The Plan

TwentySomethingGirl · 30 November 2017 at 11:44AM

Hi Scrimps

I hope you're doing OK with the pregnancy. Nesting hasn't happened for me, though the flat could have done with it! You seem really organised with the batch cooking and planning so I'm sure you'll be fine making your OPs on maternity!

TSG

Scrimps · 16 January 2018 at 12:01PM

Well its been a complete rollercoaster since my last post. I went overdue and then had a difficult delivery and subsequent infections to get on top of. Our son

is doing well and I am getting better now. Physically healing but mental health has taken a bit of a knock which Im getting help for.

The budget was completely blown in December. Hospital car parking cost over £60 due to an extended stay and subsequent appointments, food budget just went bananas, nearly £400, I couldnt even tell you what on. Cat medical was rather pricy (£100 overspend on top of £130 for prescription)- the cats were rather stunned by the new arrival so I bought some extra Feliway diffusers and zylkene to help them adjust. I couldnt deal with them moving out as well as everything else that went wrong so it was money well spent in my book - theyve stuck around though they may have done anyway.

Baby budget is all gone. I was intending to breastfeed, I had quite a lot of support to do so but it hasnt worked out. Im still quite upset about this and still considering changing my mind but I think the effort I put in/difficulty I was having was detrimental to mine and DS's bond to be honest. I still really want to breastfeed but think Im starting to accept its not going to happen.
I bought a perfect prep machine that makes up the formula so much easier, it was pricey at £100 but I think its worth it when it comes to night feeds. Formula will be an ongoing expense I wasnt expecting. The money spent on pumps etc will prove to have been a waste.

More cash gifts were gratefully received for DS but we're not buying expenses out of that - its strictly for toys and fun stuff.

Jan:
Total for month: £2415
Food: 44£ of £200 left. Im not sure what we're going to do about this budget going forward. Perhaps when things settle down I can do more on the home economy front its just been too much recently
Car Parking: 0 of £10 left
Fuel: 0 of £40 left - should be enough for the month
Cat Food: 0/0 - stockpiled on previous months
Cat Medical: 0/0 see above
Car Maint & Ins: 100 of 170 left - insurance changed from 2 single to one multicar policy so just a small part payment needed to be made. Itll be nice to not have car insurance due in january now.
Home Maint: £20
Other/Misc: 0 of £10 left. Think this went on stamps and thank you cards
Discretionary: £80 me and £155 DH. I reallocated some of mine to DS, needed to buy formula and chose to buy a perfect prep machine.

Overpayment of £500 has been made for this month. Im aboutto hit my £40 withdrawl on onepoll. Swagbucks also subsidised the cat expences in decemeber to the tune of about £20.

Yet to start matched betting.

pjcox2005 · 16 January 2018 at 1:20PM

Do either you or your partner have private medical insurance e.g. through work? If so, and you had a prolonged stay in hospital with the birth (i.e. more than one night) then it's worth checking whether they'll pay out as most do on a per night basis.

VDOT47 · 16 January 2018 at 1:21PM

Hi Scrimps, just read through your diary and now your most recent update. Congratulations on your little boy :-) - hopefully things will settle down for you after what sounds like quite a rocky start! Just wanted to say that the investment in the Perfect Prep will be absolutely worth it over the next 12 months!

Sounds like you and OH have done incredibly well to have made such a good overpayment this month, so don't fret too much about overspending on groceries etc.

I will follow your updates with interest :-)

Scrimps · 16 January 2018 at 1:44PM

I still cant get multi quote to work.
pjcox - re the private medical insurance. No unfortunately neither of us have this any more, thank you anyway.
VDOT - it is incredibly good, it saves an awful lot of faffing. Im sure I will appreciate it more when I get over the whole guilt about not breastfeeding. As it is, its pretty handy.....I dont even have to go downstairs to make up a bottle, everything is set up in the spare room!

Tropically · 16 January 2018 at 2:35PM

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW ADDITION!!!!

Yay!!

*little.squirrel* · 16 January 2018 at 5:46PM

Congrats on your baby boy!

Try not to feel too bad about your food budget. When my first was born I stressed majorly over the money we were spending on food, and where it was going. I'd feel guilty about takeaway and then spend a ton on fresh food that just didn't get used. When my second came along I refused to feel guilty about ready meals or takeaway and just tried to spend time with baby! I think you have to allow yourself some leeway because things are different now and will take some getting used to, and balancing out.

p.s. I just set myself a no cosmetics and no new clothes challenge! I'm not sure my DH thinks its possible but I am going to try.

ChasingSunshine · 16 January 2018 at 7:09PM

Congratulations on your baby!! Please don't beat yourself up over the breastfeeding, formula might not be what you had planned but sometimes no matter how hard you try breastfeeding is just not the right thing for you and the little one and you just have to go with what works for you and enjoy getting to know your little one. This is just an early sign that kids can trash the best made plans :rotfl::rotfl:

Also don't get caught up in worrying about the food budget just now. There are lots of changes and it will take time to find your new normal. And well done on even thinking of an overpayment this month never mind actually making one!

Scrimps · 17 January 2018 at 12:32PM

Thanks for the support all, things are getting better slowly and it is still early days. I went to my first mother and baby group today which has been a help - all the first time mums seem to be equally overwhelmed despite all the preparing. I do think if I hadnt have prepared the house so much I would have struggled to cope more but really all the preparing in the world cant replace the support needed once the little one arrives. Youre right about kids trashing plans!

Re the breast feeding, I think all the antenatal public health messages are grreat for people who are sitting on the fence about breatfeeding, but if you want to do it anyway...it just adds to the guilt when it hasnt worked out for you.
Both the midwife and GP told me to just let it go yesterday,DS and I being happy is the most important

I have booked a cheap sun holiday to northumbria in May this morning. Ive never been further north than birmingham and that was just a day trip so it'll be nice to visit some more of the country. Some of our friends have moved to sheffield so we will be stopping in with them on the way there and back - itll be a long drive from south cornwall no matter how we do it. Once I take all the airport faffing into account its probably no longer than our usual cheap annual flight to portugal but much much cheaper and hopefully easier with a young baby to take with us also.

I just have one more survey to get my £40 from onepoll but keep getting problems loading the page and/or getting told this survey isnt for me has expired! Once I get that money itll probably go on an additional overpayment.

VDOT47 · 17 January 2018 at 1:12PM

A car journey (which little one will probably sleep through most of!) will certainly be a lot easier than a flight in my opinion! And you can take everything you need with you, rather than having to worry about luggage allowances etc.

We did our first flight with DD when she was 11 months old, and she coped ok, but I wouldn't have liked to have done one much sooner than that!

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