Our first family home

FamilyLife

Is it a NSD if I send the husband out to buy me an ice cream?

I had a lovely day visiting a friend in a nearby town. We had a nice walk around the local park and then lunch in her flat before the baby got overtired and I took her home. The husband had cleaned the kitchen so I should leave him alone more often :rotfl:

Dentist tomorrow but at least it's still free as I've had a baby in the last year Maybe I'll get lucky and need treatment too :cool:

Much excitement as I've got a bidder on ee bay!! :T

MSE plans for tomorrow- food shopping. I've done my list and I'm going to go to Aldee first. I think I'm going to list some more items on the bay of E too. This could get addictive. I just need to continue to refrain from buying!

FL xx

teabody

Hi,
Just popped by to say hello and thanks for posting on my thread....sometimes it really nice to know that we ll have a common goal....keep going x

FamilyLife

Thanks for dropping by Teabody

Not much to report over the last couple of days. I have listed a few more items on the bay, unworn baby dresses mostly. Wee cutie gained weight at such a rate that she had lots of lovely dresses that were too small very quickly, all gifts. Around 15 that were unworn! Some things I took back to the shops they came from while others didn't have an obvious place that they came from. Unfortunately I've gotten a little hooked on searching for clothes for her and bidding :eek: I won a gorgeous baby dress from Boden (saying that I won it makes it sound free right?)

I've been reading a few diaries and catching up on ones I started a while ago. I like the idea that Teabody has of breaking the MFW goal down to a set amount off the capital. My mortgage seems so huge. My main goal at the moment is to get it paid off in 10 years so we can move to a better school catchment. I think the first step is to get the LTV down to a point where we can remortgage to a lower rate. The current rate is 5.69 for another 1.5 years.

FL xx

FamilyLife

Pay day today

It's been a 5 week month and with me down to statutory mat pay it's been a long month! We've been using savings to make home improvements but the savings are running out. I think I'm going to have to go back to work earlier than I'd have liked.mthe original plan was for me to take the year and go back full time. I think I'm going to request part-time hours and go back in October.

Spends this month include:

• Baby present for a friend - £40
• Much needed haircut for me - £30
• Nappies, wipes and baby milk - £40
• Vests and sleep suits for Wee Cutie - £20
• Edinburgh Fringe day out (we've already paid for the show tickets so just need to pay for train and food)- £70

I've ordered a farm box of fresh fruit and veg to be delivered tomorrow, I'll see how that affects our weekly food spend in a week's time. I like saving money but I also like supporting local businesses and I think those things sometimes conflict!

Today I'm getting my hairs chopped and meeting a friend for a free coffee (Weightrose), then we're going to a local baby stuff charity shop where I'm going to try and keep my hands in my pockets! The wee one has enough toys at the moment so this month her spend will be on next size up vests! Also dresses from Ee bay

FL xx

FamilyLife

I just made another OP of £17.46 as this was the amount left in my personal current account after the pay day money shuffle

jodles16

Oh the fringe will be so amazing!! Well worth the spends! Also agre about the supporting local business, its not always the cheapest but feels like your doing good! Difficult to justify at times when trying to tighten up!

Jodles :j

FamilyLife

The farm box arrived yesterday and it seems pretty good value for money. £15 for a box of fruit, a box of veg and 6 eggs. Now the pressure is on to make sure none of it is wasted. I must confess that the husband and I waste far too much food. I meal plan every week but so often we don't notice the dates on things or veg starts looking a bit yuck by the time we go to use it. The other problem is that if we're tired or hungry we're really bad for convincing the other to get take away!

So with the farm box, a trip to Aldy and a stop off at Wait-rose to get things I couldn't find I have spent £60.04. I plan to keep track of weekly food spends from Wednesday to Wednesday as the farm box comes on a Thursday and we get paid on Wednesdays.

Baby spends so far this month:
Nappies- £9.98
Milk- £9.48
Clothes- £32.57 (H and M dress and vests, Fleabay)
Books/toys- £1.99 (noisy book from Aldy that I couldn't resist, when I pressed the button the baby lit up!)

In other [STRIKE]money saving[/STRIKE] spending news I have made £13.88 on fleabay but spent £18.60 on fleabay :rotfl: I wasn't joking when I said selling things wasn't cost effective! On the plus side I have decluttered a little and have some very pretty new dresses for the cute one

Also, I managed to resist buying her toys in the 2nd hand baby shop then found someone giving away toys on Freegle. The husband collected 2 huge bags on his way to night shift last night and came in looking like Santa this morning! Some really nice things in there, rattles, stacking cups, an old Fisher Price activity centre that just needs a wee clean :T

Tomorrow will be spendy as it's our day out to the Fringe. It's not often that we get to do things with our friends at the moment so I'm looking forward to it.

I hope anyone reading has a lovely weekend!

FL xx

FamilyLife

I have finally recovered from our day at the fringe. Not a drop was taken but it was a long day, I ate terribly and had to get up with the baby in the morning so felt rough yesterday. Luckily the baby took 2 long naps so I took 2 long naps too! They do tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps!

Anyway I'm just dropping in to report my Fringe spends £90! Fancy coffees (s-bucks is my obsession), a nice lunch, the train and drinks and bar snacks added up. That total is for the husband and I right enough. I don't regret it as it's a yearly event with good friends and I loved every minute! Despite the rain!

I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend

FL xx

Goldiegirl

Really glad you enjoyed your day out.

When you add up all the spends, it can seem a lot of money for one day..... But on the other hand, I think these sorts of treats are really important, it's all about getting to right balance of spending and saving.

I've only been to Edinburgh once, and that was a day trip when I was on a Round Britain cruise.

Would love to go back one day, particularly at the time of the Fringe/Tattoo

Crumpets

Hi Family Life, I've been enjoying reading your diary. It sounds like you have lots of exciting things planned, the Fringe sounds brilliant, things like this have to be enjoyed or there is no point in going. I just got back from a festival where we spent a fair bit, but we had a brilliant time and it's not like we do it every day

Good luck with your journey

Crumpets