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

armchairexpert

Poor DH and his shirts . He is just as busy as me - he takes over childcare immediately after dinner (we all sit down together as soon as he gets home) and once he's got all the DCs in bed he starts on the usual washing up/laundry type chores, and he does solo childcare on the weekends when I work. He works at least as hard as I do, he's just absolutely rubbish at ironing

Yes, this is how it looks in our house as well, Mr Expert does the bulk of the weekly chores because I'm working when I'm not doing childcare. I didn't mean to malign your partner! But I do know that even with all those weekly chores, Mr E is often sitting down of an evening having an hour or so tio himself whereas I'm working until bedtime and beyond, so there's that.

Anyway. You'll find that balance, I'm sure. If you can just break even until DC3 is at pre school, that's not a bad achievement.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 14: Day 6

Well half my laundry got rained on yesterday, but I got most of it done, and already have a load out on the line to try to make the most of the forecast sunshine this morning before the rain this afternoon. Also finally cleared the ironing (got DH to help me by sorting socks and pants, which he is less painfully slow at than actual ironing :rotfl: ).

We also took the time to have a bit of a chat. DH, bless him, is aware I am feeling quite worn out at the moment, and has said he will do the bulk of the childcare this weekend while we are visiting friends, so I can put my feet up a bit, which should help improve my mindset and halt my ongoing pity party. We also decided that as long as we can keep paying of the basic monthly rate we have set (£660), we're not going to stress too much about making additional debt overpayments, just use any extra money for a mixture of fun and business account cushion/emergency fund. I have also signed poor old DC3 up for three full days and one half day at preschool in September, which feels like an awful lot (she will be 3.5yo, she starts school the following September), but I think the benefits to the whole family of having her in more childcare will outweigh the downsides to her of being plonked at preschool. It's by far the most childcare we've used (apart from when we had a nanny, which is a little different, as it was in our home) for any of the children before school age, but I keep reminding myself of friends' children who have been in more or less full time childcare since <1yo and are perfectly well adjusted and civilised children.

Have had a very low spend few days, which is good - we are down to our last £60 in the food budget, £30 in fuel and nothing else at all! We'll end up over budget this month (for a change....) - no way will £30 be enough for fuel for the rest of the month (two weekends away plus commuting for DH), and inevitably we'll end up spending something on entertainment next weekend when we go to London to visit family, and I need to pay for a couple of trips, but hopefully we can avoid too many other costs.

to do today:
1. Get the rest of the laundry done.
2. Paint the pickets for the front garden fence - I want the fence done before I plant the pots, to discourage anyone from walking off with the smaller pots!
3. Dig up the hydrangea roots - have chopped down the entire bush.
4. List that chair on eB@y that I mentioned ages ago but never listed.
5. Spend a couple of hours working this afternoon so I don't have to work over the weekend while we're away
7. bake something to take to friends on the weekend - needs to be gluten free. Maybe gluten free brownies, I've heard they usually come out well.
8. Scrabble around for £3 change to pay for a school trip for DC1 and £10 for DC2's school swimming lessons.
9. pack for weekend away.

to do this week:
1. lose another 0.5kg.
2. Make my work time more focused - I was very inefficient last week

ada-or-ardor

Oh I have a gluten free brownie recipe, Roxana's home baking hazelnut flourless brownies!! Uses ground hazelnuts instead of flour - I actually use this as my stock recipe despite being able to eat all the flour I can....! Absolutely brilliant and super easy too. Im a total coeliac novice but pretty sure they are (or could easily be made to be) GF.

Ada

On_a_Shoestring

Brownies are definitely a good one to do gluten free! I once had a gluten free cookie recipe that were the most delicious chewy cookies... or if you're feeling particularly fancy, how about macarons?

joeyjimbles

I've had a lot of success with these providing there are no nut allergies to contend with
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/flourless-chocolate-brownies-with-hot-chocolate-sauce
Though I confess that I often just adapt my usual Nigella brownies recipe with gluten free flour. I don't use her very posh chocolate so I take out about 1/4 of the sugar too but that's personal taste and trial and error.

