KMNs diary - curbing spending and maximising saving with a new baby

kiss_me_now9

Back to work this week. I've been keeping an eye out for a different opportunity but it seems like everything outside the NHS/my profession is either minimum wage or looking for at least 5 years experience in a different sector. With very few opportunities for my profession in private practice it feels impossible to think that I might find something else. There are a couple of local companies that I know would consider my skills transferable but it's a matter of waiting for them to have something suitable and beating out the competition of course. 

I will be listening very closely to the local hospital grape vine though as as far as I'm aware neither my old post nor the job I interviewed for a little while ago have been filled and that to me suggests that it would be sensible to go with a candidate with lesser experience (like I have for the second). 

I am quite pleased that I have, barring any major spending incidents, made it to my final maternity pay cheque without too much damage to my savings and not in the red yet. I consider that quite an achievement but one that I know I've managed because I am lucky to have a financially stable start. 

beanielou

That's a good achievment. 

kiss_me_now9

Sounds like a good time for an update! 

Financially, it has been hard since I last updated. I thought going back to work might make my life easier in terms of spending but unfortunately not! I am consistently using my credit card far more than I should, and then finding half my (smaller than before) pay is going into clearing it every month. I've started paying a bit to my OH now again for bills etc. like I did before (though less than before).

We've been paying nearly £925 a month for childcare since March though hopefully this should drop a little now we get some free funded hours - I think about £600 hopefully. Though not a huge amount less, we get 25% of that from the government, so our out of pocket payment each month should be about £475 vs £750. 

I'm still working in a job I don't really enjoy and find really difficult for many reasons. I currently don't have any further news on where I'll be going when my post ends in December/January. I'm now working at a different site, so I'm commuting over an hour in rush hour traffic every work day. I was considering a job at a local university before I went back to my current role but didn't apply for it in the end as, although it was 50% WFH, when I would have to go in it was a 45 minute drive away down the motorway. So that is frustrating. 

Overall just feeling a bit fed up and stuck with where I am right now. 

Blackcats

Nice to see you again although it sounds a bit meh at work.  Good that free childcare hours will make a difference to your monthly outgoings.

kiss_me_now9

It is tough going at the moment. It's not helping my mood at all either and I find myself feeling quite low a lot of the time. 

Had a bit of time this morning to check out the bank accounts and balances today. It's a !!!!!! show, to put it politely, this month. 

So far since I got paid £1600 last Friday I have spent:
£500 to clear my credit card (few big birthdays and events last month that went on it, also filled my car up on it)
£50 for my twice yearly registration fee for work
£400 to OH for bills and childcare fees
£200 to car insurance this morning
£80 food shop with very little to show for it... 
£200 into my savings/emergency fund
£30 on shoes for LO (two pairs of wellies that he didn't have yet as he's only started wearing shoes since May and we've not thought to buy him any)
£20 in town on odd little bits because I thought I had enough in my bank to cover a few nice bits for myself (a hot chocolate from cafe nero, a lunch sandwich from a sandwich shop, parking twice in town, that kind of thing). 
£25 on a meal for a colleagues leaving do.

Leaving me with exactly £95 for the rest of the month. On the 3rd of September. !!!!!! hell. 

Sarahwithlove

That does sound like a difficult month. You may have to take some of the EF funds back. It seems you need to stay away from the credit card! 

kiss_me_now9

Sarahwithlove said:

That does sound like a difficult month. You may have to take some of the EF funds back. It seems you need to stay away from the credit card! 

Yes, you are quite right! I have been making a very conscious effort this month to not touch the credit card - I would normally put grocery shopping, diesel, and any other 'big' purchases on it but I have currently only £15.99 on there for the month and I'm hoping to keep it that way. Instead of moving anything to my emergency fund or savings this month, I've left it all in my current account (bar a little extra in the current account linked savings account) and am trying to get to the end of the month with at least £100 left in there on payday. 

I find my mind works in quite a weird and wonderful way, so I need to approach problems in perhaps somewhat unusual manners. This approach appears to be working for now I think it's because I have convinced my brain that there is no other money to access this month, so I need to be careful with what I have. 

I am trying to make some other smaller, achievable goals too, like not buying breakfast at work every day (I have recently got into a very bad habit of not making my lunch or taking anything for breakfast as it's 50% off in the staff canteen - but 50% of £3 is still £1.50 3 x a week, which is £4.50 a week, and £25 potentially a month I could be saving!) and only having one takeaway a month. I'm going to look into reducing my ultra-processed food intake as well, which hopefully should bring the grocery budget down. I'm just not very inventive or inspired by eating outside of what I normally do. 

peb

For the breakfast (which does seem inexpensive) have you worked out how much you would spend on a home breakfast?  If there's not much difference maybe consider this a saving on time/stress to you.   

Another poster was spending £8/9 on one breakfast - that's of concern but you are getting two weeks food for that.

beanielou

I think that breakfast is a bargain! 

Sarahwithlove

I agree breakfast seems cheap maybe have it one day a week as a good compromise? I usually take the porridge or granola pots when I'm in the office