ZC's Aim for a little independence

Orangetoes

Congratulations on all you have achieved so far. Hope you have a lovely break in the caravan!

zcrat41

Thanks Orangetoes! It’s funny reading the diary back realising how far I’ve come over 8 years. 

£97 in Decathlon yesterday on new wetsuits, beach shoes and a bodyboard. Hopefully will have got 5% back of that spend on my banks rewards program. Spent the evening putting up our above ground pool which should keep the kids happy for a few days in the hot weather to come. 

Also spent £38 in the caravan shop. Not too bad. Did an online order for the night we arrive at our site this week. I was click happy thinking “oh, we’re on holiday, we can have snacks bits and smoked salmon, gin and wine”. £231!!!!!! Will need to amend but that’s what happens if you don’t meal plan and budget people!!! 

Should be a nSD today but will be making lists of other bits we need for our holiday. 

have a good week all

zcrat41

Morning all. Not quite a NSD yesterday as the kids pool needed chlorine salts so that was £11.55 from Amazon. They were in it for about 5 hours yesterday though so worth it! 

Today is haircuts for kids, eyebrows for me and last minute holiday shopping. We need underwear, goggles and a swimming costume. No doubt I shall find our old ones tonight when I’ve bought new!

menu today:
B egg on toast
L Lemony lentil salad for adults, cheese sandwiches for kids
T Tuna Nico’s (deconstructed and without dressing for the kids) 

I do struggle with what to eat and cook in this hot weather. Also with the kids being odd it’s like a cloud of locusts and the fruit bowl is emptied in days so trying to teach them the lesson when it’s out it’s out!! 

zcrat41

Morning. 

Should add to yesterday’s post my kids aren’t odd - they’re off school is what I meant 😂. 

Quite a spendy day yesterday but all budgeted for. Got lots of little bits I needed for the kids like extra shorts. Typically the weather now looks a lot cooler next week!! 

Today’s plan:
go for a run
do a fair bit of work
whiskt making lunch prep tea so I’m not doing it when it’s boiling hot. 

DS has a friend over this afternoon so spend some time with my DD getting ready for holiday 

Meal plan:
B overnight oats/cereal
L lemony lentil salad 
t omlette, salad and coleslaw

Might head to the shops with DD as she loves a pootle round and with her brother in tow yesterday she didn’t get the chance. Any money spent will be her own! 

The mind has been slightly focussed this week with the announcement of VAT on school fees. We knew it was coming but to be honest I’m quite surprised it’s not September 25. We had planned a buffer for school fees when we took the decision and the schools they’re at are being fairly sensible and hoping to make a few cutback so the full 20% isn’t passed on. But I do feel we ought to be ensuring we live sensibly as that area of our finances is rather extravagent!! 

Have a good day all 

zcrat41

Morning all. So we’re away on our holidays. We were the muppets who got the caravan instructions wrong and put it in the middle not to the left so it took a fair old while to set up!! But we’re here and can see the sea! Stopped at
services for breakfast yesterday which was £40 then had tea out last night after caravan fiasco - £80 already. 

Todays plan 
B - cereal and fruit
L - beach picnic of crab pate and oatcakes
T - trying out a local bistro. 

T won’t be cheap. Eating out for 4 is so expensive these days. So we’ve planned 3
nice meals out and the rest will be picnics/caravan food. Hopefully that should be a nice balance between enjoying ourselves and not spending the best part of 1k on food for a week. 

zcrat41

Morning all. 

Wonderful day yesterday - great waves on the beach! 

MSE win - getting to the beach early so it unit cost £6 as we left by 1pm not the £12 all day. You could walk it but it’s a looong way back uphill with two tired kids! 

MSE lose - tried the local bistro. Amazing setting, lovely food but awful service. Only 3 tables in, there were 3 staff and all they did was chat to each other. We paid £200 for the meal which we don’t mind and had expected for really nice freshly prepared food in an independent place. But when paying that much it really irks when you have to ask for drink, ask for the bill and the drinks aren’t cold enough. Came back to the caravan site and was served cheap drinks in a second with a smile for 1/4 of the price!! 

Todays plan

B - cereal and fruit
L - beach picnic of sandwiches
T - air fryer burgers in the caravan 

Morning on the beach, afternoon in the caravan site pool if the weather allows.  

Need to make sure today I write down all my spends so far to add to YNAB. 

zcrat41

Morning all. Such a good day at the beach yesterday was too tired to come on here!! Hours of sandcastles and waves. So pleased my 11 year old still likes that kind of stuff. There were a fair few families around us where the older kids just sat on their phones. 

Cheaper day yesterday as we had sausages in the van. However just an ice cream at the beach is £20 for all 4 of us these days. 

Todays plan:
B - cereal 
L - smoke salmon beach bagels
T - eating out at a local posh hotel we’ve always wanted to try. 

The big event today is the family big build beach sandcastle competition! Winner gets the lifetime glory of winning! 

zcrat41

Hello, so we’re back from hols. What a wonderful wonderful tone we had. The last day was awful weather with lots of rain and wind, it felt like November!! Still managed to have a good time though with an indoor swim. 

The posh hotel lived up to our expectations. Gorgeous meal, fantastic service and lovely view. We might price up staying there next year. We tallied up what we spent this year and it was £724 for pitch fees and we spent £1760 on dog kennels, food, eating and drinking out, beach parking and activities. So nearly 2.5k for a caravan holiday. I know we could do the food a fair bit cheaper but we like to have one nice holiday a year. The hotel does a dinner bed and breakfast package that includes surf lessons so think I’ll be googling later! 

Just doing the mountains of washing now. Don’t know how we create so much despite me yelling at every swim, “don’t drop the towels in the floor”. Trying to get on top of the day before work starts in earnest tomorrow. 

Todays plan:
Pick up with TOMM
Clean the Aga whilst it’s off 
b - leftover berries
l - lemony lentil salad
t - lamb kebab with salad 

zcrat41

Morning all. So yesterday had an unexpected £45 spends as had to go to help on my parents farm and was asked to take an emergency picnic. It’s expensive feeding 8 people on sandwiches. Mum said she’d reimburse me but we’ll see!! Lovely to be able to help out at this time of year though. Other than that it was a nSD. 

Todays plan:
kids off to a friends
get back on top of work work
pick some plums and blackberries 

Cope with the heat (remind me never to clean the Aga again on such a hot day! Put me in a hot foul mood all afternoon!) 

B - berries and cereal
L - salad
T - quiche and salad 

Not looking forwards to the heat today as we all struggle when it’s this hot! 

Also starting a new healthy eating regime for all of us today. We’re all a good half stone overweight so will be sneakily doing healthier meals and trying to sneak in more activity for the kids! 

Have a good day all. 

zcrat41

Hello. 

Good day yesterday and got it all done. Lots more blackberries and plums to pick today though. Kids were at a friends yesterday. They were very good and took them to a laser quest place. Almost every play date we’ve done this summer the parents have taken the kids to a paid for activity. It’s so expensive! It’s not that we can’t afford it but what happened to just mooching around  the village with your mates?! 

Today I have woken up feeling really dizzy a sick so have had the morning in bed. Have to get up now as DH has unavoidable farm work and I need to take DS to a friends house. Had this about 6 weeks ago and it lasted 3 days. Assumed it was Covid at the time so bit annoyed I’ve got it again!! 

So today’s aim is to make it through the day!