Saving £100k for mortgage, living a simple life

earthgirl

We are on holiday at mil for about a week and all in the same room so I have been kicked out of bed very early!

I have had written confirmation that as of Saturday I returned to work full time yippee! I have also got written conf that I am oing down to 3days in sept. oddly (?) I went in to collect my timetable and its not the same days that my head said, but the 3days on my timetable suit me better. However my timetable is full of lessons I don't know how to teach, so it will be a challenge, but I am up for giving it a go. Another way to try and get rid of me? We will see. I have changed my tune a little and now feel that working 3 days as a teacher will benefit us all in the long run, if I can manage it correctly so it doesn't take over. Have spent £3.25 on a book which has lots of ideas for reducing the workload.

Have paid childminder and even with ds1 in paid nursery on a morning my bill for sept was £615. Ouch!!

We have had two offers for our house from a buyer and now feel if she upped it to £220,000 we would accept. Then every penny would really count towards our new place.

I have had a lovely time with the boys going to the beach etc in all the sunshine. Now we are on holiday the weather has broken, so need to organise some rainy day activities on the cheap.

Beckyy

Enjoy your holiday!

CathT

Good to hear work issues are sorted. Hope you get an improved offer on your house too. Have you found somewhere else you like?

Have a fab holiday too.

earthgirl

Not yet but the buyer has upped her offer to £220,000 so we are going to accept tomorrow. The estate agents have called to say that the original house that we wanted to buy has been put back on the market again so who knows we might be able to go for it again.

I have changed ds1 child care in September to send him to the local day nursery for the 3 days I am at work. This will be simpler than the sessional care we were going to send him to and will be more manageable and a lot cheaper. I don't feel that he will get as much help with his learning there so I will have to do more to help him at home.

I have been doing a little research and I think we should be able to apply fr working tax credits towards childcare. I need to get more information about what my income and hours will be in September.

earthgirl

Well we had a lovely holiday this year, not taken over by inlaws at all, in fact it was lovley to see oh side of the family, they were all so great with ds1 in particular. Holiday spends were relatively cheap. Spent £100 in Mr A before we left (wow!) but as we were going to self catering for the second week I had to buy sauces, oil, tin foil etc, so all of that has come back with us.

I used an amazon voucher to pay for a lovely fresh flower card for mil as we stayed there for a week before we went to our lodge.

DS birthday party went well - he loved it! We had 11 children to the house, which with the adults was a bit of a squash. I played party games and just got 3 prizes from the 99p shop. I also spent about £10 on extras, such as balloons and paper plates etc and stuff for party bags. I did make our own party bags though. To make it better/save money next year I would:

Not buy favours for the party bags - just collect little things up throughout the year. Not put a balloon in the part bag (don't know why I did this) just give everyone one from the party that I had already blown up. Do more games. Serve clear drinks and food like lemonade and not chocolate muffins. Get white napkins as someone rubbed blue ink into my carpet (it came out).

I also spent £25 on a wonderful cake for ds1, which was a bit extravagant, but there is no way I could make one the day after our holiday, but I will try next year, or get a cheaper pre made supermarket cake, as although it was wonderful it was cut up so quickly. and £25 for loads of birthday presents off ebay, which I gave some to mil to give to him, so that I could get the cash to buy him a few clothing items he needed.

I am now on the big summer visit to my mums, followed in a few weeks to my dads. At my mums I have had my hair done by mum, some trousers taken up and collected the next car seat up and a bike with stabalisers for ds1 from my cousin.

I have planned a trip to my dads, up with oh when he has a delivery in the area, and back on the train a few days later with a ticket for £9, so that will be a cheap break.

Still not decided re houses and moving at the moment, and want to focus on the little things and enjoying the summer with my boys before I return to work in september (only for 3 days a week, so not feeling so bad)

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Sounds like a lovely break and I am really impressed with your relentless ms focus! I hope that you really enjoy the rest of the holidays. Going back for three days a week sounds perfect, you still have the bulk of the week at home but will retain a foothold in the world of work and get paid too!

All the best,

Squirrel

nat21luv

Hi Earthgirl!

Love your thread, I'm currently saving for a deposit and I find your thread very inspiring

I'm trying to replace everyday things with more sustainable items and I've seen soap nuts pop up a few times, can I ask, where can one purchase these from? Thank you in advance!

Keep up the good work, you really are inspiring

earthgirl

I think I just searched for soap nuts online, but I think you can get them from amazon and ebay too. Good luck with your deposit saving!

earthgirl

Can't sleep grrrr! Its to do with the lack of support from dh regarding the little ones sleep. DH is away for 2 nights so I might have a go at controlled crying with ds2. I hate thinking of things as problems, so here are my opportunities:

1. get ds1 to go off to sleepon his own (star chart?)
2. get ds2 used to going off to sleep on his own
3. get ds2 used to sleeping all night in his own bed
4. get ds2 to sleep all night through (try to get him to eat more solids during the day)

Really going to work on this during the remainder of the holidays.

Courgette

Doing brilliantly as always, Earthy! Holidays sound lovely too. 3 days a week at work was the perfect balance I found because you're at work for over half the week so it's easier to keep in the loop and you're at home for more than half the week too! I did 2 days last year and although financially the difference wasn't massively different from 3 days due to no longer earning enough for student loan repayment and a small pay scale increase I found it very tough to keep up with things and found it hard to assert authority when I wasn't really around to run detentions.

Good luck with the sleeping. People have different approaches obviously but for me poor sleepers are an absolute no-no. I am very giving and patient during the day but I'm off duty unless they're ill between 8pm and 7am. Controlled crying isn't everyone's cup of tea but for me it really works