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FTM on a mission
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Congratulations on your baby girl news!! It feels so much more real when you can visualise what you're having
I've just went back to work after being off on maternity leave - don't forget to factor in your annual leave accrual too. You can use any annual leave you accrue while you're on mat leave to have a few weeks at the end of your leave that's fully paid. If you're looking into cloth nappies, I'd really recommend joining a FB group because you'll get loads of tips/bargains on their selling pages.
debt totals:
CC1 (Lloyds): £2,037 was £1,160
CC2 (NatWest): £6,064 was £6,682
CC3 (Virgin): £4,093 was £4,495
CC4 (John Lewis): £0! was £681
PayPal: £680 was 1,096
Next: £100 was £60
Total: £12,928
savings totals:
House fund: £7,096
Emergency fund: £154
Christmas fund: £200
Holiday fund: £600
Birthday fund: £200
Pension (personal only): £22510
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congratulations on your baby girl news, so very exciting, start thinking of those girls names!! x1
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Congratulations on your news. Looks like your light bulb is well and truly on, keep up the good work, mumtoomany.Frugal Living Challenge 2025.
Grocery challenge, £1300 food plus £200 cleaning materials etc, for the year.1 -
Thank you all for commenting. :-)
It does feel surreal but also makes me feel closer to her knowing that she is a girl. Can't quite get used to saying, i have a daughter.
I'm not on FB, i know thats a bit strange but haven't been on there in over 14 years. I can't stand it. I have a few friends and family members that are so i will ask them to have a browse for me.
Had a busy day at work yesterday, typical when you are in a debt busting mood! Finished up and had my first focus group of which i earned 40! I'm defo signing up for more of these as it was money for me just giving my opinion, the easiest 40 i ever made in 30 mins. Popped to Aldi after work to get some flowers, a colleague and his gf invited me over following the baby girl news to have tea and cake, it was delicious, i ended up spending 25 as i saw some door mats i need (the old ones have frayed) and a pizza for friday night. Cheaper than a takeaway or a delivery from Amazon so happy with that.
Tonight im off to have dinner with my family, at their house so should be a NSD.
If its not too busy i may be able to do some more surveys. PA has been a bit quiet lately but i have joined a few others that are building up quickly. I also did another Yougov survey so am 75 points away from my 50! Feeling very motivated atm. I think its reading everyones diaries that are keeping me going. I have 13 days until payday and all being well i should have money left over to put towards the Mat fund - i will start a counter in my sig once my figures change at the end of the month.
Have a good hump day all!
Total debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.730 -
Happy Friday all, another debt busting week gone already.
Yesterday was a NSD, busy day at work and then spent the evening doing surveys. Managed to get a 10 on PA, just waiting on it cashing out. Not heard anything from my focus group on the 40 but have put a reminder in my calendar to chase by the end of next week. Working on getting some vouchers for Amazon from one survey site so i can hopefully make xmas 'free' I don't have a huge family and do secret santa with my moms family for 30/40 so should be easy. Any left over money from TCB/surveys will then go towards mat leave.
I was chatting with my friend last night and realised that i will be remortgaging next year when im on mat leave, is it worth doing it early? I have been reading up and some say that lenders only require a letter from your employer stating your salary and when you are returning but im worried i won't be able to get such a good rate. Has anyone had any experience with this? Is it worth paying the fee now to secure a rate? They are pretty good but ideally i wanted to get my debt totals down first. So many decisions to make atm.
Exciting day today, the babys snuzpod is arriving, a nice little gift from my family.
Have a good weekend all.Total debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.730 -
Morning Diary, I have neglected you as i have had a busy few days. The weekend i went shopping for some maternity jeans as i had to go into the office on Tuesday and had nothing to wear besides PJs! Thats my lockdown wardrobe. :-) Didn't want to spend a fortune so luckily managed to grab some from Next that should see me through until the end of the pregnancy and beyond. It was even more NSD when i went out for food, it was very much needed and i brought left overs home for sunday lunch so im taking that as a double win. Sunday i had to buy cat little, i usually bulk buy from Costco but they have been all out recently.
