Forever Home with 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 bump, 1 dog, 1 cat

gearfreak

Hi,
So I've been lurking on these boards for a few years, but haven't got around to posting my own thread until now :0)

My situation is that I'm 38, living with my partner/bfriend/fiance (32), we have a 14mth old lg, 1 dog, 1 cat and another baby that is due in the middle of December. We currently live in a 2 bed (more like 1.5 bed) house and are desperately trying to move to something bigger which I'm hoping may be our forever home.

I work 4 days a week with a pretty decent salary and my oh works as a few different things varying between 3-7 days a week depending on his freelance work. I'm due to start my 2nd lot of maternity leave at the end of October, although at the moment I'm not sure yet how long I'll have off work this time due to lack of savings after being on maternity leave with dd.

We have been overpaying on the mortgage for the last few months, but with me going on maternity leave again, the regular overpayments have been put on hold as we need to save as much as possible for the next few months.

So the plan is to scrimp and save over the next 12 months to allow me to be on maternity leave possibly until the end of November/December 2015. And then once I'm back at work the plan will be to overpay as much as possible either on our existing house or fingers crossed our new home :T

Neither of us have massive debts / credit cards, I only have 1 outstanding loan of £6500 (HSBC) and my oh has one outstanding 0% credit card of about £1500. Neither of these we are too worried about as we know that they are getting paid off and will be gone in the next couple of years.

So I've signed up to Quidco / Topcashback, surveys etc to make the most of money / what we are spending. I do ebay & sell locally alot of things and due to lack of space have got rid of alot of my little girls baby clothes as we know we're expecting a boy, and once he's here I'll start getting rid of the things he's used as he outgrows them.

We also need to improve our meal planning and food shopping as at the moment we are spending approx. £450/month on food/house groceries. I think this is the main area that we can cut back on and need to cut back on, as it seems ways too high.

Later tonight I'll try and post more detailed financial info and a signature. If you've got this far thanks for reading :jx

WhiteSnowdrop

Hi Gearfreak, I wanted to say Hi and welcome to the MF board. I'll look forward to seeing how you get on and subscribe to your diary.
WS

gearfreak

Hi WS, thanks for dropping by, i'm hoping to do a longer post later after having a relaxing bath and if my lg manages to stay asleep! Fingers crossed ��

gearfreak

Sorry its taken so long to get back on here, I've been desperatly trying to decorate our house as we have an estate agent coming round a week on friday to take uptodate photos to try and improve getting viewings. But it's not that easy when I work 4 full days a week, am 31 weeks pregnant and have a 15 months old to look after too. But managed to get the kitchen painted last night so only 7 more rooms to go but it'll be good when it's done and we won't have to worry about it for another couple of years if we don't manage to sell.

Anyway, here are my outgoings:


Statement of Affairs:

TotalIncome: £2,8,51.45 / month.

Outgoings:
Mortgage - £506.42 / month
Buildings& Contents Insurance – £24.29 / month
CouncilTax - £108 / month
WaterRates - £40.67 / month.
Gas- £60/month – we are on LPG.
Electricity- £57 / month. – currently trying to switch to get a cheaper deal.
HomePhone & Internet - £31.34 / month – we can only have BT in our village soare pretty stuck.
TVLicence - £12.12 / month.
MobilePhone - £24.00 / month
Lifeinsurance - £10.45 / month
PetInsurance - £13.69 / month
Gas/ Plumbing Cover - £17.74 / month
Food and Household Shopping - £450.00 / month
CarInsurance - £45.31 / month
Petrol - £240.00 / month – this is a guess at the moment as keepinghold of all my receipts to work itout.
PersonalLoan Repayments - £325.00 / month
Childsavings - £10.00 / month – this will go up to £20 when bump arrives.
PetFood - £11.37 / month – for cat anddog food.
Laundry- £3.00 / month
Nappies- £19.44 / month
BabyFormula - £11.37 / month
Petvaccinations - £8.33 / month
Pilatesclass - £20.35 / month – at local council gym.
DentalInsurance - £12.00 / month
BeautyTreatments - £14.00 / month – eyebrows.
Haircuts- £25 / month – this is for a cutand colour.
New clothes for me & lo’s - £100 / month – this is a guess atm.
ChristmasPresents - £33.34 / month
BirthdayPresents - £33.34 / month
Total outgoings - £2,267.54/ month

