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

Bluegreen143

No luck with keys yet. The police aren’t currently taking calls on lost property but I fired off an online loss report as suggested by the voicemail message 🙄

Just been reading over the new five tier (0-4) system for Scotland. I expect Glasgow will remain in tier 3 where we currently basically are. Slightly depressing but it was good to see that under tier 4 schools would remain open and we could still meet one other household at a time outdoors - so not quite as strict as the original spring lockdown. I think we are probably all in the same boat of being a bit fed up!

Red’s job has been put at risk of redundancy (as his whole team’s jobs have) but his manager has informed him it’s a formality as he definitely won’t be let go 🤞🏼 however sad news for two of his colleagues who will be losing their jobs. It’s really awful to think how many people are in the same boat and there is still the lingering worry that if work levels don’t pick up they could let the rest of the team go later on.

Have been knackered as Bambi isn’t sleeping well and keeps refusing to nap, wee monster. She did nap today and hopefully we will have a better night tonight... She is starting to say a lot more words and being very cute though to make up for it 🙂

Got a top up food shop at Lidl today and bought some waterproofs for the kids at the same time - I love the Lidl waterproofs and they are really good value I think. £6 for the overalls and £8 for the jacket. I just got the overalls alone for Monkey as they didn’t have a jacket in his size but as he already has a thin and thick waterproof coat he really doesn’t need one anyway. Got Bambi the set too (in the next size as she has a set in her current size already and we love them).

Baileys_Babe

We liked the Lidl waterproofs when ours were little. Very useful for enjoying the park on a wet day, without the children getting cold and wet. We all also had a set of Lidl or Aldi ski wear so we could make good use of the parks, woods etc in the winter as well as playing in the snow.

Sorry to hear that there is no news on your keys.

Bluegreen143

Been having a busy couple of days. Had a negative experience trying to go shopping in a big shopping centre on Saturday (felt too busy and unsafe) which actually lead to a sort of epiphany re not buying lots of cheap tat for the kids this Christmas. So after a chat with my mum, who has encouraged me to get crafty this Christmas, I’ve ordered some fabric to try making Bambi PJs. If they turn out nice I’ll make both kids a pair of handmade PJs for opening on Christmas Eve 🙂 have also picked up a half knitted cardigan I’d started ages ago for Bambi so hopefully I can get that finished soon.

Thinking of some ideas for others:

- my mum & stepdad - a hamper of goodies but we will need to get them something else too

- MIL - again can do some jams etc but will expect a bought present as well

- sister & partner - going to do sister a book lover’s hamper (PJs, cosy socks, charity shop paperbacks, maybe make a bookmark of some kind, some sweets). Red is also going to make them a wooden garden ornament as they moved into their house a year ago and are starting to get decorating, doing the garden etc.

- my papa - wondering if I could knit him a scarf or something. I gave him a photo calendar of the kids for his birthday recently.

- going to make little bottles of limoncello and perhaps some flavoured gin. Then if we do see any friends or other family members over Christmas we can give them a little bottle + perhaps some chocolates as a wee thing.

- Red’s siblings he will sort out but as there are a few I’m going to push for a secret Santa situation.

Bluegreen143

Eeek, not been keeping my diary up to date enough! Been finding everything a bit of a downer right now re it being cold & wet, no indoor visiting or meeting in groups outdoors, plus the new restrictions in Scotland mean I can’t leave my council area so can no longer see my mum or a bunch of friends in the next council area ☹️ Feeling fed up. Bambi is struggling with being outdoors in the wet and cold and just cries which makes me feel awful. But we need to get out for fresh air and exercise. 

Big fortnightly shop being delivered in a moment (can hear the driver outside now!) so will update spends tomorrow. Need to update YNAB too.

On a positive note, have had some lovely times playing with the kids one on one the last couple of days. Especially good to spend time with Bambi. She gets more of my attention in some ways as needs more physical help but I do find I’m guilty of organising activities more for Monkey cos I enjoy the level he’s at with things. Bambi is such a cute age though and starting to talk more which is lovely 🙂

Bluegreen143

Cheered myself up by updated the bits of paper I have stuck on my fridge 😆 I love lists. I swapped the A4 bits for large coloured index cards which look nice. I’ve now got the kids’/our daily routine (updated cos Bambi isn’t napping every day so I moved some stuff about to see if it makes a napless day flow better), daily/weekly housework routines, a “to-bake” list (new) and a “to-do” list. I have carelessly left Monkey’s balance bike out on the pavement near nursery this week, forgetting to load it in the car, and it was gone by the next day when I realised. At first I was hunting in the garden etc in case I’d missed him taking it in but a nursery mum has confirmed she saw a bike matching it’s description there that evening (not knowing it was his) and so I definitely did leave it there. Going to put in a loss report for it in case a Good Samaritan handed it in but I suspect I won’t be so lucky after finding my car keys this week! So cross with myself and feel really bad about it. He uses it daily and has a scooter to use instead for now but doesn’t like it as much. Tbh he will hopefully be using a pedal bike soon but I feel I need to replace it out of guilt (Unless I get it back which I doubt)! And I was going to keep it for Bambi anyway so will need one for her to grow into so may as well get it now and Monkey can use it for now. 

Bluegreen143

Paid off my last £300 of debt! Yay!

Will come back with a more detailed budget for November but very happy to share the above 🙂

October went a bit screwy and I ended up restarting my YNAB budget twice but it’s all good now. 

Next target - £1,000 emergency fund. Currently have just over £300 in it.

PassElephant

So sad that someone took the balance bike. Perhaps it was a desperation theft not chancers.
Thanks for your diary.

joedenise

Well done @Bluegreen143 to clearing your debt.  You'll get that emergency fund set up fairly quickly.  

I'm sure using YNAB helps.  I bought what they now call Classic YNAB (YNAB4) back in 2014 and it certainly helped me get our finances under control.  We now always have money available to pay out whatever needs paying without resorting to credit, although I still do all the shopping on credit card but it is all budgeted and gets paid off completely each month.

I had to do a restart at the beginning of June because my MacBook updated and YNAB no longer worked so had to use some of the emergency fund to buy a cheap Windows laptop for it (also need Windows for another app I use which earns me Amazon points!) but managed to pick up a cheap Dell for £99 so emergency fund paid back the following month.

Keep doing what you're doing, you're doing great.

Bluegreen143

Thank you! Hoping to get it up in the next few months. I think I’ll siphon off some of the monthly savings allowance for longer term goals too. Probably mortgage overpayment or I may set up a stocks & shares ISA.

Bluegreen143

Meals for today:

B - Berry & banana milkshake, toast
L - lentil, tomato & squash soup, bread, a satsuma
S - made the kids a snack plate with pear, kiwi, yellow pepper, ham and some cheese puff crisps as a treat. I had ham & fruit
D - goats cheese & breadcrumb spaghetti with griddled broccoli/asparagus/courgette

Surprisingly successful dinner with Monkey. Of course he didn’t eat the vegetables (but has had lots of other fruit & veg today) but ate lots of the spaghetti/breadcrumb mix and chose of his own accord to mix goats cheese through it which he has previously refused to try 🙂 we’ve been religiously following a no pressure approach the last couple of weeks which is working well. Almost every meal serving it in the middle for everyone to take their own, not commenting on or pressuring him to eat etc. This is going hand in hand with avoiding grazing/excessive snacks and not offering an alternative dinner (we already did these). I think with him the fussiness is a control thing, not a sensory thing so this approach seems to be working well.