A Frugal Maternity Leave

PinkPoppies

Re the patio furniture it might be worth a look on the likes of gumtree as there seem to be a lot of nice second hand garden things up for grabs at the moment. I guess plenty of people are using this lovely weather to have a clear out

crunch_time

Thanks Mum2one - its more of a case of 'spending it before we had it' really which was stupid - definitely not going to be doing that again! We are grateful for anything we get to be honest. I'm back to work in July so at least that will help things going forward. You're right - I do need to look at how far we have come. I have managed to move house and have a baby in the last year and not get into anymore debt!!


Husbands pay day today! Trying to separate pay rise and bonus without seeing the actual payslip!! I took away his usual pay from what he got and the difference was £581.39 - not bad at all. I swiped this away immediately into a savings pot and added to it the £100 which was left after everything budgeted for on the spreadsheet comes out. so total = £681.39. Im sure that will buy a suit to keep him happy!!:j


My plan is to keep whatever is left in the pot until the end of the month and then decide what to do with it.


I swiped another £100 off the food budget which was £500 for this month into the savings pot for the holiday spending money so that now sits at £200 which should be move than enough if I can stop husband from wanting to eat out every night!!


Husband had to use the £500 over estimate for the load for expenses so as soon as that is paid then I can pay mum and dad off completely.


I'm going to look at my pots of money now as we will need to start a pot called 'summerhouse.' I would wait until we had paid off at least the overdraft and my parents but I shall wait until we have saved up the money before we buy it.


I am also starting an emergency fund into my ISA of £100 per month but also a slush pot as mentioned above for unplanned spends. Emergency pot is for real emergencies not overspent on our food type emergencies - that's what the slush pot is for.


It feels good to finally be back on track nearly a year after my LBM. I feel more in control and prepared to make real progress now.


pinkpoppies - hadn't thought of that! Will check out our local pages.:beer:


I have amended my signature again to take into account all these pots and make me accountable.


Off to unpack the shopping (managed to stay under £100 budget!)


Hope its sunny where everyone else is today!!


Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Some slightly bad new on the money saving front...


Toddler has broken the camera :mad:


I took it into the camera shop today and the on/off switch has broken which is apparently a lot to fix although they couldn't tell me how much. I have to drive to another town to get a quote and get it fixed.


I haven't used it in a while as the lead to charge it got displaced in the move and just bought a new one. Its a good little camera so I want to get it fixed to use but also wondering if now is the opportunity to get the DSLR camera I had intended to save up for to buy this year. The guy in the camera shop recommended one that I like and will do what I want to do but its about £430 (would need to buy a bag too so say £450).


I have decided to go ahead and buy it which I know isn't very MSE but its something we need for our holiday coming up and for taking pictures of the baby (we only have iphone ones at the moment). I know I can pay it back. I was always planning to buy one this year anyway but now I will be paying it back.


Ive just been looking at my spreadsheet to see what the forecast for extra money on pay days looks like for the summer...


(this doesn't take into account husbands payrise)


End of May
Me £162 Husband £269


End of June
Me £132 Husband £269


End of July
Me £747
Husband £269


End of August
Me £712
Husband £269


This is a total of £2,829 without my half pay or husbands pay rise.


Things we have to pay for..


Toddler nursery fees up to July £270
Parents £500
Patio Furniture £300 (Pinkpoppies - had a look on gumtree and slim pickings for our area)
Holiday £450
Camera £450
Summerhouse £1500


Total = £3,470


So a shortfall of £641.


I think the priorities should be this...


1) Nursery fees
2) parents
3) summer house
And then the holiday/camera/patio furniture.


Just got to hope that the pay rise and half pay come through for us and a lot of tightening of the belts.


I feel like I'm going backwards a bit now but I guess it cant be helped at the moment. Just got to keep looking forward..:(


Crunchy xx

mum2one

Hey it's not backwards it's a dam good investment, the camera sounds lovely - I've just changed mind, replaced it with £100 from argos, the last one lasted 3 yrs, wouldn't needed buying but dd dropped it in the sea when we were on hols lucky retrieved the money card.

Sounds a game plan the nursery fees first, with garden furniture have u looked at Argos they've a sale on at mo, another has one is Asda.

Xx

crunch_time

Thanks mum2one - yes I have got to think of it as an investment. Will look into those 2 options for patio furniture too.


I have decided to properly plan my week in terms of spends and money saving/debt busting activities!!!


This week is as follows:


Mon
- Toddler group - £1.50
- Pst parcel - £2.80 (paid for by bay of e er)
- 2 stamps (erm - find it sad I don't know how much a stamp is)
- Milk (£1.80)

Tues - NSD

Wed
- going into town to buy camera (est £450) and a new bra (£20 - sorry if TMI!!) Parking £2. I plan to get in and out in the morning so we shall have lunch at home so only other thing I need to buy will be a fudge bar 25p to keep toddler quiet while I bra shop.:rotfl:

Thurs - NSD

Fri - Sainsburys shop - planning to spend £70 or less as chipped into next weeks £100 budget slightly this month.