Cherryfudge

I've had g/f success with this BBC recipe for banana bread. I'm fairly sure the bananas were so soft I left the milk/vinegar out.

117pauline

Your journey has been short but you have saved so much already.

Is it such a bad thing to consolidate what you have achieved? I would consider you have much to celebrate already.

Please give yourselves credit for all the family have achieved.
Pauline

This journey isn't going to be straightforward - it is better to take extra time if it keeps you dealing with the detail

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 15: Day 2

Morning everyone! Back after a weekend away visiting friends. Minimal spending - took a bottle of wine already had and made brownies, and I think DH bought a round for friend's DH in the pub, but other than that we didn't spend all weekend. This coming weekend will be a different matter - going to London for the weekend - but at least we've been more successful than expected for the weekend just gone.

Lots of errands to run today, don't think I'll get them all done, but fingers crossed the efficiency gods are on my side today . I finally managed to dig up the huge hydrangea routine the front garden yesterday, so we've been able to get the last of the gravel down, it's looking so much smarter out there already.

Weighed myself this morning - didn't quite manage to lose 0.5kg last week, but am 0.4kg down, so I'll call that a win.

to do today:
1. Do another laundry and get it out on the line (one already done and out this morning)
2. Paint more pickets for the front garden fence.
3. List that chair on eB@y that I mentioned ages ago but never listed.
4. Reply to a couple of work enquiries.
5. have a bit of a quick tidy up round the house.
6. make bread.
7. cook some soup for dinner tomorrow, as I won't have much spare time.

to do this week:
1. Finish painting the pickets.
2. Plan weekend in London for minimum spends.
3. clean the front of the house ready for painting
4. Buy the house paint and fence posts (DH thinks he may be able to get the posts cheaply at work, must get him to check before buying).
5. lose another 0.5kg.
6. get a little ahead on work so I'm not trying to do any over the weekend while we're away.

Treadingonplaymobil

Had the most inordinately expensive food shop today. Was inevitable really - we've had two weeks of using up everything in the cupboard, with lots of random meals, and just buying fruit/veg etc. So today's shop was stocking up on all the things that we've been running out of for the last 3 weeks - cleaning supplies, flour, nuts, porridge oats, spices etc. £120, but given that I spent an average of £30 a week for the past two weeks, I'm ok with that.

Also managed to paint some pickets, I am determined not to lose motivation on doing up the front of the house - it's going to be so nice and smart when it's all done.

Oh, and finally got a decent work enquiry after a fortnight of absolutely nothing. Money not in the bank yet, but I think it will come off. Only £60 or so profit, but every little helps, and it's only for a couple of hours work. And another tentative enquiry that will be more like £250 if it comes off, but I'm not convinced it's going to happen.

to do today:
1. Do another laundry and get it out on the line (one already done and out this morning). Done, and extra laundry washed and dried for good luck
2. Paint more pickets for the front garden fence. Done.
3. List that chair on eB@y that I mentioned ages ago but never listed. Cough. Possibly not done.
4. Reply to a couple of work enquiries. Done.
5. have a bit of a quick tidy up round the house. Not done. House still unrelaxing. Doing all this outside work has meant the inside being somewhat neglected.
6. make bread. Done.
7. cook some soup for dinner tomorrow, as I won't have much spare time. Not done. DH will have to manage (I am working, he is on childcare duty tomorrow).

to do this week:
1. Finish painting the pickets.
2. Plan weekend in London for minimum spends.
3. clean the front of the house ready for painting
4. Buy the house paint and fence posts (DH thinks he may be able to get the posts cheaply at work, must get him to check before buying).
5. lose another 0.5kg.
6. get a little ahead on work so I'm not trying to do any over the weekend while we're away.

JoJoC

CHAIR! CHAIR! CHAIR! CHAIR!

Just a little reminder

That might be the key to unlocking a decent little profit! My mum bought us a nursing chair when I had my first son. My youngest is almost two now so we put it on Gumtree/ Facebook selling groups before Christmas and got £50 back for it, which was a nice little boost! It'll be worth it, I promise!