Our first family home

FamilyLife

Thank you PM that makes me feel better!

Some MSE things of late:
-We moved our BT over to the new house and paid the year's line rental upfront. I still can't believe that saves £50! We won't have internet for 2 weeks so am not sure how we'll cope! We also cut the BT on demand service from our package as we use netflix. However, apparently the broadband speeds won't be great and as husband needs to be able to upload high res photos we may have to upgrade to infinity soon

-I applied for an FD current account to take advantage of the £125 cash back. I'll also apply for a regular saver to get the 6% gross interest. If I pay in £300 a month that'll be the money we need to make the kitchen upgrades we want next January. Hopefully.

-I've signed up to the S supermarket baby club to get £5 off their range. Will need to sign up for other baby clubs too.

-I have been tracking baby related spends in the hope of keeping costs down. You hear crazy scary statistics of what baby's first year can cost and I am determined it won't cost us that much! I may put the baby spends on here to keep track of them. Any advice in this area is very much appreciated!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend

FL xx

FamilyLife

I've updated my signature. I wasn't sure how much of the money in my savings account was going to stay in there through the move but I don't think it will go lower than the current total. Fingers crossed! We'll also be due the deposit back on our current rental, £787.50, as well as cash back on the mortgage of £300. This would bring the savings account back up to £2826.50 which I would feel much more comfortable with.

There's been much debate the last few days over what our financial priorities for the year are going to be. The husband and I have come from fairly different financial backgrounds and have had different perspectives on money in our 20s. I think my nesting instinct plays a big part in wanting us to be financially stable and secure as well. Don't get me wrong, husband is good with money and does not waste it (so grateful for this!) but he also doesn't mind using credit etc. We're very lucky in that we both have stable permanent, full-time jobs in the public sector and we don't ever worry about being made unemployed. Therefore, the emergency pot is really incase of something needing done with the house or car, rather than covering the bills or mortgage in event of joblessness.

I've totally ran away with myself. What I was trying the say was that husband would rather replace the carpets than have emergency money, or at least get the carpets on 0% finance rather than wait a year until I'm back at work and we'd be able to save for them. I admit the carpets are ugly!

I think what we're going to do is wait till we're in the house and make a list of all the things we want, price them and prioritise them. It's not a total fixer-upper but it's in need of some love!

Talking of love- The Voice last night? Ahhhh. I don't know which contestant I loved more but my favourite judge will always be Will-I-Am, swoon! Kind of missing Danny though

RunningGirl

Hi FL

For the baby equipment etc I would borrow as much as you can if you are lucky enough to have close friends/family who have recently(ish) had kids. Parents/in laws and other family & friends will all be desperate to buy things so maybe draw up a list and discuss with them? I probably wouldn't go overboard on baby clothes - we got loads as gifts and actually went and exchanged for bigger sizes when I got loads of 0-3.

We bought a cot bed rather than just a cot so it did our wee one for quite a few years plus we borrowed a Moses basket from a friend (bought a new mattress for it which was quite cheap) and glad we did just borrow it as he didn't like it and slept better in his carrycot of the pram then was in the cot before 2 months old!

We got a really good pram and car seat (very lucky as got given all that as a gift) as I did loads of walking. Not sure where you are in Scotland but the Glasgow Pram Centre is fab and cheapest for all the prams we looked at.

Hope all that helps a bit!

RG x

Pearla*Merle

I've totally missed this - who's doing the £125 cashback for FD? Ooh, I guess it's via MSE? (I missed out when they did it last time) *goes off to investigate* Determined to get an account sorted this time, hurrah for an extra £25!

Babies, I think you can definitely make them as expensive as you want - hard not to when there are so many lovely things out there! It might be worth doing some googling, I imagine there are a lot of thrifty blogs out there that will have some handy tips Pinterest.com is also a great place for getting ideas for cheap baby/kids stuff

PS. THANK YOU for the FD tip!

FamilyLife

Hi RG,
Thanks for the reply! We've been very lucky so far as we've been given lots of used things:

Cot (work colleague)
Moses baskets (x2) (My Mum and a friend's mum) - we figure we'll keep one upstairs and one downstairs.
Silver across travel system (my Mum bought from her work's for sale or wanted forum)
0-3 clothes (my sister)
Baby bath (friend's Mum)
Baby swing (work colleague)
Baby bag (Christmas gift from Mum)

We've also been offered a changing table that matches the cot we were given but we're not sure we'd use it. Someone has also offered us a swing crib but we're not sure we'll use that either. We'd have to buy a mattress so we only want to take it if it'll be used.

