BK & Husbandface diary

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Quick post from me, mainly my meal plan and our shopping for the week.

Though on a debt busting topic, I am annoyed with the Co-Op, I sent my overpayment cheque of £400 to them 30 November, and it still hasn't cleared out of my account! I wish they would flippin' get on with it! I sent it the same day as over 40 Christmas Cards, everyone has had their Christmas cards so I know for a fact they have had it! OK, so whilst in the midst of this rant on here, I decided to ring Co-Op. I have just been told that yes they have my cheque, but that I was given the wrong address to send it to, and that it should have gone to their Norwich office!!! I asked why their letter also gives the incorrect address, as well as the incorrect address given to me over the phone, he didn't really have an answer, sigh. So it seems I am going to have this fiasco every time I overpay, such fun! The good news is the mail centre did receive my cheque, forwarded it to the Norwich office, and it was finally banked 10 December, so it should clear my account in the middle of next week. 2.5 weeks to clear a cheques is ridiculous, but I am just going to have to put up with it I suppose. I can't wait to get my Co-Op loan paid off so I don't have to deal with them any more, I used to have my current account, savings account, everything with Co-Op. Once the loan is cleared (should be around April - May time), my dealings with them are over. I am looking forward to it.

Our meal plan for the week is below:

Sat - Homemade chicken nuggets, slimming world chips, salad
Sun - Chicken and spinach curry
Mon - Teriyaki chicken
Tue - Pork and mango noodles
Wed - Lemon and herb chicken with salad
Thu - Omelette, slimming world chips and salad
Fri - Minced beef hash

We have spent £40 on our grocery shopping this week, we are quite pleased with that. We have also bought our Christmas turkey this week, our beef joint for Boxing day, so meatwise Christmas is sorted. We just need to see if our friends we have over for New Year are staying for New Year's Day too, if they are we will be cooking a roast dinner for them, so we will need a joint of meat for that. Our freezer is just full of meat so no room for any more meat at the moment!!! But we may go late Christmas Eve to see if we can find a bargain bit of meat for NYD. We will see.

All of our Christmas presents are now done and dusted, so no more expense there. I just need to wrap them all now, eek! I keep putting it off, but I really must start this weekend, otherwise it is just going to turn in to a rushed, stressful nightmare! I also need to get some of them posted, so really must get the postal ones done tomorrow if nothing else.

We have had a major spanner in the works thrown our way for next year, but I will get in to explaining that in this diary in the new year. Life would be boring without a spanner in the works, right?! (I keep telling myself this!)

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Wow, it has been almost a whole month since I last posted! Definitely not intentional to leave such a big gap between updates, but I went through a really bad patch in December and was just concentrating on functioning, getting through work and my life responsibilities, I didn't really have anything left for anything else. Then Christmas happened, which was hectic, and so I just had to do my best to get through all of that.

Christmas was ok, but I am glad it is over and life is back to normal. I just saw it as an interruption in our plans for our life, our home, clearing debt, saving etc. Not that we spent much over Christmas, I just always feel like everything seems to stop at Christmas and New Year if that makes sense? The whole time I just sit thinking of everything I want to be getting on with and sorting out!!!

We did our first grocery shop since before Christmas this weekend, which I think shows how much everyone massively overbuys foodwise!!! I am glad to be back on track with slimming world (5 pounds gain over the festive season :eek:). I get fed up with all the rich food, it makes me feel like crap. We have been back on track for a week and I feel so much better already. Meal plan and shopping spends below. Oh, at the last weigh in before Christmas I achieved my 6.5 stone award, total weight loss at that point was 6st 11. I am hoping to get my 7 stone award by the end of January.

