A pound stretching maternity

humblepii

Hi MrsSave, congratulations on your pregnancy! I am due in December too - first baby for us. Can't believe how organised you are! We've haven't bought or even decided on anything yet but had our 20 week scan last week so now is the time to pull our finger out! Thankfully our finances aren't in too bad shape (thanks to me clearing a ton of debt in my 20s with the help of this forum) but determined to have an MSE maternity. Will watch your progress with interest. Good luck!

MrsSave

humblepii wrote: »

Hi MrsSave, congratulations on your pregnancy! I am due in December too - first baby for us. Can't believe how organised you are! We've haven't bought or even decided on anything yet but had our 20 week scan last week so now is the time to pull our finger out! Thankfully our finances aren't in too bad shape (thanks to me clearing a ton of debt in my 20s with the help of this forum) but determined to have an MSE maternity. Will watch your progress with interest. Good luck!

Congratulations to you too! It's so exciting!! I definitely wasn't this organised first time around, but I think it's easier second time because we've got lots left over and can be used again, and then we've got a good idea of what else we need. With my work hours being cut in a few weeks, it has actually worked out well that we've been so organised.

I've only very recently got back into this MSE mindset. I found things started to slip easily, but definitely need to be ultra careful now.

MrsSave

I've just made the mistake of working out how much it will cost for my son's school dinners once he starts school full time (next Easter). Around £50 a month. Ouch! I definitely want him to have school dinners instead of sandwiches, but as I'll still be on maternity and every penny will have been accounted for, I will need to work out where this is going to come from. Dh gets paid weekly, so I think I'll have to stash the extra money from one 5 Friday month into a school dinner account!

Hubby and son went to collect the camping chair, and a couple of baby Christmas gifts, which were reduced from £7 to £2. We also needed milk, so our spends today have been around £12. We've had a good sort out downstairs today, and I found £13 in an envelope, which I remember putting there last month for spending money and then forgot about. That's almost 3 swimming sessions for me and my son over the Summer, so will leave a little more in the accounts which will go towards the degree certificate. £17 left to find.

This week's plan

Monday - my son is in nursery. I'm going to have a sort out upstairs and start wrapping his birthday presents. I'll have to remember to ask hubby to take them out from under the bed this evening, as I'm paranoid the bed will fall back down on me, especially as I'm pregnant!!). Dinner will be pasta and cheese sauce with gammon and broccoli. Also, my pay day, so will move all money to the correct accounts ready to start a new month.

Tuesday - 20 week scan day. I'm so excited/anxious/scared/nervous. I keep dreaming about it.We've already paid for the scan photos (did it at the 12 week scan as we didn't realise that they were free now....things have changed since I was expecting my son!). Will then pop to the shop to buy a baby outfit or 2, but that money is budgeted for. Dinner - homemade chips (possibly sweet potato), left over gammon and pickles.

Wednesday - food delivery in the morning. Will then pop to sort out ds's school trousers. I've decided it's easier to pop to Asda, even though it's around a 30 minute drive. I can also pick up a couple of baby vests (I like Asda baby clothes) and there's less chance of being spotted as we're keeping the gender a secret! Dinner - spag bol.

Thursday - I think I'll take my son swimming, and to pick up his school uniform (I'll have to try so hard not to cry!! :rotfl: ). For dinner we're going out. It is our wedding anniversary so we're eating out (tesco voucher style!!). We've decided not to buy gifts this year for each other. Our son is sleeping over at my inlaws!

Friday - son is in nursery. I have a hair appointment in the morning (very much needed!) and then after lunch I'm going to go to the supermarket to pick up party food for my son's birthday party as well as a cake. Dinner - chicken fajitas.

Saturday - we've been invited to a family bbq so that's dinner sorted.

Sunday - party for my son. Party food will be dinner I'm sure!!

It shouldn't be a majorly expensive week. The money for school uniform has already been budgeted, as has money for baby clothes. I've got a pot I save into throughout the year for my son's party so the food will come from that. Hair is budgeted for, food on our anniversary will be using tesco vouchers, so just money for drinks. I'll be on soft drinks, and if hubby does drink, he'll only have a couple at most but I guess he'll drive so he'll be on soft drinks too. Swimming money is sitting there ready. I think I'll take my son out for a piece of cake or lunch on Wednesday. Whichever it will be, will be eaten in a supermarket cafe so will be under £10.

Right, I'd better peel some potatoes for mash to go with our gammon and parsley sauce. Yum!

MrsSave

One thing I figured I haven't done in this diary is explained our debts and income, so here goes:

Debts
HSBC Loan: £12781.15 (paying £261.35 per month. 49 repayments to go.
Next Currently waiting for new statement, but it is around £970. I pay £50 per month, which works out just over the minimum.
Mortgage £95872.00. We pay £601.44 per month.

