Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

beanielou

How sad about Red's brother.

beanielou

Oh & good idea about longer hours term time only.

Bluegreen143

I’m not sure if my manager would go with that, but something to discuss. I haven’t yet had the conversation with Red as to when I increase my hours - now? January? Next August? But will keep you all posted when we make a decision.

Red transferred £40 to the joint account for some alcohol he added to the Tesco shop.

There was also £3 left in there (my pay is coming this afternoon) so I’ve emptied the account and split it between savings - £10 to gifts, £10 to holidays, £23 to the emergency fund. 

Meals for today:

B - porridge with chopped nuts & bananas/blueberries

L - salad with avocado and griddled chicken 

D - pork escalopes with air fryer chips and veg
(kids are having chicken nuggets - they’d eat the pork fine but my MIL is coming to dinner and there’s not enough pork)

My current aim is not to eat junk or snacks outside meals (except maybe a bit of fruit if it’s needed).

List for today:

- sort out babysitting for work away day in a couple of weeks 

- catch up with laundry! (We’ve been swimming a lot lately so despite doing daily loads there’s tons 😂)

- pack for going away tomorrow 

Bluegreen143

Pay has arrived! I got right on it with ordering the children’s clothes 🙈😂

Spent:

£45.95 for two pairs of trainers and a pair of boots for Bambi from Sainsburys Tu (inc delivery)

£98.95 for six long sleeved tops and two jumpers from Next for Monkey (inc delivery)

I know that there are lots of cheaper places to get the kids clothes than Next, but both Monkey and I both prefer very classic clothes, plain or stripy tops or the T-shirts with raglan colour sleeves. He says it embarrasses him to have characters or slogans etc on and tbh it’s not a look I like either. 

I find that while the supermarkets and Matalan tend to have nice stuff for girls Bambi’s age, they have very little choice of plain, classic tops for boys his age, it’s all got superheroes, dinosaurs, footballs or PlayStations on. 

 I do run a fairly organised capsule wardrobe system for the kids and don’t overbuy on quantity (I just shop for them twice a year at season change) so I save money that way and would prefer to buy him just six nicer quality tops to do all winter versus buying a drawerful of cheaper stuff he won’t wear. 

I’ve gotten totally thrown out of my dinner timings this evening because I went back to work once getting the kids and didn’t realise how late it was! MIL isn’t coming for dinner either, she’s coming over later. So I’ve made the kids a quick beans on toast and veg sticks for dinner as Monkey has to go to karate now. While Red is out with him, I’ll bath Bambi and make the planned pork escalopes & chips for us for once they’re home. Very, very rare that we don’t have a family dinner all together but won’t harm as a one off. 

Bluegreen143

Urgh, Sainsburys have cancelled one of Bambi’s pairs of trainers as it was out of stock. So irritating as of course they refund it but now I need to source an extra pair of trainers, ideally without incurring yet more delivery costs. She needs two pairs as nursery insist on them keeping a clean pair there for indoor wear. 

Some changes to budget - our Amazon Firestick has dramatically stopped working after a wee while of limping along. So £35 for a new one. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to watch Netflix or Prime, which we pay for, or iPlayer etc. 

I had also a conversation with Red re personal spending. 

We’ve had the rule for ages that we keep 20% of our budget for personal spends (though sometimes we will choose to send some back to the joint account later to pitch in extra for a joint expense). 

The personal spending budgets cover our phone bills, any subscriptions just for us, our clothes, hobbies, socialising with friends, alcohol, buying lunch at work etc. Sometimes we split date nights or takeaways from this budget and sometimes we take these out of the joint account - depends where there is money!) 

But for the past while I’ve been rounding down to an even £300 each month rather than taking my 20%, because I usually don’t spend it all. I didn’t realise I was a bit resentful of this until I referenced it in an argument the other day 🙈 which is mad as it’s a choice I made, it’s not something Red forces on me!

So we’ve agreed that from now on we will both religiously take out our 20% when we get paid so nobody is feeling resentful. If I don’t spend it all I can save it in my own savings and if I later add that to joint savings/the mortgage/a joint purchase that’s fine but it’s my choice. Rather than not taking it at all and feeling stressed at the end of the month as I run out of money. 

So the upshot is I’ve taken an extra £70 into my personal spending this month. I’ve put it in my personal savings account for now (so it’s at £125 total atm). 

These changes mean it’s unlikely we will put any extra into joint savings at the end of this month but we’ll see 🤞🏼

Bluegreen143

Current state of accounts:

Joint account - £339.76 + £159 Child Benefit coming today = £498.76 to last until 30th Sept
- used for groceries, petrol, kids’ clothes/activities, family days out, smaller household purchases, sometimes date nights

Bills pot - £334.61

Holidays pot - £860

Gifts & Christmas pot - £1,000

Home projects pot - £0

Emergencies - £3,093.50

Personal account - £360.46
- to last until 15th Oct, used for phone bill/subscriptions, clothes, hobbies & books, alcohol, socialising, work lunches, sometimes date nights 

Personal savings - £125

HELP TO SAVE ACCOUNTS - £3,300

smudge56

Bluegreen143 said:

Urgh, Sainsburys have cancelled one of Bambi’s pairs of trainers as it was out of stock. So irritating as of course they refund it but now I need to source an extra pair of trainers, ideally without incurring yet more delivery costs. She needs two pairs as nursery insist on them keeping a clean pair there for indoor wear. 

Try
https://www.mandmdirect.com/01/kids/footwear?fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/website>{mandmgbp}/productsalesgender>{girls}/subcategorytype>{footwear}&fh_sort_by=+mandmgbp_sellingprice 

for children’s trainers. They usually have great bargains 

badmemory

They are like tinned tomatoes - could be back in stock tomorrow.

Bluegreen143

Back from a rather lovely, if spendy, weekend!

Spends as follows (I’ve turned on savings round up in my account so everything is rounded up):

Amazon £16 - 2x kindle books 
Eating out & my share of holiday groceries - £106
Book shop £43 - 2x books for me and gifts for the children 

While I was away, Red spent a grand total of £6 from the joint account, on a 3 months Disney+ offer (it’s three months for just £6 which is a good bargain). 

Had a lovely time while away with my mum and sister. We ate great food, drank prosecco and cocktails, browsed some local book/gift shops, enjoyed the hot tub and went for two really beautiful walks. 

beanielou

Glad that you enjoyed your break