Only freedom will do

Alchemilla

Plenty of not so great teachers in independent schools, and also plenty without a teaching qualification, thoughthat is no guarantee of a good teacher it usually helps.

Ed you guys are doing brilliantly.

Karmacat

You're right, that's great teamwork! And it's necessary, it takes a newborn a while to adjust healthily to night and day, after all, they've been used to having what they need on tap 24/7 for their whole lives up to this point, after all!

TimmySaver

edinburgher wrote: »

A very strange night, I took baby feeding, cuddling and fussing duties from 01:00-05:30 to let Mrs E sleep. I ended up zonked out on the couch with DD in her travel cot!

Then back to bed, when Mrs E woke me at 09:00 to offer me breakfast. Teamwork! :T

Sounds good. At the moment Mrs Saver is sleeping in the spare bedroom until 3am and I bring in baby saver only for feeds, and deal with the grumbles, nappies, etc. Then we swap over at around 3am. It allows us to both get a reasonable night of sleep.
I'm glad your approach is working for you both. It's so exciting, isn't it.

Goldiegirl

Hi Ed, glad you are settling down to your new family life

Regarding education....... I'm a firm supporter of state education.

I grew up in Essex, and my area 'went comprehensive' in 1971, the year I was 11. So I was in the first year of fully comprehensive education.

I honestly think that money couldn't have bought me a better education. We had some genuinely inspirational teachers. I was placed in the 'top stream' of pupils and was surrounded by some seriously bright kids.

We all got a fistful of O Levels and A levels, and many went to University, including a couple of people who went to Cambridge.

State education worked for me, and if I had children, I wouldn't even have thought about private education.

Laura2014

Congratulations on your little girl Ed such wonderful news :beer::j. I'm due in two months so have been following your diary.

I hope you don't mind me posting here. I know you have a lot of followers, are abit of a financial genius and the pension board scaries me. If it's a problem then please let me know.

DH pays into his pension about £460 each month (this is between him and his employer). I pay £300 again between me and my employer. Coincidentally our employers both use the same pension scheme & provider. Our pension statements have arrived today. I actually sat down to have a proper look at it and it gave a future yearly pension of £6500 for him and £6000 for me.

This has really scared me as it really doesn't seem that much compared to what we are putting in each month and our current salary. We are both midi 30s - similar to you I think.

Any input/thoughts would be appreciated.

in_need_of_direction

I'm just so grateful that both my children were through school before the bit by bit dismantling of NI's grammar school system.

edinburgher

If it's a problem then please let me know.

It's only a problem if you expect me to be a genius :rotfl:

DH pays into his pension about £460 each month (this is between him and his employer). I pay £300 again between me and my employer. Coincidentally our employers both use the same pension scheme & provider. Our pension statements have arrived today. I actually sat down to have a proper look at it and it gave a future yearly pension of £6500 for him and £6000 for me.

I wouldn't worry, you're paying quite a lot into pensions. Mrs E and I pay in c. £645/mth between us (including a top up through our ISAs). Without knowing all the assumptions made by your pension provider (i.e. predicted rate of return, present value, whether or not that includes a lump sum etc.), we would be remiss in commenting further.

That said, looking at pension statements is often a sobering experience and sometimes it can be downright depressing. The first thing to do is to have a long, hard, honest think about how much money you will need in retirement and whether or not you're on track for that. Remember pension income, ISAs, savings, income from any other assets, reduced expenses (paying off mortgage etc.) Are you heading in the right direction? If not, you either need to save more, get a better return, reduce your pension (and real life) expenses, or save for longer. Downsizing may also be an option.

We are both midi 30s - similar to you I think.

Don't let the white hairs fool you - I'm 32, Mrs E is younger

edinburgher

A cracking list of Financial calculators and tools from Monevator :beer:

edinburgher

I am finding it very difficult not to spend money as a new parent! Today's purchases included copies of The Tiger Who Came To Tea and The Hungry Caterpillar and a big pack of nappies... TBH, I can't imagine a childhood without either of those books, but it all adds up.

Being better behaved on the food front, we are largely eating from the freezer and meal quality has started creeping back up after the initial lapse. We had a beef and ale stew using beer from a brewery near my office yesterday and I've started a new batch of the Thomas Keller confit pork that went down so well recently

Sleeping goes no better, but DD's jaundice has cleared up nicely, we're no longer seeing the community midwife and we will be going out as a family to register the birth tomorrow.

Loving the cuddles, being off and making myself useful.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Sounds like good family times x x x