A new royal start

South_coast

Imagine how much the bill could have gone down by if they didn't send their comms out by letter....😬

QueenJess

South_coast said:

Imagine how much the bill could have gone down by if they didn't send their comms out by letter....😬

Well given they’re bankrupt, I doubt it’ll make that much difference!

South_coast

Ah, fair point 😅!

QueenJess

Yikes - so food shopping day today and basically everything seems to have run out so it cost an absolute fortune. Austerity measures for the rest of the month now 😂. I did buy a nice lamb meal for this evening as it’s been a long time since we’ve had anything resembling a dinner out/takeaway etc and as DD has a birthday party she won’t be hungry later (she’s a lot more picky so food has to be simple). Anyway, sm £107, £39 vitamins/medicines/ bathroom supplies, £25 zero waste shop, £33 Riverford. All coming to a massive £204! 😱 That’s almost 1/3 of my budget for the month in one go. Hoping for a couple of cheaper weeks before half term hits.

This afternoon DH is taking DD to a party (no cost to us as I found suitable gifts in the gift drawer, reused some wrapping paper and DD always makes her own cards. Whilst they’re out I’m planning on making some snacks for the week - ginger biscuits (half plain and half dipped in dark chocolate), flapjack and then for tonight a jam sponge pudding with custard.

Dinner tonight is the lamb with veg and potatoes. Lunch is separate due to DS’s gym time. He’ll probably opt for boiled egg, toast and beans, so I may have the same for simplicity. Tomorrow DD has another party, but otherwise a quiet day as we are all fighting off/recovering from colds. Not planned lunch tomorrow yet as DD is at a party. Dinner will be cooked chicken from the freezer with roast pots, veg, Yorkshire puddings and gravy, followed by jam sponge and custard. Pure comfort food

Needed to buy a padlock earlier for the lockers at swimming. The irony wasn’t lost on me that they were all “locked up” and you had to request someone to unlock the bit they were in and escort you to the till with the one you want. Is there a run on padlocks? Perhaps it’s the new cryptocurrency 😂

QueenJess

This week has been an incredibly stressful one at work, plus October seems to be the month of admin and remembering everything is starting to make my head ache.  Parents evenings, school homework, needing specific clothes for certain school days, MoT, car service, car insurance, half term arrangements, taking stuff into school for projects, kids party invites etc etc etc...  As a result I've made a couple of minor frivolous purchases, but hardly anything that will break the budget.

Money wins: Mortgage has been rounded down to £118,100 (I would love to take off the £100, but I need to mend my savings first after being out of work for a couple of months), rounding my accounts has netted me £45 so far this month into savings (to go into mortgage overpayments) and I've cancelled next Friday's after school club as DH is able to pick them up.  It all helps..

The plan is to continue putting money into savings to get to where I want to be, then from about April I'm going to start putting some real money against the mortgage and get that thing lower.  For the joint account I will continue concentrating on fixing the food budget and then I'll pick another category to concentrate on once that one is done.  In the meantime, I'm trying to be sensible with money of course and not make anything worse.  At the moment I am bracing for the cost of car insurance, car MoT and car service - I need 2 new tyres and I have a nasty creaking sound that needs investigating.  Cross your fingers for me!

Not even thought about food as I've been that busy.  Will need to scrabble something together later for dinner - I might do a chicken stir fry as I have cooked chicken in the freezer.  Lunch depends on time... if I have enough time I might make a butternut squash soup.  Right, better get back to work.

edinburgher

Best of luck with the car. We were £726 last week (MOT/service/2 new tyres/broken coil spring)