A new royal start

savingholmes

Great news on the job and enhanced maternity pay

QueenJess

It's been a while, but I was really busy at work until the end of Thursday and am determined to have a break.  Not been thinking about money after that and barely opened a laptop/been on my phone since.  It's been nice to have some sort of a break as I haven't taken any holiday from work this year!

Not too much happening here... trying to relax for a few days and forget I have to go back to work on Tuesday.  Will update goals etc for Jan later next week.  Not been doing any online money making for ages and still can't face doing any.. maybe I'll restart in Jan.   Already made my target for this month in savings anyway (not sure how?!).  Made a lovely chocolate cake today with DS (who loved it) and I'm trying to think of some nice treats for New Years Eve for something to look forward to!  Had a nice xmas day and DS was so excited all day he slept in until 8:30 the next morning!  Lots of time with DS playing up to video calls with family and he loved it of course.

Managed to have a mammoth tidying effort and the house was starting to look almost 100% completely tidy.  Then I remembered we had a game in the attic DS might like and whilst DH was up there, he brought down most the baby stuff.  I totally forgot how much stuff babies seem to actually need... and now the baby room is again the room of doom with things everywhere.  Got a huge load of things to clean, some purchases to make, tons of stuff to then put away and a few larger items to get on eBay.  Better make a start with it in the next week as it may take some time!

I have decided that with an actual job for the moment, I need to get myself in the best position financially that I can so I have a full set of options when my year of maternity is up.  Not sure if I will be part time, take a career break or temporarily be full time.  Probably the first one, but no idea how I will feel in over a year's time.  So need to make sure the mortgage is affordable on a single salary (as we will fix again come October) and anything else needs to be thrown at pension/LISA/ISA etc. as I will risk not having enough in retirement later in life otherwise and I would like an option to be part time until retirement or even retire early.  As DH is much older than me an early retirement would be handy as I totally don't want to be trudging out to work whilst he is a man of leisure!!  Anyway, I have upped my pension contributions a bit to start next month to help with this, will put what I can in ISA's/pension/LISA before the end of the tax year and then will save from April as cash.  Come October I will determine whether I need to throw the cash at the mortgage to make it affordable and if there is anything left I will again put money away in ISA/pension/LISA etc.  Will be on half pay by then, so won't be able to save as much.  It's a plan for now!

Hope everyone is having a good break.

QueenJess

Thought I should stop sitting around and get myself organised before going back to work tomorrow.  So today I:

• Did 2 loads of washing, put away all the clean washing
• Cleaned all the toilets/sinks and the whole of the downstairs toilet
• Changed all the towels
• Finally did a huge pile of shredding that's been sitting around for ages (apparently no one else can do any....).  Still got a bit more to do at some point, but the shredder got too hot.
• Lots of tidying
• Put the main bulk of the furniture on eBay (got 2 left, but have to somehow get to them in the room of doom and probably need DH's help for that).

There's always more to do, but the house is looking a lot better now.  Just need to keep going until it is all sorted 

No need to go food shopping yet as we still have a fair bit in the house.  I think DH is going on Weds to top us up until next week.  Hopefully won't be too expensive, although I am trying to think of a few New Year's Eve treats to add to the list.  Not done the food plan yet and am deciding day to day at the moment as we have lots of food to eat up in the freezer etc.  We just finished the last of the turkey tonight as frajitas.  Pudding will be chocolate cake, creme fraiche and defrosted raspberries from the freezer.  Yummy

DH is currently on a hunt for a handheld steam cleaner that apparently he once got as a gift.  If he can locate it then I will be able to clean some of the more tricky baby things from the attic and start to get things sorted.  If not, I may have to buy myself a cheap one.  Would like to get the room sorted in Jan so it's all done and dusted and then only have consumables to think about in Feb.  Unfortunately DH is now holding up progress as I need him to finish drilling holes for the handles and screwing the units together.... if it was up to me, I would have done it already and cleaned all the units out ready to sort out the stuff..  Until he finishes I can't put anything away as it makes a big mess and I would have to clean everything again.

