Shipshape and Bristol Fashion

Bluegreen143

@MagicCat well done getting some things ticked off. It’s all about baby steps when you have a non sleeping child - and noticing your small accomplishments rather than beating yourself up for not doing more. 

Haha maybe I need a face mask too! I could do with losing about 1.5 stone, so not a horrendous amount, but it’s the heaviest I’ve ever been when not pregnant. No motivation at all just now 😂

MagicCat

Thanks @Bluegreen143, I appreciate the encouragement. Weight loss is so difficult, I used to completely rely on doing lots of exercise to pretty much eat what I wanted, but not being able to do that combined with getting older is fatal! Having said that, my weight is steady at the moment so not too bad, if I can make some more changes I should get it moving in the right direction.

We got our veg box, it was:
Big bag of potatoes
2 onion
2 sweet potato
Celery (no one really likes this, so will chop up and freeze to add to recipes)
Cabbage
Carrots
Small head broccoli
Cauliflower - may try roasting this!
Mushrooms (DH hates these, so not sure what to do with them, may cook and freeze so i Can have in small portions)
3 apples
2 pears
2 oranges
Strawberries
Lemon (DH has earmarked for his G&T )

So quite pleased with it, I don't think it will save us anything, but fresh veg with tea last night rather than frozen was lovely.

Not working today hooray, so need to tackle the complete tip that is our house. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Bluegreen143

How are you getting on @MagicCat? Your veg box sounds lovely 🙂 I put celery in all the stews, soups etc I make and find it keeps well in the fridge so I can just cut a stalk off at a time for that. We don’t like it raw either.

MagicCat

Thanks v much for stopping by @Bluegreen143. Not much sleep and a couple of migraines has meant not a lot of progress - but I'm plodding along.

I used or froze everything from the veg box so pleased with no waste. Not sure whether to sign up regularly yet. A nice neighbour came round with some runner beans and courgettes too, so we've been doing well for veg.  Celery and finely chopped mushrooms added to a couple of recipes an no complaints from DH so that's a win!

Hope everyone's ok in this stormy weather.

QueenJess

Hi there!  Just found your diary and many of your bills are similar to mine, so I am bookmarking

On the sleeping front, I completely sympathise.  My DS (now 3), had a whole host of problems starting from a tongue tie and then a bit of an unlucky illness which required an operation in hospital at about 1.5 years old.  All that meant he refused to sleep without me and needed lots of cuddles etc.  He was in our bed all night and my other half was kicked out to another room.  DS is such a wriggly sleeper I hardly slept for about 2 years and started to feel like I was completely losing my mind.  Something had to change and we used a recommended sleep trainer.  There was some crying, but you stay in the room with them so it wasn't quite as bad.  Felt awful at the time, but I just couldn't function anymore.  Now he's fine in the night (although he sometimes falls out of bed and constantly is throwing his duvet on the floor).

He is also another one that refused to stop eating in the night and I have to leave him a soft snack every night (otherwise I will be woken up at 3am with his complaining that he is hungry!).

MagicCat

Hi @QueenJess, thanks

 so much for stopping by! Do you have a diary? I’m not great at keeping up with mine, but it is a help to focus on things and set some goals. It’s really good to hear from people who have a had sleep improve, it definitely feels like it’s never-ending when you’re in the middle of it, but I know it’s not from my eldest. It’s really interesting you got a sleep consultant involved, glad to hear it worked out. I’ve got a plan from books I’ve used in the past but I’m ashamed to say I’ve not been very good at sticking to it over the past few days as I’ve been up hourly and getting so tired by about 4am I give in and feed her to get a bit of sleep, which I know gets me back to square one, arrgh!

 

Slightly epic post coming up as I haven’t been good at keeping up with the diary…

 

The Good

 

I have lost around 2lbs! I say around, as I’m weighing daily so it goes up and down, but it’s consistently at least 1lb down form where I started, so small progress but a beginning! 

 

I’ve had a major declutter of clothes – I have had things in storage bags since before I had S nearly 5 years ago, thinking I would wear them again (never going to happen) or I could ebay them (which again, I just don’t make the time for, so I’ve stopped beating myself up about it, and decided to give them away where hopefully they will benefit a charity). I also had a lot of currently worn clothes which are not great – they don’t fit, I look awful in them, and some are just really old and falling apart. I think I’m better off with fewer things that I wear more often but feel good in, so I’ve got rid of these too. 

