A new royal start

QueenJess

badmemory said:

How often is your bill less than you calculate it to be?

Oh it’s a historical nightmare. They got it wrong back in May 2021ish because they didn’t add the childcare vouchers along with our payments, plus they were confused as we had a deposit for a new child. This error has been carried forward ever since.

Technically it’s the same amount that is the error each month, but I check carefully as the bills we had 5 months in a row up to that point were also wrong so I don’t really trust them to get it right. They corrected all the other errors, but not the one in that month. So each month they tell me I owe something silly like £300 more than I actually do.

It’s certainly a warning lesson in how outsourcing doesn’t always work…

QueenJess

Bluegreen143 said:

So pleased she’s 3 now 😂 she uses 28 hours a week of her 30 free (now attending a council preschool) so we don’t need to pay at all anymore. Bet you’ll be jumping for joy when you get your DD’s preschool hours!

Yes, although they calculate 15 hours to be equal to £50 a week reduction in term time only…

When she goes to school though, I’ll be rich 🤑 😂

4 or 5 days is not very different as there is a discount for doing all 5 days. This is making my considerations of part time working a bit complicated. I would like to do 3 days with 1 day to get things done and another with DD, but that is not sensible. In an ideal world I would do 3 days work over 4 days so I could do school hours and get a day off, but that is never going to happen. Because of the timezones in the places I need to talk to at work, I have to be available 3-5:30 for meetings.

Maybe DD could do 3.5 days at nursery which would give me a few hours to get a few things done? I do want to spend more time with her, but at the same time she gets so much out of nursery and I worry she might get a bit bored with me. She’s quite full on and needs to be entertained the whole time - I assume it’s a brightness thing, but she wants to see and do everything and loves being outside.

The whole thing gives me a headache with the possibilities and things to think through. Plus I have no idea what work will even say to my request anyway!

Bluegreen143

It’s so tricky to navigate. I’m lucky that I’m allowed to do 3.5 days (26 hours) over 4 which allows for finishing at 3pm and I do find it an ideal schedule. 

We get 30 free hours here (term time only, think it’s about 20 if you send them year round?). Most nurseries only allow you to take it in “blocks” eg 6x 5hr blocks a week (a block being 8-1pm or 1-6pm) so realistically if you send them year round you only get two days a week free. 

I’m really lucky my nursery do it differently - they are a preschool and encourage the children to attend school length days (6hr - so five 6hr days is your 30 hours - they shut in school holidays) but as long as you stay under 30 overall they won’t charge, it doesn’t need to be in a “block”. So DD goes four 7 hour days instead, from 8.30-3.30 ish and has a Friday off with me and that means I don’t pay. She’s a bit of a homebody and wouldn’t want to go in on a Friday, she loves having it off. Tbh my DS is too and despite loving school grumbles that he wants to have special Fridays at home too 🤣 

I’d love love love to keep my Fridays off when she starts school so I get a day to myself to get stuff done 🙌🏼 my husband says he wants me to increase my hours though 🙄😭 I suppose what I’ll try to do is go to about 30 hours and keep on finishing at 3pm at least.

QueenJess

It’s almost as though the world of work isn’t set up to accommodate families, despite the government claiming that it is…

It’s so variable based on employer as well. I knew someone who asked for flexible hours so she could drop her child off at nursery each morning. All she had requested was that she would arrive at 9:15 instead of 9:00. Her manager said no!

QueenJess

Wow, I feel like a total failure already. I am almost done with getting finances up to date on my spreadsheet. It’s quite a bit in the red, but I think I can get it back to black again if I am sensible with money. 

Just popped to ASDA. I hate shopping there, but it’s close. I only go when I need to and I was out of frozen chips, frozen peas, sausages and low on weetabix. There would have been a mutiny… whenever I go I spend lots as I stock up so hopefully I don’t have to go back for a long time (plus they are often out of things). Freezer is groaning and I couldn’t resist some ys bread, rolls and crumpets. I also got some ys peppers that DH loves and some ys cherry toms that I am thinking of making a lasagne with to use up the lasagne sheets that are OOD. Spent £75 😬, but there was really nothing silly in there. Weetabix was reduced and since we get through 7 a day (1 DD and 6 DH!!!!!), I bought 5 packs of 72… so £30 just on weetabix! I will be spending more time getting inspiration on the os MSE boards.

The new game now will be to see how long I can go without shopping, although I will allow Riverford fruit/veg deliveries, milkman and some ys raids. I need to look carefully at Riverford later to reduce my order for this week.  I might be able to get by without a box this week for veg, but definitely need fruit.

