Sashybo - Back Again

sashybo

Hi all, Christmas Day was stressful. :eek: DS still doesn't get it and was just overwhelmed and had a tantrum within half an hour of getting up and opening presents. I was exhausted as DD didn't sleep very well and DH had been working right up until Christmas.

So then DH had a bit of a tantrum too. :rotfl: Apparently Christmas morning wasn't "magical" enough with the kids. :rotfl: Reminded him that they actually don't have a sodding clue what's going on. I think DS thought we'd all gone mad.

Anyway we eventually went down to my mum's for a couple of hours and saw my brother, his gf and the 2 girls and my sister and her four kids there too. It was very busy and noisy. :eek:

It was also a bit awkward as my mum had made a faux pas in the family whats @pp chat by replying to the chat everyone could see instead of privately to my DH. :eek:

My mum and DH were discussing her coming up to ours for breakfast (which didn't happen in the end) and my brother and his gf moaning because apparently they had agreed with my mum that they would visit her at 11am prior to going to the gf's mum for their dinner. My mum was basically slagging them off and it started a big fight when she put her reply in the wrong chat. :eek::eek:

So that was nice on Christmas Eve. Also NOT the first time my mum has done this. She's really not fond of my brother's gf. I actually feel sorry for her as my mum is pretty hard on her at times. My poor brother also gets stuck in the middle. My mum did apologise to them, both on the chat and in person but still...

We came home and had our dinner in peace and just let DS play with his toys and watch tv (he particularly enjoyed Back to the Future :rotfl:).

Have decided that Christmas Day is too stressful and we need to do something different next year. We're thinking of having a big family dinner on either Christmas Eve or Boxing Day, work permitting (most of us work shifts) rather than on the day itself. Maybe even a lunch as that would suit the younger kids but again dependent on shifts.

We've already provisionally agreed with my family to do secret Santa for the adults. I will probably still buy a small gift for both my mum and sister though as they are both single.

Have done a bit of online shopping in the sales but only really for storage boxes etc. The ottoman I bought for DS's room is now half price so I bought another one for DD's room. It was only £22 originally so £11 is a bargain and it was something I was going to buy in the next few months anyway. :T

The other storage boxes are for toys and can go into the kid's rooms once everything is sorted. For now they are helping my sanity by keeping the living room a bit tidier. The house is a total bomb site and I really don't think it's going to be any better by the time MIL arrives for her visit in a couple of weeks. Could do without that tbh.

I also ordered some slippers for DS that I had been looking at before Christmas but didn't want to pay £10 for. £10 for a pair of slippers for a 2yo! :eek: They have now been reduced to £4 so ordered them, pleased I didn't pay full price.

minimuffin12

Hi sashybo, glad you got to have your Christmas dinner in peace eventually, goodness me that sounds very stressful indeed! I agree about kids, for a few years my hubby complained the kids werent excited enough but this is the first year that DS who is 6!! Has fully got excited and participated. Other times he has been so overwhelmed or sick over Christmas that meltdowns have ensued. My DD who is almost 4 understood she was getting a certain new toy but ignored everything else and didnt give a stuff

I agree 10quid for kids slippers is a rip off..mine have them and rarely wear them!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Happy new year Sashybo _party_

sashybo

Hi minimuffin, glad it's not just my DH who has somewhat unrealistic expectations of the kids at Christmas. Poor DS didn't know if he was coming or going.

Yeah not sure DS will wear the slippers so that's why I didn't want to spend too much. I don't mind so much for £4 though.

Hi HH, thanks, happy new year to you too. :beer:

I've had a nice day today, spent the morning with DH and the kids then went to my friend's house for the afternoon. There were only 3 of us and we were child free for a change. Had a good natter and a cheese board, no alcohol involved and not really missed tbh.

Will have a think about aims for the new year & also going to add up my survey earnings for 2019 to see what the total is.

I think it's mostly been a good year even though the debt total increased.

sashybo

We had a quiet Hogmanay and were in bed for 1am. Still managed to sleep until after 9am though. :eek:

I discovered this morning that Big cat had ruined my new kitchen calendar (a big family planner type one to keep track of both DH & I's work shifts and the kids' appointments).

As you know Big cat likes splashing in the cat fountain/trying to kill the cat fountain and we have to keep it on the kitchen worktop to stop DS playing in it. So the calendar was drowned on one side and all the pages were stuck together due to Big cat's splashing. :mad: So I've had to order a new one. Only slight positive is that at least it was in the sale.

Went out to the park with DH and the kids for a while this morning. DS enjoyed the swings and looking at the swans and ducks in the pond. He did start getting whiny though but think his wellies were annoying him as I hadn't put thick enough socks on him.

We had our steak pie dinner around half 3 and DS had a nap straight afterwards as he was crying and whiny again. Poor DD was crying because her mouth was hurting again so managed to get her settled for a nap too by using some teething gel.

