Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Late Sunday night diary entry - I should be in bed getting the zzzz but instead i'm up typing. Been in a funny mood these past few days, not helped by having a rotten cold and probably feeling a bit sad the kids are back to school. In a lot of ways I am ready for it but in some ways I am not. . Lots of stuff whoring around my little head! I know where I want to be but have lots hurdles to overcome to get where I need to be and time isn't on my side. Making a career change at 40 isn't proving to be as straight forward as I'd hoped it be. 

Kids are now with their dad for a few days and in that time its back to the grindstone with study - need to follow up with exam centre to check whether exam is booked. Having been at home for most of lock down its starting to feel a bit stale, so as a perk me up i'd like to see what local cafe's are available to sit and study in, looking forward to venturing a bit further with the daily walking challenge. Still not made up my mind about laptop either but I will need to get something sorted in the next week or two. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Tuesday, 
I've hit a metaphoric wall and feeling mildly depressed. Having kept positive over the summer, September has arrived and i've just run out of steam. This week kids are with their dad and I should be using the time to knuckle down with study and job hunting but I just don't have umph for any of it. Today will be slow but determined not to waste the day so I'll slowly wade through the mud. Maybe give myself a homemade pedicure or something nice. Sending out blessings to anyone else feeling like this, its not much fun at all. 

On another more positive note, I now have the laptop. Closed my eyes and bought the one I really wanted. It was a good spec one and was a bit more than I normally spend but it was nice to treat myself.   

Drawingaline

I am feeling the same. Add in all the sresses of school and the crazy times for dropping and picking up I am ready to snap.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Thanks @Drawingaline. I imagine there are many in the same boat. Kept going all summer and now it's facing realities. Thanks for sharing. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Saturday, diary update is well and truly overdue. We had a delayed start to school because the kids went to on holiday with their dad and then had to isolate - all was well though no hint of CV and so our next journey onto school started this week. So for older one it was a start to the more senior part of primary school and for my little shadow this was a start to reception class. Both kids have loved being back and touch wood little shadow has settled in a lot better than expected. He is in class with his bestie and they are very happy to be together again. They are doing a grand job of looking after each other through the early days which me and his mum are very happy about! With the older one we are learning to navigate homework. This is the first year we've got some kind of homework that has to be handed in, again because of the delayed start we are a bit behind on this but school is aware of circumstances. I'm actually all in favour of a bit of homework so as not to come to as much as a shock when he starts secondary. I'll be getting eldest to sit down and do his later today and tomorrow. He is a lazy !!!!!! so lets see how long it takes... any guesses? 

Money wise I have felt like spending has taken on a mind of its own... At the beginning of lockdown we were really good and making the most of the reduction in some areas but as lockdown eased and we could do a bit more we enjoyed the summer and it was actually nice to not count the pennies but as we are now in autumn and back to paying for swimming lessons, after school club etc I really need to focus on this again as basically every pound i'm spending is my house deposit money. I'm still out of work and this is an area I am starting to tackle this week too. I've got myself on a course to support the unemployed back to work so I am really excited about this starting this week. 

On the 13th of September I did my regular monthly spending review and I've now paid of 27% of my debts or in money terms this is £2927.67 from a total debt of £10,569.02. Currently I only count savings from the performance of my S&S ISA and that made an increase by a megre £2. Overall I am pleased the debt is coming down. Long term this will put me in a much stronger position. 

At home I gave the house a good clean yesterday - it needed it to be done to be honest and last week some of the kids toys went to new homes. So slowly i'm feeling a bit better about stuff. Next week both kids are doing full days at school so its going to be the first week of knuckling down and tackling the things I need to do so between now and tomorrow night I need write down a plan for this coming week to better manage my time. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Good Morning diary, 
Its been nearly a month since last diary entry, now the kids are back at school I've been very busy with studying. I'm on a couple of training courses from home while the kids are at school which I am enjoying and hopefully will improve my CV. 

Money wise I am very much now watching the spending as each £1 is out of house deposit fund which I don't want to do so this weekend its a freezer feast. Kids need some new winter boots which will look into next week, spending on hold till the 13th. I have been selling the last of the baby stuff that my now 4 year old no longer needs and so far raised £55 for Christmas gift fund so am pleased with that oh and more stuff out the house! Talking of the big day - I have been squirreling away a bit of money each month for the big day. This has been one of my 'win's' this year as in the past few years I haven't been organised enough to do this. Will definitely keep this habit up as this will remove some of the seasonal stresses! 

Investment house purchase still going through - it reached a bit of a stalemate but hoping next week we will be getting windows fitted and we can move forward with what's required.  

Queen_of_the_Hive

Yesterday was the 13th of the month and so the day to reconcile the accounts. I am pleased to report I have now paid off 30.30% of my debt. My stocks and share ISA was in the positive by £119 thus increasing my total annual savings this year to date. No change on employment state though so still on the job hunt but learning lots and updating cv, linked in, networks etc so feeling a bit more upbeat about this too. 

Just for fun, debt reduction chart is below.

missymoo81

Well done queen bee, it really sounds like you’re on the case. I’ve really enjoyed catching up with your diary.

missymoo81

Hey lovely just came to catch up! What have you been up to? 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hi @missymoo81 thanks for kicking me into action. I actually cannot believe I haven't posted in over a month! 

Since September I honestly don't know where the time has gone! Click, !!!!!! and gone!

So in half term we made it to our holidays. This was very touch and go but a wonderful mid week break was had by all. The kids had no idea about it, I'd actually booked back in Feb and paid it off month by month which is a winner in my book. We just went to one of the big holiday parks on the coast and was the best medicine. The food offering on site was rubbish so we bought food from the supermarket which not only made it much cheaper comparatively but we were eating what we wanted to eat. For the time we were away  I just 'shut my eyes' to the spending and actually because of where we were and the current restrictions we didn't do anything crazy. My best pre holiday buy was puddle and wet overtrousers for the kids. They loved nothing more than jumping in muddy puddles. 

The kids are happily settled back at school, we've had some dodgy days recently where the school has had to close because the support staff have had to isolate so back to home schooling. These kind of days freek me out when I eventually get back into work. As for work itself, no luck as yet. But in all honesty I haven't applied for much yet. I have been mega busy on a return to work program which has been zapping me of all energy alongside my accounts studies and mum stuff. 

On a positive self care note I am just shy of two weeks into giving up junk food. Life is stressful as it is but since my marriage breakdown in 2018 my eating and weight balance has been out of kilter and I have gone around and around in vicious circles trying to get a handle on it. Partly as a coping mechanism and partly habit. Anyway after happily tucking into a big bar of galaxy a couple of weeks ago (loved it by the way) I just got to enough is enough so yeah no crisps, chocolate, popcorn, biscuits, puddings since. Mentally I feel better for it and I just hope this combined with my daily walking and stretching will bring my weight down to a more comfortable level. Weekends are my weakest point as they can be quite lonely as I often overthink things. Anyway today I am meeting up with a friend and have lots to do on my back to work course. 

Have a good weekend everyone.