DrSpendingLittle's New Home - staying accountable and responsible

Sarahwithlove

DrSpendingLittle said:

Sarahwithlove said:

I do love a good spreadsheet. 

Is there any way you could move closer to the parents to reduce the drive? If they are rural and becoming less able maybe they need to consider moving somewhere with better networks. 

Hey Sarah, I was just catching up on reading your diary the other day! You're making great progress with your debt pay down, I think it's halved since the last time I was on the boards. Hope you're feeling better now. Frustrating to have been poorly when on leave! 

Yes I think the plan is for them to move into a home at some point in the near future, so that will be addressed. We just need to decide which sibling they will be closest too, though it probably won't be DF. They do have other family quite close by who can help on a day to day basis more than us. DF likes to help out when he can to reduce the burden on other family.

Thanks I'm trying! 

That would be good if they can be in a home as there will be alot more support for them. It's a big decision to make though. 

Sarahwithlove

I find menu planning so hard, I never know what to choose 

DrSpendingLittle

Up early with the birds this morning. Well LO was but I managed to get him back down but decided not to bother trying to get back to sleep as the thought of coffee was too enticing! 

Had a great no spend weekend, though it was largely through circumstance as DF did the food shopping on Saturday and then happened to have his wallet with him on Sunday for an unplanned mid-walk ice cream. We're lucky to have lots of lovely little walks to explore around us, so we tend to take LO out on at least 2-3 walks per weekend, which is of course free and gets his used to the great outdoors. 

This week we're back at work but I'm WFH all week so I should be able to keep costs down. I've got a rough menu plan on my head and will pop out to the supermarket in my lunch break to get some supplies in. I've paused my habit of doing a weekly online shop on a Monday for now and am focusing on splitting the week into two and planning a few days at a time. It gives me more flexibility and is a little less overwhelming. 

Budget is looking fine - got about £1K of bills left to come out of billing account (nursery, car loan, broadband, storage fees and phone bill). Spending budget is looking a bit light so I'll have to monitor that for the remainder of the month. I'm back on leave next week with LO so will probably need to top up the family fun category and possibly the food category. 

Looked at a few houses over the weekend but neither fit the bill for us. We're mindful of house prices going up but at the same time, we don't want to buy a house that doesn't fully suit our needs for the sake of getting back on the market. Still, whilst we wait, we can save. 

LO is stirring so I'd best start the morning routine. Might check in later once I've done the food shop. 

DSL

DrSpendingLittle

One thing I forgot to update on (whilst LO decides whether or not he is waking up or snoozing!!), was that I looked into child benefit and it turns out we are now entitled to receive it. We will of course have to pay tax on it. So I called them up last week and got that all set up and then registered online for self assessment tax return. I received a nice little back payment last Thursday - I think it was about 6 months worth of payments - which I've put into my spending account for now. I've been thinking about what to do with it - I don't want to spend it for the sake of spending it just because we have it. And, it's likely we'll only receive it for two years as the government are considering changing the way they calculate eligibility. So, in the meantime, I will not consider it 'income' in my budget and I will just park it with the idea of saving it for LO to use in the future. Thinking ahead, once LO is out of nursery and we no longer receive child benefit, I may continue to put aside the equivalent ££s each month until he is 18 so he has a lump sum to fund higher education or whatever. 

DSL

DrSpendingLittle

Not much to update on at the moment. Went out for brunch with DF yesterday to break up the work day and we picked up some bits and pieces from the supermarket - milk, coffee and wine, the usual suspects! Well, wine actually isn't that usual for me, but I fancied a glass. 

We then went to a car dealership to look at approved used cars to get a sense of what we might want for a 'new to us' second car and how much it would cost etc. It was a good visit and we came away with a better sense of what to expect in terms of ££s / mileage etc. We'd need to pay cash for the vehicle, so whatever we spend has to come from the ££s that will remain after buying a house i.e. our emergency fund. I've planned for that figure to be circa 6 months of combined take home pay, rather than expenses, so there is admittedly some wiggle room. However, I seem to be rather fixated on that specific amount and reluctant to deviate from it, so I need to speak to DF to see what he thinks. Perhaps I'm being irrationally cautious about it all, but I am just anxious about paying a bigger mortgage and being locked in to a 5 year fix. 

