£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

System

Just caught up with your fast moving diary. Good to see that you are thinking ahead with regards to your extension.

Three days of no spending in the long holidays is excellent. My children used to do diaries in the summer break , not sure if your children are old enough to do one. They used to love doing pictures , sticking things in etc. They have been kept by myself I enjoy looking at them occasionally.

Crafting stuff gets everywhere I agree , mine used to do crafting in the playhouse outside as I was a bit OCD about the house being tidy.

All sounds positive TOPM and hurray to payday.

DawnW

If s/he is old enough to understand, perhaps you can share your plans to save up for extending your house with your DC1 TOPM, so that s/he understands the reason for the more modest birthday celebrations? After all, your aim is to have more space for the children, isn't it? And if they are not old enough, it is unlikely they will even realise, to be honest.

mfmaybe

DawnW wrote: »

If s/he is old enough to understand, perhaps you can share your plans to save up for extending your house with your DC1 TOPM, so that s/he understands the reason for the more modest birthday celebrations? After all, your aim is to have more space for the children, isn't it? And if they are not old enough, it is unlikely they will even realise, to be honest.

And I say make the most of the "not old enough" phase for as long as possible. For DS' birthday (2) he is getting a cot duvet, a potty, a sticker book and a £1 play teaset. He is a lucky boy (He's got plenty of toys, and indulgent relatives)

Treadingonplaymobil

DawnW wrote: »

If s/he is old enough to understand, perhaps you can share your plans to save up for extending your house with your DC1 TOPM, so that s/he understands the reason for the more modest birthday celebrations? After all, your aim is to have more space for the children, isn't it? And if they are not old enough, it is unlikely they will even realise, to be honest.

That's a good idea to be up front with them - more feasible now we have a definite plan. The oldest will definitely understand, and even DC2 will grasp the concept I think.

mfmaybe wrote: »

And I say make the most of the "not old enough" phase for as long as possible. For DS' birthday (2) he is getting a cot duvet, a potty, a sticker book and a £1 play teaset. He is a lucky boy (He's got plenty of toys, and indulgent relatives)

DC1 didn't even get a first birthday present from us :eek: . We had a serious competitive grandparent situation going on, so the present level was crazy anyway. Sadly they've stopped being as competitive in the intervening eight years. :rotfl:

enthusiasticsaver

Arts and crafts, puzzles and games are great way of entertaining kids in poor weather. Well done on not succumbing to an expensive day out to cafe or cinema/soft play place.

I would be managing expectations for your DC re birthday. You can legitimately say you are saving for extension but depending on ages I think it does no harm to say you have been overspending and need to cut back.

princesst84

Just a quick post in regards to your mortgage and coming off your SVR. I was really worried as DH had only just started a job and hadnt even been there 6 months atfer 4 years SE. I really didnt think we stood a chance of getting a better deal. A one hour phone call where I simply asked if they could offer us a better deal without a valuation or credit check and I came away with a 3.39% reduction!! It isnt a fixed deal it was just a better SVR. I was ecstatic. Honestly well worth the hour on the phone with them. Worth considering for the time being until you want to remortgage

Treadingonplaymobil

princesst84 wrote: »

Just a quick post in regards to your mortgage and coming off your SVR. I was really worried as DH had only just started a job and hadnt even been there 6 months atfer 4 years SE. I really didnt think we stood a chance of getting a better deal. A one hour phone call where I simply asked if they could offer us a better deal without a valuation or credit check and I came away with a 3.39% reduction!! It isnt a fixed deal it was just a better SVR. I was ecstatic. Honestly well worth the hour on the phone with them. Worth considering for the time being until you want to remortgage

That's really interesting to know, I'll definitely give them a call before forking out for a broker and an expensive new deal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Woop, a NSD today. Always impressive during the school holidays. We made playdough, did colouring, decorated a box for DC2's homework assignment, played monopoly, went for a walk (found a good stream to play in so will be going back to build bridges and dams there one day soon) and watched a webinar on using instagram to grow your business. I'm not sure the DCs were that gripped by that last one TBH.

Slightly traumatised, having done next month's budget. Tight tight tight. Dh's pay rise still hasn't gone through :mad: so we will be limping through. It's fine in a way as it will be back dated (he has been promised. I'll believe it when I see it, frankly) so will be a good injection of cash into the extension savings pot, but it's still annoying meanwhile.

