The Hen House Chronicles

MerryHen

Grogged said:

Morning @MerryHen, how's things in your world?
Has your midwifery course started yet?
I hope you managed to enjoy your decking during the late summer, after all that hard work!
ATB, G.

We're still enjoying the decking two years on, this year I grew some leeks in the raised planter. And I am half way through midwifery training 😃

A few of "decking/yarden in use" photos 

Life updates:

I applied to study midwifery at my local university in September 2020 (while I was doing the access course) interviewed in the December and received an unconditional offer to begin training in September 2021.

It is going well, it is hard work but I love it. I am, however, currently taking a year out from catching other people's babies because we had another one of our own!

DS2 is ten months old and an absolute delight. I will return to training in the new year. DD, previously referred to as "the toddler" is almost 5 and started school this year. We made the most of me being on maternity leave during DD's last year before compulsory education to have lots of trips away, day trips and a family holiday abroad.

House renovation stuff has been paused for now. When interest rates started to rise we used a (very big) chunk of savings to pay off the mortgage. Financially there were probably better ways to use the money, like investing it, but mortgage freedom does feel good 😊

KajiKita

Your backyard looks lovely - a really usable, happy space 😊
Well done on being MF and congratulations on the new arrival. 

I am subscribed and will be following your £cial adventures now 😊

KK

Jessy103

Congratulations on the new arrival and becoming mortgage free! 🎉🍾

MerryHen

Thank you @KajiKita & @Jessy103 I am slowly catching up with both your diaries and can't wait to read what you've been up to!

Money stuff update

We may have overstretched ourselves slightly when paying off the mortgage.

We were hoping our old car woud survive until next year but unfortunately it needed replacing this summer and in my eagerness to pay off the mortgage we didn't have quite enough to buy another outright, at least not with the age/mileage/boot space we wanted. So we are now paying back a personal loan at £300pm. It's the first time we've ever had debt besides mortgage and student finance  

We have now upped the amount we save into the new car fund to £200pm to hopefully avoid a shortfall next time.

We have £7.5k in savings made up of £3k in the emergency fund and the rest in sinking funds to cover holidays, life & house insurances, car maintenance & insurance, and new car savings.

I pay £300pm into a personal stakeholder pension and DH pays £500pm (I think) into a workplace pension. DH could probably do with upping his contribution since he's a higher rate tax payer. My pension hasn't been doing great but from what I understand a lot of people are in the same boat. I am considering whether to transfer to a SIPP though to pay less in fees.

We also save £100 a month each for DD & DS2 in their own named accounts which they'll get access to when they turn 18.

From January our biggest single expense will be £1300 pm childcare 😱 plus holiday club costs for school holidays we can't take off (unfortunately I can't choose my holidays while I'm in training 👎🏻) Thinking about it we should probably start a pot for holiday childcare too.

Goals:

First

Pay off car loan. 32 months left at the standard payment, hopefully sooner though if we overpay.

And

Build the emergency fund to £15k. We are paying in £450pm so it should be achieved in just over two years.

Money left over at the end of the month is split between additional payments to the emergency fund and overpaying the car loan.

Then 

Save again for house renovations. Realistically the big messy jobs won't get done until I have finished my training and the children are a bit older.

And

Begin longer term savings. We're both 34 so have a few more decades of work but with how expensive everything is becoming I'd like to save a good amount for retirement, and to help the kids out. I am thinking S&S ISAs but that's a thought for another day once we are debt free and have a healthy EF.

KajiKita

In spite of the car glitch, you have a good plan there with a solid EF which will increase steadily. I foresee ‘boring’ and relaxing stability in your future 😊

KK

MerryHen

@KajiKita I welcome boring and stable 😄

KajiKita

MerryHen said:

@KajiKita I welcome boring and stable 😄

It’s underrated. 😉😊❤️

KK

MerryHen

Mini mission: get rid of things quicker than other things come into the house. 

I sorted through the kids' books at the weekend and passed 25 of them onto a friend today for her little boy. Quite besides from the fact we have enough books to open our own library, we live about 2 minutes walk (I just checked Google maps and it says 100 yards away) from a public library which we visit every week so our kids have no shortage of books!

5 bags of children's clothes are bagged up ready to go to the local reduce and reuse kid's clothes community project, and two bags of adult clothes are bagged for the charity shop. DD has a winter coat she has outgrown which I need to remember to wash so it can be passed on.

Since summer I have also been removing toys from circulation. Any that don't get mentioned again are being re-homed, and a few have been put away to regift to DS2 when he's older 😁

It feels very cathartic.

MerryHen

I sold the pram bassinet today, thereby removing another bulky item from the house and making £30 at the same time 😃

Not much MSE activity elsewhere though.

DD reached the top of the waitlist for a Friday swim lesson slot at a local swim school (instructor with a pool in their home). More expensive than her current lessons at the council pool, but a much smaller class size so hopefully she'll learn a bit more. We had just renewed her current lessons for another half term so there will be an overlap with two lessons a week, she won't mind though.

DH doesn't work Fridays so he and I (and DS2 who goes wherever I go) had a little jaunt to Harrogate on Friday. We parked at Harlow Carr (I am an RHS member so didn't feel bad about using their carpark) and walked into town through the Pinewoods and Valley gardens which is a lovely walk. Had lunch at a gorgeous little place in town, then back to the car and home in time to collect DD from school. Last week we did the same in Ilkley, I'm quite enjoying these Friday lunch trips out.

We had a family trip to RHS Bridgewater yesterday (free entry with membership), both kids were quite mithery so we just had a quick look around the gardens, ate lunch in the cafe and drove home again. Usually we'd have a picnic but it was too cold for that 🥶

No junior parkrun this morning because DH took DD with her scooter to the indoor skatepark so I think I'll take myself out for a little run later, I have my running gear on to make sure I do!

DH has taken the kids to the park for a bit of fresh air while I start dinner. DD had to be bribed to leave the house with promise of a magazine from the newsagents, so no doubt she'll return with some accompanying overpriced plastic tat. Taking a moment out while the potatoes parboil and the Yorkshire pudding batter is resting. Should probably get back to it now though. Hope everyone has a restful Sunday evening.

MerryHen

Just over a month until I return to my midwifery training.

DS has  a couple of nursery settling in sessions in December, then four longer days before Christmas to get used to it, £250 paid for those and we've set up a standing order to pay nursery fees from the new year 💸

I have been sent my placement and assignment schedules for this academic year by my university so I can start planning holiday childcare for DD.

One week of my annual leave lines up with DD's May half term, and another two weeks annual leave are at the end of the summer holidays, one of which we can hopefully use to take a family holiday.

We just need to work out what to do about childcare for the other 10 weeks of school holiday this year... DH will take holiday to cover some of them, I have asked DD's old childminder about half term, and we'll look into holiday clubs too.

My new 23-24 academic diary is already full of dates and deadlines and colour codes  and reminders to book holiday clubs 🤯

I might need to invest in a whole year wall planner.

End of the month money has been split between the emergency fund and car loan, will update finance stuff properly when the saving pots standing orders go in on the 1st.