Money-shuffling towards mortgage freedom

savingholmes

Chin up. Keep going. Reach out for help from people close by if available too.

Perhaps try immersing yourself in a hobby and have fun. We can't control others reactions - even though there are often times we wish we could.

LadyWithAPlan

Sending you a virtual hug - you are doing amazingly well with so much going on. I have noticed with my nephew how he seemed to turn over night into a monosyllabic grump for a few years but he did come out the other end ok and back to being lovely.. They still love you, they just dont show it as openly.

I am in awe of all your OPs and focus - you really are a super woman even if you dont see it.

I hope the TGTG goddesses continue to send you both cake and jam donuts

MeandO

Thank you Chrystal, savingholmes and LadyWithAPlan, I really appreciate your kind words. I needed a push in the right direction yesterday and your posts really helped. I'm still feeling very emotional today and there have been tears, but I'm an improvement on yesterday so that's a step in the right direction.

As it was, DS and I had a wonderful evening together. He was really happy, wanting to do things together and full of cuddles and love for his old Mum (despite telling me I need a treadmill at one point - he's not wrong!). He even got involved in cooking our tea - I ditched the lasagne idea and made a family recipe which my wonderful late Nan sent to me years ago which DS enjoys making. I still have her letter in the envelope which my Nan sent me with the recipe and a lovely note to go along with it.

I need to learn to not take DS's moods personally as you said. I think it's harder with the negative influence from his Father and I know his father tells lots of lies about me and my family so I am doubly on edge about rubbish he may have told DS and others. 
We facetimed my parents last night which was also lovely. DS and my Dad were fooling around and joking with each other on video, it was so nice to see. I wish we lived near them.  

Moneywise, I have shuffled the tax credits to various pots and have sent £100 to the credit card to try and pay off the Summer Holidays overspend balance. There is around £69 left on it now which I will pay off next month.
£20 has gone to DS's clothing pot, £50 to the diesel category and I've topped the groceries and misc spends pots up. Money will be tight again this month but I should be ok as long as I keep the grocery spends low. We have plenty in so will try and stick to small top up shops.

Have a good day all x

savingholmes

Sounds like you are doing well to me.

MeandO

Thank you SH xx

MeandO

I can't believe the Queen has gone. I was so sad when I heard the news last night, it really does feel like a personal loss which surprised me as I'm no royalist, but I did have a lot of respect and admiration for our Queen.

Last night I picked up another magic bag, this time from a Gr&ggs which is well known in this area for being uber-generous with what they give you. For £3.09 I received 4 sausage rolls, a filled baguette, a filled oval roll, 4 pink iced doughnuts (DS's faves!), a pack of 5 apple and raspberry doughnuts, a box of two yumyums, a pack of 5 double chocolate cookies and a baked meat slice. Great value, but on the other hand full of naughty food which doesn't do me any good so I won't buy them very often in future. I've shared it with OH who will take some of it for his lunches and have asked the ex if he will pick some up today with DS as DS is not with me until Sunday and it will likely have gone past its best by then. I've even offered enough for the ex's new large family - can't say I'm not kind.
OH and I have also booked two magic bags at my favourite noodle restaurant for tonight (which I haven't been to in years!) so I'm looking forward to those! 

I completed a couple of tasks on the 'Frog' list yesterday which have been hanging round me for a while, both at work and at home, so I was pleased with myself for finally getting them done. Next is the joy of trying to get a doctor's appointment for both DS and myself as we both need to see a doctor about various things but I gave up after 300 - 400 attempts at calling daily with no success. I will try again later today.

I feel in the mood to do some more DIY and make some more improvements to the house now after a break from the renovations. Everything is done to look at apart from the utility room which needs ripping out when I have the money (perhaps never!), but the next thing I would like to put some shelves up in alcoves either side of two fireplaces. The only thing is, I don't want to spend a lot of money to do it. I've been looking at shelves online and they are so expensive! The trouble is the alcoves are different sizes thanks to the old thick walls, so I'd have to buy purpose cut timber for it. I might pop to a DIY store later and see how much I can get some wood for and make some myself. Putting them up will be a nightmare too as the old part of the house is built with engineering bricks which are a nightmare to drill into. Plus there's the black coal mortar to contend with... 

savingholmes

Good luck with the noodles. You prompted me to get a carvery one so looking forward to that later. 

Good luck with finding the right solution for the alcoves. A built in unit can look very glam.

MeandO

Thank you SH, hope you enjoyed your carvery. Our noodles were lovely and fed myself and OH for two evenings.

Thankfully I had quite a low spend weekend with just a couple of top up shops and a Mcd's tea and coffee for OH and I whilst we were on a long cycle ride at the weekend. I picked up a whole chicken and 14 large sausages in Asda's two for £7 deal yesterday and the chicken is currently in the slow cooker with some onion, carrots and sweet potatoes for our tea tonight. I will plate up a meal for OH from it too as he has to pop over tonight and is having a bit of a hard time of things at work presently. I should have some chicken over to make another couple of meals with it tomorrow too, perhaps a risotto.

I popped to Asda this morning after dropping DS off as I needed some veg for tea tonight but the produce they did have (which wasn't a lot) looked awful, so I left and went to Aldi instead. I was pleasantly surprised with what I picked up for £9.15 - a bag of Carrots (24p), Broccoli (57p), a bag of Sweet potatoes (99p), 7 x small bananas (83p), 2 garlic baguettes (83p with 30% off), Salted butter (£1.99), a jar of honey (75p), fresh filled pasta for DS (£1.35), a pack of 4 ice creams (£1.05) and some custard (55p). I think I will go back to getting most of my shopping there again, other than the bits and pieces that I can't pick up there.

I need to pick up DS's prescription later today and then DS has some tutoring this evening so I will sit and read my book in the car for 45 minutes whilst he's there.

Hope everyone has a lovely week x

MeandO

There was lots of chicken left over today so I can make that stretch for a few days or even freeze some for future use. There was some veg leftover too which I’ll have for my tea tomorrow when DS has his favourite pasta and garlic bread.  

I picked up DS’s prescription (which is never a straight forward task with the current pharmacy we use). We only changed surgeries a few months ago but I will be registering us at a different one again as it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a dr’s appointment and I’m not impressed with them at all, I have still yet to get an appointment for either DS or myself. 

I finally had some news today which I have mixed feelings about. I will be upping my hours at work from next week by 7 hours a week, so I will almost be back to full time again. They have been a bit sneaky in that they won’t change my contract, but want me to work the hours each week as additional hours and then manually submit time sheets to be paid for those extra hours. It means if I have a week off or am off sick, I won’t be paid as much as i’d normally earn in the week. I’m not really that happy about the terms of that, but will take it for now as a member of our department is probably retiring within the next 6 months and I will go back to a proper full time contract then. It’s extra money which I can’t turn down at the moment. My tax credits will decrease though as it means I am regularly working extra hours, so I will notify them when the hours change. If my calculations are correct I will be around £200 to £250 better off a month after the tax credits drop has been taken into consideration. No doubt I won’t feel any richer, but it should help a little. 

savingholmes

£ for extra hours will be very useful I'm sure. Well done. Look after you too.