most mums have been through something similar. For me it's MIL!! I've had the pat on the back for successfully BFing (my lg was 5weeks prem so we struggled at first) but now have sly comments like 'you're taking this too far' and 'you're tying yourself down'!! I just take it on the chin - she's MY daughter!!(not to mention she refuses a bottle even if she's starving)

You should be proud of yourself :A - BFing is not the easy option!! I know for some people it is not possible for all sorts of reasons - I have several friends who are struggling to come to terms with the fact that they can't!

As for BLW - why would you want to bother with purees??? The benefits of BLW far outweigh the puree way - ease, development of speech and language muscles . . . oh and not spending days in the kitchen - you can spend this time with your daughter instead!

You know whats best for your LO and I'm sure at some points your mum has given you some good advice and has helped in many ways (we just seem to forget these esp when they do/say something irritating!)

Hope the rant has made you feel a little better? It certainly made me smile - it's rather nice to hear someone in a similar situation (in all aspects). Makes me feel 'normal'!! :rotfl:

ickle

CathT

I'm an exclusive breastfeeder too (ds is 6.5 months) and i've been advised I need to wean him off - why???? I'm sure your mum means well but she should respect your decisions.

Weronika

frugalfrog wrote: »

:mad: Grrr - My mum is a bit of a nag & I do love her dearly but some things she says and does gets right on my nerves! She always questions my parenting decisions...

According to my mum everything I do is wrong or could have been done better:rotfl:

I'm exclusively BF now and I did it with my first, it's painful and difficult, and I think we should get some kind of reward (I mean monetary) for doing it:D

maybe a tax relief?:rotfl:

frugalfrog

Weronika wrote: »

maybe a tax relief?:rotfl:

Yeah lets petition the govt!!!

Thanks for all your support, I know everyone goes through it. I just have to grin and bear it & carry on doing what I know is right!


Also, just done the mock exam for my second exam (real one Thurs) and got 100%!!!! woohoo!!! After a major panic when I was deducting something which I should have been adding and the figures were not adding up wasting about 30mins! Still finished with an hour to spare! This is the problem with electronic exams, I would never had made that mistake if I was doing it on paper! :rotfl:but anyway really pleased and ready for Thursday! Then onto Level 3