Our forever home

Kakiste

Glad to hear all is going well! 

I recovered absolutely fine from my c-section and that was with an incredibly unsupportive partner. (Having me carry a hoover up and down flights of stairs at 1 week post- c section because I was "getting lazy and overreliant") With decent support I imagine it would be better. I was walking up and down to the town centre down a steep hill when she was 4 weeks old. 

bellevie

That's good to hear Kakiste well not the unsupportive partner part, but your speedy recovery - that's worrying me a little I bounced back quickly after DD so had hoped for the same. Fingers crossed 🤞 

bellevie

I've had a chilled week off work. It dawned on me now once August is through I only have 3 months left at work!

More careful spending this end a second hand moses basket only used for 3 months so in great condition. Planning to keep it downstairs, but could take it upstairs if we need to. DHs friend offered a bedside crib so we've purposely not bought one, but if theres any delay the moses basket will see him through a couple of months at least I'd have thought.

Due to pick up a second hand baby changing station tomorrow such a great find, I didn't want to spend £125+ for a new one, found one on marketplace for 15!! I don't expect to use it for long, just wanted something downstairs that would prevent the need to bend especially the first few weeks but also I remember my back wasn't great for months after labour with DD, trying to think prevention!

I feel a bit more chilled than I did at the beginning of the week, I think taking the time to mull things through, research and plan had helped - although I know its early!
 I've seen a spray recommended to help faster healing and soothing and my friend recommended a cushion that will take the pressure off feeding so will be looking to get those.

Tomorrow evening hopefully will be popping to ikea, realising we need to be a bit cleverer with our livingroom to allow for the extra things we will have  Inc baby toys etc we are going to buy a storage system. It should replace 3 of our existing bits of furniture and free up a corner. That's unfortunately full price I have searched for second hand but couldn't find the one we want.

I created a new spreadsheet, my old one was like an advance bank statement, I saw a YouTuber using a different layout and thought that'll make things a lot easier to see and amend at a quick glance. Our contributions during maternity as and when my pay drops will change so need to keep ontop of it to be sure all bills are covered.

I've worked out since the last direct debit jump weve built up a credit with on gas & electric over October to March it works out around 70 per month, in addition to the govt help offered and ongoing payments of 250 per month my hope is they won't need to increase our bill further. Well we won't have a choice really we won't have a spare £100 after all bills are covered not on maternity anyway.

When I go back to work we won't be better off at all, I've found the 2 cheapest nurseries in the area both are just over 1k full time per month that's with the tax relief, with increased fuel cost too Imy spreadsheey shows we will be worse off than we will be on maternity.

We should be better off when little one gets 3 year funding and that should coincide with my qualifying and hopefully getting a good payrise so we are just going to have to suck it up and manage as best we can until then.

We are going to set the thermometer 2 degrees lower this year, we all have hot water bottles and I've asked for a dressing gown for my birthday which will help. 
It's not going to be freezing by any means, but colder than we are used to.

Baby will be in with us through winter and we have a thermometer in the bedroom so will keep a check to make sure he is warm

DH & I agreed practical presents this year, aside from possibly some chocolate I can eat after the birth, gifts will be what's needed for both of us.


Not so much an attempt to save but more being realistic I've adjusted the food shop budget to 80 from 70, we just kept going over 70 regardless of where we shop. Some of that is extras I'm buying for the gestational diabetes which will hopefully go when baby is born. It had made me realise I could probably eat a bit less pasta! But increasing the meat in my meals as per the recommended diet (high fat high protein) think is adding to the cost so will cut that back ASAP.

I got this week's in at £77, that's something. I'm thinking as and when I do save a little more I could pick up a pack of nappies, wipes or something else we might use regularly to help keep our costs down over Christmas and after birth.

That's about all my mse mulling for the week. Back to work next week then the countdown will be on!

bellevie

Payday has been. Payments made, we are on track to clear house purchases before maternity leave.

This week's shop came in at 73, 61 at sainsburys, 12 at another shop when in town.

A group I'm part of on fb with low cost meal plans have put together a sheet of what costs the most electric / gas wise. I was shocked to see how much cheaper our air fryer and slowcooker are to use per hour than our main cooker. Really helpful to see things like that that can make such a difference to daily spends.


Had a chat with DD about her Saturday class, talked quite openly about how we are going to need to see how things pan out over the next year, we might find ourselves in a position where we can't continue to pay for the class, I do hope it doesn't come to thst but at the minute I just can't see it things getting better. She seemed to understand. It'll be a last resort but if needs must.

bellevie

25 weeks down, 12 - 14 weeks to go.

