A stay at home mummy who wants to be a mfw - Yes I can and Yes I will!

I_want_a_baby

Hi my name is Stacey,

Bit of background for you:

I am 25 and have two kids, a son aged 2 and a half and a daughter aged 5 months.

When I met my husband he was deeply in debt (to the tune of £40k :mad:) with nothing to show for it. He was then missold and IVA - double :mad::mad:. During the 9 years we have been together we have moved in together, paid the IVA off early, bought a decent family car outright, got married, honeymooned in the maldives, changed (rented) home twice and had two kids.

My career as a accounts assistant and then accounts manager along with being AAT qualified has made me more than a little budget/spreadsheet mad!!

We decided before having kids that I would be SAHM if at all possible. Fortunately due to some rather strict budgeting we are able to do this on an 'average' income.

However we are both in a place now where by we feel a need to own our own home. There are wheels in motion with regards to this and all fingers crossed it is anticipated that this might happen in the next 2 years.

So currently I am watching the pennies and trying to ensure we have the largest deposit saved up between then and now.

It is probably worth noting that in our budget we can only afford to save £20 into an emergency account and £15 in a house savings account per month. I try to aim much higher by spending under budget in certain areas. We do have a small emergency savings pot and a modest house savings pot mainly saved while I was still working. Although both accounts are at about 20% of what we would like them to be (we can dream!).

So that is us and our rather broad aim, weirdly I cannot wait to have a mortgage statement to I can actually crunch numbers but for now I will just satisfy myself that every £1 saved is a £1 capital earned!

Stacey

RunbeforeIcanwalk

WOW Go for it. I will cross everything for you. How long do you think it will take to save for your deposit?

I_want_a_baby

Ok todays update:

Done -
Read frugalfrogs mfw thread - more than a bit inspired!!
Registered with superpoints to increase my earnings from 0.00 to 'something'.
Came to a mutual 'deal' with my cousin to take all her daughters clothes off her hands - sizes 3-6 months up to 2-3 years - OK lots of bags for the attic but also virtually all the clothes needed for my daughter for approximately £70!
Leftovers for dinner.
MealPlan/Stockcupboard challenge this month - very ambitious aim is to save £80 from food budget (only spend £100) and put this to house savings.
Somehow managed to resist the cath kidston sale



To Do - (Marked BOLD when complete as cant see how to do strikethrough!)
Activate Beef Eater Loyalty Card
Activate Holland & Barrett Loyalty Card (need to find it)
Order 40 free prints from snapfish via SP to earn 200SP (havent ordered any photos of my daughter yet! eek!) - already registerd so can't use will find another free print offer
Activate Valued Opinions Registration
Activate Ipsos Registration
Download 02 priority moments app
Figure out how to print vouchers from beforeishop
List all subscribed to survey sites, cashback sites & loyalty cards & their balance.
Fun free activity... make a cress box - found three happy meal 'toys' from our family meal out (yes I made my husband have a happy meal :rotfl:), they are actually 3 x rabbit cress boxes complete with seeds...free cress!!

Think that's enough for now.

Stacey x

I_want_a_baby

Hi runbefore!

well our deposit is currently £20k but the figure has only rose by approx £40pm in the last 2 and a half years...kids hey!

if we bought an existing property we would 'like' a £50k deposit as would be moving to a village (where family live). This obviously would not happen in the next 2 years.
there is a miniscule chance to build however so would need a deposit in the region of £25k if that was the case.

Either way I have decided although I do not want to 'conventionally work' I would like to earn as much as possible either income through cashback/survey sites or by using loyalty cards/offers/vouchers etc and putting the cash alternative to savings.

I feel if I value the penny instead of the pound, despite being a stay at home mum I can really make a difference.

Stacey

asparagus1968

lovely thread,will watch out for you.
good luck

I_want_a_baby

Summary of Cards/Sites - I will update the missing details when I can & aim to post an update on each one monthly

Cashback (Tracked/Due/Received)
Quidco
TopCashBack

Points/Survey Sites -
Superpoints - 109SP
Swagbucks - 46SB
Dooyoo - to set up
Opinion Research Panel - £6.50
Netmums i-view - £1.20
WH Smith surveys - £0.72
Ipsos - Awaiting first survey
Valued Opiniuns - £0.50

Loyalty Cards -
Sainsburys Nectar -
Tesco Clubcard -
Tesco vouchers -
Boots Advantage -
Beefeater - 500points (£5 off or free wine/startersx2/dessertsx2)
Holland & Barrett -
Costa Coffee - 190points

Stacey

TwinnyD

Just dropping by to wish you lots of luck with your journey

DawnW

Good luck with your journey - but don't discount the possibility of starting your own business. My OH's accountant is a SAHM who works from home - and she is brilliant. She works for a lot of self employed people / small businesses locally

linz

You sound very motivated, good luck with your savings.

I would also highly recommend signing up to Swagbucks. It's similar to Superpoints but I find the points mount up quicker. There's a good thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3883703

Let me know if you would like a referral link

Onepol is a survey site also worth joining if you are able to access it regularly. You can't cash out til £40 but there are lots of short surveys most days.

All the best.

I_want_a_baby

Asparagus & twinny - thanks for your comments x

Dawn - It is something I have considered but I am an extremely career focused person and its something that I can't do half hearted, if I started a business I would want to plough lots of hours into it and focus on it a lot and I know I would end up feeling unsatisfied both with my business and my parenting. (I did work part time briefly after I had my son and I ended up being very stressed and upset as I felt I wasn't doing a good enough job at either). Also my dad had severe MS and my family needs a lot of support and with a potential house move/build in the future I just don't think now is the right time. Although you are completely right I could earn in a few hours bookkeeping what it would take me a few weeks to earn by doing surveys.

Linz I have just this minute registered for onepoll after reading the MSE article. But please PM me the link to swagbucks and I'll give that a bash too! Any particular tips on what to do to make the best use of time?

Anyone know how to get on pinecone??

Stacey

I_want_a_baby

Todays summary -

Done -
So far today has been a NSD
Completed one valued opinions survey £1
Earned some swagbucks & superpoints - will update total tonight.
Lunch & Tea will be from meal plan


To Do -
Finish last to do list
Look at comping for cash board
Try and get at least 100SP & 100SB today
Try and earn at least 1 x 'free money' on a cashback site.

If anyone reading would like to join swagbucks or superpoints, here are the links -

Swagbucks
Superpoints

All looking good!! :-)

Will update this post later x