Bricks Not Books

LadyWithAPlan

Sounds like a great plan for your family! 

How wonderful your frugal focus allows you both to have this quality time and also space  to dream big for your life. 

hopefully the mortgage rise won’t be so bad if rates tip down a little - I am sure you calculated current worse case scenario if they haven’t moved down by your re mortgage date 

Can I add to some comping to your list if it isn’t there already - it can really help with adding extra treats into your life especially if you focus on local events so free tix to things or local restaurants vouchers or specific hobbies etc. 

It does take time but can be done around babies etc 
mse has a competitions list … 

Cornish_mum

Hello VH, wonderful to hear your update, it sounds like a brilliant plan and it’s very impressive you are making savings, at all whilst on matleave. I hope you all have a very happy Christmas CM

VintageHistorian

Happy New Year everyone! 2023 has been a very big year for obvious reasons and 2022 was a stressful year due to being pregnant and worried about losing baby, so I'm aiming for 2024 to be less big and more just pottering along.

Mr VH got the official confirmation of his career break just before he finished for Christmas! He's keeping it quiet from colleagues over the break but he's back to work tomorrow and then he'll be on the countdown to finishing. I on the other hand am now in the unpaid phase of my maternity leave so I'm on the countdown to returning to work. But when I go back I'll have 32 days of leave that I need to use (you accrue annual leave and bank holidays while on any family leave) so I don't actually need to go back to the office right away.

My main task for this week is to email my manager with all the details HR sent me and what I want to do about it all. He's very reasonable about it all with other colleagues so I'm sure he won't have any issues with my plan, but I just need to actually write it all down.

And money may not be as tight as expected because Mr VH has said he'll use his savings to cover his share of the bills. I spent ages working out a budget that would be covered by just my wages, told him several times that I would cover everything, and then showed him the budget, which he agreed to! And then a few weeks ago he went "And of course I'll be using my savings to cover my share". He thought the budget was just for my 50%, although why he thought that our mortgage would be going up to £1480 is anyone's guess (it won't, it's £740 assuming I sort out the new deal this week). I suspect he just wasn't listening properly. MEN!

Total OP for December was £162.69, which included a delay repay claim from Mr VH for a train strike day. So total overpayments this year were £1811.64! Obviously that's a smidge under the £2000 target I set a few months ago but sod it.

Mortgage is indeed going up quite sharply and will be above the regular payment and the standard overpayment we make, and then some. But we're in a much better position than many others thanks to earlier overpayments. If we'd spoken to Halifax and reduced the term of the mortgage then we'd be paying far more in a few months, this is giving us a little wiggle room. And it's not like I won't be doing any overpayments, that's what side hustles are for! I think a target of £1000 is a little unsustainable this year just because of everything else going on. So I might aim for £50 a month for the first six months of the year and then if I'm going over that consistently I can adjust my expectations over the summer.

I have 6 talks booked for 2024 but a new Speakers Book comes out this year so we'll see if that shakes a few extra bookings out of the tree. The money will be going in my S&S ISA again this year as I didn't get a full year of them last year, as will any eBook money. Prolific money will go towards the mortgage, as will any small payouts from print on demand sources and cashback from apps or TCB, anything from eBay will probably go towards replenishing my maternity leave fund (just in case we choose to have a second, if we don't it can be moved into my S&S ISA in a few years), and child benefit will go to DS's junior ISA.

That's the plan, and all intention of sticking to it will last however long it lasts.

Dinner tonight, to welcome in the new year, is pan-fried duck breasts with homemade potato wedges, and some fancy dessert that's in the fridge but I can't remember what it is.

Hope everyone has a healthy, wealthy and happy 2024! Or at least a calmer, slightly nicer one for those that had a really awful 2023.

VintageHistorian

I would call this my quarterly update but it's even a bit late for that   Once again the year has gotten away from me and I'm suddenly writing down things that happened months ago!

Important bit first, the overpayments:
January - £153.79
February - £180.84
March - £143.58

April is the last month where we'll have big overpayments as our mortgage deal changes over on 1st May. Currently we pay £576.84 a month, from May it'll be £733.05  So a jump of £156.21

Except actually it's not quite that large a jump. Because we've been paying £124 a month as a standard overpayment, our monthly mortgage payment has been £700 for the past 2 years. So actually we're only going up by £33. The big shock comes from our ability to overpay at all being wiped out. When we first got the mortgage we were paying something like £670 a month with a standard £30 to hit the £700 mark. We've leapt over that entirely now!

