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

Bluegreen143

Lots of cleaning happening here today getting ready for Bambi’s party tomorrow - this is the major downside of a house party! 

Red has also been busy with what I think is his most elaborate treasure hunt to date 😅 so hopefully the kids appreciate it.

We did take the kids out to the same climbing place as last week as Bambi was super keen to go again, and got them an ice cream each. So it at least feels that we’ve done something nice to celebrate! 

In other exciting news, I’ve booked the Scottish holiday accommodation we always go to for a week at the end of July/start of August. I had a look at it was starting to be booked up over the summer. Because it’s the same specific cabin we like to book, rather than the general area, there are obviously risks it’ll be fully booked if we wait any longer. It was £100 deposit and we have plenty in the holiday pot so that’s booked and done now. 

My mum, sister and I are talking about taking our annual weekend away in March instead of the usual September, as we’re assuming my sister won’t be ready to leave her new baby in September so if we don’t go before she has it we’ll likely have to skip it for the year.

I’m keen to sit down between Christmas and new year and plan in some exciting things for the year ahead, so will share any plans on here 😀

Bluegreen143

Leaving this here so I can find it again.

This week’s mealplan:

M - butternut squash & coconut soup with sandwiches

T - chicken & veg stir fry 

W - chicken fajitas 

Th - spag bol (I have mince in the freezer)

F - herb crusted pork with new potatoes & veg

Shopping list

Pork loin steaks
Chicken breast 1kg
Cold meat 
Milk
Cheddar
Feta
Skyr

Frozen butternut squash
Frozen strawberries 
Lettuce & rocket
Cucumber
Spring onion
Peppers
Mushrooms
Carrots
Stir fry mix
Coriander
Lemons
Green beans
New potatoes
Bananas
Grapes
Apples
Peaches or nectarines
Blueberries
Cherry tomatoes

Tinned tomatoes 
Coconut milk
Black beans
Baked beans
Tuna
Weetabix
Light mayo
Spaghetti
Couscous
Wholemeal bread
Seeded bread
Jalapenos
Tomato puree
Italian seasoning
Chicken stock
Cola
Crisps

Bluegreen143

Feeling very content as we are finally done with the family birthdays for this year! And I think the kids were both really happy with their birthdays, gifts and parties this year. We had lots of compliments from the other parents today and I think all our efforts at planning paid off. The treasure hunt was a masterpiece, Red makes them more elaborate every year! 

Bluegreen143

I’ve started pulling together some printouts I want to look at with Red to help plan next year over the holidays. 

I’ve made a forecast for retirement income based on various scenarios and mortgage free date based on various scenarios, and mapped out how much we will have in our emergency fund in 12 months if we don’t have any big emergencies.

My hope is to split it into three meetings:

1. The fun stuff, dreaming about what we want next year and beyond - holidays, big purchases, when we want to replace our car and kitchen, what our daily or weekly routines/habits should look like etc. Maybe start to identify things we want to stop spending on too (more of this in step 3).

2. Review the long term scenarios I’ve mapped out and choose which routes we want to go down just now. 

3. Review our current spending plan, and see what we need to change to free up money for what we identified in 1+2. 

Red can be a bit of a money avoider but I think if I keep it short, positive and really listen rather than just talk he will engage with the discussion 🤞🏼.

wannabedebtfreemum95

I love the idea of the meetings, I’m going to steal that and have them in our house! Your meal plan sounds great, as usual. It is so satisfying doing a shopping list or food shop where the majority is fruit and veg. How are you getting on with your Xmas jammies? 

Bluegreen143

In case it helps, here are pictures of the documents I’ve created. I’ve just blanked out our names. 

Our monthly spending plan (current):

Projections for the emergency fund (obviously if it’s not needed to be used in that time) and mortgage. 

I’ve got one which is a rough and ready retirement projections based on a couple of online calculators (one using a FIRE calculator & withdrawing 4% a year, the other was the annuity calculator on Aviva’s website), sure it’s wildly inaccurate but I really just wanted to give him a visual of how much difference contributing a bit extra would make and how much harder it is to retire early and that we need a plan to make this happen. 

Agenda for the meetings 

I also created a calendar with the planned events & celebrations for the year ahead, including dates of annual leave/school hols, but there’s too much identifying information in there to share it!

Bluegreen143

Felt like a good day today. No homework or clubs. Didn’t bother with the park or a walk because the weather is still disgraceful. Easy dinner of soup & sandwiches planned. 

Meant I took the kids home and had oceans of time to just be. It’s so rare on weekdays! I read to them and then I luxuriously read to myself on the sofa while they occupied themselves with some of their new things, crafting and playing. I made dinner in a relaxed fashion and yet we were still done eating by 6pm so the kids got a bonus half hour to play after dinner too.

Very proud and a little amused. Monkey has just started (as of last week) being allowed 10 minutes to read his own book before bed. I do still read to him, from a different book, before that. Him being at the stage of being able to read a proper book is brand new. Anyway tonight I forgot to go back after the 10 minutes and I found him still sat up reading over an hour later! He’ll be tired tomorrow but it’s very heart warming to my bookworm heart to see him so engrossed in a book!

fionaandphil

Great calculators, very organised. As someone slightly older than you, I can highly recommend overpayment on mortgages and into pensions. We luckily paid off our mortgage early while rates were very low, we've been glad of this over the last couple of years. I am lucky in that I had a pension from leaving college so have a decent pension pot which will hopefully allow us to retire early.

It is important to include fun and make memories too as they don't stay young for long. You've got that covered though and are much better at planning that than I am.

Your son sounds like mine being a bookworm, long may it last!

Bluegreen143

Yes, we are already decent at making sure we make memories, but definitely need to increase the “sensible” use of the money. 

We are in effect now paying for decisions made in the past which have meant that our pension pots are very low for our ages. Things like deciding to start a family at 26 and then becoming a SAHM - I would never actually change these decisions but they have had an obvious impact on our financial progress. 

Red never had a pension at all until he was in his thirties which is very annoying, but we can’t change that now! I did at least open one when I was working part time in a call centre at university and then always opened one at subsequent jobs. All we can do is overpay a bit to try to catch up. 

My work are good and if I put in 6%, which I do, they now put in 7%, and they also do it via salary sacrifice and put all the NI saved in (even their NI savings, which they don’t have to). If I stay there another two years it goes up to them putting in 8%.

Red’s work are rubbish and just do the minimums, meaning there is currently £400 p/m going into my pension but only £200 into his. So I think we need to target overpaying his. 

Bluegreen143

Good day today. Worked in the office but took my lunch in even though my colleagues were all going to buy theirs at the van today 😇. So no £ spent or syns!

Picked up the kids, came home and put a timer on for 15 mins. Got them to tidy their rooms while I whizzed around downstairs. Then I read Christmas stories to them while they ate their snack, read a bit of my book (guilt free as I’d tidied already) and then I napped on the sofa for 45 minutes!! I’ve been so tired and run down for weeks and it was bliss to realise I wanted a nap but there was no particular reason not to have one! 

Dinner was chicken stir fry so nice and quick to make (and healthy) then I played a board game with the kids and read them a bit each of their chapter books before bed. Once they were in bed I sewed some of the jammies. The timeline is VERY tight but I think I will get them done 🤞🏼. 

I’d also like to sit down tomorrow and check if I need to order anything else for Christmas. Hoping not much. I do need to get some stocking fillers for Red and for his mum, will mostly be consumables like toiletries and edible treats so can hopefully get from Tesco! But I’m thinking I’m done with actual gifts 🤞🏼.