Our forever home

bellevie

We've had a lovely calm but really nice easter.

Dh worked unfortunately Friday and Saturday, to be fair it's voluntary he wants to boost savings in readiness for my pay dropping.

Today though we woke to DS having slept through to 5.30 - he had been doing this before the clock change then things went doolally! 
So that was a nice amount of sleep. We made it to church full of energy unlike last week. It was lovely to see it so full. We've moved temporarily to their community hall as the church boiler has broken its deemed too cold, I thought it might feel odd in the hall but it didn't at all, everyone was in good spirits it felt so lovely.

Came back to a nice local walk surrounded with blossom trees, blue sky, sunshine and finished with a delicious budget roast dinner.

We've discovered our tower airfryer /oven does an amazing rotisserie chicken we've not roasted forvthe best part of a year now! The plus side is we are limited size wise to 1.5 at the most, stops us needlessly spending on a bigger one.

Mse wise, I finally listed things on vinted made 2 quick sales so will be trying to post those tomorrow, I chose printed label for one, digital for another. I'm not confident on quality of my home printed label so if there are no issues with digital print I'll stick to that in future.  I've listed a few more things and am keeping delivery bags to reuse just need to pick up more tape.

I've been using fr33prints for photos past couple of months, trying to print as we go and not build up 6 years worth again.

I've been busy in the garden when ds naps, have taken multiple cuttings of a beautiful climbing rose in our front garden. When it flowers its immense, fills our front garden with colour, and smells so strong you can smell it a few houses down. I'm really keen to plant it in our back garden and the other  side of our front garden. Dh would have eventually cut that one down as it covers over a utility window that will be made larger. We will try to move the rose bush itself but also try to recreate it just incase the move isn't successful.

Also trying my camelia tree too, I thought I'd found the same one last year and bought it, but it lost its leaves and flowers this winter. Its only just starting to grow leaves now I expect will flower maybe early summer, whereas the 20 year old camelia at the back of our garden is evergreen and flowers all winter, flowers are only just starting to fall now.

Moved the yellow scented roses from pot into our flower bed following a thorough deweed too. It's been a productive week snatching 30 mins here and there.

My garden purchases have been : strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries and a Thornless raspberry pot plant. I'm imagining ds picking the fruit off, he might not be too interested this year but he'll eat them at least. Rhubarb is soley for dh, blueberries primarily for dd. Hope they all thrive! Oh I did pick up a tomato plant and sugar snaps too. I wasn't sure if I'd left it too late to start from seed.

Trying not to buy anything else garden wise now, aside from toys for ds but they'll be 2nd hand.

bellevie

3 items posted this morning for vinted. Shop keeper was a bit grumpy I don't really want to go back again, was going to cancel the evri 8option but I've found lockers within walking distance changed ink cartridge and seems to be printing OK.  Made another small sale today so will try posting that in the locker the next day or two see how that works.

Made the most of dh being home this morning dug out my clothes packed away. Have a couple of bits still tagged where I left it too late to return and some of dds lovely dresses I had been planing to ebay. Have put everything in the wash when dry and ironed will get listing.

I used to enjoy ebay when dd younger but I prefer the no seller fees options now

bellevie

Sold 2 more maternity / nursing bits used locker box this time and so far seems easy to use, able to track right away. Will feel more confident once they get there.
It's a few minutes walk away so much easier than driving to the grumpy shop so hope it works

Kakiste

Well done on all the vinted sales. 

My only 2 impulse spending issues is in Ikea and on things for the garden. I can go round any supermarket/clothes shop and only buy exactly what I intended to but garden centres just wreck my carefully planned budgets!

bellevie

Same here! I love gardening, still a novice but do love buying for our garden 🏡👩‍🌾

DH treated me to a few more plants at the weekend, not sure what brought that on but it was gratefully recieved!

bellevie

Half way through naternity leave, it's really going so fast, despite my attempts to slow it down

We have booked ds christening for mid June so trying to prepare a low cost do. We had considered having it at ours, but when we counted up over and over again it will just be too many people. Aside from godparents it is only our siblings and their children plus our parents, but with all adults having 2-4 kids it's pushed numbers much like it did at our wedding!

Two hall options, church hall or the local youth hall down our road which have the option of bouncy castle - it'll be great for the kids to release some energy so we are very tempted by this. 

Going to do as much DIY food but I'm thinking maybe sandwich platters. I've never been able to make sandwiches taste fresh the next day always dry or soggy.

bellevie

Well we completely u turned. The christening party was in the end held at ours. Thanks to good weather it had cooled to a comfy 25ish, we had the use of garden and living room and in the end our home didn't feel too packed.

It was a beautiful service, little one appeared to love the day, full of kisses and hugs, few giggles with the Vicar mid service too. It was just amazing.

MIL wound up staying for 2 weeks. It was lovely to see little one bond with her properly.  I can't lie it put quite a bit of pressure on our grocery budget, much more than I had expected we went into our overdraft and had pretty much empty cupboards and freezer. It's been a long month!

In better news our gas & electric bill is due to drop for august, that was very welcome news!

Car service taking place tomorrow, I've saved for that, unless there are major parts costs that should be covered 🤞🤞🤞🤞

bellevie

I had my first little win on premium bonds, only £25 but based on what I have in there that's a good interest rate even if I don't win for another year. I've left it in the account to avoid it being swallowed by bills.

Updated my forward looking spreadsheet with the new gas and electric costs, although water had gone up it will make things a fair bit easier when I am back at work.

2.5 months of maternity left...

Aimingforthegoodlife

Hi Bellevie, just caught up after not being around for a while. Congrats on DS! Brilliant news, sounds like you are making great inroads on your plans and selling is going well!

bellevie

Thank you 😊 
Slowly but surely progressing