Roxies £3K diary - help!

RoxieW

Busy day today - but the kind of busy day where you have lots of bits and bobs to do and nothing to show for it. Got to prep for a work meeting tonight, sort my ebays and also we've all got drs apps for little niggly things - thought i'd get them all out of the way in one go.

Going to definitely look into old style cooking when i get chance. Listed a couple of other things on ebay before i move onto the boys toys - though might wait abit closer to xmas for that?

have also messaged my SIS to run this passed her - instead of buying her baby lots of new stuff for xmas I'm going to wrap up alot of the things that we bought for our liitle one last year. Hes hardly played with them - all leapfrog, little tikes etc. There's £150 worth. She said that's great so thats him sorted then. Plus it will all be without the stacks of packaging and also have batteries in lol Am going to set a £20 budget for the rest of family I think.

Right - boys out playing, little one in bed so best get cracking.

honeyD

RoxieW wrote: »

OH says I should budget better but yet he put un the trolly a 15 crate of beer, 2 tubs of Ben and Jerry and some toiletries for him.

I would have taken it out and put it back on the shelf. You need to tell him that this is the budget he set for you and if he wants extra it comes from his own money! It is not fair on you to put you on a budget then he makes you go over and its your fault! It is NOT your fault if HE chooses to buy those things. You need to put your foot down where this is concerned. I think a good way for you to "help" him understand how much he is adding on to the bill is let him carry a basket and pay for his own items then he will realise its not so cheap?
Otherwise you are doing really well and Im enjoying reading how you are doing. Im looking at cheaper meals myself but havent tried any of the recipes yet as I am so fussy!

vasseur

honeyD wrote: »

I would have taken it out and put it back on the shelf. You need to tell him that this is the budget he set for you and if he wants extra it comes from his own money! It is not fair on you to put you on a budget then he makes you go over and its your fault! It is NOT your fault if HE chooses to buy those things. You need to put your foot down where this is concerned. I think a good way for you to "help" him understand how much he is adding on to the bill is let him carry a basket and pay for his own items then he will realise its not so cheap?

I agree. I don't know how you've managed to stay so calm.

RoxieW

I know. I guess I just feel like he deserves some treats as he works so hard to support us financially. His attitude is - so I'm not even allowed a beer etc etc. And to be fair with the ice cream I think he thought he was doing a good thing as they were on offer. I just rally strugglenwith his mindset that money just stretches and stretches. We don't have that much wiggle room at the moment.
Quite a productive day today. Work meeting event well. Still got the e bays to wrap and post though. Another day eh ?

RoxieW

Morning all! Well I'm officially out of ideas of things to do on no money. Can entertain them in the house but am meeting a friend this morning and I want to go somewhere. The only options that I can think of are the park and the free beach and tbh we've done both to death! There are other nice parks but they are a bus ride away which makes it a costly exercise before we've even started. And the weather as changeable as it is isn't helping either. Any suggestions??

casperlarue

Roxie.....don't you forget that you work hard too.....raising your boys, working, running a home. Us mum's have the worst paid job in the world!

On the ideas front.....is there enough around you that you could make up a treasure hunt type walk.....might need to keep an eye on the weather though! Our school pta organised one once, just around the local area....the kids had to look out for road signs with certain letters in, pub names, what was written over the church door and so on.

My kids made a pirate ship in their bedroom yesterday with a sheet and an england flag! If you were a naughty pirate you got sent to the brig (ie. under the bed!) I wondered why DS kept asking to go there...he had his pillow, a blanket and torches all set up down there!

vasseur

Ditto casperlarue you need a break too. As I've said before it's far harder staying home with children than going to work - just my opinion though.

Is there anything wrong with not actually doing anything? I think there's so much pressure to keep kids entertained these days. My mum says I do far more with my DD than she did with me and my sister. There seems to be this culture among parentsthese days that kids have to be constantly amused. I think they sometimes need some downtime where they can just relax and amuse themselves. What's wrong with them reading a book or playing a board game? They should learn to enjoy their own company.

