A new royal start

QueenJess

ooh - good tips @dawnybabes.  I shall definitely look into that when I get time to do some general research.

So apparently this month is being dubbed "awful April" by the press given all the price increases.  At least my nursery one isn't until next month!  Feeling a bit more upbeat despite the increases and only a few months left on my work contract, which I think is due to the sunny weather even if it isn't that warm outside.

I will try and do a bit more cooking/baking this month because otherwise DH starts to stray into buying expensive things and ruining my grocery budget.  In my random effort not to waste anything, I saved the apple peel from making an apple and blackberry crumble, sliced it into thin pieces and have been adding it to my morning porridge (I did put a bit of lemon juice on it to stop it going brown).  Seemed to work well and so that wasn't wasted.  DH saw me cutting it up and now thinks I'm even more crazy than before

Today I made a chocolate and banana mini loafs using a mini loaf tin I got for xmas from my parents, the recipe was from a recipe book I picked up for free from Buy Nothing (and walked to pick it up at lunch time yesterday) and it used up 3 black bananas that were past eating and I had saved by chucking them in the freezer at the time.  Not sure you can get much more mse than that!  Lunch today was poached eggs with hm toast, leeks, garlic, sesame seeds and purple cabbage.  Dinner was hm fish, chips and peas and dessert is hm apple and blackberry crumble and custard, although the kids have already sampled the banana bread.

Tomorrow (or over the next few days) I plan to make blackberry ice cream as I still have blackberries left over from my epic picking excursions last year, some melting moment biscuits to use up some frozen cherries and some cheese and onion pastries for lunches (with a side of coleslaw as I have a lot of cabbage still in the fridge).

Tons of money out for 1st of month... nursery fees, council tax, DS's swimming and gymnastic fees.

QueenJess

I made most of the things I had planned to, with the exception of the biscuits that I might make tomorrow instead. We are low on crumble now as well, so planning to get up promptly tomorrow morning to start making iced bun fingers which everyone loves. Plus, after DD’s cake I can make the icing any colour I like and it’ll probably take me at least 10 years to use all of them!

Lunch tomorrow will be the last of the cheese, onion and spinach pasties and coleslaw. Dinner will be a massive tofu stir fry using all the odds and ends up in the fridge. My extra effort to save a bit of money today was to make my own oat milk for my porridge in the morning; it’s a bit cheaper than cows milk. I’ve also got leftover blackberries to add in from the blackberry compote I made for the ice cream yesterday.

Not too much planned for the weekend, but I might brave the shops with the kids as DS needs new school shoes, DD I think has grown out of her shoes and DS needs school uniform shorts. I think it could get expensive quickly 😬

QueenJess

It's mortgage payment day today and I overpaid about £50 to round it down to £121,500.  I would love to overpay more, but I need to finish rebuilding my emergency fund given I don't have any job security in contracting.  One day...

QueenJess

Just a quick update whilst I’m waiting for the dinner to finish. Did the food shop this morning as I can’t go next week - £155 sm and £28 zero waste shop, although that did include some nice 25spf face moisturiser from the zero waste shop I’m trying (but is expensive). I also picked up free local seeds from the zero waste shop (tomatos, sweet peppers and chilli’s and I’ve already sown the latter two). I also got a free chocolate brownie for dessert as they are celebrating the shop’s birthday today.

Actually off out this evening for a comedy night with my sister. I am thinking of treating myself to a gin and tonic whilst there and a taxi back. I know how to party 😂

Dinner is macaroni cheese with loads of cauliflower (somehow I still have 2 of them in the fridge!) and a side of hm coleslaw (almost reached the end of the cabbage). The kids and DH have hm ice cream with smarties (from the zero waste shop) or a hm iced bun - I think both the kids have already wolfed one down each today though! I shall be leaving DH to play fridge Tetris later with any leftovers. Since I have 2 weeks of food and it’s now a bit warm to store extra veg/potatoes in the garage, it all has to be wedged in!

QueenJess

Not much happening here as work is a bit stressful, so not particularly motivated to achieve things in the house.  I did pick up two lovely outdoor pots on Buy Nothing though and I arranged them nicely on the patio.  Much of my garden is in shade, but the patio is always in full sun so I have covered most of it in pots.  At least it's easier gardening when you are only dealing with patio pots.

A bit more planting today - I sowed more tomato seeds and some flowers as the ones I did a while ago don't seem to have germinated (the seeds are quite old though).  My sunny windowsill inside is now rammed and cannot fit anything else on it (which is just as well as I have used every pot I have available ).  I also planted some courgette seeds outside and put some cornflower seeds around it as the pot was quite big.  Does that work?  No idea... I am currently only doing free and random gardening and I had these seeds available.  I shall see what happens!

Absolutely tons of pots left to fill, although I seem to have loads of packs of salad leaves, so they will be featuring heavily this year.  Trying to stagger some planting so we have a chance to eat it all.  Looks like the peas I sowed outside are growing already   I have tons more, so I think I will sow some more of them when I get a chance.

My seed stash is definitely going down, although I should plot how to make my gardening basically free or very cheap for next year too... I think the zero waste shop will feature heavily there as they give away free local veg/fruit seeds.  I will also try and save some seeds from the things I grow as well.  I do need to add a few plants to the garden this year when they come in stock, but that's the only spend I'm expecting this year.

QueenJess

Thanks to an HMRC refund that I can see pending in my bank account for tomorrow, I should be back to the amount I need in my “I don’t have a job” fund. So the next goal will be saving into my ISA again. Most goes into a S&S ISA for my long goal of early retirement, although I am going to do a split with a little going to a cash ISA for my emergency fund that also includes if I need to buy a car (10 years old now)/phone/laptop as well as starting to save for my wanted solar panels.

Will be reassessing if I can start putting more into mortgage repayments come September when I don’t have nursery fees anymore, but the amount we’ll be better off by declines by the day with everything becoming more expensive 😬. Will see the situation then and what the work position is, but I would love to start chipping away at it again. My mortgage is up for renewal next year (actually I should be able to book myself a fix in July), so I am watching interest rates with bated breath. I think last time I booked myself a rate and then changed it twice more when they got a little better. Wasn’t too much work, but was definitely worth it! Given all the uncertainty at the moment, I think I should check regularly and keep chopping and changing to get the best rate I can.

Not sure what we are up to today and clearly I didn’t wear out DD yesterday as she got up very early this morning! Dinner is either chicken stew or more of a chicken roast (bit undecided, but the chicken thighs are defrosted). Dessert is apple and blackberry crumble and ice cream. Not figured out lunch yet, but might do omelettes and salad.

QueenJess

Small money win today by shopping around and moving my cash ISA for a better rate. When I next get paid I can add some cash in there now I’ve filled up my temp fund for if I can’t get a job for a few weeks. My cash ISA is my emergency fund come house enhancements/decorating come new to me car savings. I really want to put it into the mortgage, but I’m coming to the end of my contract soon and I’m not feeling confident with our expenses still being very high. I’m trying to be patient!

Not much else happening here. Off to gym tonight as it was booked up last night, so I had leftover chicken casserole earlier for dinner. DH is feeding himself and the kids (pesto pasta).

QueenJess

Well I am happy to report that DD’s homemade egg has worked out well (used a mould I bought second hand for £4) and it’s filled with chocolate koalas topped with hundreds and thousands. Ok, it’s a bit messy around the joins, but I wanted to make sure it was definitely attached together! Just waiting for DS’s egg and filling to set and then I can “glue” that one together and wrap them both in foil. No expensive eggs for us and no piles of irritating plastic

So glad it worked out as I was worried it would be a disaster!

TallGirl

That is so cute in my home country we have decorated cardboard shells shaped like an egg that is filled with sweets ours were used year after year much preferred them to the chocolate ones. If you search for Danish Easter Eggs you will find them. 

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

That is so cute in my home country we have decorated cardboard shells shaped like an egg that is filled with sweets ours were used year after year much preferred them to the chocolate ones. If you search for Danish Easter Eggs you will find them. 

Now if you could get a tin shell I would be totally on board with that as they would last forever. I think the kids would destroy the cardboard pretty quickly 😂