Crunchy pays off the loan early, and other stories

crunchy_time

Just checked my ISA balance for the first time since January apparently - £1760 which is a nice amount to have.  Husband is about the same with his ISA so we have enough to pay for the house painting so long as it stays around the £2k mark in which case we can withdraw equal amounts from each account and still have nearly £1k each.  This means I can use the £300 I saved from child care this month towards paying off the duvet cover and maybe get a few more bits for the house like some new curtains for the sitting room or the extra paint I need to finish the painting jobs.  I dipped into this £300 to pay for my fitness sub but have decided to use my ISA and then pay an extra £7.50 into my ISA for the next year to make up the difference.
Speaking of childcare, before lockdown my childcare was costing us £275 a month for both children to be in school club before and after school, 5 days a week but not including school holidays.  Since husband is not travelling around at the moment we are going to see if he can shift his work around so he takes them to school and we only pay for after school club.  This over the year totals £130 a month which is a huge saving.  Of course it might need to go up when things go back to 'normal' but any saving for the moment I shall take.  It means, husband may start work earlier and then take over when I leave before 8am and then take them to school at around 8.30am.  Ive just re-read the guidance and there is no club for the first week so that's a saving in itself.  Husband will have to step up and do both school drop offs! ha ha!  he has done hardly anything during lockdown so it is about time he requested some flexible working time from his employer (who will be more than supportive).
Crunch xx

shoppingobsessed2020

The juggling of childcare is a nightmare.  I’m having to start late and leave early the first week and then onwards I’m having to leave early various days that I haven’t been successful in booking into tea club as it’s only available  3 days a week. Employers are just having to be flexible at the moment as there’s no way round it.  I can ask friends to help, but I don’t like to impose especially if it’s a regular occurrence, one off emergency’s are fine, but not regular.  

well done on the personal best, that’s amazing!  Good news as well on the savings front, I’m liking having a small emergency fund and watching it grow.

crunchy_time

shoppingobsessed2020 said:

The juggling of childcare is a nightmare.  I’m having to start late and leave early the first week and then onwards I’m having to leave early various days that I haven’t been successful in booking into tea club as it’s only available  3 days a week. Employers are just having to be flexible at the moment as there’s no way round it.  I can ask friends to help, but I don’t like to impose especially if it’s a regular occurrence, one off emergency’s are fine, but not regular.  

well done on the personal best, that’s amazing!  Good news as well on the savings front, I’m liking having a small emergency fund and watching it grow.

It must be harder for you as you are on your own for much of the year.  
Husband's job is more than flexible to fit around childcare.  He manages his own diary and mostly has phone calls throughout the day.  All he would have to do is block out the times where he is out of the house taking them to school and maybe work an extra half an hour to compensate.  It's a culture thing for him.  He is used to being 'available' to take calls whenever he can.  And he is used to me picking up the slack and adapting myself to fit into his job.  I know we are fortunate - he is a high earner and if I didn't want to, I wouldn't have to work (debt aside).  But I do want to work.  It's taken a while to sink into the notion that it is ok for me to take a step down so I can basically take my kids to after school clubs and be off with them in the holidays.  When they are older, I can start stepping things up again.  Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant didn't it.
And yes, savings are great.  I like having more than £1k put aside for an emergency as we also pay for car services out of ours.  I can't wait for all the debt to be paid off and we can start saving more as well as overpaying our mortgage.

crunchy_time

Morning all
Such a weird day yesterday.  I was on a real high because of my run and by the end of the day, I went to bed crying.  We didn't get out at all because of the weather.  The children were ok but I end up feeling like a rubbish mum because of it, for some reason.  In the evening, I made a pair of earrings which weren't very neat and then read two horrible news stories which made me cry.  To add insult to injury, husband then put the Jackass movie on which is just awful in its own special way and a contrast to what I was reading so I just went to bed and read for a bit. 
I think I am bored.  This time last year when I was teaching I would have LOADS to do and be struggling to get it all done before the start of term.  I have lots to do and lots of plans to do for things at home but I can't seem to get motivated enough to do any of them.  I feel I swing around them depending on what the children are doing in the house.  Perhaps this is all just calm in the storm before I start back to work next week.  I had an email from my school about the return to opening with 12 attachments - 12! Necessary of course.  I could start to get ready for next week but I also want to soak up my last few days of doing nothing before the madness starts again.
This morning we have my son's hair cut so at least I have to get out of the house and then I am determined to get some things crossed off my to-do list and find some motivation for life from somewhere.
2 days to pay day!!
Crunch xx

