greent's mfw journey

greent

Fingers crossed - he has an offer to do a Masters - also with a 2:1 - however, he is about 10 points below DD on average - so he really needs his final essays he's doing over the Easter break to be good!!

greent

Ooof! This month has been spendy! There was DS1's bday (presents, meal out), Easter (eggs and a couple of extras over the hols, such as a leg of lamb, a McDs trip, a cinema trip etc), 2 trips to collect students (fuel and lunch...), a car issue for OH (£244 to fix, when part has arrived....), various needed clothes (new school trousers x4 for DS2 (all others outgrown), new jeans for DS1 x 3 (has split 4 pairs....), new shoes for DS1 (a pair was literally falling apart and another has split), shorts for DS3 (had none in his size!), PJs for DS3 (very short on them - thick onesies aren't suitable in this weather!), joggers and casual trousers for DS2 (outgrown several pairs and split one pair straight across at knee (turned into shorts)), shorts for DD x1 (left all of hers back at uni - weather was a bit too hot for full on jeans...), 3/4 jeans for me (left my old pair (split at thigh and knee) in Portugal last year), 2 x car insurance (1300 for the 2), tyres for OH's car (£580), WM repair (£48), swimming lessons and shooting lessons (DS3 and DS2 respectively) and am awaiting the bill for trombone lessons and an emergency hotel booking today for £188!! (DD and boyf in London to see Cursed Child (21st bday present) and the Airbnb holder of the flat we booked for them is not answering any messages/ returning calls...…:mad::(:mad::()
Oooh - forgot - tenant had an issue which needed a plumber so we've got a bill for that, too....

Still.... it's only money, right?! And at least we're not going into debt for it and everyone is healthy and fed (and in new clothes! :p) and the car tyres are safe

Frugal(ish!) things...? - bargain purchases of toilet paper and cleaning products at closing down stationery store. Free DHL (strong) boxes at said store which will use for boxing up student things over Summer, keeping them safe and clean and tidy. Sold a large item from garage (gaining money and space) and a small amount of DS3's outgrown clothes. Took various items to CS (can use any giftaid re sold items on tax return) Fingers crossed a friend can fix the part on OH's car - which will reduce the bill Used Nand0s reward on meal out for a free meal :T Dug up some plants and bulbs from my Nan's garden - free prettiness! Also brought a set of 3 glazed planters home from there Planted courgette and tomato seeds - going well! Planted very old calendula and salad leaves seeds (only yesterday) - will see if they grow! Used 2 x £5 off vouchers at HnM (from old clothes taken there for recycling) to offset the cost of new jeans for DS1 a little... Used fence paint we've had for several years to actually paint the fence! - hopefully keeping it going a little longer Shopped around for car insurance and both went through tcb

Importantly, DD is really enjoying her theatre trip - which is the main thing. OH is going to try and sort out the Airbnb thing through his credit card, as Airbnb resolution means not getting all the money back, by looks (pfft!)

And the exam season is almost here - so resulting busy-ness = money! :j:D (all for the holiday fund!)

Karmacat

Good grief thats a lot :rotfl: but it's all necessary - and with so much expenditure, I'm in awe that you still know what you got and why you got it.



Congratulations on the free prettiness

newgirly

Ouch that sounds a lot of spending greent! Glad Dd is enjoying the theatre (very glad as in taking my Dd to see it in October ) but I can’t believe you won’t get all your money back from air bnb owner! Very frustrating

greent

DD thoroughly enjoyed Cursed Child Airbnb owner still not read WhatsApp messages (how he asked for contact) as at last night :grr: nor was he answering his phone when OH tried to call him. Airbnb resolution process seems to take a while (fair enough) but also seems to keep a portion of your money (Airbnb 'fee' + a few extra £) - maybe it will be different as the chap just ignored emails/ WhatsApp/ calls and we will get it refunded in full - especially as other reviews (since we booked) say he's a scammer (he had amazing feedback for both his properties when we booked) If not, OH has also raised a case with his CC company - they want an update in a week as to whether Airbnb are refunding in full or not. We have screenshotted everything - including the WhatsApp messages which show he wasn't online to read them and the Airbnb page which shows he had been online and ignored the messages from OH (so am guessing nothing too serious had befallen him if he could manage to log into Airbnb...…)#