(As a side note: Our daily interest is currently £5.70, in May it will be £15.19!)

But at least our regular overpayments do mean that we're not scrabbling around trying to find £150 extra from a budget that couldn't manage it in the first place. And after playing around with my new spread sheet, set up for the next 5 years, I noticed that a mere £10 a month overpayment would mean that our mortgage would drop under £100k in December 2029. And Mr VH likes nice round numbers so we'll be overpaying at least £11.95 to make our mortgage payment a full £745.

I can easily side hustle my share of £5.98 from Prolific alone, and we'll see what else the Side Hustle Gods throw my way over the next 5 years. My Speakers money always goes to my savings but there's other places (eBay, Redbubble, Zazzle) that money drips in from throughout the year. And we don't need to touch any of the child benefit money we're saving for DS.

And speaking of DS, he's now very happy that Daddy is around every day. Mr VH's career break started just before Easter. I had a lot of annual leave to use up so I'm back at work at the end of April and we're using this as a handover period. So most mornings I lurk upstairs (hence me starting this at 8.45 this morning) while Mr VH handles the morning routine, several times a week I go out for a few hours in the morning so DS gets used to me going away and coming back, and then I have playtime in the afternoon. Hopefully Mr VH is feeling a little more confident, but I'm only a 30 minute walk away and I can skip lunch breaks to come home early if he's struggling so it'll all work out okay. Personally I think he's been brilliant so far but he worries he's not doing "enough".

This month has been a very spendy month as I've bought things ready for my return to work. But I don't normally splurge like this so a one-off will be fine. It includes two new pairs of boots, which should last me 2 years if not more, and the first new glasses in 10 years. So not things I'll worry about buying again in 6 months time.

And now time for breakfast! Friday night is lazy dinner/pick your own night, so I'm having a bolognese from the freezer and Mr VH is having a curry ready meal. Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

Overpayments:

April - £140.38
May - £57.64

What a drop  But nevermind, at least I can still make overpayments! It included £12 of cashback from various sources and £24 from Prolific as I got lucky and got some big payers.

I am now back at work. My return has been...

I'm just going to let that hang. I suspect I've posted a bit too much identifiable information in the past.

Mr VH and Baby Boy are getting along happily. We're getting close to first steps, first words are definitely forming, currently he communicates by the "point and hoot" method XD Yesterday he started walking using a little wheeled trolley my parents bought him for Christmas. I picked one up for free outside someone's house a few weeks ago (it was in a box and said "free", I didn't just nick a child's toy from a front garden XD) so Mr VH cleaned and assembled it and he spent most of the afternoon pacing up and down the living room with it. He can't turn around yet though, and if the balance wrong he tries to run with it for a few steps before falling down. But he's enjoying newfound freedom of movement!

Other recent bargains have included pieces of that wooden trainset that so many kids have, for £7. It's a big pile of track, includes some Thomas the Tank Engine bits (although none of the "main" trains) and it will go with the other pile I bought last year at the carboot sale. I'm going to clean it all at some point and collect a few more bits and it can go for Baby Boy's 2nd or 3rd birthday. Yesterday I bought a cookbook of Mexican food for £5 which will go for a Christmas gift for my sister (so far I've spent £22.70 on her Christmas gifts for things worth £52.50!), and I've picked up a few cheap history books at carboot sales (as if we need more books).

Euros start next week! So that will at least eliminate the "what shall we watch tonight?" decision making for a few weeks.

I'm on leave today, the plan is to have an hour at soft play and a trip to Aldi to bulk buy Mr VH's lunches for the month (lots of microwave rice and instant noodles, it's only lunch he does get a proper meal for dinner).

Tonight's dinner is PYO, so no doubt I will have homemade bolognese out the freezer. Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

June OP - £32.55

It's a little odd reading about DS only just starting to use his trolley as he now proudly toddles around without holding on to anything! We took him to Clarks to get some shoes and came out with a little red pair, and a pair of sandals. He hated them at first and had a big cry in the shop when trying them on. But after some perseverence on Mr VH's part he's now accepted that going outside = shoes on feet.

