Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

Queen_of_the_Hive

We came home yesterday from a wonderful mini break with OH. We visited the coast, stayed two nights in accommodation attached to a pub - highly recommended! We heard and saw live music! Sorry but after not having any of this for a good 18 months I was loving it! 

Admittedly we were not so budget conscious and closed our eyes. We hired bikes on one of the days and cycled on the seafront to the next town. Its was blowing a gale and OMG it was the hardest ride ever but sooo much fun! Other people thought we were nuts but hey ho, that was the only day we had to do this so we had to make the most of it!

Our worst money spend was on replacement train tickets - and as someone who is normally so on the ball I cannot believe this happened. On the outward leg I was having a mare of it. Got to my local train station in bad mood, I was having a war with my sandals & some dodgy Velcro and my skirt was heading north (maybe too much detail). Anyway get to the barrier and my bloomin credit card wouldn't work on the contactless. Digging around in my bag and of course no wallet. I'd accidentally put this in a different bag the previous night! NOOOOOO!! Grrrrrr! On the home leg we sat on the wrong train to the city & of course they were checking tickets! You couldn't write this stuff! So we ended up buying replacement train tickets there and back  . We had a really good time so best to just put it behind us! 

Kids are still away with their dad, they get back in a couple of days time. Not upto much today - I need to go food shopping as the fridge is literally empty. Was running it down before we went and I have a driving lesson this afternoon. I've not been into the lessons lately so a wishing I didn't have one if truth be told. Need to re-find my driving mojo 

 

Drawingaline

What bad luck with the train tickets. It would be my idea of a nightmare! I managed to book the beach car park for the wrong day last week, luckily I got most of it refunded, but I am normally all over that kind of stuff. And then on Sunday I went to London and didn't take my door keys. Luckily we were home by 10.30, but normally it's gone midnight and I don't think hubby would have been impressed staying up that late with work the next day!

Glad you had a good mini break though.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Drawingaline said:

What bad luck with the train tickets. It would be my idea of a nightmare! I managed to book the beach car park for the wrong day last week, luckily I got most of it refunded, but I am normally all over that kind of stuff. And then on Sunday I went to London and didn't take my door keys. Luckily we were home by 10.30, but normally it's gone midnight and I don't think hubby would have been impressed staying up that late with work the next day!

Glad you had a good mini break though.

Oh no Drawingaline - definately good that you got most of your money back. Wish I could have done the same but alas no

Mini break was superb. Need to plan the next one now

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning everyone,

The kids are back and causing chaos and eating me out of house & home! But soooo happy they are here too! We haven't done too much. Yesterday was cycling in the park.

Yesterday was my first 1.5hr long driving lesson and thankfully went well.

Money wise we have made a couple of gains - I was gifted a £50 gift voucher for John Lewis from an energy company refer a friend scheme so chuffed with that! Lidl have also got their save £5 on £25 shop voucher on the app. Need to do some food shop at somepoint this weekend.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Woke up really early doors this morning and took myself for a early morning stroll. The sun was at that stunning early summer morning light and was peaceful and calm. Took a couple of photos to treasure the moment. 



I'll admit the end of the week has not gone to plan as much as I hoped for. Was hoping for a trip out to a castle we'd not visited before but OH was tired on Friday and yesterday one of the kids woke feeling sick so its been a few days at home instead and frankly I got bored. On the positive yesterday I did finally manage to take a trip to a recycling centre and offloaded a small pile of various recycled items which we'd stored from lockdowns so that is a step forward. 

Financially - its been a relatively quiet week for a summer holiday as we've been home for most of it. The kids are quite happy to play though so I should be grateful. Friday was monthly accounts review. I have now paid off a meagre 1% extra off my debt but the debt chart is rapidly getting shaded in. Eaten into savings but made some gains on stocks and shares isa so am just shy of -minus £600 for the month. September will be an equally expensive month too

Drawingaline

I am writing this month off for money! Am hoping to claw it back between as sept and Xmas. But I always find Oct really expensive for some reason 🤷

Queen_of_the_Hive

Drawingaline said:

I am writing this month off for money! Am hoping to claw it back between as sept and Xmas. But I always find Oct really expensive for some reason 🤷

Wise move @Drawingaline. Pretty much do the same thing myself. Although thinking ahead for next year I am going to put some money aside for the summer holidays so I have something to start with instead of being on the back hoof

Queen_of_the_Hive

Well I am having just one of those mare of a morning's. The kids don't want to listen to any instructions and my partner is sleeping after his night shift. Its always a bad combination. Lets just say yours truly ended up in tears about of pure frustration! Kids are now packed off to dads and I have a quiet house. 

Time to start work - will post a bigger diary entry later.  

Drawingaline

I try to put money aside for school holidays, but tbh it never seems to work! I am great at saving for Xmas, actual holidays etc, but even with a line in the budget, school holidays always seem to be underfunded. I think because I work most of them planning days out is harder anyway.

I do save for kids week tickets and the associated costs though. Off to London today to see horrible histories. Looking forward to it.

Hope your day gets better.

Queen_of_the_Hive

I have been away from here for quite a while - the school holidays completely dominate my time but as school is starting this week it is very much time for a diary update. 

The school holidays flew by, it was only last week when I realised oh crap school starts next week! Lucky for us we didn't need to worry about getting uniforms or new school shoes etc as the kids current school doesn't follow a uniform and actively encourages the kids to turn up in clothes worthy of getting mucky. My youngest is especially a mucky puppy - the amount of clothes that were covered in pen, paint, mud etc doesn't bear thinking about 

One of my missions during the holidays was to sort out the boys bedroom, wardrobe etc and this was partly complete. I had a good sort though the toys and clothes which is a big thumbs up, but now need to get the eldest some more of the basics in a bigger size. So now watching the auctions for kids sized bundles of clothes as this is better for the environment and just makes my money go a bit further. 

This week I must sort out the kids swimming classes as forgot to pay before term ended - do not want to loose their places!  

Finances are all over the place - spent ££ during the holidays, not quite sure on what but we had a nice time. We had a bit of a disaster last week. Took a late train one night last week, there were problems on the line and we subsequently missed our last connection. Ended up staying in a hotel part way on our journey. This and some c**k ups the following day meant we wasted nearly £200. Just don't ask and we are trying to forget all about it. 

On a more upbeat note, OH had an offer accepted on a property today. Its going to be an investment holiday let / something we can use. Its going to be quite a project for us to get this going so feeling excited and have some trepidation at the same time!