 

We trialed a veg box – it wasn’t cheap, but it was good as it definitely made us eat more fresh veg, which we enjoyed. I use a lot of frozen veg as it’s cheap and easy, but the children ate more of the fresh as it is nicer, and DH and I enjoyed it all too. So need to work out how to factor this in more often – I got another box yesterday, but haven’t made it a regular thing yet.

 

DH and I sat down and started to work on our budget – it’s still a work in progress, and I think we need a spending diary to pick up exactly what we’re doing all the time. Basically, the figures I’ve posted above are tight but doable, and we’re currently not over on our spending, but we’re not putting as much as planned things for like a holiday, which is why we haven’t been away in years, on paper we could do it but actually it gets swallowed up into unidentified spending.

 

S has started school and M is now in nursey on my work days, both doing well so far! So DH can get back to properly working from home on the days I work rather than flexing his hours and working til midnight. He has also had an appraisal this week which went well – his manager has suggested he could apply for a promotion, which is great except all promotions are frozen at present due to Covid! It’s still really nice his manager feels he could do it though and hopefully it’s something that could happen in the future – always assuming his company keeps going OK, it’s been OK so far but nothing is definite in the current climate.

 

The Less Good

 

I am still not on top of the food budget – it’s definitely less than it was, but still not where it should be. And if that seems vague, it is – I have various notes of spends all over the place, and a rough idea of the total, but I think first of all I need to get better at recording, and get my numbers exact. I was reading a thread on the oldstyle board about meal planning for what you have, rather than making a plan and shopping for it, if that makes sense – I partly plan for what I have, but could get better at this to stretch things further. The veg box is a good example of this – because I’m determined not to waste food or money on it, I’m substituting and adding and saving which I need to get better at all of the time.

 

As above, spending diary needed to really get on top of budgeting. Am debating trying YNAB again, I think I need to get DH on board if we do try it as it’s a different approach and we both need to work with it.

 

Our boiler. Gulp. We had a service done as part of the insurance plan we have – we knew because of the survey we had done when we moved that there were potential issues with the boiler not being the correct size for the house, but the service has identified a few issues that may mean it struggles on for a few months or that it gives up tomorrow. So realistically a new boiler is needed. There are various 0% deals for getting a boiler, or we could use 0% spending on credit card, but the budget needs to be in place to endure this can be paid off within the timeframe, and with very little wriggle room in our budget I need to look at the grocery budget to fee up some money.

 

The leak. When we moved to our new house we made the sad discovery that the back of the house where it had been extended was leaking. It turned out the back of the house needed re-rendering, which we had done using money from the move we had marked for a new bathroom and other work in the house which is now on hold. With all the recent storms and rain, we noticed some water still getting in. We’ve had someone round to look, and it seems it’s one of the windows upstairs – we already knew it wasn’t fitting well and would need replacing at some point – which is causing a leak below. So we really need that one window done at least, even if the others wait – waiting on a quote for this which I hope won’t be more than £400-500.

 

So on balance, I think that’s more good than bad, and there’s certainly things I can do better which will help. I’m impressed if anyone has got to the end of this – I’m going to head off to bed now as between working today and not much sleep last night I’m exhausted, so much for a thrilling Saturday night!

QueenJess

Hi.  I only just started a diary in the last week or so: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6184909/a-new-royal-start#latest
I definitely needed the sleep consultant, although I did feel very stupid at the time.  Best money I ever spent!  I got my DH to do bedtime for the first two nights as DS cried for 40 mins on the first night and I just couldn't bear it.  (He was in the room with him and soothing him, so not just leaving him there).  I would have cracked in about 10 mins.  Amazingly though, there was no crying after 2 nights and DS slept so much the better for it and I regained my sanity.

MagicCat

Arrgh!
So, I was doing quite well at thinking positively despite some setbacks until the latest. Mice 
Yes, we were alerted to the presence of mice in the house by spotting one running across the living room, then in the utility room, then behind the sofa. After trying some traps ourselves (which turned out to be more mouse feeding stations than traps  ) we got someone in, with two young children I was so worried about hygiene and just needed to get it sorted. So an unbudgeted and unexpected £120. Not good. And with all this going on have lost track of everything else, so need to get back on track.
I know there are far worse problems, especially at the moment, but could really do without this. I'm not really an animal person at the best of times and mice make my skin crawl!

QueenJess

At least you got it sorted now and it was a necessity.  These things happen.  That's the kind of thing that you can never predict and would come out of an emergency fund.  Worth building one up when you can.

Bluegreen143

Hello @MagicCat! How are you getting on?

Eeek re the mice! Don’t blame you for feeling icky about it!

I wonder if posting typical meal plans etc may help as people on here could take a look and see if there are any suggestions for saving?