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

wishingthemortgaheaway

Ahhh - yeah a a few repurposed jam jars is not going to fix that sort of schlepping is it? Sorry - no idea on a solution to suggest - I guess it's just being organised as you always are.

I'm pleased the children are managing so well, that must be a weight off of your mind at least.

Hope mediation goes well this week. Meal plan looks yummy.

Wish.

Honeysucklelou2

Hope the mediation goes well...

MatyMoo

Just checked back on you original SOA - food was £520 & you were struggling with that! Sub £300 is pretty amazing - that is a huge reduction

Treadingonplaymobil

Hello everyone! The weather is truly grim in my corner of the UK today, hopefully the rest of you have it a little cheerier.

So I've set myself another teeny food challenge for the remainder of the month - I'm going to try to get through until 1st Feb without another food shop delivery, and keep top up shops to an absolute minimum. I need to buy some beef for a stew on the weekend, but apart from that I have enough food to last until at least Tuesday without any bother, so I'm thinking I can make it through to next Saturday (1st) with minimal spends. I currently have £74 left in my food budget for the rest of the month (that's my solo and household food budgets combined), plus £15 in my wallet leftover from a school event where I managed to underspend for once, making £89 total food budget. I'm feeding two extra adults with the stew and I'd like leftovers, so let's say £15 for the beef, bringing my available budget down to £74. I'm going to see if I can get through until February with £60 left intact. I have plenty of food in the freezer and cupboards, so surely I can cobble together enough meals with £15 on milk/fruit/veg. Managing that would mean a total food spend for January of sub £280, even with my solo food shops included.

Good old DC3 has chosen the cheapest meal imaginable (tinned mackerel pasta) to make tomorrow, which has helped keep this week's food budget down! Interestingly all three DCs have chosen fish meals for their meals to make (I have instigated one child helping cook every Thursday). Maybe a sign that they wanted more of it in their lives!

Counting down to mediation tomorrow. I am pinning so much on it being positive. My mental health took such a nosedive before Christmas when XH made some proposals for the house/finances/childcare which made it clear we were on different pages with it all, so I'm really keeping everything crossed that mediation is the key to unlock a compromise.

I did a load of business planning at the start of this week, and I am SO excited to get stuck in with it all tomorrow. I'm doing some contract work today (which will make me around £400 profit this month, after fuel costs etc) or I'd have got stuck in at 6 this morning! I am feeling so positive about growing my business to a decent regular income over the coming months, without grinding myself into the ground in the process.

enthusiasticsaver thanks for the blog/MSE member suggestions, i'll take a look and see what others do.

matymoo wow, look at that change in food budget! Amazing how things shift. Honestly I find budget so much more rewarding now I'm the only adult affecting my budget. I have full responsibility, but then also full capability to do what I want when it comes to scrimping in some areas to make others more generous. I may have mentioned, it does make me slightly concerned about moving in with the new chap, as it's going to be a massive thing to compromise, but we have agreed we will discuss all of that sort of thing at great length before we ever live together.

enthusiasticsaver

I hope mediation goes well for you tomorrow and you and ex find a way forward.

Great news on the contract work and food budget for this month. Glad to hear you sounding so positive.

Treadingonplaymobil

Mediation was interesting. I was impressed at how focused the mediator was on getting things sorted and decided, rather than lots of wishy washy chat. I think XH and I were both a bit shell shocked! Anyway, we didn't resolve anything for definite, but it looks 90% likely we're going to be selling the house as it is (well, with whatever we can do to smarten it up before we put it on the market in the next couple of months, but we won't see anything like the kind of value added that we would have if we'd been able to finish the work). That will mean it definitely won't sell for enough to clear the debt, so I'll likely be walking away with anything from 0-50% of the remaining debt - the total remaining debt is likely to be around £40,000, so I might be looking at anything up to £20,000 (that £40k, incidentally, includes the longstanding £20k loan from my mother, so repayment for that part at least will be at a fairly low rate). It's a crappy situation, but actually if that's what it is, then that's what it is, and I'm feeling confident that my time is better spent growing my new business to a big profit as quickly as possible than it is spent trying to eke a few extra thousand out of the house. The business being profitable will benefit me for years, but I'll only see that benefit from time spent on the house once. We didn't get onto discussing childcare or anything beyond the house, but I'm confident that the mediator is focused and positive enough to get us through everything we need to. Next appointment not for 3 weeks.

Had a nightmare week for spending, with £100 going on a couple of different emergencies (one where I thought I'd agreed a barter of services for services and it transpired I hadn't, one where I slightly poisoned new chap's dog and had to rush him to vet for a check over. Thankfully all fine so only a quick consultation fee. Might need to abbreviate new chap to NC).

DC3's meal yesterday was awesome, with enough leftover to feed all three DCs again tonight. My lovely mum is coming down for the weekend so I can work Saturday and Sunday mornings and then spend the afternoon all together with the DCs, so I'll scour the freezer for something for us both tonight, then we have fish and chips planned and budgeted for tomorrow night and a big beef stew on Sunday, when NC will join us too. Hoping to get lots of product photography done while I work over the weekend, and get all my current stock listed online - the first part of getting my business back off the ground after the massive shake up of the separation!

January has felt quite long in budget terms, but I think I'm going to make it within budget by the skin of my teeth. Although obviously have spent some of my emergency fund on the aforementioned minor financial crisis. In a way I don't want to accrue a big emergency fund before separating finances from XH in case we end up splitting whatever we have in our bank accounts or something equally mad, but once the finances are totally separate, getting myself a decent emergency fund, then six months salary as a buffer, as my major priorities. Along with, I have decided, earning enough money for a nice long weekend away with my dad and step mum by the autumn.

MatyMoo

Sounds like mediation was really good & focussed!

If you get stuck with any part of the debt it sounds like the £20k owed to your mother would be the best outcome for you, there has never been any pressure to get this paid off quickly (although that may have changed?) and the interest is very low!

Frustrating about the two largish payouts this week, but !!!! happens What on earth did you do to the dog? It sounds like a chocolate incident.......

Plasticfreemama

Good luck to getting this sorted soon

Honeysucklelou2

Glad the mediation gave you some clarity for the future. Good to have some financial goals to aim for.

pidge04

Hello! I have just caught up with your diary. Wow, how life has changed for you. Sorry to read about your separation but it's impressive to see how you are separating amicably. Thrilled for your work success and wishing you well in your new relationship.