Dilemma, Dilemma, Dilemma

peb

Just hugs.  And yes, whilst money is important your partner's health is certainly more so.   

Tearing yourself apart to try and be with the children, your job and your partner is tough.   My 

Sistergold

I have just been catching up after a bit of time away from MSE. Oh hugs from my end as you go through this with your OH. Just know that you are doing your best and once all is under control you can sort out the finances.
 Well done on the OPs. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Monday night!

So today was the meeting with the Consultant to discuss how OH is getting on with his treatment program and I am so relieved that the outcome was positive. OH has been feeling a bit better in himself and having less pain. Consultant was happy with progress so far so all round a big relief. As with any cancer patient, appointments to hospital is becoming our new norm and whilst i'm working, OH is back to our local more 'simpler' hospital tomorrow for a specific type of treatment, he is then back on Weds to the same hospital for what we can now say is 'routine' weekly treatment atm. This week also marks a step forward as we start cycle 2 of treatment, so its been a good start to the week so far.   Am taking this all day by day but will take the wins when they come!

Thank you @peb and @Sistergold - I have been blown away with the support from MSE and from friends. It all means a lot. I agree the debt has to come lower in the priority list, its currently at a manageable level and trying to keep it there. 

Before heading to hospital this morning we had a couple of house to burn. I'd enjoyed my local walking loop that takes in the beach, harbour and the supermarket & B&M. Always get lost in B&M! Was pretty good, only bought custard powder (love custard, OH hates it!) and a halloween cosutme for not so little one, paid in cash (not credit card). Then went to the supermarket beginning with T and bought milk and spotted some reduced clothes for the kids. I had to call my OH to come and meet me considering i'd left my credit card at home in my desk so I couldn't spend. Anyway he comes and joins us and said 'poop forgot the credit card!' acutally no bad thing, I had my Clubcard with me and paid in cash from my bank. I'd bought a small number of food items plus the clothes. It was £38. Need to check bank acc to make sure there is enough pennies!

This afternoon someone local came to collect an item of furniture that was no longer being used. It was a childrens coat stand. We loved it but since moving here its just not in use, mainly because the kids are bigger now and they can use the main coat stand. The person paid £5 in £1 coins so this has happily gone into the coin jar. We have one of those large ones that holds something crazy like a few hundred quid. Its got now way near that in their but I do find it handy to keep as a float for trips to the launderette when we need to clean clothes in the city.

Tomorrow is parents meeting for one of the kids, he's got some learning challenges and we are having our first meeting with the SENCO team at his school and Weds am having my flu jab. I don't normally go for the flu jab but given my OHs diagnosis its now important than ever to be upto date with vaccinations etc.

Thursday is a working day as today was my Thursday. Myself and OH are taking an evening train back to the city as he has a dental appointment on Friday and one of the kids is going to be in a school performance that we couldn't miss! Its only a 24hr time in the city and this weekend will be a fairly chilled weekend at home. I have a lot of admin tasks for our little business that needs to be tackled.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello diary, happy Sunday!

I'll admit I have had such a leisurely weekend after quite a good week in the hive. Tuesday to Thursday was work and Friday was a whistle stop visit to the kids which was absolutely lush! I was a proud mummy on Friday watching my little one in his school show. He was soo nervous but he did so well! The short trip was also the perfect opportunity to complete some little jobs. I'd taken a broken handbag in for repair and OH was able to get his hair cut! We made it in 24hrs and hotel for the night. OH coped really well, he impressed himself with how much energy he had but he felt it this weekend though! Another reason for a quiet weekend.

This is going to sound really poor but I can finally say i've caught up with updating printed off forms for the 2024 save 1p a day challenge. The said forms were printed off in JANUARY(!!) before we moved, they ended up in "one of those never ending" piles but today was the day they were officially sorted and with £450 saved by each of us I was pleased to get this done! Said forms now take pride of place in my makeshift office in the Living room.

I'll be honest i'm a mild royalist and have found the news this week that Charlie & Camila have made the trip to Aus  inspiring from a personal note. We hope to make the trip in 2026 and have been worried whether OH will cope with such a long flight but this has given us some hope. The type of cancer my OH has and Charlie has is different but still significant in our eyes.

This week the eldest kid has his autumn yr 8 exams. He's not the greatest at revision but he did better than I gave him credit for in yr 7 so wish him well. Both kids finish for half term on Friday and I get to collect them and they come to mine for the holidays! We have some good stuff planned and cannot wait!

