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A new royal start

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  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,643 Forumite
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    Do you keep a freezer log.  I do & put the expiry dates of bought stuff on there too.  It only really works well if you have a spreadsheet.  I also put on when something is opened then I know I may need more or which one to use if I have 2.  But I confess to being a bit anal, but also to having a bad memory, so having a note of which shelf something is on keeps me from keeping the freezer door open too long, so very MSE.  Of course my bad memory also means I sometimes forget to update, but at least it doesn't get way out of control.  I actually have half a shelf of out of date mostly veg caused by using fresh in preference.  We spent a couple of weeks having cauliflower in everything, but that was a free one cos the boyfriend found it in his freezer when he was moving house & wouldn't be eating it in a million years.  I'm sure it tasted nicer because it was free. 
    Still trying to eat all the beef & thin steak that I also got cos he had no room in his new freezer.  When I told him that where he was shopping was very expensive he said why was I bothering to shop around!!
  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
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    @badmemory I don’t have a log, although I have thought a few times that I should. Everything is organised into sections though (and it’s already annoying when DH throws things around randomly).

    I know where everything is (eg meat is in one box at the bottom where it’s coldest), but as for what is right at the bottom of each section is anyone’s guess…

    I should go through each section in turn and figure out what is there. Although I like a list, if I take a look I should be able to remember for a while as I’ve got a visual memory. I do remember buying some spring rolls and some pastry that should be in there somewhere! Must be right at the bottom. I quite like not remembering exactly what is in there and only roughly as I can get a nice little surprise when I find something! Hoping for a few nice surprises, although I highly suspect I have too many bread products in there to be used up (hence the wraps coming out first).
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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
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    edited 1 December 2022 at 12:33PM
    This week seems to have crawled by and I’m ready for the weekend already. DD has kindly shared her illness with me and DS, although I think DS is getting better now.

    Still got my big list of things to do, although I’m hoping to blast through some of it today. Shouldn’t be too busy at work now until Jan, so will take advantage of that since I’ve worked more than my fair share of hours.

    Had a very high level look at finances post us working part time. It’s going to be a bit tighter than we think I believe (not helped by inflation). It’s still doable though - we’ll just have to be more sensible with spending. I’m a bit concerned my car is old and so I decided to put my bonus in my emergency cash fund instead since I’m not sure how much money I’ll be able to save next year. Will have a look later at transferring it over to an account with a better interest rate. I think Jan might be on a tight budget. Usually I do the next years budget in December, so will need to get around to that at some point. My energy fix also ends at the end of the month, so I will have to estimate how much my bills will increase as I fixed before the energy crisis by fluke.

    I did spend some money last week - I got some fairy lights for DS for round his bed, a lampshade for DD’s room and a wall decoration thing (DS has stickers, but I couldn’t find anything for DD). Not strictly necessary, but it all looks nicer. DH has also promised DS a little tree and lights for his room, so that’ll be a trip at the weekend. I have £6 off at the local garden centre, so I will be using it for that. We also got single duvets, bedding, but waiting on DH to order the spare fold up bed he needs for his parents to stay at Xmas - he’d better get on with that! I did also naughtily order myself another warm top and trousers as I live in them at home and the top when out as well. I could have managed without, but I do like to wear them daily and I have to wash them sometimes! I only have about 6 winter tops, so trying not to feel too bad about that. Still waiting for them to arrive anyway as it’s caught up in the Royal Mail strikes. Not in a rush..

    So after my splurge and a look at the finances I need to make my money work much harder and will have to start getting into the mindset now. Jan might be a very frugal month. In the meantime I am actively keeping a lookout on the local buy nothing group so I can pick up free things for the kids in advance of birthdays/Xmas/other needs. Got a good game today I’m going to use as a birthday present for DD in March and about to pick up a lovely looking suitcase for DS. He can hand down his existing one to DD as the new one is bigger. More money saving little things will have to be wedged into my life.

