Missy, Roo and May Stretching out every last penny whilst drowning in Budgets, groceries & laundry!

missymoo81

Afternoon,

Feeling vaguely better after I have had a bit more sleep. Roo is definitely on the mend. He’s not been sick anymore. BF was supposed to drop May off at school but he didn’t get up in time. Mays shoes fit which is a bonus. Not feeling very motivated today. Have just sold some baby monitors for £9 which someone is going to pick up tomorrow. Just feeling rubbish because I’ve pretty much (bar the odd day) been under house arrest for 2 weeks. What with me and the children all being ill. Feel really bleugh. Haven’t been to the gym either which always makes me super grumpy.

teafor2

Hi Missy, popping in to say hello :wave: You've had a rough ride the past couple of weeks with illness haven't you, hope you're getting it all out of the way in one go and the germs stay away for the rest of the year.

I think you're doing really well so stay motivated. You're trying to sort things out while looking after poorly children and feeling rotten yourself, that's not easy but you're ploughing on regardless.

My friend made overnight oats because she thought they looked pretty in the jars, but she said they were awful. Just goes to show the old adage "looks aren't everything" is right. :rotfl: x

missymoo81

Went and got May from school and was just informed Roo isn’t able to go back to school until Monday, due to their policy. I am so sick of being under house arrest, usually I would be happy but due to feeling rubbish too nothing is getting done. At present I am putting up hooks in the under stair cupboard as BF mentioned it was a mess. He’d gone to the gym. He did make me lunch before he went. Just realised I need to get coconut oil!! Not sure how I’m going to fit something that expensive into the budget, have just found £1 in my coat pocket so that can go toward it. Think it’s about £2.99 anyone else know how much it is?

missymoo81

Hey teafor2 thank you so much for popping by. And thank you for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. I’m going to try and get some stuff done tonight and do the UC as felt too rough to do it yesterday.

Just checked my supermarket and coconut oil is £1.99, I know I’ve got odd 5ps etc in the car will see if I can cobble together the extra. Gosh it’s so tight living within such a tight budget!

missymoo81

Talk about 2 steps forward and 1 step back... whilst hanging up all of the coats etc, i found lots of coins in one of the pockets! I was so excited, until a realisation hit that i had no bags to send out the eBay items! so have just purchased those for £5.50 on amazon. which leaves me up £1.50.... going to put that as an over flow on the food budget. Did find a couple more old £ coins, i have £15 in total, £10 was already allocated to shopping in my calculations, but £5 is over. not sure what to do with it, keep it as a contingency for food, or put it in the bank to make up more of the shortfall......

missymoo81

Also wondering about eBay. I've spoken to friends in RL (well over text, i rarely see anyone these days!!) and everyone is properly broke, it being January and all, Now do I save all my eBay stuff until the end of Jan, because people will actually have money? Or do i do it now as a lot of it is fitness stuff? hmmmm.... Im thinking the end of jan..... Not sure I can last that long though.... Will have a look at the finances and see! Mind you if I list stuff on sunday people get paid before it would end I think. Most people get paid on the last friday of the month.....

teafor2

Choosing not to go out of the house is one thing. 'Having' to stay in is another so I feel your frustration. At least it sounds like you can move around. I used to hate it when mine were toddlers because they would literally pin me to the sofa when they were ill.

Not sure I'm going to be much help with what you should do, but if the food budget is so tight I'd be inclined to keep the £5 for now. Eating is a priority and you've already remembered you need coconut oil.

Not sure about the fitness stuff. I might list a couple of things and see how they go to get some money to tide you over then maybe list some other stuff near the end of the month?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but I'm sure I read your food budget is £200+ Is there a reason it's so tight at the moment. x

missymoo81

teafor2 wrote: »

Choosing not to go out of the house is one thing. 'Having' to stay in is another so I feel your frustration. At least it sounds like you can move around. I used to hate it when mine were toddlers because they would literally pin me to the sofa when they were ill.

Not sure I'm going to be much help with what you should do, but if the food budget is so tight I'd be inclined to keep the £5 for now. Eating is a priority and you've already remembered you need coconut oil.

Not sure about the fitness stuff. I might list a couple of things and see how they go to get some money to tide you over then maybe list some other stuff near the end of the month?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but I'm sure I read your food budget is £200+ Is there a reason it's so tight at the moment. x

Hey teafor2, I’m trying to live on £40 a week for 4 of us. As I sat down and worked out that I’m actually in a massive deficit each month and I didn’t even know, I just kept bailing myself out with the credit cards! My cards are at their limits now and I need to make everything as low as possible to try and make ends meet. I need to sort out Universal credit, so I’m trying to survive the 5 weeks until this comes through. To do that I need to make an extra £242 in that time to make ends meet, and this is based on £40 a week shopping. Hope that makes sense.

WannabeFree

Once you make the claim for UC make sure you ask for the advance. It's there to help.

I don't buy coconut oil so can't help there.

If you get really stuck will your boyfriend help a bit more towards the food budget?

TBH I'd just list the things you have on eBay now so it can help. It's pointless waiting for a bit to maybe get more (which you'll never know) and being short on food

x

teafor2

missymoo81 wrote: »

Hey teafor2, I’m trying to live on £40 a week for 4 of us. As I sat down and worked out that I’m actually in a massive deficit each month and I didn’t even know, I just kept bailing myself out with the credit cards! My cards are at their limits now and I need to make everything as low as possible to try and make ends meet. I need to sort out Universal credit, so I’m trying to survive the 5 weeks until this comes through. To do that I need to make an extra £242 in that time to make ends meet, and this is based on £40 a week shopping. Hope that makes sense.

It does and sorry for making you re-type all that. I've read it over several posts, but seeing it all in one go makes it easier for me to retain exactly where you're up to £40 is still pretty tight especially if there's a hungry man in the house as well, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it. Not fun by any means but if there's an end in sight with UC at least that's something.

Think WB is probably right about Ebay. If you need to make £242 I'd start listing things. I don't know much about it but there's a 10 day listing isn't there which would take you nearer to pay day for most people. x