2016 = Finding our forever home xx

Kittencat

Hello out there :beer::beer:

I am SO glad I've found you!!

We (husband and i) have always been big spenders. Always had what ever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.

4 years ago we had a little girl (who took 9 years and I was 39 and had given up on having a family). I took a year off on maternity which i enjoyed so much that we decided that i would take a career break, which lasted 3 years!! We really wanted this to work, having only one pay was going to be hard but we had to do it........and we did!!

My husband works 12 hour shifts (emergency services) so only works 3 days a week. He did the odd overtime when we needed extras.

I went back to work at the beginning of this year (part time), the extra money has been great but we have saved it! We have done SO well this last year.

But.........we are starting to slip and I would like to move house as we have outgrown this one. We have £9000 in savings but would like to make that £15000 before we put the house on the market etc.

We have a really good mortgage rate (husband does all that) apparently the company doesn't do mortgages anymore and our rate is really good (fab financial adviser). Problem then is if we up our mortgage we loose the good rate so we are saving instead, we only want £20,000 more than the house we own now.

So.....reason for being here is to be better than we already are, we waste a lot, I spend way too much on my little girl, I need to write it all down so I know what I'm doing. I have found reading other peoples journeys helps a lot. Someone asked me the other day 'how much do you spend on groceries?' I was so embarrassed as I honestly don't know. So I have started with writing down what I spend on food for this month (I'm shocked already).

I would also like to be more organised in my daily living, I can be a little ditzy at times. Husband does the money side of things but I have taken an interest (now we are saving) we now sit down after our pay days and decide how much we need for the month and how much goes into savings. We can do better!

Ok thats enough talking for tonight, will update tomorrow.

Xxx

Newlywed_Saving_Ninja

Welcome Kitten, and Happy new year to you. You will get lots of help here, lots of ideas and tips etc. There are threads on MSE that address grocery spends etc, it may be worth having a read to get ideas on how to to reduce what you spend. We meal plan every week, and then build our shopping list from that, only buying what we need for the week and nothing else. It is hard for a start to stick to the shopping list when you are going around the supermarket, but after a few weeks it just becomes second nature.

It is a shame that moving would result in you losing the great mortgage deal you have, but you may be surprised when you start looking what deals are out there, ok, so it may not be quite as good as you have now, but it may still be pretty good.

I am going to follow your diary, I am looking forward to following your progress over this year

sugar23

Hi .. looking forward to following you are your journey .. good luck

X

Kittencat

Hi Diary.

Thanks for reading Ninja and Sugar.

Have had a quick peek at the Grocery thread and I'm going to look more closely at what I'm spending as yesterday i popped into asda to do a top up shop and came out spending £108 which is terrible. I did buy some pretty dresses and tops for the little one mind. I like to bulk shop so when i see things like toilet paper, kitchen roll etc on offer then i tend to buy a few. Don't know if i should stop doing that.

I've had a good day today, i finished work 2hrs early as i have lots of leave left, met a few other mummies in the cafe for a quick natter before pick up time. Bought myself a cup of tea and another mum a coffee (don't get to do this now I'm back in work, it was nice).
Got home from school and husband is day off so he watched little one and i grabbed a little 2 mile run (not far but only just started back). So after colouring my hair (the grey comes through quickly these days) cooking food, bit of ironing, little ones bath, husband is now doing bed time, i haven't stopped!
Money wise has been good today, we sold a car seat that little one has grown out of for £50, i emptyed the change in my purse as it was getting heavy and put £10.12 i my money box. Spent £4 in coffee shop.

I think writting it down like this will be good for me.

Tomorrow I'm in work during school hours which is good as i get to drop little one into school and pick her up, only draw back is i work 5 days a week so i don't really get much me time. Have made packed lunches for myself and little one already so I'm not taking my purse to work. So im planning on a NSD as we have full cupboards.

Will try and pop in every evening to jot down my spends.

Speak later xxx

Today = spent = £4, made £50.

Kittencat

Dear Dairy

It's been a funny old day today.

Wasn't a NSD, forgot we needed milk £2, and daughters xmas concert dvd £12.