Finances wise - i'm having another shot of trying Match betting. Have done a small amount in the past but have not been consistent and its remained quite confusing. Any how i'm starting again having already got a little pot together so hopefully by perservering will get somewhere. I've also entered a competition for some plants and have been able to cash out £26 from Prolific. Nothing earth shattering but its another bit in the pot. 

I think the most exciting this we've done is set up a little drinks station in our bedroom. We had an extra kettle that wasn't being used and thought this would be perfect for those cold mornings when we couldn't be bothered to go down to the kitchen!

LadyWithAPlan

Sorry to hear about your partner, hopefully a calm plan of action now will help the stress. 

Loving the sounds of your drinks kitchen! I have a mini barista corner in my kitchen but as I can walk across the entire apartment in probably 8 secs ....

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Wednesday,

I shouldn't really admit this but then again this is a warts an all financial journey diary. So yesterday my credit card was maxed out and an emergency payment was made to sort it out. This has helped a little and this week is payday so will make another payment but was an eek moment. Its a problem I need to sort but not sure how apart from the obvious. 

In seperate, i've been catching up with some good financial related YT videos and Damien Talks suggests having three years worth of cash savings ready for retirement. I really like this idea but given all other current financial challenges right now I could only put a megre £10 p/m if am lucky. Going to look into opening a cash isa as a starting point as basically over the past few years i've drip fed my savings into a Stocks and Shares ISA & used a chunk for deposit for buying where myself and OH live.

Also just submitted this months gas & elec meter readings and checked my mortgage balance. Updated in my signature. Quite a dull day but just an every day day!

peb

Maybe dull but productive.  Knowing where you are is useful 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Sunday,

Its all going on in the hive. The kids are back with us and its wonderful. The house is full of noise and i'm loving it! We enjoyed a wizard themed halloween activity yesterday. A treat from my mum & step dad and we saw some beautiful birds of prey too. Am not a fan as such of these types of thing as I don't like to see birds in this kind of way but they were beautiful and were treated well. Today we are taking a trip to pick a pumkin at a pumpkin farm and need to do a spot of food shopping, so all good stuff.

I've made a bit more progress with match betting, still finding it quite confusing but have chucked myself in and slowly growing the pots. I need to make just shy of £14 to break even this month so wish me luck!

Pension wise I've make a small step towards building a cash pot by opening a cash Isa with one of the banks I already have some savings with. I'll pop a £1 today but pretty much thats it atm.

Last night was an awful, restless nights sleep. One of the kids is learning an instrument through school and unbeknown to me the school have doubled the lesson fees without any notification of doing so. I don't want to bore of my finances but its yet another burden. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Thursday!

Its been a whole month since last diary update. It was definately not meant to be like that. I got stuck in a bit of a funk after hitting the dizzying lows of maxing my main credit card, maxing my overdraft and my phone being full memory! Yeah its not a great position to be in at all and one I would definately not recommend. Money situation hasn't improved greatly but I took a bit of cash from savings and gave myself a bit of wiggle, spending has had to cut to the basics and have switched to spending on cash which has been quite strange as I use my CC for everything.

I had a afternoon tea with friends booked for next week which I've reluctantly dropped out of but needs must an all that. I've switched some travel from train to coach to cut costs and have found a new budget option for us for accomodation when in the city. The trains have been horrific recently so I need to submit some 'claim repay' forms. That will be tomorrows dull task.

Xmas is going to be a challenging one, already bought the kids some small gifts. They don't really ask for much and they know i'm spending a LOT on travel to see them but they have asked for specific sports tops for their football teams they support so between myself and OH we are going to share the cost of them. I also need to buy some small token gifts for my parents (they do a LOT for us) and also for some kids in the family. The adults we don't normally buy for. OH let the cat out the bag that he is buying me a new phone. I've been struggling with mine for months and he's fed up of me moaning. The upgrade one has a lot more memory and connects to 5G. I don't have the funds to buy him an equivalent gift. He doesn't mind, he's a good egg!

Apart from a break, i've been trying to grow a pot of money by Match Betting. I'm still very novice but having not looked at it for nearly 3 weeks, i've logged on tonight and made a bit of a start again. I should have some more time this weekend to dedicate to investing in this. A cheeky £9.15 on game was a welcome win!

Health wise, i'm an emotional eater and true to form have been 'bad'. I def need to shift my mindset as I'm actually much happier in my healthy eating ways so this is something I need to focus on. 

LadyWithAPlan

I do Mb and love it, just go slow and be consistent. It can take  time but v worth the effort. 

I bought some premiership footie gear for my nephew last year - ouch! He does live in it though so... and I  did get a good deal over Black friday weekend   - a decent % off which helped so I suggest you check the offers on at the club website