The Ultimate Incentive Part 11 (or 10B) It's The Final Countdown

Birdie85

One thing my friend told me when I was pregnant was 'Don't ever be too fun for your kids or you'll never get anything done!'. So I'm not. Zach is quite happy playing on his own as long as someone is there in the room with him so he can sporadically crawl over, give us a toy, take it back, then crawl off again!

Are there little jobs that you can give Gracie to do whilst you're working on something so she feels like part of the 'game'?

The one-handed ebaying is definitely a possibility. I update my FB business page during milky time!

Dinah93

Grace used to be, its definately the last year she wants to always play with people. When she was little she'd lie on her playmat for hours and keep herself amused. Ben is the opposite, he has never been happy on his own, he won't go on the playmat for longer than it takes to go to the loo or grab a sandwich, he's a real people person.

Lol Grace currently helps me clean, we did all the kitchen doors together on Tuesday, and she'll help by sweeping while I hoover. She's also an excellent sock matcher and loves to load the washing machine with me.

Been working on my spreadsheet this afternoon, so I know what's coming in and out. I'm also going to attempt, for the first time ever, to do a spending diary for the next few weeks, try to work out where it all goes. Glad we didn't start yesterday between £115.50 for her nursery lunches, £17.60 for a months ballerina class as she calls it, £55.85 on petrol, £19.10 on 12 new baby bottles, £69.98 on two new pairs of work shoes for NIM in the sale and £145.50 on the TV licence it wasn't a cheap day! So far today spends have been £22.08 at Tesco (NIM stuck to the list except for two half price cooked chickens which we'll strip and use for many meals), £10.05 on Amazon on some new baby presents for the pressie box that were very reduced, and £143.76 on contact lenses for me (but we can reclaim all of that from medicash once the receipt arrives). It's so much money pouring out all the time

Flower08

Hi Dinah! (and everyone else of course!)

Lets hope this is the year for us all to finally get our debt shifted and be able to start living. I have high hopes for this year, I guess it would probably help by really knowing exactly what we owe and to who

Dinah93

That was a scary moment for me too Flower, I thought we were around 16k so was amazed to find it lower.

Birdie85

That does sound like an expensive day Dinah! :eek: It's awful when you feel like money is just pouring out. We get paid on Tuesday and have hand over money for a tax disc, a new carseat and Zach's passport as soon as it hits our account! There's a fair list of other things to buy, I'm sure.

Good luck getting things worked out Flower. I guess it's like a plaster and you just have to pull it off in one quick, painful go! I'm sure it'll be better knowing everything though, it's the first step to getting it under control.

clearmydebts

Wow that certainly is a lot of expenses Dinah. OH gets paid next wk and it can't come quick enough for us. Not looking forward to being frugal the next few months but has to be done!

Olivia-Louise_2

New lurker following along

Dinah93

So far today: £9.70 for tickets for Grace and her best friend to an art and craft kids session tomorrow, they paid for us at a cafe earlier in the week as the card machine wasn't working and I don't tend to carry cash so won't be getting the second ticket back. Also £41.99 on a dress on ebay I bid on a few days ago and didn't expect to win. Been watching this dress on Coast for over a year, but I was never going to spend £395 on it, the one on ebay was brand new with tags, but a size 6 (but coast so more like an 8) so I bought it thinking this is my diet goal dress - a year of lust finally fulfilled has to be some seriously strong motivation.

Plan for today: Grace is at nursery this morning so tidy and clean our room and hers, and finish cleaning the kitchen cupboards as the bottom ones are done but not the top ones. Then a bit of batch cooking for the biggest losers. Will put the recipes up there if they're any good.

Working hard to get Grace out of nappies at the moment, it's costing us about £20 a week and I'd love to half that. She's resistant but we're getting there.

Was waiting for NIM to announce but he's a bit quiet at the moment so I'll do it as I've been holding off putting up our SOA - NIM got a promotion last week! He's now going to be deputy manager of another home, we think it'll be about £100 extra a month after tax due to the drop in tax credits, but it's great that they've promoted him so quickly after joining the company. They offered him £20k, he asked if there was any wiggle room and they put it up to £22k for him - always worth an ask! The new job is also 10 minutes closer to home so should save a bit on fuel too, and it's 40 hours where currently its 48 so one less day working/one day of overtime. We don't get know his shift pattern, whether they'll be fixed, any nights, how many weekends etc yet but I'm very proud of him.

jwil

Good luck from another lurker.

I seem to spend my whole life ebaying, luckily my boy will still nap. (He's almost 2).

I keep back a box of toys (he has so many!), and when I'm with him and I want to do something, the box comes out, and he's got a 'new' toy to entertain him for a while. Either that or I'll bring a box of something through, give him a couple of empty reusable shopping bags and ask him to 'sort' it for me. He'll then divide the contents of the box between the bags.

It doesn't always work, but it can help me get some time to do stuff.

Lara44

Hello Peoples!

I've been lurking but not posting as I never seem to get any time. How do you do it with two Dinah and Flower??

Yay for a new diary :j :j :j

Double yay for NIM promotion!!! :T :T :T I'm sure you guys can clear it or a massive chunk anyways. Will be cheering on as always.

Things are good here in Laraland. My baby is growing so fast, 7 months now too. He is even more hairy then before and gets mistaken for a girl even dressed top to toe in blue

I'm just whiling away the last of my 'maternity leave' (aka unemployment) as I have got a job in America for a year from August - not sure if I mentioned that before. So that is exciting and extremely scary, eeekkk!!! I hope my brain hasn't totally melted since becoming a parent. We are all going together, think OH will look after Robin and take on some small projects.

Money is just whatever at the moment I never check the bank account and frugalise on some things so I can be a bit extravagant with food and booze (our vices).

Hugs to all x