I spent again on Tuesday as even though i got a lift to and from work, i purchased a bacon sandwich and tea. It was my treat for having to get up so early, sit in traffic and work through my lunch at 5 months pregnant. At the end i could of eaten my laptop. I planned ahead and prepared a cuban beef stew in the slow cooker before i went so i had dinner when i got back and with some portions leftover for another two days.
Surveys have been no existent since last week friday so today im back on it. I cashed out my 50 from Yougov over the weekend and when this comes through i will transfer to the MAT leave total. 40 due from the market research i completed, that should come through anyday now the study has finished also. To counteract that my G&E has increased by 51 a month! Can we call them to ask for this to be reduced, i won't be putting the heating on until its icy outside.
I also have paid by water bill for 6 months which was 209! :-(
Payday next monday and i can't wait to update my totals then!Total debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.730 -
' that lenders only require a letter from your employer stating your salary and when you are returning' if you switch products but stay with your existing lender then i don't think they ask for any information - if you switch lenders they might want payslips etc.
BTW H&M maternity clothes are fab and pretty cheap, even cheaper on ebay.2 -
Thank you @Deleted_User i will keep that in mind.
Work is hectic at the moment so finding it difficult to keep on top of life admin. Weekend was good, saw some friends and caught up. Book club was on sunday and it was supposed to be a meal out but one of the ladies children had suspected chicken pox. With me being pregnant and never had chicken pox we gave it a miss and zoomed instead. Already purchased my new book so no more spends for that.
Pay day was yesterday and i updated my signature. Nice to see the debt coming down, although it is abit slow for my liking. I am torn between using the survey money to pay down some debt to reduce my monthly outgoings.
Surveys have taken a backseat due to work but i now have 101 in my PA account. I plan to cash out and add that to my mat fund. Its looking rather low at the moment but better than nothing.
Hopefully work will be quieter today and PA should have some more surveys, i had a 13p one this morning! In other news i was able to cash out my 40 for the study i took part in two weeks ago, have another this afternoon which is a 20 amazon voucher, that will go towards xmas and im currently working on a study for 20 amazon voucher at the end of 28 days.
Have a good day all.Total debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.730 -
Morning, have been absent but not absent from money saving and debt busting. Work hard been ridiculously busy and I’m sure the nesting has kicked in as I spent the weekend cleaning out some of my kitchen cupboards!
i have been working on the surveys - cashed in a £10 Amazon voucher for Christmas.-cashed out £15 to put towards my lowest balance credit card and combined this with another £17 cash out from you gov direct.-still waiting for my £40 from a research project I took part in
-£20 amazon voucher for another research project
-listed 20 items on eBay to sell and sold one item worth £5 plus postage.-cashed out £105 from PA to add to the mat leave fundNSD today! First one of the month.Survey busting today whilst work is quiet and aiming for another £10 voucher for amazon/Christmas.Have a good day allTotal debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.730 -
Morning, another busy week at work...not sure i can be bothered now im 6 months pregnant but i dont have the type of job that i can just relax in...roll on Feb.
Moneysaving wise i think i have been doing quite well.
- another £10 Amazon voucher in the bank
- Paid additional £80 to Tesco CC (from surveys) bringing the balance below £3k.
- Sold 5 items on Ebay but don't fully understand the new way to get the money from them? It says i have to enter amounts put into my bank but i haven't had them yet.
- Waiting on another amazon voucher from an ice cream survey i took part in
- £7+ on my PA and waiting for another £3ish to clear.
Still feel motivated and on the weekend plan to empty the cupboard under the stairs to see what else i can sell on Ebay. I think this is a combination of nesting and money saving!Total debt when starting Sept 2021 - £14,629.61 / Current debt - £13,398.731
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