A new royal start

Jessy103

Have a great Christmas Jess! All the best to you and the family x

edinburgher

@QueenJess - have a lovely Christmas - it has been a long year

DD2 also slept well for her last night, 9 hours in bed with one very brief wake up in the wee hours.

themadvix

Merry Christmas Jess! Hope you have a lovely one!

QueenJess

Well Xmas is over and was exhausting.  It was ok although DD was ill and was covered in spots on Xmas morning.  I was pretty sure it wasn't chicken pox or anything horribly concerning, but I was confused by it.  We used DH's private medical insurance to get an instant doctor's appointment and it turned out it is a common reaction to a virus when you are very young as your immune system isn't mature and so it throws everything it can at it.  Who knew?  I felt better for checking though as I was concerned about DH's elderly parents coming to stay and would never forgive myself if they got ill.  Anyway, it was a minor virus and she was checked out at the doctors again yesterday as a follow up to her ear infection appointment from last week.  All fine and the spots are almost gone now.  Poor thing has been in the wars a bit and so I've been on night duty for a while.  Even when she is sleeping nicely I don't sleep well as I am a worrier.  Very tired now and my sleeping pattern is out the window.

We went to the pantomime yesterday and it was really fun and both kids really enjoyed it.  We have already resolved to go next year and so will need to factor that into our entertainment budget.

I've been thinking about the new year a bit.  I'm not one for resolutions generally as I think if you want to change something you should just get on with it rather than waiting for an arbitrary date once a year.  However, I think 2024 will be more about myself.  I have put myself last for 6 years+ now and have lost my identity a bit; existing rather than living.  Finally getting a new job which will give me a career I really want has really given me confidence and made me realise how depressing my existing job was and I should not have settled for it for that long just for convenience and ease of kids.  I also have changed almost my whole wardrobe (second hand of course) after barely looking after myself for 6+ years and just wearing the closest thing.  I am curating a wardrobe which is me and makes me feel good and I am for the first time in 6 years going to give myself a monthly budget for this stuff.  I also want to do a bit more stuff (like the pantomime) with the kids.  I know this costs more, but we can afford it, although I will be saving less money.  However, I don't want to pay off the mortgage and realise I've forgotten to live in that time.  I know I'm incredibly fortunate to be able to raise my budget and I should be enjoying it.  It's going to be hard as my usual inclinations are to cut out easy spending to save more and the easy spending is basically all the entertainment stuff and anything for myself.  I will need to work some more budgets in detail.  However, I will be putting something towards the mortgage each month and will just see how that goes.  Anything is better than nothing and I am acutely aware that I have 2 years of nursery fees left and then things should ease up a bit cost wise.

Anyway, it's late, so I really should try and sleep!  Hope everyone had a lovely Xmas.

MagicCat

Happy belated Christmas  @QueenJess! That is such a positive post and I can really relate to what you say, getting the balance in these things is so important  (I'm definitely not there yet!)

Jessy103

Sounds like a good plan, Jess! 😀

QueenJess

Happy new year! The kids kicked off the new year by being right pain in the bums yesterday. They were so naughty and annoying that I handed them over to DH and browsed the shops for a few hours to escape them. I did find a few books for DS’s birthday in a months time though, which was a plus.

I don’t go back to work until Thursday and DS has an inset day today, but feels like the holiday spirit is over and back to reality. On that note I did the budget for this year and whatever I tweaked I could not get it to work for the joint account on our current amount being paid in. So sadly I have increased the amount we need to put in which means even less money available to pay down the mortgage. With absolutely everything creeping up and the mortgage going up £300, it’s all getting tighter. Our joint account is still in a theoretical deficit (money in account less than credit card at the end of the month) and so I need to be in saving mode. I do have some cash which I will be paying down the mortgage with on Thursday when the payments come out, but I think things are going to be tight for a few months as mortgage goes up, winter electricity costs are high and I have multiple winter birthdays to deal with. Back to tracking all joint spending now.

I don’t track personal spending usually because I don’t spend anything bar some gym costs (£10 each time I go) and the usual car costs. I will let myself buy a few goodies for myself guilt free without going crazy. Fingers crossed for the interest rate to go down soon as I’ve calculated that around £700 interest will be charged on my mortgage come Feb versus a monthly £1,100 payment! That is madness.

Today shouldn’t be too expensive. DS has decided on the activities for the day. This morning we are popping to his favourite antiques shop that sells used toy cars for £1 and this afternoon he wants to watch a film which I’ll get off Apple or something for a few quid. Lunch is leftover pizza for DS and tbd for us. Dinner is also tbd. Might throw together a big stew in the slow cooker to use up a load of veg and add the obligatory veggie sausages for DH and DS.

themadvix

Happy New Year Jess! A pity the kids were not on board with starting as they mean to go on (hopefully!).

Eek to those mortgage costs - the COL pinch is definitely real though, even without the mortgage. Btw, just checking you've seen the Riverford cost increases (5%)? They didn't send out an email, it's just in the banner across the top of the website (has been causing a stir on the facebook group).

Lots of meals tbd here too!

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Eek to those mortgage costs - the COL pinch is definitely real though, even without the mortgage. Btw, just checking you've seen the Riverford cost increases (5%)? They didn't send out an email, it's just in the banner across the top of the website (has been causing a stir on the facebook group).

Thanks for noting it. I use the app prolifically and so I have seen it. Tbh I am ok with it as they don’t raise costs as much/as often as supermarkets and I think they are quite fair. Just another increasing cost to try and soak up somewhere in the budget. It never seems to end!

Oh - I forgot, but on the plus side, my car stopped showing a fault. Fingers crossed it won’t come back and then I can cancel the garage. That’ll save some cash.

themadvix

Oh, yes, I think Riverford is very fair - just know that people not having heard about it was the issue (I hadn't either, but then I'm in the fortunate position that I'll pay the difference (and grow more myself!).)

Fingers crossed for the car - it sounds like ours!🙄