If you really need to get out can you take them for a really long walk? Fruit picking? (not sure what's in season at the mo though )

One thing that me and DD do - we go for a nice long walk in the country and on the way back we have to cross the motorway (via a bridge) - we just stand there and wave at the cars (this is more fun than it sounds ). We count the responses. Last time we had about 50 waves back, 3 flashes and 5 toots!

Have you got one of those large pet superstores near you? We can easily kill an hour there looking at all the animals. It's free and the kids feel like they've done something.

Don't forget to give yourself a break too

RoxieW

Hi guys Well we killed a morning in the park and library but the weather was on and off all the time - winding and spitting one minute, then sunny the next. Also spent £6 in greggs on the way home which was a mistake really as they could easily have had a sandwich at home. The boys are happily watching scooby doo movie (they started painting but abandoned after 5 mins grrr) and lo is having his nap so i get an hour chill (ish) time. then i have to treck out again to the dentist and swimming lessons. might take the lo in for a swim today as he hasnt been in for a while. He's difficult though as hes such an independant little monkey he doesnt want to be held and he tips himself out of his float. I 'm a teeny bit concerned about him actually. He doesnt like to play with anyone, not even me, hates cuddles, hates me reading him a story etc. He just either wants to be left to his own devices or picked up and carried around. I've never met such an independant, grumpy, strong willed 18mth old in my life! He's such hard work as he's constantly emptying out the cupboards/washing etc.
Yes I agree ladies - I've worked full time and been a SAHM and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that for me working was far far far easier. Far less stressful. Four weeks into the holidays my patience is wearing very thin and I start to snap.
I dont feel I have to entertain them all the time but I find that they are better behaved and less trouble if they have soemthing organised to do at home or if we go out for the day. If we have a structure to the day. Sometimes I think they actually prefer to stay home but I need to get out most days as have had agrophobia in the past. I also wanted to have a good catch up with my friend but that didnt really happen as we have to watch the little ones every second at the park and follow them about. I enjoy going for walks but they need an end reward such as a park or something otherwise they get very fed up. Taking the boys blackberrying on fri although non of us really like them lol. Another idea is to get their bikes out more as they need to practice on them.

A bit of good news is that the house next to us has sold at asking price in one day so that bodes well for when we decide to move. Although it annoyed me that hubby said he thought her house was nicer than ours as it had less clutter and was tidier. Well shes a single woman alone in a 3 bed house. We are a family of five! It just felt like a criticism. But I'm learning to put less weight on OH's criticisms. I know that our house is nicer than hers as we have had a new kitchen and bathroom for a start and hers are 20 yrs old ! So anyway, trying to shrug off that dig :mad:. The fact of the matter is that I simply dont have lots of time to dedicate to housework. I wish I did as I like a tidy house but at the moment the children and my career are my priorities and I'm finding it hard enough to juggle full time mother hood with perusing my career and keeping the ball rolling work wise. I've scrapped exercise and spending time on my appearance. I dont watch tv or read or do anything during the day that isnt either something with the kids or sitting down and working (plus my coffee breaks on here lol). I've toyed with the idea of having, say, 2 half days dedicated to housework but it just isnt happening so far. How do other people manage? I feel like there just isnt enough energy or time or inclination for me to do and be everything that is expected of me sometimes .

RoxieW

oh - we dont have a pet superstore but if we go on the bus to the playcentre there is one there so we do have a look. it does kill an hour but couldnt justify the bus just to go there IYSWIM. We do go in the little pet shop in town but the lady always looks abit annoyed so we only stay 10 mins and I normally feel i have to buy the rabbit food there even though it i cheaper in the supermarket lol. One thing I think I overlook is the library as the older boys like going on the comps so we killed an hour there today easily.

RoxieW

i like the treasure hunt walk idea. Going to do that this week Thanks