Saturday - Homemade burgers, slimming world chips and salad
Sunday - Beef stew with slimming world roast potatoes
Monday - Singapore noodles
Tuesday - Pork meatballs
Wednesday - Cottage pie
Thursday - Omelette and chips
Friday - Lamb tagine

Tesco - 4pt milk; 2 Heinz beans, Frylight, Heinz salad cream, Beansprouts, 2 Colgate sensitive toothpaste, Ham, 8 lowfat sausages, 2 400g Hovis nimble loaves, 1kg courgettes, medium egg noodles, Colgate toothpaste. £18.37

Aldi - 6 tins plum tomatoes, 300g Nescafe coffee, red onions, frozen jumbo king prawns, 830g mature cheddar, vegetable stew pack, tomato puree, dark soy sauce, 2 nets of large oranges, 6 pink lady apples, beetroot, family pack of mushrooms, 4 garlic bulbs, 3 large flat mushrooms, mangetout, spring onions, 1kg carrots, cucumber, fresh ginger, black grapes, iceberg lettuce, 36 wheat bisks, fusilli pasta, 6 tomatoes, 12 eggs, 300g smoked back bacon, 18 toilet rolls. £38.52

Butchers - 1kg steak mince £6.50

Total spend on groceries is £63.39, a bit more than I would have liked, but we haven't done a proper weekly grocery shop since before Christmas, so considering that, it isn't bad at all.

My £400 overpayment on my loan has now gone through, and I have had acknowledgement from the Co-Op via letter, gaining me a whopping (!) 56.91 rebate of interest! It is a start, we are hoping to overpay £1000 at the end of this month. I am so looking forward to clearing this loan, I personally will be debt free (with the exception of our mortgage) for the first time since I was 18. It will be weird, but a good weird. Then we can make a start on HF's debt (he has a loan and a credit card). But there is the spanner in the works to contend with too which may change how things go for us, all will be revealed shortly!

I am now off to update my email signature to reflect how things have changed in terms of our debt figures, I don't think there will be much change sadly, but you never know!

I hope anyone reading has had a good Christmas and New Year :beer:

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Signature all updated, we have paid almost £3000 off our debt since October, and have now paid off 18.77% of our debt since October. I would have liked it to be more (it could always be better, lets face it!!!), but to have paid off almost 20% of our debt in just over 3 months is amazing, and shows what we achieve when we really get our heads down. I am proud of us.

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

One more thing! I have redone our statement of account, as our income has increased slightly, and some of our debts have gone too. Here you go! All comments welcome, and don't even get me started on BT!!!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 3

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1465
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2111
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3576

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 788
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 31
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 40
Water rates............................. 13
Telephone (land line)................... 51.71
Mobile phone............................ 34
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 320
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 36
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 17
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1833.89


Assets
Cash.................................... 875
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6500
Other assets............................ 6000
Total Assets............................ 138375


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 115939...(788)......4.64
Total secured & HP debts...... 115939....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................2269......85........0
Co-Op Loan.....................4649.32...172.1.....10.74
First Direct Loan..............5926.78...153.......11.9
Total unsecured debts..........12845.1...410.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,576
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,833.89
Available for debt repayments........... 1,742.11
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 410.1
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,332.01

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 138,375
Total HP & Secured debt................. -115,939
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,845.1
Net Assets.............................. 9,590.9

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Morning everyone, I hope you are all doing well.

I don't have much to report now until payday to be honest, not much money spare for debt busting, we tend to do it all on payday and then that is it for the month! I will be revealing the "spanner in the works" I have been referring to lately today! We didn't really do a proper shop this weekend, we have quite a bit left in, so have decided to use that food first before buying more in (we hate food waste, it is criminal). We didn't cook a few of the planned meals this week, just had jacket potatoes with salad instead, we just didn't feel like big meals much this week. So we have only spent £11.70 this weekend on shopping, details below. We bagged two (admittedly small!) beef joints in the yellow label cabinet last night, but the size was perfect for just the two of us. When we left the supermarket, we discovered only one had scanned in, so we got a naughty freebie this weekend, the guilt is killing me!

2 x 4pt skimmed milk £2
2 x packs of beetroot 98p
reduced pack of roast ham on the bone from the deli counter £1.05
reduced pack of roast turkey from the deli counter 68p
roast beef joint from the deli counter £1.85
roast beef joint from the deli counter (free :shocked: )
low fat sausaged £1.50
2 x 400g wholemeal Kingsmill £1
12 free range medium eggs £1.75


So, on to our spanner works. It comes in the form of a baby due in August :eek: !!! We are in a state of shock about it at the moment to be honest, I am really struggling mentally with it. We have been trying for 2.5 years, and I think I had just moved on thinking it would never happen. Now it is happening, I am struggling to get my head round it. I will get there I guess! This only adds the pressure for me to get our unsecured debt sorted once and for all. I don't want our stupid decisions to affect another person. We should be able to clear my loan by the time baby comes. Then we are struggling to decide whether to just let HF's loan run and instead build up a big savings balance for while I am on maternity leave. Though we think we should be fine due to not living particularly extravagantly, though we are in no way naive about the additional costs of having a baby.

