£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 60: Day 7

Had a lovely time at the zoo yesterday, and there's still plenty of stuff left to do there that we didn't even get to yesterday. I think we'll find it great for a year.

Off to visit a very good friend and her new baby today. Have bought presents for the friend and little presents for her older children, and knitted a cardigan for the baby, so it's fairly expensive/time consuming outing, all things considered, but I only have perhaps one or two friends or family who I would make that much effort with. so it's a pretty rare event.

No further bookings or enquiries over the past couple of days, so no interesting divvying up of money/debt repayment going on. Although did pay another £2.06 to the barclaycard - am trying to make a payment every time my rounding down pot goes above £1, to prevent me being tempted to absorb the money back into the budget.

Made a yummy white chocolate and raspberry loaf cake yesterday - I bought and didn't use white chocolate for DC3's party the other week, and it's not something we'd eat for fun (too sickly) but it was perfect in a cake with frozen raspberries.

Ooh, and DH's going sim-only appears to have reduced our phone bill by £31, which is about a tenner more than I thought it would - I thought my contract was higher and his was lower (joint bill), but I'm not complaining! I haven't divided up this extra according to my fancy formula, just stuck it into the entertainment kitty, as we didn't have any extra for entertainment during the easter holidays and have been fractionally over budget so far.

To do today
1. pack snacks for journey to friend's.
2. pack up faulty shirt to return tomorrow.
3. plan next week's work.
4. finish additional bit of contract work.
5. help DC1 make progress on his homework and DC2 make a start on any he has (will probably have to outsource this to DH).
6. Make kitchari for dinner.

Debt repayment:
- £20.80/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,914.58/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

dawnybabes

The worry about taking gluten outbthen re introducing it could make the symptoms worse (my son is coeliac). Best thing you could do is start keeping a food diary of everything she eats then writing down issues / symptons then taking it with you to the doctor.

Watch the packets as even May contains could be upsetting her.

The long term issues are bad if you don!!!8217;t take it seriously so best to find out.

Treadingonplaymobil

Lovely to see friend and happily settled newborn baby today. Pleased to report sub-zero levels of broodiness though. Which is good, as I'd need to find a new husband if I wanted to have any more - DH has had the snip. :rotfl: :eek: :rotfl:

I took DC1 with me and he had a good idea for a small MS and eco saving while we were chatting in the care - now that we get most fruit and veg locally, we could do a 2 week menu plan at a time and just do a supermarket shop fortnightly rather than weekly, freeing up an evening for DH or I once a fortnight (one of us tends to go on a Friday evening at the moment, to get it out the way), saving the fuel/emissions in driving 8 miles to the supermarket, and possibly saving a little money too, as I've generally found that when I'm not near a shop I can live without whatever it is that I need next time I go into a supermarket . We freeze milk and make bread, so that's easy to manage, it's just a question of planning things like baking ingredients and tins sufficiently to have enough to last a fortnight. I think we'll experiment with it at least.

Had to chase the architect today to get the next round of sketch designs done - not going to be done until at least the middle of the week when we should already have them. I hate feeling that I have to chase someone for work when I'm going to be paying a really quite significant sum of money to get that work done - I felt the same chasing our solicitors for the house purchase conveyancing. Architect has so far produced every single thing later than his original estimate, which is a little tedious. It's not even like we're in a rush, but when someone promises something by X date, I expect it by X date, not within three weeks of that date. I like what he's doing, so intend to stick with him, but have given up on my previous buddy buddy approach and am just demanding a schedule now.

Oh, another MSE win - discovered that DH drives past a Sainsburys petrol station on his way to work, but never fills up there as he is always running almost-late (it is on the wrong side of a dual carraigeway on the way home). Have instructed him to get his backside into gear 8 minutes earlier once a week and fill up there, as with £225 per month spend on fuel the nectar points will add up fairly quickly. Have resisted the urge to eye roll at him not figuring this out himself.

To do today
1. pack snacks for journey to friend's.
2. pack up faulty shirt to return tomorrow. Argh. Will do this now.
3. plan next week's work. Not done, but can do tomorrow as I have one of the DCs' friends over for a playdate so not like I'm going to get anything else done tomorrow.
4. finish additional bit of contract work.
5. help DC1 make progress on his homework and DC2 make a start on any he has (will probably have to outsource this to DH).
6. Make kitchari for dinner.

Debt repayment:
- £20.85/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,914.58/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 61: Day 1

Wow, the weeks are racing by at the moment. Just ridiculous. Can't believe we're barreling towards mid-April.