    Xmas presents are sorted, but I need to wrap (using brown packing paper/reuse gift bags) and make some shortbread to send to my dad.

    Still trying to make inroads into the freezer. Dinner tonight is fish, chips and peas (all freezer food). Pudding could be flapjacks, ice cream or cake (all in the freezer) or I may have the last baked apple with yogurt or a cheeky vegan mince pie and cream. So much choice! Lunch is TBD… I’m waiting for some inspiration to strike! I might have a fridge rummage and roast a pile of veg to have in wraps with hummus. I need to use up the wraps I found in the freezer.

    There was a bit of a crisis this week when the washing machine stopped working. Turned out that the washing machine ate one of DS’s socks, but got terrible indigestion. It was wrapped round the drum and needed an engineer to perform emergency surgery to remove the offending item. Not an expense I was expecting, but can come out of the EF. DS asked if I could sew the sock back together.. I like his faith in me, but it really was shredded. 
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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Looked at the fridge and can’t be bothered to roast veg, so will be making scrambled egg, kale and mushroom wraps for lunch. 
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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
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    edited 3 December 2022 at 5:52PM
    A quiet weekend this weekend as DD has given me and DH her cold virus thing. As usual mine is much worse and I’m not feeling good (the fun of never sleeping enough and always being run down). I allocated dinner to DH by defrosting  two packs of mince and telling him to make a big vat of spag Bol. I knew it was a good investment teaching him how to make it about 6 years ago… now he claims only he can make it, conveniently forgetting I taught him.

    Pudding is ice cream for the kids and will be defrosted pineapple, yogurt and hm meringue for me. Trying to get to the bottom of a couple of packs of frozen fruit that have been in the freezer for ages.
    For lunch the kids had beans on toast, but then I went rogue after DD went to bed and made myself some banana drop scones with slices of banana and cinnamon sugar for lunch. Just really wanted some comfort food. Got some leftover for the kids and my breakfast tomorrow. They never last very long in this house! 

    Yesterday I felt progressively worse and didn’t get much work done. However, I did try to catch up on the washing post it’s operation, tidied around and wrapped all the presents (used brown packing paper from parcels and paper raffia as well as tissue paper from packing in gift bags). I’m not sure why we have so many gift bags as I have never bought one in my life! They just seem to breed.. I also made a pot of compote from the rest of a bag of mixed frozen berries in the freezer DH bought in error (defrosted strawberries in the mixed ones taste horrible, but if you compote it you can’t taste them individually anymore). That’ll be used in my morning porridge. 

    Tomorrow we’ve promised DS he can pick a very small Xmas tree for his room. So we will all go to the garden centre to view them, the decorations and feed the big fish. I have £6 off to use up in December, so hopefully it won’t be an expensive trip.