Today for lunch we have more chickpeas and roasted veg that DH doesn’t like (he’s going to be thrilled…). I will do it in a wrap this time and make it really spicy for him with chilli powder and much more harissa paste. Will add some of the leftover sour cream. Should be lovely.

Dinner is veggie sausage, mash, leeks and cabbage from the Riverford veg box from last week.  Pudding is choc brownie and ice cream for DS, me and DH will have the blackberry coconut squares. They are nice but quite sugary. If I get time, I’ll bung meringues in the oven from the leftover chickpea water that I saved when I opened the tin yesterday - they can be a nice cheap pudding for another day and it’ll use the heat from cooking the sausages anyway.

Tomorrow DH is out until late and will spend his own ill gotten gains on his favourite Waitrose ready meal. DS and I will have one of his favourites that DH doesn’t consider to be a real meal 🙄-  jacket pot, beans and cheese. Nice and cheap and I can scavenge around in the fridge for my lunch, although I expect I’ll have more of the roasted veg and couscous.

Jessy103

You are far from being a failure, Jess! Don't be so hard on yourself 🙂

P.S jacket potato, cheese and beans is a god tier meal!

QueenJess

I’ve been so busy the last few days trying to squeeze two days of stuff into one everyday. I’m not sure I’ve even made a dent in my to do list yet 😬.

DS’s room is now completely spring cleaned and decluttered. DD’s room is started and no movement on the kitchen yet. I’ve also been spending silly amounts of time trying to work through a 6 year old broadband issue. Loads of progress made and kudos to the BT man that came out today as he was brilliant (must see if I can give feedback). It’s not done, but 80% of the way there now. Phew! I’ve also wrapped the present for DS’s party he’s going to tomorrow (homemade wrapping paper of course with string and no tape). I also did a huge amount of work at real work and went to DS’s parents evening last night (only good things 🥹)

Today I also squeezed in changing all the beds and doing a huge pile of washing. Running late today as I’ve spent loads of time sorting broadband. All in the context of little sleep… DD is teething and she woke up at 11pm, 12:30, 2:30, 5:30, 6:30 😭.

Still squeezed in some time to make a lasagne from scratch that’s almost ready (veg was roasted yesterday). It’s a veggie one with butternut squash, ys peppers and kale. Yummy I hope! Pudding is more of the hm blackberry and coconut squares (DS will have hm vegan meringues and ice cream).

Heating is still off here, although we will have to relent soon as it’ll get too cold for DD at night. DH informed me earlier that he is going to request 4 days a week working from 1 Jan (but not evenly over the year because his work is seasonal). So it’s definitely belt tightening time. On the plus side I’m getting a bonus from work at the end of the month that will come in handy.

Re: food, I refuse to cancel my Riverford box as I love it so much. It’s the last thing to go. I have milkman deliveries too (oat milk for me and organic for DD/DS/DH) that I know is more expensive as well. I’d rather not cancel this if I don’t need to. Most other things are fair game and I already buy lots of basics and cook from scratch. I will start small and aim to be under the average spend per month for a family of four (non-eating out is £108 a week now apparently). So that’s about £432 for the month. Will be back to confirm how much I’ve already spent, although I don’t need to go to the shops next week and may be able to cancel the veg box. I think it’s about £125 spent to date.

Financial aims I will leave as feeding the longer term savings/pensions for this financial year as I expect to go part time. Then next year I will likely need to plough lots into savings for emergency funds increases and saving to pay the mortgage down as much as possible when the fix runs out in 2024. DH assures me the max 10% payment in 2023 is saved already.

QueenJess

I forgot the exciting news.. the mortgage has just dropped below £150k!

MagicCat

As always I'm amazed at how much you get done, and your meals sound delicious! Decluttering sounds like it's going well too.

Are you still hoping to reduce your hours as well as DH going to four days? I think both being able to do part time would be great, my sister and her husband both work four days and it always seems such a nice balance! Would you be able to reduce nursery days as that would help balance things?

Have a lovely weekend, hope DD let's you have a bit more sleep!

QueenJess

MagicCat said:

As always I'm amazed at how much you get done, and your meals sound delicious! Decluttering sounds like it's going well too.

Are you still hoping to reduce your hours as well as DH going to four days? I think both being able to do part time would be great, my sister and her husband both work four days and it always seems such a nice balance! Would you be able to reduce nursery days as that would help balance things?

Have a lovely weekend, hope DD let's you have a bit more sleep!

It’s not sustainable at the moment as I’m working and running around from the moment I get up until 9:30-10pm. I just need to get my to do list down as it’s stressing me out!

Food is always a priority as having good food makes me feel better

The plan still is (I think) to cut my hours down to potentially 3 days or maybe 4. I’ll reassess in April as I can’t do anything before then. I just need to fix the finances before then 😬