Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

savingholmes

Massive red circle could be a tick bite which would be more serious and you'd benefit from urgent meds. Make sure you send the gp a photo!

Bluegreen143

@savingholmes not a tick bite, I’ve actually had three tick bites already this summer 😱 definitely a mosquito bite which has gotten infected because I scratched it 😭, I’ve had the same thing happen before. I’ve picked up my antibiotics now and got some cream to soothe it - £14 well spent! 

Journey seemed endless to get here (we stopped for a KFC en route which the kids were so excited about 😅). But nice to be here now. Except Bambi isn’t asleep yet 😱 going to have to go lie down with her I think. 

savingholmes

Hope it improves quickly. Sounds painful and itchy.

It's irritating when kids don't go to sleep on time (at any age )

Bluegreen143

Spending round up for the month, as I’m still in bed but awake 😜 no sign of the children yet after their ridiculously late night!

Family spending 
Food £304.51
Non Food Groceries £42.43
Diesel £59.75
Other Travel £11.60
Fun £101.50
Kids Education/Fun £44
Lazy/Convenience £86.74
Misc £66.02

My spending 
Clothes £15
Fun £48.50
Lazy/Convenience £4.50

From savings pots
Gifts & Celebrations £34.66
Holidays £241.27
Car Repairs £871.31

Kids £48.76

I’ve added categories for lazy/convenience spends - anything from lunch out at work, getting a taxi instead of the bus if the bus was possible, takeaways (unless they are to celebrate something) plus stupid spends like Red losing his driving license or if we got a parking ticket. Stuff like that. Eye opening stuff!

Baileys_Babe

I think tracking those spends you have classed as lazy/convenient would be a good idea for most of us.
Trying to come up with ways to not repeat those spends in the future by planning could be a game changer whether that is always keeping the driving licence in the same place, having a list of ideas for super quick easy meals, plus the ingredients to make them in the house.

savingholmes

It is a good category to add. I doubt I'd like the number.

Cornish_mum

Hi excellent call on convenience spends (it’s my utter weakness) and tends to ramp up at just the times when I can’t track spending because I am too busy. Have a lovely break and hope the mosquito bite heals quickly. I have found icing them really helps me (just tapping an ice cube onto the bite). CM

Bluegreen143

Two days of antibiotics and my arm is still red but no longer hot and swollen 🙌🏼

Just left sister in law’s. Bambi is asleep in the car, hoping Monkey falls asleep too but not sure if he will. 

Had a lovely time and SIL was a wonderful host as usual and spoiled us all. It is partly frustrating and partly amusing that she clearly still thinks of Red as a small boy - she’s much older than him and partly helped bring him up. Red is an extremely competent, responsible man, the total opposite of a man child and I look at him and see a natural leader and someone who is very experienced at caring for others (his mum, us, plus his service users in his previous career) but SIL is totally blind to that. I did chuckle to myself watching her shoo him out of her kitchen when he went to make a drink… “I’ll get that, I don’t trust him in there, he’ll make a mess” 😆 I should add that he is in fact very good in the kitchen and at housework. He moved out of his mum’s house at 17 and mainly lived alone til I moved in when he was 25 - he had to train me in housekeeping as I was a student 😅

In other news I finished my 2021 photobook (much quicker than the 2020 one, as my photos were pre-organised for that year). So that’s me caught up with photobooks til the new year 🙌🏼

savingholmes

LOL at SIL - that's family for you. 

Well done on the photo book.

Bluegreen143

Haha I know. She was however very good to us and treated us all to a lovely day out yesterday at one of those farm park places. 

In general we don’t have too many big flashy days out, but we’ve now had three of them within less than two weeks (inflatable city, zoo and adventure farm park) and one thing I’ve learned for next summer is to space them out more. Less is definitely more especially when your kids are young, and a big day out seems to really tire all of us out. It’s just been poor planning where we’ve arranged them all too close together. Being honest too, while each day has been lovely, it’s not been really much if any more fun than a free day out at a country park or the beach or down at the river or something. Not to mention we have good free museums here too. I don’t want the kids to miss out and feel they never got to go to the zoo or whatever, but I do question if we get £50 of value from it, it’s not 50x better fun than the park… and the outdoor inflatable city, while fun, I don’t think they enjoyed any more than softplay. And it cost £30 all in while the softplay would be about £12. 

Will definitely continue to maximise free outdoor fun and keep days out at attractions as a very occasional treat I think. I really want the kids to continue to be “outdoorsy” as they grow - I never had the opportunity to be as a child, and genuinely feel like I’m still coming out of my comfort zone with getting outdoors. The thought of camping scares me! I want them to be confident and competent at being outdoors and to continue loving green spaces. So now they are getting older and able to walk longer, I really want to start doing proper walks with them and doing some of the more accessible hillwalks etc. Also when they are a bit older, I want them to have the opportunity for things like outdoor water sports. You can even do kayaking on the canal near us so no excuse for not trying it! 

Should say too, we are having lots of rest days too these holidays and it’s doing us all so much good. The children love just running about in the garden, “helping” Red with his slabbing (😅), playing, baking, doing art or walking to the swings. I’ve really felt the need to rest these holidays (when not working) after a busy school year.