A new royal start

QueenJess

@Bluegreen143 and @MagicCat thanks both!  I was wondering if I was doing it all too early, but I think it will be a good life lesson for him.  We do constantly tell DS that everything costs money and we have to work to earn the money.  When he was younger I explained it to him and why he couldn't have xyz.  He said "Daddy needs to work harder then."!  Cheeky little thing!  I think I'll go for £1 a week and see what happens with that.

Nothing being achieved today apart from putting some parcels in the post office on the school run.  I've started walking DS to school as it's pleasant to do in the morning (assuming it isn't chucking it down) and I can spend a bit more time with him.  DH likes the arrangement as he can run off to work early after taking DD to nursery.

Sadly today is turning out to be actually work heavy, so need to get on with that, although a did a cheeky bit of decluttering in my lunch hour.  Will defer my to do list until tomorrow, although will pick off some easy things this evening like ordering some freezer containers and a bit of tidying.  I did attempt to get one thing off my list, but was scuppered by IT again and need to wait for a response or for their system to start working again.

Quick dinner tonight - cheat mackerel kedgeree (packet rice, peas, sweetcorn, leeks and smoked mackerel thrown in a wok and heated up with boiled eggs).  Pudding is still pineapple, mango and coconut muffins.  Need a quick turnaround as the last bit of the day is a panic to pick everyone up, run in the house, cook and eat dinner, then straight to DD's bedtime, tidying then DS's bedtime.  I get to sit down at 9pm if I'm not too knackered and go to bed.

I am still pondering whether to increase my pension % I am paying in this year.  Will ponder a bit longer on that one.  It seems redundancy in the next year is now very unlikely, but very likely the year after.  May need to wait it out a bit longer and so am factoring that into my decisions.  I can't give notice until end of March 2023 anyway, so no big decision to be made until then.

Oh - and progress on food "decluttering" is slow.  Nothing of note to add - I think it will take weeks to see progress there!  DH liked the flapjacks, so I will repeat the exercise when he runs out to use up the rest of DD's porridge.  I might need to do the same with DD's muesli too...

MagicCat

Hi @QueenJess, how's your week going? We are counting our plastic, it really makes you notice and I'm determined to do better though - some things are really tricky though like salad and soft fruit, I don't know how to find it plastic free. Hope all's good with you.

QueenJess

Yikes, didn't realise I'd be MIA for so long!  Not much happening here.  DD has finally stopped teething (for now), but the teeth are not yet through yet, so I am sure it'll start up again in a few days.  DD also seems to struggle to cope in hot weather and goes bright red easily (so just like me!).  The hotter days might be fun.  I'll have to remember all the things I did when DS was small and we will be getting the play water tray thing out in the garden to cool her down.  DD is still obsessed with ice cream and has worked out how to use a spoon to feed it to herself.

I have been neglecting my to do list, gardening, tidying etc. as I decided to attack a huge to do list item of reviewing my pension.  It's been a while since I've properly looked at it. I spent ages (days) researching and trying to educate myself only to conclude the same as last time anyway, bar a couple of minor tweaks.  At least I'm consistent I guess!  I do seem to decide which item to do from the to do list depending on which ones takes my fancy.  It's a bit haphazard, but I figure I waste less time doing the actual task as I want to do it rather than forcing myself to do something I don't want to do at the moment.  It kind of works, although I wonder sometimes if it would be better mentally to just finish a whole area of things in one go (e.g. finances).

I still need to tackle work re: time off in the summer.  I know they won't like it.  Every time I have a chance something happens, IT failure or DD needing to be picked up from nursery.  Will try again tomorrow!  I picked up an enormous A*di order today as the kids were running dangerously low on rice cakes.  I stocked up as much as I could ram into the cupboards and hope I don't need to shop there again for at least 2 months (possibly 3!).  I hate food shopping, so I prefer it this way.  The freezer is also groaning, so I'll have to continue working through the things we use less so we have room for more batch cooked meals and other staples.

DD is back to waking up too often again, so I am knackered.  Got a fair amount of real work to do today, so not much time for anything today.  Will settle for making it through the day and doing some clearing up later.

Ooh nearly forgot.  Lunch today is pasta with mushrooms and wild garlic pesto (hm).  Dinner will be veggie sausages with mash, cauliflower and peas.  Pudding is ice cream for the kids and I will be freezer diving as I'm sure there's some cake in there I froze and I should really use it up!

QueenJess

MagicCat said:

Hi @QueenJess, how's your week going? We are counting our plastic, it really makes you notice and I'm determined to do better though - some things are really tricky though like salad and soft fruit, I don't know how to find it plastic free. Hope all's good with you.

It's odd because I feel both good and bad about the plastic.  Yesterday no plastic was recycled/binned or otherwise consumed.  Nothing at all.  It also seems to be restricted to kids snacks (which I can't do much about) and things like pasta etc.  I could solve the latter by checking out a zero waste shop that's opened in the next town (and I would love to), but I just don't have the time at the moment.  Maybe one day...  Plus also I won't be able to stock up as much so I would have to go more often.  So from that perspective I can actually see how my efforts over the past few years have really helped reduce my plastic by loads.  I don't get any cleaning materials, fruit or veg in plastic (unless I've forgotten something I need to pop to the supermarket), but it is more expensive so it isn't for everyone.

