Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

Mumoffourkids

So it's looking like my eldest is going to be changing schools in September for her a-levels. Her current school isnt offering french or Spanish A-level and she wants to do both of those along with biology and chemistry. But she has been offered a place at the local boys grammar school so she has accepted. She just has to get the grades now which should be fine.

Bad news is she will need a whole new uniform :eek: I had best get saving now!

wishingthemortgaheaway

At least it should just be the uniform for vi form, no pe kits or 'extras' sometimes vi forms are more 'business dress' though so you may be in luck. (And Primarkcto the rescue. )

joeyjimbles

DS1 went to grammar school and by the time he went to 6th form it was non-uniform. Technically they were supposed to wear smart dress on occasions but I think it was rarely more than twice a term, and apart from that it was just no ripped jeans, offensive t-shirts and shocking hemlines (the latter was relatively easy!). If there is uniform, do check with the school about second hand for blazers as most sensible places do a roaring trade getting parents to donate and then charging others a modest fee for them. DS1 went through 3 - from tall to beanpole - in 5 years and we only kept the first one for nostalgia.

Also from experience as DS1 did both chem and biology at A level and found them a massive hike up from doing them at GCSE, despite outstanding grades in both. He found the maths side of chemistry soul destroying by the time he'd got into the second term of A level. Obviously she's her own person so this is just a little observation from our perspective and hopefully she'll be super happy with her choices. He says he wished he'd spoken to more students in the year above and found out what the ins and outs of the actual course of study were like, as opposed to what his tutors outline suggested. He found them both a real slog - and turned his back on them completely for his uni choices.

If you go onto nectar.com and log in with your card, you should find the option to do e-rewards in something like offers or earning points. Not all surveys give you 300 points - some are less and some are more, but they're all pretty quick and you can redeem 1000 points for 1000 nectar points = £5.00
https://www.nectar.com/brands/e-rewards

Mumoffourkids

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

At least it should just be the uniform for vi form, no pe kits or 'extras' sometimes vi forms are more 'business dress' though so you may be in luck. (And Primarkcto the rescue. )

Unfortunately as it is a grammar school it is full uniform but as you say there won't be a PE kit as such which is good. Her current school just does business dress in the sixth form but I really don't think she will go there unless she really messes up her GCSEs.

Mumoffourkids

joeyjimbles wrote: »

DS1 went to grammar school and by the time he went to 6th form it was non-uniform. Technically they were supposed to wear smart dress on occasions but I think it was rarely more than twice a term, and apart from that it was just no ripped jeans, offensive t-shirts and shocking hemlines (the latter was relatively easy!). If there is uniform, do check with the school about second hand for blazers as most sensible places do a roaring trade getting parents to donate and then charging others a modest fee for them. DS1 went through 3 - from tall to beanpole - in 5 years and we only kept the first one for nostalgia.

Also from experience as DS1 did both chem and biology at A level and found them a massive hike up from doing them at GCSE, despite outstanding grades in both. He found the maths side of chemistry soul destroying by the time he'd got into the second term of A level. Obviously she's her own person so this is just a little observation from our perspective and hopefully she'll be super happy with her choices. He says he wished he'd spoken to more students in the year above and found out what the ins and outs of the actual course of study were like, as opposed to what his tutors outline suggested. He found them both a real slog - and turned his back on them completely for his uni choices.

If you go onto nectar.com and log in with your card, you should find the option to do e-rewards in something like offers or earning points. Not all surveys give you 300 points - some are less and some are more, but they're all pretty quick and you can redeem 1000 points for 1000 nectar points = £5.00
https://www.nectar.com/brands/e-rewards

It's definitely full uniform and not business dress as it is a grammar school. But good point about second hand uniform though. I will definitely have a look at that. She isn't going to grow anymore so whatever I buy her will last the two years. She hasn't grown since she was 12 so I don't expect her to grow now!

She actually wants to do forensic science or medicine at university so unfortunately has to do biology and chemistry. Luckily the French and Spanish should be easier as we lived in France for 7 years so she is fluent! I understand what you are saying though about the step up from GCSE though but she can't see anything else she really wants to do. She has always liked biology and chemistry she seems to be good at.

I will look at my nectar account and hopefully I will get into e rewards that way. Thanks for the tip.

apple_muncher

She will love the French A level! The new spec - for Aqa - is really interesting and since she already has the level of language required, she can enjoy getting her teeth into it.

Mumoffourkids

Thanks Apple. I am hoping she loves her Spanish A-level as well. Having the French has definitely helped with Spanish as well. It's just a little sad that her school at the moment don't seem to be doing languages at A-level next year.

Mumoffourkids

So today is going to be a spendy day. So far already I have spent the following
£30 petrol
£7.99 swimsuit for Dd2
£11.99 new laundry basket
£6.06 new lightbulbs

All was budgeted for and came out of savings/spending pots so that was good.

However, I am also going to a soft play after school with the four youngest, I am having a catch up with dd3's old school friend and we meet at the soft play across the road from me. So that will come out of the weekly budget.

All these spends will mean that I won't have much left over from my spending budget to put towards my target debt. However I he cashed out the following today
Prolific £9.85
Qmee £1.26

So half of that will go towards debt and half towards new furniture and bits for the house. Am hoping I will get under the £200 mark for my target debt today! Then whatever I have left in the spending account on Sunday will go towards the debt as well.

Mumoffourkids

So I have a dilemma. My nan died last year and I have just received a little money from her estate. It's not enough to clear all my debts but now I am thinking what to do with it. I really don't want to just use it to pay some debts, but then I don't want to just waste it. It's only £1000 so not loads but I think I will probably be spending the evening working out what to do with the money.

wishingthemortgaheaway

starter for 10...

Put £600 into the emergency fund you want to create, but haven't yet put any money in (according to your signature) - Money is not spent, but has a purpose

Plan and have a fabulous family day out, somewhere you wouldn't normally go, or could do. - something to honour your nan's memory.

Any money left over, pay off the debt.