greent's mfw journey

greent

Karmacat wrote: »

Thats what I've been doing Even nowadays when I have the outside washing line, at this time of year, they still need finishing off inside, so to speak. I want them to be squeaky dry before thing go into storage.

Same here, KC - although there's been no chance of getting anything out on the line here for the past few days - very soggy




Food budget has been 'bust' - I went to Sains to check out the clothes - and get brown bread flour, which would have taken me about £1 over. Got some cracking deals on clothes - and found some sirloin and fillet steaks and chicken breasts RTC - it would have been silly to ignore those. Only other food spends in there was on the brown bread flour, and stocking up on white bread flour, as the one I like (I use a mix of branded V strong and Aldi bread flour) is now cheaper in there than Tessco. Less than £20 over though, for stocking up and some meat deals - so that seems fair enough.


I need to send OH out for a couple of pumpkins, too - DS2's which he carved at Cubs have rotted and were just a stinking, mushy, mouldy, fly-ridden mess _pale_ Not a nice job to clean up. They shan't be from food budget, though - as none of us like pumpkins in this house, so sadly the flesh will be wasted


Bit of money spending gone on this week - the clothes from Sains (couple of tops for DS3, one for DS2, PJs for DS3, socks and woolly tights for DD, jeans and a long sleeved tshirt for me) and a new steam generator iron (way below RRP from Outlet centre) as ours is no longer efficient - and we have a LOT of ironing! Also bought some combined fingerless and non-fingerless gloves for both DS2 and DS3, 2 pairs of joggers for DS3 and some socks for DS3. Nothing exciting and all needed.


Gloomy afternoon here - just waiting for the teens to have lunch(!!) and then we shall continue with our family game of Monopoly started yesterday. We had to abandon it because DD was off to a Halloween sleepover (taking green vanilla cupcakes with her, iced with orange, green or a combination of the 2 buttercream and Halloween sprinkles and shortbread in the shape of bats, moons and stars (some of the bats had orange or green icing on with black or orange sugar ball eyes))


Talking of Halloween, we've got our (small) box of decs from the loft ready - will do that later. I have a selection of small toys (party bag style) for small children callers on Saturday, with some sweets as backup. I shall send DS1 out with DS2 as supervision - DS3 isn't interested at all.


x

Goldiegirl

Don't blame you for stocking up on things when you see it - it saves in the long run.


I work on a yearly system - at the end of the year I add up all spends, then work out what the monthly average was. That way, I don't mind if one month seems heavy on spending, as there will be light months to balance it out

apple_muncher

I had to giggle that 'busting' your food budget = going over by ...£20! Steady on, girl!

greent

apple_muncher wrote: »

I had to giggle that 'busting' your food budget = going over by ...£20! Steady on, girl!

Having just added it up, I can confirm that the exact figure was £18.44!!


I must admit, I don't mind going over the budget by that amount - we're lucky enough not to have to keep to overly strict budgets, but I still like to keep an eye on things, as otherwise it's so easy to let the spending run away. Also, our spends are reasonable anyway (even when budget busting by £18.44! ) - my mum spends that a month for her!! (M&S, Sains - and a heavy reliance on ready meals/ convenience foods - and always brands)


Food budget for the next few months will be unusual, as OH will obv not be eating at home for a few days a week. Once he has a *proper* place to stay (ie: not a hotel) he has asked for a weekly budget for him to stick to - we'll need to see where he ends up and if he has access to a freezer before trying to figure out what that might be.


OH and DD have gone off to Swansea Uni today - I think this is the last Open Day DD will be attending before submitting her UCAS application. Swansea is nowhere near her first choice, but she is possibly considering it as an insurance choice, as the grade requirements are lower.


I've paid out another £380 this week for the next batch of driving lessons for DD:eek::eek: I'm hoping this month's (meaning Nov ) spends will generally be reasonable - Xmas shopping excluded (not that I mean my Xmas shopping spends will be unreasonable! )


I plan on some light KMing whilst OH is away in the week - once the small ones are in bed (teens at that point are usually in their rooms, either doing homework, reading, online, listening to music, watching tv etc). That won't mean much time per week in reality, but hopefully means I can tackle some of the paperwork issues - I plan on bringing a box into the dining room (nice and cosy on an evening - I'm not a fan of our home office - it's very much OH's domain) and possibly keeping it in there for the nights he's away so that I can get to grips with it. It's not *too* bad in reality, so should be achievable


It's just me and the 3 boys today - so I'm planning (in no particular order) brunch, a bit of housework (bathroom cleaning day for the boys - so they can tackle that together ) and decorating the hallway and family room for Halloween. It looks like being a nice day, so I shall see if I can persuade DS1 to use the garden vac in the back garden (lots of leaves to clear up! :eek:) and I may tackle some of the weeds in the front garden. I may even get some washing almost-dry outside today :T:D


x

jodles16

Hi greent! Very delayed but congratulations on being Mortgage Free! Also congrats to your children who sound like well balanced bright young things! Hope DS3 is getting on a bit better in school now!

What an inspirational diary!

Jodles

Karmacat

Sounds a nice quiet day, greent, hope it goes well.

greent

Thanks Jodles


DD and OH arrived back from Swansea 30 minutes ago - they weren't impressed, so it won't be an insurance choice for DD! Still, without visiting she would never have known - so definitely not a waste of time


I managed quite a lot of weeding out the front (still plenty left to do, though!) and a bit out the back. DS1 is going to vac the back for me shortly Next door have a huge tree which loves to drop its leaves all over our garden


Few Halloween decs sorted out, bowls of stuff ready for callers (stickers, glow sticks and mini games for small boys/ bracelets, pink pencils, glittery stuff, hairbands, glowsticks and rings for small girls/ sweets or glow sticks for larger people - gets rid of lots of party bag style bits we have (so declutters here!!) and also means I'm not contributing to as many sugar highs this evening! )

apple_muncher

When does OH start his contract? Is it a long one?

greent

Starts on Monday - it's initially for 3 months. He was offered a 12 month contract at the same place on the same day, but chose the shorter one as he'd rather not be working away
x

Hollyboll

Hello greent … just popped onto your thread to thank you for your suggestions, I have made a veggie curry this evening from one of those links
More importantly though - congrats on being mortgage free … :T:T:T
your thread is still on my list to read through so I didn't realise but have just seen your signature FANTASTIC :j:j:beer::j