A Year in the Life of...

beanielou

Hope you are feeling more like yourself  xx

girlatplay

EssexHebridean said:

Sorry GAP - didn't mean to cause offence. the way I read your previous post was that you were concerned about actually still infecting other folk because of there still being a case in the house, so hoped to provide some reassurance that this was highly unlikely to be the case. 

No no! Absolutely no offence caused.  That's exactly what I was concerned about.  I still am. I know it's probably stupid but I'm scared I'll touch a spot with covid on it then touch a surface that someone who doesn't have it touches right after and they'll catch it.  I know I probably sound a bit crazy but I don't want to be the reason someone else gets it (poor LMG but she's absolutely fine).

girlatplay

beanielou said:

Hope you are feeling more like yourself  xx

Thank you I am much better.  Back to work today and I do feel absolutely fine.

girlatplay

We are both fine now, just remnants of the cold hanging around which I'm sure will be gone soon.  We are due for release on Thursday.  Thank you for all the lovely comments.

I'm still working my way through diaries but nearly up to date.  Some people had 175 comments for me to catch up on (looking at you @savingholmes 😀 and it's still growing).

Payday today but I've not done a money shuffle yet.  I'm not sure that I understand how my bank is working out interest on my current account.  I got more interest when I had less money in the account.  The rate hasn't changed and I'm not above the threshold. Going to wait until tomorrow before I move anything, see if that makes a difference.  I'm aware that it was February so less days but I'll be interested to see the amount when it comes in.

We did another online grocery order which was delivered.  It has worked really well for us as not being able to physically go to the shop means we've had to do proper meal plans to be sure to get everything we need.  There have been a few substitutes but so far I only needed to return one.  I ordered basil and got parsley.  I don't like parsley, LMG does. I would have kept it if I hadn't actually ordered parsley in that delivery.  If they had sent a different herb I may have considered keeping it.  Everything else has been fine (bigger or smaller/higher or lower brand than what we ordered).  I only put chocolate and crisps in when we needed to get the order over £40 😁. Okay, we don't get yellow sticker items but there's no impulse buying and I look for the cheapest delivery slot.  It's worth paying for the delivery as it saves us a lot of time and energy.  It probably won't be a permanent thing, ordering online, but we will do it when it is convenient.

I'll do the monthly round up of the budget categories in the next couple of days.  I'm pretty sure the number of food shop trips is in single figures this month 😆

boxofpaws

I went through a phase of a few years of not eating parsley, and then discovered Israeli salad. I am now known as ‘being awesome at salad’ by one and all. It’s down to that unsung hero, parsley.

I may be exaggerating about one and all, but you get the gist. 

girlatplay

boxofpaws said:

I went through a phase of a few years of not eating parsley, and then discovered Israeli salad. I am now known as ‘being awesome at salad’ by one and all. It’s down to that unsung hero, parsley.

I may be exaggerating about one and all, but you get the gist. 

As much as I'm not keen on parsley (just a bit too earthy tasting to me) I would choose it over coriander.  I can't bear that stuff 😝  I'm sure you are awesome at salads 😀

girlatplay

I've now done the spends round up for February.

Between 30/01 and 27/02:

In the food category I spent £266.32.  That was 7 separate physical shopping trips, two online deliveries and the cost of two veg boxes, and also includes £16 on a treat paid for with Christmas money.  The number of trips is so much better than last month but I suppose we cheated really.  We both agree the online shopping worked well and was worth the delivery charge, even though we overspent in the budget (includes the next two categories).  We would likely come in under budget if we stick to online shopping or even just meal plan...

In the cleaning category it was £27.20 which was mainly laundry related.  I know what I bought and I'm happy enough with this.

In the toiletries category (that's deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, hand soap, toilet roll, etc, etc) it was £51.83.  Only about £3 less than last month but around the same amount of stuff bought (includes medical bits).

In the beauty category (make up/remover, other bits) it was £55.00, however, this was two items that I wouldn't normally buy as they are a bit of a treat so I used Christmas money to pay for them so not out of any budget.

