A Frugal Maternity Leave

crunch_time

Hello diaryland!!!


Husbands pay day today so signature update!!! we are very close to sub £19k now.


Id love to chuck a few extra pounds at the credit card but I have met my quota for no fees in fleabay so will have to wait until April.


This month I am determined to stick to £100 a week for groceries (this includes toiletries, nappies, cleaning stuff etc) - It was £99 last week and £87 today although I still need to buy some eggs and ham from the butchers tomorrow.


Apparently we are completing on the house on Friday!! So happy - will finally be able to move on with all things financial now!!


We are going to have a quiet April. I'm going to start being frugal now that we have finally completed on the house and build our new life in the country :T
I have been thinking about my return to work in July as it will come around really quickly. Baby is 5 months old this week. :eek: I have been trying to decide whether or not to go back to my old job which is 50 mins drive away but with my parents looking after the kiddos or try and find and job closer to home but have to pay for child care. Id much rather my parents look after the kiddos but it will be a long commute but only an extra 20 mins each way on top of my old commute. The extra petrol will be no way near what the childcare bill for 2 would be so I am seriously considering it in the short term. Perhaps until toddler goes to school in sept 2016. :eek: Long term obviously look for something closer. Need to ask my mum first but I think she will be ok with it. Id need to be super organised....


If I did 2 days a week it would be ok. lots to think about anyhow!!


Will update again when we finally complete on Friday!!!!


Crunchy xx

abba1772

I can't believe your little one is 5 months already that's went in really quick xx

crunch_time

Yay!!! We finally completed on the house today!!:beer:


I feel like a great weight has been lifted - its taken 8 months to get here!




We are officially broke - apart from about £400 to our name.:rotfl:












But we are in a house we love in the country with our two beautiful children building a new life and that is all we need - the only way is up!!! I feel I can finally start my frugal maternity leave ha ha with only April, May and June to go :rotfl: I was so convinced it would all be sorted at the beginning of this year. Nevermind - we are here now.


So first things first - Getting to grips with YNAB. I did the free trial back in October and liked the reviews and methodology but didn't have the time to get to grips with it but I have spent the last hour setting things up and feel ready to use it for next month so using Aprils pay for May. This month is a little weird in terms of expenditure as there are the last few bill anomalies from the house move.


We will also have a No Spend Weekend getting a few things sorted in the house and enjoying our first weekend officially owning it!!
Its great to no longer feel in limbo!!


Hope everyone has lovely weekends!!
Crunchy xx

mum2one

That's brilliant news, hope u have a gd weekend xxx

crunch_time

Hi diaryland!!


Paid off £500 towards the parents today!! Woohoo!


Just waiting for the end of April when husband SHOULD get paid his bonus to decide how we shall pay for this going forwards.


Feels so good to be sub £19k. I am cracking on with the frugal plans.


This morning I used my nectar points to pick up a few storage solutions for the house. The only things planned for this week and the Easter weekend are a playdate on Wednesday (just petrol) combined with weekly food shop and buying lamps for the bedroom. Then putting up a washing line on Good Friday while hubby finishes boarding the loft and then family stuff over the weekend.


Now it is officially 'British Summer time' I have turned off all the heating downstairs I just need to figure out how to turn off the bathroom radiator. We have our summer duvet on.


I have loads of nectar vouchers to use on my weekly shop on Wed and am gradually getting to grips with YNAB so we can start using it next month.


I'm going into work after the Easter hols to discuss my return so will have some keeping in touch days to start using so that is an extra £100 a go. Hopefully they will let me go down to 2 days a week......fingers crossed.


I really want to get some off this credit card debt paid down so will get cracking on with the fleabaying on the 1st April.


I cant think of anything else at the moment im just enjoying sitting here at the table watching toddler play in the garden while baby sleeps... oh no she is awake now!!!


Hope everyone is having a lovely day!


Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Morning diaryland!!


Lovely day here today!!! Back door open and toddler is playing in the garden while baby watches.:) It makes me sooooo happy and very pleased that we have moved.


I did some accounting over the weekend having now been bitten by the YNAB bug. It has forced me to be very honest. I had to log the 2 credit cards we have and didn't realise that I have racked up another £258 since we moved! Its all been on extra petrol and extra food and bits of bobs whilst we adjusted to living here so I guess its not all bad. I'm just sad that it has pushed us back a little bit.


We planned to have a really cheap holiday this year but thought we would have paid for the house a long time ago so could have saved up for it in plenty of time. In order to get the week that we wanted we had to put it on husbands credit card (£400) so that has upped that and tipped us back over £19k.


