Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

Bluegreen143

Back to work today! And it was the last day of the holidays for the kids. 

I worked from home due to lack of childcare. They’re pretty good at amusing themselves with I WFH anyway, but today they surpassed themselves. My dad gave them a massive bag of toys yesterday - honestly it’s far too much, and mainly tat, but because it was all new it occupied their attention very nicely all day, so I can’t complain! 

I’ve been told I need to work in the office on Thursday which is a little inconvenient because of the car being in for an MOT, so we’ve decided to borrow my sister’s husband’s car. It will end up costing quite a bit for the insurance for me to drive it but getting a taxi to and from work would be almost as much (public transport isn’t an option as doesn’t work to get me there around school run times - it takes 1.5 hour on public transport versus 20 mins to drive!). This way we’ve got BIL’s car over the weekend too if we don’t get the car back right away. Red thinks there are a couple of faults and we may be best insuring BIL’s car for at least a couple of weeks. 

Anyway, the upshot was that we went to pick up the car today during rush hour - NOT a sensible idea. It took an hour and 45 minutes for the round trip which is usually done in 45! Knackered now. But at least it’s done. Thankfully I had prepared dinner (enchiladas) so it’s in the oven now. 

Bluegreen143

Finally sitting down after the busiest day ever! But we are all prepped for school tomorrow. Uniforms laid out, I’ve cut Monkey’s hair (I am the family hairdresser 😅) and both kids are bathed and washed. 

There will be a few expenses coming up… Red has promised to take his mum to the seaside on Friday afternoon - I think I’ve said she’s about to get surgery for breast cancer, so he’s (obviously) feeling particularly keen to accommodate her right now and she asked to arrange this outing before her surgery. 

It won’t be hugely expensive but we’ll need to pay for a chippy dinner and taxis to get her here for us finishing work. It’ll add too much time to the trip for us to pick her up as she doesn’t live on the way and the seaside is already an hour away. 

There is a slight chance Red will get caught at work too late to go so he’s warned her if that happens we may need to pivot to having a takeaway together here. 

On the other hand, I’ve confirmed with my mum & sister that we aren’t doing birthday presents at all and are just putting all the money saved towards our weekend away in September. 

On Sunday (my birthday) I think we’re going to go up to Loch Lomond with the kayak and maybe some friends - this shouldn’t cost (except petrol and parking) as we’ll take a picnic lunch. 

Red has warned me that he doesn’t think the car maintenance pot (currently about £250) will be sufficient as he’s sure it needs a couple of repairs on top of getting the MOT done. If that’s the case I may need to put it on the CC but will set to “pay in 3” so it’s at least interest free. Hoping we might scrape by without using it if I raid the other savings pots though. So looking forward to getting past this tight spot so we can actually build our savings each month! Of course we do have around £4,500 in our Help to Save accounts but the bonus penalty is too steep for us to raid these before they mature in December. It does make much more sense to use a 0% CC than lose hundreds of pounds in H2S bonus. 

beanielou

Keep meaning to ask you which CC you have that you can pay interest free over 3 months. 

Thanks. 

Bluegreen143

It’s the Monzo Flex CC. The interest rate is appallingly high but it’s interest free if you pay in either one or three months (so I wouldn’t use it if I couldn’t pay in 3 - the limit is only £2k which helps with that). Basically with each purchase you tap on it in the app and assign a payment schedule to it (1, 3, 12 or 24 months) - you can overpay if you choose one of the longer plans though. 

beanielou

Bluegreen143 said:

It’s the Monzo Flex CC. The interest rate is appallingly high but it’s interest free if you pay in either one or three months (so I wouldn’t use it if I couldn’t pay in 3 - the limit is only £2k which helps with that). Basically with each purchase you tap on it in the app and assign a payment schedule to it (1, 3, 12 or 24 months) - you can overpay if you choose one of the longer plans though. 

Thanks 

missymoo81

Morning,

I hope all goes ok today with both children going to school and I hope you’re holding up ok. I know I’m going to be a bit wobbly when mine go back sorry about the car troubles but great you have a solution. Love the way you think outside the box.

Have a good day. 

beanielou

Happy back to school day. 

Bluegreen143

Thanks all. 

Children dropped off - Bambi didn’t start til 10 so we dropped Monkey before 9 then I sat on a bench in the playpark and worked on my laptop intermittently while she played - there were a few other P1 starts there too which was good.

I could tell she was super nervous when the teacher came to take them in but I’m sure she will be fine. Just such a different experience as Monkey was raring to go and not nervous in the slightest. 

It’s just a normal length day today (except for the slightly late start) but I’ll pick up from school rather than them getting the school bus today. 

Spent £6.20 to park at the school for 90 minutes - so expensive! Really need to check out the underground car park my friend said was much cheaper, it’s on a nearby street so would work well. I’m sure she said it’s only £5 for the full day there. 

Need to do my Tesco order today/tonight as it’s coming tomorrow. 

Bluegreen143

Getting paid today - £2,272.20. 

£500 will stay in my account so that’s £1,772.20 in the joint account. 

Looking at YNAB there are the following fixed & regular expenses which need to come from here:

Credit card - £740.70
Council tax - £170
Groceries - £245
Petrol & parking - £85
Help to Save DD - £100
Total: £1,340.70

Amount remaining to budget for pots/wants: £431.50.

Will have a ponder about how best to assign this. Upcoming known expenses:

- this Friday beach visit, rest of the weekend should be free/cheap

- next weekend Aberdeen trip for kids & I (3hr drive) staying with my grandfather one night and friends the other - petrol and maybe a little spending money - also need a 1st birthday gift for my friend’s child

- following weekend, putting on pizza and some drinks for friends for my birthday (say £150 for some beer & fizz, crisps/fruit/sweets, pizza ingredients, etc)

- car MOT & repairs massive unknown?!

- further down the line… the road tax (Sept) and car insurance (Jan) pots are nearly empty so I think I need to put at least something in these so I don’t get a nasty shock when the time comes… I will also need some cold weather clothes for the kids in late Sept or Oct. Have to pay for the brown bin permit in Sept too.  Kids’ birthday & Christmas pots also need attention…

zcrat41

Glad back to school has gone well. That’s extortionate parking for a school drop off!