Our forever home

bellevie

We've been looking further into car options for DD. We live in a town but a fairly small town and most buses run twice an hour, very different to my London days where tje next bus was minutes away. We are close to train station again train runs twice an hour and there can be frequent cancellations.

She is applying for early years apprenticeship to start this summer / autumn but is restricted by travel. Walking would take 1 hour +, train or bus similarly 45+ depending on timetable, but driving 7-15 minutes. Such a difference. She'd be starting the same time as me so I'm not able to drop off as I do nursery run before heading straight to work.

She's likely to have 2k in her trust fund when she turns 18 but this won't go far, she needs an automatic cars. 17 year old autos in our area are coming up at 4k. Its just crazy. Not to mention the first years insurance!

We had the idea a while back of giving dd our now 13 year old car which would cost maybe 5-6k to buy, but we'd get less than 1.5k to part exchange. I thought we'd have longer to save for a replacement but am now thinking when DD passes her test she could do with our car very soon after.

So, I've been seeing we could get a 7 ish year old automatic car for around 10k ( basic family car). We don't have 10k saved, and have a loan with 21 months left I'd want gone before we consider another loan.

So the plan is:

Overpay or seperate savings account to try to wrap up the loan ASAP. £50 a month extra could shave 4 months off £100 7 months off. We'd also want a 2-3k deposit well as much as we can save really to reduce how much we borrow.

I'm hoping to be ready by summer 27....heres hoping

beanielou

Good news on nursery.

peb

Public transport can be a nightmare. Any chance she could cut the walk to the station by cycling?

Once she stays she may be able to share a lift.

The last bus from my local town is 6.30 on a Sunday, 8.30 on a Saturday and 10 during the week. Goes from every 20 minutes to once an hour.

Bargainhunter30

Would she pay you her savings for your car which would give you a big chunk of deposit? I think having to pay for a car means you look after it more and teaches them about the real world.

So many 17 year olds around us have better cars than our. Expensive BMW's and similar which I think is crazy. In the other end of the spectrum some of the kids drive old tractors to school 🙈😂

debtfreewannabe321

Morning Bellevie, I've read through your diary over the last few days, I was so pleased to see the attempt at IVF worked for you. Also congrats on the degree! You did an amazing job considering all you had at the same time. I think cutting down one day a week would be a really good move, I've literally just taken a better wage and already negotiating more time off with it. We need a work life balance somewhere along the way otherwise we blink and kids are gone and we're too old to be fit enough to enjoy our time.

Ps, galaxy do a really nice vegan hot chocolate I saw it in Aldi middle aisle just yesterday. Otherwise all other big SM should do it or a similar thing.

bellevie

Thank you @debtfreewannabe321 honestly right now I'm not sure how I done it. Maybe long term adrenaline if thats even possible, feels like I'm paying for it now though!

That's exactly my thinking re reduced hours. I hope it works for you too!

Hot chocolate tip is a good one I'll keep an eye out, on my next trip in, thank you.

bellevie

Spendy day today. I've been needing to replace my trainers for a while, have been torn between a couple of options online, but wanted to test for comfort. I'm becoming very particular, not sure why.

Decided to brave town visit hoping for quiet browsing but it wound up full family trip and everyone needing / wanting shoes apart from DS who is in a strong 'wellies only' phase.

DH took an age finding his, DD likewise, whilst I picked up a pair within 5 minutes that I had not considered online, they were comfy and best thing reduced half price. I came in under budget until Dd, announced she needed new trainers. She was capped at a budget but I didnt know of her needing them until we were there so was semi unprepared. To be fair she's mostly been in winter boots, so had not worn trainers in a while. Seems she's had her first growth spurt for a good couple of years strangely. I thought her feet had stopped growing.

Not too sure what to do for DS, not too bad whilst it's still cold, but he will develop stinky feet when it warms, and I'm sure wellies are not supportive enough. We've picked him up various shoes / trainers, like daddies, or characters he likes, colours he likes even light ups

Best were soft light ups, he wore them for a few weeks then went off them. We think he prefers roomier shoes hence wellies. Popped into Clarks for measure, tried 1 shoe on promptly pulled it off and refused to try anymore.

Last week we visited a garden centre, I was very tempted by a raised planter, the idea of all my veg in one place rather than pots. Took pictures with a mind to return, but found a cheaper one online so am contemplating this! It's a big spend especas trying to save but it could make the garden feel a bit tidier. Will need to decide soon

bellevie

No garden spend as yet. I did repurpose one of the supposed self watering raised beds, it's never worked for us as it should, so drilled some holes and planted my pea seeds. Took cuttings of a few plants, rarely successful with these aside from the mint but still trying.! Lovely to see my spring flowers at the front, and blossoming trees out the back. I love spring so much hay-fever aside.

Dh set up my water butt to the front guttering, looking forward to being able to use free water for the garden.

Combined spend of £93 on bulk laundry / cleaning/ bulk toilet tissue to last 6-8 weeks, and hay-fever relief restock/ few grooming essentials, batteries and easter bits.

£86 on grocery shop with a discount applied, I think would have been £104. I do sometimes include laundry & household in groceries but can be cheaper bulk buying.

I asked AI for a reduced processed meal plan whilst still trying to keep in budget. It suggested a few recipes dd & DH are willing to try.

Tonight is DIY pizza from scratch, I prepare bases lay out toppings and everyone prepares their own pizza they always taste so much better than frozen!

Then planning 2 x fish meals, 2 x meat 2 x veggie.

bellevie

£83 shop spend for Saturdays delivery, however likely to need fruit top up midweek. This weeks top up was £12.

Forgot my breakdown cover was due this month, so had a shock to see that was taken but still closing in credit.

I've been tempted by a bank switch for a while but nervous of doing it due to the volume of bills that come out of the joint account. Hoping I'll be brave and just get it done in April. It has a nice high interest linked account and small amount of monthly cashback, seems better than the £0 we get from our main account.

A week off work next week, looking forward to a much needed slower pace!

beanielou

The bank switches are super easy & all your payments are transferred over including DD’s.