Only freedom will do

AlexLK

I hadn't realised your daughter is already a month old. Time passes far too quickly. Yes, I'm turning into one of 'those' people. :rotfl:

On another note, if the matched betting is not working well, maybe it's time to move onto something else. There are plenty of ways to make extra money, if that's what you wish to do. If you just enjoy horse racing, there's nothing wrong with betting a little less but still following things.

Thanks for reminding me about father's day, I suppose I ought to get something bought for mine tomorrow.

edinburgher

Financial independance is what i am aiming for - but the edinburgh prices / housing stock means i probably won't be able to move to a "proper house" in doing so. At least i have a garden to go with my double upper.

Indeed, glad I live in Glasgow these days, Edinburgh has become quite expensive. I have relatives who live there who could no longer afford their houses if they were starting out again, despite good salaries :eek:

Karmacat

Ed, I remember Hypno saying she purposely followed the "have them quickly" route when she had her children - they can share childcare opportunities, play with each other, clothes ... there's a lot to be said for it! Whether the next is yours by genetics or by adoption

edinburgher

Yesterday was a lovely day, our final celebration of me being off work and enjoying family time

We went to the stunning West brewery at Glasgow Green (buying one of the flats in this building would probably rank high up on my 'dream homes' list), it's directly adjacent to Glasgow Green and everything it has to offer.



A bit of a spendy day, but I got to eat my fill of German cuisine and got a good arm workout with a litre stein of one of their cracking beers :beer:

We've started to get back into more of a routine now and attempted to go to bed for 10:30 last night. Just about worked, although we were confuzzled by all the changes to the night feeds.

• £15 to savings
• £56 to S&S ISA pot (will be focusing on savings for a wee bit now)
• £145 paid to S&S ISA (one unit of Vanguard Life Strategy 60% bought)
• 2-3 small and easy MB placed, c. £10 profit
• Spending diary updated in full, will share the grizzly details at the end of the month

Inspired by yesterday's Teutonic delights, today's dinner will be homemade Schweinshaxe with sauerkraut and garlic mash :j

Karmacat

Oh my! Thats very beautiful enjoy the inspired meal choice tonight

pavlovs_dog

stunning building.

Enviromental issues aside, how do the costs of reusables (washing etc) stack up against disposable nappies?

BookWorm

Hello Mr E - that picture is lovely - what a fab looking building

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and time at home with Mrs & Baby E

edinburgher

The building was the Templeton carpet factory (and I should point out that the photo wasn't taken by me, for the avoidance of doubt)!

Enviromental issues aside, how do the costs of reusables (washing etc) stack up against disposable nappies?

That's a good question PD and one that I would be hard pressed to provide a categorical answer to. Cloth nappies would appear to be great if used for more than one baby, but close to a tie otherwise.

Assuming 5 nappies a day for 3 years (finger in the air time, babies use far more when they are newborn), I got the following costs.

Disposable

Assuming 38 nappies per packet and 3 packets for £12 or similar deal (Asd@) = £576.32

Cloth

Assuming 15 cloth nappies purchased, 3 nappy buckets, nappy liners, washing powder and soda crystals = £502.97

This does not count the cost of using the washing machine, which might add quite a bit over 3 years. On the other hand, the figure is probably £50 lower if you omit soda crystals and go for cheaper nappy liners (we use ones that should biodegrade reasonably well).

Two babies

Disposable - £1,152.64
Cloth - £750.94

Our nappies are very well made, but not sure they'd take c. 700 wears/washes. Granted, they're only worn for a few hours at a time.

*Edit the second: I know you're looking at cost, but this was a secondary concern for me. Re. the environment, you are comparing the energy used to produce and dispose of 5,475 paper nappies vs. the energy used to manufacture, wash and dry 15 cloth nappies 700x. My gut feeling would be that the embodied energy is considerably lower for the cloth nappies, but I can't sciencify that.

pavlovs_dog

Thanks for that Ed.

So unless you have several kids, it looks like it is more of an environmental choice rather than a financial one. There is certainly a time/labour cost to factor in too, although I suppose that is more manageable whilst MrsE is off work and can fit the laundry around Juliet.

Do childcare providers accept/support the use of reusables or do they tend to insist on disposables?

I get the impression from local selling boards that they seem to have a fair value for resale. Something to bear in mind for the future.

edinburgher

There is certainly a time/labour cost to factor in too, although I suppose that is more manageable whilst MrsE is off work and can fit the laundry around Juliet.

True, but that's more than offset by not having to drive to the supermarket to buy more.

Do childcare providers accept/support the use of reusables or do they tend to insist on disposables?

Good question and one that I hadn't even considered (more fool me!) I suspect the answer is that they would insist on disposables

Edit: my better half has already considered this. There will be no childcare required for year 1, only family childcare required for year 2, then we'll be potty training. I read that some children wear nappies to horrendous ages these days, but we should be ok. Sibling potty trained child successfully at that age and sibling is lazy bones :rotfl: