The second hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

Nichelette

Payday again! I've got just under £1000 so about £1100 less than usual. Work have gone to online payslips only so I need to get into my work email to see how it breaks down. It did occur to me that I'll probably be due a bit of tax back because they've been taxing me at the usual rate for the last 6 months so fingers crossed. 

We've meal planned for the month and we're going food shopping for a months worth later so I'm interested to see how much that will be! We should only need to top up with bread, milk and veg hopefully. I've also bought wine to stick away for Xmas whilst we've got money still. Priorities and all that 😂. 

I'm probably going to stick an extra £100 on the gas and electric account to give us a bit more of a buffer. I'm actually quite excited about trying to stick to a budget. I like a challenge, and we'll be down even more than this when he starts nursery . I'm probably going to work next Friday just trying to clear my emails and get around the changes. My boss has said we can keep it quiet from my team which is good or I wouldn't be able to get anything done. They will top up the SMP to make it up to a full day's pay so I'll get a little extra. 

Weaning is in full flow and I hate the mess lol. Hopefully he'll pick it up quickly but not holding out much hope! He's in 9-12 month clothes now. Here's my recent favourite photo of chunky ❤️

South_coast

What a cutie 😍

savingholmes

Gorgeous. 
Can you do mb again to make up the gap?

Nichelette

savingholmes said:

Gorgeous. 
Can you do mb again to make up the gap?

I'm doing odd bits but I have so many gubbings now it's sadly not as profitable as it was. I've just sold my 70th card, I only make a couple of pounds on each one but can't knock it. Shop is building momentum which is good as with low value items you need quantities really. 

Forgot to say car passed MOT so it has got another year! Just needs another tyre which will be about £50.

Food shop was £150 but that included 4 (fairly cheap but nice) bottles of wine and a case of beer so I think that was okay, plus although we have bought things there are items where we won't use the whole pack etc and they will carry over to next month. Hopefully as chunky eats more 'proper' food the cost will reduce as we're spending £60 a month on formula. In all honesty we, especially when we make hello fresh recipes, have portions that are too big because there might not be quite enough for a lunch, but we could easily carve out a child's portion and not overeat ourselves 😳. He's practically inhaling baby porridge at the moment, I can't keep up with how quickly he takes it down 🤣. 

I think we have about £900ish left once bills are accounted for, though we will still need to sort tyre and at least £100 in fuel. Also had to spent £40 on husbands football for the next 10 weeks but I wouldn't deprive him of that because he loves it so much.

We met my brothers girlfriends family on Friday as we went there for Chinese as it was his birthday. They are so lovely and I'm so jealous of where they live. They're moving, I think the idea is to downsize and give each of their daughters money towards a house which is nice of them. How the other half live eh. Brother and GF have gone to visit Sterling because they're considering moving there. It crosses my mind often especially as I get closer to going back to work because I'm so sad I'm going to have to leave chunky full time, but I think I'd be too homesick 😔. It is hard though when I'm knocking about this expensive tiny place where we don't have space for anything and I'm constantly tripping over baby stuff. Such is life! 

savingholmes

They sound lovely. I imagine it is difficult in a small place. It is only a point in time. Hopefully you will be able to get a bigger place later in life.

Well done on the card sales

powerspowers

Aw he’s cute! The month food shop sounds good, I’d be interested in how many times you need to top up. Are you still doing hello fresh? 

Nichelette

savingholmes said:

They sound lovely. I imagine it is difficult in a small place. It is only a point in time. Hopefully you will be able to get a bigger place later in life.

Well done on the card sales

Hopefully one day. Probably not here because I doubt we could afford much, but also because it's not so great for secondary school. We'll see what happens but I think it's likely we'll end up moving back to the town I went to secondary in which, whilst not cheap, we would get us a bit more for our money. 

powerspowers said:

Aw he’s cute! The month food shop sounds good, I’d be interested in how many times you need to top up. Are you still doing hello fresh? 

We only get them now and again when it's super cheap, but we keep the recipe cards and use the website to recreate them as we really like the meals. Buying your own stuff they can be surprisingly cheap. 

I scan my shopping (another string to my money making bow  ) and the app shows me how much I've spent and when, so I'll report back. We're 5 days in so far and haven't had to buy anything.

Nichelette

Wrote a post then lost it all! 

Anyway, gist was as follows... 

I couldn't resist paying something off the mortgage because I don't want to feel like we're staying still, so I overpaid £96.03 to get us down to a round number. I've also applied to change husband's tax code due to working from home as I haven't done it this financial year, so hopefully will get a little bit extra in his next lot of pay. I'm doing a KIT day tomorrow. Don't particularly want to but we need the money really. Lately I've really started to dislike my job and really want to do something else, but that's for another time..

I spent £122 on Amazon yesterday, but in my defence I think it was all necessary... I got birthday present for nephew, two drinking cups for chunky, 4 bits for him for Christmas (not going mad as we don't have the space, I have a lot of family who will get him bits, and he is too young to know what is happening at the moment anyway), a load of soap (was a good deal lol) and 6 months worth of spatone because it was half the cost of getting it 6 weekly like I have been. 

Husband came home the other day with 2 veggie mini quiches for me and 2 huge boxes of fried coated chicken stuff. He got it all for just under £3. The chicken alone was supposed to be £4.50 a box, so whilst it's more money on food I'm not too bothered as I've frozen it all so it's still a saving in the long run. He also got veggie meatballs and mince using Checkoutsmart app which made them half price, so another £3 with the discount, but again they've gone in the freezer. It's well worth a look as often there is completely free stuff on there. I've had nearly £500 of free/discounted food through it. That's the only food we've bought so far, and we've stuck to the meal plan so we're still on track. 

Checked how much of my student loan is left. It's about £1700 so that is finally nearly gone. That will be equivalent to about £100 pay rise a month when it is finally gone! 

savingholmes

Well done on the OP and food and Amazon bargains. Perhaps use this time at home to work out what you want from your next job - it will then be easier to recognise when it comes along (or create).

Thanks for the reminder on the home working tax thing. I keep forgetting to claim.

Nichelette

savingholmes said:

Well done on the OP and food and Amazon bargains. Perhaps use this time at home to work out what you want from your next job - it will then be easier to recognise when it comes along (or create).

Thanks for the reminder on the home working tax thing. I keep forgetting to claim.

I think I'd like, and probably be good at being a mortgage broker. I'd actually like to be a midwife. Last time I checked there wasn't any funding as a second degree, but I think that changed recently though I'm still not sure that we could financially survive me being a student for 3 years, especially if we do move.

Brighton uni (closest option though based in Eastbourne) want BBB at A level which I already have, and they will accept a social science instead of a typical science which I think would save me doing an access course. To be honest though, I think it's a bit different if you're applying as a 'mature' student anyway, and I did triple science at GCSE and got AAB so I might be able to swing it with that. I'm still keeping half an eye on it.. If I could qualify in low 40's I'd still have at least 25 working years ahead of me so I haven't ruled it out completely but probably more for the future. 

I was thinking of doing a new SOA but I don't think I can really do it until I go back to work because pay will be all over the place now. Happily a screw up from one of the bookmakers made me £240 , and funds are looking good at the moment. I'm still making odd amounts from prolific too.

We've stuck to the meal plan for 11/11 days so far. We've had to buy a few odd bits and I got a few mega bargains for freezer yesterday, but food spending is still looking good.