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

Baileys_Babe

Happy Birthday @Bluegreen143

Your cake sounds, fantastic I have been off googling recipes of chocolate blackout cake. 3 of us here bake, ds contributes by enjoying the product of our labour.

You have received a lovely range of presents 2 jigsaw puzzles

My BIL bought me our kitchen scales for my birthday many moons ago, they are flat glass and made by Salter they are very good I can use any dish on them including pans that have come off the hob.

MagicCat

Happy Birthday! 
The cake and presents all sound lovely, hope you've enjoyed your day.

M was very excited to plan and buy me a birthday present this year (with the help of DH) - he was so excited to see me unwrap... A Playmobil knight  DH said he was absolutely set on it 'because then mummy will be able to join in ms play with me'   

WelshKitty85

Happy birthday. Sounds like you've had some lovely thoughtful gifts. Hope you've enjoyed your day.

Bluegreen143

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes all ❤️

@MagicCat I LOVE that story ❤️ bless M’s wee four year old heart. Aren’t they adorable, and we must remember these stories for when they are older 🙂

Did have an amusing time with Monkey later on today. Red was late home from work so I was making the kids’ dinner. Monkey started moaning that he didn’t get to choose the TV programme (we had watched Aristocats movie and he had loved it until it finished!). Eventually I asked him to go into another room as he was distracting me. He went upstairs and I thought nothing more of it, until we went up for bath/bedtime and he confesses he “was feeling so angry he made a mess of his room”. He had taken every toy and book out, bedding etc and covered the floor! 

I don’t think he will do it again 😆 I was calm and empathetic but explained to him about bad choices having consequences and he wouldn’t have time for his bath as he would need to tidy up the mess as wasn’t fair to expect me to do it. To be fair to him he tidied about 80% of it up all by himself and did apologise and give me a hug off his own back. He was quite pouty having to clean while I gave Bambi her bath & stories. Me: “yes I would be disappointed missing my bath too. Do you think you’ll make this choice to make a huge mess again?” 😂 bless him he was like “nooooooo mummy”. I stuck to my guns re his bath but we did cuddle up and read a bedtime story once he was done so all was well. And Red got back while I was sorting bedtime and I came down to a glass of fizz and him sorting out a lovely dinner of ribs, chicken wings, HM chips and corn on the cob.

Made a huge pot of beetroot, tomato and lentil soup for the kids’ dinners and some lunches this week so that was quite MSE but I’m in desperate need of making more sourdough as we seem to have munched a whole loaf in one day 😆

Baileys_Babe

Sound like you handled Monkey so well, I bow down to your parenting skills. Ds is so calmer and much more rational than me, I am glad to say.

Bluegreen143

Ah thanks @Baileys_Babe. I certainly don’t always handle it calmly but was in a good mood with it being my birthday 😂

Met a woman I know who sends her kids to the school we are thinking of for a long walk this morning. Lovely to catch up as I haven’t really seen her in about 18 months since our kids went to playgroup together, except in passing at the shops or on FB. And she was a mine of useful info. And with the walk to nursery, our long walk together then going to the playpark after nursery pick up I’ve done 22k steps today! (Yes I finally charged my Fitbit 😂).

Did have an unbudgeted £6 spend as we stopped at a cafe but not bad for a soft drink each and ice cream for the little one. Will rejig YNAB budget to allow for it.

Bluegreen143

Tesco shop today (rounded up to nearest £1).

