Amazing April Austerity.

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
Taking the liberty of starting a new thread, as I went to post spends on the old one and it's full.

We had a lovely day out at the seaside and visited an old lighthouse as part of it. As we rely on public transport, that's always a big part of our days out spend.
£9.60 bus fares.
£9.60 train fares (with the family railcard).
£6 lunch from Sainsburys ( £3 meal deal each).
£4.50 entrance to the lighthouse.
£7.10 coffee, hot chocolate and cookies in a café afterwards.

Oh and DS needed a haircut, which I think was £6.50.

these are the people/club that my kids are attending this week www.energy-kidz.co.uk/ - it looks like they are all over the country.

on average I would say I pay £22-28/day/child. Sometimes there's a sibling discount. I pay for some of it through the childcare vouchers which are deducted from my salary. it's an expense that I resent, but I am very aware that since we both work full time, and there are no grandparents or relatives about, that's our only alternative.

Thanks Bees. I showed ds and he says No Thank You.

Maybe you should just pick an activity you think he'll enjoy and send him, without a choice, one day, just to see how he gets on, Ipsos. My DS has always been awful for not wanting to do anything or go anywhere, which can be stressful, but he always seems to enjoy himself when he goes! Give it a try, for a half day camp. What's the worst that can happen?

btw I found out that the missing $100 from up my UpWork payment was their service fee. They charged me 11.9% service fee. On the one hand, it's a lot of money, on the other hand, they are quite helpful at advertising my services, and managing client/freelancer relationships, so it's probably worth it.

, agree fully with what Creme suggests Ipsos. It's not necessary at 5 for them to have choice over everything. DS would have done a default no to absolutely everything, DD quite the opposite. I just used to tell them what they were doing in a really cheerful upbeat voice, that it looked fun and they should give a go. No negotiation.

Of course, if I felt they had really not enjoyed something then I would rethink, but I can only think of the one time that happened in all the years.

£10 haircut for DS

Why do I have so many things to pay for at once?

Term of preschool - £400
Car insurance - £500
Weekend away expenses - £100
Drawers for freezer - £100
Car tax - £100

We also wanted to extend our patio but that's £1k ish.

We have two weekends away with family at the end of April / beginning of May. DH has a stag do weekend after next and I have a hen do weekend in May. I want to cancel it all as I am just not wanting to spend the money. The family weekend it will just be food / going out expenses and most of the hen / stags are paid for but they add up so fast.

Dd sobbed on her first swimming lesson but I left her and she absolutely loves it (and did after about five minutes).

Home now. Spent £11 something on kfc and £5 something in whsmith on some chocolate and tampons (2.99 for 10!!!).

Dd has swimming later I'm not sure what to do for dinner as we don't have anything quick....

what don't panic! We have situations like that too! Why don't you pay for the car tax monthly? May help a squidge.

I think we are going to have to take some money from our long term savings. I really don't want to but I can't see how we can pay for everything otherwise. I think we will have to pay the car tax monthly. We are used to just having one lot of car tax and insurance to pay so I'm going to have to up the amount we stash each month significantly.

Oh no what. We pay all that monthly (car insurance tax etc) it's just never ending.

At OT appointment with dd on Wed and the OT was late. Dd was bored, I pulled out my credit card statement and a biro out of my handbag to draw a pic on & she did this. I'm going to frame it. I didn't know she could write independently without me spelling the words or writing it on another piece of paper for her to copy. She'll be 6 this month. I will date stamp it at work for prosperity.

wreck for you missing some time with ds but I'm sure you will do something that benefits both dc with the extra ££'s

welcome back hairspray
eva I wouldn't like dh seeing my cc spends either, plus you might use it to buy presents. Mine also has a cc so that's another €30 bill for him too

what well wear with the new car, what are you getting?

My spends this week €1.70 kindle book, €30 diesel, €2 nuts for myself & dd, €20 counselling, €57 cc payment, €200 car tax(already saved), €230 garage. I'm quite content with that and am predicting spends on alcohol on Sat eve after I do an obstacle course event with my two cousins, one of their bf's, sister and her bf is coming to help us celebrate!

Aw, that's gorgeous, Lilac. I still have DS's first independent writing. It's definitely something to treasure.

