Learning to walk before I run

edinburgher

@LadyWithAPlan - full confession - I am not the best sailor I quite like Greenwich market and have been on the boat a couple of times. The last time we went (many years ago now), I think I mistook the gentle rocking for Titanic and Mrs E (who wasn't even Mrs E at that point) was mortified

Children are expensive. Mrs E went to our local shopping centre for a few bits for DD and spent £60. I'll point out that she has now spent half the budget six days into the month, but suspect I'll be on a hiding to nothing

Work was grim today, another reason to get our financial house in order!

edinburgher

Approval for additional borrowing now appears to be a certainty and the architect came out for a second visit today  All in all we've now spent nearly 7 hours talking to them, I did not realise how chat intensive a process it would be! I think they have a really good handle on our brief and have come up with some very good ideas that can be simplified if necessary based on cost. It would really drag our 70s house kicking and screaming into the modern age and would potentially gain us an unplanned extra room by fitting in a small office space somewhere we hadn't even considered.

A lovely note to end the week on, we're on holiday during the October break and didn't want the stress hanging over us. We still don't know if the plans are feasible for our budget, but that is what quotes (and negotiating changes) are for.

Karmacat

That sounds very good - exactly what you see on property programmes when an architect comes up with something that takes people's plans to the next level  

Cornish_mum

Hi Ed, Great news that the bank have given you a thumbs up for the extra borrowing, your architect sounds brilliant. Hope MrsE is keeping well, CM

greent

Coming in late to the party- huge congrats on the baby news! 👼👣💜💙💚 Off to read comments - although at first glance I will say that you spend more a month than we do..😲

edinburgher

greent said:

Coming in late to the party- huge congrats on the baby news! 👼👣💜💙💚 Off to read comments - although at first glance I will say that you spend more a month than we do..😲

Well you Don't have a mortgage greent 😉

greent

edinburgher said:

greent said:

Coming in late to the party- huge congrats on the baby news! 👼👣💜💙💚 Off to read comments - although at first glance I will say that you spend more a month than we do..😲

Well you Don't have a mortgage greent 😉

No, that's true 😚.... but we do support eldest son at uni to the tune of £500/mth minimum and have gas and elec dd of 187/ mth, run 2 cars, 5 mobile phone bills (DD pays her own) etc. 

pavlovs_dog

congrats on your news Ed.

Knowing how you have previously struggled when you have had to borrow from or stop funding J's savings, I think you need to think seriously about what child related expenses you will ringfence going forward when your new bundle of joy arrives and you are having to do whatever it is you wish to do x2.

I think there is still fat to trim on your revised budget.  Does your grocery budget include meals out and takeaways?  £500 is high.  Are you still doing keto by the way?  I recall you were making good progress with it.

I fully understand your stance that pocket money is for personal spends that you don't have to justify to each other as we have the same policy.  However £6k a year on fripperies between the two of you is an extravagance.  It's no issue if your budget supports it, but I'm not sure yours does in addition to all the other long term aspirations you have.   I also question how much of it is 'keeping up' with those high earning friends you mentioned.  

edinburgher

@pavlovs_dog - thank you

I am getting better about thinking about the family finances as a whole system and appreciating that we may end up in a similar situation to @greent and many other parents of providing some degree of parental support when our children go to university (or however else they establish themself in adult life). I think there are plenty of ways to reduce spends relating to children. For example, we've never bought a secondhand item for DD.

I agree with you 100% that there is plenty of fat to trim from both the grocery budget and my frame Unfortunately the £500/mth does not include meals out, which are funded from our personal spends. I'm currently eating a high protein diet (affordable sources such as eggs, turkey and protein shakes), but not Keto, which was effective but made me feel blech after a while. I'd consider it again for a short term boost.

In terms of pocket money, I think we're getting better at managing this. We reduced it by £50/mth each (£100) this month and I plan to do so by either the same again next month, or perhaps slightly more. I don't really think "keeping up" is much of a problem and we're getting more mature by the day in terms of this sort of thing. For example, we turned down a group summer holiday as this would have cost £3,500 and we didn't value the time together as much as the money and Mrs E has been made aware (and accepted) that we can no longer afford to include birthday and presents for her core group of 3-4 friends in our Presents budget. We are still gifting presents to their children, but have reduced the budgeted amounts for these by 40% to £15 or so. As these children have been friends with DD since birth and she sees them more than any of her cousins, this seems reasonable.

London was lovely, but we have all picked up a dose of the cold that is currently doing the rounds and are hopefully coming out of the other side of this (runny noses and lethargy improving, still coughing a little). It was just as expensive as I remember and we overspent by about £250. It was great fun and we managed to fit in the aquarium, the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Harry Potter studio tour  I have taken this from other budget lines so that our total spend for the month will remain within the agreed parameters. In addition to this, the Holiday budget line is now gone, no further spends on this until we remortgage in 2023 (promise). We may also get about £120 back in associated cashback, but not counting on this.

In other finance news, I have taken out new home and contents insurance. This was actually about £10 more expensive than last year, but it covers us for an extra £5-6,000 and also insures a beautiful necklace that Mrs E owns, our only individual item bar my laptop or kitchen units etc. that would cost more than £1,000 to replace). As with the travel costs, there may be £40 cashback to come, but not banking on this until it is received. I also received £20 for referring a work colleague to our pet insurance, which can go towards the cost of Christmas. 

Other than that? Just pottering around tidying and not looking forward to going back to work on Monday. Still, at least I'm no longer in London, aka the spendiest city on earth

Karmacat

Both London and the pocket money decline sound great, Ed, plus cashback and sensible insuring.  As for high protein, what about cheese, and/or peanut butter?  

Good luck with getting rid of that cold