Marginal Gains

debtfreeoneday

 Sounds like you’re doing great with plans so far. Must get some winter planting done at home though not sure I’ll get to a garden centre now!

Cornish_mum

Month End Totals

Windows fund (+£1800 in October) left to save £2554.

Education fund £41213 no change.

Mortgage capital reduction £910.

CM AVC (£1027+) fund value £19,907

MrCM fund value £40,143.

We have been offered a full time place for DD at the after school club, effective immediately, quite a few children have left school which is pretty unusual and I guess connected to Covid. This means we gave notice to our babysitters (4 weeks notice = £385).

Groceries were £130 for the last week of October; including 6 bottles of wine which should do for the whole of November.  

I ordered a bunch of Christmas gifts for our kids and also nieces, nephews and friends kids (13 children total!). Plus 4 prechristmas birthdays. MrJL= £60, HerrHM =£15, Amazon = £200, photo box £31. That’s most of it, I just need DS’s main gift and chocolate for our kids.  Last year I did a lot of charity shop book gifts and TKMax for toys. Alas I haven’t had a chance to go very much this year and with the lockdown I just decided to get presents for the children sorted out. I raided my kids present cupboard for a few bits but it was pretty depleted so had to buy most of the things.

I also ordered DS a replacement cubs jumper and Woggle, as he has lost both £19. I ordered from the Scout shop online and gave a small donation.

DH posted one set of gifts last Saturday, we have another 2 families to wrap and post; then the last one will be vouchers (for teens). 

Instead of trick or treating we had a Halloween chocolate treasure hunt and pumpkin carving. Kids were very happy.  We didn’t do fireworks which I regret a bit.

Work has been busy, I am typically working 8.30am-5.30pm then 8-10pm Monday- Friday. We are under a lot of pressure to produce output because of the financial issues. Very thankful for school and childcare currently and hopefully I won’t have to make anyone redundant.  It feels manageable but means in the week I only have time to prepare a quick dinner and put kids to bed, so have to be super organised at the weekend with household stuff and DSs homework to leave sometime for family fun.  It also means that I have very little time for our extended family and friends - which I feel very guilty about but I just can’t face more zoom on Saturday and Sunday evenings after I put kids to bed.

Goals for November

Save £1500 to windows fund.

Prepare Christmas food.

Try to declutter and find a new home for the things we don’t need.

Review our charity donations and increase our direct debits.

Enjoy our weekends, try to avoid worrying or spending time on my work and make sure we have one afternoon free of work/homework or chores per week.

30 work days until the Christmas holidays.

South_coast

Great November goals CM 😀 Sorry work is so frantic, but awesome effort on getting organised on the presents in spite of that!

Cornish_mum

15 days to holidays; work continues to be particularly manic for MrCM but ok for me.  The little CMs are quite cheerful which is keeping MrCMs and my spirits up. Its sad they are missing lots of the normal school activities (no Christmas cards, winter fayre, Christmas disco, choir concerts, advent calendar or nativity) but neither of them seem to mind. 

Last week MrCM spent £40 at MrW, to buy a few nice things we can’t get at other supermarkets. Last two weeks regular groceries were £170, in addition - £50 of this was on booze (25% off 6 bottles offer).  I also tried out HerrAldi click and collect for £4.99, it worked really well. I normally do a pre-Christmas stock up on all the store cupboard stuff for Christmas, nice wine & cleaning products. Total spend was £111. It’s all rather horrendously blown my November groceries budget but it’s very similar to last year.

I have also spent another £80 on gifts for DPs, £25 on topping up the gifts in my kids present cupboard, £10 on a costume for DD’s school nativity dressing up day, £30 on school resources for DS, £15 on reading books for the kids, £15 on bulk buy cleaning vinegar, £15 on flower seeds and £5 on Christmas ribbon and wrap. 

I also visited the dentist which cost £129. When we moved here we could only get a NHS dentist for the kids not us, so I have to pay the full cost.

