A new royal start

QueenJess

Just lost a big post 😢. Getting a bit stressed running around getting everything done and thinking about going back to work next week. I checked the news and it sounds like the changes at work are definitely on now and so redundancy is likely to occur this year and potentially within 6 months. Love that I have to get news from online and not from my company.. I guess I may find out more next week.

So I’m going to have to revisit money saving a bit more vigorously next month. Trouble is that it takes time that I don’t really have and it’s all so draining juggling everything. I think I’ll park it for now and reconsider next week. I will continue some spends on the garden as I’m more than halfway through and I’m expecting it to be an investment that will last years and years. Next year I can do the same thing in the garden with just a couple of packets of seeds and some organic seaweed fertiliser.

After the fun year or so I’ve had, DH took me out for a very, very expensive lunch.  We definitely made the most of it as we arrived at 12:30 and left at 3pm! It was so good though 😊. No dinner for us tonight, but the kids had cheese on toast with veg, followed by carrot cake.

Lots of stuff done today/last night and the cupboard of doom is now tamed and tidy. I’ve even done my tidying quota for today already. This evening I have to do a milk order and put my pension cash in, then may go back to looking at some surveys for extra cash/vouchers.

QueenJess

Just to remind myself really, the current money plan is for DH to save all his money to pay down the 10% of the mortgage allowed (can’t do that until Feb 2023 now) as it reduces our monthly payments every two years (when the fixes end) and just makes living on one salary that bit easier. I am saving my money to put it into an EF and also to improve my pension as I’m expected to be out of work for a couple of years.

Along with that, I need to keep a lid on the day to day expenditures. Easier said than done with rising daily prices though.

QueenJess

DD had me up every 45mins to 1.5 last night, so both she and I are totally knackered. I’m anxious about everything and going back to work Monday and almost want to get it over and done with now.

Went to the garden centre this morning and spent too much money to cheer myself up (I know…). Not sure it totally worked, but the patio is starting to take shape. Probably need some more containers, but I’m going to wait until I need to plant out as I’m not exactly sure what I need yet. Hopefully I can plant a few seeds each lunchtime in the week as I’ll be working from home and it should all come together in about May when everything can go outside I hope!

Totally forgot to order onions this week in my veg box, so had to buy expensive ones at the local shop - 95p for 3!!! Very silly mistake.

Tonight’s dinner will be burgers with corn on the cob and some other veg (not decided yet and too lazy to make coleslaw). Pudding is more carrot cake. Better run as I’m on the school/nursery run!

 The people around me have been idling for 15 mins now. I mean why do people do that in a car park?!

TallGirl

It’s totally justified to spend lots of money at the garden centre even without being sleep deprived. I used large black fabric containers last year for plants they worked really well. Cheap and easy to move I got mine from Amazon. Search for as I don’t think the link works. 

Gallon Plant Grow Bags with Handle Pack of 5, Large Fabric Pots Growing Bag,

QueenJess

Poor DD has the mildest cold ever that is only troubling to her when she is lying down sleeping. Despite all my efforts with various medicine type things to help, we both had a bit of a rubbish night and she only wanted me and not DH. However, she is now walking all the time and has her first shoes so she can walk around outside! Only trouble is that she walks until she can’t physically do it anymore, falls over and hurts herself. She has three bruises on her head (none from when I was watching her I must say…), but I’ve seen her fall and even if you are right there next to her, you can’t always save her. Even nursery had to change the room round there to make it safer for her! Hopefully with all the practice she’ll be steady on her feet in no time.

Ran round this morning to do some chores and also managed to sow some seeds for indoors (dwarf cosmos and trailing edible nasturtium) whilst DD was having her nap. Just trying to squeeze in a bit of gardening every day now. Just took DS to a party, which meant I could sit there and just watch. It looked fun (although not really my thing). The amount of plastic waste and general waste both there and in the obligatory party bag was quite shocking though.* Tbh, it just made me feel like more of an outsider as I feel like no one else thinks like me at all. (An outsider because most people knew each other from the local nursery before they went to school, but DS joined from a different one).

Anyway - need to run as children are demanding things. Dinner will be tomato pasta and garlic bread, with more carrot cake for pudding. Work tomorrow 😬

*Edit: Just to say that obviously I never talk about it unless anything comes up in conversation… I definitely don’t tell people what they should/should not be doing and would prefer to lead very quietly by example instead (I’m not a ar*%hole!). Just simply made me realise how much these things are inbuilt in society and how far we have to go to change. Some of the waste was totally understandable from a convenience point of view, but some was totally unnecessary. Of course the party bag has horrible plastic wrapped sweets in which we never give to our children and drive me mad. Luckily DS doesn’t really like them, but it is even more of a waste to bin them.