Homegrown0

I feel your pain with the motivation Crunchy - I often find my motivation dips when I'm feeling overwhelmed or there's loads going on. It really takes a lot for me to force myself into productivity. I don't have any tips whatsoever except just keep going. It's a good idea to get up and out - at least you have half a chance of keeping the productivity going  

t2rry

oh my gosh the childcare thing!!! I have no idea how it's going to work for us, except to know that it's MESSY! 

shoppingobsessed2020

We all have days like that, we have had a lot more time in the house than I would like.  Partly due to finances and the weather.  I actually miss the days when he was younger and we had an annual pass for the local soft play place and could kill a couple of hours there on a wet miserable day without spending a fortune on admission and drinks.  

Maybe try just having one thing on your daily to do list that you want to achieve each day.  Can be as small as sorting a pile of paperwork or clearing a hot spot in a room.  If you have the motivation do more great,  but I find breaking it down into a list of jobs per room and ticking them off is more satisfying than one job such a gut kitchen.  If it’s broken down into clean fridge, wipe down cupboards, remove rubbish that doesn’t belong on breakfast bar etc i find it more motivating and satisfying.

dont beat yourself up though, we all have days where we lack motivation weather and Covid situation really isn’t helping anyone at the moment.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Childcare, it ages me trying to arrange it.  We're doing similar, dropping breakfast club on the 3 days I work... OH is at home and can drop them off and still be at his computer by 9.  He twitched about it a bit, but he's agreed
This summer hols has been odd and much more time spent at home than normal.  So hard to be spontaneous with everything needing prebooking, I like to suss out the weather before committing and by then, everything's booked!  I'm always pleasantly surprised at how easily children are pleased.... often, they rave about the simple things, like a trip to the park or the swimming pool

crunchy_time

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Childcare, it ages me trying to arrange it.  We're doing similar, dropping breakfast club on the 3 days I work... OH is at home and can drop them off and still be at his computer by 9.  He twitched about it a bit, but he's agreed
This summer hols has been odd and much more time spent at home than normal.  So hard to be spontaneous with everything needing prebooking, I like to suss out the weather before committing and by then, everything's booked!  I'm always pleasantly surprised at how easily children are pleased.... often, they rave about the simple things, like a trip to the park or the swimming pool

You are absolutely right about all of this. Also, I love the comment about Your oh ‘twitching!’ That’s exactly what my husband did! 

crunchy_time

Morning all!
Thanks for all the comments everyone! After downing nearly a bottle of wine yesterday, starting an argument with husband and then crying this morning. I think I am depressed. I searched ‘how to pull yourself out of depression’ on Pinterest this morning and a Samaritans link came up. I ticked off lots of things on the questionnaire as well as identified with some of the articles on Pinterest. No point going to drs as all they can do is 1) confirm it or not 2) prescribe me drugs which I don’t want to take. I have a counsellor already so I can always book in with her if I need to but I wrote a lot in my journal and re read a few pages of a book called ‘lost connections’ I Read a few months ago. I think I’m depressed as I’ve lost connection with myself and my community as well as my extended family. Before lockdown there was an argument my extended family that has had an immense negative impact on me. I had feelings that I couldn’t go on with life so I was seeing my counsellor. Then lockdown happened which was positive in lots of ways for the extended family situation. Now it has lifted I feel I am struggling with the emotions around the issues that have been raised. This, compounded by the stress of lockdown, I feel has got me to this state. 

Spending a lot of time at home, in my own thoughts, not seeing friends as much isn’t good for ones state of mind.
I feel like my purpose is based on the whims of my children and the level of my husbands work stress at the moment but it’s my job to change that internalised narrative. 

Whoa - tangent alert!
So, if I can manage to tear my children away from Harry Potter, and the BT man who is currently fixing our internet doesn’t need me to hang around, then we shall go for a bike ride or do something to get us out of this house.
Pay day tomorrow! 

Crunchy xx