Marginal Gains

Cornish_mum

I started a post last week but it was so dreary I didn’t finish it.  Feeling much more positive this week despite my work situation not looking very good because of a funding crisis.  Back to school for DS went pretty well and DD seems to be very happy with starting school.  

We have had a couple of quiet weeks mainly focused on organising back to school things and keeping on top of the house and garden.  We have taken the kids to the park, local botanical gardens and on bike/scooter rides for fun.  Very pleased to have had such good weather it makes everything so much easier. 

I have made some progress with finding after schoolcare for DD; not sure if it will work out but we have two part-time options lined up, so at least one should be ok.

Groceries have come in at around £235 (including another MrI shop). Annoyingly the MrI honey I ordered wasn’t delivered and I was too busy to chase it up.  We have harvested salad, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, lots of courgettes, kale, beetroot, basil, mint, chives, parsley and a ripe fig from the garden.  DD and I sowed radish and winter salad, the lettuce is nearly all bolted so I thought it was worth a try. We had enough basil to make 3 batches of pesto (I froze 1.5 batches). I also bulk cooked mac n cheese, plain tomato sauce and roasted veg (mainly courgettes) for the freezer.

I also made a crumble from windfall free apples from the library.

School have a no belongings in or out policy, so the kids didn’t need their new school bags, PE kit, extra pairs of wellies or trainers.  I can’t fault the school though, they have done so well with the reopening, they weren’t sent the guidance till the last minute from the LEA and they are doing their best. I absolutely take my hat off to the head and all the staff. Because of the no books coming home policy; I spent £47 on school books for the kids (reading ones for DD and writing support materials for DS). I also spent £40 on an extra pair of trainers for DS but he had worn them before we found out that he wouldn’t need a pair permanently at school.

We also had a short circuit in the wiring to our oven, all fixed now for £96. Lastly some complete twit drove into our car last week, knocking off the wing mirror, damaging the wheel arch and tire, and scrapping whole side of the car.  They drove off without leaving a note and must have been driving too fast to cause so much damage. The insurance are covering it but the excess is £350. Plus DH will lose his 7 years no claims bonus, he was worried about the steering column and we had to have it towed to the garage, so we thought insurance was the way to go. So it’s going to be quite a spendy month. 

No pay rise but I was awarded an increment which I hope will add £1500 to my pretax pay per year. I am going to use it to up my AVCs by another 3%.  

Cornish_mum

Should have said grocery spend was for the month so far not just this week!

South_coast

Grrr, what a total *rse about the car 🙁 All sounding OK other than that though x

Cornish_mum

A “new normal” couple of weeks in the CM household.  Work (a lot), school and staying home.  My work financial situation continues to be dire, so I just have to knuckle down and see what I can do to cut back spending and raise income.

DDs after school care is now sorted for the start of October, it’s a mishmash of different things but hopefully will work. I paid DS childcare bill for September £270 (used vouchers) and topped up his school lunch account by £100.

Alas new rules mean no guests at DD’s birthday party. I have organised a family zoom one instead, and a traditional one with just the four of us (with a Frozen theme, balloons and pass the parcel). She is very disappointed, as she really wanted a soft play party with her new school friends. Total spend was £15 on party things. 

Groceries came in at £210 for the last 2 weeks, this included quite a bit of wine. We also treated ourselves to Friday lunch cheeseburgers from 5-mens (twice) - not a habit I want us to get into.

I also bought lavender essential oil (which I put on the hoover bag to cover the hoover smell) £12, 3 vegetable cloches £14 (really didn’t need those), computers headphones and mic (which I had to have to record a voice over for work) £30. I also donated £10 to the local library; on account on the vast amount of free apples I have been getting from the library orchard.  So all in all I was quite spendy.

We cracked this evening and put on the heating (it was 17 C in our warmest room at 8pm) and we were all cold, despite wearing slippers and double jumpers. I am expecting a whacking great heating bill this winter. Hopefully in the long-term the double glazing will help.

We harvested carrots, courgettes, a few tomatoes, 10 Figs, some salad, kale, parsley, mint and chives from the garden. All the lettuce has bolted and the salad is super strongly flavoured now. So I cut the lettuce to the root to see if we could get some edible baby leaves to regrow. DD and I planted some winter mustard greens (this is what the cloches are for), potted on cornflowers  and separated new strawberry plants grown from runners. 

Last weekend, I made apple sauce with free apples and used some of it plus more free apples to make French apple tart. It was a nice change from apple crumble. DD and I used some bananas which were on the turn to make a cake. I batched cooked a kilo of mushrooms with garlic and onions to make pasta sauce. We had it with kale and cream one night and it was super yummy that way. This weekend I am planning to make fish curry, to use up some MrI frozen cod which is a bit rubbish. Which is a big shame as the prawns and scallops were really good quality.

Lastly and most excitingly Ryanair have finally refunded our cancelled flights money from April! 

debtfreeoneday

Glad the refund came through. 

South_coast

Great work in the garden, I really admire the way you're so "back to basics". The pasta dish sounds 😋 

Are you able to claim the £30 back from work? I know you've said things are a bit hairy cash-wise there, but you shouldn't have to bankroll equipment you wouldn't have bought if it wasn't needed for work 🙁

Cornish_mum

Thanks for all the encouragement, it’s been a tough plod recently so I appreciate it. 