I booked DD and DS into one day of holiday club for the Christmas holiday £64.50. I used a voucher to pay for it.

I batched cooked bolgnaise last weekend and Mac n cheese this weekend. I have been making lentil veggie soup for our lunch. I also have made the mincemeat, Christmas cake and candied peel. DD ‘helped’ and we only burnt the Christmas cake a little bit. 

I have been able to harvest a bit of kale and parsley from the garden.  I transplanted a few forgot me knot seedlings into an empty spot in the garden.

I trimmed DDs hair, MrCM made a school history costume for DS and the kids and I made our advent window display for the community event. I repaired the hem of pair of DS’s school trousers.

Cornish_mum

Month End Totals November 

Windows fund +£1800; remaining funds to save £740.

Education fund £41213 no change

Mortgage capital reduction £910

Pension AVC pot CM  £1700 increase, MrCM £2010.

December goals

£740 for windows.

£1000 for education fund

£1000 MOP.

debtfreeoneday

Good progress MG!

Cornish_mum

It’s all been a bit hectic again. I had to go into work on Sunday to sort some things out in person. MrCM has had a full-time week doing his second job which means he has to keep on top of his main job in the evenings. Also we had an unwelcome mouse (possibly mice) trying to move into our lounge. So I am a bit behind with everything and am very grateful for a bit of time off from work to try and get back on track with everything at home.

So far in December I have spent £280 on groceries, MrCM also spent £30 on work snacks - as he had to work in the office every day for the past few weeks. We also bought a Christmas tree £50, present for PILs £60, donations to various teachers collections £70, online Christmas cheese order £55, Christmas jumper for DS £15, replacements for lost Kids winter hats and gloves £18, tights for DD £19, takeaway curry £35 and £75 on stamps. MrCM’s car needed some serious work and an MOT £500. There will various mouse related costs too. 

The cheese was bought with my Christmas money from my Dad so is a present from him to me really. December always has so many extra spends.

After the mouse issue I had a massive de clutter and organised 5 bags for the charity shop and a huge vacuum packed bag of DS’s old clothes for SIL. 

I also altered the costume I bought for DD’s Nativity from Amazon as it was enormous. She is very pleased with it.

I have batched cooked meatballs, sweet potato, parsnip and carrot pasta sauce, and healthy lentil soup for my lunches. DD and I baked some Christmas treats to post to my parents and made mince pies and iced the Christmas cake.

I forgot to submit our meter readings and as a consequence was sent a massive £680 catch-up bill.  Luckily I submitted the readings; then queried it and it was a mistake. We have hardly had the heating on in the day at all, which hasn’t been fun when WFH because we were worried about a massive bill.  

I need to organise a new tariff as ours in due to end. Also we need to do our self assessments boo; determined not to leave it till the last minute.  

We need to decorate the house for Christmas still but this had to be postponed while we get rid of the pesky mouse/mice. 

I have written and posted the Christmas cards, and all the gifts. I just have the local cards to write and deliver.

I hope everyone is safe and well. I am feeling quite sad about the new Tier4 rules and some financial problems at work which are very concerning.  

Take care All 

CM 

debtfreeoneday

Hope mice situ is sorted. Sending hugs your way. It is really an unsettling time for so many. 

South_coast

Blimey CM, that is a LOT going on 😮! I'm in awe that you managed to batch cook, bake and post Christmas treats and declutter in amongst all that - well done you!

I hope you manage a decent break over the next couple of weeks, with no thoughts of work and enjoying that lovely cheese 😋 x

Cornish_mum

Thanks both - cheese was delivered yesterday and I started tucking in today. 

MrCM went to the big orange store this morning for anti-mouse stuff; to seal up gaps around air-bricks and cover them with anti-mouse mesh. We think we have gotten rid of the current ones but I am very keen to avoid any repeat incidents.