One income family of four - can we get ahead even after pay cuts?

Bluegreen143

@joedenise last week’s (half) red cabbage was braised (with apple too) in the instant pot - never done it that way before. Lovely and took 3 mins under pressure. I’d imagine that it would be lovely in the slow cooker too but haven’t tried that before! We are making coleslaw with this week’s which will probably only account for half of it. Besides braising and coleslaw I don’t think I’ve ever used red cabbage in a different way so maybe I need to get inventive! 

Those Lidl boxes are great! They rarely have them at my one but I did get one once. It was then quite tricky to get through it + my actual veg box (as it arrived as usual, the same day as the Lidl one, because I hadn’t known I would be able to get the Lidl one). I do love the fruit & veg boxes from the local greengrocer, and like supporting an independent business, but we definitely are spending more because of it. However we are getting much more fruit than we used to and aren’t wasting it so I’m sure it’s a good thing health wise if not for our wallets!

Bluegreen143

Well I didn’t get anything I planned to get done today 😂 did go for a walk to the local park with the kids in the morning. Glad they were wellied and waterproofed as we found a big patch of oozy, sticky mud and puddles and I let them play sitting in it for ages making “houses” and “gardens” - was lovely to see. Proper outdoor childhood fun. 

Then when I was cutting up spring onions at lunch I just about sliced the top of my thumb off! So glad Red was home as I was crying, the kids were both crying cos I was and there was blood everywhere. He’s very calm in a crisis and good at taking care of people (past career in the care sector). I ended up spending an hour tucked up under a blanket on the sofa putting pressure on my thumb to stop the bleeding while he got on with feeding the kids etc. I was meant to be doing a proper chicken korma and naans for dinner but he’s taken over and done it all. I do cook more often but I am fortunate we both enjoying cooking in this house which saves us from getting many takeaways. I know some women whose OHs won’t even reheat meals...

Red has been doing much better with his own account this month but forgot about his phone bill (£43) which put him in his overdraft. I sent him the money from the annual bills fund to avoid overdraft fees. Plus I know he will sulk if he doesn’t get any beer on our next shop lol but he has enough left now I’ve topped him up. 

Have moved the £25 we had left in fun money to food and we should have enough to cover next Wed’s shop. In fairness it was always good to be hard starting this diary on a 5 week month! We have reigned it back quite a bit from previous lockdown months. Red’s work also had some good news & confirmed that they are scrapping the pay cuts as the company is doing well. So he’s still on 80% pay as furloughed but once back he will be on the 100% after all (they had said it would be 90% for a couple of months). 

Bluegreen143

Oh and Monkey is having a sleepover at Grandma’s tonight so we just have one child til 4pm tomorrow. And have a zoom drinks call with friends tonight 🙂 so it isn’t ALL bad!

MagicCat

Oh your poor thumb, sounds awful! Hope it's not too sore now.

Good news on Red's pay

Bluegreen143

Thanks @MagicCat it’s not too bad now unless I try to use the thumb to press anything 😂 luckily it’s not my texting hand.

Trying to bed in a couple of habits for making life easier in the post-lockdown resumption of normal(ish) life. 

1. Make sure the dishwasher is empty before bed (so I can load the breakfast dishes right in).

2. Put a washing on timer before bed so it’s clean in the morning.

These have been working well, just need to stick to them. Think I may try to start looking our clothes out the night before too, sometimes that’s helpful in the morning rush! 

Isitdoable

Just had a read through and really enjoyed!  Growing my own veg is something I’m so keen to do but I just don’t even know where to start!

missymoo81

Hey BlueGreen, sorry I’ve only just managed to catch up with your thread. Thank you so much for the YNAB stuff,
it’s really helpful. 

You’ve been so busy with the children and all the amazing things growing in your garden. You make me laugh with Red and the shopping, my OH is the same, if I try and ration his sweets and crisps. 

Baileys_Babe

When mine were smaller I used to get their and my clothes out the night before, we still do it now if we have a really early start.

We run both our washing machine and dishwasher overnight. It is emptied whilst making breakfast or shortly after (usually). My children are older than yours and they are generally responsible for emptying the dishwasher, amongst other things. 

Bluegreen143

@Baileys_Babe I must confess we run our dishwasher at least twice, often three times a day 😂 I was previously emptying at breakfast, but don’t find I have time to empty, refill and wipe the surfaces etc before heading out on the nursery run so would do it when we got home. But now that Bambi is older I’d like to take her out more in the mornings (hopefully playgroups reopen at some point!). So would be great to have the kitchen clean before we leave. We put it on after dinner and it’s a 25 minute cycle so easy enough to empty before bed if I only remember!

Baileys_Babe

I can see the logic in emptying it overnight @Bluegreen143
We only run our dishwasher when we have a full load, usually once or twice a day and occasionally 3 times.

Our Kitchen has become a dumping ground, I would like us to sort it out today, but I know we are busy, so any progress will be good.