Keeping on the Straight and Narrow...

DancingInTheRain

Another quiet day so far, the boys are still showing the after effects of their late night NYE so deliberately keeping things low key. Had a short stroll out for fresh air & visit Mum, DS2 is having a nap (totally unheard of these days so he must be tired!). DH & DS1 are having some sort of battle on the Xbox so I'm enjoying a bit of peace. 

Have got 2 loads of washing done and hoovered top to bottom. Need to do a stock take on the freezer and come up with a few meal ideas for the rest of the week as we finally finished the last of the Christmas leftovers/picky bits yesterday.

DH is due to go away on Sunday to do a work related course Mon-Fri which neither of us are looking forward to for different reasons, it will help to ensure his job is secure in the long term but a week on his own isn't the greatest situation, he's hoping it might get switched to online with the rise in Covid cases but if not we'll have to amend next weeks groceries to accommodate some bits he can take with him (including a couple of treats) while me and the boys can use up what's in the freezer.

Managed to get the mop from L!dl, popped down first thing. Cancelled the order with Ama$on and my gift card balance has already been reimbursed so in a roundabout way I'm £7 up

Still need to pack up and send the V!nted item, planning on dropping that off tomorrow as we'll be out visiting BIL who has his birthday.

savingholmes

Sounds like it's still busy in the Dancing household. Hope you have a good week.

DancingInTheRain

A few money freebies today - £25 arrived from 0neP0ll, cashed out on this just before Christmas, 72p from TCB & just claimed a £5 Tesco gift voucher from M!crosoft Rewards.
We've decided to pay for DS2 to stay at nursery for his lunch at a cost of £2 per day, that will free up 30 minutes for me each morning when I tend to be more productive and give DS2 a chance to spend a little more time with his friend which, in turn, will hopefully tire him out a little more! Have rejigged the budget to absorb this but think its worth the spend.
Heading out to visit BIL soon, this is a decent walk there and back for the 4 of us. Once we're back it'll be back in the bath & bed routine for the boys ahead of their return to school tomorrow.

DancingInTheRain

Nice couple of hours out, the walk is around 25 minutes each way (would be MUCH faster without the boys but never mind ). A lovely, cold & sunny winters day here so was certainly a bracing walk. Spent around an hour at BIL's before heading back home. We don't do gifts for adults in our family, apart from our Mums so we have developed a tradition of the boys making a card and DH & I buying a card for the recipient and adding a £1 scratch card to each card, not many winners but it's a little bit of cheap fun. BIL did well though - he's won £10!

Just checked the mortgage account and after the monthly interest had been applied the balance was £46,221.50 so I "might" have used some of the 0nep0ll money to tidy the account down to £46,200 What can I say? Old habits die hard!

DancingInTheRain

The sound of silence is beautiful in our house today! I love my boys but it is so lovely to have some quiet while they're out 😊

MIL picked DS2 up from nursery so I'll get him after collecting DS1 from school, result!

DH doesn't have to go on his training course next week so that's a relief for both of us.

After taking the boys to school I took Mum to and from a hairdresser's appointment, booked my car into the garage for next week (had a rattling sounds, mechanic thinks it's a broken spring needs replacing).

I've also done the freezer audit and have been organising our utility room which now contains a repurposed storage unit from our shed with our winter accessories that had all been messed up - everyone now has their own drawer and all outgrown or unwanted hats listed on V!nted. I've thrown out anything that's seen better days. Realised that DS2 doesn't have any matching items unlike DS1 so I bought him a hat, gloves, scarf set from A$da today while picking up a few groceries to go with some of the freezer items for meals this week.

Got a beef joint cooking in onion gravy in the slow cooker, smells amazing! Will be having some of this with veggies this evening then using the left overs with baguettes over the next couple of days 😋

So quite a productive day, just having a cuppa before walking for DS1, school is a mile from our house so a good bit of (much needed) exercise as I finally weighed myself last night & I have officially never been heavier, this really needs to change so trying to make more of an effort as I really don't have any excuses time wise at the moment!

savingholmes

Sounds very productive and MSE. Well done on the OP. Good luck with your health goals. I too plan to give mine more focus this year.

Bubblesmum

The beef joint sounded lovely - love it done that way

Well done in a productive day 

Hope the boys settled and you had a relaxing evening 

DancingInTheRain

The beef was delicious and even better, there's still enough left for me to make a Chinese style curry tonight! We had a NSD yesterday, I decided to get some exercise by walking the boys to school. I got soaked on the way home and was tired as had an awful nights sleep so admit to having a morning nap Did me the world of good though, I deep cleaned the bathroom when I woke up and then picked DS2 up from nursery. We had a nice afternoon playing with Play-Doh and drawing before going to pick DS1 up and then fell into the usual evening routine. Good to have a calm day

The boys have come home with 3 party invites between them this week so I think I need to accept they are going to have a few more of these events this year, lack of kids parties have been one of the positive effects of the pandemic I need to get a stash of cheap cards in and then tend to have a default gift of £5 wrapped up with some sweets for the birthday girl or boy.

DS2 is enjoying having lunch at school so far although it's not stopping him asking for endless snacks, not that he gets them but God loves a tryer!

In Money saving news, DS1's football training doesn't start back up until next week so transferred the £2 sub money to the extra earnings pot. Another small V!nted sale of £1.50, waiting on someone else paying £3.50 for a couple of items too. £36 became payable on TCB so have requested that today. Continuing to complete 0nep0ll, Vypr and Prolif!c surveys as well as scanning receipts so lots of baby steps towards further free money being made.

Spends today have been on booking DS1 into some after school clubs he'd like to attend, they're only £1 each and means he's in school until 4pm 3 days per week. He enjoys them and having extra time with his friends so good value for money at £12 for the 4 week block.

Have also paid a £20 deposit to a local soft play centre for DS1's 6th birthday in March, this will come from savings, as all our pots are in 1 account and tracked on a spreadsheet as I've fallen out with YNAB again and yes I know I'm jumping on the party bandwagon despite my earlier comment! 

For the rest of the morning I'll be stripping and remaking the boys beds before picking up DS2 from nursey and then this afternoon we'll be taking Mum for her weekly grocery shop, we usually all enjoy a coffee and cake while we're out too so a little treat to look forward too. The boys are then going for a play date with their cousins so a fun but busy afternoon in store.

savingholmes

Sounds busy, busy, busy.

Glad you got to go back to bed for a bit. Sounds much needed

sashybo

Got to laugh at DS2 and the endless snack requests, my DD is the same, constantly asking for food!

Your morning nap sounds good, I had a late afternoon accidental nap on the couch after work yesterday. 😂 It was only about 45 mins but I felt so much better. 

I’m waiting on Vinted money being confirmed too, only a £2.50 sale but better than nothing. 

Had a message at 1am from someone wanting to know how soon I could post a bundle of kids Christmas socks! It costs £1, I won’t be going out of my way to get it sent! 😂 They haven’t even bought them! 🤷🏻‍♀️