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

joedenise

Great that you're doing the Covid vaccine study.  As you say at least it will pick it up if it is CV.  Don't write it off just because it feels like a cold; some people have no symptoms.  Enjoy your 3 days off (at least as much as you can when you feel rough).

Bluegreen143

Well thank goodness I got to bed before 9 as Bambi kept me up for about 2 hours last night! 😴 normally I’d need a lie in after that but the early has meant I’m functioning ok. We are having a lazy morning and the kids are watching a Winnie the Pooh movie for now.

I’d like to do some food prep today, make hummus, maybe bake some muffins with the kids, chop up some salad and fruit for tubs in the fridge etc.

Excitingly I’m getting paid on Monday but Monzo (my bank) lets you claim payments at 4pm on the working day before so I can do that this afternoon and update YNAB! Since reading the YNAB book I’m trying to do less forecasting or writing a monthly budget in advance, trying to keep it consistent. Instead I’m trying to really just work with budgeting the £ I have on hand at the time and allowing our priorities to flex as needed.

I’m going to get £1,436 in which is slightly more than usual as I don’t need to pay tax this month (won’t go over personal allowance for the year).

Will probably budget out as follows:

£576 into tax free childcare account to pay for Bambi’s March nursery bill (this might be a bit too much as I’ve not received the invoice yet, just worked it out myself, but if so the money will just sit there til I do need it).

£200 for the holiday savings 

£50 to top up groceries & household spending just a little 

£250 for replacing the greenhouse panels 

£360 for emergency fund (bringing this to £463)

Sarahwithlove

I agree one meal isn't going to do you any harm and occasionally we need it. I've lost 19lbs since start of January and had several takeaways during that time. It's one meal and as long as you're good rest of week you should be OK. Sometimes your body needs a big calorie meal to kick start your metabolism again. 

Bluegreen143

@Sarahwithlove problem is I’ve only lost 5lb since Jan so at least I’ve curbed the bad habits enough I’m not continuing to gain weight (which I was before Christmas and since the March lockdown) but I need to properly put more effort into actually losing it!

Sarahwithlove

Are you following a diet or plan of any sort or doing your own thing? 

Bluegreen143

@Sarahwithlove no, just stopped eating crap mainly. I’ve always hated the idea of dieting and because I was always naturally a healthy weight I never have before. Even after I had my son the weight came off naturally during breastfeeding so by about 6m post partum I was lighter than pre-pregnancy. This time around it didn’t come off with breastfeeding unfortunately so I was a bit overweight anyway (maybe 1st), and then when the March lockdown happened I started comfort eating mainly chocolate/cake and developed such a sweet tooth which I’ve never had before and put on an extra stone. I kind of naively thought as eating extra snacks caused if, if I stopped it would come off. It’s certainly worked to stabilise the weight gain and lose a few lb but I’m going to need to be more sustained and focused to actually lose the excess weight I’ve realised. 

That said, I’m at least eating more healthily which is good as really my focus is to be as healthy as possible so I’ve been eating a lot of extra salad etc which is great for my veg intake. I know already that tracking calories isn’t for me as I actually did try that once briefly in my 20s and it was so dull I couldn’t keep at it (I find when you are cooking everything from scratch the tracking is much harder). I suspect my biggest issue is portion sizes at this point as I have cut out snacking except having something healthy at 3 when the kids do. I also definitely need to do more exercise but I really struggle making the time for it at the moment.

Sarahwithlove

Maybe try and follow the principles of most diets. Which is 1/2 veg or salad and 1/4 protein and 1/4 carbs. I found having smaller bowls and plates also helped. Drinking more water or squash and moving more. Hopefully that would help. 

Bluegreen143

Good advice @Sarahwithlove!

Just made Red’s valentines card - we decided to make our own this year to avoid a non-essential trip to the shop (as we get our food shop delivered). Had all the materials so was free and it was fun so might make it a tradition. We don’t do presents and we are doing homemade sushi and katsu curry for dinner - cost about £15 extra on our weekly shop for ingredients but we did consider a Japanese takeaway which is usually about £40 so it’s much cheaper to make our own! We always do homemade Japanese food for Valentine’s Day but got a takeaway last year due to Bambi not sleeping & being attached to the boob all the time/me being very run down and struggling to cope mentally. It feels nice to realise I’m now in a place where it doesn’t feel insurmountable to cook something complicated anymore!

Baileys_Babe

You have come further mentally than you realise. Not only are you planning a complex homemade meal for valentines you are doing that whilst working 😃 (I just need some pompoms to wave)

joedenise

Sounds brilliant @Bluegreen143!  I've never made sushi, it always looks quite time consuming so on the odd occasion we have it we just buy it.  Enjoy your valentines meal.