Mrs S.....life after debt

MrsSave

The doctor suggested signing me off for another fortnight, but I asked could we go for a week with the hope that I can go back part time at the end of the week. Work have agreed to me doing a phased return on my terms so I'm hoping that will all go fine. After a couple of great days this week, today hasn't been fantastic but life is always going to be up and down, it's just how it's dealt with that's important.

I treated us to some nice bread for dinner tonight to have with a casserole. We've only got a co-op nearby so it was going to be more expensive :rotfl: I'm sure £1.70 for bread once in a blue moon won't break the bank!!

I've had a letter through today to say that I need to book ds1's eye appointment. I've tried online a few times but I'm guessing they've got a problem on the page as it's not working! I know I could phone up instead but I like seeing all the date/time options in front of me and deciding which I prefer :rotfl:

I did a little more online Christmas shopping today. I'm getting really close to finishing now. I'm aiming to get it done by the end of November so that December is free for just enjoying. I've been really strict about writing everything down this year. I usually start doing it every year and then towards the last few weeks I forget/am too busy/find another excuse to add here. I'm determined to write everything down this year so that I can really see how much we spend.

I stayed in bed and watched a film this morning. It was a newish Netflix Christmas one. It's the first film I've managed to watch through without my mind wandering for weeks and weeks so I'm pretty chuffed about that. The film was based around a group of teenagers so I think I may be slightly too old for it but it was easy watching with some snow thrown in so all good!

Tonight's plans include not doing much. I pushed the vacuum around earlier, cleaned the bathroom and toilet yesterday so it's just the kitchen that needs wiping down and dinner things washing up. I might see what rubbish I can find on tv!

MrsSave

Happy Monday. Ds2 is coughing quite a bit today. It is usually the start of a chest infection when he’s like this so we’re having a quiet day today and if he hasn’t improved by tomorrow I may take him to the doctor. He usually has a few days of steroids and is then back to normal.

I habe managed to empty the laundry basket, wash all towels, clean the kitchen, wipe down all the downstairs doors and wash the floors downstairs this morning so I’ve made the most of the time at home (but there have also been lots of cuddles too).

I’ve had a couple of Christmas presents delivered today. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the big gift tunnel!

Ds2 will be turning 3 soon so I’ve applied for the 30 hours free childcare. I’m hoping I’ll get an answer soon, it will all be ok and ready to start in January. It will save us some money each month.

I did our food shop on Saturday instead of today. I did add some alcohol for Christmas (which has been put away until next month) so the food shop itself came to around £40. I’m making macaroni cheese tonight using up a load of macaroni pasta I found in the cupboard. I’ve also got some bacon in the fridge so may throw some of that in too. Ds1 has got Beavers tonight so I usually make something early for him that I can reheat for the rest of us whilst he’s out.

MrsSave

The rest of the day didn’t go quite as expected. I’ve just got home from the hospital and put ds2 to bed. He is thankfully fast asleep. By just before 4pm he had become quite a bit worse so I phoned the doctor’s surgery, who are absolutely brilliant, and they asked me to take him down to then despite having no free appointments. The doctor did a couple of checks and asked me to take him straight to hospital. He got even worse before he got better and was quite poorly for a while, but he bounces back so quickly. It’s amazing how fast he perks up once he’s got the steroids in him (I can’t believe they can work so fast, though he did have to have 2 doses as he brought the first lot back up - sorry for the tmi!!!).

We’re now home and I’m hoping he has an ok night. Tomorrow’s plans include cuddles, tv and biscuits (very healthy I know!!).

Dh spent just over £10 in the petrol station next to the hospital (the hospital shop closed earlier than we expected) on a couple of snacks as we hadn’t eaten dinner. We’ve actually brought most of them home, though ds2 did manage a few jaffa cakes.....that’s when we knew he was improving as he’d refused all food since his morning snack. Money is a little on the tight side for the rest of this month. We always seem to get caught out this time of year. I should be putting money aside during the year so that we have extra for November and December as general everyday spends seem a lot higher for some reason. I do have some put to one side for the planned activities that we have (As well as the Christmas and Birthdays pot), but other than that we have enough for one (frugal) food shop and that’s about it. I’m going to try super hard to have lots of nsds other than the planned activities and the Christmas shopping!