Food: £50
Butter x2
Pork shoulder joint 1.8kg
Bacon
Greek style yoghurt
Cheddar
Frozen diced chorizo
Bourbon biscuits
Conchiglie pasta 1kg
Lemon juice
Basmati rice 4kg
Extra virgin olive oil 1ltr

Snappy choc finger biscuits
Cola x5

Tomato soup tin
Gram flour
Red lentils 1kg
Instant coffee
Crisps 30pk
Dried chickpeas 1kg
Cocoa powder
Part baked baguettes
Chopped tomatoes x3
Coconut milk
Sliced bread
Tinned tuna x4

Household £11
Cat litter 
Food bags
Kitchen roll x3
Sponge scourers
Paracetamol
Nappies

Veg & fruit boxes were yesterday. Broccoli, corn on the cob, cauliflower, lots of plums/peaches/nectarines, apples, grapes, light pink beetroot, plus all the usual bits like courgette/carrot/potatoes. Will post up mealplan tomorrow as I need to get to bed!

Dinner tonight was beanburgers in homemade buns with Red’s famous chips, HM salsa & corn on the cob. Not made beanburgers in years (Red isn’t actually super into them despite being OK with most veggie meals) and they seemed very sloppy so I didn’t think they’d work but they turned out great after I added some flour to them to thicken. I cooked them in the oven before frying them which seemed to stop them falling to bits (always a risk with HM beanburgers I find!). And topped with HM salsa, sliced onion and feta. Very tasty 👍

Baileys_Babe

Your dinner sounds delicious, I can't remember the last time I ate a bean burger let alone made one.

Bluegreen143

Yesterday’s food:

B - toast with peanut butter & mashed banana, fruit

L - tuna sandwiches, tomatoes, cucumber 

S - picky plate for the kids with fruit, veg, mini muffins & crackers. I just ate loads of chocolate all afternoon - ooops!

D - Pulled pork with HM BBQ sauce, HM wraps, rice, cheese and served with corn on the cob on the side.

Monkey is clearly reacting to the change of going back to nursery. He’s such a calm wee boy that he’s not having many tantrums or anything, but he is asserting himself by becoming even pickier than normal. He’s now decided he doesn’t like weetabix which he has had for breakfast a couple of times a week since he started weaning 😂 I’m sure he will get past it as he settles back in so I’m just ignoring his whining 😆

Red bought a fly zapper online for £20 so asked me for £10 towards it, which I have sent him as there do seem to be lots of flying beasties getting inside just now. Child benefit came in and I only had to use £20 to balance budget pots and was able to put the other £120 into the Christmas & birthday savings fund which is brilliant. Nothing really to spare anywhere budget-wise now and Red gets paid on the 31st so we’ll see how it goes. MIL sent me a £30 Amazon voucher and one of my sister in laws has send a birthday card with £10 in so just need to decide what I want 🙂 the £10 may just end up sensibly used in the budget but I will need to tell MIL what I bought with the amazon voucher so I can’t just get stuff for the kids (which I am quite guilty of with a lot of my birthday money usually) as she will be cross if I do 😂

My stepdad got out of hospital the other day so we are going to visit this afternoon and will get dinner there - mum said she is doing a chicken roast and as they buy very expensive chicken from a local free range and rare breed farmer it will no doubt be an absolutely delicious treat 🙂

Bluegreen143

Current YNAB figures (9 days til payday)

Housekeeping (amount left)
Food £68.60 
Household/garden: £0
Petrol: £0
Clothes: £0
Fun: £0
Misc: £0

My spending £10 + £30 Amazon voucher 

Savings
Christmas & birthdays £431.20
Emergencies: £243.97
Annual/irregular bills: £134.30

Debt still owed to MIL: £1,125 (so have paid £125 since starting this diary)

All bills paid for the month so it’s really just about not buying anything we don’t need and being very frugal on our shop on Thursday! And hoping we don’t need petrol, but I think we might 😬 as there is 1/4 tank but once we have been to my mum’s & back (60 mile round trip) I suspect it will use most of that. I have walked the hour’s round trip to nursery every morning this week which has been great for my steps/fitness and reducing petrol use, but I do usually drive the pick up in the afternoon. It always seems a bit unfair on Bambi to make her go in the buggy for another hour, plus it’s downhill all the way there so uphill home, so Monkey doesn’t mind scooting/biking there but does complain quite a bit if I pick him up on foot 😂