Managing Mat Leave

HampshireH

FacelessNumber said:

Thanks for dropping in both! Baby has arrived so I've not been tracking spending for the last couple of days, just negotiating the newborn madness! 

Congratulations 😀

Lonelygambler

Congratulations! 

Welcome to the mad house of two babies! 

CRANKY40

Congratulations to you and your family 😊

FacelessNumber

Thought I'd better pop on for an update. I managed to do a quick money catch up yesterday, even though the last week has been a bit of a blur! 

I won't post all of the spending for the last 10 days but it's looking good to save a decent amount again at the end of the week so will update all of my figures then.

I've also been thinking about setting up a separate savings goal as I'd quite like to do a biggish holiday next year before my eldest starts school, but as the next 18 months is mat leave and then paying for 2 nursery places for a short period of time I need to work out the best way to fund it!

FacelessNumber

Quite a bit of spending today:
£100 on a pushchair - putting the other one we have up to sell so hopefully will only be £20-30 net spend
£3.60 - nappies
£18.49 - plants

I've been thinking about my plans for possible holiday savings. I think I'll set up a separate account and put any money from anything I sell in there - I have lots of maternity clothes and will have baby items to sell too.

Once we hit the 6k in savings I think we need for mat leave (still need to work this out a bit more accurately) I might then put anything we manage to save on top of that into holiday savings. I'll add this goal into my figures as we go along. My initial aim will be £2000 but I don't expect to necessarily hit this whilst I'm on leave.

FacelessNumber

Things are ticking along ok here, managed to keep under grocery budget for March, not sure on final figures yet, waiting until after the bank holidays to make sure everything has gone through.

Sold our first item to start our savings pot so at £7/£2000!

I'm hoping to get on in the next couple of days to review the numbers for the end of the month but looking like a decent chunk should hit savings again. Council tax and water payments kicking back in next month so won't be able to continue such high amounts into savings.

FacelessNumber

Meal plan and shopping list done for this week, should be a fairly cheap week as we've been given lots of food by visitors since having a baby!

Managed to get a £15 off a £60 shop voucher last week which helped us sneak in under budget. Quite a bit of spending the last couple of weeks, mostly on cake and we've managed a couple of lunches out which have been nice.

Need to set my April budget today, trying to work out how much to budget for socialising, coffees and cakes with friends etc. I'm thinking £15 a week then anything left over maybe into the holiday savings pot (as long as our maternity savings pot is full).

Car had its MOT and service last week too, I budgeted for it in March but we haven't had the invoice yet. Also potentially need a little more work on the car this month, not sure how much that will be but I'm still on full pay so at least it's being done now!

Plans for today:
*Food shopping
*Clear 3 months of photos on phone
*April budget (maybe - not sure if I'll get any time to get on the PC)
*Quick hoover and wipe round downstairs
*Try and get a few more rows of crochet done - have managed 2 rows this morning

Otherwise we're having a chilled out day today. Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.

FootyFanDan

Just managed to catch up with your diary, congratulations on the arrival

I love the way you have listed out your spends, this seems like a good idea, as it keeps you so aware of what is getting spent and where to look at for savings if required.

FacelessNumber

Thanks! I haven't posted it the last couple of weeks but I'm still keeping track of all of the spends. Now we're getting into the swing of having 2 kids I'll try and keep posting it!

So far I've managed the first 2 things on my to do list, didn't get any cleaning done downstairs but the hoover got whipped round upstairs and I cleaned the baby bath and the bathroom window so we'll call that a win. Any housework that gets done is a bonus at the moment!

Once the kids are down I'm going to have a glass of wine and try and get a couple more rows of crochet done.

FacelessNumber

First day at home by myself with the baby today. oH back at work and son at nursery. I've got a friend coming here for coffee which will save £3-4 on a coffee (and probably another £3 on cake!).

Recent money saving things:
*Used vouchers to cover most of an expensive order - ended up paying £24 out of £174
*Free coffee claimed for OH through Octopus
*Free national Trust Day claimed through Octopus - hoping to do a family day out soon
*Food shopping done to meal plan and using food we've been given - £58
*Been using topcashback, got a few quid building up in there

Things that I need to do today:
*End of month money catch up and money shuffle
*Work out April budgets
*More accurately work out amount needed to cover parental leave between us (working with approx 6k figure so far but realistically probably closer to 7k)
*Sort 3 more months of photos
*Couple of rows of crochet
*Get out for a walk

Trying to be realistic about what I can get done, and of course this all relies on the baby having a decent sleep that isn't on me!

I'll try and check in later when I've looked at my March spending and April budget!