Am hoping for a rather less spendy May!!!! It is DS3's bday (presents already bought - just needs a couple of 'stocking filler' type things), my mum's bday (argh! - no idea!), my sister's bday (again - no idea!) and one of my cousin's is getting married (feel that may be a bottle of fizz as a present) and have a school trip and trombone lessons to pay for - and a couple of trips to Wales (student returns/ pickups) Oh - and there is also half term at the end of the month...…. Sigh…….. Fingers crossed nothing breaks down so we have more unexpected repair bills!

Off to work in a bit - Y12 internal exams this week (seeing as AS levels aren't really a thing anymore this is their 'kick up the b*m' if they need it exams - AS-s were rather handy for that - gave them a kick if needed and there was the opportunity to re-sit the following Summer with A2-s if necessary) Looks like a sunny day at the mo - but I think rain is expected later. …. back to 'normal' April weather!
xx

apple_muncher

Oh my! I have had to have a sit down on your behalf to recover from the month x

brizzlegirl

Wow..so much going on. And DS splitting 4 pairs of trousers made me chuckle...(and think how???!!) ..that clothing bill..let alone all the AirBnB stuff...what a month.

Think you need to have a well earned rest this weekend

greent

Sigh...… so OH gets back from working away last night - having clipped another car in the (stupidly narrow and made worse by building work) lanes a couple of miles from our house..... his new car insurance starts 1st May (as does mine) so he's registered a claim with existing insurer (he scratched the other car and damaged bumper and has lots of minor scratches on his car) Not sure if we need to inform new insurers and whether it will affect the premiums agreed for the coming year... However, it was a very low speed bump (maybe 10mph) so no one is hurt in any way, which is good - just hassle-y.

He also collected some sch trousers from MnS in the town he works yesterday lunchtime for DS2 (I had got some, but when I went to pull in the waistbands 2 of the pairs had the elastic sewn into the waistbands by a belt loop - argh!) - and has lost them! - he thinks he put them down in a shop somewhere..... so that's 2 pairs of new sch trousers gone missing which I need to get some more of - and the reason I got him to get them was I'm working every day next week and won't be here for a delivery/ won't be able to go into town. Sigh...…

I'm looking forward to moving onto May!!

On a more positive note, though - Airbnb have already agreed to a 100% refund :T :T - and have asked that we send in a copy of the hotel invoice - they're not promising, but will see if they can get some compensation for the increased costs we incurred. Fingers crossed.....

OH and DS1 & DS2 are off to cinema today to see Endgame - OH booked it as a surprise when he was working away - although forgot to use m33rkat movies deal - doh! He did, however, get the tickets cheap (£6 each)

Super windy here - woke up to 3 recycling boxes around the back garden - with contents blown everywhere. A couple of pots also blown over and damaged and several trays of seeds blown about too - thankfully they were only raised up a few inches, so appear to be intact, if a little windblown looking. Have been moved to a slightly more sheltered space. Heavy rain was forecast to go with the winds - but it's still dry at the mo. I have put on the heating, though - I'm cold and I have washing to get dry. I shall turn it off soon and aim to hang out remaining laundry if the winds die down - as I was writing that I looked out at a noise to see a bucket and a food waste bin being blown along the patio (from around the corner of the house) and several tall flowers in bloom damaged (not related to the bin and bucket - these are much further up the garden in distance and height!)…. might not be hanging laundry out today! - don't fancy chasing that around the neighbourhood! :rotfl:

xx

shangaijimmy

I can only imagine the trouble I'd be in if I did that with the school pants! Thankfully I'm jnot trusted and Grandma does those emergency shop type duties!

teapot2

Oh dear to the lost trousers and the car bump Good news re airbnb playing fair though - as they absolutely should.