Not thinking about work tomorrow.  Will just look forward to my chocolate cake later 

savingholmes

Had to smile at DH's tardiness in getting things done compared to your timetable. I think most men are one extreme or the other.

QueenJess

Happy New Year everyone! 🎉 Let's hope this year is better than the last..  I realised that I spent almost 6 months of 2020 about to be made imminently redundant, but always with enough doubt to make everyday an uncertainty.  As of today, my "new" job officially starts and I am back in the world of full time employment!

I shall definitely not be wasting it whilst I do have full time employment.  To be fair, I don't think I have in the past either and my previous determination to reduce the mortgage down would have saved us had I not been employed right now.

So end of the year figures are:

• Mortgage £89,318.52
• Joint account loan to myself £1,621.40 (vs £1,750 target )

Unfortunately there are lots of bits and pieces that will add up this month that we need for the baby (a steam cleaner being job number one).  So Jan goals will be:

• Max out pensions as much as possible (until the next financial year) with any savings from my job
• Get the joint account loan to myself down below £1,500 (would love it to be lower, but I want to get the remaining baby purchases done and dusted this month)
• Make extra cash/budget savings of £250

To keep myself motivated, I'm going to try and make enough in vouchers online to get the steam cleaner (£50) as a smaller task for the next week or so.  Will save toward the mortgage again come April (we can't overpay until October anyway).

Feel slightly at a loose end at the moment.. house is relatively tidy, the beds have all been changed, two loads of washing done and hung up, got DH to finish playing with the drill putting the handles on the baby furniture and also got DH to clean the shower for me (and got breakfast in bed this morning)   Also made chocolate krispie squares with DS earlier which are yummy.  I'm not sure what to do next... I don't really do sitting around!

Dinner tonight will be fish kedgeree and pudding will be chocolate and banana pancakes.  Will try and enjoy my three days off before work starts again on Monday!  I have to say I get so much more done at work when there isn't anyone in.  My work in the week was very productive!

savingholmes

Very impressive list. Happy New Year. You sound very disciplined so likely to achieve your goals.

Jessy103

Happy New Year and all the best for 2021 😃

QueenJess

Tried to get on and make sure I achieved something today (yesterday the baby furniture was completed, 2 loads of washing done and hung out, clean clothes away, dusting done and tons of tidying as well as research into some baby bits we still need).  Cleaned out the bits of the baby furniture which will hold clothes and have started the very slow progress of adding baby clothes to the regular washing to get it all done eventually.  Remembered this afternoon that the brown bin is going to be picked up tomorrow and so went out and powered through picking up leaves.  Managed to fill the bin in just over an hour!  Also wedged loads more cardboard into the recycling... we are slowly getting through it!

Was going to get more done, but am totally knackered and so went for a nice long shower before the beef roast dinner.  Did do the meal planning for next week and the shopping list though.  Pudding tonight is more of the frozen lemon meringue pie we bought as a New Year treat.  Ironically I didn't make one as I am the only one that likes it and so wanted one in the freezer I could eat over time, but of course DH has been eating the same amount as me 🙄

Spent the whole weekend monitoring the news and eventually came to the conclusion we should keep DS home next week and see how things develop.  Just don't want to take any risks given my pregnancy and we are in tier 4.  Going to be a nightmare juggling full time childcare and work next week, but will just have to see what happens.  I suspect a lot will be changing in a week as the government change their minds every 2 seconds...

Keep safe everyone.

savingholmes

I think that's a good call on your DS. My DD is on remote learning this week and I'm grateful. I've just heard a close friend has c19 scary times.

QueenJess

savingholmes said:

I think that's a good call on your DS. My DD is on remote learning this week and I'm grateful. I've just heard a close friend has c19 scary times.

Yep and now after the announcement today I feel more vindicated.  Of course nurseries don't count, so we are paying for DS to stay at home, but I just don't feel comfortable with the risk of sending him in.

We also know someone who had Covid back in March and is still off work and suffering.  No pre-existing conditions and a normal healthy person.  It's very scary.