Thanks for for the suggestion to claim back SC, I had been thinking of doing it, but I don’t have a budget for that part of my work~~ which I know is quite bizarre. It’s just something I have to do but get zero recognition for or budget; which is extremely annoying. In my line of work there is a lot of expectation that you are doing everything for the love of it and that you will pay for things out of your own pocket frequently- especially if you manage a team.

I could claim for it against my privately generated income account but the thought of that is making me cross (which is silly). 

Cornish_mum

Well today was a rough day as I messed up at an important meeting because I didn’t have time to prepare.  So I decided on some self care this evening rather than working yet more hours; including reading the boards and writing an extra post to lift my mood.  

Positive things 

DH cut DS’s hair. It doesn’t look too bad. 

The green beans have had a second wind and are delicious. 

It’s not raining! 

Although DD bashed her face badly at school today falling off a bike at speed she is still quite cheerful and has not been put off bicycles.

MrCM and I still have jobs, we may not be doing a perfect job at everything but we are trying our best under really difficult circumstances.

When our elderly neighbours heating broke on Sunday; MrCM first instinct was to rush out and buy electric heaters to lend her while we waited for the gasman.  It was a little thing but reminds me of what a lovely man I married. 

The dentist let me reschedule my appointment at short notice (as I had to attend a meeting at work urgently

Cornish_mum

Month End Totals

Windows fund target (£6844) +£2495 in September & £4349 left to repay back to EF by Christmas. 

Education fund no change £41213.

Mortgage capital reduction £819.

Pension AVC pot monthly increase £637 (less than my actual contribution because of stock market decreases); yearly increase to DB £726 extra per annum at state retirement age.

Goals for October 

Save £1500 to windows fund. 

Find childcare for half-term.

Finish planting up winter pots in garden.

Start Christmas planning (gifts & cards).

This week 

Groceries were £98 plus small loaf of posh bread £2.40. I also ordered some extra clothes and shoes for the kids and a gift for our babysitter from MrS £67. Ordered gifts for DM birthday £60.

MrCM has been given a new K tax code; he is too busy at work currently to sort it out but it’s slightly concerning as clearly HMRC think he owes them quite a bit of tax.  

This week I harvested a few reddish tomatoes from the garden, some green ones, carrots, a lot of kale, green beans, parsley, basil, rocket and thyme. We had homemade pizza on Saturday; Sunday I batched cooked butternut squash and carrot soup and shin of beef with dumplings (and a lot of root veggies).

Cornish_mum

I had been feeling absolutely shattered, so have had a couple of weeks of not doing very much fun stuff; it’s super frustrating being so tired.  It looks like the dose of one of my meds was too high (so hopefully on a lower amount I will be abit perkier). I have managed to keep working but a couple of weekends were basically right offs - MrCM as usual has been brilliant. 

Groceries have come in at £350 this month, so far. I decided to restock booze for Christmas cooking as MrCM has drunk everything (brandy, contrieau & ginger wine), and bought extra nuts, dried fruits etc.

I managed to find half term childcare for the kids (£162.50 each), I paid with childcare vouchers and my stocks are looking very depleted now.  I managed to make the October regular payment from vouchers too, but I am now down to £40 so November will have to be paid for in cash. Boo.

On top of this I am paying £90 a week to the babysitters for pickups from school when DD doesn’t have a place at the wrap-around club for all days.  

We harvested one last fig, some orange tomatoes, kale, runner beans, courgettes, beetroot and lots of herbs. Not much left apart from Kale, but I don’t think we will run out of that it just keeps growing. There are also a lot of green tomatoes (which I might make chutney with).

Last weekend we did a big orange DIY store click and collect (sand, compost, wood sealant and a head torch for DS cubs). It cost about £45 all in.  

MrCM resealed the join between the kitchen worktops and tiles (as the wood lice had setup home in the gap and it was yucky).  So much better now! 

I used the sand to store lily bulbs and will add daliah tubers when the frost comes to the bucket. 

DD and I used the compost to pot on our strawberry baby plants, a few cornflower seedlings and verbena cuttings. We also planted tulip and daffodils bulbs (some were lucky dip from bulbs I saved in the spring)so we might get some interesting colour combinations. We also planted broad beans and then replanted a couple of walnuts that the pesky squirrels had buried in with the strawberries (and were already germinating). 

We also splashed out on take away curry last Saturday £30, the restaurant were so grateful for our business I feel so bad for them. The restaurant is super lovely. I think we will try to get take out now and again. 

I searched out all the old Christmas cards and wrapping paper in the house and don’t need anymore for this year. I also looked over all the kids gifts and cards and worked out what we need to buy for Christmas and birthdays for our DNs (4 birthdays in next 8 weeks). DH ordered cards from Card Factory with DD (10 for £10). I now just need to order the gifts. 

I also planned the Christmas gift boxes for both sets of parents- as we aren’t going to be able to see them this year. (PILs live in a Tier 3 area and my parents live with my brother so visiting breaks the rule of six).

I made a few batches of homemade soup for our lunches (carrot and butternut squash, pea and mint and lentil minestrone). 

I mended 2 pairs of PJ trousers for the kids.  

I finally had to chuck out my old slippers and have started using the replacement pair I bought in the after Christmas sale 2 years ago. I must have mended them 10 times and this time I just couldn’t work out how to fix them.

Hope everyone is safe and well-CM