One income family of four - can we get ahead even after pay cuts?

Bluegreen143

mumtopinkdinosaurs said:

Mumoffourkids said:

Baileys_Babe said:

@Mumoffourkids my dd was like that, but we were never referred to anyone, which looking back is odd & I didn't question it as apart from not growing she was physically active, good vocabulary, no problems with her appetite. Then when she was 6 she started growing and now at 11, she is the average height for her age.

I hope this causes no problems for your daughter.

My daughter was referred because when she was around 3 months old, she actually lost weight one week and dropped off the bottom of the charts. When she was born she was only 6lb 12 and was born on her due date. We first saw a paediatrician when she was six months old and he said if he had seen her earlier he would have recommended weaning early. They think she just has high metabolism and no matter how much she eats, she just doesn’t grow. Everything else is fine apart from some physical stuff because she is so small. However, she was never going to be a giant as I am only small myself and her dad is small, but she is at the bottom of the charts but at least still following the same line. Which reminds me, I probably do need to get her height and weight measured as they haven’t been done for a while just to check. 

Mine was 6lb 8 at 40+2. We expected her to be small though because her sister was 5lb 5 at 36+6. Although her big sister was small she followed the centiles. DD2 followed hers until she was about 2 and she's started to drop. We have been told that if she drops again we'll be referred. Which I don't mind. I just know there's nothing wrong. She's the same as your little one. Bright and articulate but doesn't stop moving. I'm very concious of not making meal times negative so I won't battle her. I need to follow @Bluegreen143's lead now and get back to cooking better. Which reminds me. Does anyone know a non tomato sauce for tuna pasta bake? Dinosaur2 likes the tuna pasta bake sachets and I'd like to create a healthier version. All the recipes I've found are tomato based. 

I like to do a cheese sauce (as in for Mac & cheese) and then add in tuna, cooked broccoli and possibly cooked cauliflower or peas. And bake with the pasta with grated cheese on top.

[Deleted User]

Bluegreen143 said:

mumtopinkdinosaurs said:

Mumoffourkids said:

Baileys_Babe said:

@Mumoffourkids my dd was like that, but we were never referred to anyone, which looking back is odd & I didn't question it as apart from not growing she was physically active, good vocabulary, no problems with her appetite. Then when she was 6 she started growing and now at 11, she is the average height for her age.

I hope this causes no problems for your daughter.

My daughter was referred because when she was around 3 months old, she actually lost weight one week and dropped off the bottom of the charts. When she was born she was only 6lb 12 and was born on her due date. We first saw a paediatrician when she was six months old and he said if he had seen her earlier he would have recommended weaning early. They think she just has high metabolism and no matter how much she eats, she just doesn’t grow. Everything else is fine apart from some physical stuff because she is so small. However, she was never going to be a giant as I am only small myself and her dad is small, but she is at the bottom of the charts but at least still following the same line. Which reminds me, I probably do need to get her height and weight measured as they haven’t been done for a while just to check. 

Mine was 6lb 8 at 40+2. We expected her to be small though because her sister was 5lb 5 at 36+6. Although her big sister was small she followed the centiles. DD2 followed hers until she was about 2 and she's started to drop. We have been told that if she drops again we'll be referred. Which I don't mind. I just know there's nothing wrong. She's the same as your little one. Bright and articulate but doesn't stop moving. I'm very concious of not making meal times negative so I won't battle her. I need to follow @Bluegreen143's lead now and get back to cooking better. Which reminds me. Does anyone know a non tomato sauce for tuna pasta bake? Dinosaur2 likes the tuna pasta bake sachets and I'd like to create a healthier version. All the recipes I've found are tomato based. 

I like to do a cheese sauce (as in for Mac & cheese) and then add in tuna, cooked broccoli and possibly cooked cauliflower or peas. And bake with the pasta with grated cheese on top.

She's not a fan of cheese sauce. I have thought about a white sauce. Or do I cut my losses and just stick with the sachet at the moment as I know she'll definitely eat it?

joedenise

@mumtopinkdinosaurs - have you googled "nomato sauce"?  There are several sauces - link to a couple below:

https://fyf20quid.co.uk/recipes/nomato-sauce/
https://www.food.com/recipe/basic-nomato-sauce-tomato-free-tomato-sauce-359835

Both look to be healthy and use easily found veggies.

[Deleted User]

@joedenise thank you. Will have a look over the weekend. Going to make tuna pasta next week. 

