Viking's Diary

Viking_mfw

Am now feeling like Pay Day Shuffle should be a dance craze. Possibly a bit like the Floss. 
Have paid tax bill 
Have put £50 into new Nationwide Start to Save account 
Have put money from January salary above the normal (ie examination fees) into PBs 
We made it to payday without going into OD on either my current account (despite taxes!) or the joint account (and can still afford to shop before the standing order refills it on Monday). This has actually been surprisingly rare over the last few months, which is ridiculous. 

I still need to go pay some cash in so I can get it into PBs before the end of the month. That will probably be today. 
In sort of but not quite MSE related news I made a pasta bake last night with buckwheat pasta we were given as a substitution early in the pandemic online deliveries. I mean, it's out of the cupboard, and it's recovered the sunk cost. DS1 wouldn't eat it and neither I nor DH got above 'it's okay'. And there's leftovers for lunch! Definitely more MSE (and eco-friendly) was making some baby puree instead of buying it. Beetroot-carrot-apple seems to be going down well. If I can pick up some y/s exotic fruit when I do go shopping I might make something a bit more exciting. Actually I've got a soft tomato and an unhappy looking persimmon so I might make tomato-persimmon-apple today. Maybe add some peas. Lucky kiddo

caeler

Hurray for not being in the overdraft, such a good feeling! @Viking_mfw

Viking_mfw

Went to pick up a click and collect order from wickes this morning of 2 fence posts and 2 spikes to mend our garden fence which is a bit... slapdash? Previous owner planted a climber which demolished the base of one of the posts whixh has pulled the whole thing over. Plan is to bash in two new posts and bolt the old ones to the new to hold it up. This will also conveniently give me nice spaced posts to use for cordoning a fruit tree. I've bashed one spike in with a borrowed sledgehammer (deeply therapeutic!), so hopefully we can get the other one in and the posts up tomorrow even if the plates to join them have to wait. While I'm jolly pleased, doing click and collect on fence posts was a stupid thing to do. Good job the car is so long!
The most MS thing we've done today was to eat the 2 out of date cans of Heinz tomato soup we've had in the cupboard for a couple of years since they came in - I think - a free welcome pack from Ocado. 
Sold a few more things on ebay for a total of about a tenner between them, but every little helps (definitely my motto apparently). Will pack them up for sending on Monday. Also have another box to send to we buy books. 
Also just reported my total for 12k in 2021 - managed to put away in savings, isas and ops a total of £1269.68 this month which is highly dependent on xmas money and the utilities repayment, but still very pleasing! Kept aside £100 that could have gone because I think I'm going to need to do some garden investment this month. 
Plan for Feb: continue to spend as little as possible both personally and on the food budget. Claim refund for holiday we're clearly not going on in half term! Carry on decluttering and swapping clutter for cash where possible. Enjoy my last month of maternity leave! Try and track down my TPS. 

savingholmes

Wow fabulous progress. Off to a flying start in 2021

Viking_mfw

We finished the fence mend this morning... turns out the base of the posts were just resting on the ground... I don't really understand what was keeping it up at all! Two huge spikes now with solid posts bolted to the dodgy ones. Not entirely straight but a whole lot better! 

savingholmes

Well done.

Viking_mfw

Thanks @savingholmes Cost about £60 in materials but a lot cheaper than getting someone in to fix it. And it's been bothering me for all 3 years we've been here. 
Other garden jobs: install the water butts we've had waiting for a year!! Put some kind of flexible opaque fencing along the rear boundary (which has a massive sycamore sitting squarely on it) before OH's shed is delivered mid-March. Put up remaining wall baskets on front of house and install drip feed irrigation then transfer strawberries to them. All asap....
Did get a £5 off £50 at Buh and Kwuh when I bought the joining plates for the fence so we might get on that quickly as it only lasts a week. 

Edited to add:  All the screening at Buh and Kwuh had terrible reviews, so I found some better stuff at Wickes and since I was on a roll ordered it and fixings. That wipes out (and more!) the £100 I'd kept back from savings last month, but hey ho! The fixings will also provide cordoning between the two new fence posts so at least that is also in there, and I went through TCB  - finally making me sort my account out with them.  

Viking_mfw

Well today the combination of a massive stock up shop and 2 months' worth of cat food in order to get free postage while buying the flavour that was £3 cheaper per month has cost over a third of the month's budget for food and household. Ouch. However, I should only have to buy fruit and veg next week so will hopefully claw back some of that overspend. We have ingredients for 2 of our simply cook free box meals so I'm looking forward to that. 

Cottage owners got in touch to offer my refund for holiday we're not going on so that's a Feb goal ticked off without much effort. 

The flexible garden screening arrives tomorrow so hoping we can get it up, small children and weather permitting, on Wednesday. Poor Hermes man is coming to pick up parcels - WBB, fleabay sale and DH's music magpie - M,T,W this week. Posted all my other fleabay sales this morning. It's all stuff out of the house. Since I started decluttering at the beginning of the year I'm feeling like there's stuff everywhere in a way which I wasn't aware of before. Unfortunately given I have four weeks left before I have to start using it again, my study feels a bit like it's becoming buried with baby clothes as I try to sort out the progression of sizes for DS2. 

Porridgecat

Come to visit you on your diary, I'll read further back later. I sympathise on the cat food budget, we've just spent £80 on our three furry friends and they're eating it at super fast rate as one of us is nearly always home so they demand extra several times a day.

Viking_mfw

Porridgecat said:

Come to visit you on your diary, I'll read further back later. I sympathise on the cat food budget, we've just spent £80 on our three furry friends and they're eating it at super fast rate as one of us is nearly always home so they demand extra several times a day.

Ours also demands extra - with menaces!- but we are under strict instructions from the vet to bring his weight down.... poor chunker.