Frugal until 60!

angela110660

Hope you are well - no posts for a while?

D_M_E

Time, life and things to do are neverending - no posts, no updates?

Is everything fine in the land of Hopefuljoy?
Is life treating you well?

liselle

Yes are you ok?

Hopefuljoy

Thank you to all of you for your enquiries after me. I am alive and kicking but life has dealt me a few blows recently and I wandered off to lick my wounds a bit.

My DD and DS are both healthy and well thankfully. However, since January my DearMums (DMs) health has deteriorated and she and we are reeling from it. She has IPF which is a cruel and terminal lung condition and has entered her fifth year with it. Up to now she was doing so well but she had a fall just after Christmas and this seems to have caused a flare up. No bones were broken thank goodness but her breathing is so much worse, she has blood clots in her legs and lungs and they've now discovered her heart arteries are blocked and she has leaking valves.

It's all very upsetting and she has been really scared. She refused to take antibiotics for an infection for four days and it developed into something bordering on sepsis! She's on oral antibiotics now but is not eating very well. The next six months are going to be very tough for her but we are all pulling together and live in the same town. My Dad is finding it all rather appalling so we are supporting him as well.

Coupled with that my job was moved one and a half hours commute away and I tried it for a month. It didn't work out at all with my depression and wanting to care for my parents so I found another position in a local place. It looks like a lovely job and it starts next Monday but it's on less money! Really, you couldn't make the ast 12 months up as far as jobs and mental illness go!

So here I am again, still keeping as positive as possible but less inclined to put a false gloss on everything.

I've just polished off my budget and I will need to raid my savings to get me though the next month and a half while pay days even themselves out. I expect they will ultimately dip below £4k which I hate but they are there for a rainy day after all. I have no plans for holidays and will spend the remainder of this year building my fund back up to £5k.

In far better news I have started sewing after five years of holding back from buying a machine. I start my first project this weekend, a long length cotton summer skirt in a royal purple colour. I am terrified of making the first cut into the material!

I hope to see some of you soon and that your lives are going well for you. x

Hopefuljoy

Update having done YNAB this afternoon. Tomorrow I will be paying £175 for my second car service and after that the intervals should get much further apart as I shall be walking to walk.

I've noticed that petrol has gone up by 5p per litre at the cheapest garage around here so I'm really pleased I won't be filling up so much. I've allocated £12 per week in my budget going forward.

Prices for everything seem to be creeping up so I'm also cutting down on meat and fish and will be supplementing with lentils, beans and pulses which I've never cooked with before. I'm digging out my second hand copy of the GH Vegetarian cookbook tomorrow to give me ideas.

The 'save the planet diet' which was featured on the BBC website looks quite interesting. It's not for losing weight thank goodness as I am doomed to failure on any kind of diet! From what I can see it is remarkably similar to WW2 rationing. If anyone is interested I will copy the details of what to eat and how much you need per week in here tomorrow.

It also fits in with the need to eat 30g fibre per day to protect against cancer and heart disease which is all to the good.

I have worked out that by the end of this month I will have gone over budget by £105, added to which I may owe my former employer some money as I left slightly earlier than intended. So as well as rebuilding my 'life raft' fund I will also need to claw back in my budget.

It can be done but it's a bit bleurgh!

Anyway, I am bracing myself for DD going back to University tomorrow to revise for her first year exams. It's the right thing for her to do but neither of us really likes it! She is 7 hours away by car and 9 hours by coach! Thank goodness for fB and mess**ger.

We had a wonderful evening with two friends who have become like an aunt and uncle to DD tonight which really cheered us up. Delicious food and great conversation followed by cuddles with two of our three cats and Mr P the Yorkie!

Nite nite all and have a lovely evening.

D_M_E

Good to see you're well but shame about your DM's setback - let's hope she responds to the antibiotics now she has succumbed to taking them.

Hopefuljoy

Hello DME and thank you! She seems to be getting stronger each day so we are more and more hopeful.

Today was a bit spendy as I had the car serviced. £169.99 has flown out of my account and it looks as though I have to buy one front tyre so I'm researching tomorrow. Going to move the spare wheel to the front to replace one tyre, move one front one into the boot as it still has plenty of tread and then replace the damaged one. On the plus side they were dead impressed with the lack of wear and tear on the brake pads. I try not to use them!

I also went to the cinema with my Father using my cineworld card so I was free and he paid for himself. Fisherman's Friends is a lovely film. It had everything you could ever want, romance, humour, great storyline, tears and laughter! Dad loved it as we have strong Cornish roots so it was a great choice all round. He's 86 and still going strong!

A tea with friends before that cost me £2 and I used a McD monopoly voucher to get free tea to take into the film. Lunch was £10 out of my monthly treats budget and I used an O2 voucher to get my main course.

All the spends were planned and fit in with my tight budgeting this month although if I was really strict I wouldn't have gone out for lunch.

Tomorrow I meet my Sunday morning friends for a tea at a well known cafe and that will be the end of treats until next Sunday.

It's been lovely to distract myself today as DD has gone back to University to revise for her summer exams. It feels horribly quiet without her here, even the animals are a bit subdued.

It's food shopping day tomorrow so I will be off to L1dl with a proper list! Will let you know how I get on with my quest to eat according to the Planetary Diet.

Hopefuljoy

Well the Lidl shop never happened as I went locally instead. The total bill for the week came to £15.84 so I've got a few pounds left over for milk and bread later in the week. :j

Was very pleased this evening as I won 2 months Unlimited K1nd1e with my McD vouchers! :T:T As I read about six books a week and usually get them from the library this is great! Mind you I start my new job at the library tomorrow as well so it will be doubly great!

Visited my Mum and she is doing much much better. Its so lovely to see her more chirpy and strong. Me and my middle sister are now on a cleaning rota and we're making Easter lunch for Mum and Dad. It'll be lovely! :j:T

My DS and I chatted and he's doing well in Australia. They are planning to have a baby so I'm hoping I will be a Granny before long. :eek: I can't believe he is 25 this year and been married for three years!

Today I had an unexpected spend as DD needed a book for her Uni course. £22.99 so I have taken that out of my savings as money is squeaky tight this month. My final spend was to send her £40 to help with food until I get paid on 25th. That was planned for and on my pay day I will send her £60 for food for May. She is a real :money: fan as she's seen much it's helped me.

I'm off to bed now having prepped my meals for tomorrow and checked the underwear situation!!:rotfl::rotfl:

Have a good week everyone.

Hopefuljoy

First day at my new job and I loved It! The team are lovely and very welcoming. I also saw my parents today and had good chats with them.

Several of my friends sent good luck texts so I felt very supported. Very tired so I'm off to bed early.

D_M_E

A good, supportive team is a real bonus in a new job - long may it continue. Sounds like you could make some new friends there.

Good result on the local shop, this also saves on the cost of getting to the likes of Lidl, means more hidden savings.

Always good to hear about close ones recuperating, this in itself is enough to lighten your day.