£29,303...Enough is enough!

savingholmes

Sounds a lovely option to visit the zoo and get take out. Have a lovely birthday.

WelshKitty85

Thank you @savingholmes.

I've got the next 12 days off work and the DCs are now on half term. It looks like we'll be back in lockdown here next week so going to try and make the most of our 'freedom' for the next few days. We've booked zoo tickets for tomorrow - £20 for the 5 of us, can't complain at that! I'll need to raid the freezer and cupboards to make a picnic to take with us, and probably stop at Lidl on the way for some drinks and snacks. I think we'll mostly be home for my birthday on Sunday as the DC are apparently making me a cake & I still need to decide on a take away. I'm hoping we'll have some more sunshine (I'll settle for just cold but dry) next week so we can get out for some more walks. And I've just seen a local bakery is doing bogof cakes, so it would be rude not to support another local business

WelshKitty85

Just spending a cheeky half hour with my feet up, a cup of coffee and some of my birthday chocolates. DC3 is with the childminder and everyone else is in their bedrooms, entertaInning themselves. Bliss.

I'm really enjoying my time off work. We've had some days out, trip to the zoo, walks, visit to the local bakery, and have also ticked some jobs off the to do list, such as making the Christmas cake. We've had a problem in the bathroom; the window was broken, extractor fan not powerful enough, so it's caused damp and the ceiling to crack & peel. My dad has kindly been to sort the ceiling for us, so we needed to sort the window to get ventilation in the room so it doesn't happen again. We started the day expecting to need a new window, but a quick trip to a local merchant, £5.50 spent, and half an hour work, the window now opens, closes, and locks. Job well done.

savingholmes

Wow sounds like one of the best £5.50 ever spent. Glad you got your zoo trip. I recently painted my kitchen ceiling which had cracks and damp stains - with special paint - and the whole room looks bigger and brighter. It does make a huge difference.

WelshKitty85

savingholmes said:

Wow sounds like one of the best £5.50 ever spent. Glad you got your zoo trip. I recently painted my kitchen ceiling which had cracks and damp stains - with special paint - and the whole room looks bigger and brighter. It does make a huge difference.

It's amazing what difference you can make with a small amount of work - I've taken inspiration from your diary! We've just repainted the ceiling, decluttered some lotion and potions (that haven't been used in the 3 years we've been here), and binned a rusty old corner shelf. It looks like a different room.

It's my last day off work today. I thought it might end up being a waste of my annual leave since we're back in lockdown, but I've actually really enjoyed my time off. DH, me and the 2 older DC downloaded a silly game to our phones & we've spent hours competing against each other in fits of giggles.

I sold an item today that's been listed on Fbook for months and got £100 which I'm really happy with. It's motivated me to continue decluttering and get more items listed for sale. We definitely want to move house to somewhere more rural when circumstances allow, so not only do we need to pay down our debt, I'm determined not to move junk and clutter with us next time, whenever that may be.

savingholmes

Well done on the painting and decluttering. Glad you made time for fun too

WelshKitty85

A bit of a mixed day today. DH has had 3 days work this week, but no idea when he might get any more. My spreadsheet says we can limp through til end of December (and thankfully most Christmas shopping, including the turkey, is done) but I'm starting to feel anxious about how we will manage from January if he doesn't find something more regular. He was first in line for a job last week that he really wanted, has experience, and is good at. He chased it up today as he hadn't heard anything and was told they have pulled all vacancies because of the latest lockdown. Our lockdown ends next week so I'm hoping some vacancies might come up again, but I'm feeling a bit fed up with the uncertainty.

Rather than spend the day sulking, I put some energy into clearing the garage. I've managed to sell a carpet offcut for £25 and have somebody wanting to view a £10 item. I also decluttered my baking cupboard and supervised DC3 making a cakey-trifley-thing with sponge fingers, leftover cupcakes, angel delight, marshmallows, and sprinkles. I've not tried it myself, but DCs 1&2 assure me it's delicious!

We had some Tesco vouchers due to expire soon. We'd been hoping to use them for theme park tickets, but have accepted we won't be doing that anytime soon. I do most of our grocery shopping on Lidl since a new one opened here a few months but there's a few items we prefer from Tesco/ can't get in Lidl. So I did a shop this evening (timed to check the ys reductions) and picked up half price selection boxes, some Xmas biscuits, mince pies, 60 sausages (!!!), 2 boxes of teabags, 2 boxes of cereal, 3 packs of stuffing, reduced sweets, ys lamb, ys fishcakes, and yogurts. Used £18.50 in clubcard vouchers leaving me to pay £2 cash. I've still got over £40 in vouchers, so by the time we can visit a theme park again we should have enough for our tickets.

WelshKitty85

I've been rudely awoken this morning by DH taking a photo of me snuggled up in bed as 'proof' that I'd stolen all the blanket. He's since brought me a coffee in bed, but I'm still not happy with him!

Weather forecast is looking good today so might try and get out of the house for a walk later on. My mental health and waist line would both benefit from some exercise. I need to do a Lidl shop this morning. I've got a £10 voucher that expires today, so I'm hoping to spend less than £20 of real money.

My £10 item sold. I need to dedicate some time to have a proper sort out of DC3s toys this weekend and sort out what to keep, bin, sell, and give to the childminder. He's getting loads of toys (a second hand bargain) for Christmas and for his birthday this month so I really need the space.

WelshKitty85

Grocery shop done. It came to £32, but I had a £10 voucher to bring the total down to £22. Slightly more than I'd planned, but I picked up an advent calendar for DC3, a pack of 10 chicken drumsticks for £1.19 (ideal for hungry children to get there teeth into after school), some ys mince, and ys chicken thighs. I also bought a bottle of Bailey's (well Lidl's own brand equivalent) to use in truffles and a chocolate log for Xmas, but that was already  budgeted for. I need to finalise the meal plan for the week, but shouldn't need more shopping until next weekend. I've got £100 left in the budget and will need 2 more shops in this billing month, but if DH needs fuel (which is likely) it will need to come from this budget. It will be tight but should be doable with our store cupboard, and remaining Tesco vouchers as a last resort. It just feels like a constant juggling act at the moment.

We didn't manage to get out for a walk, but I have made good progress on sorting DC3s toys. Will hopefully get some listed for sale tomorrow and declutter some others to the childminder later in the week.

WelshKitty85

I've been feeling really tearful the last few days. I unexpectedly found a lump and, although I'm sure it's probably nothing, it's been playing on my mind & I've been finding it hard to focus. Managed to get a doctor's appointment yesterday. They've reassured me that they don't think it's anything sinister, but I'm being referred for further tests. I'm still finding DHs work situation quite stressful too, but more opportunities are starting to pop up so I'm hoping for some good news soon. 

I got 2 of DC3s toys listed for sale before he found the bag and decided to empty them all over the floor and start playing with them again. So now I need to sort through the whole toy cupboard again! One of the listed items sold today though for £10, so it's definitely worth the effort to get them out again and get them listed for sale.

DH did end up needing fuel (to go and see about a job) so I've got very limited funds left to cover groceries for the next fortnight. I'm going to try really hard to come in on budget this month though, so I need to get creative with the meal plans and shopping lists.