MrsSave

We are all super tired here today. Ds2 slept pretty ok considering but is very quiet and cuddly today. He is definitely a lot better than he was yesterday and will hopefully get much better over the next few days. Ds1 stayed with my mum so he was happy. They called over on the way to school (ds2 wanted to see him, and I wanted to make sure he knew his little brother was ok) and was obviously enjoying his little adventure.

As I’ve been off work (I’m back on a phased return this week, though will probably do most during the evening as I can work from home and with ds2 being unwell) I have no idea what my pay will be at the end of the month. I’m guessing it will be greatly reduced but not sure by how much. That makes budgeting for next month very difficult at the moment. Dh may be able to have a bit of extra pay (he’s self employed but pays himself the same amount each week, and then every 3 months if the business account looks healthy he takes a little more for us) so I’m hoping December won’t be too tight.

I have around £37 for the rest of this month which is awful. I do have some money in savings, but I’m trying not to touch it unless we really have to. That may be used to help us next month. We need laundry capsules which are expensive so I might do an Aldi shop instead of a Tesco one. Another option is a yellow sticker shop one evening this week and hope I get lucky and then meal plan from that. We’ve got lots of food in the house, we definitely won’t starve, but hate having so little left in the account with a lot of the month to go

[Deleted User]

Big hugs for DS2, hope he's on the mend quickly xx

MrsSave

I’ve just completed 2 surveys on Prolific so I’m hoping that they’re approved as if they are I’ll then have enough to cash out. That’ll be a bit extra for our food shop!!

Ds1 came home from school with a letter asking for food donations so I’ll send him in with something next week. I think I sent a bag of things last year, but it will be 1 or 2 items this year.

I currently have 1 child flat on the rug quietly watching tv and the other quiet on the sofa. A mixture of illness and being tired. School is super busy at the moment so I’m trying to make sure ds1 has plenty of earlyish nights and lots of sleep!

I’ve got half an hour before I need to start making food. I’m making a risotto as I found a big bag of risotto rice in the cupboard when I sorted it a couple of weeks ago. I hope ds2 is happy for me to be cooking as risotto means standing over the hob for half an hour!

MrsSave

Good morning!

One of my Prolific surveys has been approved, still waiting for the other one. Until yesterday I hadn’t done any surveys for ages. I really should keep an eye and try to do more.

Today is the day that I’m officially back working :j I am happy about it, but relieved that I can do it from home. I don’t think I’ll manage much though. Ds2 wasn’t well at all again last night. He was full of cold on top of his chest problem so ended up falling asleep on top of me whilst I was watching I’m a celeb. He wouldn’t settle in bed at all. I obviously absolutely hate him being poorly, but there was something so lovely about having the longest cuddle ever with him whilst he slept. I have told work the situation and they have said to do what I can when I can and not to worry about it with everything that’s going on.

I’m not sure what today will bring. Ds2 is currently still asleep so we’ll see how he is and whether I manage housework or another day of cuddles. I think I’ll have a second attempt at making Monday night’s mac n cheese as I didn’t manage it first time round with the hospital visit.

I hope everyone has a good day

MrsSave

First day back at work didn’t go brilliantly. In fact I read one email and popped into the office to collect some files. That is it Today’s priority was my poorly boy. He had a burst of energy this morning and I guessed he would crash at some point. He was back with a high temp and very clingy this afternoon. However he has slept pretty ok so far tonight so fingers crossed he has a good night.

I did manage another 2 surveys. Still waiting for one of yesterday’s to be approved. I also do vypr surveys too which I find great. I’m useless and always forget about the in-store ones though :mad:

I did pop out after food this evening to the supermarket. I only really needed milk but thought I’d try and time it for the best yellow sticker deals. I did ok. No meat unfortunately (there was one steak there but it wasn’t looking too great!). I spent £3.50 and for that I got a punnet of grapes, watermelon fingers, 3 bags of microwave herb butter potatoes, 4 lattice mince pies, 6 mini (child size) pepperoni pizzas (they had loads), 2 loaves of hovis bread, a bag which contained 4 bagels and 1 cheese roll and a lettuce. The pizzas, bagels and roll and one loaf or bread has gone into the freezer, I’ll have the watermelon as a snack tomorrow, the grapes will last a few days, the potatoes will be eaten as part of dinner tomorrow night, the other loaf of bread is in the fridge (I find bread lasts well there), 1 mince pie has already been eaten (dh - I’m not really fussed with them), the rest won’t last long with him, and the lettuce will be used as part of lunches. Nothing will be going to waste!

