Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

museumworker

Hello all! OH is away on a work trip for a week, so home alone with the two kids for the first time on my own :eek:! Have had lovely weekend so far. Went to children's story playcentre yesterday - £8 for us. Met friend there which was lovely, and they bought us some hot drinks afterwards which was very generous. Bought Xmas wrapping paper, £8 spent. Today we went to local Xmas fair, and bought some fantastic second hand toys for DS. Three Lamaze toys, a John Lewis pull along toy and John Lewis stacking puzzle, then some wooden toys, and two board books. All that for £7! Have put the soft toys through the machine, think we will wrap them up and give them to DS for Xmas. Found a teachers present for £1, a molly makes christmas book for me for £1, a scented candle for the house for 50p. DD had a henna tattoo too. So make it that we've spent £28 this weekend, on two days out and presents.

Breadmaker on, have a mountain of eggs to use up so think scrambled egg on HM bread for tea tonight!

Am super exhausted though as DS woke up shrieking about 6 times last night.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Sounds like a very thrifty weekend! Glad you are enjoying your mat leave, very envious!

Squirrel

lulabelle1

Super impressed with the presents for DS, makes perfect sense to buy some used toys, good on you!

museumworker

Hello SSS and lulabelle, good to see you both. SSS - am really enjoying mat leave, and still have 6 months left. My pay is about to drop enormously, but being frugal means I can afford to take unpaid time with the LO, what a luxury. Lulabelle - amazing OPs, well done! I must read your diary when I have some time. Think he is so little that spending a fortune on things he will outgrow in a few months is a bit ludicrous. Instead we are thinking of commissioning a drawing for DS's room, I saw it in a toy shop and loved it. It was about £50, and that is something that would last for many many years. Just need to show OH it first!

Didn't quite realise how stressful I would find it with OH away. Yesterday I had a day of absolute hell with DD, lots of tears from both of us . We managed to sort it out though and today was much, much better .

Mortgage statement arrived:
As at 01 Dec 2012 our balance is £158,522 :j:j!

We also received our Xmas cards, they are gorgeous - really pleased with them. Have posted two already, including one to New Zealand. Plan to do a few every day rather than make it a big session which I don't have time for.

Today was haircut day, so DD and I both looking a lot tidier.

Having delivery problems with Amazon - their customer service really is rubbish. It puts me off shopping with them - will start to look at other options rather than using them as my 'go to' choice.

Also, I did get a bit confused when I did my banking, so now have to top up mortgage account by £50 odd. Oops .

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

I have similar problems when Amazon contract out to city link and yodel as we are at work all day. It is a real nuisance and puts me off too. Trouble is that you don't know who the carrier will be until you have ordered.

[Deleted User]

OOo picture for the bedroom sounds a fab idea and something he will love for ages!!
Sorry yesterday was hard work with dd, lets hope today is better (its Friday so should be!! )

have a lovely weekend mw

museumworker

SSS - totally agree about delivery. This is the second time in a week they have not met a 'guaranteed' delivery date and have changed it afterwards to an 'estimated' delivery date. Still waiting for something that was guaranteed on Wednesday. And their customer service is polite but useless. Grrr!

TYO - thanks, am quite excited about it. Have a good weekend yourself!

Have lost the raincover for my buggy :eek::eek:! Found out this morning when we were already late for school, when naturally it was cold and very wet - so have done the school run with two ikea bags over the buggy :rotfl:! Have to laugh about it as these things cost about £30 to replace so a very expensive mistake to make . Have tried the school, park and charity shop, about to call the hairdressers and library. So hoping it'll turn up.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I'm so lucky to have reitred neighbours one side - we just let them know when we're expecting a delivery and they keep an eye out for it... I always get them a good Christmas present to thank them.

museumworker

Hello all - just a quick update. Xmas is proving to be a hectic time. Some good news to begin with - have now been awarded my AMA :j! This is a museum professional development award I have been working on for 3 years now, and was one of my main targets for the year so am delighted to have put that one to bed.

Some not so good news - DD fractured her toe so is on crutches. We weren't prepared for Xmas at all, so still have some shopping to do today (day 3 of shopping and I never want to go into a shop again! How do people do this for fun?). Our budget is out the window and I see a long and lean January ahead. My pay has dropped down to SMP too . We did most of our food shopping yesterday - £160 :eek: spent, although we did also get £25 off using coupons.

Hope everyone else is more organised, and all set for the big day!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Merry Christmas MW, sorry to hear abut DD. Great news about your AMA.

Wishing you health and happiness in 2013, Tilly x