Debt Busting, Budgeting...and Maternity!

Bobarella

I would recommend a decent mp3 player. Mine kept me sane the first long night in hospital. Although I couldn't listen to the Beach Boys for years afterwards

Eyebright

Noted Bob, thanks. I have an MP3 player and it has a little speaker that can plug into it, so that can go in the bag when I get it out of the loft!

Today, I'm very excited to report that the Quidco cashback I requested hit my account, so I rolled £51.03 towards paying off the JA, yippee!!!

So:

JA Owing, was- £70.66 now £19.63 :D:D so close to my first little target of clearing that debt by the end of this month now!

Also did another survey on Valued Opinions for 75p, so when that is credited to my account I will be at £2.75. I believe I can cash out for a voucher when I hit £10.50, so perhaps I can get one in the next month? Would come in handy for Christmas!

OnePoll is now up to £30.35. One day I will make it to the magical £40!!!

Dinner was a lazy fishfinger sandwich as I was home alone and couldn't be bothered to cook. :rotfl:

Today has been a NSD.

Work was so super stressful and busy. And hot. My god I wanted to keel over at one point. Luckily I found cake which helped to keep me sane! I had vague plans to do housework this evening as I was home alone, but that swiftly went out of the window after they day I've had, on not much sleep either. Damn pregnancy leg cramps and bladder

[Deleted User]

Evening,

Well done with the survey sites and the huge pay off the JA

Eyebright

I've started thinking about my DFW goals and I've got some initial targets to aim for.

I may well edit this post to change or add goals, or just start a new post depending on how I feel.

DFW Goals- Shifting the Debt

1. Clear the JA owing by 30/09/16
2. Clear Tesco CC by 31/12/16
3. Clear debt owed to FIL by Oct 2018

That would clear the debts as they currently stand. I've set myself what is possibly an ambitious target of 2 years or 48 payments to clear the money we owe to FIL. This involves me finding an extra £42 per month on top of our usual payment in order to reach my target. That's the one I'm most doubtful of, in view of starting maternity, and I won't be going back to work FT. But everyone needs a challenge, right?!

The next step is to think of my savings goals. As once we are debt free, we will need savings in order to stay that way!

Right, I better finish off getting ready for work. Have a lovely day everyone xx

Kitten868

Ooh lucky you with your bumper maternity pay!

Hospital bag. I think it's best to take 3 little ones over 1 big one mainly as you're asking hubby to get stuff out of it and pulling everything out to get one thing is a pain.
Bag 1 for you in Labour. spray on water. Snacks that you like (you might be sick you might be starving) nighties from asda in 2 sizes bigger than you are prepregnancy. Your notes.
Bag 2 for baby. Clothes and blankets. Nappies.
Bag 3 for you IF you're staying in. Shampoo more clothes that kind of thing.
You need those maternity pads too.

I wouldn't buy all the breasfeeding stuff until you're established. I breastfed past a year for both and could not get on with expressing. So it's not for everyone.

Well done on splitting up the finances

So try to live on your mat pay though as it's a good way to work out how to survive on part time pay after x

Jumblerina

Great work on the energy switch EB ther are quite a few good energy saving website out there, you'll be able to make savings where you can, which will all add up. Good idea on the bumper shop, I bet your kitty will be pleased they've got lots of food. You sound soooooo organised with your baby supplies

I'm loving the fish finger sandwich, you can't really go wrong with them and glad you put your feet up A your job sounds super hectic! Loving the goals too, it's great to have something to aim for, even if you need to change things along the way.

Jumblerina x

Eyebright

Kitten thanks so much for the advice re: hospital bag items to pack, that's really helpful. I had thought perhaps of taking 2 x smaller bags rather than one big. One for me and one for little one.

Thanks also re: the breastfeeding equipment. I think subconsciously that's why I've held off buying these bits. I'm nervous I will lose my milk (my mum did with me), or that I will not manage to express or just fail in general at it
I'll put some money aside and see how I go once little one is here instead.

The plan for the last proper pay packet before maternity starts is to do a trial run of OH paying bills and me managing everything else, so essentially what my Maternity budget will be!

Today, I earned 75p on a Valued Opinion survey. :rotfl: Haven't looked on OnePoll yet! Don't really have anything else exciting re: debts and I haven't decided on my saving goals yet. TBH I'm probably going to log off now and nap on the couch until it's bedtime. I'm shattered.

3 working days left....

Eyebright

Jumblerina wrote: »

Great work on the energy switch EB ther are quite a few good energy saving website out there, you'll be able to make savings where you can, which will all add up. Good idea on the bumper shop, I bet your kitty will be pleased they've got lots of food. You sound soooooo organised with your baby supplies

I'm loving the fish finger sandwich, you can't really go wrong with them and glad you put your feet up A your job sounds super hectic! Loving the goals too, it's great to have something to aim for, even if you need to change things along the way.

Jumblerina x

Fishfinger sandwich with lots of ketchup is my favourite naughty treat!
I work in a hospital, so it's pretty much a given it will be busy lol. I love my job though, just struggling with it atm. It was so hot again today...

I like having a goal. Something to focus on helps to keep me moving forward. I'm going to look at the DFW Challenges board too, see if there is anything there that will help me to reduce my spends etc so that I can manage on less and still demolish my debts.

Kitten868

With breastfeeding I think the most important thing is not to get stressed with it. It's not likely your milk will dry up. It's tricky in those first few days.
First baby is constantly on your boobs and you dont make much so you think you're doing it wrong but you're not it's just your baby telling your body they've been born. Then you get glamour model boobs. Once you've cracked 'the latch' you'll just get better and better. I stayed in hospital for a few days with my first and it really helped having midwives on hand to check your latch.
I'm sorry if I'm telling you what you already know but no one told me anything except how hard it is and how they couldn't do it so I like to share positive bits with mums to be.
I think you've set a brilliant challenge. And your debt sounds totally manageable. Keep it up xxx

MrsSave

I bought all the breastfeeding things like pumps, bags, etc before having ds. It turned out that I couldn't breastfeed. I'm not even going to be attempting it this time, but the only advice I'd give is not to worry about it. Worrying will make it more difficult. I'm sure you'll be completely fine with it, though it does take time and patience initially. If for any reason you struggle, please don't think of it as failing. As long as baby is fed then there's nothing to worry about. In an ideal world we'd all be able to breastfeed with no worries, things don't always go to plan, though.