“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

browneyed_girl

Thank you @rachmac3 and @flamingo22 - appreciate the kind words!  The only survey site I've used recently is Prolific which pays really well.  I've had the account with them for about 10 years but am only really making use of it now.  I've heard that not everyone can sign on with them as they have more users than they need and have started limiting access to only certain people that fit demographics that are less common in their current users.  I think the amount I managed to amass from surveys last month is probably more a reflection of how many hours I've been awake in the night due to DD4 - lots of surveys pop up at the oddest times!  Plus I'm in the habit of leaving my laptop on throughout the day on the Prolific page so that I'll see the minute a survey pops up so I can jump on it (most studies have very limited number and fill up quickly). 

I do also use Swagbucks, but this is for other activities aside from surveys (which always seem to screen me out after considerable effort).  I always have some game on my phone from there that pays out for progress, but I've found that you need to cherry-pick these as a lot take waaaaaay too much time and effort to be worth the rewards.  As it is, I've just cashed out £50 with them and am waiting for it to hit my account so I can add it to the Barclaycard  

rachmac3

That's a good idea to have the survey site up. Maybe when I'm doing housework or cooking tea I can do that.

browneyed_girl

So I'm resetting my survey money progress as we're at the start of a new month.  So far in September, I've cashed out £83.57 and have another £77 pending.  Considering I had hoped to make £150 a month and I've now made more than this in four days, I'm walking around the house with the biggest grin on my face!  Particularly since my Barclaycard balance is now less than £1000!!

I have found it helpful that the kids were back to school today, which gave me more time during the day to sit uninterrupted and get surveys done.  It also meant that I could be more productive around the house - I cleaned the kitchen; put on a nappy wash and hung this out; took inventory of what I have in the cupboards and freezer; used this to make a meal plan for next week and complete an online shop; popped to the shops to get a few top up items (spending £13 in L!dl) and somehow still managed to breastfeed every hour!  I'm aware this may sound excessive, but DD4 is seriously greedy and has gone from just over the 50th centile at birth (though she was a week early) to now being at the 91st at 8 weeks old!!  I'm starting to think that all those biscuit calories are going straight into the breastmilk... 

It's DD1's birthday tomorrow, so I took out £60 today to put in a card which she knows she's getting to take shopping on Saturday.  She's also asked to take £20 out of her pocket money savings, but doesn't want to spend more than this.  Considering she has over £200 saved up, I'm quite proud that she's being so conservative with her money   I have wondered if I'm being really stingy with how much we give the kids for their birthdays and Christmas after talking to my sister.  She is a single parent on UC and is usually pretty frugal, but talked to me the other day about spending well over £100 on each of her twins for their birthday recently.  Considering that our mum is having to help her out by buying their school uniform for secondary school, it seems excessive to me but maybe this is just what is expected these days..?  We definitely didn't get this amount spent on us when we were younger - our parents couldn't have afforded it for all six children!  And the £60 we're giving isn't because of the reduced budget on maternity leave - this is the standard spend for us, maybe even a bit higher than usual!  I really want my children to understand the value of money, and though I'm willing to invest in them learning new skills and spending what feels like a small fortune on music lessons etc, I don't want them to just be given whatever they want without earning it.  I am, however, willing to be proven wrong (possibly for the first time ever!) if enough people tell me I'm being too mean and Scrooge-like on this point!

   

browneyed_girl

September doesn't seem to be going as well as I'd hoped, at least from an extra earnings standpoint.  Have still been doing surveys whenever I can but have only earned £219.62 so far this month, with another £57 pending on Prolific (had been aiming for £20 a day, so am a bit behind the £300 I should be at right now).  The £219.62 has been added to the Barclaycard, along with £300 from DH's pay which brings the current balance down to £528.48.  I have 3 weeks before the 0% rate ends so am trying everything I can to clear this before then.  Have got a number of things listed on Vinted, am continuing with the surveys and some mobile games through Swagbucks and should come in about £200 under budget on groceries and fuel this month, which will then also go towards the balance.

Kids being back at school has given me a bit of peace during the day to have quality time with DD4, but it's at the cost of busier evenings (supervising homework is a thankless job) and hectic weekends meant to make the most out of family time (whilst also fitting in DD1's DofE commitments, the kids' social lives and the mountain of endless laundry in the form of uniforms and sports kits).  Truthfully, I think I'd be bored without it all!

Annoyingly, have to deal with our front door fitters returning tomorrow as we've noticed that the door sill (not sure if that's the right term for the bit I'm thinking of) keeps filling with water and then leaking into the house.  It's by no means extreme, but for the money we paid I would have expected it to at least be watertight!!  With the constant downpours we seem to have been having over the past few weeks, it's starting to get a bit annoying and DH is most definitely on the warpath about it.  I think he's doubly annoyed because the weather has halted any progress with the back garden, which is still looking half (if not a third) finished.  I think we've accepted that we're going to need to pay someone who actually knows what they're doing for at least part of what's left, so I'm trying to find some margin in the budget to make that happen.  Unfortunately, I don't really know what my pay is going to look like over the next four months as it's reduced to half pay plus SMP.  I have a vague idea, but obviously the NI, tax, pension and student loan deductions are going to be different and that's where I've been obsessing over calculations!  I think I need to chill out a bit and take it as it comes.  On the plus side, being at home full-time for now has meant I am so on it with the food store inventory and can do a lot more cooking from scratch, hence coming in under budget with groceries.  I'm also making a point of saving my Clubcard vouchers for Christmas this year, so hopefully that will account for any extra spending during the holidays and I can continue to find margin in the budget that way until I'm back to work in January. 

Anyway, DD4 might have finally settled for the night so I'm off to try for some sleep as well.  She's managed 7-8 hours the past few nights so fingers crossed!!