I had pizzas and bread on my shopping list for next Monday so I’ve been able to take them off that!

I have managed a bit of housework today between cuddles. I’ve started sorting out our landing. It’s quite big and we have our bookshelves there and also store stationery, printer paper, etc. there. It had become very untidy as it seems to be a dumping ground and I’m the only one who sorts it. Dh is supposed to dust and hoover upstairs whilst I clean the bathroom upstairs and the whole of downstairs, cook, meal plan, deal with finances, food shop, etc. I have doubts that he has touched half of upstairs for weeks and weeks as there is so much dust in areas. He definitely just pushed a duster around the bits he can see. There was so much dust today on shelves, the books, etc. :mad: There’s also a growing pile of things waiting to go up the attic (I struggle with the ladder so he has to do it). We’re on about week 3 of waiting!

Anyway, as well as sorting the landing I cleaned the bathroom and downstairs toilet. I was going to hoover through downstairs but by mid afternoon there was no way ds2 was going to let me leave his side for long enough to do it.

Right, I’m going to read a little (still on the same book - and chapter - I started 4 weeks ago!!) before turning the lights off.

MrsSave

It’s been quite an uneventful day today. I’ve worked for the first time in almost 6 weeks and it wasn’t easy! I have a few tasks to do before I go back to the office in 2 weeks time, most of them are basic admin but a couple are a bit more complicated. My brain was not functioning enough today to be able to think about the more complicated things so I stuck with the basics. I’ll hopefully get back into the swing of it soon.

I’ve managed a few surveys again today. I just wish they were approved quicker!!

We’ve been purposefully buying less at the supermarket recently to save money and to eat up what we have. We are now having to start getting a bit more creative with meals and think about what we have. It’s actually meaning that we’re eating nicer food because of the extra thought! We’re going to have a small shop next week again (not much money left this month!) and then we might need to stock up on a few extra bits for the first December shop! Put it this way, I don’t have much tonic left :rotfl: Saying that, though, we still have quite a bit in the cupboards but just not much protein. Plenty of carbs and loads of frozen veg but very little protein. I’m going to think about what good protein sources we can keep in the cupboards. I don’t buy frozen chicken from the supermarket as I’ve had some before and it tasted awful but maybe I should try again as it would be handy

Ds2 is still poorly but I think he has today started to improve. He’s barely eating anything so I’m a bit worried about that but he’s having short bursts of more energy and has settled to sleep well tonight. Fingers crossed he’s even better tomorrow and he starts to get his appetite back.

MrsSave

Not a bad day a cheque for ds2’s nursery school, which he goes to 1 morning a week, cleared and I realised (even though I’d written the cheque it took until it cleared for me to twig) that I’d budgeted for an extra week (his first week of this month was an INSET) so I moved the whole £8 to the current account as it was looking pretty sad. On top of that I have cashed out just over £12 from Prolific which should reach my Paypal account next Tuesday and I didn’t need the £10 I’d put to one side for an event today. £30 extra in the current account to help us for the rest of the month.

Dh confirmed he’ll have an extra £200 from work at the beginning of December which I’m relieved about as I’m really worried about my pay situation due to being off sick and now on a phased return. I’ll hopefully be able to see by next Wednesday what my pay should be. I just hope it’s not too bad as a tight December would be a miserable way to end the year.

Ds2 has started to eat a little more today and has had far more energy than he’s had all week. I think we’ll take him out for a while tomorrow so that he has some fresh air as he’s been indoors all week.

According to Monzo (I’ve given up with YNAB, not sure if I’ve mentioned it before) I have spent £225 this month on groceries. Part of this will have been Christmas items so it’s actually a little less. Hopefully I’ll manage to come in under my £260 budget for this month after next week’s shop. £35 maximum spend to make that happen. October was £374, September was £320 and August was £342 so I’m really happy this month. :j I need to plan my December budget, but will wait to see what my wages will be first.