Today I might nip out to get a couple of ingredients for LO's dinner that I forgot to pick up yesterday. I might also look at replacing my little wooden chopping boards as I'm conscious some of the grooves are getting harder to clean. I'm also in the market for a cast iron casserole dish - I stupidly forgot to set aside our French branded one when the packers were at our house and it's now in storage! So annoying. Anyway, I think S4insbury's stock a H4bitat one for about £40 so I might pick one up from there. I want to use it to cook LO more casserole type dishes that introduce him to new flavours and textures, the sort of thing a slow cooker just can't produce. I also find slow cooker meals tend not to freeze as well as regular cooked meals as the water content is higher and they separate when defrosting.  

Speaking of the LO, I have an amazon basket with a few toys in it for him that I'm waiting until next week to buy. I want him to have a few new things to occupy himself with when he's out of nursery and on our little 'holiday' / staycation. 

Been to see another house this morning (location, not inside) on the way back from nursery drop off and we decided the area isn't for us, so that's another location scrubbed off the list. We're leaning more and more towards one particular location in which to focus our search, so it feels like we're making progress even if we haven't yet found an actual house! We just need to keep an eye out and wait until we come across something that suits our needs and budget.

No further bill payments due until 19th August so all is quiet on the bills front. I'm feeling quite frugal at the moment I have to say. I feel like I've had another LBM recently but this one seems to be more existential. I've been reading a book on neoliberalism, which I know as an academic concept from my education, but this book has been written for the public / lay audience and there's just something about the pitch and use of 'proper' real world examples (when compared to the more abstract concepts the academic literature discusses) that is giving me pause for thought, especially with regard to overconsumption, debt and materialism. Lots to reflect on over the coming months. 

DSL

Sarahwithlove

That's good you are narrowing down what you are looking for and where. It does of course give you less options but best to wait for the right one then to rush into a decision. 

DrSpendingLittle

Ended up having a NSD yesterday. I decided to use freezer stores for dinner as I couldn't be bothered going out to the supermarket!  

Today I will probably head out to pick up what I had intended to yesterday and get petrol for the car. The car also seriously needs valeting but I'm not willing to pay for it to be done, so I have the wireless hand held hoover on charge and I will take some time later this morning to hoover and dust / clean the interior. I'll then take it to the hand car wash when I go to the supermarket. 

Accounts all fairly quiet and stagnant at the moment. I do need to return a set of pjs for LO, so that will be a welcome £7 refund to go back into my spending account at some point. I also have £7 of cashback built up in my ch4se spending account but I am going to wait until next week to transfer that over - it should pay for one of the LO's new toys!

DSL 

DrSpendingLittle

@Sarahwithlove Yep, hopefully we'll see something soon but realistic that we might have to wait for spring selling season. Agree with meal planning - it's so hard! I don't know why, really, I think it's just trying to connect ingredients across numerous meals so, for instance, I'm not buying a pack of parsley for just one dish. Then there is factoring in what we already have in the cupboards, as well what mood we're in, what we actually fancy eating, plus how tired we're feeling or how much time we have to cook. Argh! Too many moving parts to think about! LO is too young to be eating what we like to eat, so he needs meal planning separately most of the time too, though we do overlap ingredients sometimes. 

Sarahwithlove

Yes for me being tired and not wanting to cook anything that requires effort is my downfall. I seem to end up eating the same meal over and over again. But then I get bored of it so have to find something else. 

DrSpendingLittle

Well yesterday turned out to be another NSD as DF went out and picked up the groceries we needed to cook dinner. He also bought the cast iron casserole dish too! 

Not sure on plans today, I have the day off work. I still need those chopping boards, and to return LO's pj's, so I might head out to do those. I also need to clean the car. I'll see what I'm in the mood to do! 

I've been thinking about getting an air fryer but I cannot decide if they are a gimmick or not. Will it be one of those items that ends up getting used for a bit and then left to gather dust? I think it might be easier to cook the LO's dinners in it, especially individual portions - seems like it could be faster / more convenient / efficient etc. Let me know if you have one / swear by it / use it all the time etc. Also, which brand. 

No direct debits due until Monday. No big spends planned over the coming days. Not sure on plans for the weekend just yet. Probably the usual park, walk routine. It won't be speedy as we have no 'day out' plans. 

DSL