Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

NeedToCutBackBaraBrith

Lady with a plan,
I did the VR after the art exhibition and felt sick going out over the sea. It was beautiful, though.

Bluegreen143

It’s good to hear I’m not the only one who has been affected by VR tbh as I felt a bit wussy at the time 😅

What a hideous day today weather-wise - we had a very lazy morning at home and then I took the kids to a birthday party in the afternoon. 

Made a pot of beef buirguignon for dinner. Not often I use a whole bottle of (cheap Lidl) wine in one meal! Was absolutely gorgeous I must say, worth the effort. 

In spite of making it in the instant pot, it was ready too late for the kids because the party went on quite late this afternoon, so we fed them chicken strips and chips and beans 😅 we had more than 2/3 of the stew left so enough for a family meal, so that’s been bunged in the freezer. 

Tomorrow Red has to drive away down south for the night to swap vans due to changing job. So I’m taking the kids to my mum’s for dinner 😆 it looks dry so I’m going to leave a couple hours early and go to a country park near her first. Feel a bit hemmed in after a week of being ill and rubbish weather! 

Winter clothes

The acquisition of winter gear continues…

Ordered warm neoprene wellies and heat holder socks for both kids today in the hope Bambi will not moan about cold feet on every walk 🤞🏼

She is VERY sensitive to cold feet and hands and has been since babyhood. I discovered a couple of years ago the key for hands is two layers of gloves - thin cotton ones under and buying coats with integrated lined waterproof mittens to go over. Haven’t cracked feet yet but I’m hopeful for this year! 

We have sorted:

✔️ Gloves for everyone 
✔️ Coats (by some miracle they both still fit last years’)
✔️ Hats for Bambi (still had from last year)
✔️ Aforementioned extortionate wellies & socks 
✔️ Normal ankle boots for both kids and me

Still to get:

✖️ Hats for Monkey and I 
✖️ Waterproof dungarees for both kids

KajiKita

It’s too late for this year (as you have bought the wellies now) but have you tried the thermal insoles with the foil backing? They make a huge difference to me when working in that kind of footwear in the garden as it insulates your feet from the ground. I do tend to oversize my footwear a bit to accommodate these insoles as they are quite thick and lift the foot within the footwear, iyswim. 

KK

Bluegreen143

Oooh I’ve never heard of that @KajiKita!

LOVELY day today, and I’m really pleased as we don’t often make good use of weekend mornings - Red & I like a lie in and so if we have lunchtime plans we usually don’t do anything before them. 

But I was going to my mum’s for 1.30pm for Sunday lunch and after a week of illness I was determined to get outdoors, so I took the kids to one of our favourite country parks near me first. 

We did their little children’s zoo (£4 for all of us!) - it’s got small animals like meerkats, snakes, Guinea pigs, rabbits, various birds, tiny wee monkeys etc. 

Then had such a fun walk, we played at being explorers hunting for lions, tigers and bears round every corner 😆

Monkey and I had a great discussion about what we felt the basics for survival camping would be… we came up with blankets, a knife, a flint & tinder for fire lighting, a pot/kettle for cooking, rope, a bow & arrows (erm, I think we were camping in the distant past in this scenario!) and fishing line/hooks, salt and a few other pantry essentials, a water container of some kind… I think that was everything. I notice we missed off soap 😆 Does make you ponder about the necessity of the gazillion other items cluttering up all our houses though 😂

After that we had a very nice lunch at my mum’s and a quick dog walk after. Then had a really nice time doing stories/games with the kids before their bedtime 😍

Red is away for work today and tonight so now I’m chilling on the sofa watching Sort Your Life Out and I may have just had some chocolate ice cream too 😆

Bluegreen143

Everything seems to be ticking over nicely for our account switches, we’ve received our new cards and log ins etc and I think the switches are all happening next week. Hoping all the switching bonuses go through properly! 

Once the accounts have switched I need to set up savings pots and automatic transfers. 

My plan is for the following set up:

My pay

I think this will be at least £2,000 once my increased hours kick in, allocated as follows:

My spending - £400 (kept in personal account)

Help to Save - £100
LISA - £50
Regular saver - £200
Holiday pot £250

Leaving roughly £1,000 in the joint account - enough to cover groceries, petrol, miscellaneous family spending and small contingencies etc. 

Red’s pay

Red’s pay should be roughly £2,350 in his new role (he’s getting TUPEd over to a new company but it includes a small pay rise). Allocated as follows:

His spending - £470

Car loan to mum - £500
Home & garden pot - £100
Gifts & Christmas pot - £175

Leaving £1,105 which is approximately the amount of all the bills (including annual bills which I’ll siphon off into a pot). 

Child benefit

Siphoned straight off into the Kids pot. 

Savings plan

We’ll keep our £3,300 emergency fund in an instant access saving account but future savings are all getting funnelled for the moment to the car loan and to the regular saver I’m going to set up (one of the 8% nationwide ones). 

