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

Bluegreen143

Sorted breakdown cover out as due for renewal Sept. And they quoted us £119. I got the same level of cover with another 5* rated insurer for £51 looking on a comparison site. I can’t believe how much you get fleeced for if you stay loyal to a company 😡 luckily I’ve got the money for it in my annual/irregular bills account. That account will mainly just build up now til Jan when we need to insure & tax the car and then in Feb it will be MOT time... the car is 11 years old and Red was keen to replace it next year but unless it drastically fails it’s MOT (and this year it passed only needing a tyre change so fingers crossed it will be OK again) it’s not happening now as we haven’t saved towards a new one 😬

Spent some time in the kitchen this morning and made split pea/lentil & bacon soup (didn’t have enough split peas left so chucked some lentils in); stewed peaches for a crumble; pork & puy lentil pasta sauce; and 2x pork & chorizo chilli. The last two using my leftover pulled pork.

The pasta sauce and chilli were VERY heavily bulked out with lots of veg and pulses. Quite impressed as from an ordinary £7 pork shoulder joint we have made four dinners (including having it last night in wraps). And it’s much healthier anyway to add all the veg and lentils/beans in. I used the frozen chopped chorizo I got from Tesco in the chilli which is really convenient - you just tip in however much you need directly into the pan. I think it was the same price as buying chorizo fresh in a ring so I’ll be getting the frozen from now on.

Baileys_Babe

I don't think my children are aware that for some people meat is the main component of chilli, pasta sauce etc ours always have large amount of vegetables and pulses 😄

Bluegreen143

Funny day today. Was meant to be getting a lie in as we take turn about at the weekend but Red was up all night with toothache til 5am when he crashed out on the sofa, so I sent him back to bed and got up with the kids myself. He called 111 and should be getting an appointment with the dental hospital tomorrow. He can’t get in at the dentists I go to because he hasn’t been in years and let his registration with them lapse and none of the dentists will register anyone new because of covid. On the plus side last time he had to go to the dental hospital it was really cheap for his treatment so hoping for that experience again (I think he just needs a filling hopefully as that shouldn’t be too pricey)! So thankful that I’ve started putting money away the last couple of months. We’ve only got £240 in the emergency fund but hopefully that’s enough unless he does need some other kind of treatment- if we need more I can raid the Christmas/birthday fund too which has £400+ in it. Not huge amounts of savings to have but such a relief v having nothing at all. We have been in the position of putting emergencies on credit cards due to lack of savings which I don’t want to do again. It’s certainly reminded me of why we are scrimping by just now and Red said to me it’s made him really appreciated my work in adding to the savings too which was nice!

Baileys_Babe

Glad Red appreciates your efforts. Hopefully, nothing too serious and they can sort it out quickly. Toothache is one of the worst pains imaginable.

joedenise

So pleased to hear that Red appreciates the fact that you have been squirrelling money away for emergencies and good that you also have savings that you can raid.  It's awful when you have to put emergency spending on credit cards, I suspect we've all been there, I know we have in the past, particularly when I was in the same position as you as a SAHM with 2 small kids.

Bluegreen143

@joedenise it’s awful isn’t it when you’ve worked out your monthly budget to the penny and know you will just scrape by - and then inevitably that’s when the fridge breaks or someone needs dental work. Red is more literal than me - he will say he wants to buy something near the end of the month & when I say there’s no money he thinks that’s what I mean - what I mean is there is money in the savings account but none left in the budget 😂 he isn’t particularly extravagant but if left to his own devices he would just spend til the account was empty each month. It doesn’t come naturally to him to think that then when an emergency happens you get into debt. But he does appreciate my efforts and he is getting better as he gets older 😅

Bluegreen143

Kept Monkey off nursery today. He’s got a cold, no temp, but seems particularly grumpy and didn’t eat breakfast. Just worried it will develop into a temp and then we will all need to self isolate til we get a Covid test 😬 anyway he’s cuddled up on the sofa listening to an audiobook and I’ll keep checking his temp through the day.

joedenise

My DH was exactly the same when we were younger but I've trained him over the years and if I say we can't afford something he accepts it.  However, he now has the YNAB app on his iPad so can see how much is in each budget but he usually asks if it's OK to buy something so at least he doesn't just spend money like he used to - think it's a sign of finally growing up - he's nearly 70 now though so it's taken a long time (I've had YNAB since 2014 which is when this started happening).

Hope Monkey gets better quickly and can go back to nursery soon.

Baileys_Babe

Thanks, @joedenise there is hope for all of us. My OH has improved over the years but still has a way to go. When I say we have no money or can not afford something I mean we have no money available in that budget. In a proper emergency, I would pull money in from other pots but not just because he would like something.

joedenise

Same here @Baileys_Babe.  When I say we haven't got enough it is in that budget pot not just haven't got enough!