Pay for the future and not the past

Suffolk_lass

Gosh, I hope that 3am work thing was an actual work thing (call, early shift or similar) and not him worrying about work 😳😳. I am guilty of that, picking the wrong moment. It's almost my special skill

MissRikkiC

He was up for work @Suffolk_lass as needed to be present for some of the staff on nights. He’s not really the type to wake up worrying about work; thankfully. I am mind! 

He apologised for being grumpy when we got into bed in his defence and I don’t know what I wanted out of the conversation to be fair so maybe should have held my tongue. No damage done thankfully 

MissRikkiC

Spends today:

None, neither JA or personal spends. 

Money made: Nadda

Frugal wins: food all from stores, free entertainment for the children, washing like dried between showers and made use of my gym membership

Still can’t wait till Friday when I get paid though!

MissRikkiC

23rd I was so tired come the evening I didn’t post. I also hadn’t had any time to sort/defrost anything for dinner for me and hub so I declare I went into Aldi and bought some ingredients to make a nice and relatively healthy dinner. Fresh gnocchi with tomato and basil sauce with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and spinach  I also came across beef trimmings which I bought, they don’t sound very appealing but they taste nice and they’re a protein source. 

That was about £12 over all however spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and beef have all been used in other meals since. 

Friday was pay day and thank goodness for that. I have decided to allow £400 for March groceries. I know that is a lot but we had 2 tins left and the freezer was looking depleted! We have loads of beans and pulses but we were out of lots of store cupboard items too like all oils, table salt, balsamic vinegar, Worcester sauce, pesto. Etc etc so all the additions to fresh stuff that you need imo. We’ve topped up a bit and still going, and then will split what I’ve got left between the weeks. I think I will likely spend £100 easily on getting us back to a good place, replenishing tins, spices etc but I hope to not let us do the same again. 

I didn’t track officially but approx £280 on food shopping in Feb and £150 in Jan. not too bad considering we’re feeding 4 now! But it’s taken its toll of course. 

Weekend has been a bit more spendy, but now my pay is mostly back to normal it’s been quite nice to enjoy a few treats. Another shop this weekend at a supermarket but a £5 off £25 spend was mentioned and there was still things I needed to buy (there still is!)

Other than a few loads of washing being dried on the line this weekend, we’ve not been extremely money making or saving. But I did pay ourselves approx £1100 this month (£500 gone already as owed for the car charger and an old tab I still had with a friend on his timber account for my fence last year!). Surprising what is left when were not paying for 2 in nursery! 

In other news we’ve been suffering more with allergies this weekend with my boy, assumed maybe I’d missed soya or milk on a loaf from Liddell but now we’re thinking it might be beef (beef trimmings!) as we’ve read that if they’re allergic to the milk then they may also be allergic to the animal as well. It could also be egg, as we had pancakes a lot but I’m just not sure; and so I am going to call the HV tomorrow and ask for some support but also see if I can get on the waiting list to have him tested. I’m not sure if I could go privately…. Worth a look I think. 

I’ve filled the holes in the downstairs bathroom, that can be painted come Tuesday now. White first then the nice coral colour after.  The toilet and sink are being delivered Tuesday! I must remember! 

My friend came over to measure up for the other jobs and also gave me some assurances that i don’t need to pay for a plasterer in the lounge afterall as the brick fireplace can be left in (and will look nice around the log burner) and instead we can use a grinder on the edges to separate the fireplace from the rest of the brick. I can then do as I did with the kitchen wall and knock all the other brick out, bin it and get some cupboards made for the alcoves. Then it will be redecorate, carpet, new sofa and then the log burner. Eventually …. 

A very productive weekend all in all, nice to feel a little less broke 😅

Suffolk_lass

When we were getting a sort of eczema rash around mouth and nostrils (my son and me) I was talking about it at work and someone suggested seeing a homeopath. I am really not into fads or alternative things and was very sceptical but when we had been prescribed steroid cream for our faces it was time to do something and the Doctor was happy to carry on with creams to treat not cure. So we went. It cost a set amount for a single consultation and test. It was amazing what it told us. I did not mention the things I knew upset me I just let her test us both. I held a wand in my hand and she made a contact with my toe and the box with the test substance was in between so we formed a circuit. The higher the score, the greater the circuit so the less the substance interfered with us. 

I am happy to share what, but I don't want to put ideas in your head - do ask if you want me to say. The consultation followed and we discussed the avoidance of these things, but crucially, other things that in combination, resulted in an intolerance to something completely different. I cut out the trigger things and the intolerance findings for three months, but after six weeks we started to reintroduce things, one at a time and eventually found the tipping point for intolerances, as well as the things I can never eat (far fewer than when we started). Son's was much more straightforward but it was when I became a label reader and started making more things like jams, cordials, biscuits and cakes.