MagicCat

Hope work goes well 🤞

QueenJess

Had to laugh yesterday when DS said to me “Oh no, they’ve put these in here” - that was the “popular” plastic wrapped sweets in his party bag. He also asked “Mummy, do you think we can reuse the party bag or at least recycle it?”. 😂 Clearly he is picking it up from me!

Right deep breath and then I’d better squeeze in some breakfast before work..

QueenJess

Well not much happening today.  Looks like I'll have an easy week back at work before the real work starts at the end of April after I'm off for the Easter hols.  So hopefully I also have this week to try to get through my never ending list of things to do.

Really trying to reduce grocery spend this month.  I do have a tendency to stock up lots whenever I go near a shop as I hate food shopping and it means I don't have to go as often!  So the plan is to try and use what I have/find alternatives as my freezer and cupboards and bulging and see how long I can go until I need a proper shop.  I'm hoping to have money left over from my £300 budget which I can then spend on a stock up shop nearer the end of the month.  I will also be investigating everything to get the older things used up.  Sadly I need to go and get milk as the milkman failed to arrive today (we have been refunded), but I will go to the local shop and only get milk and cheese.  Nothing else will be purchased!

Still got a bit of carrot cake left, but going to stew up some pears which point blank refuse to ripen.  In the past I've stewed them slowly and they were then fine.  I can then throw them into a crumble tomorrow with any left overs to use in porridge or even to freeze for a crumble another day.  Today's lunch was cheese salad sandwiches and dinner will be teriyaki salmon stir fry (with whatever veg I can find in the fridge - but probably cabbage, pepper, mushrooms, carrots and sweetcorn) with noodles and pudding will be more carrot cake.  Also need to make flapjacks as DH has run out of his expensive oaty bars and I am not going out to a big supermarket just for that!  May do that and the crumble tomorrow as they can fill up the oven together at lunch time.  If I get time I'll melt some chocolate into some mini egg moulds I got ages ago for DS.

Popping out for my lunch break to quickly sow a few seeds.  Will rifle through my packs and see what I have left to do flower wise before I do the herbs later this week.  I feel like I should get more done today, so will be going back through my list of things to do and ticking off what I can in the house as it is wet and cold outside!  I have very slowly started a rough plan of action for the two week Easter hols, but need to start booking the things that need booking and organising everyone for it!

themadvix

You are not alone... but it is difficult when you can see how much waste there is and you can't do anything about it. But you are doing something about it - your children won't embrace plastic (or carpy sweets!) and therefore you are raising a wiser, more enlightened generation. And you might not say anything, but there's nothing to say DS or DD won't - either to their friends (and it will get back indirectly to parents) or in front of the parents either - out of the mouths of babes! And that's a great way to get the message across. It is so hard and so frustrating - I know, even with my sister who tries to be good about so much, she still does things that I wonder about! (My niece likes to quiz me on why 'don't you like glitter, Auntie MadVix?' - her mum has mentioned this once (mainly to stop her bringing a toy here that she didn't want her to rbing) and it confuses here, but I gently explain every time why it is!).

Glad to hear that you are being eased gently back into work. Hope DD is feeling better by tonight!

QueenJess

@themadvix you're probably right.  Hopefully my actions leak out somewhere.. to be fair I mentioned something to my parents the other day and shockingly I think they actually listened (we don't usually have any conversations outside of the children)!  They sent DD's birthday presents by post in an old cardboard box that they covered with wrapping paper (and sellotape sadly but less than would have otherwise been used), which was tied together with string and the whole thing wrapped in brown paper.  I appreciated the effort though and next time they visit I may offer the box back to them to reuse (if not I will use it).  Even DH is very slowly changing his ways and all the parties that DS goes to gets a homemade card from DS, no plastic gifts and wrapped in homemade paper (reused packaging paper) tied with string.  Maybe it'll make people think..

Feeling sad already... I really don't want to send my children away for basically the whole day they are awake for during the week.  However, I have no choice as I cannot afford to repay my maternity and so I am stuck until March 2023 unless I am made redundant before then (high chance).  So I am trying to look for the positives and am doing as much as I can during the day so I can at least spend quality time with them when they are here.  Today I've:

• Done tidying for the day, including putting all the clean clothes away
  
• Sowed 5x purple basil plants and 5x coriander plants on the window sill and watered the rest of the seeds (looks like the marigolds are growing now)
• Complained to milkman and got my refund
• Enquired about a potential hobby for DS and got him onto the waiting list
• Stewed pears up
• Cut up all the veg for dinner
• Replied to another party invite for DS
• Renewed library books
• Done a few £ worth of surveys
  

I think I'm going to go into my finance spreadsheet now and start updating everything.  Then I can see the impact of everything I do to the ultimate aim of being able to survive on a single salary and see if there are any other finance tasks I need to do.  Hopefully it'll give me more of a feeling of control.