The other week we took him to a National Trust property and he had a nice time alternating between being carried by Mr VH and walking along holding hands with one or both of us. He's quickly become confident with walking, although he still often needs to hold onto something to get up when he wobbles over (I did witness him get up just by putting his hands on the floor, so he can do it he just still prefers not to XD)

This morning was Mr VH's morning for a lie-in so I took DS to a local car boot sale. Came back with two plastic Thomas the Tank Engine trains (£1 each), two children's books (50p each), two books for my Dad for Christmas (50p each!), a pair of dungarees and a pair of trousers in 18-24 months size (50p each), and a DVD of "Frozen" (£1). So a lot bought but not much spent. DS was in his pram and enjoyed looking around and occasionally smiling at people, although I've noticed he's becoming warier of strangers. He used to be very quick to smile but now he tends to stare at them and look uncertainly at me. Just another development phase that his little brain has to go through!

This week I have Friday off, and then I will have used up the last of my annual leave for the current cycle. It resets in August but then I'll be back to the usual week off scattered throughout the year. I've enjoyed having Fridays off over the past few weeks especially with Mr VH and DS at home. I can't afford to drop a day's work but it's definitely been a reminder of why I want to do things like live a bit frugally, pay off the mortgage and save at a decent rate. I definitely don't want to still be slogging away when I'm hitting 70. And it gives us opportunities such as Mr VH's career break.

So, with a gift bought for my Dad, let's address the C-word; Christmas! Along with the books for my Dad I have also bought gifts for my brother and both sisters, all of which have either been on sale at a generous reduction, have been free through cashback apps, or are nice second hand things I've got from markets and car boot sales. Apart from a bit of chocolate I've almost completely finished gifts for my youngest sister! The only fly in the ointment is Mr VH. Because he's at home all the time I now feel like I cannot sneak gifts into the house. Even though it's just things like coffee found at the supermarket with a large discount. He has said he's not bothered about surprises, but I like to surprise him nonetheless!

But I also like to spread out the cost of Christmas through the year so I may have to bite the bullet this month and just start buying for him, then hide it in my bag for as long as possible.

Dinner tonight as yellowsticker pork belly slices from the freezer, done according to this recipe - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pork-belly-slices But we just had it with potato wedges (and air-fried corn on the cob for Mr VH), no burger buns or the like. Tomorrow will be toad in the hole, insane for this kind of weather but I love Yorkshire pudding too much to give it up this month XD

Have a good weekend everyone!

beanielou

I have my DS’s first shoes from 30 years ago. Cute wee start-rite ones. 💙

South_coast

I love a toad in the hole too, I make it most weeks 🤣! Could you hide DH's gifts at a family member's house?

f0xh0les

I hide things in my car boot. Even if DH borrowed my car, he would never consider looking in a bag in the boot.

Glad you mentioned the C-word, it is in 157 days - I have a countdown on my phone.  I have not bought a thing! It just makes me smile that it will be dark soon. 

VintageHistorian

beanielou said:

I have my DS’s first shoes from 30 years ago. Cute wee start-rite ones. 💙

My Mum still has my first shoes, lovely little red leather ones that were bought in the same shoe shop in north London that her own first shoes were purchased in by my Nan. Sadly long gone now, otherwise DS would have had a special London adventure just to keep up the tradition.

South_coast said:

I love a toad in the hole too, I make it most weeks 🤣! Could you hide DH's gifts at a family member's house?

f0xh0les said:

I hide things in my car boot. Even if DH borrowed my car, he would never consider looking in a bag in the boot.

Glad you mentioned the C-word, it is in 157 days - I have a countdown on my phone.  I have not bought a thing! It just makes me smile that it will be dark soon. 

DH has informed me that he's really not that fussed about seeing things I buy him for Christmas brought into the house. He grew up without Christmas (religious reasons) so my whole "these are meant to be surprises!" thing bemuses him somewhat 

I might put it to the test and buy him a few bits over the next few weeks and then just see if I can get them from my bag to the Christmas box without him noticing.