Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Thanks @MissRikkiC - great perspective. We’ll see how we go.

Ended up having to take Bambi to A&E with a pulled elbow last night - she’s fine now - popped it back in place herself before she was seen by the doctor so that when he came out to see her, he was greeted by the sight of her using both arms to merrily climb on chairs in the waiting room 😂 “I see she’s using both arms now… let me give you an information leaflet and you can get home as you don’t need to be here” were his words 😅 (it was 2am so I certainly wasn’t wanting to stay longer than needed!).

Sadly I’d had to cut short a night out (at my friend’s house) when Red called me home because she’d woken inconsolable, but I’m so thankful that I’ve not been drinking for six weeks, so I could quickly drive back from my friend’s house and take her in. 

Money highlights:

- Food spend is now at £351.60

- We went to the school fete on Friday so need to work out how much cash was spent (on hot dogs, some things from the gardening stall and cakes)

- We’ve signed Monkey up to football on Saturday mornings so he had his first one today (he LOVED it). Cost will be £25 a month. It’s at a local venue which is a 15 min walk or 5 min drive from our house 🙂 so pleased as before I found this one, the other sessions I could find were halfway across the city! Up until now he’s not done any clubs or classes (except when we did baby sensory type stuff when I was on mat leave) so I’m pleased he’s enjoying his first experience. Only annoying thing about a Saturday as we will miss some when we’re on holiday but it can’t be helped. All the after school ones I found were at awful times, 5/5.30/6pm, and we are pretty strict on 6pm family dinner and early bedtime of 7.30pm so that doesn’t work well for us. 

Health update:

- I’m at 10lb off, yay! 

- I’ve realised that 6 workouts a week is too much and I’m going to do 5 instead, ideally making sure I take one rest day in the week and one at the weekend. I’ve taken Fri/Sat off this week as my body was sore and exhausted (partly because of the late night A&E visit last night to be fair!!).

Baileys_Babe

Glad to hear Bambi is recovered and I liked the Doctor's attitude.

Well done on the weight loss.

I find the times of most after school/extra circular groups are/were at awkward times for us.

Bluegreen143

How’s everyone getting on?

Getting a bit spooked about all the price rises and have been working out a meal plan for the next few days which is still very healthy and I should still lose weight; but moving away from having the very expensive Joe Wicks recipes all the time 😆 it won’t be ultra frugal as still low carb and the kids are still picky 🙄. But should allow us to cut costs a little.

So our Mon-Thu mealplan:

Breakfasts
Smoothies or fruit/yoghurt bowls for me; cereal or peanut butter toast for the children (or I may make them a smoothie too); Red has cereal or skips breakfast

Lunches
I’ve already batched up 3x cashew chicken curry, bulked out with cauliflower, aubergine and spinach, and also am trying out a recipe for a green lentil & veggie stew to serve with feta and fresh herbs (again I’ll make 2-3 servings of this for the freezer); the children are both still young enough to get a free lunch at school and nursery (I think this goes up to primary 5 now in Scotland?).

Snacks
- for the children, there are some muffins in the freezer and I plan to make flapjacks; there’s fruit, veggie sticks, oatcakes, bread for toast, milk, cheese and I plan to make hummus

- for me, I’ve been pretty good at sticking to a small piece of fruit, 30g nuts or (if very hungry) a small bowl of Greek yoghurt (with a drizzle of maple syrup and dark chocolate chips) in the afternoon - and only if I need it

Dinners
M - minestrone soup
T - coriander lime chicken, black beans & rice
W - chicken & chorizo pasta
Th - chicken fajitas 

I’ve ended up taking three days off working out this weekend but it was definitely the right call as with my very late night on Friday, I’ve been feeling exhausted. Ready to get back to the gym tomorrow though 🙂 4lb to go until I hit my next milestone of 1st off.

I’ve realised that we spent £18.50 at the school fete, not including the £5 to get in and £8 on 2x second hand school jumpers at the preloved uniform stall (this was a great bargain!). Oops as hadn’t meant to spend so much. In retrospect the £10 for four small mediocre hot dogs was a waste. Next time I’d buy two for the kids and Red and I would wait to get dinner at home. I also paid £2 corkage for Red to have a beer, but he didn’t realise and paid another £2 later when he went to grab a plastic cup 😂 so ended up an expensive beer! Next time we wouldn’t bother with alcohol.

We took the kids swimming today, but that was £10 well spent as we very rarely take them swimming (to be honest we both don’t hugely enjoy it and find it stressful 😂) and they don’t do lessons either, so we both feel somewhat guilty. It was good to tick that box off this weekend! They really enjoyed it which was great 🙂 we’ll take them again when we go away on our caravan break as there’s a pool there.

Bluegreen143

Update for this week 

Spending
This is going well, walked to the local pub last night and spent £4.50 on two soft drinks and as icing on the cake my friend drove me home 😅

Last two food shops have been smaller though it’ll still be quite a high total for the month.

Apart from that nothing much to report. Despite the high grocery spends, this month has been quite a low total - until you factor in that we spent £700 on paying off our holiday accommodation. But it’s true that there’s no such thing as a normal month. There’s been “abnormal” spending of at least a few hundred £ each month ever since I started detailed tracking in detail in February 😅 at least I’d put the money aside each month for the holiday! 

