Waiting for life to begin....

stiltoncheese

I have been a member here for quite a few years, but tend to lurk more than I post. Figured it is time for me to start a diary as I always do better when I have a plan in place and a list to work from!

I feel like I am waiing for life to begin at the moment after a few years of not much happening. I'm 32, getting married in 12 weeks time (have saved up for this already and we're only doing something small) and expecting my first baby in just over 3 months time (again, all things now bought and paid for in cash saved up). Maternity package is ok, but not amazing so we need to tighten the belt a bit and get on top of things like food spends and other wasted cash. Although I should be debt free in the next 6 months or so, I do want to have a better handle on our finances, so we can afford to do more things as a family (saved up for beforehand naturally!).

I have a loan to pay off (approx 20 payments to go), plus around £900 on my credit card (historical amount) which I am hoping to pay off before maternity leave starts in November. I am also due to come into a small amount of inheritance in the next 3 or 4 months which should just clear my loan, so will hopefully be totally debt free early next year.

I will post up an SOA eventually. We are moving into Forces married accommodation in 7 weeks so all rent and bills will change again, so I will hold off posting it until I know what things will actually cost us. Thankfully, it means our rent, council tax and water combined will be half of what our rent alone is now, so we should be able to shave approx £500 off our bills (although this will cover the shortfall in wages due to maternity leave initially so won't notice the difference until I am back at work full time).

Looking forward to getting to know a few people, clearing my debt and getting some savings behind us, as well as enjoying being a wife and mum for the first time.

List for today
1. Clean oven
2. Clean shower (tiles need doing)
3. Cook planned meal from menu plan
4. Check online banking
5. Transfer money around my accounts (from cheque paid in yesterday).
6. Cancel Council Tax from moving date (will come out of hubby's wages directly with water and rent and is subsidised by RAF).
7. LSD (need to get some milk later and that's it).

stiltoncheese

List for today
1. Clean oven
[STRIKE]2. Clean shower (tiles need doing)
3. Cook planned meal from menu plan
4. Check online banking
5. Transfer money around my accounts (from cheque paid in yesterday).
6. Cancel Council Tax from moving date (will come out of hubby's wages directly with water and rent and is subsidised by RAF).
7. LSD (need to get some milk later and that's it).[/STRIKE]

Didn't get around to cleaning the oven as ended up doing a full mid-week clean and tidy up instead, so will tackle the oven on the weekend now.

Managed to check my credit score online out of curiosity using noddle and was surprised to see it only scored 3/5. I only have 3 current credit arrangements on there....loan, credit card and mobile phone account and they are all paid on time each month with no defaulted payments. Limits aren't crazy either as cc limit is only £1400 plus the loan of £3300 on top. Ah well, not like I'm planning on taking any credit on, but thought it would be higher.

Also thinking that when I start maternity leave in 10 weeks, I am going to start putting all my small loose change into a sealed pot and see how much I can raise before going back to work 9 months later. Don't do it now as any spare change goes into my car to pay the daily toll bridge fee for work (currently 5p each way).

Feels like it's going to be a long month now untill payday when I can make another payment and see the totals coming down.

kaya

" Life is something that happens while you're busy planning other things" John Lennon.

stiltoncheese

One other thing I forgot to mention. I have persuaded OH that cloth nappies and cloth wipes are the way forward so have a lovely new stash waiting for when this little chap arrives. He thought I was totally nuts when I first suggested it but now he's seen them and realised they are very easy to use, he is now fully on board and has even been telling all his mates about it. Needless to say they think we are nuts too!

Using cloth nappies should save us roughly £500-£600 per child though and the wipes should also save roughly £200 per child too, so it's a win-win money-wise.

Haha. thanks for the quote Kaya, it's very true. I kind of meant that as I am getting married and having a baby I'm waiting for my new life to begin after just spending a few years muddling along having fun and working lots. Feels like I have finally become a grown up now at the grand old age of 32 and feeling impatient to finally get there, move into our new home and become mummy and wifey

beanielou

Happy shiney new diary

stiltoncheese

Well it's a new morning and another list of things to do today. I am always so much more motivated to do things with a tangible list and some sort of action plan in place. I think I like being accountable to something, even if it is just a list on a scrap of paper.

Managed to make yesterday a NSD in the end as OH came home from work with the milk we needed so didn't need to pop to the shop afterall. Probably just as well as I am bound to have tried to slip something else into the basket.

The plan for today is:

1. Clean oven (may leave this to weekend yet, depending on time)
2. Check online banking
3. Update spreadsheets
4. LSD - realised we didn't get any chicken on the food delivery so will need to buy some as some of the menu plan meals need chicken. Hoping for no more than £10 in the butchers which should see us through the rest of the month and will be coming out of the shopping budget.
5. Check local facebook selling sites for any last minute baby bits we need (have bought/been given most things already, but need silly ad-hoc bits now like sheets).
6. Cook from menu plan. OH's night to cook, so hoping he will do something with the chicken. I tend to plan for a 2 week period but are not religious so can switch meals around depending on what we fancy/weather/plans that night etc.
7. Read some more diaries/challenges on here to see if I can get some more inspiration for when maternity leave starts.
8. Make a list of things to do for the house move....bills to change, who to notify etc.
9. Make a list of people to notify when I am married to change my name....bank, driving licence etc
10.Work from home to save on petrol costs

I think that will do for now. I am working from home today so will fit these bits in throughout the day when I take a 5 minute break/lunchbreak.

stiltoncheese

Thanks for the welcome too Beanie and Kaya. One thing I have always loved about MSE is how supportive it is here (usually lol, occasional troll excepted!).

