Tightening the belts for unpaid leave

[Deleted User]

Did C25K this morning.  Basically started the whole thing again from scratch and had a protein shake for brekkie/re-fuel.  I HAVE to do this this time as I just can't get into any of my clothes and do not want to spend the 4th summer in a row having to make use of maternity dresses!

Today should be NSD (famous last words) as I am probably most of the day.  DC1 at MIL this morning and I have them both this arvo though DC1 should (hopefully) sleep (unless MIL takes him out in buggy which she might).  DH is exhausted and unhappy.  I am ok.

[Deleted User]

So wasn't a NSD as realised we were almost out of nappies for DC1.  Ordered those.  Then this morning realised we were running low on water wipes so have ordered those.  So £40 total.  We are going to try to potty train DC1 soon so then that will cut down the nappy and wipe spend.  

Today I want to go for a walk with DC2 as DC1 in nursery - will be nice if can get a long walk with lots of steps in so we shall see!  Stuck to WW yesterday (and good job as our subscription came out today!) and going to try hardest to do same again today.  

Starting weaning DC2 so need to get some things for that.  He had a bit of banana this morning so need to get some more of those and DC1 is obsessed with strawberries so need to grab another punnet.  Plus milk.  We go through SO much milk in this house.

However, made a list of all we have in freezer last night and did meal plan to get us up to end next week so that this friday's shop should be minimal and we use up what we have.  New month's budget from 20th so not too long to go now.

[Deleted User]

So, my mother has been in hospital.  And of course I am stuck away from the UK so can't help and it all falls on my brother.  She went into A&E Monday night as she had been having really awful bowel pains and back pains for weeks.  Thankfully it's "only" a hiatus hernia and an ulcer.  So treatable.  But I am concerned about her as she is massively overweight and needs to lose some before GA to lower risks.  I have suggested WW app (as it really works if you stick to it) but she "wont put [her] information into the internet".  !!!!!!.  Anyway, I am going to send her something to cheer her up.  Not decided what yet.  So that has been a worry but she is home now and just have to hope they can medicate the pain in the interim.  I'm mainly worried about my dad though if something happens to her.  He used to be my rock and the sharpest person I know.  But he now has Parkinson's and struggles with day to day tasks both mentally and physically.  He relies on my mum a lot.  My brother does live around the corner with his wife thankfully but feel bad it's all on him.  But not a lot I can do from here other than phone/FT/send stuff.

Yesterday went for a nice walk with DC2 for a good hour fifteen.  Then got some provisions - was £11.88.  Mainly fruit for the 2 DC.  Today the weather is not looking great later on.  I have both DC at home.  Going to take them to the park about 930 and try to tire DC1 out so he will sleep post-lunch.  He is currently watching Peppa Pig.  Need DC2 to do a poo before we go out as he didn't do one yesterday so expecting a poo-nami.  Which would not be good when am out on own with the 2 of them.

Have stuck to WW for 2 days now even though it is killing me.  Tonight is salmon with hoi sin sauce and potato waffles from stores.  Tried DC2 on a bit of mash yesterday so have some of that left over for his "tea" (weaning really just about tasting/exploring/learning at the moment) tonight.  DC1 refused to eat mash and just flicked it everywhere so we fell out last night!  He's never liked mash but I do try things he doesn't like again every couple of months just in case.  Annoys me that he won't even TRY (and I had mixed cheese in for him).  But guess that's kids.

So today won't be a NSD probably.  Need to order something for my mum.  Might go to the cafe at the park (although I am on WW so probably not) and could do with ordering some bibs for DC2.

Couple of houses came on yesterday which look nice but again, wrong location.  I think if we could just get one of those houses in the location we wanted then bingo!  So fingers crossed as ever for today.  At this rate, we won't be in a new house before I go back to work after mat leave.

Blackcats

I hope that your mum recovers and gets fit enough for surgery.  It must be hard knowing your dad is deteriorating.  

Children can be very trying with their eating - it's very disheartening to cook a meal only to have it played with and spat out!  Equally annoying is cooking something that they previously ate only to find they no longer like it - I foolishly thought that eating some mashed sweet potato on one occasion signalled that my DC2 liked it enough for me to make a big batch of it ..... I was wrong.  They still don't eat it 30+ years later 🤣

Well done with sticking to WW.  I can't kick my chocolate habit - I start the day with good intentions and end with chocolate.  I've cut out alcohol mid week so I'm hoping that might magically neutralise the calories from chocolate 😋

rugbymadfamily

Hope your mum recovers and gets well soon. Tough being far away, but sounds like you're doing all you can to support which I'm sure is appreciated. Has anyone looked into getting some external support in? Your dd might be entitled to some extra support because of his Parkinsons? Or a charity might be able to provide some short term extra support while your mum is unwell? Just in case your brother needs some help with things. 

I don't envy the weaning stage (not that I have any kids yet lol). My mum had 3 of us and said we were all completely different, one ate everything (inc things humans shouldn't eat lol), one ate most things but hated mashed / mushy textures and the third wouldn't eat anything lol. Good luck with it and hope you find some favourites that they both like!

astrocytic_kitten

How is everything @[Deleted User]? Have been thinking of you and your Mum.

[Deleted User]

Thanks @astrocytic_kitten - she is ok thank you so much for thinking of her.  She's just waiting now for her operation and has to stop drinking/eating so much in the interim!  

I had been meaning to post today anyway as today is a new budget month.  We ended up about £200 over budget for last month but some of that was car insurance (which we could've paid from our bills account but didn't) and new cot/mattress taking us over.  Not ideal but also not too much of an issue thankfully.

