A new royal start

beanielou

Well done to your DD. 🧁

QueenJess

I am desperate to pay down the mortgage, but I am trying to be more sensible given our current circumstances. I do not have secure work (my contract ends August) and the world is uncertain right now. I am currently fixing past budgeting mishaps in the joint account, then hope to reduce the amount me and DH pay into this monthly.

I am still saving from my personal funds into both a pension and an ISA. If I didn’t do this and paid down the mortgage instead then I know I would regret it later as I need the investment time in the market for retirement (and hopefully early retirement purposes). Once I reach my goal for the year, then anything extra can go into the mortgage.

Sometimes DH also pays down the mortgage with his work bonus (he is paid more than me, but has more expensive hobbies). I like to have independence with my money we spend on different things so keep our finances separate. The payment into the joint account is based on my budgeting and then we each pay in based on a ratio of how much we each earn to make it fair. I love spreadsheets so I even have one which recalculates our individual mortgage overpayments based on our earnings that month (so if DH was paid twice as much as me, it transfers some of his overpayment to me). It’s a fair way to see how much we each owe on the mortgage and contribute equally given our salary differences (and maternity leave). It was also originally because I wanted to pay down and DH didn’t. It meant if I paid all mine off he would have to pay the mortgage from his account. Since then he also wants to overpay so has almost caught me up.

I am continuing to round down the mortgage to the nearest £100 to feel like I’m doing something though. It’s currently 109,800. Whether I can overpay this year will depend on if this current job does end in August and if I find another one. If I was fully employed then I would hope to be able to put something in at the end of the year. Otherwise it’s a case of waiting to see if DH gets a bonus in Jan (yes - silly timing I know!). Of course, the quicker I mend the joint account and can reduce the payment into it, then the sooner I can meet my saving goals. However, I don’t want to reduce it too soon as that has been my past mistake and I end back in the red.

Right better stop thinking about all this (I got paid yesterday, so been thinking about savings and mortgages etc) as I need to get to work.

Riverford box already ordered for Friday and I’ve picked the lowest I thought I needed plus some apples. It’s a bit more than prior weeks as I’ve cleared backlog of veg both out and in the freezer.. my veg drawer is almost bare! Should be £23.95, although I may need to pick up a couple of bananas next week (not worth ordering if we are not sure if we need more than that given I keep finding them in the freezer from past excess we couldn’t eat in time!).

Dinner tonight is post the kids swimming lessons, so we just have to feed them quick and get them into bed. So it’s eggs, soldiers and beans followed by DD’s cakes.

Jessy103

Thanks for the recipe, jess. I'll try and give it a go! I can't believe DD is 5 already! Time flies 😅

QueenJess

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81974117#Comment_81974117

I know, it's scary. DS is 9!

I've spent the last few days revisiting some very old, old style threads and the grocery challenge which is giving me food for thought. So many good ideas in them! I did also end up with a list of cookbooks I may search for second hand at some point….

Today is another fun packed work day at home. Yesterday I relieved my need for bananas by actually getting to the free fruit box in the office early enough to grab a banana. I also grabbed an apple which I didn't need in the end (but the office was empty so tons of fruit). DS took it for his lunchbox today.

On the thrilling agenda is one lot of washing to go on and I will try reducing the washing powder by putting in some soda crystals I found at the back of the cupboard as these are cheaper. Lunchtime I plan on making a chocolate sandwich cake (courtesy of the trusty Bero book) and also chocolate chip shortbread. I often want something really tiny post dinner and our box of French treats is about to run out. I don't want to use a square of chocolate as it's so expensive now and I can never really stick with one or two… So I plan on making shortbread with chocolate chips in and cutting them up really small. As an aside I gave up buying chocolate chips years ago when I realised they were really expensive by weight compared to a bar of chocolate. I can chop up a bar just as easily on my chopping board and no one cares if you get rustic chunks.

Breakfast today is porridge made with hm oat milk, half a leftover banana in the fridge and a teaspoon of hm blackberry jam that no one else likes. Lunch will be leftover pizza from quite a few days ago with a side salad. Dinner will be pesto pasta with asparagus, courgette and peas. The kids refuse pesto, so just give them the plain pasta and veg with cheese on and mix the pesto into ours straight after. Pesto is hm from the freezer and a mix of "normal" pesto and wild garlic pesto. After all that I only have 1 butternut squash, potatoes and onions left in the fridge before my veg box delivery tomorrow. Still loads of fruit left and I've put some in the fridge so it lasts longer.

Better go as it's a jam packed day!

daisy_1571

I think the same about Easter eggs and other such items - just a very expensive way to buy chocolate

beanielou

Pass the chocolate cake. Yum.

QueenJess

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81974275#Comment_81974275

I quite agree, which is why I make my own of those too. One of the kids most exciting Xmas pressies are always when I give them a little tin of chocolates I melt from a bar into fun ice cube tray shapes! Sometimes I'll add popping candy or hundreds and thousands for a twist. They think it's the best thing ever!

Bargainhunter30

That's a great idea Jess. I felt guilty for not buying big Easter eggs this year. I bought tiny ones for a hunt and they got a couple from others. I hate the marketing and pressure. Plus I always steal their eggs, which they never notice but isn't good for me.

QueenJess

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81975064#Comment_81975064

I hate it too. My kids had just one largish egg with mini chocolate eggs inside each. They still have some left!

It’s actually not that hard to do. I got some moulds second hand from Vinted (just plastic Lakeland ones, although I would love some of the vintage metal ones!). The trick is to brush (I use a silicone pastry brush) melted chocolate in a thin layer, then put it in the fridge to harden. You do have to do loads of layers, but when I’m working at home I treat it as my 5 min break. It was well worth the £5 outlay for the moulds as it even came with mini egg ones that I filled the inside with.