Keeping our options open

savingholmes

yogavibes wrote: »

well done on the OP - I found having a cleaner has been helpful whenever I'm feeling stressed out by the cleaning. I've had one on and off for years and am currently considering starting to have one again.I always think it is money saving in a way if it means I am able to keep working because I'm not exhausted!

Me too - that's my justification. We also found we ate out less as a clean kitchen is more of an incentive to cook in.

becky170

Nicky_Noo_Na wrote: »

Great progress so far!

Have read your diary all in one go. My children are a similar age, one started school in Sept and youngest is 14 months. We haven't started overpaying the mortgage yet as currently saving up for a new kitchen.

Feeling you on childcare costs - got a letter on Friday from nursery and fees are going up to 58 a day (sob).

Do you work full time? I do 3 days so DH feels we can't justify a cleaner but I'd love one! Hope it works out well for you

Thanks for taking the time to read my diary Nicky. I work 4 days a week at the moment. My DD isn't a great napper, 30 mins usually, so I don't get much time on my day off to do anything apart from look after her. She's constantly on the go now and usually manages to get her hands on whatever she shouldn't.

Ouch about the 5% hike in fees. We pay £56 a day but then we have to pay an extra £8 on the days she's dropped off before 8am. She's well looked after and happy so I can't really complain. After 2 weeks at home with the kids I think it's definitely money well spent!

Good luck with saving up for a new kitchen. Our next house job is a new bathroom...I just can't face the upheaval to have it done at the moment as we only have one bathroom.

becky170

Yippee we've done our first tip run of 2020. Only got rid of four carrier bags of clothes and some cardboard boxes which had been sat in a cupboard for ages but at least it's a start

savingholmes

Well done on decluttering.

becky170

Well the decluttering is going slowly. I have dropped a bag of clothes off at the charity shop and I've started to fill another bag with clothes for recycling. I've tried offering up a bag of bibs and Muslin clothes for free on Facebook but I've not had any takers so I guess I'll send them for recycling as I don't think the charity shop will accept them. My next job is to try and sell some of the kids clothes that they've outgrown. I didn't have a huge amount of luck last time i tried on Facebook, so I'm not feeling too optimistic. I'll price it cheap and see if I get any takers.

Apart from tidying we did get out to a local national trust property to get some fresh air. We let DD loose to have a walk around in a wood ( she's never had the chance to walk around outside before) and she absolutely loved it. I think it's going to be a fun summer with both kids running around.

becky170

I thought I was doing quite well with my food budget until I added up all the top up shops and money spent on lunches :rotfl: so far I've spent £217.73 and that's with half our meals using bits up which were in the freezer :eek:

I've been listing baby clothes on Facebook today. A couple of bits have had interest so fingers crossed they are picked up. I listed a couple of bundles but I've not had any interest in those so far I've still got loads to list after this batch. Maybe I should give EbAy ago too.

I've just requested £7 out my Quidco account so that can go towards a small mortgage overpayment when that clears. Does anyone know of any survey sites which are mobile friendly? I have a lot of time travelling by bus so I could put it to good use it there are some sites where the survey sites aren't too data heavy.

savingholmes

I spend too much on groceries too.

Well done on the sales.

becky170

We had our annual mortgage statement. In 2019 we paid £8708 off the capital and paid £3116 in interest. Our daily interest is now £7.29 which is much better than the £23.03 per day we were paying when we took the mortgage out

becky170

Well I've managed to sell two kids outfits on Facebook and give away my bag of bibs and Muslin cloths so that's a couple of bits which have left the house Two people didn't turn up to collect things which was annoying. I've decided to list a couple of bits on eBay but I've not had anyone bidding on anything yet. I'm not sure whether it's just because of a glut of people listing things or maybe the time of the year that I'm not having much luck selling stuff. I've priced things low so I don't think my starting price is unrealistic. if anyone has any tips let me know

We've had our first clean. It was great to come home to a lovely clean house so I'm really pleased I finally hired a cleaner. Now we've just got to get a new bathroom, paint the house, do the garden...the list is endless :rotfl:

I've so far resisted the urge to do any online shopping, although I am putting together a list of things to buy in February. I'm not sure if that defeats the purpose of giving up internet shopping for a month, but at least it means that they'll be considered purchases instead of impulse purchases. I also resisted the urge to buy chocolate from the vending machine today. Luckily there was some cake going spare at work so that helped with my craving for sweet things this afternoon and saved me a pound

savingholmes

You are doing really well. Glad you are enjoying the cleaner.

I am trying to follow the 72 hour rule to cut out impulse spending. I'm doing better than normal.