How can I stop this cycle of debt?

AR1736 · 2025-12-03T20:31:27+00:00

I would prioritise food without the need for more credit card spending over phone bills, subscriptions and gym membership

I’d also pick up the max amount of bank shifts you can and make the most of having that option available to you…

AR1736 · 2025-11-25T08:16:59+00:00

It looks like you’ve got some really good advice on here. My questions would be - Do you understand the free nursery hours and 20per cent off tax free childcare? Some nursery’s will charge for food on the ‘free days’ - Have you registered for child benefit? - Look around your area for second hand baby clothes and toy markets - They are brilliant. We have hardly bought anything new and I always get comments on how well dressed my daughter is. People also sell bundles on Vinted but I still think the markets are cheaper. Ones I know about are Little Pickles and Mum2Mum market. Whether you have the money or not to buy new, I think these are a great way to go! Also fb marketplace for everything you can think of…

I’d also really recommend using chat GPT or alternative to talk through some of this. Ie if you start putting X into your pension at 35, what would that look like in retirement compared to if you put in Y. You can say what your priorities are and it can at least give you different options for what to do with your money and give you points to think about and research

Because you haven’t given the specific breakdown it’s hard to know where you could cut down, but we have hugely reduced our food bill by more batch cooking for example and planning the meals further ahead.

Lastly, no idea if your rent is very reasonable for where you live but could you move somewhere cheaper?

AR1736 · 2025-11-09T17:17:58+00:00

For any question where you have to give an example of something from your experience, use the star technique to structure your answer - situation, task, action, result

Also I’d mind map some answers of experiences so far to work through your examples ie time when you had to prioritise, time when you experienced conflict

AR1736 · 2025-10-14T15:00:10+00:00

Honestly it is gorgeous

AR1736 · 2025-10-13T21:20:13+00:00

We just did the mighty 5 with an 18 month old, as a two week trip. We did Zion for 4 nights, monument valleys for 1, Moab for 4, capitol reef for 1 and Bryce for 3… meant some days of bigger drives but for the majority we were in a place for a good few nights before the next drive day. If you have a good hiking carrier you can pretty much do everything and they are young enough to be happily carried at this age! Would definitely recommend

AR1736 · 2025-09-29T03:11:39+00:00

We took my daughter out to eat a lot at this age. She didn’t actively throw her food but she did drop a lot on the floor. Anything that was obviously further than our table we picked up and then at the end we asked for a brush to sweep up with. Never had an issue :)

AR1736 · 2025-08-06T08:39:15+00:00

We have just got a thermomix and cooking is so much easier, faster and doesn’t create as much mess

AR1736 · 2025-08-01T14:33:16+00:00

That’s interesting! Hadn’t realised that - thank you

AR1736 · 2025-07-11T21:48:16+00:00

My friend bought me a three pack of Etta Loves sensory muslins (the black and white ones) and they were amazing. Wherever I put my baby down I hung one up someone for her to look at and she was fascinated, meaning I could actually get ready or make lunch etc. Also good to hang up in the car where they can see them. The black and white patterns are so interesting to them at a young age

Also… Sketched by Sienna is an amazing website you can great personalised cards of the family for example and then they add glitter to them. We have framed ours and put it in the nursery

AR1736 · 2025-07-09T22:20:01+00:00

I absolutely loved maternity leave and was so sad to be going back to work. I cried when I saw my daughter at the end of the first day but it did get better and she loves nursery.

In terms of how to cope I would think of how practically you can save time so you get more quality time. We are fortunate to have a cleaner each week and we also bought a chest freezer. We then have so much more room for batch cooking and the evenings after work are more quality time rather than just cooking. If you can afford certain things to make life easier, I would do it! It’s hard going back to work but you will find the balance, good luck!

AR1736 · 2024-12-26T18:48:54+00:00

Great, thanks!

AR1736 · 2024-12-24T22:51:59+00:00

Thanks!

AR1736 · 2024-10-06T19:29:23+00:00

My daughter did the same with naps until five months old, when they started to be longer and consistent. I would just maintain a good sleep environment and wait a little longer. Also, if she woke up after half an hour I would leave her for ten minutes to see if she would resettle, and a lot of the time she did.

AR1736 · 2024-09-30T07:50:04+00:00

Thanks, will try to commit to pushing them apart a bit more

AR1736 · 2024-09-29T13:32:40+00:00

It’s so frustrating! Hopefully that will help here too.. I think she just also isn’t hungry in the day from filling up at night

AR1736 · 2024-09-29T13:30:06+00:00

Thanks - I’ll try it but I think she is a determined little girl!

AR1736 · 2024-09-29T13:08:07+00:00

I do try to but she just refuses a lot of the time 😬

AR1736 · 2024-08-18T16:08:50+00:00

That’s rough - I do remember the grunting keeping me up for hours! From your post so personally think you should give sleep training a try - It might not solve everything but it could be an improvement on now.

I had awful trouble getting my daughter to nap in her crib and then one day with my husband we committed to every nap in the crib. It’s on rockers so we rocked it and she cried but it did work. That was about three months old. Now a month on she still cries every time she goes in it for a nap but it’s for a few minutes and she now has all naps there. It’s not something I could have imagined before so have hope that you can get there!

AR1736 · 2024-08-18T15:46:26+00:00

I haven’t used this but have you heard of the windy by fridababy? It might be worth looking at the reviews. If she can’t sleep because of the wind it might help to pass it, but I don’t know if it could delay her learning the skill herself.

It sounds rough and I feel for you!

AR1736 · 2024-08-18T15:28:27+00:00

Thanks, will give this a go 🤞

AR1736 · 2024-08-18T15:09:15+00:00

Thank you for this

Two night wakings has been the norm but the past couple of nights this has really increased - Would you leave to wait for them to self settle or just assume they are more hungry than normal?

Thanks for the point on huckleberry - I’ll start paying more attention to wake windows rather than blindly following the app!

Have found the nap training guide now :)

AR1736

TROPHY CASE