<<<out of cheese error>>>

redofromstart

Got back and the bags had gone which was good. It cleared the under stairs cupboard, and part of the dresser in the dining room so that was useful.

Spent a massive £138.61 this morning on food/household stuff. Breaking it down, £25 on pets and £25 on alcohol, £10 on packed lunch stuff and snack box refills for the boys, £5 on a grout removing thing, £3 on strepsils and ibuprofen and the rest on food. No coffee, washing powder, etc which is usually my excuse for a high week. I think I need to go back to keeping a spreadsheet

redofromstart

greenbee wrote: »

How did OH's clearing out go? Did he just tidy, or has stuff been thrown out/put on the bonfire?

He cleared quite a bit for him, I need to do a tip run or two but am not feeling up to it today. Maybe tomorrow then there is space to fill the car again at the weekend.

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Something nice for tea to cheer everyone up a bit?

Lazy Bolognese sauce, pasta, courgette ribbons, grated cheese, variations on this theme to reflect individual preferences.

EssexHebridean

Sounds good! Bolognesey type thing here too - with baked sweet potatoes rather than pasta. definitely cheese though - MrEH found a sneaky bit of reduced parmesan at T's at the weekend so we have POSH cheese!

redofromstart

Reduced Parmesan is a rare and wondrous thing. I buy it anyway on the basis of high £/KG but actually I use a lot less so pence per meal is about the same, or so I kid myself. OH has ceaser salad for packed lunch fairly regularly too.

I had cold chicken. I was [STRIKE]nagging[/STRIKE] encouraging the boy who doesn't eat earlier to eat more, and he made the very valid point that I am just as bad. Yes, but I'm not an under nourished young teenager having a growth spurt. Still, difficult when my own eating habits are so poor and I absolutely sympathise with his views. I feel like such a hypocrite. I was far worse at his age he at least drinks milk, unlike me.

Did an end of the month round up yesterday, tidied the leftovers in OHs account and his work expenses back into his emergency fund which is looking healthier as a result. Trying to use cash or debit card for everything now.

I also realised I hadn't done the VAT return, or paid myself from the business account so sorted that out too.

Tedious now stands at 9 hours due to an early start this morning, 1 more to go hurrah

greenbee

Get that hour done and out of the way!

And eat. Maybe the two of you could give each other a challenge?

redofromstart

Tedious done, could do with doing a bit more given that my part time contract ends in a few weeks. Isn't a lot left in the business to trickle out either unless I win some work soon.

August ending:

We finally cleared the long term debts using some additional cashflow, and most of the emergency savings which is scary. This has to be built back up again. We ended August debt free (other than the monster mortgage) but with a large hole in the savings. £500 of savings 'paid back' so a good balance considering.

September thoughts:
Income should be stable this month, with my external wages available for savings

Have closed my S&S ISA as it was nice and high this morning, and I can't justify £100 a month if I am not earning it. Will add the withdrawal to my 1% interest emergency savings account. Ongoing saving will go into better interest and safety on OHs regular saver at 5%. It would also be deducted as a commitment on our affordability calculations.

I have now cut out the easily influenced payments, mobiles etc. I'm on top of the household bills as far as I can control them. Isn't always easy to get others to see that they need to change behaviour too but most of them are trying. No other DDs/regular bills that can be culled or reduced.

The next things have to be food, pets, household and personal spends.

I just worked out that the dogs (some) and cats (many, lots) work out at roughly £200 per month averaged over the year, plus any vets bills. Can't really compromise, they are on good quality feed and I already buy in bulk from the cheapest source for the brand of preference. Might have to annualise their budget though as I do this through bulk buying usually. I need to contain this in the short term so its not hitting affordability.

Fuel, work clothes, uniforms and shoes, haircuts, essentials (toothpaste and so on, etc are household. No particular budget in mind, always shop round anyway and these are critical items.

Personal spends; I am thinking of setting £100 for me (books, bath stuff), £200 for him (expensive hobbies) and £50 each for the boys - their maximum monthly earnings/pocket money if they do all of their jobs (also expensive hobbies). Any alcohol to come out of personal spends. Any left over clears into personal savings.

Food for two adults, one part time adult (SS) and two teenagers, I'm going to aim for £500 a month this month. High compared to others but I need to start at comfortable, not put myself into a panic.

Feel better for writing that out, then its not just in my head.

missymoo81

Hey redo just caught up on your diary. Your boys went back to school early, mine don't go back until next Wednesday. Liking the budgeting. I really need to break mine down like that. I can sympathise with the £130 spend. We went to sainsburys, and I spent stupid money on stuff, all needed but still stuff, mostly not food strangely!

redofromstart

Hi missy, we break up a week earlier too, its to do with the old midlands factory closure fortnights I think. If we are lucky half term weeks are out of sync too which can make for cheaper breaks and outings.

Not sure how realistic I am being on the budgets but I need to start somewhere.

parsniphead

There seems to be a house theme on the diary's at the moment. It must be catching.

redofromstart

Hi Parsniphead, yes I think so. I have to get ours clean and tidy for the valuation, and it made me realise just how little progress we have made recently.

Yesterday was mostly spent outside as the sun was shining. Lots of pruning, weeding and tidying in the front. It was over grown and long neglected, a mildly depressing view from the kitchen and my desk. Need to think about what to do with it, as its part shade, the soil is shallow and badly drained. There are a couple of ancient roses that don't smell or respond to pruning so they might have to go too. My favourite bit of the garden is a woodland bed under a tree, stuffed full of snowdrops, hellebore and cyclamen. I am tempted to just recreate that, which has the advantage of being free.

The two broken outside lights got replaced yesterday with some more energy efficient ones. Looking at the smart meter this morning they were a good choice. Today we need to get the big ladders out to clear the gutter (plants growing!) and to do the higher bits of the wisteria or it'll be over the roof again.

We had sausages innabun for tea, averting the usual worked hard lets have a takeaway. I'd made bread so it was just a matter of reshaping it into rolls for the final rise so that worked out nicely. Veg sticks sorted out some more of the veg mountain which is now on more respectable proportions. I also made a (very nice) carrot cake with a nutmeg buttercream.