In May 2012 I had my baby son and started maternity leave for the second time, knocking my family income down by over £800 per month. Surviving on Statutory Maternity Pay taught me to budget, and how to feed a family of four on only £20 a week. Nowadays I'm back to working, but still juggling the demands of two school-aged children against the reality of self-employed income.
Before I even look at the figures, I’m feeling a little more confident about this month. There were a few ‘cheats’ but I’ve mostly stuck to a £100 cash budget for everything. Let’s see what that tallies up to… Joint account expenditure Non-negotiable outgoings Mortgage: £412.97 Childcare: £222.00 Energy: £99.00 Internet: £11.49 Phone: £60.61
Apologies for another boring meal plan entry. Drowning in work and house chores and kids and general ARGH at the moment. As expected, I’m finding that breaking my meal plans down in to stages and basing what I serve off the veg box instead of the other way around is not only helping me stick… read full entry »
We had some sunshine here in jemjabella-land today, so despite the chill in the air, everyone was wrapped up warm and shoved into the garden (and as such both kids were asleep for 6:30pm despite Oliver having late nap!) I’ve re-potted my strawberry babies from the runners last year into their allotted tyre and did… read full entry »
I figured that if we’re going to be serious about this mortgage free in 5 years thing, I should be looking at where our money is going before we look at how much we can start moving over in overpayments. This is made slightly more time-consuming by the fact I have the joint account AND… read full entry »
Sorry about the cheaty back-dating of this one ;) I’ve got several posts in the works re: my new goal to pay off the mortgage etc but am poorly so not getting time / energy to finish them :( 01st: (Homemade) Pizza night 02nd: Frugal cake-fest 2013 03rd: Bangers & mash 04th: Poached pollock &… read full entry »
One of the things I see other people fall into the trap of too often with this budgeting lark (no, not me, far too smart.. cough cough) is buying into false economies. In other words, investing in something that appears to be a bargain but doesn’t really benefit or save money in the long run…. read full entry »
Last meal plan post of January, huzzah (and only slightly late). Not as tight on the veg this week because I wanted to use up leftovers and bought a cheap chicken to get February meals in for as little as possible (more on that at a later date). 27th: Chilli & rice 28th: Wraps with… read full entry »
This week I was reading through Jax’s post on her new blog – The challenge – and my mortgage statement which, quite by coincidence arrived on the same day. Through Jax I also found Mortgage Free in Three. To say I was inspired is an understatement. I’ve decided that we should be aiming to pay… read full entry »
See other January meal plan post for reasons for splitting this months/why it’s mostly veggie… This week & a bit actually sees me making use of two of my cookbooks for once! 19th: Vegetable pie w/pastry top (had chicken dippers last night so swapped over) 20th: Turkey meatloaf 21st: French onion & sage soup (Isabel… read full entry »
See other January meal plan post for reasons for splitting this months/why it’s mostly veggie… 11th: Egg fried rice with veggies 12th: Vegetable lasagne 13th: Sticky chicken & potato wedges 14th: Cauliflower cheese 15th: Hippie pie (didn’t get to make it on Monday 7th as we had a late evening) 16th: Swede & potato boulangère… read full entry »