Lolu's Mortgage Free odyssey

misslolu

Thank you @powerspowers . I must admit, I definitely underestimated how hard the stage after a newborn would be! Little madam started crawling properly at 5 months and has been a hurricane ever since. It's been a lovely time, though; she's grown so much and has become much more interactive. She's started weaning and loves to eat; we have to hide food from her (that she can't eat), otherwise she sits on us till it goes in her mouth. All in all, while I love her to bits, it's reinforced my decision to go back to work. I definitely don't have enough energy for her all day, especially as she's not yet sleeping through the night. I've spoken to my manager about dates, and very likely it's early August that my back-to-work transition starts, which seems awfully close. Just 3 months more at home with my little one, it's so bittersweet.

In other news, I've had a family member come stay with us for the past 5/6 weeks that's been "interesting". On one hand, having even an hour's break from DD has meant I get so many more chores done. I've been able to declutter another 4 bags for charity & 3 for recycling. Does my house look different? Yes, however, a lot less than expected, but I'm on a roll now, and the more that gets decluttered, the more space I'll have for the stuff currently in the way. On the other hand, the family member is definitely deficient in other ways which don't help my decluttering tasks & actually cause more work for me. They're going this week, so I'm hoping to be able to declutter the room they're staying in when they're gone.

Having less help will slow me down, but I've ordered the decluttering in a way that I should be able to let DD play independently while still keeping an eye on her. Ideally, i'd get everything done by the end of June so I can focus on planning DD's first birthday! I'd thought about having one at home, but the flat is a bit small imo. So we're planning to have it in a hall. I've started looking at venues & am planning food & entertainment too. Ideally it wouldn't cost too much, maybe £1k tops but it would be a lovely way to celebrate with friends & family.

In other finance news…I have to hang my head in shame as the debt has gone up again. However, this is for good reason. I'm currently on maternity leave and have been on less than full pay since December. This has obviously meant a reduction in the amount going to debt. In fact, when I went down to SMP, we had to strip back to the bare minimum, as that's all we can afford. In addition, we've had 2 lots of service charge plus some hefty visa fees to pay, which is the real cause of the increase. Also, due to some 0% interest periods ending, we've had to balance transfer, so the cards are a bit jumbled up luckily no interest to pay though. A look at the damage:

CC1 (Mine) - 5,299 4,499
CC2 (Ours) - 7,126 10,737
CC3 (His) - 753 360

CC4 (His) - 0 2500

Total Non - Mortgage Debt - 12,492 18,096

S&S LISA - 15,348 17,716
Premium Bonds - 10,000 10,275
Personal Savings - 10,000 8,932
Joint Savings - 1,600

In saying that, its frustrating to take a few steps back before going forward, and while these are some of the most unavoidable costs ever, it just hurts that much more because they're so expensive. And until I get back to work we're reliant on OH's salary. In fact, at the moment, we're taking out more than we're putting in. The big saving grace is that we were able to get some savings in before DD came as well as the bonus. Without those, id have had to go back to work already, or maybe we'd be actively increasing the debt.

*Sigh* the joys of motherhood.

South_coast

With the debts increasing and DD's birthday being in the summer, why not have a picnic in a park for her party? I'm sure everyone will understand if you keep it low-key due to being on SMP