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

Bluegreen143

Oh and agreed with Red we will open a second help to save account. He was NOT enamoured by the suggestion he could fund it by quitting vaping as I had previously said if he quit he could keep the money saved to spend on whatever he wants, cough, other rubbish. I’ll divert some of the E fund savings to it as it’s too good an offer to miss out on. He has promised to try quitting vaping in the new year regardless, we’ll see, it’s been over six years since he started as a “temporary” measure to get off cigarettes. I genuinely believe it’s even more addictive than smoking (at least he managed to quit that!) and would advise EXTREME caution to anyone thinking of using it as a stop smoking tool.

Put in Bambi’s nursery application - she won’t go for another year but they advise getting it in as soon as they turn two. I do really want her to go to the same nursery Monkey is in now, so fingers crossed. I did toy with the idea of the Gaelic nursery at the school Monkey will hopefully go to, but it means driving her into the heart of the west end in rush hour then returning three hours later to get her so not very convenient. They will get a school bus place due to distance (2.5 miles or so) so I won’t actually need to drive Monkey in.

Need to apply for the Scottish govt child payment for Bambi - you can get £250 one off for a 2-3yo if you are on benefits. I’m conscious that if Red stops being furloughed we might come off UC so want to get in there quick. That said he’s only had three days of work this week - it was meant to only be one but they ended up asking him to work Thu/Fri after all. Not so good after he had made plans but means a wee bit more money for those days at least.

Spendless

Oh I understand the frustration with the Vaping. We are a non smoking household though we grew up with 3 out of 4 parents as smokers. Then my eldest went off to Uni and because he didn't smoke, when it was his birthday in his 1st year his mates bought him a vape so he could stand outside with them and so he took it up!  

joedenise

Glad that Red has decided to open another Help to Save account.  It all helps.

Meant to ask you how are the children's PJs coming along?  Are they nearly finished and are they going to be ready for Christmas?

Sarahwithlove

That's good news about the help to save account and deffo get the application in for bonus whilst you can. Have you also checked whether you can get a warm home discount on your gas and electric now your on UC? Sorry if you have already mentioned it. You go through the company directly for it. 

Bluegreen143

@joedenise they are nearly done! Need to do the cuffs, collars and waistbands basically. Busy tonight as have zoom Gaelic class and then a zoom with Monkey’s potential school as they are oversubscribed and they have invited parents to hear about the process. Fingers crossed we get a place. The PJs should only take maybe 2 more nights to finish.

joedenise

Thanks.  You've done well to be nearly finished.  Good luck for getting Monkey into the school.  When will you find out if he's got a place?

Bluegreen143

Brain officially fried. This evening has seen a 90 minute Gaelic class over zoom and then a 75 minute zoom call on this oversubscription process (run by the parent council for all Gaelic education in the city). Eye opening!

After siblings & special needs, places used to be allocated by distance to the school, but they have scrapped that now and it’s a ballot. I can understand why - the Gaelic primary in the north of the city covers the entirety of the north half of Glasgow in catchment area but is situated in the wealthy west end - so doing it on distance disadvantaged those who, while in the catchment area, can’t afford to buy an expensive flat in the west end. However as we are only 2.5m away ourselves it might have advantaged us. Never mind! The ballot is in Jan and as we have put down one of the Gaelic primaries in the south side as a second choice (the kids will be travelling on a school bus either way) and as it isn’t oversubscribed and has some places there’s also a chance there.

Hearteningly, I’ve been told that no parent who’s gone to an appeal has ever ended up not getting a place in Gaelic education in the city to date - but that this year the over subscription is higher and there are more pressures on spaces as covid has meant that a planned fourth Gaelic primary in Glasgow meant to open in four years will be delayed/now isn’t guaranteed at all. That said, a lot of parents back out of Gaelic education during the process so the odds usually improve by the time of the ballot as people don’t return the form to indicate they want to be in it. Or are using the school as their back up then don’t take up the place in the end.

So confusing but the call was really great to clarify the process, timescales and also how the parent group will help if you need to go to appeal which was really good to hear.

Bluegreen143

Had a productive day yesterday:

- cut down a cardboard veg crate and wrapped it in Christmas paper and Christmas washi tape to serve as a hamper (really really pleased with this one as I’ve always bought wicker baskets for them in the past! And it was hard to wrap neatly but looks pretty good I think). 

- sewed up the neckband and cuffs on Monkey’s PJs.

- finished making and bottling my traditional Christmas batch of limoncello.

- went to Tesco and got last minute bits for Red and MIL’s stockings and my secret Santa present for my friend (£10 limit so I got 2x books for £4 and then a wee £2 weekly planner with a gorgeous floral cover).

Red is finishing up the garden pod all weekend at my mum’s so I have the kids by myself both days with no car - wish me luck 🙈 but he’s now off work til Jan which is good.

Bluegreen143

Oh have been pondering job/earning opps:

- if I can get online ad rating work again, it’s sooooo dull and not a long term thing but I made £150-£200 a month doing that before for 18 months. Possibly not worth it if we then lose our UC though, but hopefully Red will be furloughed less next year anyway.

 - I see someone I used to work with is now a virtual assistant - would need to get a laptop for sure and maybe some kind of training but could then work from home. Maybe one for after Bambi is at nursery.

- Freelance proofreading. I would need to pay for training, a laptop, probably professional org membership. But I’ve got a degree in English and experience in communications and it’s definitely something I’d be good at. The actual proofreading that is, the marketing and having to find clients scares me. However I could likely scale this up and keep doing it once the kids were at school and work around them.

- childminding. Something we have considered on and off but the thought of having to keep the house clean and tidy, consider health and safety each day to be able to work means the house might not feel like our own (Red would need to lock away his tools whereas our own kids know not to touch etc). Our space isn’t huge but my friend is a registered childminder and lives in a flat smaller than ours so I’m guessing it is big enough.

- train as a nursery worker, preferably working with 3-5yos in a council preschool as the  pay is much better than a private nursery and I’m less interested in babies. My friend retrained as a nursery worker a few years back so is a good source of info. She has a teen time only contract as well but these are quite scarce now (though some still exist) due to the extended childcare provision. So I could work part time but may have to work in school holidays.

- retrain as a primary teacher. As I have a degree it’s one year for this plus your initial probation year working. I think I’d get student finance for this even though I’ve got a degree. Obvious benefits are a much better salary, school hols off, could hopefully work part time. Worried about it being stressful and demanding and that I’d prefer working with younger kids though. 

- I haven’t considered this in a while, but I’m a qualified breastfeeding peer supporter via the NCT and they do recruit annually for their foundation degree to become a paid breastfeeding counsellor and/or antenatal/postnatal teacher. I know there is a shortage locally too so I think I’d get work. It’s about £5k if I remember right for the training though and the work is on a self employed basis. I used to really want to do this a couple of years ago but less sure now... I haven’t volunteered since Bambi was born so would need to get back into that first. 

- getting an actual employed job... this will need to wait til Bambi is at nursery at least and even then I’ve only applied for her to go mornings. But I could look for part time work, ideally admin/reception or similar or a shop/call centre would be possible. I don’t see myself trying to get back into communications (my previous career). I worked as a fundraising assistant too but that was a long time ago now so I’d be starting from scratch really to go back to that.

mumtoomany

Hi, Bluegreen. Our neighbour is retraining as a primary teacher with the open university. I believe it is an 18 month course, runs through all the holidays. She plans to then work only bank/cover days so as to be free for lambing/sheering/haymaking etc. Don't know if this is available in Scotland, (we are Wales) but might be worth looking at. mumtoomany.