I said to husband yesterday that that is it now. We are here, we are settled and we have everything we need to live here. no more living week to week and spending money on things we need right now. We have to properly start budgeting and planning. He agreed. He bought a new washing line a few weeks ago but we need a sack of concrete to get it set in the garden. He reckons it will cost about £15 so I said we can pay it out of next months house money budget.:T Ill just continue to hang the washing inside or outside on the standing airers! What a money saver eh!!


So here I am officially turning over a new leaf:T


So here are my new list of positives


- I have about 20 things listed on ebay with 2 days to go and bids on at least 5 of them. Hopefully I shall make a little bit of money to through at husbands credit card.
- I get paid a week on Friday. If I don't go out in the car now for the rest of the week and just do pre-school runs next week I have enough petrol in the car/another £10 to cover this.
- I just did a small sains shop of essentials this morning and with my meal planning we should have just about enough to last us until I get paid. It shall we beans on toast some nights but I am determined to make it and stick to our budget. I think there is about £10-£15 left in the pot just in case but hopefully we can just use what we have so I can use some of that money to pay off food bits off my credit card.
- Husband gets paid a bonus on the 24th. We should know how much it will be in a few weeks time. Last year it was £2k so I'm hoping for that again.


Challenges
- I had a stark realisation how much my husband and my 'weekend drinking' is costing the food budget. We usually have a couple of beers each and a bottle of wine on Friday night but recently we have been going over this. we are going to have to nip this in the bud or at least use our own spending money for top ups and only allow £20 a month as 'beer money' (£5 a week).




I'm looking forward to just chilling out this week with the kiddies. Our first mortgage payment went out today so we have officially paid back about £250 of this house!!:beer:
Ive got to start ringing round and changing our addresses as I still haven't started this!! Also just had a renewal letter from our car insurance company so can get on with that.




I'm thinking about posting a soa So you lovely people can see where else we can have money....


Anyway, enough rambling from me. Have a lovely day everyone!!!


Crunchy xx

debtfreeoneday

You sound so happy! I've just delayed my dentist appointment so we can pay for it out of next months money!

crunch_time

Ok - here is the Soa. I have added some notes


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 550 (im currently on maternity leave)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2594
Benefits................................ 136
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3280
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 752.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 113
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 55 (This is TV and broadband as well. I don't want to spend this but we are in the sticks. We have also only just got it.)
Mobile phone............................ 25 (just mine, husband uses his work phone)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 100 (for all of us)
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 55
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 150 (this includes tax)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 80
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 29.5 (Husbands contact lenses)
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6.35
Buildings insurance..................... 10.15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 18.02
Other insurance......................... 14.11
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 40
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Union sub............................... 4.61
Our long term savings................... 40
Childrens savings accounts.............. 40
Charities............................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 2510.36

Assets
Cash.................................... 850
House value (Gross)..................... 180000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 185350

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 159030...(752.5)....3.89
Total secured & HP debts...... 159030....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................6927......164.......3.99
Loan...........................8943......255.......3.99
husbands credit card...........667.......30........17.9
Loan from parents..............2500......0.........0
My credit card.................258.......15........17.9
Total unsecured debts..........19295.....464.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,280
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,510.36
Available for debt repayments........... 769.64
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 464
Amount left after debt repayments....... 305.64
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 185,350
Total HP & Secured debt................. -159,030
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,295
Net Assets.............................. 7,025
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


Ok - so its not as bad as I thought it was going to be!! On my spreadsheet it seemed to be worse! I would be interested on other peoples thoughts as I feel it will help me a lot in moving forward.


When I go back to work in July my pay should be at least £800 so another £250 but my petrol will increase by at least another £100.


we need to start paying the parents back the £2500 and also need to start a monthly house fund to cover things like decorating and pieces of furniture that we need.


We also really want to start saving towards an emergency fund and have regular savings towards family adventures.


The plan of attack over the next 3 weeks will be


- sticking to the food budget by cooking from scratch and eating out of the cupboards.
- not going out in the car unless I can help it!!
- finish changing all our addresses.
- see if I can get cheaper car insurance than £55 a month.
- start logging NSD's


Right - I'm off to unpack the shopping and make the toddler and myself a frugal lunch!!!


Crunchy xx

crunch_time

I know I've posted a lot today but just wanted to add one last thing before tackling the ironing. I called hr today to see how much my half pay as part of my maternity package would be. I postponed payment until my return. Are you ready for this..............

Over £2000!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Before tax of course).

In my head I thought it would only be a couple of hundred.

That will definitely help with paying back my parents!!!! It will go into my July pay so roll on July!!

Very pleased about that. Now on with that ironing!!!

Crunchy cx

mum2one

wow, you really have turned things around, it sounds daft but to me it feels like you have been in the house a lifetime, ur so settled.

Just a quickie, - is the contents in with the buildings...

You have a bargain with tv/phone/net - I pay £80 for mine... but then I have sky sports and movies - thou thats being chopped soon.

That bonus sounds amazing xx