A new royal start

QueenJess

Pretty much better today, which is just as well as it’s DD’s birthday weekend. Off to the zoo tomorrow as her birthday treat. We will pack a picnic, but will stretch to buying some ice creams. We never buy anything in the gift shops as the kids know they have to use their own money for that.

Just sat around whilst DS is at gymnastics, then when we get back I need to make a start on this rainbow birthday cake for DD. Will do a number of layers sandwiched together with jam and buttercream, with buttercream on the top. I then have some free unicorn and rainbow toppers from Buy Nothing that she’ll love. Looking forward to finally getting the second hand desk out of the library room as it’s definitely in the way. DD never noticed the addition (it’s under a sheet) and hopefully she’ll love it as she’ll be able to draw and colour in her room as well as downstairs.

Decided I will write off this months food overspend as one of those perfect storms of me working full time and being ill a number of times, so we’ve resorted to more convenience and expensive things at times (even bought bread the other day!). Will plough on and see how April starts to pan out and then will tweak the budget as required. I’m trying not to borrow from other categories to bail out another as I think that leads to me not ever being able to see how much I really need to budget for any one category.

Better go and order some more yeast online then have a nice time sitting and reading quietly before a jam packed weekend (in laws are also visiting today). I’m fully expecting to go back to work for the rest on Monday!

As I am cake making today, it’s chicken, chips and veg for dinner (as DH can make it). Tomorrow we’ll defrost a spag Bol from the freezer as there will be little time for cooking.

Jessy103

Hope DD has a lovely birthday! 🎁🎂🥳

QueenJess

DD had a great birthday and we are almost at the end of the cake just now!  Been a very long week this week and work has been quite annoying/stressful, so I am glad it's the weekend now.  I woke up this morning feeling a bit sick, which then translated itself into a headache.  No idea whether it's just the hard week at work or more fun symptoms.  I spent a couple of hours outside in the garden which did make me feel a bit better, so maybe a combination of both.

I don't even want to report my spend in the sm earlier which was £225!!! I mean how?  I wrote a list, yes we needed more as I defrosted the freezer this week after running it down, but wow.  It's crazy.  To be fair, I'm too tired and felt too ill this morning, so maybe I didn't shop as well as I thought.  I have noticed everything creeping up and now I have to buy meat again (previously I was using the everlasting stock in the freezer), I am expecting an extra expense.  Plus I am cooking less as I am working full time, which takes it's toll.  I'll see how April goes, but I have a feeling I need to find more money in the budget, which means I have to take it from holiday/leisure categories sadly.  On the plus side, I did find loads of ys chicken as well as ys meatballs which were all organic and were rescued now that I can fill up the freezer again.

Did lots in the garden earlier, but tons still to do:

• Moved my strawberry planter to the patio where it'll get more sun (the strawberries hated it where they were and all escaped and proliferated across the border, which ironically is all in shade under trees so they didn't fruit anyway) and replanted it with strawberries from the border before the redcurrant takes over and I can't see them anymore.
• Repotted a rosemary plant which was completely pot bound (I picked it up and all the soil came out attached to the plant!).
• Moved my rhubarb plant from a massive planter as it's never liked it in there/grown properly into a small spot in the border.  Either it'll like it, or I shall conclude rhubarb plants are not for me!
• Sowed a pot of rainbow chard, another one of spring onions and another with peas and red clover.
• Cleared lots of other pots ready for planting.
• Filled a massive bin full of leaves
• Sowed three trays of wild flower seeds which will fill the last gap in my front wild garden.

Everything was very mse in the garden as I'm trying to buy nothing for it this year and use up everything I have instead.  I might cave and buy some marigold seeds/plants, but other than that and some compost, I'm trying to do it all for free.  The peas were free from my local Buy Nothing shop (they give away local seeds).  I also have more chard and some courgette seeds from there.

Dinner tonight is frajita chicken, easy frozen mixed veg and hm chips.  Tomorrow is mother's day, so I treated myself to some lamb shanks which DH will make with lots of roasted veg and potatoes.  I'd better run and make the apple and blackberry crumble for dessert now which we'll have with custard.

edinburgher

Are solar panels on credit an option? Mollusc are offering 3 years interest free

LadyWithAPlan

Glad dd had a fun party, cake sounded great! Your food always sounds delicious
Food prices definitely going up (I am watching my coffee costs!) but at least you got some YS meat etc.

QueenJess

edinburgher said:

Are solar panels on credit an option? Mollusc are offering 3 years interest free

I really hate debt (was brought up that you never have debt with the exception of a mortgage when the value is too high to buy outright). If you want it, you save for it. To be fair, I would be reluctant to take on debt whilst I have just started this contracting lark as I need my monthly outgoings to be as low as possible as I can be out of work for periods of time, although I appreciate I would have a reduced electricity bill at the same time.

It’s taken about 10 years for me to convince DH they would be a good idea and there’s a lot to research on it yet. I was hoping to get a scalable system so I could add more batteries later and therefore didn’t have to save up quite as much upfront. It’s all quite overwhelming really and so I need to do much more investigation into it. It’s a bit of a long term project rather than right now and so I may as well start saving for it.

QueenJess

LadyWithAPlan said:

Glad dd had a fun party, cake sounded great! Your food always sounds delicious
Food prices definitely going up (I am watching my coffee costs!) but at least you got some YS meat etc.

I think I notice the increases more now that I’m only shopping every other week. Definitely going to be a tight few months with the increased nursery bills and then at least there will be some relief! Sadly I don’t think I’ll be able to save anywhere near as much as I hoped once nursery fees are over, but I shall redo the budget nearer the time. Any amount is good and will be something I can chip off the mortgage (assuming I have a job at that point of course!).

In the meantime I’ve increased the food budget to £150 a week and taken the £10 a week uplift from the leisure/entertainment pot. Not sure if that will be enough, but hoping it will be ok. I still have another £100 a month to find for May-August for nursery costs, but hoping to start saving on childcare to offset some of this as DH will soon drop down to working 4 days a week in his crazy work schedule (then it’s 3, then 2 over the summertime, 4 again and back to 5 over the winter). Hoping that I can then cancel some of DS’s after school clubs. I just book everything upfront as DH’s work is quite variable so I need to be flexible.

dawnybabes

I started out with 2 batteries, I now have 4.  Most are modular now so can easily add as needed. 

dawnybabes

Check your mortgage company too, Barclays have a green scheme and you can claim about £2k back for stuff like this.  I’m sure others might have a scheme too. 

edinburgher

@dawnybabes - top tip there, thanks!