I had my first midwife appointment on Friday, and in the pack given to me there was a leaflet from "ask mas" with information about a part of their website where you can go to calculate the cost of having a child, so we will be doing that today so we get more of an idea of what to expect financially. We can prepare accordingly that way. I will be taking a full year of maternity leave, so we need to prepare for me not earning anything for the last 3 months of that leave.

I know we have probably bought it too early, but we bought the travel system yesterday. We saw a Quinny buzz on ebay last weekend that was a great price and in great condition, with lots of extras too. So we visited kiddicare to have a play with the various prams/pushchairs/travel systems. So many of them were a nightmare to collapse down, put together, put up etc!!! Some were so heavy I could barely lift them! How do parents manage with those ones?! We really liked the Quinny Buzz and the Cosatto giggle, they were so light and easy to collapse, put together etc, we knew it would be one of those two. The Cosatto giggle travel system was actually quite reasonable at £470 for the full travel system including car seat. The Quinny Buzz was more expensive, and we have worked it out that to buy everything in the bundle on ebay, it would have cost at best £850 at Kiddicare, £1050 everywhere else :eek: Anyway, to cut a long story short, we bought the Quinny buzz bundle from the ebayer, £185 for everything. A total bargain, and in excellent condition (the lady said she had three pushchairs!), we think the carrycot has never been used. The lady said there were a few marks on it, but we can't see any dents or marks on the frame other than where the hydraulic lift bit has slid up and down when collapsed and put back up. We are chuffed to bits with it, apologies to anyone who thinks we are bad people for buying, shock horror, a second hand travel system for our child! Although we can afford £1000 for a travel system, there was no way we were going to pay that, it is £1000 that could be paid off my loan, a much more important thing for our future.

My friend has her last baby next month (baby number 7!), so she has said not to buy much as by the time our baby arrives she won't need her moses basket, other bits and pieces, and will have lots of clothes for us, so that is lucky for us too.

The purchase of the travel system has used up the majority of our spare cash this month, but we don't mind, it is one of the biggest purchases for our baby done and out of the way. Yesterday we did go and spend some of the £50-ish boots points I have on my card on some sleepsuits, bodysuits etc in the Boots 70% sale. There wasn't much left, but we did get a few bits and pieces, it is a start! We also went and looked at a few other shops that sell children's clothes, as we have no children of our own, we wanted to see which shops we liked for children's clothes and which we didn't. We liked H & M, and I confess we picked up a few bits in there in the sale. Primark baby items were very cheap, we didn't like the boy/girl stuff much, but the unisex stuff was nice, and I will go and pick up a lot of sleepsuits, muslin squares, scratch mitts etc in there. Monsoon was to die for, but will definitely only be the odd thing bought in there due to the price, and will definitely only be buying in there at sale times! We did buy a little coat and some scratch mitts that were 70% off so only came to £14.20. John Lewis had nice children's clothes, and yes they are more expensive, but at the same time the quality was nicer, they felt nicer if that makes sense. But honestly speaking, when they are growing so fast, can you really justify John
Lewis/Monsoon prices?! I am sure some parents will have views on this, feel free to share!

So, that is it from me really. I hope I start to feel better mentally and emotionally about this pregnancy soon, it hasn't been great so far! Physically I have been fine, it's the mental side of things that has taken me by surprise.

