There and back again...reducing the mortgage to manifest our forever home

Tjh1412

Been a quiet couple days, 2/3 have been NSDs though so happy with that. Created a dummy email address and signed up for all the baby freebies I could find whilst been struggling to sleep, so will pick those up later today. 

Need to top up on milk and fruit later as well, with 2 children I think I'm going to need a cow and an orchard next year! Will TT the bank account to the nearest £10 once that's done for a little bit extra towards the mortgage. Have a cheque from YLive to pay in also so will do that and then knock off whatever is needed to take the mortgage back to a nice round number once it clears. 

Tjh1412

Another £45.25 to the mortgage as an OP, so that will drop up down below target for the month until they add the interest at least. 

Another 2 NSDs, unfortunately DP has caught streptococcus pneumonia so some extra spends there on prescriptions and bits to keep him comfortable, but well worth it.

Managed to make a good start on deep cleaning today whilst DD was being spoilt by her great grandma, and have a bag of bits to list up on V1nted over the next couple of weeks, so hopefully a boost to the OP fund once those go. Made the most of the dry weather to get some more baby bits laundered too, clothes are so much fresher line dried rather than on the heated airer I find. 

Frugal win for the weekend, we were gifted a ££ baby swing by some family friends, as their LO refused to go near it. Wasn't a must purchase for us, but definitely nice to have. Have been keeping a spreadsheet for baby spends, as secretly love a spreadsheet and we have come in at £428.56 so far. This does include some nappies, wipes, cream etc as well as the bigger things like travel system and nursery furniture, so fairly chuffed with that. Will be another £40ish to get the paint for nursery, but then we are done spending for the first year bar the everyday things. Hoping this will make parental leave a lot less stressful financially.

Plan for tomorrow is take DD to a free children's festival, and sort out the freezer so can make a plan for batch cooking. Had new work pension pack through as well, so will try and grab some time once DD in bed to look at fund choices and fill out the forms for beneficiaries etc 

Tjh1412

A quiet, low spend week. Lots of batch cooking for the freezer and hiding from the rain. Lots of flooding here so we cant really leave the house to spend money if we wanted to.

I did a crazy thing today though, applied for (and just heard I got an interview for) a job to start in August. Only switched jobs in November, but this is the dream job so I would have always wondered if I didnt go for it. Would mean a very short maternity leave, but our household income would double overnight so excited to see where that goes.

Plan for this evening is to tackle the ironing pile, and then start listed the surplus baby bits on V1nted. We have far too many newborn sleepsuits!

RedLipstick

Oh, how exciting on the job front, good luck!!

Tjh1412

Thank you @RedLipstick, had an email for a phone inital chat on Monday so taking that as a good sign they might be keen

Tjh1412

Phone screen went well, had confirmation today through to the next round so that is exciting.

3 NSDs this week so far, but then today has been an expensive one with last of the nursery furniture ordered, big monthly stock up shop done and another £30 on extras for batch cooking to fill the freezer in the hopes of avoiding takeout when in the newborn trenches.

Also finished ordering the last of DDs birthday gifts, not until March but the 20th February is my last guaranteed full paycheck, as baby seems determined to arrive early so glad that's done.

Tomorrow is finishing off the nursery by building the furniture and then sorting out homes for all the bits; small people come with a very large amount of stuff!

Hoping for a spend free weekend after all that, and maybe even some dry weather so I can tackle the garden. The rain lately has definitely made the grass go wild

Tjh1412

Been very quiet on here, after a dramatic few weeks DD2 arrived early. Not much to report on the money saving front, between expensive hospital food/parking etc and surviving the first 2 weeks with a newborn, but determined to get back on track now.

Maternity pay is not great, so will be focusing on Vinted, Ebay etc to clear some clutter and try to make some sneaky overpayments that way. Also signed up for a couple of survey sites, as can do those whilst nap trapped. Does feel like we have lost a lot of momentum though, and there will be nursery fees to consider once we are back up to full income as a household. And we got engaged so weddings are notoriously expensive. Good job we love a challenge!

South_coast

Congratulations on your new arrival and engagement 🩷

beanielou

Congratulations on a new daughter and your engagement.

Tjh1412

Thank you both.

Managed a small OP of £45.15 to the mortgage, to bring it back down to the round £183,000. They have reduced our monthly payment by a whopping 19p/month due to OPs made to date, so also logged in and changed it back to the previous amount on the logic of every little helps.

Had 2 NSDs here enjoying the garden. Small spend today on milk, bread etc and tomorrow will be a big monthly food shop trip to try and maximise the maternity pay. However, I have a meal plan so hoping we can come in slightly under budget, will OP and difference if manage to. Fingers crossed for some YS bargains too, and I have free bakery item and some free fruit on my app so bonus donut I think!