The car loan will be paid off in six months and then we can decide where we want that £500 a month to go! A priority will definitely be Red’s pension and I may also set up a second regular saver too. 

beanielou

All sounding good. 

Bluegreen143

Lovely sunny day here today.

It’s been a trifle spendy (first day of the October break) and that will continue…

(Yesterday) £52 on insulated waterproof overalls for both kids

Today…

£75 in Dobbies, £12 was a hat for me and the remaining £63 was on daffodil & tulip bulbs, bird feed and some logs for the chiminea.  

£108 in Tesco. £17.50 on a kids’ birthday present, £17 on prosecco and leggings for me, £73.50 on groceries but that included two bottles of cheap wine for cooking. 

Taking the kids out to a park in the west end soon to enjoy the sunshine (free except for parking), then dropping Monkey at his friend’s birthday party. I promised Bambi I’d take her for ice cream while the party is on, then I’m picking up Red and we are going out for pizza in the west end. It’s very rare we eat out as a family unless we are meeting others so I’m looking forward to it! The restaurant allow the kids to top their own pizzas which is fun 😍

Then after all that I think I’ll put my debit cards in the freezer!!!

Tomorrow I'm meeting friends and their children to go to a (free except parking) museum which will be fun. If it’s not raining it has a good playpark near it too. 

Then on Sunday we are having “family gardening day” to plant all the bulbs I bought today, plus the compost needs turned, plus lots of other tidying bits no doubt need done. May take the kids swimming on Sunday too if Red is up for it. Monkey is so close to cracking swimming but needs practice. 

Next week I am only working Monday & Tuesday, and my lovely friend is taking the kids out on Tuesday so just one day of WFH while parenting at the same time! I did say that as I finish at 3 for everyone (my friend who is babysitting, my other friend and all kids involved) to come over then and have a play date and I’ll provide pizzas for everyone’s dinners to say thanks.

Then I have the rest of the week off, hoping for decent weather to get at least one outdoor adventure in. 

Bluegreen143

Had a pretty good weekend, though it turned out Monkey wasn’t quite over his cold (he’s still quite snotty and coughing and not right tbh). Loads of his classmates are ill too apparently. Last year at least one of our family was ill (mix of things from sickness to bad colds) the entire autumn term from August to December so I’m hoping that isn’t starting again, it was awful. 

On Friday Monkey enjoyed his party but you could see that all the exertion wiped him out and he wasn’t feeling well enough for going out for dinner as planned. It was 6.30pm by this point with no dinner cooked so we ordered a takeaway - £40ish. 

I had paid Bambi into softplay at the party venue at £7 and spent £7 on snacks while there too. She was disappointed at not being invited to the party due to limited numbers - it wasn’t at the softplay, it was a different activity at the same venue - so I promised her ice cream to cheer her up. She did get to join the party guests later and they’d extremely kindly made up party bags for siblings so she was happy in the end.

On Saturday I left Monkey at home with Red and just took Bambi to meet my friends at a museum/park, it was really fun and inexpensive. The museum is free and we took food so just paid £5 for car parking. 

Then on Sunday we had SUCH a lovely, frugal but perfect day at home. 

We’ve been trialling having family “tech breaks” - the kids don’t really notice the different as they only get TV at set times anyway, but it’s about us parents being intentional and putting our phones away to be present. We did five hours with our phones in jail 😆

Red and I were out in the garden the whole time. The first two hours we all pitched in and did various garden tasks including planting loads of bulbs. We had a fire in the fire pit which was really cheerful. After lunch, Monkey was feeling not great again so he cuddled up listening to an audiobook while Bambi played really nicely. 

I made a gorgeous dinner - this lovely citrus rosemary chicken from The Mediterranean Dish and apple crumble (using apples from the garden) for afters. 

We’ve agreed to start doing more family/couples gardening as I do have the habit of leaving it all to Red. But we all had a really good time yesterday 😁

Plans for this week:

M - today is my day working from home with the kids off, so far they are doing great. Monkey is again listening to an audiobook and I think Bambi is drawing. Red’s recently widowed sister-in-law is coming for dinner. 

T - my friend is taking my kids out for most of the day (if Monkey is better 🤞🏼) and then I’m meant to be doing pizza for dinner for her/her kids and a mutual friend & her kids. Bought sourdough pizza bases from Tesco to try out - normally I make my own pizza bases but it’s a challenge when making pizza for 10! 

W & Th - haven’t decided yet about later in the week but hoping to get out on a couple of adventures.

F - play date at Monkey’s wee friend’s house - his dad has kindly offered to coach the boys in some karate practice while we are there (they go to karate together, and he is also a member). I haven’t actually put Monkey up for the upcoming grading (which was why the coaching was offered) as he missed soooo much karate over the summer and has missed two weeks due to illness too so I don’t believe he is ready to grade up. But still lovely for him to get some extra practice with his friend. 

themadvix

That sounds like a lovely day yesterday. We were out in the garden together too and it's a really nice way to spend time. Hope Monkey feels better soon.

beanielou

Hope Monkey is on the mend soon.