Sashybo - Back Again

beanielou

Great news on the money & on the wills & POA’s.  

jwil

beanielou said:

Great news on the money & on the wills & POA’s.  

From me too.

sashybo

Thanks guys, we are temporarily in debt due to the payment plan for wills & POA but have done a cash transfer to my CC to pay off the credit plan as the interest we would pay was a lot more than the transfer fee. So we have it on 0% for 2 years but will pay it off by the end of the year - starting balance was £1128 and we have already made two payments taking it down to £1058.

My mum has built up CC debt over 3 cards due to retiring at 60, intending to work a couple of bank shifts a week for 6 years until she got her state pension but then being unable to work due to a combination of covid and then her own anxiety. She has been paying her rent/council tax etc using credit cards for the last year as she didn't have enough money and the DWP said she didn't qualify for any benefits. 😠 She finally went to an advice workshop place and they helped her to fill out the form so she could get some help as she can't work due to her anxiety, she's not fit and nursing is a hard job in the first place. 

So my mum is delighted now as she's getting an extra payment every month with 3 months of backpay and then her state pension starts in a few months. One of her CC's is on 0% until September and I did a BT for her other 2 cards (one was on something like 30% interest!) onto 1 so she has them now on 0% for 2 years. Hopefully she can get another BT for the card that ends in September. 🤞 

Kids have been hard work at times over the Easter holidays, some days ok and sometimes a nightmare! We've had a nice time overall though and they stayed with gran a few times too which was a much needed break. They had a nice easter and were a bit spoiled but very happy. 

Today I have made lentil soup, twinks hob nobs (but made massive ones 😂) and have a goulash in the slow cooker, I'll make potato wedges to go with it later. I can't seem to do any other housework when I'm cooking but will try and get some exercise done shortly.

sashybo

Have been rubbish at updating again!

Feeling wiped out this week as I have caught a horrible cold from DS and also worked three early shifts. I also have a busy day tomorrow as need to take DD to the dentist in the morning, she has a really red gum and sore tooth so want them to check in case it's an infection as DS had something similar at the same age, then have to go into work for some training then have a podiatry appointment to sort out my feet and after that I'll have a couple of hours before I need to collect the kids from my mum's and get them home and into bed. My mum is picking them up from school so I can go to my training and foot appointment afterwards.

On Friday I need to get out for a run, was going to go today but still feel too rotten with the cold and then need to take the kids to the school family fun event which starts at 6pm. Hopefully DD won't be too exhausted after her school week as she still gets so tired by Friday.

DD also finally started her swimming lessons this week after DH chased it up, she had been on the list for over a year and it turned out there had been a mistake so they got her in asap. She had a really good time and came out of the pool saying she had made a new best friend. 😂 Everyone is her best friend and everything is her favourite right now when she is in a good mood. She is still getting up at least once every night, usually around 2 or 3am. I would really like to have a full night's sleep now and again. 😩 

Last week we took the kids to a much nicer cat cafe than the one DH & I visited the other month, they really enjoyed it. It was nice but very expensive when you added up the entrance fees and the prices of the food and drinks. To be fair the cakes and drinks we had were lovely, just very expensive at £4/5 upwards for one. It was part of an early birthday treat for DS as he will be 8 at the weekend, we went to a bar for some burgers afterwards and the kids were actually really well behaved.

I need to go and get my belly button piercing downsized as the jewellery is too long now the swelling has subsided, it moves about too much and is irritating. I'm hoping to do that at the start of the week next week, the piercer did say I would need to go back to do this after 5 or 6 months and it has been 6 now. 

I have been trying to pay down the 0% CC with survey money and it's currently sitting at £930 so not a bad reduction. We have paid our summer holiday off and have our spending money sorted, we're now saving towards a short break in the Lakes in October. Our summer holiday is in just over 3 weeks and we're all really looking forward to relaxing and going to the pool and the beach. I need to sort out the clothes for me and the kids, I want to try and plan some outfits so that I don't overpack.

Finances are getting a bit tighter due to the rising costs of everything and we are trying to be more careful with our spending but it's difficult at times. We are still avoiding the overdraft and the debt total is coming down slowly so I know we're a hundred times better with our money than we used to be but we can still improve.

DH would like to go abroad again next year (so would I!) but I'm not sure if we can afford it. We might need to do another UK break instead but we'll see how things go. At least we're in the position to be able to afford a holiday at all, I went on a handful of holidays as a child and only went on a plane for the first time when I was 16. DH had a totally different childhood and went on holidays abroad every year and thought that was normal. MIL commented to DH on our upcoming holiday (our first abroad with the kids) that she was so glad we were going and why hadn't we done it before! DH was like err, because we couldn't afford it until now! The outlaws seem to have no concept of how tight our budget is in terms of bills and debt and think we're just wasting money and that's why we can't afford to do things like go abroad every year.

