£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

System · 10 April 2018 at 7:35AM

Totally agree about the school holidays pot, I had my DGS for three days last week and was amazed at how much entry is into some places. I have started a list of cheaper places to go and free ones. Will be using NT and English Heritage membership a lot more . Lessons learnt for me.

Weather is awful here as well. My DGS is back at a school this week though.

Have a good day with the DC .

joeyjimbles · 10 April 2018 at 3:46PM

Well done on the tutor savings - might be more fun for DS1 too sharing with someone else.

wishingthemortgaheaway · 10 April 2018 at 6:02PM

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Well done on the tutor savings - might be more fun for DS1 too sharing with someone else.

With an added element of competition too.....

armchairexpert · 11 April 2018 at 5:22AM

Oh definitely save the underspend for the holidays! This is always my intent, although it rarely comes off, but otherwise you'll keep getting that dispiriting feeling of having to raid pots.

Treadingonplaymobil · 11 April 2018 at 5:38AM

Week 61: Day 3

Nice day yesterday - the weather actually held, so we had a pretty good trip to the woods. Everyone else clearly believed the forecast and stayed home, so we had practically the entire place to ourselves!

To do yesterda
1. Make picnic lunch.
2. Get another laundry hung out (inside!).
3. Make sourdough.
4. Tidy DCs' room.
5. Help DC1 and 2 with holiday homework.

Cafe trip yesterday wiped out this week's entertainment kitty, but the DC and I are off to my mum's this afternoon, so no need to spend anything until the weekend, when it falls into next weeks's kitty

. Busy few days actually - going to my mum's this afternoon, she is looking after them on Friday while I work at a client's, then picking up DH from an on-the-way train station first thing Saturday morning and driving to London to stay with SIL, and out for my dad's birthday lunch on Sunday. I have £63 put by for the lunch, as I think we might all contribute towards my dad's lunch too, and I'm hoping that will be plenty, although it's not a cheap restaurant (I think around £18-£20 for a main). I don't really drink and will do a stealth beg to my siblings to pay my own meal plus my share of my dad's meal + drinks rather than splitting the bill evenly including all the inevitable booze (they are both childless, nice and know they are better off than me, and I don't think either will mind, even though they don't know about the debt).

This morning before we go though I am taking the car to the garage AGAIN, as the handbrake is loose AGAIN. They did say it might need something more serious doing if it started to loosen again, although I can't remember what the more serious thing is. This car is going to bankrupt me! It still isn't running 100% reliably (loses power if accelerated up a hill too hard), but I can't afford for them to sort out the intermittent fault as I keep having to pay for other things instead. I'm worried it's becoming a money pit, but also aware that actually it didn't cost us much at all last year, so I suppose it's due an expensive few months as it's an old car and things are going to start going wrong with it. We really really need it to limp through the summer, as we need it for camping (hiring a big estate car for a week at a time is soooooo expensive), but I think if it's still costing a fortune at that stage we'll have to consider going carless for 6 months and using the spare money to save for a new (rubbish) car. In an ideal world though we'll manage to get this one running well enough to keep going for another 2-2.5 years, and replace it with something slightly newer which will give us more years of good use.

To do today
1. Pack for my mum's and London.
2. Make good progress on DC1 and 2's homework with them.
3. Bake sourdough.
4. Clear ironing.
5. Email shirt company for postage refund (for returning shirt).
6. Tidy DCs room.

Debt repayment:
- £22.82/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,916.16/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Working_Mum · 11 April 2018 at 9:56AM

I have an 11 year old car and I have brilliant AA cover which costs me £28 per month for my son and I. It is the usual roadside/home start recovery which the AA is famous for BUT it also includes a protection for cost of the breakdown - so if my car breaks down I can pay an excess of £35 and they cover the cost of the parts and the repair.

A mouse ate through my fuel pipe last week and the cost of repair was covered. It doesn't cover planned maintenance issues but if my car won't start or it breaks down and I call the AA out and the broken part is on their list (which seems to be quite long) then they cover the cost.