Income
Husband brings home £300 per week and is paid every Friday.
When I'm on maternity, the minimum I'll be bringing in during the 9 months I'm taking off will be around £560.
Child Benefit £34.40 per week.
TOTAL: £1897.60

I'm basing my overall income on a 4 week month, and then if we have an extra Friday pay or an extra child benefit payment, it will all be a bonus!

After paying out 'debts', we are left with £984.81. That doesn't sound too bad, but once you factor in all the bills, we're left with under £500 per month. Then we've got food, petrol, a little bit of spending money, money for my son's activities, money put aside for Christmas and birthdays (including a party), it has all gone!

It is more than a lot have to live on, though, so we're lucky. There are also a few things there that could be cut out and are classed as luxuries (which is why I'm not going to post my SOA). We just need to be able to stick to our budget each month, and not borrow from next month!

debtaghh

Hi,

I'm sure this is national and all children up until the end of year two get free school dinners irrelevant of income 😊

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

Hi,

I'm sure this is national and all children up until the end of year two get free school dinners irrelevant of income 😊

I have no idea about England, but not in Wales unfortunately!

debtaghh

Sorry I didn't realise you were in Wales and I've realised you are a teacher too so would have known anyway. Sorry was trying to help and hoping you would have had a £50 saving.

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

Sorry I didn't realise you were in Wales and I've realised you are a teacher too so would have known anyway. Sorry was trying to help and hoping you would have had a £50 saving.

No need to be sorry at all. I'm grateful for any advice. Saving the £50 would've been nice, mind!

MrsSave

Monday morning.........almost a week into my holidays already! Yikes!!

Today's plans are:

• [STRIKE]Take son to nursery[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Sort out paper work for filing cabinet (there are lots of things to sort through). Will also check through old bank statements[/STRIKE] and shred anything over 2 years old, I've sorted a bundle for shredding.
• [STRIKE]Wrap son's birthday presents,[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Check bank accounts whether pay has gone in. Move money to the correct accounts[/STRIKE],
• [STRIKE]Pay son's next load of swimming lessons[/STRIKE],
• Amend direct debit details for son's nursery as price goes up from next Monday, It wouldn't let me do it as there is a payment leaving the account today despite the fact that the payment has already gone. Will do it tomorrow!
• [STRIKE]Laundry (there's lots of it), [/STRIKE]
• Check emails. If I've had a response from uni about the lost certificate, sort that out, Received a reply asking for more information, which I've sent back
• [STRIKE]Check Tesco credit card statement for any new transactions and clear them in YNAB[/STRIKE].

I'm still not feeling 100% so I think I'll leave it there today.

I hope everyone has a lovely day

Other things I've done, but forgot to mention above

1. Phoned up the DBS Update service as I'd 'misplaced' my ID number, and will need it within a couple of weeks,
2. Completed surveys on onepoll (2 today),
3. Cleared Email inbox. I hadn't done it since April, and it's amazing how many emails build up in just a few months. They've all been organised into the relevant categories now.

MrsSave

I'm having a mid afternoon sit down so thought I'd update.

Baby

This time tomorrow I'll have had my 20 week scan and we'll hopefully know what we're having! I'm sooooo excited!!

Baby is also being extremely active today and kicking me as I type! The little monkey was also busy in there last night too! I love this feeling!!

Money saving

I must admit that it hasn't been a bad day overall! I checked my topcashback account, as I've been waiting for £20 to become available since around February. This morning it finally arrived! Woohoo! I've transferred it to my bank account, and it should arrive within a few days. I've put half of it in my spending account, so will go towards this degree certificate, and the other half has gone into the baby account for baby clothes

I've also received post from Next today (always dangerous!!). It is offering £15 off a £40 spend from their new Autumn collection. I have already spotted a couple of boy and a couple of girl outfits I like when they sent me a little kids clothes catalogue over the weekend, this just means I'll get more for my money. :money:

I have also adjusted my food shop ready for Wednesday as I noticed we had just over a loaf of bread left this week, so one loaf instead of 2 should be enough!

I ended up doing 2 loads of washing. I managed to do one at 30 degrees, but the other needed to be a little higher.

I took £50 out of the account this morning after dropping my son off at nursery (walked it so bonus petrol and fitness points ) and split it between 2 envelopes. One is for my husbands swimming classes, and the other is for my reflexology. I've started having it once a month, with the aim it will help later on in the pregnancy and even more so during labour. I had quite a natural birth last time, and am going to do what I can beforehand to help have the same this time. We used to have our own spending money each month, but at the moment we can't really afford it, so we've just got our own little treat each and we're happy with that.

I've actually sat down and played the piano for a little this afternoon. I very rarely play for pleasure, usually because I've been roped into it at work! I can't believe how rusty I am mind!

I've now got a couple of hours until I pick my son up from nursery. I still need to shred old bank statements so will do that, and then I think I'll browse this site for inspiration and money saving ideas.