Fatigued with trying to find the time to be a tight@r$e....

**confuzzled**

....basically what the title says...I'm very much time poor! I'm struggling to juggle work, chores, baby and family commitments all while trying to keep costs as low as possible and everything is swimming around my noggin so time to put pen to paper(so to speak) and empty my head, although some may question there was anything in there to begin with:p

So a bit of background........ I've been on MSE for a while (this is my 1st attempt at a diary) and I just know I'll be bobbing in & out of here sporadically so if I'm MIA for a while pls remember.... I'll be back *Terminator Stylee*:D
I have a fabulous husband who has given me a beautiful 9.5month old daughter who is growing at a rate of knots(!) and can scale pretty much anything with height, she's even attempted sitting on the poor cat!
Now one of our financial hurdles is my hubby, money burns a hole in his pocket*rolly eyes* but he's adamant he's not going to hand over full control to me(1 less thing for me to deal with!:T)...and to be fair to him we have both had issues with money in the past, him spending too much too often and me just not talking about money(I blame the parents:p) at all & trying to tackle debts on my own:o, but we've mostly overcome these issues with our weekly money talks, which incidentally, are always around 11pm at night when all I can think is 'need sleep' ..crafty $od isn't he?:rotfl:

Financially we're doing fine, just paid off the car loan:j and managing to pay the DMP while saving for when we remortgage(currently taking advantage of low rates;)) but I know we can do better which is what's annoying me, I think my problem is planning and preparation, you'd never guess I was a Brownie & Girl Guide would you??? :rotfl:
I also know our biggest expense(other than time) is food, why oh why do I like treats? *cake & wine anyone?* Doesn't help that I've conveniently worked out the local co-op yellow sticker all the cakey goodness just after DD has fallen asleep:o:o:o
No wonder my waistline doesn't seem to be shrinking despite all the running about I do!:rotfl:

So 1st goal will be to reduce the food bill(and hopefully waistline), I dread to think how much we spend but I know it's definitely £250+:eek: Although this does include all food, baby food/milk, nappies, cat food, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc (have you noticed my amazing ability to justify the over-spending yet?:o)

And as it should be payday for hubby today and our cupboards are almost empty I'm going to start my personal grocery challenge...TODAY!!!!!! Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!:)

Any hints & tips on how to fit in batch cooking, cleaning the house etc are always appreciated and please don't suggest trying to change more than 1 thing at a time...my poor brain can't cope with it I've tried in the past and ended up in more of a pickle than when I started:o:o

Fuzz x

Tixy

Hi Fuzz

Wow - sounds like a lot going on.

How do you tend to shop for food at the moment? Have you thought about whether doing a big grocery shop online would work for you? That would save you the time of actually going to the shops and allow you the time to think about what you want and need (and checking the cupboards as you go along to see what you already have in). Plus if you do the online shop just after you've eaten in the evening hopefully you won't be as tempted by the cakes/treats section so much. (Although online shopping after more than 1 glass of wine can somehow make the wine section/offers look very appealing).

This might also stop the nipping the shops to pick up 1 thing and then impulse buying other things at the same time?

It may or may not work for you, but its just a thought anyway.

**confuzzled**

Hi Tixy and thanks for posting
Yep lots going on, but without having loads to do I go to the other extreme and do nothing:o I'm afraid I'm an all or nothing kinda gal!

I do online shopping once a month(with the mandatory glass of vino;)) and stock up on the bulky & store cupboard essentials and once a week I do a 'quick' shop to supermarkets for the fresh stuff and combine this with petrol fill ups to reduce the need to 'pop' to the shops. It'll help once DD is completely eating the same as us but atm our food is too spicy for her and I'm not sure we know how to cook without using all manner of spices:rotfl:

Have just found flylady bingo on facebook so will give that a bash on my day off(Friday) hopefully it'll be a productive bit of fun:)

My aim for tonight is to do the monthly bulk shop & if I'm feeling particularly energized I may even attempt to put some stuff on ebay............. having this diary is like a mental kick up the butt coz I know I'll be reporting back at some point:o:T

Fuzz x

Horace

Fuzz - sorry to hear of your predicament - I am the same at the mo although I have no money coming in and am trying to juggle my search for work with an extremely tight budget and my self managed DMP. As for cleaning my hovel well, that gets left til last - there is an amazing thread on the oldstyle board about messy homes (the flylady thread is a bit too scary).

Food is my problem at the moment - I would love to buy some so very occasionally I venture out with LVs from PKone and spend them. Someone gave me a tip recently (or should that be more than one?) if there is a Waitrose nearby they reduce their food on Tuesday evenings. Morrisons do so an hour before closing on a daily basis typically.

I am using what I have and dipping into my Hard Times book which is a book written during the 1930s in Australia and then reprinted in 1984 (oh the joy of Australian charity shops - it is the best thing I brought back).

