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

Sarahwithlove

£3 a week over a year is £156. Seems more worth it when saying like that. Can always choose to save it in an account for your little one when they are older. 

kiss_me_now9

Sarahwithlove said:

£3 a week over a year is £156. Seems more worth it when saying like that. Can always choose to save it in an account for your little one when they are older. 

That is a very good way of looking at it and something I hadn't thought about too Will re-discuss this with OH (and then probably just sort it out myself when baby is here.. )

Had my growth scan today, all looks good and baby isn't actually that big, about 65th percentile so I'm no longer worrying about birthing the Hulks cousin. 

Did spend £26 in Sainsburies on the way home getting treats for tomorrow as it's my last day of work but it'll be nice to have some goodies around the place. 

CL21

When I was pregnant, MIL used to delight in telling me how big husband had been when he was born (well over 9lb) and ‘had the biggest head the nurses had ever seen’ - super comforting news prior to giving birth to first child as you can imagine 🤣 In the end she was 7lb 9oz with a totally normal sized head! 

kiss_me_now9

CL21 said:

When I was pregnant, MIL used to delight in telling me how big husband had been when he was born (well over 9lb) and ‘had the biggest head the nurses had ever seen’ - super comforting news prior to giving birth to first child as you can imagine 🤣 In the end she was 7lb 9oz with a totally normal sized head! 

Yes, I’m not a fan of these games people play of bragging about how much worse they had it in pregnancy! There’s always one isn’t there! 

Day two of maternity leave now and I have to admit I am finding the shift a bit overwhelming. I popped to Tesco last night to get some essentials so haven’t left the house today - firstly because it’s miserable and cold outside and secondly because the only place I think I’d walk to is the local shops - but I have made a nice batch of pretzels. Laundry has been done but I can’t do the last load because there’s nowhere to dry it. Kitchen has been tidied to an inch of its life and bedroom is straightened, living room needs a hoover but I can’t push it without hurting myself so I just have to wait for that to happen. My job is (was?!) really hectic and go go go all the time so it’s a big shift in pace to think I should concentrate on relaxing and doing some bits around the house. 

I am now a mere 300 SB away from my £15 Amazon voucher which is exciting and positive for the day. 

I have a lot of clothes listed on Vinted, none of which have had any sniff of interest since they were listed really. Most are listed at £1 - £2.50 and it doesn’t seem worth it to reduce the price any further so if they haven’t sold by the end of the month they’ll go to charity. 

We have our first NCT class tomorrow and then are going to watch the rugby with an enchilada meal kit; normally I’d offer to get a takeaway but need to think of the goal of NSDs this month (I’m aiming for 14/28). Going to make a lasagne for tea and then we can store some of the leftovers as an easy meal for when baby arrives. 

kiss_me_now9

£15 SB voucher acquired! I really want a 2l water bottle for once I’ve had the baby so will use that. 

Picked up our changing table from a friends mum on Sunday and to kit it out, some boxes from Amazon - total spend £25 for the whole thing. We have now also picked up our car seat and pram so just need the baby now really! Though it can stay in and cook for a little bit longer please Like I said, we’ve been incredibly lucky with people giving us bits so have probably spent about £1600 all in so far on furniture/‘essential kit’ which includes the pram, car seat and base, changing table, rocking chair and stool, Moses basket, bedside cot and a million 0 - 6 month old clothes of various designs. It blows my mind how expensive it could be if you wanted it too (and equally how cheap you can do it if you get lucky/are savvy with where you get stuff from - most of the stuff we paid for we could have got cheaper and most of the stuff we got from friends/family could have been found free or cheap as well really).

NCT was good, nice bunch of people but such a variety of different ‘types’. Some very wealthy people and some more like us. But all nice the same. 

I slept terribly last night but am feeling a bit better this morning so off to see a friend for a walk and a cuddle with her little ones Hoping it’ll be another NSD here, trying to keep hold of as much money as I can in February to whittle away into my savings for when my maternity pay really kicks in which is going to be a massive shock to the system

enthusiasticsaver

Exciting that your due date getting closer and now you are on maternity leave it should go fast. My DD moans she never got to enjoy hers as she left work at 35 weeks and ended up having a preterm Labour for her first at 36 weeks and of course had a toddler at home when she had her 2nd. 

Even if you earn too much for child benefit take it for the NI contributions. Save it in a separate account in case you have to give any back. I think if either of you earns more than £60k this is when some needs to be repaid but I haven’t looked fully into it recently. 

kiss_me_now9

It wasn't a great week last week with two hospital visits and an overnight stay due to a UTI but I am feeling better now. Yes @enthusiasticsaver it is going very bloody fast! 37 week appointment at the end of this week On the one hand I am now very excited to meet my baby but on the other I am trying really hard not to hyper-focus on how a big a change this will be for both me and my husband. 

Money wise I am quite pleased, pay day isn't until the 28th for me but I can see that I have more than enough to last and I'll have a little to put into my savings as well. I think being totally cream crackered all the time and not being able to walk more than half a mile really might be the key to financial success for me - I'm not a big online shopper! 

I have however had a major breakthrough today with my Cricut which is now cutting near perfectly and now I feel very confident that I could actually sell my stickers so I'm planning to spend some time on that this week as I feel up to it. I figure I probably need about 5 - 8 sets ready to go. At the moment I have four large flower stickers and a variety sheet of smaller flower ones that I would be happy with. 

MissRikkiC

Subscribed and following your journey along. With Covid I still feel like I’m in 2020 having my first baby despite the fact she’s 2.5 and my son is now 9 months. 

I’ll be cheering you along and hopefully can offer you some ideas. 

MissRikkiC

I wanted to chip in as well with child benefit thing too. Your earnings in the first year of baby’s life won’t be the same as normal since you’ll be on maternity pay so even if you register and then change your earnings afterwards then maybe you could still get that. Unless it’s your husbands income soley pushing you over the threshold 

kiss_me_now9

MissRikkiC said:

I wanted to chip in as well with child benefit thing too. Your earnings in the first year of baby’s life won’t be the same as normal since you’ll be on maternity pay so even if you register and then change your earnings afterwards then maybe you could still get that. Unless it’s your husbands income soley pushing you over the threshold 

He is *just* (literally - by about £250) over the threshold unfortunately. Well, not unfortunately, we're very lucky to be in that financial position where we don't qualify for it but it does mean there won't be anything to supplement my mat leave pay. 

Lovely to have you here @MissRikkiC! It must have been so hard having a baby in the pandemic. My niece was born in October before lockdown and I know my sister feels like she missed out on a lot.