However, saying all that, you still do all this stuff on automatic and it is sometimes surprising how much there is when you concentrate.  I had much more on Monday which flukily seemed to use up a massive bag of raisins, some emergency salad I needed from the local shop, old toothbrushes (I have bamboo, but am valiantly working through my stocks first), the horrible plastic that seems to cover the new toothbrush some kids snacks and a pack of 2 biscuits DH got me for free from his work that I ate for the sugar hit to stay awake.  Some other bits too that I've forgotten now.  It's scary really and I get really frustrated when I get things delivered that are completely unnecessarily wrapped in plastic.  Hopefully this highlights the scale of the problem and something will get legislated.

QueenJess

Oh - and the pocket money has been instigated and I already found myself saying things like "Be careful with that, it's really expensive - that would be X weeks of pocket money."!  Hopefully it'll give DS a sense of how much things cost!

QueenJess

Well I finally asked for some time off for work.  Was a bit of a rushed conversation (it's difficult to pin them down sometimes).  I think they were surprised, but they've gone away to think about it.  Will see what happens...

Otherwise I'm just struggling to still figure out how to balance work and home life and still do something/anything for myself that I want to do.  Mainly that is just limited to freeing up my weekends for as much family time as I can and any baking I can shoehorn in.  It's never going to be the same level and I do hate the continuous rush from one thing to another.  I've not got it all worked out yet, but working from home does make things so much easier.  It's good to take regular breaks from staring at a screen and it's easy to use the 5 mins to put washing on or something useful.  I'm just surviving really as I am even more tired with fitting more in and so just planning to make it through each day as it comes.  It's not a long term strategy, but in my mind I am just waiting for DD to wake up less at night (I think she's starting to transition a bit now, we shall see) so I can get more sleep and start to think straight again.  Then the other target will be next year when I will no longer have to be at work and truly have the option to choose.  Until then survival is the game and try to fit some things in to look forward to, otherwise it's not really living at all.

I really, really need to plant some more of my seeds outside, so will get back to that tonight.  I've already had a few strawberries ripen in the garden, but DD ate them all!  Need to get the tomato plants outside with the baby marigolds, so that will be next on the agenda.  We did get a gardener to come round for an hour (and will come round a few more times), so he will be able to do the things I never seem to get to like cutting things back, moving the odd thing round, taming some of the crazy climbing plants etc.

This month has been very spendy.  I tried to blitz a ton of my to do list, which sadly had lots of one off purchase items on (none of them interesting, just things like a new drinks bottle for DS, more bubble bath as the kids are almost out of it etc etc). All bought and stocked up as every time I seem to want something recently, it is out of stock.  So trying to plan in advance a bit.  Even more spend probably for this month since it includes some of half term (I am off for that) and I also need to get another car seat for DH's car since I need to pop into the office at least once a month to show my face.  Not added it up yet and a bit scared to frankly!  Will do that soon though, but I doubt they'll be anything left to save this month.  Hopefully next month will be a bit better.

Still tons of general stuff on the to do list to do.  I am also trying to declutter the house a bit (it's ongoing really).  I've done it for about 7 years already, so it really isn't that bad at all and is bits here and there.  However, it's something I can take control of and I like drawers/cupboards to be tidy with not too much stuff so I can put things away in seconds.  I really don't want to be wasting time on tidying loads of junk if I don't even need it.  I do however need to take control of my personal emails that are out of control again.  I need to think how to try and reduce them somehow.  Will think about that as I've already unsubscribed for so much.  Ah - out of time... need to run to a meeting, then to pick up 2 kids, make dinner and start bedtime for DD by 6:30...

QueenJess

Oh I nearly forgot, but we had a leak in the bathroom from one of the pipes. We could not work out where it was coming from for ages. Anyway, the plumber came round to fix it and that was another £180 gone. That came from the EF though, so will be topping that back up before saving up for the other yearly expenses.

Jessy103

Sorry you're still having a tough time, jess. Just keep thinking you're in the thick of it now but before you know it, it will be done and a distant memory! You're doing a great job, so don't be too hard on yourself 🙂

QueenJess

Absolutely nothing to add at the moment.  Work has started to ramp up (it's taken a while as my job is very much project based) and so now I basically work and when I have a spare minute grab something to eat, throw clothes in the washing machine and pick up/drop off kids.  No time for anything and since I still don't sleep much at night due to DD, I am even more tired than usual

Really struggling the last few days and trying to find something to look forward to.  I am off all of next week and so should be able to spend time with DS Mon - Weds, but it is stressing me out a bit as I've not planned anything yet.  Just no idea how I am meant to fit everything in?

Still behind on the to do list, haven't done any gardening and not on top of finances either.  On the slight plus side, I managed to declutter a load more things to the extent that the house is actually relatively tidy.  The test will be whether it stays like this whilst the kids are off!

MagicCat

Great work on the decluttering! I seem to spend any spare moment tidying, always with the flylady phrase 'you can't organise clutter, you just have to get rid of it' running through my head. I wasn't too bad before I had children...
Enjoy your week off next week