Leaping from debt free to self employed

CreditCardJunkie

enthusiasticsaver said:

Great to hear from you. Congrats on baby number 2. Glad self employment working out and you still debt free. I was going to say when do you go on maternity leave but I guess it is different with self employment. Will it be easy to continue working as you get closer to due date or will your income drop? Obviously don’t out yourself by giving away what you do. 

Thank you! I'm planning on working until I give birth 😂 I can schedule things for my job in advance so aiming to do this to allow me to have 4 weeks off. I'm extremely lucky that I work from home and my parents are amazing with childcare. I currently work around 3 days a week so will probably work the weekends for a while (dh is off weekends) and 1 day during the week. 

It'll definitely be tough going for the first while but I've great clients and I've worked really hard to get the business to where it is. 

CreditCardJunkie

Bought some paint for the bedroom last month and decided I didn't like it anymore. Took it back to swap for something else and ended up getting paint for half the price and was able to replace all our doormats for what I paid.

Really need to get organised with food for the baby coming, when our daughter arrived we spend around £700 in two weeks 😳 we'd a few unexpected baby bits to buy but it was mostly takeaways/meals/lunches out.

CreditCardJunkie

Set myself two goals for 2023.

1. Earn £365 on prolific (average £1 per day)
2. Save 12k towards next house with DH.

Will update these at the end of each month like I did with debt busting. Jan is typically a quiet month in the business so might be a bit short this month & baby due Feb so will probably need to make some ground elsewhere in the year. 

Called to asda for a few bits today (I normally shop in lidl or do a click and collect) and was lured in by the 50% off sale. Spent £42 on totally unnecessary (but very cute) baby bits & a few things in the next size for DD. Due to paying off debts at the time I couldn't always afford "wants" for DD & this is likely to be our last baby so I'm not even feeling guilty.

CreditCardJunkie

Soo our beautiful little bundle of joy arrived earlier than expected but is healthy and doing well. It was a very anxious time and really puts what's important in life into perspective. 

On track with Prolific goal and have managed to save £600 rather than our target of £1000 for the month which I'm happy enough with as I had to finish work earlier than expected and we've had a fair amount of extra expenses with a longer than anticipated hospital stay for myself and our new arrival.

So happy to have our little angel home, just enjoying every moment of the newborn snuggles.

CL21

Congratulations 🎉 and amazing that you managed to still save £600 x

DancingInTheRain

Congratulations, treasure those newborn snuggles 😍

Sarahwithlove

Congratulations so happy for you. Having a newborn is hard enough without putting added pressure on yourself. Anything you can save is great 

CreditCardJunkie

Sarahwithlove said:

Congratulations so happy for you. Having a newborn is hard enough without putting added pressure on yourself. Anything you can save is great 

Thank you!!

CreditCardJunkie

Flying with the savings this month, had a rebate and an unexpected £500 gift from my parents! Aiming for 12k this year and we've £2850.

Food spends have been silly, this is something we really cannot get on top of although with the night feeds and running round after a toddler all day I'm not going to even attempt reining this in until I'm getting more sleep.

Still ploughing away aiming for £1 a day on Prolific...haven't decided what this is for yet.

DH's lease car finishes in Sept and we're going to buy something outright to tie us over until we're able to move house...tired thoughts for today 😂

CreditCardJunkie

Oh my I am so frugal and can't change my ways 🙈 decided to splash out on a pair of converse and they arrived today. I immediately compared them to my primark dupes and the only difference is a slightly better sole and the branding so have decided to return 🙈 I don't feel guilty about the purchase but I don't feel they're good value! 

Anyone else struggle to justify purchases?