Something to consider. We were both permanently clear of the eczema within two weeks and now recognise the warning indicators, so it is relatively easy to stop it coming back. I was frankly, astonished!

MissRikkiC

I’d definitely be interested to hear @Suffolk_lass as we’re a bit clueless at the moment. Health visitor seems to have experience of CMPA with formula babies  but not so much when they’re breast fed. I’ve got an appointment in May with the allergy team and will call the bookings line daily to see if I can get a cancellation. HV also recommended calling the dieticians team at the hospital just to get advice so I’ll do that too. 

A cheap day out yesterday, a 45 minute drive to another NT location where whilst it was very chilly we enjoyed a walk and noseying around. We did buy a warm drink each in the cafe but they also said it was okay to eat our own lunch too so just over £7 spent on tea, coffee and a plain flapjack (after checking the ingredients in their folder!). 

A little MoneySaving in that I’d taken lunch with us, used our NT membership and didn’t buy a selection of beautiful things from their shop! 

Got the dog food subscription day wrong and so last nights dinner and this mornings breakfast was eggs and rice on account of his sack of food not coming until today! Whoops. 

Haven’t signed up to the March grocery challenge yet, i need to but actually enjoyed reading along last month and just being mindful rather than feeling the need to post. Maybe I still will 

MissRikkiC

Oh I almost forgot to write as well. 

We are officially out of maternity pay now, back to normal which means that for 6 months, we’ve managed on maternity income. We were fortunate that my husband was promoted and we had saved a few thousand pounds to support that period but after such a challenge to our normal income; there is no debt and we’ve not been uncomfortable with the financial position we’ve been in. It’s been a little difficult at times having to adjust but I’m really pleased with how we’ve managed 🙏🏼

Suffolk_lass

The main things with low scores were MSG (16) sugar (18), artificial sweetener (11), orange food dye; E101 (12) and then a bunch of things like cheese, milk and wool, in the 40s and 50s. I also cannot have anything containing dried seafood (lots of Chinese places sprinkle dried shrimp as a condiment), funghi, mould or blue-veins (sometimes anything fermented, if I let it get worse) - so mushrooms, micro-proteins like Quorn, truffle oil, blue cheese, even kimchi sometimes. Bananas, Pineapple and kiwi fruit all got big reactions too (maybe the high sugar content) but apart from bananas, (which give me heartburn) and mushroom family, these came back a bit. The acid and high sugar in pineapple is a good indicator that I need a reset now, as they give me mouth ulcers. The reaction to mushrooms has got worse since I stopped. Veg, meat and things like cotton, silk and cashmere did not affect us. 

The combination things were yeast, sugar, caffeine and removing them "reset" intolerances. I can now have 2/3 of these and feel OK but at Christmas I always get a reaction (blue cheese is the first indication that I have overdone it. I only have it at Christmas and can probably have it once before I react.

The advice for our son was to eradicate the artificial things and keep him on a really low sugar diet (so my own jams and cordials so I know what is in them and can dilute/use very sparingly, rather than remove. That way, his body learned to process them. It is amazing, seeing the difference it makes and his mood, behaviour and skin all improved dramatically. Apparently it is normal for children and adults to react to sugar, because it is such a dramatic change to their steady state, so reducing it and avoiding the artificial ones is important. Even toothpaste typically contains saccharine. Plant based sweeteners were not really widespread, 25 years ago so it was mostly aspartame and saccharine, and some sorbitol

When he was looked after by a cousin who decided we were being faddy and gave him smarties (including blue and orange ones when they contained e-dyes) he kicked her in the shins. I knew she had given him something as he had a livid red rash round his mouth and cheeks, so when she complained, I asked what he had had, and patiently explained that if you feed a child poison it makes them grumpy because they feel like s**t. I did not apologise. Neither did she. Needless to say that was the end of her childcare duties with us. The same thing with smarties happened at school and we asked if he could just have a chocolate button instead. They stopped giving smarties to any children on the back of that.

Suffolk_lass

And well done for managing to well on maternity leave. You should be very proud of yourselves!

MissRikkiC

Thanks @Suffolk_lass that’s really interesting. I do think that I suffer similar with a few of those things mentioned but instead with a sore tongue. I personally suggest with raw stuff, particularly tomatoes and peppers but they’re only sensitivities rather than an allergy. 

Our GP has expedited our allergy appointment this morning and referred us to the dieticians as well. I’ve also cut oats out and today we’ve had a bit of normality. Maybe that’s a coincidence but it’s worth it. Once we’ve been at a comfortable baseline for a few days I may consider reintroducing 1 thing into my diet and see if he reacts. 

More shopping done this morning to replace bits, lasagna, foil, cereals, top up of veg, breakfast biscuits etc. Not lots for £56 but glad there is so much more in the cupboards now!