Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Thanks @Baileys_Babe, it’s good as gives me a chance to reflect on the list and what was necessary.

Had a bit of a payday splurge yesterday at Tesco 🙈

Needed socks for myself (I swear they ALL have holes in!) so picked up two packs and a pair of tights for £14.50. Also got Bambi a pair of jeggings, two tops and a dress - mainly in the sale - we seem to be a couple of outfits short for her so that if we run a day behind in washing she’s out of clean clothes (she keeps getting her clothes wet etc when playing and needing changed). That was £14. 

Spent £2.99 on mixed lettuce seeds (probably would have been much cheaper in Lidl so lesson learned) as we’ve ordered seeds online but they only had one type of lettuce so we wanted more.

Then spent £19.49 on just fun stuff for myself 😱 which I never do. Bought a book “Feel Great Lose Weight” by Dr Ranjan Chatterjee, I have read some of his books before and enjoyed, and feel in need of a fresh approach to my weight loss goals. And bought a bottle of wine (£7) and two sharing bags of crisps for the weekend (£2.99) in direct opposition to the book purchase 😂😆 although actually Red had said to me to pick up crisps so I can blame him - I did eat most of the bag we had last night though 🤣

We also had a tapas takeaway last night (£40) as my mum sent Red birthday money for one. Was delicious! Not eaten tapas since well before the pandemic as haven’t had it delivered before. Nice to take advantage of the fact that so many proper restaurants deliver here from the west end & city centre - we usually just get things like curries, Chinese or pizza for takeaway as it’s cheaper but it was lovely to have something a bit “nicer”.

So after all that my poor bank account is in shock and I doubt I’ll be able to bring myself to spend much for the next couple of weeks 🤣

Bluegreen143

Oh I’ve set up the first nursery payment, which was only £580, but the amount I’d paid in + government boost means I’ve got £138 left in the tax free childcare account (I forgot to take into account we get 10% off the first three months) so it won’t cost as much this month.

Bluegreen143

Oh I forgot to confess I also spent £4.50 in greggs on a pastie, Ribena, two doughnuts. Used to love greggs as a student and haven’t eaten there since before the pandemic either. I’d stupidly rushed out to the shop without getting lunch (one doughnut was for taking home to Red I feel the need to add!). So very bad on the diet and frugality front but really was a one off. I think it just felt really nice yesterday to know we can afford small splurges so I’m glad I indulged myself. But it feels much better to build up our savings so it won’t be a regular habit!

Baileys_Babe

Bluegreen143 said:

Bought a book “Feel Great Lose Weight” by Dr Ranjan Chatterjee, I have read some of his books before and enjoyed, and feel in need of a fresh approach to my weight loss goals. 

At some point in the future, once you have read and implemented some of the ideas could you give us a review of the book. I have read a couple of Dr Ranjan Chattetjee books and enjoyed them and feel his approach is realistic.

Bluegreen143

I actually read it through yesterday 🙈 but obviously not implemented yet. Like you, I think his approach is really realistic, compassionate and focused much more on “wellness” than on bringing a punishing diet/exercise routine to your life. It makes good sense and all the ideas are collected in a “toolkit” at the end so you can make your own plan. I’ll let you know when I’ve thought about my toolkit. I think firstly I’ll be focusing on sleep (he talks a lot about the link between poor sleep and weight gain and I agree my weight gain began when Bambi was a baby and I basically didn’t sleep for a year 😆). Other things I think I’ll try first are doing a few minutes if simple strength exercises or yoga every day and also looking at the types of foods I’m eating. But will write more about it on here once I’ve done more work on it.

Baileys_Babe

Thanks @Bluegreen143 for your initial thoughts, sounds worth reading.

I also enjoy Dr Ranjan Chatterjee's podcast. I need to get back into listening to it. I used to listen weekly in the car whilst the children attended martial arts training. Since the training has gone online and at a different time my listening to 'Feel better, live more' has dropped by the wayside.

Bluegreen143

Managed a bit of time in the garden yesterday - repotted a bunch of baby strawberry plants that were in tiny wee pots (they were runners from big strawberry plants). Also just general tidying. Hoping our seeds we have ordered come soon as want to start the tomatoes + chillies!

MIL is babysitting Bambi this morning so I can work, I’m really grateful but she has already put the TV on 🤦‍♀️ (I’m normally quite strict and TV only just before dinner on weekdays, a bit extra weekend mornings). I am a bit concerned that she is going to struggle to cope with Bambi every Monday tbh as she isn’t the fittest/in the best of health. If the worst comes to the worst we can send her to nursery on Mondays too, it’s just the expense plus it’s nice for Bambi to spend time with MIL solo - MIL usually babysits Monkey so has a fantastic bond with him but has almost never spent solo time with the little one (for various reasons - harder for her to cope with them both, I’ve not been ready to let Bambi do an overnight yet, Bambi was glued to me as a baby so it was just easier to keep her with me & let Monkey go to spend time with Grandma).

Bluegreen143

Well just been downstairs, TV is still on and MIL is sat with a hot water bottle and isn’t feeling well, bless her, and telling me they will just have a TV day today. Now I’m worried about her and about Bambi stuck inside all day on a gorgeous sunny day! Not a lot I can do today except taking a decent lunch break and taking over for a bit. Tomorrow Red has to work and Bambi has her third settling session so is only in 9-12 in nursery and I’ve now realised I have a really important meeting in the afternoon!! Hats off to everyone who had been doing juggling act this the whole way through! Off to call nursery to ask nicely if settling session can be 12-3 rather than 9-12 🤞🏼

Sarahwithlove

Hopefully it's just she's not feeling well today and it won't be the same all the time. 

Bluegreen143

Had a good chat with Red, he was not happy when he got home and spoke to MIL and learned that Bambi basically spent 6 hours in front of the TV today 😮 

I feel so bad for MIL having to watch her when she’s not feeling great, and also bad for Bambi not getting any proper outdoor time or play, so it was not ideal. 

We are both concerned that MIL is actually feeling under the weather a lot (it was a bad back last time she babysat which also meant she struggled) so while the will is there, she may not be physically capable of doing a consistent, reliable day every week. 

Red is mainly furloughed now until 28th April (he learned today), with some on call, so we’ve agreed we won’t make any changes until May. He should be able to do most of the Mondays with Bambi, and where he does get called out we will try MIL and see how she gets on. If she seems to get on fine, that’s great, if she seems to struggle we will book in the fourth day at nursery from May. 

I found it really hard to concentrate on work today knowing I wasn’t happy with how Bambi was being cared for, and ended up popping down as often as I could to spend a bit of time with her, so I think reliable childcare is probably worth any amount of extra money for the peace of mind!