£50,000 in 3 years diary. Can I do it???

RoxieW

hey snaggles- yep its abit rubbish. We have 3 bedrooms so the boys can share but the 3rd room is teeny tiny. We did alot of making do with the other two and as number 3 will def be the last I just want it to be perfect this time round. Thou, it wouldnt be perfect in a bigger house as I'd be constantly owrrying about anything happening and not being able to pay the humungous mortgage we;d saddled ourselves with.

On the baby subject, I think I'm 80% sure of going for it but there just seems to be so many reasons not to. We have a small house, a small car, it means going back to the beginning when things wer ejust getting easier. It means disrupting the boys lives and not beiong able to do as much with them. It means risking my health (I had severe PSD with ds2 and could barely walk). It means less money, less freedom, less space.

So why oh why am I STILL 80% sure I want to go for it???? lol

Seriously thou - I've posted this on the families board - if I knew 100% it would be a boy we wouldn't have anymore. Its just that I'm so longing for a daughter that I want to try one more time in the hope. And before anyone starts bashing me, yes it goes without saying that them being healthy is the most important thing and yes, of course I would love it regardless of the sex but if I'm honest the reason I want to try again is to try for a girl. And that really scares me as I'm afraid of regretting my decision.

RoxieW

good money update - I've had 3 NSD's in a row!

I also didnt cave into the alcohol last night. Now, can i be bothered to exercise today to shall I have a day of rest? I figure 2 days on, one day off is good going but I dont want to lose my momentum!

RoxieW

Ok, have just had a £200 gas bill for the past 3 months :eek: Which is about double what we are used to, so really need to adjust my SOA accordingly (and try to cut down!!). Its just that I need the radiators on to dry the endless washing in this weather, so its not just for the 'heat' so to speak.

Am also adding to budget for our summer hol (we're going camping in spain - a haven sort sight near Barcelona. Well, not camping as such, staying in a caravan type thingy.) £800 for the 4 of us for 10 days inc flights which i thought was good for the summer holidays - comparing it with what else we could get. Have paid the deposit so am budgeting £100 a month for that.

Lets see if theres anything I can tweak.


March SOA

Mortgage 401
Rent 130 *
Council tax 0
Gas and Elec 100
Phone 15
Mobile (payg) 5
Sky 17
Net 20 **
Petrol 150 ***
dale lunches 60
food 200
water 15
house maintainance 7
insurances 40
school dinners 0 (paid till after easter)
activities with todd 10
boys football club 40
boys gymnastics 30
v license 11
charity 12
contacts 20
dentist 5
haircuts 20
newspapers/mags 10
clothes 50
mine and dales spends 100
family 'fun' 100
eating out 100
summer hol 100

total - 1768

Income 2700

900 to save?

Gosh, is that right?? Have I missed anything off?

chevalier

RoxieW wrote: »

Ok, have just had a £200 gas bill for the past 3 months :eek: Which is about double what we are used to, so really need to adjust my SOA accordingly (and try to cut down!!). Its just that I need the radiators on to dry the endless washing in this weather, so its not just for the 'heat' so to speak. Have you had a look on www.freecycle.org for a tumble dryer, or posted a want? We got our washing machine off there for free! Just had to collect it. It would certainly be cheaper to run than your heating!! Also I have found that even now if the sun is shining and it is windy, I can still get a load of washing dry outside on the line.


March SOA

Mortgage 401
Rent 130 *
Council tax 0I know you have save this for other things, but would it be worth spreading the payments over 12 months
Gas and Elec 100can see why this would be:eek: ! Are you with the cheapest providers now that they have all put their prices up?
Phone 15 ref phone/sky/net would it not be cheaper to go for a bundled package from sky rather than pay these separately. Thought it was about £26 a month for the three
Mobile (payg) 5
Sky 17
Net 20 **
Petrol 150 ***
dale lunches 60
food 200 :j :T Well done on getting this down
water 15 do you have hippos in your cisterns? If not you can get them free from your water company I believe
house maintainance 7 Out of interest how much have you got saved in this fund now? You were saving a lot at the beginning. I only ask as if you had a lot then you could let this stop for a bit.
insurances 40 Is this building and contents? If so I think you can do better. Check on moneysupermarket.com or similar. If there is a better deal going, then check on quidco.com to see if you can get cash back
school dinners 0 (paid till after easter) Not worth changing to pack ups then?
activities with todd 10
boys football club 40 are they still bored with this? If so is it necessary. What about Beavers or similar (depending on ages) for Todd?
boys gymnastics 30
v license 11
charity 12
contacts 20
dentist 5
haircuts 20
newspapers/mags 10I am surprised you are still buying these when all of the major mags are online now, that is how i get my fix of Marie Claire and Cosmo
clothes 50
mine and dales spends 100
family 'fun' 100I think that I must be a bad mum, because apart from Beavers for my eldest, we don't spend even what you pay for football on outings for the boys each month, oops.
eating out 100
summer hol 100

total - 1768

Income 2700

900 to save?

