*sigh* this may take a while

Chrystal

Seeing things in black and white can be a real eye opener. :eek:

I'm sure you'll get your head around it soon. X

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Sunday - NSD, chilled family day at home, board games and a roast etc

Monday - an old school friend came over for the day which was lovely. It's one of those friendships where you've known each other so long it's so comfortable even though you don't see each other all that often. Her 2 children are younger than mine and she's not a fan of days out with them, so we stayed in. I was childminding (another £50 earned), so it was a busy household but all very calm. I just cooked up masses of pizzas and got choc ices for pud. Added it up to cost £15, but pretty low spend considering there were 12 of us to cater for.

Yesterday I did another shift at hospital (£120) earned.

I've now got 10 days off (from all jobs!) and I'm really looking forward to unwinding. The weather is rubbish today and the children are happy to have a quiet one, so should be a LSD. Would have been a NSD, but I popped into town to pay a cheque in and picked up some doughnuts from Greggs, £2.50, but kids love them.

The cheque I was paying in was an £85 refund of a deposit I paid for my youngest's nursery. I had forgotten all about it, so was a nice surprise. Will go in holiday fund

Mummy_bear

Enjoy your 10 days off. Hope the weather improves for you

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Thursday was a quiet one, kids all had different things going on, so I was just doing a lot of ferrying around. All the activities they were doing were in the budget and had been prepaid, so I'll class that as a NSD!
Very spendy day yesterday... Took the eldest 4 to London, I'd bought some tickets to a show for 'kids go free' August, but even then the 3 paid tickets had cost £225. The West End is not a cheap outing!! Train fares were £100 and dinner was another £100 and that was with a discount voucher and a set menu! :eek: To make the most of the outing we got in really early and went to the science museum and natural history museum too, I'd made sandwiches in advance and taken snacks and refillable water bottles as have learnt the hard way, they are costly additions. I'm pleased we did it, none of them have ever seen a London show before and were overawed by it and it was a lovely treat . But I must admit, I did twitch at the cost and we won't be doing it again for a good few years
Quiet one (NSD) today as I'm washing and packing as we go on holiday tomorrow. Just a bargain lodge break, but a break all the same. We're looking forward to it :j

ohdearhowdidthathappen

(This a long ramble, so well done if you persevere to the end!!)

I've mentioned in previous posts that I want to streamline and will be giving up childminding (one of my side jobs) at Christmas. I need to make a decision very soon on what to do about my Saturday retail job (my other side job!) as there's now a very viable alternative. I'll put the details down here and I'm very open to objective suggestions and advice as I've been going round in circles as there are pros/cons to both options

1) retail job is 8 hours every Saturday and I earn £270 a month after tax/pension.... I like it there and we save an awful lot in discount and perks.
2) I've been offered a Saturday morning radiography role, it's locum, but would be indefinite as so short staffed. It would be Saturday mornings and for 5 hour shifts, I'd earn £520 a month.

Money - obviously role 2 earns more, but some of the difference is covered by discount/perks of role 1
Hours - role 2 saves me 3 hours a week and as it's locum I can take any Saturday off I like vs only 5 Saturdays a year in role 1
Enjoyment - I much prefer role 1, but is that worth sacrificing 3 hours a week of family time?
Diversity - I'm starting a role in a different area of radiography to where I have been working (the area of role 2). I'm conscious if I don't like it, role 1 gives me an alternative employer. But in reality, I know I couldn't make ends meet only working for employer 1... however many hours I did, I'd never earn enough to cover my current salary, childcare would wipe out any weekday earnings

Drawingaline

Hi, have really enjoyed reading through your diary! I have four kids and hear you on all the crazy lol. Luckily both my teens are quite grounded with money and dot seem too entitled, my 15yr old has a £50 a month allowance. I pay £20 a moth for her phone, but she wanted a £27 a month one so she pays for the extra. Then I buy uniform, underwear and shoes, anything else is on her. I pay her haircut (stupid money as we see a curl specialist, but only twice a year) and she buys hair products. It's working OK, and she has a budget on my ynab. She has to save 10% of everything she earns (I use her for childcare in the holidays). 14yr old son is less good with money, but also has a budget and comes to work with me in the holidays a bit, again saving 10% of earnings.

I love ynab, if you are on FB I can pm you a couple of groups who are FB with advice.

I adore the theatre, this August I am seeing nine shows lol. I tend to take one or two children at a time, and I booked six shows through kids week. I am also on a FB group who share tips for tickets, things to do etc. I also have a friends and family railcard which has been the best thing ever. We did all go in last weekend and saw a show through kids week. Cost £90 for the show (not one of the huge popular ones) train was £65ish for six of us (we are direct on the Waterloo line, about 45mins on a fast train) went to jubilee park by the London Eye, wandered along the southbank, ate at the BFI restaurant for £70. Was a lovely day out and because of ynab easy to pay for.

I, too have a quite high balance in my bank account, but often only have £5/10 spare to 'spend'. Its called being ynab broke lol.

Keep up the good work, I am also desperate to get our gardens sorted. It's happening slowly!

Drawingaline

Just read you three tickets cost £225!!!! Took the two teens to see the Mousetrap on kids week, cost £45. A they loved it! Itake it you went to one of the 'big' shows. They are worth it, but there are definitely bargains to be had. If you are interested in any advice for future trips let me know.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Drawingaline wrote: »

Just read you three tickets cost £225!!!! Took the two teens to see the Mousetrap on kids week, cost £45. A they loved it! Itake it you went to one of the 'big' shows. They are worth it, but there are definitely bargains to be had. If you are interested in any advice for future trips let me know.

Yes, Wicked and they were very good seats , not the cheapest way to do it! Advice for future trips very welcome as are YNAB FB groups please.
Your children sound very grounded, my 15 year old is still much too entitled, drives me mad :mad:

Drawingaline

Oh, we saw wicked second row, £70 tickets for my daughters birthday a few years ago. We'll worth the spend lol! Will pm you some stuff

Moneywhizz

It's difficult to give advice concerning the jobs. On the face of it, I would say you should definitely go for the radiographer role. It pays more, gives you more flexibility and you work less. However if you really don't enjoy the work it is not as black and white as it seems. Is it really that bad? Can you see yourself still in this job for the rest of your career? It seems a shame that you have studied and trained for a role that pays you well but you don't enjoy. Sorry more questions than answers!