Looking forward to getting in amongst some of the challenges on here once I've had time to read through some and get my head around them all.

stiltoncheese

Progress so far today

1. Clean oven (may leave this to weekend yet, depending on time)
[STRIKE]2. Check online banking
3. Update spreadsheets[/STRIKE]
4. LSD - realised we didn't get any chicken on the food delivery so will need to buy some as some of the menu plan meals need chicken. Hoping for no more than £10 in the butchers which should see us through the rest of the month and will be coming out of the shopping budget.
[STRIKE]5. Check local facebook selling sites for any last minute baby bits we need (have bought/been given most things already, but need silly ad-hoc bits now like sheets).[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]6. Cook from menu plan. OH's night to cook, so hoping he will do something with the chicken. I tend to plan for a 2 week period but are not religious so can switch meals around depending on what we fancy/weather/plans that night etc.[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]7. Read some more diaries/challenges on here to see if I can get some more inspiration for when maternity leave starts.
[STRIKE]8. Make a list of things to do for the house move....bills to change, who to notify etc.
9. Make a list of people to notify when I am married to change my name....bank, driving licence etc[/STRIKE]
10.Work from home to save on petrol costs[/STRIKE]

Ended up being another NSD as didn't bother getting the chicken. OH cooked jacket potatoes for tea so will grab chicken tomorrow when I am back in the office. Means I can walk into town at lunchtime and won't have made an extra trip as would have been going to the office tomorrow anyway. Will need some bread too now though, but that is out of food budget so accounted for.

Didn't clean the oven either, as lost motivation after yesterday's cleaning efforts, so will attempt that this weekend when I have more free time to do it properly.

Time feels like it is going so slowly at the moment, waiting for so many things to happen.......wedding, house move, baby, paying off credit card. Keep ticking off a day at a time but it's really dragging!

stiltoncheese

Almost the end of the week

Plan for today is....

• [STRIKE]Buy chicken, bread, milk, onions and b'day card for BIL[/STRIKE]
• Sort paperwork out tonight and file away in correspondence file. Bin old stuff no longer needed/12 months+ old
• [STRIKE]Quick dinner (not on menu plan, but from storecupboard). OH is out tonight for a work do, so planning on something quick and easy like omelette[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Check online banking/update spreadsheet etc[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Set up a written spending diary to track any cash spends (using up old notebook
  I already have)[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE] Display car tax disc (arrived a couple of days ago and keep forgetting to
  take it out of handbag and put in car!)[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Defrost h/m soup from freezer for work lunch tomorrow[/STRIKE]
• Make some sort of sealed pot for loose change. Decided to put the £4.00 odd I need for the daily toll-bridge fees from now until my maternity leave starts into my car already, so then any additional loose change can go straight into the pot instead
• [STRIKE]Lunch brought in from home[/STRIKE]

Well that's the plan so far. Think I may find some things to add but it's a start for now.

I currently have about £195 in my account left over once the last few bills, petrol spends and food spends come out (these are already accounted for) and 3 weeks left until payday. Was thinking of allowing myself personal spends of £50 per week maximum for the next 3 weeks and then the day before payday, I can transfer the remaining £44 to my credit card. On top of that, I am going to try and actually only spend £20-£25 per week instead maximum, which might mean an additional £75-£90 to the cc on top of the £44. Reluctant to do it right now in case something pops up as I haven't used the cc in over a year so don't want any more purchases on there now. Have already paid £167 off the cc this month (minimum payment was only £12.71) so anything on top of that is a bonus.

Having the spending diary is really helping to focus things as often I nip to the shop to pick up bread and [STRIKE]waste[/STRIKE] spend £10-£15 on bits we don't really need but just fancy. The meal planner is also helping as I can use up stuff I need, throw nothing away and not have tonns of extra stock in the cupboards that never gets used up. Thankfully OH trusts me to manage all the shopping/meal planning (with some input from him) so I can control it better. He has a bad habit of throwing extra snack stuff in so I try and do it all online for damage limitation!

Chrysalis1976

I've just started doing a spending diary too, I don't want to add to my lists so definitely making me think about what I need to buy and what is unnecessary.

Good luck with all your debt plans, your wedding and the arrival of your little one.

C x

stiltoncheese

Thanks Chrysalis.

Well, managed to buy everything off of my list apart from milk, so will need to see if I can pick that up from the local co-op when I get home. Dinner tonight will now be cauliflower cheese. OH hates this so I can enjoy whilst he is out .

Managed to pick up 2kg chicken breast from the butchers for £12.50 which works out at £6.25 per kg compared to tesco at £11.43 per kg. I find tesco seems to have so much more water in it too, so butchers chicken goes much further. Will last us for the whole month and probably into next month too as I don't cook with chicken breast that often now. Pretty much just need bread, milk and veg top-ups for the rest of the month now as freezer and cupboards were stocked up on payday. Have approx £50 left in the food budget so hoping to eke that out. OH does have 2 weeks off with SD from Monday though, so I may run out of things quicker than usual. We'll see how it goes!