Scrimping our way through

Steerpike88

Been quite a spendy time tbh! £24.07 in Aldi yesterday and £12.35 in Sainsburys today. Went to my parents today and had to hold the baby for his nap, before I knew what had happened I woke up one and a half hours later. When I came downstairs my mum had fed DS1 jelly, two packets of crisps, grapes and sausages so obviously he didn't have much of his dinner. I know she only means well but DS1 gives me such a hell of a time with not eating it gets on my nerves a bit. Should be thankful though I managed to get some sleep!

The kids had fun chasing each other around the sofa this evening and DS1 wanted the baby to sleep in bed with him but that obviously wasn't happening as they'd just keep squirming, but hopefully when it comes to sharing a room they might not be too bad with each other.

Sitting in bed having a very naughty apple pie after kicking our very loud and demanding cat outside. She comes upstairs and yowls at the top of her lungs like she's being murdered because she wants wet food, or to go out in the rain or a third reason unknown even to herself, probably thinks her strangled cry is helping serenade the children to sleep.

I was thinking of doing a £35 a week shopping challenge until the end of January as we're quite low on funds this month. I'm not sure what are some cheap and cheerful meals, maybe omelet, baked spud, soup? DS1 will eat none of that I suspect but he's used to starving, needed to convince him pizza wasn't a health food yesterday and started crying that only sweeties and ice cream could save him from being so poorly. He does have a truly tragic life.

Honeysucklelou2

I've tried hard to cut down the grocery budget, so am spending about £75 a week for 8 of us. The children do like tuna plait, which is fairly simple and cheap to make. Homemade sausage rolls, curries, macaroni cheese, egg and bacon pie, toad in the hole, chorizo hash, pasties, pizza ( children like to make their own), soup all feature regularly.

Steerpike88

Thanks HSL! I'll definitely try some of your suggestions. I've been feeling quite poorly today but managed to get to @LDI with the baby while DH took DS1 to the playpark on the way. I wanted to keep the shop under £20 I meal planned but knew I'd get some things off script. I think I got plums, pears, crackers and crumpets that were unplanned but the shop came to £13.69, so I was quite chuffed.

Obviously coming back home I see we're low on butter and cheddar but I can do a small top up midweek at some stage. We had a pasta salad and fish finger sandwiches with peas for tea as I was too unwell to make the chicken soup I was planning on. Oh well.

Steerpike88

Just had a look at the debt figures and we're almost under £2k which I'm happy with. DH has been squirrelling his bonuses and some pay away for a deposit as well so that's all been looking quite healthy.

Spent £21.67 in @LDI today. Feeling quite guilty as I should have kept a bit more on top of it but I went a bit off list.

DS1 left his shoes at soft play the other day so we need to go tomorrow and buy more shoes. My parents agreed to take me to an A$DA as I don't have anything else in his size besides some wellies. I wish I checked at soft play before I left as I tell him to put it in the buggy but he refused and had a screaming tantrum when it came time to leave so I had to put him in the buggy and leave before a bigger scene was created. He's been quite challenging the past few days crying about going to nursery and hitting me and lashing out. I think I'm too tired for him with my insomnia and I'm not doing enough with him so I'll try to think of something special. I'm starting to lose patience though, I dunno how other mothers manage to keep their calm. I try so hard but I end up getting cross with him if he doesn't stop.

My screen on my phone has cracked too, but that's not on my priority list atm.

We have to buy a baby gate as DS2 is obsessed with climbing the stairs, but there's no bannister which makes it more dangerous and you need a bannister to fix the gate onto so we're buying some wood to drill into glue half bannister on the weekend.

Also need a cat litter tray with a LID cause if I put him in the kitchen he goes for the tray and tries to eat its contents. And a bin With a lock... Cause a one year old is a blessing that tries to murder itself or make you look like a terrible mother. But need to wait for payday for all of the above. OH! I also need a car seat for DS1 as his current one is so awful that trying to lock it hurts my back and thar makes no sense.

Steerpike88

A NSD parents very nicely paid for DS1s shoes. Just a couple of cheapy ones from A$DA but that'll do nicely for nursery. DH got us a couple of chicken burgers for tea but that came out of his money. DS1 was much better going to nursery today and the teachers were really supportive of us so it made me feel better rather than just feeling like a failure. Think I'll overspend the £35 grocery challenge this week but I've learned a lot. I think I buy too much "just in case" dinners like noodles in sauce "just in case", pizza "just in case", and just need to plan a little better.

DS2 is still quite poorly as is DH and I still have insomnia. Still need to wait to get paid at the end of the month before I can buy some needles although my parents said they'd give me money for my birthday but I was hoping to save that money for a trip to TK M@xx and get myself some nice clothes seeing as I'll probably be a size 12 for a while so I'd like to feel good in some clothes. It wouldn't matter if I was a bit taller or had it in a slightly different areas lol.