Balance - £583.91 /month

Savings& Loans:
Savings£3,500.00 (October 2014)
Loan£6,830.46 (October 2014, finishes August 2016)
Mortgage£105,993.20 (October 2014)

OtherIncome:
SharePayout Dec / Jan - £1,000.00 (not sure we will receive this).
ShareDividend from Work in March - £2,500.00(not sure we will receive this).
ShareDividend from Work in September - £2,500.00(not sure we will get this).


I've highlighted the areas I think that we can save on each month, mainly being food and petrol, as we waste alot of food. Although I'm not sure how to save on petrol as we live in a very rural area with no public transport so have to go out of the village for everything.

gearfreak

So like I said before atm we are concentrating on saving money for the next 12 months or so when I start my maternity leave at the end of October. So any tips on how to save money on our food shop would be really welcome or any tips on how to save in any other areas?

In terms of baby stuff, I've been selling off alot of things that we don't use on fb and eb, I've also been selling off my maternity clothes as I grow out of them as this is definatly the last baby for us And when the new baby arrives I'll start selling that baby stuff as he outgrows it, which will hopefully pay for more baby clothes.

The only thing I need to buy for the new baby now are a new mattress for the crib and moses basket, we bought sleepcurve ones for dd, but they are quite pricey and although she didn't get a flat head I'm not sure they were worth the money. I also need to get sheets for both of those, but will be looking to get preloved.

The biggest thing that we need to get is a double buggy. Bit gutted about this as we were brought a brand new mountain buggy by my dad for dd which is superb, but now we need a double and we won't get anything near the price he paid for it even though it's only 1.5yrs old and in excellent condition. Where we live we do need a very good off road buggy and so i've been looking at second hand mb plus ones and p&t double inline buggies, which seem to be going for about £100 to £150 on e of the bay :0(.

Luckily though we have been given alot of boy baby clothes by friends which saves alot and I had quite alot of unisex clothes for dd, and still buy those now for her, which will save us money in the long run :T

gearfreak

So plan for tonight is to spend time with dd when she gets home from nursery, get some more painting done and make lunches after she has gone to bed and if I have time stick some more stuff up for sale.

gearfreak

So I've managed to update my signature at last :T

Worry_Wart

Hi Gear Freak, I also wasted food and live in a rural area so need to drive to get food. I massively reduced our food bill by meal planning. It only takes a half an hour a week to assess what I already have, what I need, generate some meal ideas, and then I use mysupermarket.com to work out the cheapest place to get what I am missing. I've quartered our food bill, and we don't waste anything anymore. I also make sure we have a loaf of bread in the freezer, and 4 pints of milk (milk actually freezes well), so I don't end up going to the shop to buy a couple of essentials, and then spending too much money on rubbish.

Good luck!

WW

Dragonrider

Hi gearfreak,

Have you looked at the Little Nipper 360 double buggies? They are very light and excellent for off road - I bought a new one in 2010 when baby no 2 arrived and it's still going strong now that baby no 4 has turned up! Plus you can use it from new born as the seats go completely flat.

They tend to be a bit cheaper than the other brands you mentioned so might be worth looking at? I got mine from practicalpushchairs who had good customer service and the cheapest prices...

Good luck - hope you find what you need,

Dragonrider

gearfreak

Thanks ww, i used to meal plan before having my lg and then again before getting pregnant with baby number 2, but my diet tends to go to pot when i'm pregnant with morning sickness etc and i've now got anemea too, so trying to eat healthily and i do really need to get back on the meal planning. I think once we've got the decorating sorted i'll have more time to sort out the meal planning :0)

gearfreak

Thanks DR i'll have a look at those buggies, although we are really going towards a mtb plus one as its so similar to the one we already have and i know I'll be able to get it in my car with the dog and two lo's ��