Last week was one of those crazy weeks where things didn’t quite go as planned. I shared this tweet on Monday morning.
Lynn Beattie@MrsMummypennyUK · Feb 7
Can we all be ‘A BIT’ more honest about how we paid for our first homes? Yep I was 24, but I bought with my boyfriend (who was 10 years older with much more money) who paid the entire deposit.
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It got the biggest reaction and the thread of honesty of people sharing their stories of how they got onto the property ladder was so refreshing. Stories of privilege, luck, damned hard work and sacrifice. Go check out the thread, its reassuring and powerful.
As the tweet grew in popularity over the week as did the media interest. I was mentioned on several publications and big Twitter/Instagram accounts and did an interview with BBC Radio 4 You And Yours on Thursday!
Don’t you just love how an unplanned, honest tweet turns into news!
My first Weekly Article for The Mirror
My Google Alerts have been pinging off a lot this week. My first article went live in the Mirror on Wednesday and then it rippled out to lots of other publications after that. Here is the article that I wrote, actually in the newspaper, or you can read the online version.
I also did a Facebook Live on Thursday with Levi Winchester from The Mirror, you can watch this below too! Packed full of real life top tips to save money, and loads of comments from live watchers too. Loved this!
My Spending diary from Last week
I spent £408 last week, a pretty good week. It was a week with the boys so there was quite a chunk of food and family spends. We went to the cinema on Saturday and saved a chunk on the cost of our tickets using my Kidspass membership. I loved using Kidpass, it saves around 30% off cinema ticket prices and you can go to cinema at any time.
Broadband has switched
When contracts end on your essential service providers watch out that you change it over before the price rise. I didn’t quite get there in time for my broadband switch so was hit with a £38 bill last week rather than the £26 as it should be with the new provider that I have moved to. I am hugely hopeful that Virgin is faster than EE at my property.
I can see my £105 cash back confirmed in my TopCashback account, it will turn payable within a couple of weeks. I love getting a cash back bonus when I change my broadband contract every year/18 months! This is free money that I wouldn’t have got without going through a cash back website. And the offer price I have is the same as what I would have got had I gone direct to Virgin!
Night Out in Cambridge
We had a family night out in Cambridge on Wednesday to watch the U18 FA Cup Match and had burgers at GBK, the boys favourite place for burgers. Not exactly money saving and £50 later they were happy. The football cost a huge £5 for three of us to watch and DJ was a ball boy.
Total food spend for last week was £200, £90 on groceries and £110 on eating out. Definitely not a money saving week for food. But I did manage to save some money on the grocery spend by buying lots of reduced price, yellow sticker items, and successfully avoided the middle aisle in Aldi this week!
Football 6 days out of 7
I have a new childcare arrangement where I now have my children for one week on, one week off. This means that on the week I have my children there is football six days out of seven. This means a £50 spend on fuel to do the 350 miles of academy football miles. Ouch, can’t be avoided.
Valentines Day Piece
I have not one but two pieces for you to ‘celebrate’ V-day. Firstly a piece from me where I share my take on dating after divorce in my 40s. Feels a bit like dating in 20s to be honest, with as much success! I share some funny stories, you know you want to read.
The other piece has been written by Rebecca Megson-Smith and come later today!
And how did I celebrate V-day? Going for a run at 7:30am with my beau.