Relaxing evening tonight, making a sausage dinner for tea and relax when little one goes to bed with the Mr.

Will pop in later, thanks for being here diary im addicted already. Xx

Today = spent £14

Kittencat

Hi Diary

Another busy one today.

Went to work with a packed lunch, little one also had packed lunch.

Daughter had Dance class so had to pay £10 for todays and next weeks lesson and as it is a late evening we always have a chippy afterwards which was £6ish.

On the plus side though i sold a baby food blender for £7 on local facebook page.

No running as it has been busy so will try and get out tomorrow.

Going to start doing lists, so tomorrow i need to.....

* put recycling out before work/school run
* grab a run (2miles)
* ironing
* make spag bol for tea
* try to make a NSD.

Hope everyone is well and doing well

Today = spent £17, made £7 = £10

Pop in later
xx

Kittencat

There is no real structure to my diary is there? I think if i had started at the beginning of the month i would have calculated all my spending and put it into categories.

Going to try to change that for feb.

Any tips guys?

Kittencat

Kittencat wrote: »

* put recycling out ..............husband did this
* grab a run (2miles).............mmmmm maybe tomorrow
* ironing.........nope
* make spag bol for tea......forgot to get mince out of freezer, had something else
* try to make a NSD.......not doing well at all.......needed milk and bagels £4 ish

xx

Not good today, we have had to spend a lot the last 2 weeks, we have upgraded both our cars which we have covered with our savings. So our money is all over the place at the moment with savings going in and out. The good thjng is we only needed to take £2700 out of the savings and with the money we got for the sale of both cars we did well. These cars should last a good few years as they are a lot newer.

Work was busy today and i find because i work 5 days a week 0915-2.45pm, its straight to work from doing the school run, then straight from work to the school run that i have no proper time to sort the house out. I shouldnt moan as im lucky to work school hours but still!

I'm going to sit down the next couple of days and actually write down all our outgoings etc. From the top of my head a basic monthly income is £3100(thats basic it is normally more) bills = £1100. So we need to break it all down and see where it actually goes. We often put £500+ in to savings, where does the rest go??

Hope your all well and looking after your pennies.

Kittencat

Today has been a NSD!!! About time.

Busy day again, we have had black ice here this morning, so bad that our neighbour fell whilst taking his dog for a walk at 0630. I heard him shouting in the street, poor gent had crawled home. He is in his early 70s, very fit, often runs, ex army sgt major (something like that), my husband went out to help (he's a paramedic) Ambulance couldn't get down our street for an hour. Gritters final came and he was spine boarded to a&e. Poor man I'm just glad i heard him as he was on the floor for 3/4 hour.
The main roads were fine it's just the streets. Nightmare!!

Went to work, little one had inset day so husband was home to look afer her. Packed lunch for me in work (had one all week.....how good am i?).

Spoke to husband last night about money stuff, he said we are saving around £800 a month (more than i thought) and doesnt really want to cut anything back, but i still feel we can do better with groceries and silly things. So I'm still going to continue. Anyway I LIKE IT HERE XX

Kittencat

Good Morning Diary

Just thought I'd pop in to say hi.

Plans today are:-

* do a wash load
* family swimming lunch time
* Ironing
* 2 mile jog
* hoover
* general tidy up

If anyone reads this, whats your thoughts on online food shopping? I do this every now and again, say once a month. Normally if i need a big shop. I read somewhere that doing the delivery saver and then ordering every week may be a good idea. My biggest problem is going shopping and buying too much. Thoughts?

Kittencat

Hi Diary

Tired again today, this often happens. I have weeks of being really busy then i have a few days of needing rest. So i have been in all day. Husband took daughter swimming which was nice because i had a couple of hours to myself. Did some tiding, ironing and two loads of washing. Just having those couple of hours have done wonders.

Husband has been nagging me for ages to upgrade my mobile. So today i gave in and he has just picked up a new one for me £170. Technology is not my thing.

Tomorrow my parents always pop in for a cuppa. Then i need to do a shop, going to Aldi i think.
Im also getting a little addicted reading other diaries, problem then is a get to know someones diary then forget who is who because they are all good.