Steerpike88

So a nice weekend I bought sojd

Steerpike88

So a nice weekend I bought some nice clothes with my birthday money which was sorely needed. So I'm very pleased and spend around £45 for dinner and drinks with friends which isn't too bad between DH and me, it's nice to get out and socialise with adults again.

So I've meal planned for the week and hopefully it'll work out nicely. A mix between a few favourites and some very quick meals I added some money for snacks and fruit too. We also need nappies and cat litter so hopefully I over budgeted for that as I've guesstimated it'll be around £25 until the weekend.

DH made a very nice tea tonight as everyone was poorly and sleeping this afternoon but him. Meatballs and a delicious sauce. The man is talented. He's also currently feeding the baby while I'm in bed planning on decorating a house we don't have yet, things might look very different this time next year. Although we'll probably be in debt again after moving in as I'll probably want to do up the bathroom and update the kitchen a bit, I'm counting my chickens a bit atm but I'm very optimistic about our future right now. :starmod:
Just trying to get the last of this debt off our shoulders.

Steerpike88

Good news and worrying news all round. Spent 21.50 at @dli but still need to get cat litter, chuffed with myself though. Made a nice omlette for tea using up bits in the fridge. Had my 20 week scan today and it's a girl! So we're very happy with that news.



We did get a text this morning from a surveyor, asking us to phone back? We've not been told anything from the letting agents at all so I'm ignoring it atm, if the landlord is thinking of selling then I won't be pleased at all tbh, we've only been in here for 4 months, and the lease ends in August just before DS1 is supposed to start school and we don't quite have a deposit saved up yet. Might have to go to the bank of mum and dad for a loan for a deposit if this is the case. I'd rather give up all my things and live on the sofa in a one bed if it meant my kids had stability that couldn't be taken away on a whim so easily. DH was quite disheartened by it, but I cheered him up showing all the places we could afford if he takes a job in a different city. Lots of quite big two beds, which we'd be happy in and nobody could take it away or say that the washing machine is fine when it's clearly broken.



I'm feeling the reality a bit though, he'll have to get a job up there and how long can wait before we move? Will I have to move back in with my parents for a bit? With three kids, Christ, it was bad enough before tbh. Although I know they'd help us out. Oh well enough with the rambling I suppose.

Honeysucklelou2

Congratulations! Those scans are amazing aren't they? I was impressed how much technology had changed between my scans for DD1 & for DS3!

Steerpike88

Thanks HSL! we're very happy with the news. I'm even getting a scan at 36 weeks this time which I didn't have even last year weird how quickly things change.

So totally smashed my screen on my phone,can't even get into it and that's like my banking app, my email,my amazon account, everything, I can access a lot of it on my laptop but I can't even talk to my mum or anythng and we don't have a landline phone. I suppose these things come in 3s. I'm a little more optimistic about things. Might have to get rid of all our furniture and stay with my parents until we can movelater on in the year, they have a tiny house and it's 3 kids and my dad is up ALL night with the TV blasting so we can't even get any peace which was 90% of the reason we moved, it's just too small, that and my dad flung a table at me when I was pregnant, but that's a whole other issue. We definately won't like being back but I think even if the house goes to another landlord that's fine with us all the uncertainty and stress just isn't worth it.

I think we're 4k short of a deposit so I might ask my parents for 6k and we can pay them back. It'll get us a decent two bed and if we just trim all the excess junk we've been given for the kids by family members and lots of my old clothes, etc it should suit us just fine. My parents won't like us moving so far away so I'm hesistant to ask them for the money but tbh I live a 15 minute walk away and they barely have time to come and see me I have to go and bring the kids to see them, and my dad's retired and my mum only works in the morning as a cleaner. It's been great to have them around but it's not my fault house prices are not within our reach here.



I feel like I'm just having a bit of a moan tbh, I mean it's not god awful. It's just hard to know what to do and the timing isn't great as we'll be looking to move with a newborn and when DS1 is supposed to start school. TBH it feels like it might be a blessing in disguise as we're paying 1700 a month for this place and while it is nice it's been done up a bit cheaply, the windows need redoing as the silicon is all cracked and there's a huge hole in the wall in the kitchen, right under the sink where the pipe comes in and they've done nothing to insulate it so you can just feel the wind. We're not allowed to put anything on the walls, even sticky tape, and I get all that as you don't want to pay every few years to have it all filled in and repainted but it just stops it from feeling like home. Oh well, better make tea, a nice lentil curry will make me feel better until DS1 sticks his nose up lol.