Health
At 10lb off, next weigh in is Friday. I’ve loosened up a bit this week and am taking more rest days, just focusing on my 3x gym sessions and not the at home workouts too. This is because I was feeling sore all the time and struggling with the amount of exercise I was doing. If it impacts the weight loss I’ll reassess. 

Other 
Today I was in the office and it was a quiet day. Not much to report except I’m now far behind the washing as couldn’t do any today. Bambi has taken to getting herself soaked and muddy within two seconds of going in the garden and insisting on changing then going back out! I’ve put her in PJs now and banned her from the garden for the rest of the day as my washing pile is big enough 😂 

Just about to bake some muffins with the kids and after dinner I’ve got Monkey’s parent’s evening. First one that’s been at the school, the last one was via zoom. It’s a bit of a trek for a 10 minute appointment because he doesn’t go to the local school 😆 but will be nice to get to see his classroom and go inside the school!

Bluegreen143

Did make the muffins (orange and choc chip) and we had lovely lime & coriander chicken for dinner with seasoned black beans, broccoli and (for Red and the kids) rice - I did have a muffin after dinner though. All delicious! Red and I had hot sauce with ours. Of course the children turned up their noses at the beans and broccoli, but they both enjoyed the chicken and ate the rice. 

Went to Monkey’s parent’s evening today, he’s doing really well at school which I’m so pleased about. They are nearly done primary one as we break up on the 24th June here. His teacher said his Gaelic understand/speaking was good, he’s really ready to read now, getting good at writing and drawing, excellent at maths, loves creative engineering play in class and has settled well with plenty of friends. All you could ask for really and such a relief as choosing a bilingual education for them feels like a risk. He’s loving it though so it was the right choice. 

Was inspired to sit and as well as doing my Duolingo app on my phone, I got out a teach yourself Gaelic book I have but haven’t used and started on it tonight. 

Plan for tomorrow

Last day of work for the week tomorrow, yay! In the evening, I’ll head to the gym for my second session of the week then I’m meeting my friends at a pub (I’ll drive/not drink though). Should be frugal, and I have my leftover chicken and beans to have a good lunch. Chicken fajitas for dinner - the chicken is already marinaded and in the freezer.

Bluegreen143

So I’ve just checked my bank account and it says my child benefit to be paid on Friday (it shows payments in a day or two early) will only be £36?!! I usually get £145 for the two kids. Anyone know why child benefit would suddenly change like this after 6 years of being paid absolutely perfectly?!

Bluegreen143

Finally we’ve had decent weather this weekend! This May has certainly been a bit of a washout 😅

Yesterday we had a lazy morning, DH took Monkey to football while I tidied up (attempting to coax Bambi to help but with limited success! But at least she played very self-sufficiently while I did it 😅).

Then I had to take Monkey to a birthday party. TBH I regretted not just dropping him off as it was a super fun party for the kids, but VERY noisy/chaotic with a lot of screaming and running about and then loud music at the end - there were a LOT of kids invited) so I got a bit of a headache. And it was in a windowless community centre room which was unfortunate given the weather was glorious. I shouldn’t begrudge it, as Monkey had lots of fun and I had a good chat with some mum friends there - but it was rather too much for me by the end and we actually left a bit early (it was 3hr rather than the standard 2 that kids’ parties tend to be). £5 spent - putting money in the birthday child’s card. I’ve started doing this unless it’s a special friend of Monkey’s and he has a specific idea, as otherwise I’m sure the well-intentioned generic gifts just end up as clutter. At least with money they can choose something they’ll use.

Red had made HM pizza for dinner so I chilled in the garden for an hour reading a book before we ate which was heavenly and restored my mood. The kids were enjoying playing in the garden so much they missed their usual before dinner TV time and didn’t moan even once!

Today my dad and papa visited - we went for lunch courtesy of my dad and then visited a local museum at dad’s request. We fit in outdoor time though - I got up early and took the kids to the park between 8.30-9.30am unheard of here!). Then we parked at the museum when we went out, giving ourselves a lovely walk to the restaurant and back through the park. Did spend nearly £7 on parking though 😕 but it couldn’t be helped as there is no free parking within the kids’ walking distance of there (and we also had an 85 yo with us, though he is quite fit and active). A 6 seater taxi both ways would have been more cost effective as my dad also had to pay to park, but he ended up leaving to go home straight from the museum so it was good he brought his car.

Re money, thankfully the rest of the child benefit came in the next day. Bizarre!

Re health, things have slipped a bit the last week, but I’m still going to the gym and mostly being good. Will aim for three really good days M-W as we are away on Thursday for our caravan holiday.

smetf

Sounds like a good weekend all round @Bluegreen143
Our child benefit was exactly the same - I was very confused but the remainder has now come.

Hope you have a good break away in the caravan!
S

fionaandphil

@Bluegreen143 and @smetf I'm sure I read somewhere it was due to the bank holiday. I can't remember them doing it this way before though

Baileys_Babe

How bizarre about the child benefit, I'm glad the rest turned up even if it was later than usual.

The party seems like it would be enjoyable for children and headache-inducing for adults, pleased you were able to recover in the garden afterwards.