More expensive day coming up tomorrow - need to buy gas canisters and food for camping, and hopefully find a pair of walking boots for me. Really don't want to, given our non-existent money situation, but can't see a way round it.

to do today
1. Finish the last bit of ironing. Done.
2. Weed front garden, as long as the forecast rain stops at lunchtime as promised. Still not done, and it's really looking a bit scruffy. MUST do it before we go away.
3. Tidy the lego. not done.
4. Email the architect to keep him in the loop. Done.
5. Pack an order for smaller business. Done.
6. Organise the DCs' art and craft supplies, they have got a bit messy over the last few days, and arty stuff is always a good free activity for them. Done.
7. Spend a few mins on social media for both businesses - really feeling the lack of earning! Summer is always by far my quietest period. Not done.
8. Start researching presents for DC1, whose birthday is in September. Want to get things with cashback and make sure we're getting the most bang for buck, as it will be his first birthday since LBM, and last year's was somewhat extravagant, so I think he'll notice the difference. Not done.

to do this week
1. charity shop run. Donations still cluttering up hallway.
2. take snacks and picnics for days out with the children - no unplanned cafe trips!
3. pack for camping.
4. buy walking boots. DH managed to get some in the sale today for only £65 (down from £120), so only mine to go.
5. make a decision on house extension and email architect. Decision made, need to email architect.

Aims for July
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. Well, a whopping £15 paid on top of the minimum payment so far, hoping to make another payment before end of month.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt. So far so good, but there is one more camping trip to cover in August.
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!

armchairexpert

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Woop, a NSD today. Always impressive during the school holidays. We made playdough, did colouring, decorated a box for DC2's homework assignment, played monopoly, went for a walk (found a good stream to play in so will be going back to build bridges and dams there one day soon) and watched a webinar on using instagram to grow your business. I'm not sure the DCs were that gripped by that last one TBH.

You're hilarious, TOPM!

On birthdays and extravagance, I find myself talking to the DC a lot more these days about what we can and can't afford. And then I was expressing that to a friend who remembers her own Mum running a paper budget with columns for each category, and saying things like "we don't have enough money in that column to buy new shoes this week, wait until next pay" but occasionally "that's a really special skirt, how about if we shift some money from the eating-out column and skip this month's fish and chips so we can have a splurge now". And she says, it always felt so special knowing that your new thing was paid for by juggling other costs: it was more tangible, and it meant a lot.

I don't think I'm putting it very well, but I do think that although it's not good for kids to feel anxiety about money (My eldest is an anxious kid, so if I say "no we can't afford to stop at a cafe today" she gets worried that maybe we'll be out on the street in the driving rain tomorrow), but I do think it's good for them to know that it's a real thing. You know - they see us waving bits of plastic near machines and then taking what we want from the shops, it's all very intangible these days.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 24: Day 5

Not feeling the love for being poor this morning - have been wishing away the end of the month, as I always do, but have woken up thinking how crap it's going to be next month too, trying to give the DCs a good holiday experience with hardly any money. Saying that, the older two were excitedly ticking off the couple of (free) things we'd done on the 'Summer '17' list yesterday with no complaints about the lack of cafe, train trips and general extravagant days out, so I think most of this issue is in my head rather than reality.

Really hoping to find a way around spending too much money today - I am determined to finish the month with some money left in the savings account, and if I go too overboard today then there won't be any. First time I have been to a real shop for a while (even if it is only a camping one!), and I am determined to stick to my list. I am trying to convince myself that if I see anything else we 'need', we can manage without it for this camping trip and if we really really want it, we can go back next week to get it before the next trip (by which time hopefully I'll have talked myself out of it). The list for today consists of:
- walking boots for me.
- gas canisters for cooker (we really want a new cooker, but will make do for now).
- waterproof coat for me IF cheap and boots come in <£75. Otherwise it will have to wait and I can try to juggle some budget pots in August (I need it for walking hols at end of Aug). Can also probably order this online with cashback.
If I come back with only that you can all give me a medal.

to do today
1. Weed front garden.
2. Food shopping list/mysupermarket for camping to check budget
3. Tidy the lego.
4. Social media for work.
5. Research presents for DC.
6. Squeeze in an hour's work.
7. One laundry load washed and ironed.

to do this week
1. charity shop run. Donations still cluttering up hallway.
2. take snacks and picnics for days out with the children - no unplanned cafe trips! This is going surprisingly well.
3. pack for camping.
4. buy walking boots. DH managed to get some in the sale today for only £65 (down from £120), so only mine to go.
5. make a decision on house extension and email architect. Done.

Aims for July
1. Pay some extra off the MBNA card - I'd like this card gone asap. Well, a whopping £15 paid on top of the minimum payment so far, hoping to make another payment before end of month.
2. Pay for camping holiday commitments out of self employed income rather than adding to debt. So far so good, but there is one more camping trip to cover in August.
3. Stick to the budget even more closely than in June!