Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

beanielou

Thats good then

Mumoffourkids

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Wow you are doing brilliantly. Saving for car then house sounds sensible. Presumably you will need to be on a higher salary to get a mortgage anyway depending on where you live?

Thanks ES. Yes I think save for a car, then for a house is the plan. House prices are expensive where I am in Essex but my plan is to hopefully get a shared ownership property which I won't need as much deposit or have to earn as much. Although I am hoping that I can include my tax credits as part of my earnings. I know some lenders accept these but it will narrow it down for me. The plan is to save as much as possible. I know there are some shared ownership properties in the pipeline for two of the villages near me in the next few years so fingers crossed I can get one of them.

This is unless I win the lottery in which case I could probably stay in the village I am in near the kids schools. Problem is that my village is a bit of a commuter town into London so house prices are very high. The two villages I am looking at don't have train stations, so prices might be slightly cheaper?

It's all just thoughts anyway as I can't do anything until this debt has gone! But that is going to be very soon!

beanielou

Yes, debt will indeed be gone very soon

Mumoffourkids

So I have decided that in addition to paying off debt and then saving for a car and a house deposit, I need to start taking care of myself a bit more. So each month I am going to try and start a new habit that helps me to feel good about myself.

This month is my feet! My feet have really hard, cracked skin so I have been soaking them each night and then putting moisturiser on them and socks on overnight. This will help to use up some of the many moisturiers I have in the house but I have already seen an improvement in my feet and I have only been doing it since Monday.

I am also going to think up a list of things that I can do for the next few months. One has to be to go back to the gym. I haven't been since my daughter was diagnosed with anaemia as I would normally go with her but she was too tired and so I didn't feel like going. This is going to change and I will find time to go to the gym at least three times a week!

Right must get my work done so I can have tomorrow at home by myself and catch up on my sewing piles!

Mumoffourkids

I am also trying a new thing for doing the housework. I bought myself a small A6 notepad. Each day is going to have one area of the house, kind of like Fly lady but my own version as I know some days I have more time than other days. So for example Fridays are bathrooms day. I have three bathrooms so I am going to make sure they are cleaned on a Friday.

I will write down each day on a new page and as my notepad is so small, I can't write too many things to do. This will ensure I don't feel overwhelmed with the amount to do. At the top of each day I will write in what the kids are doing and whether I have to take them anywhere.

So today is Saturday and it is hoovering day, so hoover the stairs after they have been cleared and hoover all the bedrooms after they have been tidied. The kids are supposed to tidy their own bedrooms and I just have to help a little bit.

As three of the kids have gone to their dad's and my eldest is at work, I decided I had a bit more time so I also wrote on my list for today to sort out my youngest clothes. My friend has just given me a load of clothes for her so I had to sort out her old clothes and decide what she has grown out of.

My new system seems to be going well so I am going to try and keep up each day as this way my house will hopefully be a bit tidier and cleaner!

And in money saving news I have just paid another £50 off my debt as I received the compensation cheque from my breakdown company the other day. So target debt is now down to £249.92 and that will be paid on 3rd August.

Mumoffourkids

So today the main focus was on the conservatory. Not the best plan in this heat but it is looking better than it was. And this was in between taking DD3 to two birthday parties! No more parties now until 11th August and after that I will be trying to sort a little something for my youngest!!!8217;s birthday. I have already gotten her a couple of outfits from next in the sale and I know what I want to get her for her birthday. To be honest she doesn!!!8217;t need many toys as the young ingest two have so many. She seems really interested in books at the moment, so I might buy her some books along with a new pair of shoes as she loves shoes!

I will be back later to update for my list tomorrow and Tuesdays list.

Mumoffourkids

So I didn't manage to update again last night but I will now as even though it is the holidays the kids are up bright and early.

So today's things that are happening are:
- DD2 is still at school so she needed a packed lunch etc
- DD1 is off on her second week of NCS so we need to take her to the pick up point for 10:30

Today's things to focus on:
- Clean downstairs toilet
- Tidy middle bathroom
- Clean middle bathroom
- Clean ensuite
- Sort out school uniform and decide what needs to be bought

And of course I have the four youngest kids at home so I am sure they will want feeding at some point today!

Mumoffourkids

Ok so yesterday went well. I cleaned all the bathrooms so they all look shiny and tidy. I also went through exactly what uniform the kids have and have done an Asda order for the few bits they needed. I also went and got the middle two’s feet measured and got some new school news for DD3. So all I have left to get is shoes for DD2 and then once DD1 knows where she is going, either buy a blazer, tie and a couple of skirts or just buy her some smart work clothes. So yesterday was a successful day.

Today is the turn of the kitchen so I will be having a tidy up and clean later on.

I have just eaten dinner outside with the kids so am just relaxing before tidying up the dinner things. This is the second night in a row that we have eaten outside. I did have a tidy up of the patio yesterday just so we could eat outside. On Friday I am going to put up the gazebo so there is a bit of shade for the kids if they want to play outside.

I hope everyone is doing else is enjoying the weather. I think it is supposed to stay this way until Friday when we are due to get some thundery showers but then it is supposed to be nice again after that!

Mumoffourkids

So I'm still doing my daily chores. Yesterday wasn't a room but was clothes and washing instead. I do a lot of washing and then I have to dry it all and then sort it all out. So Wednesdays is going to be my catch up day!

I didn't get everything done on my list yesterday as I didn't iron the school clothes and put them away but I did everything else so I am pleased with that.

Today is Living room. So later on I will tidy and clean that and will try and think up some goals for August as I have been a bit slack with my selling of things recently. Consequently I have a load of stuff on the top landing which needs selling! I might even start listing some bits for sale tonight whilst watching TV after the kids have gone to bed!

I have been planning next month and it looks like I might have to raid the money put aside to pay extra off the debt to pay for holiday childcare. I put money aside each week but it doesn't seem to be enough for the summer holidays. Its probably because I didn't start directly after the last summer holidays! So I am trying to plan how I will make up the extra £250 needed without having to dip into the extra £1000 I am planning to pay off my debt! Hopefully I will be able to sell some stuff to make up some of the difference and if needs be I can always take a bit out of the emergency fund and then replace in September!

Gettingtherequickly

Hi, I have been amazed reading through all of your diary and how much you have achieved, well done!

Just had a thought about your washing, does your machine have a timer? That was my greatest discovery. Load it up & set the timer so that the wash finishes just about the time I get home from work, or set it when going to bed. If I'm doing this, I set it for 4:30, it is finished when I get up at 6, load the dryer & I have a load washed & dried before I go to work, best time saving I have!