Mrs S, family life and debt

MrsSave

My pay is in, so that's been transferred to the correct account.

Work today, but I want to get a couple of jobs in:

• Sort out tonight's dinner (slow cooker chicken casserole),
• Vacuum downstairs,
• 1 laundry load,
• Meal plan for next week.

That's literally it for today, so should manage everything. Right, I'd best jump in the shower and get ready for work!

MrsSave

All but 1 done. I haven't vacuumed downstairs, but I've done 2 loads of washing and I've dusted the whole of upstairs instead. I'm hoping to get the hoover out before work tomorrow, as I'll be home alone from 7:30 until I leave for work.

I was a member of a union with work, but as I've left teaching I cotacted them a couple of days ago stating I wanted to leave. I had an email back the next day stating that my membership would be ending today. That means I should have an extra £5 next month! Fingers crossed!!

Tonight's casserole was really nice (even if I do say so myself :rotfl: ). Tomorrow night it's 'freezer food Friday'!! Nice and easy (and I'm guaranteed that ds1 will clear his plate!!).

MrsSave

Weekend!!! :j

Ds1 is back in school next week (where on earth have these last 6 weeks gone??!). I'm taking him for a haircut today, he had new school shoes last week, and I'm refusing to check his uniform......it fitted at the end of the term, he hasn't grown that much over the Summer :rotfl:

We're having a curry tonight. Not quite homemade, but not a takeaway! I'm opening a jar!! We've got the ingredients except for poppadums here, so will pick some up later.

I've been working out this morning how many vouchers we'll be ordering with Park next year. I only started around June/July ish this year, and will be receiving £250 this year (hopefully next month, I've only got 1 more payment to make!). I'm aiming for quite a bit more next year. I think around £550, and anything that's not spent can be used for birthdays during the year. Some of it will be food shopping vouchers, so it's not all for gifts!!

louby40

Just caught up with your diary after being on holiday! Great going with your oragnising skills after going back to work.

I'm back at school tomorrow, inset and then kids in Tuesday! 30 Year 1's - oh the joys!

MrsSave

:mad:

I updated this 4 or 5 days ago, but I either didn't press submit or something went wrong!!

Basically, the last 3 weeks have been rather expensive. The washing machine broke. Ouch! Then, our oven stopped working. Bigger ouch. We don't have a laundrette nearby, so both are essentials.

I mentioned at the time that I had paid for it all on the Tesco cc, and would have to pay the interest on it until the money we are getting is through. Today. I have heard that we are getting the money within the next 3 weeks. That's so amazing. Don't think I'll quite believe it until it's in my account, but wow! Task number 1 will be to pay off the loan, then it's the washing machine and oven. There are a couple of other small household bits that we want to do (well, actually, there are pretty big things, but let's not get carried away!!), we need a new boiler and then the rest will be going into savings.

I'm so looking forward to living each and every month with money in our pockets. Not paying the loan will give us almost £300 a month more. Part of that will go to savings, part will go as personal spending money for me and Dh, then the rest will be in the current account for spending on every day bits. It will be so nice not to be so broke every month.

MrsSave

I am utterly exhausted! Ds2 has been battling a cold (or several) since starting nursery. As soon as it starts to clear, he picks up another. This means he's waking several times a night. I'm convinced this is disturbing ds1, as he is waking now too to use the toilet, but shortly after. I struggle to get back to sleep once I've been woken, so getting by on not many hours a night.

I've also had a couple of episodes of strong nausea over the past fortnight. Once it lasted 24 hours, the last time around 12 (and no, I'm not pregnant!!) where I can't stomach looking at food, let alone eating. I'm wondering if it's due to just being tired and run down. Oh, and I've been full time in work for a few weeks. 2 more to go and then I'm back to part time.

Anyway, October 1st today. I've sorted our finances for the month. After bills, savings, petrol money etc have gone out we're left with £120 a week for food and any general spends. Everything that I know will need to go out has been accounted for first (clubs, a planned night out, etc). I've noticed our food bill has jumped up recently, but by looking at the supermarket app it seems a lot of prices have started to creep up. Nappies, formula and a few bits of emergency baby food add up as well (over £20 on baby bits last week!!). I'm hoping to keep food to £70, which gives £50 a week for anything else, unplanned.

Hopefully 2 weeks now until this money is coming. I've started to think about where to save the £5k emergency fund that will hopefully never be touched. I'm not actually anywhere near an answer, need lots more research.

Right, I'm already in bed, an early night for me!

MrsSave

Lunch time at work!! I brought a jacket potato in, which shrivelled up after being cooked!! Trying to be relatively healthy!!

I feel much more with it today, after an early night. Ds2 seems to be worse today, though, so DH has made an appointment to take him to the doctor this afternoon.

I'm getting lots of good suggestions on the savings page about the money. Have a couple of ideas now, that I'm going to research a little further.

Lots of bills have gone out today, including my last Park christmas savings payment for this Christmas. I should get the vouchers in a couple of weeks and then I'll book a day off for me and dh to go shopping when we have childcare for both boys. I need to decide what vouchers and how many we'll be getting for christmas 2018 now, and sign up for that.

Right, back to work in a few minutes. I definitely need to be updating this thread more often as I generally am far more in control when I do!

wishingthemortgaheaway

Do you get any bonus' for saving with Park?
At the moment I put aside money for Christmas every month, and I'm very disciplined not to dip into the money I save, but would be tempted to do Park if they paid some form of interest.

MrsSave

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Do you get any bonus' for saving with Park?
At the moment I put aside money for Christmas every month, and I'm very disciplined not to dip into the money I save, but would be tempted to do Park if they paid some form of interest.

I think you do, but it depends on how much you save. I don't save enough for any reward. If you go on to their web page and search 'commission' it will bring up the information. Well done for being disciplined. My problem with saving throughout the year was that I was buying throughout the year. Sounds great, but I'd then see some things a month or so before Christmas and 'have' to buy them as well. Ended up spending more than I intended, and ds1 has always had far too much. I'm hoping this year that I'll be more disciplined with how much I'll be buying!!

MrsSave

We ate salmon this evening. It's one of my favourite meals. I usually buy the fillets from the fish counter (the garlic and herb ones - they're delicious!) but they cost a fortune. I looked at buying 3, one each for me and Dh, and then one for the boys to share. It came to over £7. Instead I bought half a side. It was around the same price, but half of it is now in the freezer for another night. Perfect!

Ds2 has a chest infection. He's got antibiotics so I hope they kick in soon. He hasn't been crying or whinging, just super quiet. Totally out of character for him. He's lost his voice as well, which sounds so strange and almost sad when he does his baby chat. He's eating brilliantly, though. Loved his salmon tonight!!

Sat down earlier with Dh and we decided how much we're going to put away for Christmas 2018. Over the year we'll be saving £550. That will cover Christmas for both boys, ds2's birthday (December), Christmas and birthdays for nieces and nephews, and possibly even ds1's birthday. There will also be a small amount of that for Christmas food - in voucher form, not their hampers. The hampers seem sooo expensive.

Right, time for sleep before another busy day started work tomorrow.