Our forever home

bellevie

£74 weekly shop but also seperately spent £25 for tomorrow's lunch, having inlaws over.

I've had a lovely week off with ds, first trip to cinema, many park trips including a paid trip to a huge country park we spent the full day at. It was absolutely amazing, I'd like to find more of these. Lots to do for toddlers and young kids, honestly the best idea.

3 more days then he's in holiday club for a few days. A little nervous about this, I hope he will settle OK.

Our park trip was with friends we don't see often, and DS started playing with them quickly and had a wale of a time so hopefully he will find other children he likes and feel comfortable.

Opticians today, new glasses £130 includes eye test and antiglare. I went for a very basic pair as only for computer & reading think my employer will cover £65 towards this.

I'm not sure about the joint account switch. Seems I need to open an account in my name, add DH then apply for a switch. There isn't a local branch so not sure how easy it is to add DH and just worrying about how complicated it might be. Not sure if all bank switches work this way? I've only ever switched my own account before but happy with my own account right now.

bellevie

£97 shop this week, just shy of £80 home delivery and £17 aldi.

Anyway saw Aldis oat Milk was a fair bit cheaper so picked out up to test along with a few things needed before the delivery. Ingredients in their oat milk seem to be same as existing brand he likes and DS didn't notice the difference. I'll be picking up more of that, it would have shaved £2.25 off this weeks bill had I known it would be a success.

DS was on soya milk, he liked it but his eczema worsened so oat milk it is. Vegan cheese was a fail. I've not seen him flair up with the slice of cheese he has most days to be fair. Not sure if its the volume of dairy, or form that affects him.

Prescribed creams have not helped, but a calendula cream seems to be helping.

bellevie

£102 shop this week, and I forgot a couple of things so maybe £110 once I've picked those up. Not great. I know I could get it cheaper if I shopped in a mix of places, I just really struggle time wise, it feels easier just to get a weekly delivery.

I've got free gym membership for a couple of months, so am trying to book onto different classes see which I like best to do going forwards. I had a body composition thing done at the gym, and it aged me so much older than I am strength wise. That was a realisation that if I don't make changes I will start to seriously struggle. I just have very little strength. I wondered if its that peri might have started earlier than I thought? I did spot symptoms in the training that started a good 3 years before it eventually dawned on me.

Upper body was marginally stronger than my legs, I wondered if its carrying DS, he asks to be picked up a lot.

I'm not sure I'm a gym person. I got overwhelmed when the induction ended. But taking some advice from.a colleague I'll try again shorter sessions with only 2/3 machines in mind. I have been enjoying a few different classes though And it's nice to get an hour to focus on myself each week.

Making some dietary changes too, trying to affordably increase protein in every meal.

Merlin's_Beard

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81985334#Comment_81985334

I feel you on the overwhelm, this is why I;ve always stuck to classes!

bellevie

Yes I'm leaning towards attending 1-2 weekly classes rather than gym.

Gosh I was shockingly struggling through todays class it was so difficult, but enjoyable. Looking forward to next week

bellevie

This week has been a write off in all areas. A tummy bug for DS & I, bad cold for DH tricky week.

I'm finally 48 hours clear of anything but still feeling weak, dizzy, less dizzy than yesterday maybe electrolytes kicking in. Though throat Hurst and started sniffling I'm.expecting to get DHs cold.

If I don't I hope to be able to pick up exercise this week, I was doing so well before I fell ill, finding something small to do each day. Picking up steps, time on bike & following YouTube classes. Maybe I'll just start with some gentle walks when this dizziness goes. I can potter around at home for a while then a wave comes over me, so bad that I have to lay down so haven't tried a walk round the block yet.

Shop over budget for last week with a midweek.medication and bland food top up and now this week, I've stuck with easy meals. I might feel fine in a couple of days to spend longer in the kitchen but at the point of ordering I couldn't envisage it.

On the positive side Nursery invoice came through correctly reduced as expected so will take the edge off my pay drop this month.

And it's my first 4 day week, back to normal daily hours, no more late nights to build up hours.

Here's to a better week 🤞

beanielou

Hope next week is better.

bellevie

Dizziness continued throughout the week, really horrific, the room spinning for hours and hours, the sensation of rocking on a boat or falling backwards whilst even being sat still. I've been exhausted too, napping at lunch, before dinner and going to bed not long after dinner. I feel like I'm sleeping deeply but just can't shake the tiredness.

Awaiting blood test results from Friday after 2 gp visits. First thought it could be linked to virus but I've never taken long to recover from a tummy bug so looking to rule out anemia. HRT issues could be contributing so a slight tweak there.

Another issue I've been trying to resolve is brainfog, it did improve with magnesium at first, HRT helped a little later on but still not great. Saw on here creatine is rated, I ordered some but have avoided trying whilst this dizziness is going on.

2 weeks no working out which feels like a set back especially as was trying to build a good routine.

We have our inlaws dogs this weekend, managed a gentle dog walk today so hopefully with each day will manage a little more movement.

Shop £121, included £7 extra on lunches for me (extra veg, white fish, beans) trying to increase protein & veg) that's in an attempt to stop me having carb heavy lunches. Also stock up on kitchen roll. Usually do a bulk home bargains order but was not strong enough to go in town, and didn't need enough to justify delivery.

Merlin's_Beard

Creatine is definitely helping me, I think, but also yes, I wouldn't try it before you're feeling well!

bellevie

Finally went ahead with bank switch, my first in a few years. Its one of my own accounts I'm switching after changes to t&c's for cashback.

The main reason being needing to keep 1k in savings at all time. Whilst ideal the 1k I had in there just last week dropped to 750 for car works and may drop further still, it could take me a few months to build back up that's a few months of no cashback.

Car has a couple of issues, dealer wanted 150 investigation fee. A service was already booked in so decided to go ahead with service first which might flag up an issue possibly saving investigation fee. Well its worth hoping it works that way.

Coolant had run very low so car was overheating despite it only supposedly being filled in September, but I didnt check post garage works to replace a pipe to coolant, so refilled and monitoring, cant see evidence of a leak, but couldnt last time either.

Then randomly yesterday on braking the car occasionally seemed overly sensitive. Never had that before. Brakes and discs done 2 years ago, nothing flagged at mot.

It's 13 years old now so issues bound to crop up, just hope that doesn't become a money pit and car does go on a bit longer.

Looking at cheap replacements, well there are no cheap replacements at all really, cars circa 5-7k were around the same age as our car, but ours is worth less than 2k to part exchange. So not worth risking IMO

So if we have more time to build a bigger deposit will go newer 3-5 years old. Let's hope it works out.