MFWW - Cinny Gets Serious

Birdie85

Good luck with your challenges! You always seem to do so well with sticking to a budget, I'm amazed! We need to cut back even more, OH has boycotted Booths (next door to us so super handy, but posh Waitrose-style food with prices to match) and is walking the extra 5 minutes to Sainsbugs and we're noticing the difference in the bank balance. We're really looking forward to the end of the month when Zach hits the big 1 as he'll be moved to cows milk rather than formula which costs £8.49 a tub, and we get through one a week! :eek: That's the cheapest brand too!

Cinny91

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

It is impressive what a big difference it makes just changing where you shop, Birdie! I'm hoping with a switch to Aldi we'll be able to spend about £30 a week on food again. When our weekly food budget was £20, we always managed it by shopping there and the local discount shops.

Can't believe it's almost Zach's Birthday! Do you have anything planned?

Almost made it through the weekend with no spend! But we ran out of washing up liquid and milk on Sunday so was a mad dash to the shops and a £1.67. But it's such a tiny spend that I still feel oddly accomplished?!

A refund from HelloFresh hit my paypal this morning. The box didn't turn up yesterday and is apparently lost with the courier :eek: I'm sure they'll find it in a few days when the contents has gone off _pale_ So that's +£49 for me Not too sad about it as we were cancelling anyways, and we have enough things in to see us through until we go shopping at the weekend.

Making campfire stew for tea tonight in the slow cooker (happy to use this again!) and I'll have the left overs for dinners/teas over the next few days as OH is away with work. Saves me caving and getting a frozen pizza or something

Not a great deal to report other than that! Actually feeling rested after this weekend, lots of walks and I didn't see a damn soul bar OH :cool:

Birdie85

I'd say a £1.67 weekend is a victory! :T

Mmmm, I'm sure a gone-off Hello 'Fresh' delivery will be lovely!

Nothing fancy planned for Zach's birthday. Just having family and a couple of friends round on the Sunday before for cake. The problem with going back to work after 9 months is losing contact with a lot of people so there's no point in having a big party in a hall as there aren't enough guests to fill it! It's too expensive to do that anyway, considering he won't give 2 hoots about what's happening! We're so MSE we even kept his big Christmas present wrapped up to give to him on his birthday so we don't have to buy anything else! :money:

Cinny91

Eeeeeep - didn't mean to leave a week between posting!!

Decided to be poorly Wednesday - Thursday, so when I was at work on Friday I had so much to do I didn't have time to update on here (which I shouldn't really complain about, I'm not at work to MSE ) But this weekend has been so busy that I didn't sit down until 9:30pm on Saturday and 4:30pm yesterday :eek: Do not feel like I've had a proper weekend, didn't even have time to take Ryder out in the car for a super long walk which I feel guilty about. But he slept a lot so maybe he wanted a lazy weekend himself

Also no boost to the house savings this month. We decided to do a few jobs we've had on our list for a while and sacrifice the savings this month. Two trips to ikea and one whole Saturday spent building things/reorganising cupboards later.. we did it! 3 new free standing worktops, and we finally have a place to sit and eat in the kitchen Had some bleary eyed coffee and toast there this morning. Like real people! Will add some pictures!

Also did our first shop at Aldi and spent a total of £41 This did include some store cupboard things, so next weeks shouldn't be so high. But even so, it's £31 cheaper than our average weekly spend last month :beer:

Another busy afternoon today! Have a blind and a plate rack to put up to finish the kitchen. Really happy with the blind though, we were looking at some which were going to cost around the £100 mark, but we found one reduced in Ikea that's the perfect measurements for only £16 :j

And that's super MSE of you with Zach's birthday, Birdie! :money: I always think when people have massive 1st Birthday parties for their kids it's more to keep up appearances/for the parents than anything else? I don't think I had a proper birthday party until I was 5, I was so excited I cried in the ball pit :cool:

Birdie85

I was always pretty scared of ball pits. I had a major fear of going under and not getting back up! I still get a little flustered when going in with Zach now! :rotfl: I never had a proper party in a hall or anything, it was always just games and tea at my house. My friend (spoilt only child) had a big party every year with bouncy castles and magicians and clowns... epic parties!