We've bought:
Stage 1 nappies
Wipes
Towels
Blankets
Muslins
Bedding for Moses basket and cot
Total spend so far: £68
I've also spent money on nursing wear and maternity wear but haven't counted that as I've bought bare minimum and would have bought clothes in this time anyway.

Still to get:
Mattresses
Changing mat

My mum is getting us a monitor (anyone recommend the angelcare sensor?)
I think husband's Mum is getting us a baby wearer
My sister might get us a morck (blanket type thing that can we worn in car seat)

I made an amazon wish list to let people know what we want but I'm not sure who will use it. My MIL tends not to want to know what people want and just takes stabs in the dark (Christmas can be interesting)! We're very lucky that my sister had a baby who will be around 3 months older than ours so we'll get lots of clothes from her for the first few months. She had a girl (so lovely) and we're also expecting a girl so we're very excited they'll be close growing up!

RG- Thanks for the tip about the pram centre. We have the travel system but it's pretty big, we think we may try and get a buggy as soon as baby's old enough to use an umbrella type one. Did you use one?

I hope everyone's had a lovely weekend. We had my sister and bro in law and their LO over for Chinese and to help pack some boxes. My sister's so good at leaving me in charge of her baby as she helps around the place (I'm pretty immobile as I have pelvic and back pain). My husband's best friend also came over, him and my brother in law are taking Tuesday off work to help us move- I feel so lucky to have such generous friends and family. We treated them all to Chinese as a thank-you but at £36 for all 5 of us it doesn't scratch the surface of how thankful we are! We may have to find some thoughtful gifts.

FL xx

greent

Hi familylife. Try things like NCT nearly new sales going forward for LO's things - can get great bargains and it's also a good way of selling your unwanted/ outgrown things, too! You don't have to be a member, either. I'd suggest some form of play mat for baby, too - either with a removable gym or a separate baby gym. The mats are also handy for taking to friends'/ family houses to lie baby on I wouldn't generally go for a swing crib, myself - they're not used that much usually. I found my baby swing invaluable with numbers 3 and 4 - I had it in the kitchen and it was great - they played and slept in there whilst I was pottering around in kitchen What I'd also suggest and which can be used from birth, is a bouncy chair. You don't need an all singing all dancing musical one with lights - just a chair with a play bar across it is more than adequate. Also good to feed them in if they can't sit up and you go the puree weaning route - although I'd highly recommend baby led weaning - cheaper and easier, but you have to have confidence in yourself and your baby x

mouche

Congrats on your first home and the impending arrival! I was in exactly the same situation as you 2 years ago - bought our house 3 months before LO was born. I found a little planning and self control were my best friends.

My tip is use baycrazy to find ebay items that are collection only in your area. I got a really nice baby bouncer, activity centre and learning table for less than £10 each (in excellent condition) when the shop prices were £50+. Collection only stuff doesn't always sell so a real source of bargains I found.

Also, resist all the cute/'essential' things advertisers try to sell you. In my culture, you don't buy anything for the baby before it is born (bare essentials only) and I found that when it came to buying, I didn't need half the stuff I was told is essential. e.g. I used (and still use) an old rucksack as a baby bag.

Good luck! I will subscribe and watch your diary with interest.

FamilyLife

Thank you Greent and Mouche! I have looked at going to an NCT sale and will definitely look out for an activity mat and a bouncy chair!

We picked up the keys earlier today and I'm worrying that there is more to be done now than first realised. The fence has come down since we last visited, the bottom kitchen units are falling apart and the water has been turned off. The bottom of the loo is black, there's no water in it. Also, the house has been empty for 2 and a half years but the shed is filled with carp, including a very dead Christmas tree :eek:

The carpets are covered in dead bugs which is grossing me out! Husband's friend's Mum has generously offered to go round there tonight to help with cleaning.

Husband couldn't get the water on while he was round there earlier so hopefully he'll manage later if he takes a wrench with him then we can get the heating on!

It's all happening!

FL xx

FamilyLife

A little update on the house:

Husband got the water turned on last night. Once the water tank had filled it appeared to have a leak. So he shut the water off again and is over there now waiting on a plumber. No one could work out how to turn on the boiler either. There didn't seem to be any power getting to it and no one could find a switch!

I'm beginning to think my dreams of overpaying may have been too 'pie in the sky', I may have underestimated how much it costs to own a house! :eek:

We have to give back the keys to the rented flat today but if there's no heating in the house I think we'll be sofa surfing

FL xx

mouche

Oh poor FamilyLife! Just the stress you don't need at this stage. Hopefully, the plumber will be able to sort it and the problems with the house will be less than they appear at first sight. Good luck and don't worry about OPs to start with. Owning a house is an expensive business and it's likely to take a few months for things to settle down and for you to have a realistic idea of disposable income.