DH is a lot more careful with his money now and I think we both appreciate the difference that proper budgeting and having several different savings pots have made. We're still not as good as we could be though, I know we're still wasting some money on things we don't need. It's a work in progress.

Bluegreen143

We are taking our kids abroad this year for the first time and ours are 9.5 and 6.5 so you're not alone Sashy! I think everything is so expensive now and there aren't as many deals to be had as there were in the past.

jwil

My two have never been abroad either (12 and 9) and I didn't go on a plane until I was 18/19.  I'd love to take them abroad but we can't leave our dog so it's UK holidays for now.

I think people who have never really struggled just do not get it at all.

Sun_Addict

We didn’t go abroad with our kids until they were 6 and 8. We couldn’t afford it before although we used to go to Devon or Cornwall which was probably just as expensive. It was also my first time on a plane, I was 32. 

sashybo

Thanks for dropping by all  The weird thing about the outlaws is that they were in the same position themselves at one point, neither of them come from particularly well off families and they were quite poor when DH was very young. 🤷‍♀️ Now they're all shocked that we can't afford to take a holiday abroad every year (we haven't been away since before DS was born), like we just decided not to rather than couldn't afford to? They regularly go abroad for a month at a time so it's not like they're ignorant about how much a holiday costs either. So weird.

Mind you their attitude is that if we can't afford something it's our own fault and we shouldn't have any debt. Also that we chose to have children and now we can't complain. I mean broadly speaking they're right but there's just no empathy, just "well you decided to do that, it's your own fault". 

DH has now floated the idea of us having a cabin holiday down south next year for a week and going to stay with the outlaws en-route for a night or two. Neither of us are enamoured with the idea but he has been getting it in the neck from the outlaws that we never go and see them. 🙄 Yes, because they only want DH & DS to go, when DH is off work I'm generally working and we don't want to use our precious aligned annual leave or days off trailing 400+ miles to stay with people who are actively annoyed by our children! It's all about them keeping up appearances in their village so they can pretend they actually enjoy being grandparents. 😂 No doubt I'm getting the blame as the reason we don't visit.

MIL is coming up to visit us 4 days after we get back from our holiday and I'm really not looking forward to it but at least FIL is staying at home. DS keeps asking why his grampa doesn't want to come and see him, he knows it's weird that he only visits once a year.

The kids really enjoyed the family fun event at school last night, thankfully it stayed dry so most things were out in the playground. The police fire service came along and brought a police van and fire engine so all the kids could get a shot sitting in them. Both kids really enjoyed doing that. DD was quite grumpy especially towards the end and was hitting me whenever I said no to something. It was nearer 9pm by the time they were both in bed so quite late for them, I don't know how DD will cope on holiday with later nights as she gets really angry when she's tired. 😟 I think she might take an afternoon nap though so that might help. 😩

It's really embarrassing when she starts screaming and crying and hitting/scratching/nipping me when we're in public because she's not getting her own way. Her temper tantrums are awful while they last then they blow over really quickly and she's well behaved again! She's such hard work, she knows fine well it's bad behaviour and manages to behave well at school but just loses it with me/DH/my mum.

It's DS's 8th birthday tomorrow, he asked for a rocky road cheesecake instead of a normal birthday cake! I made the cheesecake this afternoon, it has chocolate and mini marshmallows through it and is setting in the fridge now, I just need to get it out of the tin 😧 and decorate it tomorrow. I have twirl bites, fizzy rainbow strips and big marshmallows for the top plus chocolate to melt and drizzle over the top. Hopefully can make it look good and fingers crossed it sets ok and comes out of the tin in one piece.

Tonight I need to wrap DS's birthday presents and put up his birthday banner once the kids are in bed then I can try and relax.

I didn't get out for my run yesterday because my big toes were killing me after my podiatry appointment and were all bandaged up due to him cutting out my ingrown toenails. I didn't think they were even that bad, I'm prone to getting them due to the shape of my nails/toes & usually deal with them myself but he said there was a lot of compacted skin. It was quite painful and I had to talk a lot of nonsense to him to try and take my mind off him digging into my toes. 🤢 I'm really struggling to find the time to even get out for one run a week right now. Won't get another chance until Tuesday morning now as have things to do so that will be nearly 2 weeks between runs again. 😩

I have put a bit of weight on again as haven't been eating well so now need to lose 8lbs but have still been doing yoga, strength and core work outs at home plus walking when I can. I'm just not disciplined with food at all and have been lazy about tracking it so I know it's my own fault. I have managed to keep the stone and a half off that I lost in 2023 but it's the last 8-10lbs that I need to lose that I keep yo-yoing with.

Sun_Addict

The podiatry appointment sounds grim 😬 Hope you’re back to normal soon. 

Happy 8th birthday to your DS 🥳🎂

Sun_Addict

Coming back to say I’ve recently discovered Christina Dorner on YT. She does a live workout Monday to Saturday at 2pm. Enjoying so far.