Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Feeling a bit jaded today. I do go through waves of finding work stressful and wondering if it was worth it and today is one of those days 😅

I think I’m realising that we aren’t that much better off after 9 months of me working as I thought we would be?! Childcare is over £650 a month of course, and I just feel like we have spent quite a lot of the rest with not that much increase in savings to show for it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice not to stress about money and afford a holiday but it feels like I’ve traded in sometimes stressing about money for stressing about work instead while having also lost so much free time over the last year. 

It really is feeling to me today that you just spend what you earn and earning more doesn’t help… but then we won’t have the childcare costs soon at least due to the funded preschool hours coming. And I’m using this as a wake up call that we’ve gotten far too complacent about our finances the last few months. I still don’t know if I’ll be kept on at work after January!

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On another note - annoying potential spend that has cropped up is Monkey seems to have lost his trainers?! He has boots, wellies and school shoes so I wouldn’t bother replacing them but he needs them for PE 🙄 will have a good scour of the whole house tonight though before buying more.

I just had to spend £32 on school shoes for him (Clark’s but bought off Amazon) but I used my Amazon voucher for these. The cheap Tesco ones I bought him in August have already fallen apart so I’m trying to see if spending a bit more means they will last…

joedenise

Could he have lost them at school @Bluegreen143?  I would ask at school before spending out on new ones for him.  It's frustrating when things go missing and you have to spend unplanned money.

Bluegreen143

No, at the moment because of covid they have to go in wearing their PE kit, they don’t take a change so he’d have had to come home shoeless! So definitely not school. I’m wracking my brains as to how it’s possible to lose a pair of shoes but we have looked all round the house, car and garden. Will have another good look tonight though.

QueenJess

You can get Clark’s plimsolls pretty cheap second hand from eBay for school PE.

Baileys_Babe

I think it is wise to keep the craft materials where they can be supervised, likewise with the jigsaws and games. You don't want to end up like my friend who went into her living room one day to discover the toddler had emptied out all the games onto the floor, the mess was horrendous and compounded by the fact that they have an extensive board game collection, the eldest children are older teens and many of the games have 100+ pieces each and numerous cards. I did help my friend to sort out the chaos. They moved house shortly afterwards (I'm sure there was no connection 😉) and now the games are kept in locked cupboards. 

stymied

If I remember right, going back early was also to get back on the career ladder with more recent experience on your CV so you have a less bumpy transition once Bambi has funded childcare. It’s a rocky time of year x

Bluegreen143

You are right of course, Stymied.

I’m feeling more stoic today as I was in the office (where I am definitely more productive…) and I sorted out the two biggest stresses I’ve been having. It’s also nice to have colleagues for company during the working. So I’ve talked myself down from packing it all in 😆

Tesco shop came today - £94.26 😳 but some for separate budgets - 

🍺 Alcohol for Red - £16.50
🖨 Stationery (paper, sellotape, parcel tape) - £5.10

So that’s £72.66 on food and other groceries (also got food bags, kitchen roll, shower gel).

We are batch cooking every Sunday now so I got 1kg beef mince to make a couple of batches bolognaise sauce and a cottage pie. Also got frozen chicken breasts which I think I’ll make 2x curries with. Soup night is usually some form of lentil and/or tomato but I think for a change I’ll make leek, celery and potato this week. 

Baileys_Babe

I bought a kg of beef mince this week to make a batch of bolognese plan to get 12 portions, by adding lots of vegetables and lentils.

Lots chicken, the breasts will be turned into kievs the thighs are going into various dishes including curry & stir fry. We have frozen the chicken in family size potions so they are convenient to use.

Bluegreen143

Sounds good @Baileys_Babe! Not made Kievs in a long time, must get them back on the menu.

Baileys_Babe

Our children enjoy Kievs. When they were younger, OH used to flatten out 1 breast and cut it into 2 pieces to make 2 small Kievs which meant their meals looked like ours, now they are older they happily eat giant portions.