Mrs S, family life and debt

MrsSave

That's a good idea MeandO. I find Wilko's pretty good value too (I spend a fortune in that shop!!).

The boys were with MrS overnight and are again tonight. It's my couple of days to get jobs done!!! I am going to wash my bed clothes today. I'll set a time on the machine so that it finishes just as I'm due home from work.

To add to everything that's been happening, a close family member is pretty poorly in hospital. I spent a lot of Tuesday there, was there after work last night and will be going in tonight again. I must admit that MrS has been great throughout. He left work mid morning on Tuesday to come and look after ds2 so that I could go into the hospital.

1st Feb so a few bills out today. One didn't go out, so that will probably be in the next day or 2. I keep checking the credit card account and the balance is now just what this month's direct debit will be. I am so excited about being able to see a £0 balance and know that other than the mortgage I'm debt free :j

Savings are ok as well. I have premium bonds of £2000 (which I'm calling the not to be touched fund!!) and almost £50 in the redecorate the boys' rooms account. I'll hopefully be able to build on that £50 over the next few months. I can't wait for them to have nice, newly redecorated rooms.

I have just over £40 left to last until Sunday night with no planned expenses. The food shop has been done (need to meal plan for next week) so may treat my eldest to a chippy tea Friday after swimming. For the 2 of us, it'll only come to around a fiver. I do need to buy new shoes for ds2 at the weekend (his first proper shoes!!) but have budgeted for that separately.

[Deleted User]

Congratulations on being debt free :j :T xx

MrsSave

I ended up spending £9.99 yesterday thanks to mse!!! I was reading the email and saw the gusto offer. 3 meals for 2 people for £9.99. That will last me and the boys most of next week!! One nigh of the week is a very quick something on toast night, 2 nights they'll be eating at Mr S' and the other night is usually either chippy or something from the freezer night. The nights they're not with me I usually throw something together quickly. This means I'll need very little for next week's food shop, just things like milk and fruit. I'll cancel the subscription once it arrives on Monday!

Other than that I had no Spends yesterday. I've checked the bills account this morning and 2 more have gone out including the one that was meant to yesterday. I've updated ynab. Also, my first child maintenance payment has come in today.

One more day of work and then it's the weekend :j I have a few household jobs to do, but not too many. I did quite a bit yesterday after work - I ironed everything I could, washed and dried my bed clothes, cleaned the downstairs toilet and emptied the bins. I need to give the bathroom a clean, clean the patio doors (child handprints over it......again!!!). And push the hoover around.

MrsSave

Happy to say that today I cleaned the bathroom, cleaned the patio doors and hoovered!! I've also done 2 loads of laundry. I wrote a list at the start of the week of jobs I needed to do this week, and I've got 2 left. Sort house insurance and sort ds2's sock drawer!!! His sock drawer is full, but he only has a few pairs that actually fit him!

I've written next week's list, that starts Monday. Money wise, I've had a few spends today. Ds2 got his first pair of proper shoes, and I got what was needed for ds1 for World Book Day.

Well I started dozing typing that, so I put the iPad down, went to sleep and now it's tomorrow :rotfl: I actually slept until 7:30 this morning, and have already sorted ds2's sock drawer out! My next job is house insurance and then I've done all my jobs (until tomorrow's list starts!!!). I am going to have a lazy day then until my boys come back tonight.

louby40

Hope you’ve enjoyed your day. I’ve been very lazy and not done much bar the usual hoovering and ironing.

MrsSave

Days of doing nothing (other than the usual few jobs) absolutely fly by!!! Tomorrow I have a new list of jobs waiting for me (and it's longer than last week's!!! :eek ). It's also food shopping day and new money week. I've got £67 to last the week. The food shop shouldn't be too expensive tomorrow as I've ordered the gousto delivery. That will be cancelled once the delivery arrives, but will feed us for most of the week. The food shop will be the usual fruit, milk, veg and salad along with a few extra bits. I'll start at Aldi and then pop to Tesco.

I'm also going to put £20 worth of petrol in the car, which fingers crossed will last the week. I did the same last Monday. I found a cheaper home insurance quote than the renewal price so I've joined up for that and will phone to cancel the renewal tomorrow. They weren't open today for me to phone. I thought all companies had a call centre open on a Sunday!!

wishingthemortgaheaway

All sounds like you are in control.
How are the boys getting on?
How are you doing?

MrsSave

Thanks wishingthemortgageaway. I'm doing ok, and the boys are doing so well. I'm so proud of them.

I've been hit done by bugs this week. Been fighting some virus off all week. I've been feeling so yuck, it's taken me until today to check my credit card account and see my balance of £0!!! I'm officially (other than the mortgage) debt free. It's such a good feeling. It's a bit like step one of the rest of our lives.

I have, between naps :rotfl: , worked out roughly how much I spend on the boys clothes for a year. Even with taking things like ds2 having a lot of handmedowns from ds1, and only shopping at supermarket prices, I was putting to one side around half of what is actually needed :eek: I've gone through my budget and included the correct amount today. Ds1 is ok for clothes for a little while. Ds2 won't be long before moving to the next age, so my first step is to bring down ds1's old clothes from the attic and see what else is actually needed. I'm hoping there'll be a good clothes offer somewhere by the. So I can get a discount :rotfl:

JoJoC

Hooray! Well done for being debt free!

I'm really interested in how you pulled together a budget for a year's worth of clothes for your kids. I'd like to be able to estimate this but find it hard to know where to start. For example, two years ago, my youngest son got loads of clothes for his birthday and we hardly had to buy anything. Last year he also got loads of clothes but because he has a July birthday, most of it was summer clothing so come September we had to spend quite a bit to get him clothes that he needs. I find it hard to predict!

Interested in your methods to see if I can more accurately estimate.

MrsSave

I basically worked out what they would need for the whole year (I budget uniform/school shoes and coat separately). How many pairs of jeans, joggers, t-shirts, jumpers, underwear, coats, socks, wellies, trainers, winter shoes, summer shoes, etc etc. I then used asda/Tesco for a rough price idea and worked out from there. I divided the total by 12. For ds2 I split the total in half first as he'll be getting handmedowns. I figured I'd rather put too much into the budget, and at the end of the year if I have money left over due to others buying clothes for them, then that money will be sent elsewhere (holiday, treat, savings, etc). It's a massive estimate but I think I was massively underestimating before.