My son and I have claimed on this policy twice in the last two years but has meant peace of mind about finding the money.

Treadingonplaymobil · 11 April 2018 at 10:44AM

Working_Mum wrote: »

I have an 11 year old car and I have brilliant AA cover which costs me £28 per month for my son and I. It is the usual roadside/home start recovery which the AA is famous for BUT it also includes a protection for cost of the breakdown - so if my car breaks down I can pay an excess of £35 and they cover the cost of the parts and the repair.

A mouse ate through my fuel pipe last week and the cost of repair was covered. It doesn't cover planned maintenance issues but if my car won't start or it breaks down and I call the AA out and the broken part is on their list (which seems to be quite long) then they cover the cost.

My son and I have claimed on this policy twice in the last two years but has meant peace of mind about finding the money.

That must be really reassuring. None of our problems have actually caused a breakdown though (even loss of power hasn't actually caused the engine to cut, and as soon as the ignition is turned off and on again the problem goes, so difficult to identify/resole), so probably wouldn't be covered unfortunately.

Treadingonplaymobil · 12 April 2018 at 6:58AM

Week 61: Day 4

Well the DC nearly broke me yesterday - slight stir craziness set in and their behaviour was atrocious all day! So difficult when all three lose the behaviour plot and you're on your own with them. Times like that I look longingly at people with their one well behaved child and think 'Three? Who thought three children was a good idea?!' I think they're much nicer now they've been asleep for the best part of 12 hours, particularly since they haven't woken up yet

. Anyway, ended up buying some overpriced sweets in a petrol station yesterday on the way to my mum's, which irritates me on a health, plastic, MSE and child-bribery level, but did mean I could do the 'if you behave sensibly until the next motorway junction, I will give you a Percy Pig'. Parenting at its finest, I think you'll agree.

Hoping they can spend the day running around my mum's enormous garden today, and the combination of change of scenery and rushing around all day will get them out of the behaviour rut of the past couple of days.

The car ended up costing £139 yesterday, which is bad, but hopefully has resolved the handbrake problem. It used up the whole of the emergency and car funds (£77 and £42 respectively), and I had to snaffle £20 from the extension savings pot too, but conveniently DH's expenses came in this morning and I had already balanced that budget pot (since the money was spent last month, it's easier in YNAB to balance everything before starting the next month) and conveniently came to £24, so I used £20 to refill the extension pot and £4 went towards debt overpayment. Annoying to be left with no emergency fund for the rest of the month, but hopefully nothing will crop up <awaits boiler explosion>. And let's all keep fingers crossed that's the last car drama for a couple of months so I can save up to get the intermittent fault checked again.

To do today
1. More progress on DC1 and 2's homework.
2. Menu plan and food shopping list for next week (won't get a chance tomorrow or over the weekend).
3. Contract work for next week.

Debt repayment:
- £22.82/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,921.09/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

warby68 · 12 April 2018 at 7:18AM

Oh dear, just write yesterday off. You survived, that's good enough and a bag of Percy Pigs is a lot less damage than you might have done 12m ago

You can bet they'll be on best behaviour for Grandma today (just to rub it in) - they are sneaky like that (although really it'll probably be the good night's sleep that cured the mood)

Sorry your car is such a money pit at the moment - you are very patient with it. A bit of me wonders if you should sort new(er) car before extension - with a family of 5 and a fair bit of travel for work and family, the loss of a car would impact you quite hard I should imagine.

Off to work myself now but today its only a trek downstairs as I'm working from home - a rather nice newish arrangement one day a week

Have a good day - hopefully with your feet up for one

Treadingonplaymobil · 12 April 2018 at 9:27AM

Oh and another trauma yesterday - made the mistake of measuring the DCs feet. I'll be over here in the corner rocking if you need me, contemplating the purchase of one complete set of school shoes, trainers, weekend shoes, walking boots and wellies (remember the toddler days when all you needed was wellies and one pair of shoes?), plus another pair of wellies and trainers. Urgh.

£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

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