    The freezer is going down nicely and I’m considering an online Aldi order for the end of next week. As we seem to use different shops I’m considering monthly (or more orders) from different shops. So once a month from Aldi, once a month from someone else etc so we get everything we need. Not sure how much we really need to get though since I get all milk and veg/fruit delivered. Maybe I only need a fortnightly delivery to cover it. Will consider what to do in Jan. I also need to organise ys raids and Olio collections in a sensible way to keep some costs down.
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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 7 December 2022 at 12:04PM
    Still recovering from this cold virus thing, although I am very slowly getting better.  This week is a bit of a whirlwind as there are two events at nursery and two at the school we are all expected to go to.  I sometimes wonder whether the nursery/school think that we send our kids there and sit around in a life of luxury with nothing else to do and no work to go to, so we should be able to be there whenever.
    This week suddenly seems to have got very expensive with things all happening at once.  DH still hasn't ordered this guest bed we need for xmas guests and I just gave up and sorted it out myself *sigh*.  At least I giot £15 off through an offer on and a £5 voucher I had previously been sent.  Looks like it's going to arrive today and then I'm going to have to find somewhere to store it :# . I did order the sheets, pillowcases, duvets and duvet cases for them too.  I finally got round to ordering the digital school photo for DS, bought a couple of expensive long life batteries for our smoke alarms as they were bleeping at me (low battery), ordered one more wrap for DD's nappies as we always seem to be one short, a book for a party DD has been invited to, printer ink cartridges (we rarely use them except for printing kids colouring pages and postage), printer paper and a couple of second hand jumpers online for me as I am short of them.  I thought that was quite enough expenditure for one day (especially as we bought a little tree and lights for DS at the weekend), but this morning I woke up to the school begging for money.  We'll have to give it as it allows them to go on a school trip and it's all become more expensive... it just never ends!
    Yesterday I decided to pop into A*DA mainly because I knew they would have the book I need for DD's party she is going to on Sat.  If I was more organised I would have looked for a good quality one second hand, but to be fair this is the first new book I've bought in years, so not going to beat myself up about it.  Since I was there anyway, I also did a shop to pick up a few things I'd been collating on a list as well as a small stock up of things I know are cheaper there and I will need in December.  Came to £60 excluding the book!  Every time I go shopping I am shocked at the prices.  I applied some inflation to the shopping my parents did when I was younger and worked out that it came to about £90 a week in today's prices.  As we eat more and I do choose organic veg etc, I've got an initial acceptable figure of £100 a week in mind as a starting point (although happy to go lower later on if possible).  Given that milk is about £17 a week and my veg box, fruit and egg delivery from Riverford is £27 this week, that's me already over by £4 this week.  It's actually over by more like £8-9 as I have had no time to make biscuits (for some reason the cold weather is making me crave a biscuit) and so I thought I'd try a big box of broken biscuits from the milkman (and I needed an extra milk).  I remember my housemate buying them when he was a student and they were often quite good.  Will report back on how good these ones are.
    So next week should be under by £10 in theory, although I don't think we are desperate for much at the moment.  I will get my food shopping in early though as I hate braving the shops in the xmas insanity period and I don't need a xmas delivery since I get most things delivered weekly.  I think I will go for an Aldi pick up (maybe next week) and then do some M&S ys raids and see if that sees me through to the new year now.  DH is in charge of xmas food, although I already have all the veg/pots on order and I'm sure I'll get the usual M&S biscuit selection.  In-laws bring their own xmas pudding as no one else likes it, although I have loads of frozen fruit so I can make a crumble pretty easily.  I think the kids will be perfectly happy with ice cream and/or jelly.  I also got 240 tea bags... not even DH and his family will be able to get through all of that over the xmas period!
    I'm hoping Jan will be a lower cost than usual as I've been trying to save up loads of M&S vouchers for then.  Saying that, I could be lazy and use their party service where you order platters of food for DS's party and just go and pick them up.  Actually, that is a brilliant idea... I've probably got enough vouchers to bring that cost down to something reasonable and will reduce the workload significantly.  Will have a look when I get the time(!). Jan/Feb is usually stressful as DH is usually working all hours and so everything falls to me!
    DH is out all day and in the evening at a work thing today.  So lunch is the last of the spicy parsnip soup I made on Monday with ys bread and clementines for after.  Dinner will be jacket pot with beans and cheese and pudding will be the last apricot and white chocolate cake slice in the freezer (will get rid of a whole box from there) and chocolate brownie for DS.
    Better see if I can make inroads into my never ending to do list.  At least there's no washing to do today as I did 3 loads yesterday (including nappies).  This cold weather is definitely increasing the washing load!


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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Yikes, so today more people want my money. The school trip, a joint birthday party that DS has been invited to in early Jan, a winter event thing at the nursery tomorrow (then there’s the school fayre on Fri), the work secret Santa next week apparently and now nursery parents want to collect for a gift for the nursery teachers. 

    Stop taking my money!!!!!

