For many families over the past year, the pressure of living together under one roof has certainly caused some tension, disagreements and arguments about who’s watching what on TV. But bear some sympathy for Kim Johnson, 33, who jokes that it was like “herding cats”, after spending lockdown with six children and her husband, Matt, an electronics engineer.
“The day school reopened I could have danced,” laughs the freelance writer who lives in Crowborough, East Sussex. “I was getting up at 6am to work till eight, home schooling, then making dinner and putting the children to bed at 9pm and then working again till around 2am.” Like many parents juggling parenting, teaching and working, she says: “I learned to survive on very little sleep.”
Just before the pandemic, the couple were hoping to move from their three-bedroom house into “their perfect home” – a four-bedroom house by the sea with the potential to convert the garage into another bedroom.
“It was the dream home,” says Johnson. “We would have stayed there until the children moved out.”
But when Covid-19 hit and Johnson was made redundant from her role at a community centre, moving into their dream home was no longer an option. At the same time, the pandemic highlighted more than ever the need for more space for the family, which includes her five children and her stepson who stays at weekends, all aged between four and 16.
“I live in a new-build house with no storage rooms,” says Johnson. “Having all six children here at the weekend means you can’t move.” Currently, the four youngest children share a bedroom, with two sets of bunk beds, and the teenagers share another room with a divider to give them privacy.
“I grew up in a large family and we were all on top of each other,” recalls Johnson. “I know it’s important to have your own space to decorate, bring your personality to and escape to.”
Keen to improve the situation, the couple have decided to hire builders to convert the loft into two bedrooms and install a separate shower room next year.
Johnson is excited about what the extra space will mean for all of them. “The teenagers will each have a loft room and I will get my room back as we’re currently in the box room. My husband crawls over my legs when he climbs out of the bed. He’s up at 4.30am and wakes me up! We’ll have our old room back and partition off the wall to create an office space.”
She says the children are equally thrilled about the loft conversion. “They’re excited about having so much space to escape to and store their belongings,” she says. “As a large family, there’s always something going on – if we want to escape it’s very hard to.”
After paying off their debts at the start of last year, the couple have created a savings plan to help pay for the conversion, which is likely to set them back between £12,000 and £15,000.
“The money we would have spent on credit card bills is going into a separate savings account. We put in around £300 a month, sometimes more or less. If one week I spend £10 less on groceries, that goes into the account. I like a plan, so I budget everything in my head and if it’s allocated then it doesn’t exist any more because I’m on a monthly budget. Whether it’s school uniforms or Christmas, we’re always saving for something.”
Jill Waters, NS&I’s retail director says: “Having paid off their debts, it’s great to see how the Johnsons are not spending the extra money available in their monthly budget but saving for a loft extension that will make a difference to all the family’s lives. The children will also see the reward of saving and hopefully be inspired for when they have their own incomes.”
At the start of the pandemic, Johnson began a three-month internship for a startup company and is now writing content for small companies. “I had to find remote working as childcare wasn’t available and I was still home schooling the children.”
Johnson says her new “accidental” career as a freelance writer has led to a healthier savings pot.
“My career has been amazing,” she says. “I’m actually doing something I really enjoy now and I have the ability to save. I love being able to do something that is flexible enough to work around the children, but gives me the opportunity to experience a wide variety of things. A single day could involve talking to a client in Texas about their website, researching products for an e-commerce blog and writing my own projects. I recently published a book, which I never would have done before starting my career writing. It has also forced me to take a hard look at how we were spending money as a family and re-evaluate the things that are most important; focusing on savings, the future and ways that we can improve our lives.”
And for Johnson, that’ll mean no longer being woken up by Matt clambering over her legs on a morning.
Having something joyful to save towards can make putting money aside easier. Start saving for a sunny day with the help of NS&I. Visit nsandi.com for more information