How lucky are you, spending the weekend Ikea-ing?! I genuinely mean that too, I love furniture shopping and building! Your kitchen looks great!

gallygirl

Kitchen looks great - I have butcher's block envy .

wendz86

Your kitchen looks amazing Cinny, love the table.

Poppy is having her first 'big' party in april for her 4th birthday. She has been inviting everyone from nursery for months so thought i'd better do it haha. Hoping when she is at school we can invite a few close friends to do something.

Cinny91

Thanks for the nice comments! I absolutely love it. Was kind of hoping having our meals at a table would encourage this thing called.. conversation?! But with having a SmartTV in the kitchen for Netflix while I'm cooking/baking.. turns out OH just sees it as a sweet way to cram another episode of Community in at night.

Finding myself sat at the table a lot now, barely left the kitchen yesterday. Plus the chairs are the perfect height that Ryder can slouch against the frame and rest his head on my knee. Which is, of course, absolutely adorable.

OH is away with work tonight. Only just a tiny bit jealous he's staying across from a TGI Friday and gets his meals from there, all paid for But I'm going to whip something up from the cupboards, its so nice having plenty of variable food in after a month on HF.

Planning on giving the house a seriously good clean this afternoon. After dying my hair last Wednesday with dregs of various colours I found in the bathroom (one called washed up mermaid, which will remain my favourite "shade" name of all time) I bought two different shades of green over the weekend and want wickedly vibrant hair for whatever we do for Valentines. OH wants us to go see 50 Shades of Abuse at the cinema, mostly to mock it (apparently) but even though the tickets are technically free with our Unlimited card I have zero desire to add to its box office numbers :beer: (I will get off my soapbox one day, but today is not that day)

Happy that this payday, after spending January battling against the OD and overspending on certain areas of our lives, I'll be able to start squirreling money away again. I haven't set any goals, but I do want to try and see how much I can get put to one side as some kind of easily accessible emergency fund by the first day of Spring (March 30th?!)

Cinny91

Morning!

Had some lovely news yesterday that.. MY SISTER IS COMING HOME FOR GOOD!! Her plane lands noon on Tuesday, so I've altered my shifts to come in on Saturday this weekend as to not lose any wages/holiday days to go get her on Tuesday. The circumstances of the move aren't great, and her husband will be following in a few months, but I'm so happy to get my Sister back

Something magical happened this morning. I went downstairs when I woke up to find... the house was still tidy :eek: What sorcery?!! As ever, with OH being away I managed to get a lot done this morning. Ryder got a longer walk, put a load of washing in, got tea in the slow cooker, had my breakfast and still managed to get here before 8:30.

OH and I have decided to have a good comb over everything this evening. He's decided for the time being to stay at his current job, as they've offered him a higher salary and a longer term commission. His predicted earnings for the year is too good for him to walk away from, although in my eyes I'd rather him be in a job he's happy with even if the pay is half of what he'd earn staying put. His mind is made up! For this reason, we're back at looking to buy our current home. Even if we don't stay there forever, it's a good foot on the ladder. (Phew, all these plan changes!)

My ideal situation would be to still put down the same deposit we'd put down on a house that costs twice as much, and use the leverage to take out a much shorter term mortgage. Also going to push the idea of setting a monthly date, say the 1st of each month, when we put the difference between our rent and what would be a mortgage payment (currently looking like £186) into a savings account that can't be touched at all (so probably an ISA?)

Need to send off for a new debit card today. Not because I've lost mine but I had a letter from my bank saying they're going to be stopping their photo card service within a few weeks - but if I send off for a (free!) replacement before then, I'll get an extra 3 years with Ryder on my debit card rather than just the 1.

I've gone full dog-lady. (kind of comfortable with that)

Birdie85

Ahhh, great news that your sister is coming home! Is it a VISA issue?

It's good that your OH has settled on his job and as long as he's happy doing what he's doing and earning plenty then enjoy the benefits! He can always change his mind later.

I am loving your reason for getting a new debit card! You really are a crazy dog lady!