We put an offer in on a house this week but it was rejected.  We don't think we will go any higher as location/school catchment weren't what we wanted but the house itself was amazing.  So we are going to continue looking.  Waiting to be shown another (which we don't think is for us but we are going to go see anyway) which will either be this week or next.

Today spent £31.37 in b**ts on stuff which was all needed.  And where things we use all the time were on offer (DH's hair gel, soap, shampoo etc), I bought 2 so we have forward bought but it's still saving in the long run.  

Have spent about £74 on DH's birthday presents (not for another couple weeks and out of my bonus from work which I kept to one side) - got him 36 tubs of pork crackling (he loves this and mentioned it a while back) and also a "family tree welly print thing" from the DC.  Have also forward bought his FD present (again from my bonus) which was a wonderbly book - we love you daddy from the DC.  Just need to sort my dad for FD now - thinking maybe the pork crackling for him but not sure if that's too much salt/fat etc for a man of his years!!!

Just need milk a bit later on today which will get when pick DC1 up from nursery.  Lunch is heck chicken sausages from stores as I am on WW (have lost 8lbs since starting!) and dinner is goodlife stuff, also from stores, so minimal spend for rest of the day.

Tomorrow need to do "big shop" and fill car with petrol so won't be a cheap day.  DH out with work tomorrow night but think it's a client thing so is probably paid for.  I have a WW frozen meal to have tomorrow night - woo hoo!

[Deleted User]

So, I've lost 10lbs since re-starting WW "properly"!!!  I have not stuck to it religiously, but I mainly stick to it in the week and have started C25K so I think both of those things is massively helping.  Just did my usual Friday morning C25K whilst MIL watched DC's.  Have left DC1 there and will pick him up around 2/230 so just me and DC2.  We're viewing a house at 4 but from the arial shot (not yet on the market), we don't think it's for us, and we've also been tipped off about a knock down job on a huge plot, but it is beyond us we think.  We will do a reccie on weekend.

Filled the car up - £63.86, but should last us 2-2.5 weeks with any luck as we are barely using it really.  Spent £2.84 yesterday arvo on milk, crisps and chocolate so we've already spent £98.07 this month and only on day 2!  But everything was needed bar the crisps and chocolate and forward bought some things on offer in b**ts which saves overall.

Probably won't do big shop until tomorrow morning now, but will go to M&S later as the Count on Us meals are really low points so going to get a few of those as we are getting bored with goodlife and waffles!  Also tend to get DC1's fruit from M&S as it is better quality and we need some chicken breasts for next week's lunches (I bake them with cajun spicing on and then have with salad for me and in a bap for DH).  So still a bit more to spend today but you gotta eat!!!

[Deleted User]

House we viewed last Friday was AWFUL.  OMG just awful.  And the knock down job is a no.  We put an increased offer in on one we like (though still 25% under asking) and that was rejected.  We could borrow more but we don't feel strongly enough about the location to do it - house amazing, but rubbish location.  Seeing 2 today, we don't think either will be for us but 1 tomorrow morning which we think just might be.  Will need to be extended/reconfigured quite a bit but that's ok - at the price it is on we have the cash to do it.  So fingers crossed.

We've already spent almost a quarter of our month's budget and over 3 weeks to go.  Not quite sure how.  I mean, I've written everything down but it just seems to add up stupidly quickly, little bits here and there, just popping to shop for x, y, z.  I also paid for my friend's lunch on Tuesday as he usually pays for me.  So it all adds up.

Can't stop looking at the pictures of this house.  It is relatively small at present, but would still give us all the rooms we need for now (i.e. each DC could have own room, albeit small, a playroom (again, small!) and a garage for storage) and then we'd just whack plans in to extend and get that done asap.  We'd move out and rent again whilst it was being done (but this time get a nice suitable rental!) because by time plans done, approved and contractors quoted and available, we are probs looking at 18-24 months anyway, so we would have some stability for a while at least, and at least we would know we were paying down the mortgage.

We'd also just decorate DC's rooms ourselves for the short term.  That would be cheap - DH is great at painting and I would help.  Good thing is, because we are on such a flexible deal with this flat, we could take a week or so to go in, clean, clean the carpets, paint etc etc so that it is nice (don't get me wrong, it looks well maintained but just not to our taste, but we'd only want to spend a few hundred short term just getting it maybe a bit more neutral) and then move from here, so that we weren't trying to get it straight with all our stuff on top of us!

I am just hoping it is the one.  DH is comparing it to one we saw last Feb and LOVED - well, I loved it, he wasn't so keen but can now see what I was on about.  But he refused to get the house ready to go on the market then and so we missed out.  It was fabulous.  But we can't compare really because it was a totally different market then.  So we have to go with what is happening now.  Or wait.  But if we wait, it might not change, it might get worse.  I mean who knows.  But at least it would be ours, and we are looking 25-30 years so even if we pay slightly over the odds now, it doesn't matter so much.

[Deleted User]

First house today was nice but a no.  Second house, my god the views were amazing but really small garden and house needs loads of work/extending/reconfiguring and driveway was a nightmare so another no!  

Went to town with DC2.  Spent some money on clothes for me but didn't try on so might end up taking most back.  Spent £9.45 in M&S on 2 x wraps for lunch - 1 for me, 1 for DH (18 blinking points on WW so now have to watch what I have for dinner), raspberries for DC1 and a portugeuse custard tart for DH.  And some baby food for DC2 from b**ts but got that on points.

Going to go do big shop tonight as I am out tomorrow night and we need milk and things anyway.