Whilst the kids were napping, DH and I took down the Christmas tree and decorations. DS woke up when we were 75% done so at least he wasn't totally confused by them al disappearing while he slept.

DH hoovered and moved the toy boxes back over to where the Christmas tree was so we have slightly more room in the living room again. Hoping to move some of the toys up to DS's new room once everything is sorted.

Have put DD down in her Moses basket in our room and left her up there for the first time tonight when DS went to bed. Up until now we've been keeping her downstairs with us until we went to bed. She's been waking a lot though so think we were disturbing her and I also want to get her used to going to sleep in her Moses basket on her own.

So far, so good and she's been sleeping since half past 7. :T I'm sure she'll wake soon for a feed but hopefully that will be her for the rest of the night (fingers crossed).

Have been thinking about what I want to achieve over the next year;

• Build up Emergency Fund to at least £1000
• Save up for new flooring in the living room and get it laid
• Buy new couches on 0% deal and pay off as quickly as possible
• Overpay big loan to get the balance at the same level as the car it bought now costs due to depreciation
• Get a new, solid front door
• Get out and about more as a family - DS needs more fresh air and stimulation than he's currently getting
• Try to stop impulse spending
• Make more time for myself to do yoga
• Go to bed earlier
• Meal plan more and stick to it

So not too much then. :cool::rotfl: I'm sure there are probably more things I'd like to do.

sashybo

Going to add up my survey and other online earning totals now for 2019 to keep myself motivated this year.

SB - £300 in vouchers (am@zon, m&s, JL, arg0s)
£co - £81 cash
Sh0p&scan - £200 in vouchers (as above)
Daily tv surveys - £25 in vouchers
P!necone - £60 cash
VO -£10 voucher (not made much effort with this site though)
Y0ursaypays - £20 cash
OP - £50 cash (and currently at £21.95)
Panel Op - £31
Vypr - £75 cash
Purepr0file - £20 cash
PA - £138 cash
Sh0ppix - £20 cash
Youg0v - £50 cash
Snapmyeats - £13 in vouchers (am@zon)
NewVista - £100 cash
P0pulus - £100 cash

So totals are as follows;

Survey/other online misc cash = £664
Survey vouchers = £548
Cashback = £81 (but DH does the insurances so he'll have made more than that and just counting my own earnings).

Pretty pleased with the amount I've made over a year. It really does make a difference as I can use the extra money to overpay debt or pay for some treats and can use the vouchers on things we would have bought anyway plus birthdays etc.

Hoping to put the survey earnings towards the EF, overpaying debt and saving for home improvements. Vouchers can be used for birthdays and also towards larger items we need (usually for the kids).

sashybo

Have had a quiet day again as DH went back to work. Did the big clean out of the litter trays and put the recycling out into the various bins.

We got our online food shop delivered and I also managed to get a duvet set for £9. That means I can retire one of our older duvet sets to use on the spare bed. Hoping a charity bag comes through the door soon as I have a full bin bag to go.

Went through my bras today and got rid of the tatty ones and the ones that don't fit anymore.

Will strip the bed sheets tomorrow and put clean ones on and also need to put a washing of towels on. Bathrooms could do with a clean as well.

My mum is coming up to visit tomorrow as we haven't seen her since Christmas Day as she's been working.

DD slept well last night, took a feed at 7pm then slept until midnight, took another feed and slept until 5am, took a few ozs then slept until 9am. :T Tonight I was doing bedtimes on my own as DH working late shifts so got DD sorted and into her bed for 6:45pm and again she's settled well. Then got DS into his bath and into bed for 7:30pm. :T

Managed to do 45 mins of yoga and think I'll be feeling it tomorrow. Going to try and do some yoga every second night to build my core strength back up and get a bit of time to myself to relax.

Was checking my snowball calculator and we have managed to cut 14 months off the term of the big loan.

DancingInTheRain

Well done DD:T Hope you managed to take advantage and sleep well too. Congrats on reducing the loan by 14 months, fantastic progress.

beanielou

Good news on reducing the loan

sashybo

Thanks Beanie & Dancing. :beer: DH has been overpaying the loan when he can and I've given him some survey money towards it as well.

Unfortunately DD has been waking more but I guess it's only been 3 days I've been doing the proper bedtime routine. Last night was the worst as she woke up less than an hour after going to bed, then again 2 hours later and then 2 hours after that. Longest she slept was roughly 4 hours between 1am & 5am. She's teething though so that might be a factor as well.

Managed half an hour of yoga last night and feeling better for it. Following the new 30 day challenge on y0utube with Adriene but doing it every 2 days instead of every day.

Got DD's next lot of vaccinations this week. My mum is keeping DS overnight for me the night before as DD's appointment is early in the morning and it will make it easier for me to get up and out on time. Will be the first time DS has stayed over with my mum since DD was born so will see how he is.

I bought a coat online in the sales but am going to return it. I just don't like it enough for how much it cost.

Will be back later as DD has just chosen this exact moment to cry. :cool: