A new royal start

QueenJess

A whole week seems to have disappeared and we are all adjusting to the new routine of work and school. DD was very tired for her first two days at school and now is absolutely no different and is bouncing off the walls. Good luck to them at school I say 😂

Been slightly neglecting the baking this week, although I have also been trying to clear down the freezer a bit. I will be baking this afternoon though - vanilla ice cream, sponge cake with hm blackberry jam and multiple batches of banana drop scones. The latter is partly because I haven’t made them for ages, but also because I keep finding frozen bananas in the freezer that slip into all the nooks and crannies and I thought I would use them up. Or at least that was the plan until I found another stash of them this morning!

Shopping day today and I spent £80 sm, £17 zero waste shop and £25 Riverford. £123 for the week is very respectable. I will need to start buying meat again soon though, so I suspect the bill will be going up. Trying hard not to spend money at the moment and be sensible about fun spends. Today is a quiet day at home, so no spending. Tomorrow we are off to an all day event thing that we’ve had tickets for ages. As it will be mostly outside and also raining, the plan is to have a big hot meal there and I will pack a big stash of snacks and sandwiches for a cheap tea. Shouldn’t need much spending money whilst we are there either.

DS is at gymnastics so lunch will probably be separate. DS will have egg, soldiers and beans for lunch and I plan to have salad and eat up the small portion of leftover tomato pasta. Dinner is chicken, chips and whatever veg is in the fridge. Dessert will be cake, yogurt, ice cream or chocolate chip biscuits… spoilt for choice!

QueenJess

Well it's been a very long week this week.  Back into full swing of school, work and all the after school activities (swimming, cubs etc) and I've picked up a cold virus thing that's made me feel awful all week.  I've been working from home as a result and going to bed well before the kids.

Starting to feel slightly better now, although still knackered.  Managed to make some gingerbread yesterday (pure comfort food heated up with some hm vanilla ice cream) and replenish the hm granola supplies.  Today I have two loaves of bread proving to bake at lunchtime.  I've been running down supplies whilst I felt too rubbish to make anything and will probably liberate the ice buns from the freezer over the weekend and ice them.  I've never seen my fridge look so empty...

Porridge this morning was a treat with some raspberries that came in my fruit box from the Riverford delivery today.  I've also got satsumas which I love and have been craving since I started this cold.  Lunch today is just me (DH is at work), so I will have the remainder of the leftover stir fry from last night.  Bit of a panic later with DS going to an extra gymnastics session after school so dinner will be beans on toast.  Gingerbread for dessert

I also had a note from my boss that he wanted "a chat" at short notice, so I was expecting the worst for a few hours.  Turns out it was the opposite and they like me so much that they want to keep me on permanently or if not at least extend my contract for another 6 months.  I've only been there 1 month so far and my contract was already for 6 months!  I am having a think about it, but very tempted to take it.  If I did, then I would be in an great financial position and I think I would be able to start paying down the mortgage with more substantial amounts.  From a culture side they are all really nice and quite relaxed, which takes a bit of getting used to compared to many other places I've worked (in a good way of course!).

Anyway... all food for thought.  Better get back to work.

Bargainhunter30

Can you ask them about flexible working if you accept? If they really want to keep you then they might be willing to let you drop a day or work from home more, which will give you the work life balance.

QueenJess

Bargainhunter30 said:

Can you ask them about flexible working if you accept? If they really want to keep you then they might be willing to let you drop a day or work from home more, which will give you the work life balance.

The reality is that they need someone full time for now, but I do think they would be receptive to dropping a day when things settle down after say a year as they seem relatively relaxed.  I'm trying to think about what questions to ask whilst I think it over.  In the end, I would be happy for an extension of 6 months and if after 1 year they didn't accept flexible working, I could just leave anyway and nothing lost this end.

TallGirl

Well done you’ve clearly made an impression and are in a strong position to negotiate. Would they let you take some of the school holidays off (extra leave) or can you buy extra leave. Sounds like that’s when you  most need time off. 

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

Well done you’ve clearly made an impression and are in a strong position to negotiate. Would they let you take some of the school holidays off (extra leave) or can you buy extra leave. Sounds like that’s when you  most need time off. 

I heard someone talking about the ability to buy extra leave so I do think that exists there (up to 5 days) and I do have parental unpaid leave rights as well that I have used once in my career to have a nice long summer.  I think my rough plan is to ask what the differences are in the contracts which will help with things like that and notice periods etc without directly asking and take it from there.

Not sure what happened for my sm shop today... I "accidentally" bought a bag of frozen croissants, found some ys meatballs and then saw the organic mince was 20% off so grabbed a couple of bags as we have none left.  I mean, on the plus side I don't need red meat now for another month, but on the minus side I spent £95 in the sm, £13 in zero waste, £2 chemist and £38 Riverford.  I guess although I've overspent, it adds to £148, which is less than my new weekly budget of £160 and still slightly under my old budget of £150.  Oh wait - I forgot DH also did an organic beans shopping run(!), so that is another £10 this week, plus a bit more for extra milk.  I'm still under budget this month though, but just not quite as much as I'd hoped.  Fingers crossed for a cheap week next week as I am determined to get this deficit down.  It's about 65% of what I started with at the start of the year, so it is going in the right direction, but is just very slow progress.  I want it under 50% even with xmas spend, so I know I can clear it next year.

Already got a load of washing on today and will put on another later.  I've also stewed up a massive batch of apples and pears from the tree that I will freeze in portions for winter crumbles, adding to porridge (lovely with some cinnamon) or even for an easy dessert with yogurt.

DH has taken DD out to a local fair, so just me and DS for a very early lunch before his gymnastics.  I had a late breakfast, so plan on having a croissant and some satsumas.  DS is also having a croissant and some fruit.  Dinner is spag and meatballs from freezer so an easy reheat job.  Tomorrow will be a big chicken roast roast pots, multiple veg and hm yorkshire puddings.  I bought a massive chicken so hoping to squeeze a number of meals out of it either during the week and/or frozen for another day.  Dessert today is more of the gingerbread and hm vanilla ice cream.  I'm sure I've made it before, but didn't save the recipe and so used this one and it's amazing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/grannys_gingerbread_76610

Tomorrow DS is going for a play date, so hoping to take DD out for something like the park and feeding the ducks (although need to get some duck food first as we've run out).

Right - better go and portion up this stewed fruit for the freezer and go and read the meter.  It's all high octane activity here 

QueenJess

Nothing exciting happening this week, just been really busy plus I think I've got another cold    The back to school stuff is swirling around everywhere and both the kids have been sniffy.

Last food shop of the month and a small spend week £12 zero waste, £56 sm, £12 M&S for beans, £27 Riverford - £107 vs weeky budget of £160.  Total spend this month £569 versus budget of £640. So the deficit is still declining.  Still going to take a while for the rest of the deficits to go down after the 4 months of very high nursery fees I was funding by reducing other areas probably too much and we are still paying for this in reality.  One day the budget will be made whole and I will be able to build up areas in advance.  Maybe by the end of 2026.

On another note, I've been picking up stuff for xmas for the kids and I think we've pretty much got everything bar making hm treats and buying some bath bombs etc.  Birthdays are soon after xmas so I tend to start early as I then have to make a start on birthday plans including birthday parties (which I hate organising).  DD has already got 2 invites to parties, so I'm going to have to think of some good standard things to get for kids I don't really know without breaking the bank.

We are considering a few days away at half term.  Nothing to break the bank (actually I have a holiday budget that we can spend for that), but good to have a mini holiday even if it's not very far away.  As usual I will keep costs down by baking in advance to take enough for breakfasts, lunches, snacks etc.

Lunch today is cheese and leek orzotto now that leeks are back in season   DH is going out for dinner, so I am throwing pizzas in the oven for the 3 of us, followed by hm iced buns.  Easy cooking.

South_coast

Aaahh, that's why leeks are on offer at Lidl next week, then! One of those things I like very much but never end up buying 🤷‍♀️

QueenJess

South_coast said:

Aaahh, that's why leeks are on offer at Lidl next week, then! One of those things I like very much but never end up buying 🤷‍♀️

Ah yes, they’ll be tons of them as the season lasts ages.  I think I’ve had a veg box for so long that the seasons are normal to me now and I get confused eating out of season things 😂

I was very excited about the return of satsumas in my box and work colleagues were very bemused with my green satsumas (only on the outside, they are orange inside). I had to reassure them that they are a thing and not just under ripe! I love them as they are quite sharp - a bit like a clementine. Slightly annoying to peel though as the skin is very thin. I think supermarkets should branch out over here as there’s so much variety that can be grown in the veg/fruit world.