Good luck with your diary.

clippy_girl

:wave: hi confuzzled! with regards to fitting in batch cooking, do you have a slow cooker? i goy one for about £12 in asda and its quite big. you can just dump all the ingreds in it in the morning and then dish it up for evening meal. then freeze the rest in individual portions (sandwich bag or takeaway pots) and you can just get two out for dinner and do potatoes etc! i do sausage casserole (dont even brown the sausages), hotpot (do brown meat) but think you can cook pretty much anything in it! alternatively if you are cooking soething that requires you to keep watch, cook a pot of soup, chilli etc at the same time. i do most of mine at weekends and then during week just heat it up

The_Golden_Goose

Hey Fuzz! Reading your diary reminded me a lot of myself in more ways than one.

We have a Gosling, roughly the same age as yours, life is hectic and I find it hard to fit everything in. Today I scrubbed the kitchen floor! Last time it was done was about four months ago! It has been washed and mopped in between times but it needed a really good get on all fours and scrub the grouting type job. I feel great for doing it. I'm shattered now! Didn't have time to do anything else as the Gosling is a bit demanding and for some reason needs entertaining and human interaction!! :rotfl: What happened to the telly being the babysitter??

MrGG never moans about the state of the house though and has been known to help out but he works hard and long days so I try not to harass him too much. I'm sure his version of this is probably different!!

I've started putting on a load of washing on the timer so that it's ready to hang out when I get up and that's made life easier. Also giving the baby finger food which keeps him occupied and frees me up to do bits and pieces in the kitchen whilst I keep one eye on him. I'm always worried about choking.

Once the baby has gone to bed, that's my time so I try hard to not do chores unless its desperate as I need chill out time.

Slow cooker is your friend as is meal planning. Oooh listen to me! Typical that I'm not half as organised as I sound. I think half the battle is identifying what you need to do and how you intend to do it and then blinking doing it! Easy or wot? :rotfl:I'm all about the theory and not so good at putting it into practice, hence why I need my MSE diary to give me a jolly good shove in the right direction towards domestic bliss. Or as close as I'll ever get to it.....:D

**confuzzled**

Thanks for the input guys & thanks for posting:)

GG you're so right, in theory I have it all worked out, in reality it just isn't happening! Baby Fuzz is starting to become more independent and luckily can entertain herself for a little while(10 mins usually but it's a start!) and finger foods = amazing! I'm so glad she finally eats sandwiches:o:D
Mopping the kitchen floor....you sound like me, it's lovely once its done but I'm so busy trying to keep on top of everything else it gets neglected, DH finally gives in and does it approx every 6weeks which is roughly when the floor is more cat food than pretty tiles:rotfl: In my defence DD is not allowed in the kitchen at all and I do try and clean it up when I see it..honest:A

Clippy - slow cooker..Yes I do have 1!:j Only problem is I'm a bit bonidle in the morning and it's all I can do to get myself & DD out of the door on time let alone trying to shove something in the slow-cooker...that is something I will definitely have to work on as our slow cooker is MAHOOSIVE:D I'm also quite new to slow-cooking so tend to be a bit wary of trying anything new in it..my speciality is sausage casserole! Is it ok to not brown thigns like sausages?? I suppose the raw meat is self-contained so probably will be ok...hmm may have to play about with foods and try not to poison us all

Horace - Sorry to hear of your predicament:( I'm also a fan of the last hour at Morrisons, as soon as DDs in bed I'm usually down there if we need anything...majority of our 'treats' are yellow stickered, I wouldn't be able to justify them otherwise;):) Asda also yellow sticker everything from around 6:30/7pm;) oh and the Co-Op too if you have a local one:)

This (long) weekend, we did the monthly shop although I stupidly asked DH to put it through on his card and then suddenly loads of carp arrived with my order:mad: But we still managed to get everything for £127 which should see us through it'll just be fresh foods and DD's milk/nappies/jars that need topping up.
Also managed to get a couple of things on ebay, DDs clothes that have never been worn, help onto them til the right season to hopefully maximise profits;) Will be able to put a couple of things on every week thanks to Ebay app for my android:T
Did list(how I love lists!) for house hold chores and broken the big horirble jobs down to doing them every other week..it looks good but whether it happens or not remains to be seen:o
Gone through the wardrobe junk & started on xmas presents-aim is to have xmas done before DDs 1st brithday with the exception of DH & DDs pressies.
Think thats it, which imo is impressive seeing as DD has discovered she can climb stairs:eek: and it's now her new favourite activity*sigh*

Hope everyone elses weekend was fun & possibly productive.
Thanks for posting its helping me keep going, amazing what a little accountability can do isn't it??:rotfl:

Fuzz x

girlatplay

Hi fuzz :wave: Welcome to diaryland!!

I'm just popping in to say, there is a flylady thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3451179 which I really like. I don't post on it at the moment but I find it very helpful / inspiring.

Good luck.

Gap x

**confuzzled**

:wave:Girlatplay - I'm an occassional flylady lurker, I lurk there with good intentions..honest:A but I tend not to knuckle down & get on with it, should really sit down and adapt it to my own life as I can't do mon-fri, cleaning days are fri-sun in our house!:)

girlatplay

Truth be told fuzz, I am the same. I lurk there with good intentions and I love the ideas but procrastination is my middle name Glad you know about it anyway.

The_Golden_Goose

Double post - DOH