HappyCamel's MFW while SAHM journey

happycamel_2

Yay, I've just paid £18k off the mortgage so we're all set to move to HSBC in March and save £400 a month in interest!

This means the end of OPing for now because we've hit 40% LTV and we're on 1.99% for 2 years.

It's not the end of the diary though. I have a number of goals I need to keep track of:
1) live within DH's basic salary
2) split his bonus and money I earn between
1) a savings account that we'll OP with after the fix ends
2) a savings account to pay for private school

My dd is eing diagnosed with Asperger's and I think we need to find the money for her to have small class sizes and better tuition. I'll need £10k a year just for nursery and she'll start April 2014.

3) use my remaining mat pay as capital for my business, I need to pay for CIOT tuition and exam entry, advertising, insurance and I'm sure there will be more

4) study for and pass my tax exams, starting with two in November, come up with a logo, build a website...oh and look after two small children!

happycamel_2

The good news, we've remortgaged to HSBC. It went through on Monday. We now owe £232,158 and it's fixed at 1.99% for 2 years.

The bad news, we've all been really I'll lately, I'm hoping we'll get over it soon but we've all had horrific chest infections. Dd has had mumps. I currently have a chest infection, a pelvic infection and a high temperature. We're supposed to fly to Florida on Saturday but I'm not sure we'll make it.

I wanted to start focussing on saving for a big overpayment at the end of two years but dd is showing increasing signs of speech delay and Asperger's. Simultaneously our local primary school has been put in special measures (and since judged to be failing to improve). This is largely because we've had a huge influx of Nepali and Eastern Europeans to a neighbouring housing estate and they aren't speaking English well enough. The school is simply failing to cope (as are local GP, health visiting services etc). It's really sad because these families came over for a better life but are finding they can't get the support they were expecting and the native English speakers with special educational needs aren't getting any help because in the grand scheme of things they're doing better than the kids that only speak English in school and can't understand most of what they're being told. Consequently the head and 5 other teaching staff have resigned and according to my friend, who is a supply teacher, the only applicants they are getting are from newly qualified teachers who are just desperate for a job.

We've therefore decided we need to put dd in private school and prioritise that over the mortgage. As we have two kids, and I won't treat them differently, we have to find the money for both. This is going to be really tough but I can't see another option right now.

Needhelpsaving

Hi,

Sorry to hear that you have all been unwell - hope you are all feeling better soon and that you make it to Florida.

happycamel_2

Well it's been a roller coaster few months. I wound up needing emergency surgery and we had to cancel our holiday. Then we rebooked it for early May only for my son to be called for surgery the day before we were due to fly at the Evelina children's hosipital. I begged and we managed to move the surgery forward and go on holiday, taking my parents with us so we had extra support.

I was very low for a while, my surgery and the circumstances around it were difficult. My son's problems are scary enough (skull and neck deformity) but we've also had my 2 two year old daughter assessed for speech delay and apperantly her speech is severely delayed and we've also been referred to a paediatric behaviour specialist as she seems to be autistic (like her father but possible more severely).

I've now started her at nursery 3 half days a week to socialise her better and to give me some time with my son and to get housework and jobs done. She's settled well but it's £100 a week, which is a lot to find when I'm on maternity leave. I'm not going back to work either, because my kids have too many problems to be in nursery full time and I can't do my job part time.

However, I need to save for school fees as they'll go to the private school where dd goes to nursery. This is a different school to the one I originally planned but it can cater for them better. It's £9k a year, which scares the hell out of me. I want to start my accountancy practice but I'm worried I'm able to offer a reliable enough service and I don't have child free time to study for my tax exams.

I've got an idea for a manufacturing business but I know nothing about creating products out of plastic so I need to do a lot of research. That's my big obsession at the moment. I still want to OP this mortgage when it comes off fix but that's dependent on us being on course with the fees. So I continue with the MFW way of life but with a different goal in mind.

We've got to rebuild our savings first. They're taking some big hits, car tax, service, tyres etc £2k, repainting house £1.2k, new window in study ~£1k, pressure cap for son (not available on NHS) ~£2k, nursery fees.

So I'll try to keep this better up to date now I'm less depressed but I'm afraid the tracker in my signature won't be moving much.

Needhelpsaving

Welcome back Happycamel - sorry to hear you/your family have been unwell. Hopefully things will get better in coming weeks/months x

happycamel_2

Thanks NeedsHelpSaving, yes, we're getting there now. I really hope that things are just going to get better and better from here. I'm determined to do my best to make that happen.

snappybadger

Sorry to hear about yours and your family's health issues happy camel - I hope you're able to raise the funds you need to get them the support they need.

I hope you don't mind but I'm going to PM you a question about accountancy!