Bluegreen143

Looks like the ingredients of the sachet mix are like a white sauce with a mix of herbs & spices and some tomato in (if I’m looking at the right one online). I think you could recreate this at home just following the ingredients list on your sachet BUT it’s whether dinosaur 2 would eat it, I know some kids can be very sensitive to small changes & will notice changes in brand/recipe. Equally maybe making small changes like this is a way to gently encourage her out her comfort zone without being too scary. You know her best.

I took the afternoon off being mum today to hang out with three close friends while Red watched the kids, it was fab. We had cake & chat at my friend’s house then went for a walk - at adult pace! - with no children except one small baby (not mine) and he was asleep in a sling. Bliss. 

Itching to buy Monkey a book on Amazon. We have been reading two chapters a night of the Faraway Tree series on my bedtime nights (ie every second night) for months and only have one night to go to finish the final book. Desperate to buy him the Wishing Chair series next as I think he would love it. But he has plenty books so must stop with the endless book buying. He doesn’t have lots of chapter books yet as only just got into them but he still likes picture books and we could move onto Winnie the Pooh or an Enid Blyton short story collection, both of which we already have. It’s very tough as I’m VERY into books and I’m so loving revisiting childhood classics now with my kids. We usually borrow from the library but it looks like ours won’t reopen til September (in fact we are equal distances between two branches and the other may not reopen at all which is really sad - I suppose I ought to be thankful we have one local option staying open). 

Dinner tonight was pork and apple burgers with homemade brioche buns, Red’s famous chips and salad, yum. 

Bluegreen143

warby68 said:

Bluegreen, you're doing so well.
The diary and being conscious of the relative value of what you spend on seems to be really effective for you.
You seem to get a lovely lifestyle with a lot of 'quality' out of a relatively modest income - if you keep Red on board (he seems to be the treat master ) I have a feeling you're going to nail this.

@warby68 What a lovely comment to read! Thank you 🙂 it is definitely helpful to me to keep accountable with the diary (and YNAB). I had forgotten how much it helped. When I got our finances in shape a few years ago I posted a lot on Old Style/the grocery challenge and used YNAB then. Knowing I’m going to come on here to post does make me think “can I justify spending that?” - I nearly ordered that book I wanted today but thought better of busting the budget knowing I’d need to fess up online!

Yes, Red is a bit more spendy than I am. We complement one another as we agree if it was up to me we would live an uncomfortable life and the kids would resent their weird, hippy lifestyle 😂 and if Red was in charge we would be in masses of debt. So we work well as a team.

[Deleted User]

@Bluegreen143 great minds think alike. I've added a sachet to my shopping list and then I'm going to write the ingredients down. I do think you're right though. I think it's white sauce with paprika?

Sounds like you had a lovely day. I think I've forgotten what child free time is like. 

Are you sure your libraries are closed? Ours are offering a click and collect type service.

Bluegreen143

mumtopinkdinosaurs said:

@Bluegreen143 great minds think alike. I've added a sachet to my shopping list and then I'm going to write the ingredients down. I do think you're right though. I think it's white sauce with paprika?

Sounds like you had a lovely day. I think I've forgotten what child free time is like. 

Are you sure your libraries are closed? Ours are offering a click and collect type service.

Good plan with the pasta bake!

Yes, they are shut, I follow them on social media and am
constantly checking their updates and reopening plan as I’m desperate for reopening - it’s also the same organisation who run the museums here and the local authority gyms/pools (and indeed the community centres) so I have been keeping a watchful eye on all their activities. I did think it was a wasted opportunity not to do click & collect as I had seen other local authorities offering that. All they are doing is video baby & mum song/rhyme classes. They are only planning to reopen 10/32 libraries, half the gyms and 2 out of 10 pools in the city, plus 3 of their 7 museums if I remember right (luckily including the two we actually use all the time - the transport museum and the other is a mix of natural history/history/art). There is talk that many of the other venues will be a long time reopening and some won’t reopen at all as they have suffered bad financial losses. It’s pretty grim as will be a very sad loss to the city. Really miss swimming too though I guess it’s not the safest activity at present.

[Deleted User]

It doesn't make any sense. I think our libraries have been doing click and collect for some time. That's so sad. The government are so concerned with recovering the economy (which I understand) but some of the resources you've mentioned above are really suffering. Well... I actually disagree. Swimming is very safe. I think they're dragging their feet because they don't want to spend extra money on staff. I could be biased though as i work in a pool and I'm desperate to get back to work so I can pay off my credit card and start work on my house 😂

Bluegreen143

Interesting @mumtopinkdinosaurs! Would love more of our pools to reopen, fingers crossed.