Kitten868

Congrats on the baby news. My main bit of advice is to not go crazy buying. You don't know what you need until you get them. One woman swears by an all singing all dancing pram, the other by a baby bath blah blah. It's what suits you - none of them have had your baby. I'm a baby carrier girl all the way. It's very easy to get it online when they're born Amazon or eBay or whatever you like. But the one must have that I have never had anyone deny is a jumperoo. These bad boys can cost £125 if you want. I watched mine on Amazon for months and got it for £50. Loads of people sell them second hand and you can clean it all easy. Anyway, getting carried away.
So what's happening with your home renovation plans? I'd get some serious money together before nesting kicks in the good news is you HAVE to declutter to fit them in! So start clearing up, selling on eBay to get the money in before you're too pregnant to be bothered.
Babies don't have to be expensive (except mattresses) x

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Thanks Kitten868. We definitely won't be buying ridiculous amounts for this kid, we hate "stuff", and from what I can see, most of it is so unnecessary. Pushchair of some kind (done!), a cot and mattress (I agree with you on the mattress thing) and bedding, clothes obviously, bottle steriliser. I am not going to buy things like baby baths, vibrating/rocking chair, etc etc. They aren't essential, and like you say, if we do need them, we can just get them delivered through Amazon Prime or something.

Our home doesn't really need any renovation as such, it just needs decorating really, it's a typical beige ex-rental. But reasonably ok to live in as it is for now. Our main priority is the clearance of my loan for now, it will free up almost £200 a month once it is paid off, essential for when my maternity leave starts. We already have almost £1000 saved towards the bathroom, and have almost enough Tesco clubcard vouchers to exchange for £100 in Topps Tiles vouchers for the floor and wall tiles. We are going to get someone out to quote for fitting the bathroom, tiling it etc, the ceiling also needs to be redone as the artex has gone in one corner. Then we will know how much we need to get it all done. It is our number one priority to be done in the house.

Sadly, there is no decluttering to be done, or sales to be made, that was all done before we bought and moved in here last April. We are SO averse to "stuff" and "clutter", we just don't entertain it generally.

We have actually lucked out in terms of baby stuff, as our friend is having her 7th and final child next month, and has already told us not to buy anything as she will pass on her moses basket (do you even need a moses basket? It is something I am unsure about!), baby clothes, toys etc, as by the time our child is born, hers will be 6 months old and not needing some of those things. She also has the much fabled Jumperoo, I know what you mean about parents swearing by them! To be honest I see them on the local selling pages all the time for between £20-£40, so will just get one off there. I am not precious about preloved things, as long as they are in reasonable condition (I don't mind if they just need a bit of a clean). I am glad to meet someone else with the mantra "babies don't have to be expensive". My friend who is having her 7th baby next month also says "babies are as expensive as you make them". Her 7th child will be using the same pram as her 1st (now 18 years old!), playing with some of the same toys, wearing some of her 4th, 5th and 6th child's clothes, using their blankets etc. My friend believes in taking care of things, this is how she has kept hold of so many toys etc for all of her children.

We do have the paint and paper for our living room, we just need flooring. We did initially discuss carpet, but are now going down the wood flooring route. Due to having pets,we are favouring wood flooring with rugs, hardflooring is easier to keep clean, carpets always seem to get so ruined so quickly with pets. I am sure some will think hardflooring isn't good for children, but plenty of my friends have hardflooring and have children, so we are sticking to our guns.

Any other tips feel free to share!

Kitten868

I'd call that home renovation It's more than decorating!

Ugh tips? Breastfeeding is great. When my dd1 went to formula at 14 months it is so expensive! And that's not even as many feeds as a newborn. Ignore fb in the uk people don't care about breastfeeding in public.
I'm a bit of a hippy mum and never thought I would be. I thought I'd be strict. My sister told me I'm an attachment parent but do not worry you don't have to fit into a particular category - do each bit as you want. Don't buy the books. They're rubbish. And you get emails now to tell you 'your baby is the size of an apple and yes you feel tired'. Bounty packs are rubbish now and don't bother with sudocrem it's all about metanium.
I'll stop and wait for direct questions from now on. Except stop watching the news. It'll make you cry everyday.

