A Frugal Maternity Leave

crunch_time

Morning diaryland!!


Went to sains yesterday after meal planning and with a list. I only got what was on the list and added it up as I went round on my phone so I was sure I stuck to my £70 budget and it came in at £64 so enough money left over to get bacon, ham and eggs from the butcher.


Meal plan is on the fridge and rest of months money is in an envelope on the fridge - loose change in the pot for any emergency grocery shops that might come up!!


£10 cash out for entrance fee and a cup of tea for the indoor play centre we are going to today. Just got to make a healthy packed lunch and we are off at 9am!


The little things really do make a difference!!


Oh - and £30 made on ebay last night when things finished!!! This will go on the energy debt and more things to list tonight!!!


Happy Friday everyone!!


Crunchy xx

debtfreeoneday

Enjoy your day.. moving house is hard financially.. I remember our money management just went out the window for a few months in the end!

mum2one

Ur doing brilliantly, they say that house moves are one of the most stressful things in life, you did it with 2 toddlers. Australia sounds an amazing experience, I know it's the future thoughts but it would be something to aim to.

Xx

crunch_time

Definitely aiming for it mum2one!!!


Just a quick update for Saturday.....


Made £32 on ebay which has gone towards the energy debt. Then paid off the remaining £48 with the money saved from not paying a mortgage this month!!!


So the energy debt is GONE!!!!!!!!:T:beer::j


Signature updated!!!


Crunchy xx

debtfreeoneday

Well done you - that's one debt gone forever!!

PinkPoppies

Brilliant Crunch Time, well done!

mfmaybe

Hi Crunch_time, I'm trying desperately to save for maternity leave, and we sound very similar. Lots of future plans but no real clear path to pay for it . I do find it's important to have a mix of short, medium and long term goals though, so don't take Australia off the list, just focus on getting over the short term hurdles first! Well done on that energy debt. What is the next target?

Good luck with the journey. Will subscribe

crunch_time

Hi mfmaybe


Thanks for subscribing! Will check out your diary! You are right with the short term medium term and long term goals. our next plan is to tackle the credit card of £311 then it goes a bit blurry. We still haven't paid for this house so havesomemoney put aside for fees, deposit etc.once that is cleared we will know how much we have left so we can make some concrete plans.


I'd like to pay off my parents the £3k first then that is done but husband wants to look at options for an extension to our house so he can have an office and work from home ultimately saving us money and he can also look at other home based jobs that might pay more.


We think this will cost around £15k and we are ok about taking out aloan for this as it will be an investment. it will be about sorting out our other loans first and being in the position to repay the £275 over 5 years.


We also need new cars in the next 2, 3 years so will be about affording those too.


Our first dream is to be what we call immediatedebt free so nothing but the loans. that will be so good when that happens!!


Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Hi Diary


I had a little break over the last few weeks to sort my head out - its been in a real mess. Everything got on top of me for a bit but im feeling better today.


Deep breath in.... and out...

Positives:

1) Had a little chat with Husband over the last few weeks and showed him the spreadsheet so he knows exactly how much money we have coming in and can be realistic. He said that once he gets paid his bonus we can use it to pay back the parents as this would be a real weight off my mind. He has also decided to put a temporary office in the loft so he can work from home while we decided what to do next. This is great as it means he can gain an hour a day from not commuting and it will reduce our fuel bill. We just have to make it happen now. He can even claim back the money for a desk and a chair and then claim mileage for whenever he has to go in the office!!!
:beer:
2) In other news, I have been busy on ebay and managed to pay £23 off the husbands credit card and then got paid £21 more than I expected this month so have put that on the credit card to bringing it down to


£267!!!

It feels good to finally get cracking on this. I have a lot more summer clothes to put on so will get cracking with this in the next few weeks.


3) My loan is sub £7k!!!!!!! It will be sub £6k in October...


4) This month husbands loan will be sub £9k and then sub £8k from August.


5) Husband had his appraisal and should expect a pay rise in the next 6 months. We are also expecting a bonus in April pay at the latest. Last year it was £2k and we paid off our sofa loan (£800) and then the rest for both cars to get serviced:mad: Cars are such annoying necessities that eat money.


Challenges:


1) We still haven't paid for the house. This isn't a positive anymore despite not paying any mortgage for 2 months now. I want to move on with my life. Things seem to be moving in the right direction though.


We have a busy weekend ahead of us with some big spends but we have budgeted for it. I'm about to get ready to go and pick up toddler from pre-school and then so to sains for our weekly shop all equipped with a list and a meal plan.


Signature updated!!


Crunchy xx

PinkPoppies

Glad you are feeling brighter CT!

Moving house is a huge upheaval at the best times but doubly tricky with little ones! Make sure you are looking after yourself too x