In the petrol category we spent £0.  We had 3/4 of a tank at the start of the month, used just over 1/2 then we had to isolate from 16th and I've used it twice since then, one time to drive LMG to the other side of town for her PCR and the other to do a quick in person shop and take something else back.  The light is now on so needs topped up.

Home insurance this month came in at £188.94 and I am waiting for £35 cashback to track.

I spent 89p on kitchen foil and £2 on sandwich bags but didn't know which category to put them in.  I don't want to put them in food as they are not food.  Might do a general grocery category too, I'll see next month.  I put them in Other for now.

Other (other random spends; eating out, decorating, bits and bobs) £339.84.  This sounds like a whopper!  It breaks down like this:

• £245.12 in Christmas money spending - this doesn't include the £55 from the beauty category or the £16 from the food category (bought something special and it was not cheap for what it is.  Turns out I'm not even that keen on it 😔).  £76 of the Christmas money was actually from the Christmas before's money (I was waiting for the right thing and for a good deal).
• £55.69 on eating out/meeting up and the associated travel (bus fares)
• £29.99 on a new fire stick - required (!) for isolation as the old one was playing up.  This was supposed to come from the council tax money this month but I've somehow managed to incorporate it into February's budget and I'm not sure where from.
• £5.30 on other bus fares and two small storage trays
• £3.74 on foil, sandwich bags and a reusable bag (decent quality - my sis has one, I borrowed it and refused to give it back until I got my own)

Total spends for the month were £929.13 which is very high for me.

Groceries ended up at £296.41 which is rather more than the £250 budget.  One thing though, the last online shop we did gives us food/meals up to and including Friday night.  I am seeing bf on Friday for the first time in almost 3 weeks and he's going to organise our tea so LMG will sort her own.  This may include a shop visit, depending on what's left on the meal plan that day.

We don't have home insurance every month.

I have run out of Christmas money 😆 (well, actually, there's £30 left).

I'm pretty sure I have miscalculated somewhere along the way as the money doesn't quite seem to add up although there is no slush fund money left so that's maybe where the £30 for the fire stick should go.  I'm not overly worried, I haven't spent what I don't have, the cc's are both clear, we have food for the next few days, we are both alive and well.

girlatplay

I ate a frog this morning.  I ordered a bag online and when it arrived I really didn't like the colour.  I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to create a fuss so normally I would have worried about it until it was too late to return it then been sad about it forever more.  I remembered reading about @savingholmes returning stuff a while back and I wondered why I thought I wasn't worthy of returns.  So I called them (you need to call to arrange exchange), they were lovely and it's all sorted out.

I opened a new account about a month or so back for saving for my bestie's possible (but not confirmed or even mentioned yet) hen in 2024.  My sis now says she wants to take my niece on a special holiday in 2024 and would love for us to go too.  It will be expensive so I need to start saving. I swithered about opening yet another account but LMG says not to be stupid and just make the account I've just opened my holiday account so that's what I'm going to do.  Got £21 in it so far and I'll be able to add more in the next day or so.  Whether I can afford it at the time or not, I'll need to wait and see but at least I have time to try.

We (at work) got a one off payment of £150 in our wages this month in lieu of a payrise for 21/22 (wow) so after tax I got £100.  There are so many things I would like to do with this but I'm thinking I should just put it in the holiday account to give it a boost.

LMG pays me her digs by SO on 1st of each month.  When I checked this morning she had sent more than normal.  I asked her about it and she has taken it upon herself to up the amount as she knows the bills are going up and she reasons that if she lived elsewhere then she would have to pay more.  I said while she's still living at home with me she doesn't need to do that but she was pretty insistent.  We did have a discussion about it a week or so ago and she did mention it then but I told her no and promptly forgot all about it.  She must have been thinking about it.

savingholmes

I'm glad your DD opted to increase her contribution. Bills are going up substantially - and I'm sure it will help ease the burden... 

I'd apologise about the 175 comments on my diary to catch up on - but then you quoted my diary about returns. I think I've always had a mental block on returns too - but have thrown silly £ away over the years not returning things promptly. We are absolutely worthy of getting what we paid for and returning what we don't need / doesn't match expectations. Thanks for your encouragement. Well done on returning the item.

beanielou

How lovely of DD to do that