Today is all about cleaning the house and doing some organising - we have a playdate here so I won't get anything that requires brainpower done, but the older two DCs will be occupied for much of the day so I will mostly only have DC3 to keep entertained, and she has a horrible cold and will probably cheerfully snuggle on the sofa with the tv on for hours.

To do today
1. Post faulty shirt.
2. Make flatbreads for lunch.
3. Plan week's work.
4. Clean bathroom.
5. Laundry.
6. Ironing.
7. Clean kitchen.
8. Chase DH to submit expenses if not already done.
9. Clear emails.

Debt repayment:
- £20.85/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,914.58/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

April's list progress

Home/Family
1. Tidy the front garden.
2. DH finish front fence.
3. Prep veg beds, pots and bags, and plant what can be planted. Oh, this is another thing to add to today's list if the weather holds (dubious forecast right now)
4. Chase people who thought they might have a trailer. Done, no joy so need to set up an ebay search.
5. Mend poor Elsa's plait!!!!
6. DH to find new budget recipes.
7. Continue the more in depth food planning - this improved my general diet so much in March.
8. Turn over the whole food budget issue some more and try to find a solution.

Me
1. Self care - downtime, nice baths, morning and evening rituals. Going quite well due to extra time off work during school hols.
2. Keep up the yoga. OK, not amazing.
3. Try to do a decent bit of walking/outside time every day.

Work
1. 10% growth on my main social media platform (317).
2. A new blog post for my website.
3. Get ahead with contract work.
4. Focus on my key aim - of developing some passive income that allows me to move away from my current (not hugely enjoyable) main income source.

MSE
1. £30 minimum overpayment from rounding down YNAB pots. Progressing well.
2. List wooden marble run on ebay.
3. Keep entertainment outgoings to a sensible level during the easter hols. Not going so smoothly!

warby68

Good thinking re shopping frequency and the fuel. OH's excuse is a little weak but perhaps whatever other petrol station he uses has the better snacks - worth comparing fuel prices as well to check the best option. I remember you saying he spent £7 or something daft on screenwash a while back, also in a rush - he seems to like convenience over cost on occasion so does he ever check fuel prices ? There might be a couple of quid there for you to benefit from too. I know the variance round here can be as much as 10p per litre.

pennywisepoundstupid

This is a handy website for finding cheapest fuel in your area.

https://www.confused.com/on-the-road/petrol-prices

Silver_Queen

The AA app also shows the cheapest fuel in the area and the distance to said cheapest fuel.

Treadingonplaymobil

Ugh, noisy busy playdate. Ended up with an extra couple of children here, feeling thoroughly wiped out!

To do today
1. Post faulty shirt.
2. Make flatbreads for lunch. Particularly good batch, cooked in my ebay cast iron pan to this recipe (butter replaced with rapeseed oil)
3. Plan week's work.
4. Clean bathroom.
5. Laundry. Done, but it got nicely rained on. Sigh.
6. Ironing. Not done.
7. Clean kitchen. Not done.
8. Chase DH to submit expenses if not already done. Done, he'd already done it.
9. Clear emails.

Debt repayment:
- £20.85/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,914.58/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 61: Day 2

Morning! Feeling slightly rejuvenated and more alive today after playdate hell yesterday. Definitely feel like I have done my playdate duty for a little while.

Minor financial win - DS1's friend's mum has been looking for a tutor too, and we are going to share the one I found. It reduces the price slightly to £18 per session if we share, which makes it significantly more affordable.

Meeting a friend at a local woods for a walk today with the DCs, although the weather is so utterly uninspiring that I suspect we'll be mainly sitting in the cafe. Have enough in the entertainment pot for a juice for the DCs and a snack for me, but will take a picnic of some description, but am really feeling the Easter holiday expenses! Quite often we don't spend the whole of the entertainment kitty (during term time), especially now DH has toned down his weekend outings with the DCs, and usually we put the money into debt overpayment or balancing other pots, but I'm thinking that once the DCs are back at school I'll sweep any remaining money from the entertainment kitty each week into a 'school holidays and special occasions' pot, so there's a bit extra for those times when the DCs are around more. Silly to try to manage on the same money when they are around seven days a week as when they are around for only two.

Feel like I'm already on the countdown to payday this month - work enquiries seem to have finally gone quiet (have been anticipating them doing so for a month or so), so very little interesting financial stuff going on, apart from the odd little overpayment from my rounding down of pots to the nearest pound.

To do today
1. Make picnic lunch.
2. Get another laundry hung out (inside!).
3. Make sourdough.
4. Tidy DCs' room.
5. Help DC1 and 2 with holiday homework.

Debt repayment:
- £22.38/30 April rounding down pot.
- £1,916.16/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.