    Seriously though, I do sometimes wonder why we’ve been conditioned socially to be expected to buy things for all occasions. I really don’t think all of these are necessary.  I get the school has to fund raise though, which is fine, although I hate the raffle tickets as I don’t want any of the stuff.. I’d rather donate or pay for experiences like fairground rides etc.
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  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,704 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 8 December 2022 at 8:14AM
    That is a lot! I’m with you on the social conditioning!

    I’ve opted out of doing any kind of secret Santa this year and in general I think you’re cheaper doing your own homemade gifts for teachers/nursery staff than a whip round but it’s quite hard to say no to those! 

    My kids usually just take hand made cards in and at the end of the summer, chose to spend a couple of £ of their pocket money on flowers for their teachers. I’ll need to see what they want to do this time. We’ve had one collection for the school bus driver and I did contribute £5 as otherwise you look mean. He is really lovely though and looks after the kids well, but if you do £5 or £10 for all the teachers and childcare and bus drivers it would end up costing so much! 

    While I have opted out a the work secret Santa, I just learned yesterday there’s now a whip round for someone’s significant birthday this month that I’ll be expected to contribute to. It never ends! Not to sound horrible but I don’t actually ever work directly with this person nor do I spend time with them signally! Feels ridiculous that this year I’m not buying for my actual best friends yet I’m expected to put my hand in my pocket for random people at work.
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1

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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
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    Oh gosh, you just reminded me that we have a collection for two people at work that are leaving as well 🤦‍♀️

    I find the nursery collections really odd. I’m sure they are probably not paid well, but I pay more than my mortgage in nursery fees each year. Why do I need to spend £10 to get them a gift, it seems weird. I’m sure we can say thanks another way and why do we have to do it at Xmas and the end of the year? Surely the right time is the end of the year rather than a religious holiday linked to a religion that is now a minority in the UK based on the latest census! Definitely a pitfall of having a nursery attached to a private school.. I think many of the parents have too much money.
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  • QueenJess
    QueenJess Posts: 4,500 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It's been a rubbish week that I'd rather not think about right now.  Low lights have been DD being sent home from nursery with a temperature of 38 (she was absolutely fine, didn't have a temperature and was bouncing off the walls) and the heating breaking (we are currently using 1 electric fan heater we already had, 2 we had to buy and one oil radiator borrowed from over the road).  The current solution is unknown :'(  - hoping it will actually get fixed next week.  Not got anything done with three school/nursery kids things to attend.. it's like they think you laze around all day once you drop them off or something.  I am also not good and just feel like my life is slowly suffocating me and I can't breathe.
    On the plus side I've bought the secret santa for work next week, the last xmas present and everything is wrapped and ready to go.  I've just thrown the budget out of the window for now and took everyone to Waitrose and said they could buy whatever they wanted.  So cupboards are officially stocked up with goodies for the xmas holidays, budget is blown and I probably just need to get a couple of bags of frozen veg, some bread and cheese between now and the New Year.  Xmas veg I already ordered, so DH will deal with the poultry.
    We are still trying to use up stuff in the freezers.  I have too much stuff in the garage one and need to relocate some into the teeny kitchen one where it makes more sense.  Will have to do it bit by bit over the next week or so.  I am still using up small bits and pieces in there that have been hanging around for ages.  Convinced DS to have an ice lolly for pudding this evening as I found two left in a box and I want the space!
    I think the to do list is slowly getting a bit smaller.  Am currently browsing some second hand books online and considering buying myself a couple as a treat.  I love reading and never seem to have time.  I need to make some time as it just feels I have nothing to look forward to at the moment and I'll take anything I can get.  It'll be less than £8, so damage is limited.
    Dinner tonight was tomato pasta (using up the rest of the passata I opened to make pizzas on Friday), broccoli and garlic bread.  Pudding is fig and apple crumble and custard (uses up 1/2 of the fig and apple stewed in the freezer).  Still got tons of veg and fruit left this week, so I think I'll cancel the Riverford delivery on Thursday.
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