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

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  • Baileys_Babe
    Baileys_Babe Posts: 6,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Can you research free or cheaper parking near Bambi's gymnastics?
    Which budget is the parking coming from? As you are needing to park solely because of gymnastics I would treat it as part of the class costs and take it from the same budget.
    Fashion on a ration 2025 0/66 coupons spent
    79.5 coupons rolled over 4/75.5 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases

    One
     income, home educating family 
  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 21 May at 9:55AM
    Baileys_Babe - the gymnastics is in the west end so there is nowhere free to park within about 3 miles except parking at supermarkets, which I did when I picked up at school at 3pm, but you can only park for 90 minutes which wasn't long enough to run to the end of gymnastics at 4.45pm (plus it's about a 15 minute walk from Lidl to gymnastics so I'd have been even more over the 90 minutes!).

    Where I live extortionate parking costs are sadly a fact of life as the zone for paid parking has been dramatically increased over the city in the last 10 years and now covers almost all of the areas we go on a daily or weekly basis and in many areas you pay for parking 7 days a week until 10pm at night! This year I have now made a habit of parking at Lidl when doing the school pick up and that is saving some money.
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Further to the parking cost chat - just had a check of the surrounding streets to see if it was cheaper to park there instead of the gymnastics hall car park. But it's not - it's £3.20 for an hour in the car park I use but a whopping £5 for an hour on the street!

    I'd like to start keeping a short daily list of say 3 MSE actions I can do, to get my mind back into small frugal choices which have an impact over the longer term. As I think our biggest issue is getting busy and frittering away on small convenience spends etc.

    So today's list of MSE tasks:

    1. Do an online grocery order for tomorrow, for under £60, checking what we have in first to make sure everything will be used.

    2. Make a plan with my friend to go for a cycle tomorrow afternoon with the kids, making sure I don't need to pay to park wherever I meet her if at all possible.

    3. Cut DH's hair (obviously MSE as it means he doesn't need to go to a barber).
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Baileys_Babe
    Baileys_Babe Posts: 6,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Good to hear your parking research let you know you were already parking in the most appropriate place.
    Fashion on a ration 2025 0/66 coupons spent
    79.5 coupons rolled over 4/75.5 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases

    One
     income, home educating family 
  • fionaandphil
    fionaandphil Posts: 452 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Just popping in to say that I am assuming that now you are shopping at Lidl that you have downloaded the rewards app? I don't do a lot of shopping in there but the rewards and offers do add up and I quite often get a 'free' item which is always nice  :)
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,681 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Schools can be really cautious about head injuries and prefer the child to be with the parent. Recall that from my 6 month stint working in a school playground and that's 20 years ago.

    Good you had a nice parents evening. Rather you than me though lol, incredibly grateful Unis dont do them hahaha.
  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I would have been more empathetic about him being sent home with his head injury but only about a month ago we had to give him a big telling off about faking illness to get out of school (and that was not the first time it had happened) so he gets very little sympathy now, I'm afraid!

    There's not an underlying reason (bullying or anything) I hasten to add, it's only happened maybe 3-4 times and he generally enjoys school, he just likes the odd day off tbh probably because we used to let him watch movies if he was off sick - but we've had to impress upon him the impact that faking illness has on both his learning and my work being interrupted. 

    I think the reason I enjoyed parents' evening so much was Red coming, I feel we 'divide and conquer' a lot and it's nice to do something together for a change!
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

    Consumer debt free!
    Mortgage: -£128,033

    Savings: £6,050
    - Emergency fund £1,515
    - New kitchen £556
    - December £420
    - Holiday £3,427
    - Bills £132

    Total joint pension savings: £55,425
  • Baileys_Babe
    Baileys_Babe Posts: 6,267 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Well done on making it to parents evening. Good news on the free parking.

    I think your plan of action for Monkey's sick days is excellent. No punishment or reward, if he is genuinely ill a day resting will help him recover and if he is faking it he will get bored and less inclined to repeat the experience.
    Fashion on a ration 2025 0/66 coupons spent
    79.5 coupons rolled over 4/75.5 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases

    One
     income, home educating family 
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