It's so tricky balancing out buying new stuff like floors whilst paying back debt. How do you manage? I'm in knots over buying an ikea wardrobe. Seperate saving pots or buy on credit and keep hammering the debts just the same? I'm more for the latter right now x

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Thanks Kitten for the tips. I am definitely going to do what is right for us as a family, every child is different after all, and like you, I don't feel the need to fit in to a particular category. I am just going to see what happens and what works for the three of us. I am steering well clear of books, I think I may have took the wind out of my friend's sails, as she said about getting a baby book as some are "very good", I was feeling even less happy about being pregnant at that moment than I am now!, so I pretty much shut her down and said that I didn't really want to "go there". I feel bad when I think about it now! After the awful stories I have read about Bounty reps in hospitals with new mothers, I wouldn't sign up to Bounty even if they offered £5000! But my friend who is just about to have her 7th child has told me they are rubbish now compared to how they used to be, so you are the second person to tell me they are rubbish.

We are definitely clearing our debts before buying things, redecorating things etc. It will just give us peace of mind, as we are never going to be as well of again as we are now (once my loan is cleared, my wages in their entirety are spare money, so it will set us up in a good position for the future).

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

OK, so shopping done for the week, and meal plan all sorted. We have very little money left for groceries this week (roll on payday) due to it being ages since I got paid before Christmas (I put the money in the grocery account each month). As a result, the menu plan has been mainly put together from what we have in the freezer and cupboards, which sadly isn't a lot as we only buy what we need most weeks!!!

We spent £25 this week. I have lost the Tesco receipt so don't have the exact figure, but know it was around £9.94ish as it was a fraction under £10.

Tesco - 3 x 400g Kingsmill brown loaves, 2 x 4pt skimmed milks, 4 mushrooms, Lettuce, Tomatoes, reduced smoked ham from the deli counter, reduced turkey from the deli counter, 800g mature cheddar. £9.94. Ham and Turkey I am most excited about, more interesting sandwiches and salads for the week at work! Also, when I checked the receipt at home, the ham didn't scan in at the self checkout (the usual error message didn't flash for some reason), so £3-ish saved there.
Morrisons - Horseradish sauce £1.38
Aldi - 4 x 2l sparkling water, 4pt skimmed milk, jar of gherkins, net of large oranges, tin of plum tomatoes, large jar of extra light mayonnaise, swede, 500g carrots, 600g parsnips, 750g mushrooms, black grapes, savoy cabbage, cucumber, 8 British apples, 15 free range eggs. £14.18


Meal plan for the week:

Friday - HF had omelette and SW chips, I had a sandwich with SW chips.
Saturday - Beef stew, SW roast potatoes, cabbage.
Sunday - Roast beef, SW roast potatoes, swede, carrots, parsnips, green beans.
Monday - Jacket potato with salad.
Tuesday - SW burgers, SW chips and salad.
Wednesday - Omelette, SW chips and salad.
Thursday - Frozen pizza express pizza to share, SW chips and salad. (Saving all of our SW syns up for this pizza, I can't wait!)
Friday - Omelette, SW chips and salad.

I am happy to report that I lost 2.5 pounds at slimming world this week, just another 2.5 pounds to go and I am back to my pre-Christmas weight. Honestly, you put it all on in less than a week, and it takes a month-ish to lose it again!!! Nightmare! I am aiming for 2.5 pounds off next week. I am happy that the weight is still coming off despite being pregnant. I am going to be very careful with my weight during this pregnancy, after losing around 7.5 stone, I am not going back there again, pregnant or not. Once back to my pre-Christmas weight, I will be 7 pounds lighter than when I found out I was pregnant, which is a good place to be. I know a lot of people in "my real life" think I am not being safe, being ridiculous wanting to watch my weight during pregnancy (the comments are already coming thick and fast, such as "oh treat yourself, you are pregnant, it doesn't matter", and a comment regarding a Pizza Hut feast on my friend's FB where I commented about it killing me that I couldn't have it which read "oh it is fine, do you know how much calcium is in that cheese?", yes, and all of the ridiculous levels of fat and calories!!!!!!!!!!!!!). This is why I have stopped telling people, I am ridiculously irritated by the change in people towards me already, the inappropriate comments etc. I am a hermit already as a result, not so much in shutting myself away at home (we have been out on days out etc quite a lot), but more in avoiding people and their stupid, hurtful/inappropriate comments!!!! Rant over!!!!