Gosh, is that right?? Have I missed anything off?

hope this helps
chev

dfw844

Thanks for coming back! I'm getting used to being a bit more vocal lately, so I promise less of the lurking and more of the encouragement.

Hope the results come back ok, and that you enjoyed your trip away. Don't worry about the house - the main thing is you aren't getting yourself into debt (like the rest of us!). Sprucing it up and then deciding to stay there is probably the frugalist (is that a word?!) thing to do in the long term.

I've got no advice whatsoever about the baby, as I don't have any kids. The only thing I would say though (and this is just a general observation from living life) is don't be sucked in to thinking everything has to be brand new from Mamas and Papas. I know you want it to be perfect this time round, but the mothercare idea of 'perfect' can be a complete waste of money. Prams, car seats etc, you know they'll all be covered in **** in a few weeks, so if people offer you help in the form of 'used but loved' items, take them! It does worry me that for every baby that is born about a ton of plastic comes with them.

Anyway, that's about it, just glad to have you back.

Oh, and I've recently started exercising too! Been playing tennis with bf, I find it helps to do it together because it's really good fun, actually (and trust me, I would never usually call any form of exercise fun). What kind of thing are you doing?

RoxieW

hi chev - thank you for taking the time to go throu my SOA.
To answer your points -

unfortunately we have no room for a tumble drier. We had a washer drier but it was seriously rubbish and took about an hour to dry one lonely item!! OH did suggest getting an electric clothes heater but as the warm weathers on its way I think we'll leave it and hold out. till next winter.

I checked and we are with the cheapest supplier. tbh I'd love to change for the quidco but it wouldn't be worth it.

i like having the 2 month break for council tax tbh. its a nice 'suprise' come february.

thanks for the well done with the food - although not completely deserved as we went £80 over budget last month - still, its down alot from £500 and I'm trying extra hard this month.

water hippos - thanks will look into that.

house maintenance - the £7 is just for the window cleaner tbh. we were saving more but its been obliterated with our revamp. cant see us needing anymore in future than the £7 a mth touch wood.

insurances - no this includes contents (we are shared ownership so our building is covered through housing !!!), life and mort insurance. Will shop around on contents thou when it comes up in may - use quidco for that.

no - wouldnt do pack ups as coby really enjoys his dinners and I prefer hi to have a hot meal - plus they have a really good menu so i feel its value for money.

football - actually, dale and i discussed this this week as its time for paying subs again. And they have actually really some on I think so we're going to keep them at it. I don't want them to think they can quit things willy nilly and they enjoy it while they are there. Plus anything to do with fitness has to be a good thing. I did think about beavers for coby as I think he would enjoy it - but its on the same night as gymnastics which they both go to and enjoy together. Also, bad stories (not our local group but generally) about male scout leaders etc have put me off as you cant stay and watch, you have to leave your kids. I know it sounds abit paranoid but thats just a worry of mine.

mags - believe me this is way way down on what it used to be. i used to be a complete addict. i love reading them in the bath so online doesnt do it for me I'm afraid. In fact, i only ever read them in the bath now. I'm happy if its under £10 as it used to be much much more!!

family fun - do you know, it just goes so so easily. i trip to the cinema followed by a meal out wipes it out for 4 so I have to admit I really struggle with this each month. We like to take them out somewhere each weekend and even if its a freebie you've still got petrol, parking costs. I do love our family 'fun' times thou - they're what memories are made of. If I can keep it to under £100 the I'm happy.

Thank you so much for your input!!

RoxieW

hi dfw - nice to see you!!

I know- I do agree with the mamas and papas point - my boys never had all that and they certainly never went without. But i do have that feeling of - 'its the last time so must have this that and the other'. tbh it would just me nice to have a nursery big enough to fit a nursing chair in there!!

me and oh are going to start badminton - we can take the boys along to watch. i had a rest today but am hoping I'll be back on the fitness regime tomorrow (I have 2 davina dvds - i hate her she's sooo annoying!). I'm just sick of being overweight tbh.

RoxieW

ps to money update - spent £8 on the boys gymnastics today and £13 on shopping. Will need to buy more shopping at weekend thou - that was all I could carry to put us on. Still, not doing to bad! Am on the wine tonight thou - my treat for tackling our 'cupboard of doom' - the cupboard under the stairs that was jam packed full of crap. It took me 5 HOURS to sort it out and promising myself a drink was the only way I could get through it!!!

RoxieW

Resualts came back clear :j
Thats a weight off definitely - although I wasn't letting myself think the worst.

Now, think we're going to get on with the baby making!!!!:eek:

Ps a nsd today -although think we might get a takeaway tonight to celebrate.

RoxieW

Just ordered a takeaway and am soooooo looking forward to it! Indian - my fave_ i love cheese nans and will get and indian just for the cheese nan!

Only thing is we have to eat it at the table as we're both terrified of spilling on the new cream carpet. Takeaways just arent the same when you eat them at the table