Sat/Sun/BH Mon - cement for washing line (incredibly boring but necessary) and I'm going to budget £10. Other than we shall just do house stuff that costs no money. Oh and list the next lot of stuff on ebay.


I shall fill any of my free time with baking healthy stuff for toddler/going on walks/going to the park/playing with both children and get to grips with my new camera. I shall also get to grips with YNAB once bills start going out this week.


Husband and I have just agreed to have a dry May!! This is going to be a challenge!! Oh just remembered that we are on holiday in 3 weeks time!!!:rotfl:So we have agreed to just have 2 nights when we are away to have a few beers/bottle of wine otherwise its just not cricket.


Off to bed now!!
Night night
Crunchy xx

mum2one

1st class stamp 62p
2nd class stamp 57p

Sounds like a good plan breaking it down to daily, and least you know what you need, and love the fudge bar idea...

How do you find Sainsburys for shopping, took advantage of their £15 off online shopping, thats added on 4 x £10 off.

I'm working way round the offers, theres an Ocado - £20 off when you spend £80, I found them to be dearer on some items but roughly same as other retailers.

x

lilmissmup

Just popping into say hello and I am a new follower!


I am currently on maternity leave but just had my last pay and not going back as my wage isn't good enough to have any left after childcare costs!


How old is your baby? My little girl is 8 months now.

crunch_time

Mum2one - I love sains for shopping!! I'm collecting nectar points and then use them for house bits at base home or the larger sains.

Lilmissmup - hello and thanks for popping by. Childcare is soooo expensive isn't it. I'm very lucky as my mum helps out and oldest one will get his free hours come September. Mine are nearly 3 and 6 months. I'm going back to work soon but not sure how long my new contract will last so need to be as savvy as possible!! Have you got a diary??

Right, morning all!!

It's been a week full of ups and downs which has left me feeling really tired and mentally and emotionally exhausted. The down bit shall we say has been going in for years but I seemed to have got clarity these last few days from an 'incident' and now I feel so motivated to live my life for me and my little family and no longer let others issues affect me. Taking a deep breath and getting on with it (sorry that's all a bit cryptic isn't it). The upshot is that I was feeling determined before but now feel more determined than ever!!!!

Toddler is off to pre school later so planning to spend some time updating my spreadsheet and ynab. After this week we have 2 more weeks and then we are on holiday for a week. Sooo excited!!!!

I get paid that week and then husband gets paid the week after.


So will update more later.
Hope everyone has a lovely day!
Crunchy xx

crunch_time

Despite all best intentions yesterday, I didn't manage to update so here goes...

We have.....

- £500 in the car service pot which is healthy for us. My car is due a service now so hopefully this will cover it.

- we have £961 in the slush pot for this month. Husband has found a suit for £400 and just needs to pay for it. That leaves £561 left. If all goes well in the next 2 weeks I shall use £500 of it to pay off mum and dad before we go on holiday!!!
- I stuck to my budget for food shopping this week!!!! A big pot of chilli is currently reducing on the job for the week and got a meal plan. This.is.progress.
- I bought the camera this week £485 including a memory card and a bag. All I have managed to do so far is charge up the battery. Husband tried to look at it but I bat his hands away. I'm not going to learn if he does it all for me!!!
- I found a wonderful clothes refashioning site and pinned lots of ideas to refashion and make my own clothes again (this is not a new thing for me but haven't had a chance in the the last 2 years). Just need to get the sewing machine out of an evening now and get cracking!!
- there is a half price sale at the butchers at the moment in the freezer bit. Going to walk down later to pick up some bargains for the last 2 weeks of the food month. See what I can get for 4 pieces of meat a week so 8 pieces.
- my friend gave me some leftover nappies for baby a few weeks ago. They are one size up from her normal size and are a little baggy but they will do for the next 2 weeks and saves me £4.50!!
- I've realised we need to buy a new hold all for our holiday as we don't have enough now we are a family of 4. I will have to start researching one or 2 that will last for ever.
- got lots of stuff to put on bay e and tree gum this weekend.
- including today I will have managed 2 nsd s this week. Very pleased with that.
- I logged onto banking yesterday and husband it look like husband had a refund of £59 onto a credit card through the bank that he closed down last year. I will get him to ring the bank tomorrow and find out what is going on!!
- I have £20 of nectar points to spend so thinking of going to sains/ home base next week to buy some small bits for the house that we need.
- we are planning a low spend weekend. Husband has to work on a proposal in the evenings so no beer but at least I can get the camera and sewing machine out.
- planning lots of house work today (as much as I can with the little ones!)

Happy Friday everyone!!
Crunchy xx

PinkPoppies

Wow you are sounding so super organised!

You have reminded me that I haven't checked our nectar points in absolutely ages...