Arf, DS wouldn't do anything / leave the house if I didn't present it as a thing that was happening. Usually, he's then happy to come along and he has a great time .

LSD.

Lilac - a diesel Astra estate. So we are probably getting a dog too!

Dd wouldn't do any activities if I didn't push her, she said before dance & drama started she'd be nervous, she adores it, swimming she'd be afraid, she can't wait to go each week. I appreciate we don't know your ds like you do but what's the worst that can happen if he goes and he doesn't like it?

what could you do car insurance monthly for one year and let the money that frees up cover other stuff or will you still be short. Then try stash a bit extra each month so you've got it ahead of time for next year.

I got into situation of paying monthly for car insurance and three monthly(shortest option in ROI) when on mat leave with dd, she's now 6 and only last year did I pay my insurance upfront again. The car tax I mastered up to 6 monthly until this month when I had to pay for the car repairs so I've only paid 3 months now again but the next time it's due I'll have the funds of 6 months saved once more. Every week €30 gets put aside for car tax & insurance.

Have reduced the direct debits on my personal current account to contact lenses and mobile phone bill. In July I will switch phone to payg as they seem to do similar package cheaper with no commitment.

Welcome back hairspray
ipsos last year I sent my ds (11) to summer school for 3 days (10-4 each day) so he could meet his new classmates before starting the new school since he is very shy. He didn't want to go but he really enjoyed it.
what happens hear all the time, it seems each time we get more then head above the water something goes wrong or some other unexpected expense
NSD today
Pancake lasagne and sticky toffee pudding tonight, dss is going back to his ship so requested special dinner and pudding

need you're not understanding my situation and I'm not putting it more clearly because it would compromise ds's privacy. Thanks for the thoughts.

Oh God just seen that the estimated moving date is the 4th of May how had I missed that! Slight panic on now have emailed re the buildings insurance thing thanks Collie

OT visit was useful, got some more techniques to help with dds aversion to wearing anything that isn't super soft and baggy!!

Eek, Girlie! Can you do it??

Ooh fabulous what sounds lovely the astra's are a nice car
I'm hoping to change my car next year and trade the au pairs car as I love my 7seater and it's extremely reliable. I'm coveting a toyota auris 1.4 diesel.

Dog - exciting times, I had a lot more time for mine before dc came along

creme I'm not usually sentimental about things like that

Have no idea Creme haven't given notice on the flat yet!! Will ring the council tomorrow now though and just emailed someone about moving costs, he was someone i went to school with so hoping he will be reasonable

it looks like it is actually going to happen

girlie may the 4th be with you! Wooooow! That's less than a month!! so exciting!

The car passed its service and MOT with no faults whatsoever. I need to sit down from the shock. The bill came in at £67 less than what we saved! Frugal win. So happy!

Thats great re the car Collie just heard back and you are quite right on the insurance, thank you

I can't believe I am going to be joining all you home owners, its been 10 years of scrimping and saving to get to this point and this thread has definitely helped along the way as well

Congratulations Girlfriend, that's so exciting ! You must feel so proud of yourself and all your hard work.

Spends today so far:

€2 in work canteen
€7 on cake as I'm going to my parents for dinner tonight and bringing dessert.

Excellent collie That is something I must start budgeting for - a car category for tyres, repairs etc.

I'm debating buying a subscription to the new version of ynab. It's about €40 for the year using discount as I have the previous version or $5 dollars per month. I have the older version but you've to log in the computer you've it set up on to do your budget and then you can enter transactions on the app. The new version is web based.

While I was doing the trial I paid more off my credit card than I had been doing but I don't know if it was a result of it or because my mindset has changed.

Like today I set up an auto payment to pay €20 to one credit card on my weekly payday, I also transferred balance on my business account against the other one, not much but still did it.

Girlie I'm beyond excited for you. I was visiting with another mom friend to sort out our children's joint birthday parties the other night, when I was last there her house was a shell with both of them sharing the one room as she was too exhausted once he was gone to sleep to move out to her own room, and nothing done in a lot of the other rooms, but I was still so in awe of her as she's raising him alone. This week there was such a transformation, she has plants, their own rooms done with wardrobes and shelving, a stairs(had previously been a temporary construction type one), and a spare room completed as well as work outside too. She's also a nurse.