Debt-Free wanna be vs Maternity pay. Determined to stay on track.

debbie_debt

hannahroberts1985 wrote: »

Hey Debbie, wowzers look at your signature! If anyone should be asking for advice it's me?!? How have you managed that?

I didn't buy much for DS2 and had everything from DS1!
Breastfeeding (if you can) I've just finished and am now spending £50 a month more!!
Definitely start a diary it's a long old slow slog with minimal money coming in and I really found mine kept me focused.

So you'll have just over 2 years between your children? You'll be running back to work after I tell you ha ha! Maternity leave with just a baby is lovely.....with a baby and a toddler it's hard work. But you have to look at the positives you get to spend special time with the toddler that you wouldn't have gotten at work. Also in a few years time they will be best of friends with being so close together. Well that's what I'm hoping anyway. X

Haha thanks Hannah. I'm pleased with how far we've come in a short space of time, but it makes me even more irritated with us for letting it go on so long and get so bad in the first place.

We've had some good luck to help us along the way - a £4k tax rebate and a gift from my Mum when she retired has definitely helped. There's been a lot of sacrifice too - I've started self-employed work on top of my day job to get some extra money in and so I know I've work there I'm allowed to do on mat leave to keep us afloat. Do you do anything self-employed while you're off? I've tried to be more frugal day to day and we've forfeited an abroad hols this year in favour of sending that money to the debts. We also now have an actual budget and stick to it - me and my OH take £150 a month each in cash for everything other than petrol and food shopping. If we run out of money before the end of the month then it's tough :rotfl:

I have got a diary but it's gone off the boil a bit the last few months - you inspired me to kick it off again today! Thank you :beer:

We have 2 kids already - a 17 year old, a 2 year old and bump on the way, so there'll be 2 yrs 8 months between the youngest two, but just short of 18 years oldest to youngest. Sounds scary but actually it works great - he's like a third (mostly just fun and entertaining) parent in the house. I didn't have any desire to run back to work last time I was on mat leave, but I can anticipate things being a bit tougher this time!!! We'll see...

Debbie

hannahroberts1985

Sorry it took a while to reply kit day at work so didn't have chance to check in.

Your on the right path now though so that's all that matters but I know that feeling very well! Fools we were! It's like a slap in the face isn't it!

What do you do for the self employed work if you don't mind me asking? I'm not sure I have any skills! The only extras I've been earning while on mat leave is too cash back and a few ebay sales.

Sounds similar to me and DP we have £175 a month pocket money you still need a few treats and with kids you need to go places. It's a lot easier in the summer to do cheap days out though isn't it.

Definitely keep at the diary you've done so well and with may leave it'll slow down your progress so it's good to keep seeing progress and ranting about it. Shopping makes me happy momenteraly then I check my debt and am like !!!! should not have done that! I can't wait to spend money guilt free!!!

Oh the 17 year old must be a great help with entertaining the two year old! That was our main issue when DS2 came along DS1 had all our attention then bamb he didn't know what had hit him. Your 30 free hours should kick in mid mat leave too which will be nice. X

hannahroberts1985

Morning,

Quick post nothing much to report but feeling like I want to go buy unnessesary items!

Send back my new part time work contract after the school run this morning so that's that done. I'm quite happy they have taken 20%per day off sometimes if you have an availablility too they take 25% but as I'm available to work busy days I think I avoided that one.

Pay day a week today. I'm hoping my kit days go on and I come out with £850 as that's what we need to cover bills etc! If I get paid for all kit days this month I should be due that much. It's bonus payday but I'm sure last time on mat leave once you'd ticked over to stat mat pay you weren't classed as working so didn't qualify for it but I'm still a little hopeful I'll get a cheeky something extra. Fingers crossed. X

hannahroberts1985

Going over to my sisters for the day tomorrow it's a 50 mile round trip. She messaged today asking if we wanted to go to a cafe for lunch. I left it a few hours and then messaged back saying I had no pocket money left and could we stay in to eat. :money: I was feeling like it's rude to tell someone your poor and ask them to cook for you but I offered to pop to the shops on the way and she said not too. She knows we're saving and budgeting hard. Glad I said no though or I would have felt super guilty. :j

hannahroberts1985

Realised something that I hadn't factored in....next September when DS starts school our child care bill will double! Crap crap crap! (Sorry)! I thought we had a couple of years clear run with having £300-£500 spare a month to get the £20000 in the bank! !!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!

Lazy morning in the the boys today as it was throwing it down this morning both are napping now and we'll head for a nice long walk and splash in the puddles once they are both up. I've no real plans this weekend but also have no money so that's why. It's nice staying home and having chilled time with the boys and it's so nice for a walk around here I don't feel hard done by staying local and having nds's :0) x

debbie_debt

hannahroberts1985 wrote: »

What do you do for the self employed work if you don't mind me asking? I'm not sure I have any skills! The only extras I've been earning while on mat leave is too cash back and a few ebay sales.
X

Hi Hannah,
I'm a Nurse and work for a distance learning company self-employed assessing Level 2 courses from home. It's good money and really flexible so I can fit it in as and when I can once the baby comes along. They do non-nursey courses too, like business admin and childcare, so if you fancy it and might have some skills to share, google them - they're called the Skills Network.

