Keeping our options open

becky170

We made another £250 overpayment today so we've now overpayed £1721 this year! We're feeling very fortunate that our finances having suffered yet as a result of covid-19. 

I'm really starting to feel cabin fever now. I just keep reminding myself that we are lucky and that things could be much worse. I haven't managed to do much self-care recently. If I get through a shower without one of the kids bursting in I'm doing well i do have some bath bombs so maybe a bath one night after the kids are in bed is in order. 

savingholmes

A bath sounds a great option. Glad you are still managing to OP. 

becky170

Oops, I can't believe it's nearly a month since I last posted. Things are still ticking along here. I had two weeks where I was really struggling with lockdown but I seem to have settled back into the routine of staying in so I'm feeling happier now.  We've so far made an overpayment of £206 this month, but we may review our finances after payday and maybe overpay more as it hardly seems worth saving now our savings rates are below 0.5% (well apart from the reg savers).

To try and make the garden more exciting for the kids we have brought lots of bubbles and a playhouse with the money we've saved on nursery fees. We next want to buy some new garden furniture for the grown ups but I haven't ordered that yet  

After lots of debating we have decided to send the kids back to nursery and school in June. I really hope we've made the right decision, but as we have no risk factors I can't see any good reason not to send them back. Social distancing won't be removed for a good while yet so school will be different whether DS goes back now or in September. 

Right better get ready for trying to persuade DS that he wants to do some school work! Enjoy the sunny weather everyone....

Hettyhound

I’m with you on sending the kids back as we have to try and get some normality again.  School have agreed to take my son from 1st June even though he’s year 2.  Apparently the government has expanded the vulnerable children category to include adopted children so he’s going back under that umbrella.  I considered that as we have no health issues it was best for us both as our mental health is really under strain now.  It looks like I’ll be working at home for the foreseeable but at least I’ll get some child free work hours in.  I’ve told work I’ll start when I come back from dropping him off and finish when I go to collect him.  I’m waiting for an allocated start and finish time from school at the moment.  No idea whether there will be any holiday club provision over the summer holidays but at least I’ve got some leave days booked off so wouldn’t be working full time.  Hope it goes well and you get your grown up garden furniture, although with kids you’ll probably never get chance to sit in it 😁

savingholmes

I sympathise with you on the childcare. I am happy my family is safe at home but would love some peace and quiet and am nowhere near as productive at home as I was when they weren't around.

becky170

DD went back to nursery last week and DS went back to school this week. They both seem happy and have settled back in without any issues which is a relief. I really thought DD would be upset with going back but she didn't cry once. It's been nice to have some childfree time to get on with work, but I do miss them. 
We've made a £250 overpayment this month. We've been reviewing our savings pots to see where we need to focus our efforts. We have 6 months of our combined salary as an emergency fund and a healthy holiday fund, although who knows if we'll be able to use that this year! Our focus is going to be our new car fund as we currently only have £2000 in that and we'll probably need to replace either one or both cars in the next couple of years. I'm hoping that when DD starts school we'll be able to cope with one car so hoping mine hangs on in there until then!
We haven't been particularly careful with money over lockdown. Our shopping bills are between £75 and £100 most weeks and then we have a milkman on top of that (£9 per week) and then some weeks we get a hello fresh box to mix things up about (£42). At least we've only had one takeaway during lockdown. It was DH birthday this week so we had an afternoon tea delivered and a premade lasagne from a local restaurant. It was all delicious and it made for a nice day off from cooking anyway we'll need to curb things back now we're paying nursery fees again. Our cleaner is coming back in a few weeks so I've also got to get the house back in some sort of order......eek!

Cornish_mum

Really glad to hear that back to school and nursery went well.  CM

savingholmes

Glad the kids are settling in well. I really need my cleaner back but she has two young kids and no childcare with schools shut and grandparents out of bounds so.... 

debtfreeoneday

glad back to school and nursery went well. 

becky170

The weather has been so nice this weekend. I went out for a lovely walk by the river with a friend yesterday, it was the first time I'd seen her since before March so it was great to catch up. I'm really missing my mum and dad now. I'm not sure when I'll next see them

Even with not visiting the shops i'm not managing many no spend days. Yesterday I ordered more craft stuff for the kids. I'm not very artistic so crafty stuff doesn't come naturally but luckily the internet has lots of easy ideas this week we made a space helmet... luckily all those boxes from internet shopping came in useful . I've also been looking for garden furniture. I've chosen a set I like from IKEA but I can't get a delivery slot so can't order it just yet Apart from that I can't think of anything else I need so I think I better stay away from the internet before I do any more impulse internet shopping!