Keeping our options open

BachSoon · 26 March 2019 at 7:17PM

Sounds like you are going great guns

keeping your options open is a great way of looking at it.
I also like your idea of 1% - it makes it all seem very manageable.

becky170 · 30 March 2019 at 7:13AM

Thanks BachSoon. I can't take credit for the 1% idea as I say it on a thread by pavlovs_dog and thought it sounded like a great idea as it was manageable but gave me a purpose. I 'll stop by your diary and see how your journey is going!

I've got another person stopping by today to pick up an item from Facebook...well hopefully anyway! Other than that I've really not been very money saving this week. I'm feeling a bit down about going back to work soon after my maternity leave so am giving into temptation left right and centre

becky170 · 1 April 2019 at 5:30AM

Yay I've had my first of the month money move around. An overpayment of £129 has gone towards our mortgage, the regular savers have been topped up and the holiday fund has had money transferred to it. I've also requested a £10 payout from Quidc0.

Haven't got a huge amount planned for this week. I'm probably going to be shattered today as the little munchkins kept waking me up in the night. Coffee and sugar will be required

becky170 · 4 April 2019 at 4:07AM

All the reasons why I didn't enjoy weaning my son are all coming back to me. Yesterday whilst trying to cook I managed to let the pan boil over twice whilst trying to feed/soothe my crying baby. She gave what I'd cooked a go but wasn't overkeen and then promptly threw up over herself and me when I got her out the highchair. I'm doing the traditional weaning route and unless it's a fruit based puree she won't eat it. She has been giving finger foods a go but tends to enjoy mushing it up which is getting rather messy.. along with grabbing the spoon and smearing purer all over herself! The cycle of planning what to cook, cooking and feeding seems never ending (and rather thankless) at the moment. My little boy also refuses to eat what I've cooked him half the time, so cooking sometimes feels like a thankless task. I think I'm going to cut myself some slack today and have a chicken nugget and baked potato day. The baby has been up lots tonight so I guess I'll be half asleep by teatime anyway.

Sorry this wasn't a very money saving post!

becky170 · 7 April 2019 at 9:52AM

My Quidc0 payment cleared into my account so I've made another £10 overpayment today

I've been checking our spending so far this month and it's not looking pretty. Nearly half the food budget is spent and we had to have the brake pads on the car changed and the MOT done. The car insurance is due in a week's time and that's over £350. Ouch! So it looks like we'll not be making any more overpayments this month. It's a good job we do the overpayment at the end of the month as if I'd have waited until now I would have changed my mind and possibly not done any overpayments this month.

becky170 · 14 April 2019 at 5:44AM

I have well and truly let my budget go to pot this month. I've currently managed to spend £346 of our £450 food budget and I still have two weeks to go. If it was just us we could probably scale back and come in nearish the budget, however I have the in-laws staying for 5 nights over Easter! I have traded in £25 worth of MrM points so that will help. We've also booked a night away for DH birthday.......it'll be our first kid free night away in nearly 2 years

May is definitely going to have to be more frugal as to cover this month's spending we are going to have to raid our savings account which is something I hate doing.

I didn't have much look selling baby clothes on Facebook in the end. We may try doing a car boot in the summer as at the moment it feels like we are drowning in clothes the kids have grown out of. I might try and eBay a couple of bits in the meantime to see if they sell. Any money I earn from selling their clothes in going in their future clothes buying pot.

becky170 · 7 May 2019 at 10:32PM

I was a bit late doing my start of the month money shuffling this month as we were away on holiday. I managed to make a £178 overpayment with the help of £58 cashed out of Quidc0, which I'm pretty pleased about.

We had a good holiday. I didn't set a budget for the spending money for the holiday as we just wanted to enjoy it and do whatever took our fancy (not very money saving I know!). As it happened we didn't do anything too extravagant apart from eating lunch out every day and having a Tesco finest two dine for £10 meal deal (I needed a holiday from a bit of cooking

). Luckily the kids are two young to demand any expensive outings so we just did sandcastle making on the beach and went to a mini theme park which as it was off peak was pretty cheap.

We better get saving for our holiday next year as it will have to be in the school holidays....sob sob. It's not the added expense that really worries me it's the fact that it'll be busy. This holiday the holiday park was nearly empty, we virtually had the beach to ourselves (ok it was a bit cold and paddling in the sea was freezing!) and there were no traffic jams.... bliss!

becky170 · 9 May 2019 at 4:52AM

We're having a birthday party for my little boy at a local soft play this weekend. This is my first time organising a proper children's birthday party. Out of the 27 children invited we only had 17 RSVPs which I was a bit surprised about.....I have RSVP'd to all of the invites my children have had and I'm a bit scatty at times. Obviously life gets in the way and people have a lot of their plates but surely in most cases you can be polite enough to drop a text saying that you can't make it. We've also already had one child pull out. Unfortunately we have to pay per child and as we've already had to give final numbers we'll now be paying for an empty space. At least there should be some leftover party food for the adults! Let's just hope everyone has a fun party!

I've got to go out birthday cake hunting later. I have made him birthday cakes in the past but I get really stressed out about it so I'm going to buy him one this year. Plus our fan assisted oven is out of action so I'm having to rely on our tiny top oven which I've never baked a cake it. I really have to remember to book a repairman to get the oven fixed! Anyway fingers crossed I find a suitable cake today, otherwise I'll have to do some baking

juliejim · 9 May 2019 at 10:14AM

I would go to your local supermarket for a cake. They tend to have a decent range and not too badly priced.

Jue

LeighofMar · 9 May 2019 at 1:18PM

[QUOTE=becky170;75787642
We had a good holiday. I didn't set a budget for the spending money for the holiday as we just wanted to enjoy it and do whatever took our fancy (not very money saving I know!).
[/QUOTE]

So glad you had a nice holiday. At first I too worried about holiday budgeting and being frugal but my husband, who totally supports us being MFW, said that he wants to draw the line when we go out of town. When we're on holiday, he wants to spend money and not worry about every penny. So I agreed and was amazed at how less stressful everything was and we could really enjoy each other and our time away. I now reason that vacations are our rewards for being such good MFWers

Keeping our options open

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