This month has been a drain on money, I have started picking things up for birthdays, Christmas as I'm not sure I'll be fit for much come November/December, I'm already constantly breathless, aching and struggling to bend. 11 weeks left at work, time is flying by.

Our heating needs to be fixed, radiators have been off for months because even though the temperature was set to low so they shouldn't have come on, whenever we ran the hot water the radiators in our bedroom came on, at once point in the heatwave, it was an oven! 

So DH turned the radiator setting off completely. His boss said its a small job he will send a plumber round, it still hasn't happened. We dont need it on yet, but its quite chilly overnight in think at some point in the next month we will want it on for a couple of hours in the morning and I know when their workload picks up he won't have anyone spare.

I'm of the mind if it's a small job we can pay someone to do it, DH knows plenty of plumbers through work, but he's holding out. He's very relaxed about things, whereas I overly worry, we usually find a balance but this is dragging on. I'm going to have to draw the line soon though preferably before it gets too cold!

bellevie

Small mse win, have cancelled our 2nd dogs policy which was going to go up £5 a month.
In its place we saved £4 off existing price and £9 off what it would have been.

I needed some savings somewhere our grocery bill has been shocking this month, way over the already increased budget. We did have my dad staying one week, and the weekend prior we travelled to a wedding but staying with MIL and not wanting her to suffer financially we done a food shop for her and us on our return. 

I'm convinced this change in diet for the gestational diabetes hadn't helped at all, the safest choices are usually the foods I'd avoid or limit because of cost and the cheaper budget meals, pasta, potatoes, rice send my blood sugars crazy. Well I can have pasta, if its cooked in a rich cream based sauce with lots of protein on the side so it ups the cost. Such a headache.

Broadband has gone up £2, we must have been in a promotional price because DH didn't see a price rise email and are contracted in til April, diarised to look into that in feb/march.

We got our dogs tested for intolerance as luck would have it they are both opposites in their dietary needs, makes sense one would always be flaring up when another's doing fine. The small changes will actually save us £12 a month, we could possibly save £4 more but the supermarket stock is far too unreliable so for peace of mind will stick with delivery for the difficult one, one bag we might be able to get off amazon cheaper when offers are on.

Have seen a good difference to our eldest dog, our youngest had already started to settle on the grain free diet. 

Going to attempt a GD friendly meal plan with freezer foods we already have to keep next weeks shop as low as possible. 

One piece of luck with the temperature cooling I seem to handle stews well as long as I have minimal potatoes, I've also been lucky with homemade soup which will come in handy with the weather starting to cool.

Our mortgage overpayments are set to a minimal £5 a month. My hope is its small enough to allow that to tick over whilst on maternity with a view to increase it as soon as my pay goes up or other bills go down.

Waiting nervously for changes to our gas and electric bill I know the plan isn't as big of an increase as we were expecting but any increase will make it harder to be honest, already paying double what we were this time last year.

No other mse savings at the minute, we do have our home insurance coming soon so will keep an eye on prices

bellevie

Checked my emails in a panic seeing adjusted bills have gone up, to find ours have gone down by £7 a month!

I think the credit we've built is because it was raised too high back in March which might have reflected it we had a debt on the account at the time so I didnt contest that price, then next April when the £67 has stopped we will be paying £45ish per month ontop of what we are paying now. 

With that in mind I was going to do a manual top up but actually I'd rather earn interest on credit so I'm thinking of an esavings account purely to set money aside incase of a debt building on bills. I don't want it swallowed up by other things or have interest lining anyone else's account, not that it'll be much!

Kakiste

 Mine are confusing me right now. I've made sure to keep it in the black as I'm never going to be in debt again (future mortgage aside) they've emailed me to say that my fixed term has ended and my estimated bills for the next year have skyrocketed (basically doubled) but they're still saying on the main account page that I'm paying too much each month and keep suggesting I reduce my DD.) *shrugs* I've just decided to keep a really close eye on my online account and put in meter readings every 2 weeks rather than once a month. 

bellevie

Sounds like the safest thing to do. We've got a smart meter, I am a little obsessive about checking it!

bellevie

Interest free card wrapped up in time.

Expecting another interest free account wrapped up with October's payday, the 3rd and final might run into November.

All being well the month baby is due December we should have outgoings as low as we are going to get them!!

Gosh two more paydays and our little one will be here, how time has flown.