Sounds like you've had a bit of a crappy revelation about childcare bills! Rubbish!! It's a horrible thought - have you looked into the new tax-free childcare accounts you can get? Might save a bit.

I'm always looking for ideas for free days out with kiddies so any ideas of stuff you do would be very welcome!

Keep going!

Debbie

hannahroberts1985

Thanks Debbie I looked into skills network but didn't go to until unfortunately. I did pass the detail onto my sister who is a nurse looking to quite and start up her own osteopath business so this could help her whole getting things up and running.

We do use the childcare voucher scheme :0).

Payday here and it's all gone already. So much food brought with the approved food order then muscle food and then Tesco shop coming this morning but that's us stocked up for a months now bar milk, fruit, bag and bread. Car is booked in for a service next week as it needs to be done yearly for the warranty on the car. DP gets discount though so £90 instead of £150.

Work won't let me work the kit days while on holiday so one more shifts then it'll be 6 weeks off 4 on full pay. Also no bonus in my pay check but I think it was just wishful thinking anyway.

Just keep swimming xx

hannahroberts1985

Morning quick pop in as it's been a few days. Not much to report but feeling down about money so thought I'd check in. I think it'll be two more uncertain months with money next month I think should be good as I'm on full pay for four weeks but then we have to massive childcare bills so we shall see. I just want it to settle so I know how things will look once we are back to normal.

Make credit score was out the other day and I went up 32 points and my hit rating was up 10% this is exciting. Also 40%of debt now gone!! Whoop!

DP took my car for its service today. The money will be from his overdraft and cleared when he's paid I know it's silly when we have savings but I've got this mental block with the £2000 and really really don't want to use it!

DS's birthday next week and we have a few cheap family days out planned thanks to the national trust. We have a day when we haven't picked our outing yet thinking the Zoo but that's quite pricey hummm DS will love it though.

Working tonorroe so I'll pop and pick up some little cakes for Friday we are meeting a couple of ds'a friends at the park for a picnic for his birthday. I need to check if I have a few balloons, banners and hats left over from last year for the little family BBQ we are having.

Waiting on a bill from my childminder the boys start there next month and she said she needs payment by 1st so guessing that'll be through any day now. We could do with being a month ahead in the childcare voucher fund and DP gets paid on the 28th and it can take 4 working days to process the payment. May have to take a hit next month and get a month ahead.

Think that's all that's going round my brain at the moment money wise.

hannahroberts1985

Still poor just incase you were wondering!

I need to quit work it's costing me to much money going into town!
£5 on balloons for DS's birthday which weren't needed but sure he'll love.
£2 spent on a pasty which wasn't needed damn pmt! I always eat to much and want to change things during pmt.
£5 spent on a couple of cactus I'm feeling very House plantie at the moment. Hopefully that'll curb me for a while.
£15 in Tesco loo roll and a couple of little birthday cakes one for our play date tomorrow and one for DS to take to school.

Park plans cancelled tomorrow as the weather looks grim we have booked in at an inflatable play session £2 for an hour so not to bad then we will head for a happy meal with the boys after and take the cake I've brough. No proper party for DS but I wanted to do something with his best buddies.

Think that's all for now.

hannahroberts1985

Morning,

Still feeling all poor and like it'll never happen with the mortgage. I think I need to find time to start reading a few other diaries again that really helped me now feel so alone in this. Meet up with a couple of DS's friends yesterday who both have amazing houses and are going on a few holidays over summer etc. Aghhhh why were we so silly with money all those years back!!! I looked into the help to buy houses last night which makes things seem a bit more achievable but then the houses aren't in our area and would mean moving back into town which we don't really want. We shall see.

DP got £100 bonus in shopping vouchers from work and we chose Tesco as we don't really need to buy anything so I'll pop with the boys this morning and get the fresh bits we need. I need to make a list and stick to it as I'm awful at going shopping.

DS's birthday celebrations start next Wednesdays and are all outdoor things so we can have picnics but the weather report says rain all week! Fingers crossed this changes or we will have to rethink plans.

My bank account is looking so grim already. We really need a couple of extra tight months to just get back on track we are always £100-£200 over in our accounts by pay day and that needs to stop! This month it was the car servic but then we are meant to save monthly for this but I keep transferring it back to cover the short fall. We have a freezer full of meat from the muscle foods order though so hopefully that should keep food bills down. I think the only place left to save is budgeting more on food. Maybe a few cheaper meals need to be on the menu weekly.

Right best get sorted to go shopping. X