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Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means
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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 family2 -
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: £55,4253 -
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: £55,4254 -
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 family2 -
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 nice2
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I don't have it, I only tend to buy the odd item from there, but will look into it, thanks!
Really nice day which turned out slightly different than expected.
Looking back at my three goals:
1. Do an online grocery order for tomorrow, for under £60, checking what we have in first to make sure everything will be used. Done!
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. Friend is ill, so have instead planned to go for a cycle along the canal with the kids and stop at the library as part of it.
3. Cut DH's hair (obviously MSE as it means he doesn't need to go to a barber). Not done, due to unexpectedly going out this evening (see below).
So, today... worked from home, got a call at 1.30pm to pick up Monkey who had hurt his head playing football. He has a bit of a track record of being sent home/exaggerating illness, and so our standard procedure was applied - straight to bed with a book, no TV or anything (yes, he had genuinely hit his head, but I do believe he could have stayed at school, but even if he was genuinely ill I reckon a few hours in bed would help him more than being up and about).
Picked up Bambi from the school bus and walked home, which I'm happy with, as generally I only walk in the mornings and drive in the afternoons (still progress, as before this academic year I usually drove both ways!).
We were all hanging about in the garden, watering plants, eating ice poles, doing homework using pavement chalk, when all of a sudden at 5.30pm Monkey mentioned it was parents evening that evening! After a flurry of checking the calendar and my online booking, I confirmed it was in fact parents' evening, I had booked appointments to go, then totally forgotten about it!
Made a very quick chicken pesto pasta for dinner, we all got changed and in the car and were along to the school in good time thankfully. So pleased we didn't miss it!
This was the first time we've all gone as usually I go and leave Red at home with the kids, but I found it a very positive experience bringing them and he really appreciated feeling part of it and getting the feedback first hand. It actually felt like a really fun family outing which is perhaps a little sad but it's rare to be out two evenings in a row!
Also feeling very lucky as I was pleased with the feedback for both kids, who are doing well at school and are happy wee people with good friends and are successful in class.
Bambi is really doing extremely well in all areas, her reading and writing is amazing and she's doing so well with learning her second language, so I'm very pleased. The teacher has (with our permission) referred her for speech therapy as she struggles with a lisp for some of her sounds, so we will wait for the information coming for that, but otherwise no issues at all academically and her behaviour is very good too.
Also very good feedback for Monkey, who is also very academic and is also excelling in his second language, maths and reading skills. All good stuff. She fed back that he can struggle with distraction/being chatty, and sometimes rushing his work/not giving his best effort, so something to work on there (not sure exactly HOW right enough!).
And most importantly of all, you'll all be delighted to know that round the school the parking restrictions only go til 6pm so parking was free!!
So - a no spend day today.
Plan for tomorrow - chores in the morning to get the house ready for the long weekend, then taking the kids for a cycle and library trip. We are talking about heading to the river for a paddle after Red is home from work too, which will be lovely if we make it happen. This will all be free, though we are getting a grocery delivery which will cost.
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: £55,4257 -
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.2 -
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: £55,4254 -
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 family3 -
Morning all! Another lovely day!
Plan for today is:
- Chores and food prep
- Canal cycle and library trip
- Going to the river to paddle when Red gets home
Should be busy and very frugal. Only anticipated spend is that the Tesco delivery is coming today.
Today's three tasks:
1. Do a big tidy/clean of downstairs and hang washing out
2. Cut Red's hair
3. Apply for Bambi's free bus pass, which I've been procrastinating on since she turned 5(!- she's 6.5 now!). We don't get the bus often, but it's daft to have to pay for her if we do need to get a bus when she could get on for free. I'd also like to start getting the bus into the west end more as if the kids go for free, it makes it cheaper than parking.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: £55,4256
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