Debt and Caring

WelshmansDaughter

@doingitanyway sorry I meant that the number of options in lidl was limited (possibly due to shortages) but also that I was limited on how much time (this week) I had to plan and shop. 
I prefer frozen veg but this lidl only had about four different kinds of veg. Madness. 
The carer is a bit of a mixed blessing for me- the skillset is not quite there and they often can't keep him engaged for the hour. So he gets agitated and I have to calm him down. Which is also me over reacting as a recovering perfectionist:)

doingitanyway

Oh I  see. That is me misreading 

It is such a mixed bag with carers...

WelshmansDaughter

Have had a bit of a miserable week, thanks to hormones and sleep deprivation so haven't really made much of a note of the more positive things. With that in mind-

FINALLY phoned customer service to get my details reset so I could access my online banking. 
- this is my mortgage account so I don't really need regular access yet. Logging in now was to aid in future planning. And bonus, my mortgage is 2k less than I thought it was 

Added more meals to the freezer. These have come in handy this week as it meant there was something healthy for Dad when I was tired.

Started set up of financial spreadsheet. This is to give me more data for planning my monthly budgets and to see if I can manage without the income from work.

WelshmansDaughter

Yesterday was a badly planned day which resulted in me spending money. Technically this was allocated spending money (from the original €100 I allotted) but still. I had A DAY OFF. I was getting to go somewhere I have wanted to go for ages (the drive is too far for Dad) and I was excited. Or as excited as you can be when drained of all life force. 
Break was due to start at 12 noon. Put out bits and pieces for a packed lunch. Then a bathroom saga happened and I ended up eating lunch at home.
Eventually saga was ahem resolved and I left at 12.50. Vaguely drove along the motorway, turned off onto the other road that is not a motorway but looks like one and realised I had left my food at home. 
D'oh. 
Did I go home and get it? Em no. 
I kept going and came onto the actual motorway and there was a services and I ate all the things. 
Not really, I bought a coffee to wake me up, a protein bar and a pain aux raisin. 
And used the facilities 😜
At €7 it was perhaps a tad expensive for a visit to the loo...

As petrol is now 215ish a litre here I was hypermiling which meant a bit of gritted teeth as I was going about 85k on a 100k road. I kept having to tell myself that the people passing me weren't paying for my petrol so they could get their feet off my accelerator. 
HM was successful until I reached the mad country roads where the speed limit at one point went from 100 to 80 to 60 in the space of about 2km. None of which was appropriate for the road. 
€5 planned spend for the Arboretum where I communed with the beloved redwoods. 
On the road home past dinnertime and that meant another services, this time not even pretending that I cared about money or nutrition. Maccy D's and another protein bar (I don't think they're healthy I just like them) in the car. €12.

Arrived home in a bit of a fugue state. Dispensed bedtime instructions to Teapot then took myself off to lie down. 

Now that I've written it all down, I think it maybe wasn't as bad as I was beating myself up for. 

The money was there in an account allocated for spending.
I didn't want a packed lunch, I was just being virtuous and following the 'moneysaving rules'.

Bad planning rather than bad spending is the TLDR

WelshmansDaughter

epic trees. 

WelshmansDaughter

I did not go to the swimming pool. Well I did, but only got as far as looking through the glass at far too many people. And then a man walked out wearing something that much of him was trying to escape and I turned around and left. 

The library was free and three books decided to come home with me. Starbucks and the health food shop were decidedly not free. Although hopefully I will now not have an itchy scalp thanks to Very Expensive Shampoo.

I'm not sure this was the best use of my time or money but at least my eyes are not burning from underwater speedo exposure.

WelshmansDaughter

So far this week I have:

Sold off shares that weren't going anywhere to tidy up and lost money because I forgot about the trade fee.
Listed an item on eBay only to receive an email saying my account has been suspended (is sports bra a mysterious code for something?!)
Signed up for a mystery shop only to realize that it means buying a ticket that costs more than the fee.

WelshmansDaughter

Yesterday's food shop for the week came in at €76 or £65. €5 of that was something teacup asked for.
I'll keep going in the data collection phase for another 4 weeks I think before I decide what to set the food budget at. 
I went for a swim yesterday at my favourite beach. There were a fair few people there all nicely dispersed. No speedos in sight.
I tucked myself away into the rocks to get changed and turned my head to the left (getting into a wetsuit is an all body event) when lo and behold a naked man strolls out of the sea.
Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire.
I thought I might be hallucinating so I looked again 😜 And several times after that to find him in various poses on the rocks, bare bum to the world. 

WelshmansDaughter

This week has been up and down in moneysaving terms. I sat down on Friday and allocated myself €30 spending money for the week which I felt quite good about. I thought it was a reasonable amount, enough so that I don't feel like I'm in austerity measures. 
I also looked at the calendar to check transfer dates to be in time for paying the mortgage. 

Blackcats

You had me sniggering at the speedo leakage and then giggling at the naked bather - talk about wild swimming 🤦‍♀️

Looking after your own health and well-being is important and worthwhile when caring for another.  Putting on your own oxygen mask in order to best help others.  

Do your best with the debt but be kind to yourself while you are paying it off.  I liked what you said about being a number on a spreadsheet to the bank and you treating the banks the same as numbers on your spreadsheet.