Dilemma, Dilemma, Dilemma

Queen_of_the_Hive

Its been a nice Saturday. We've made a start on cleaning carpets at the holiday let. It feels a mini victory as we had a water leak a couple of years ago and its taken us a bit of journey to be able to do this! Its really not that exciting but they did look a bit better. We need could only clean half of one large room. We will go back in a couple of days, move the furniture back & continue our carpet clean missing around bookings. 

We went to the pub for a celebratory drink, I was very thirsty so just had a softy and OH enjoyed a cool beer. I then treated myself to a gorgeous jigsaw that was on sale in a little shop in town. It was part of a January sale and was £2.99. Looking forward to making a start

Also made a bit of progress on the reading challenge, Christmas book completed and started Feb book!!

Money wise - laying low this weekend, spent £10 in shop where jigsaw was bought & £5 in the pub. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Sunday am. 

Early start here on work tasks. Its a slow plod but making progress! My deadline for the said tasks is EOP Weds but working to complete on Tuesday EOP. Am doing a laptop - Night Manager - laptop day. Feels a bit hare and the tortoise! Will get out for a walk and need to pack for our trip back to the city next weekend also. 

I've made what I hope will be a wise purchase. Just bought a birthday gift for DS2 by making most of the January sales. Total spend £52.80 and maximised cashback sites and also the retailer had a discount code. 

Also going to make use of the Hav*n special offer and book a weekend break over my partners birthday weekend. The accomodation cost is equivalent as one night accomodation we would normally book so a good deal and something different for us all. 

powerspowers

Haven is a bargain! We only started going the other year and it was a bit of a realisation that you can just have cheap accommodation and don’t have to do all the things on site. 

Keep plodding x

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello diary, 

The past week has gone in a bit of a blur with tight work deadlines and lots going on and then myself and OH we had a long weekend in the city with the kids. The long weekend was the perfect tonic and the kids even kept saying how much they enjoyed it. We all needed the rest and re-charge. 

Friday turned into an improptu mini shopping trip, having ventured into some local chain clothes shops to top up on socks, pants and tops for us all. The kids are rapidly growing out of their clothes so it was a good opportunity.  I was also able to follow "Skint Dad's' suggestion and buy my youngest a winter coat for next year in the sale. It was knocked down quite a bit in price so was chuffed with that. My partner found a coat he wanted in one of the thrift shops. It didn't even look like it had been worn. I bought a book. Love a book from a charity shop. I did fall in love with a very pink, very bright 'cowboy boot' vase from TK M*xx. My partner was totally emabrrased at standing at the checkout holding it. Said vase now has pride of place above my fake fire in my living room. Its jolly and a nod to the start to spring. Shopping trip was funded mainly in cash and a small bit on cc. 

Money wise - work have paid me the wrong pay by mistake, they've paid me too much this month so have that headache to sort out. Will be having to raise to my boss and will put the extra aside in its own account so can't touch it. OH hasn't yet recieved his state pension for this month. We are getting a bit concerned as we rely on this for our regular monthly bills plus my salary and there is not a lot of spare money. We'd love to get an emergency fund together but its quite a challenge for us. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hey Tuesday diary!

Today has been a heavy day, new team structure at work published and it doesn't feel its going to be a good step for me going forward. I've had a teary day (but WFH) and a difficult call with my boss who has been trying to reassure me it'll be ok. Meet new line manager tomorrow but really not feeling it.

Day 2 of back to the fasting is going better though, had another good two meals and have been better at recording my intake. We went shopping last night for a 1 bag shop of essentials and picked up some yellow stickered items so thats a boost to the food budget. Found a mouldy cabbage from the Christmas 5p veg at home whilst unpacking the shopping which is a shame though :( Pre - OH getting ill I would have taken off the bad layers and still used what I could but as we have to be more careful now it'll go in the food recycling bin.

Talking of food recycling bin, we had a letter through the post today with the details of the new weekly food bin collection. Normally I would say this is a good idea but honestly where we live we have a massive wheelie bin for food and garden waste which is collected fortnightly. Its ample time for collection so this does feel a waste of money. There has been some local complaints about it. The scheme starts in Feb, Not sure if this is the same for everywhere.

KajiKita

Well done on getting the train tickets sorted - you can forget about that for now 😊

The pink boot vase made me chuckle - that would have made my husband shudder as well! 😂😂

I’m sorry to hear the work changes are not more positive. Do you know what the likely impact will be - I remember you being concerned that you would have fewer hours?

KK

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning @KajiKita,

Thanks for your kind words, I'm back to reduced hours pt hours and its immediate impact is my trips to the city to see the kids has had to be reduced in frequency. We are generally like everyone else and struggling but equally very greatful to have a job just wish there was more hours. I've been upset a lot about it recently but having "cried it out" am feeling a bit brighter for the last day or so.

Glad you like the boot story - its a bit of colourful joy! Daffs are starting to open up.

KajiKita

I bet the boots are rocking the Daffs! 😉😊

Is it time to look for another role or if your hours are massively reduced, would you have time for a 2nd job?

KK

debtfreewannabe321

That vase sounds right up my street!

Glad you're feeling a bit brighter 🫂 big hugs x

Queen_of_the_Hive

Morning everyone, hello Thursday.

Today is a very budget overnight trip to the city - no shopping trip, just frugal as possible. Sadly having to go for an event for one of the kids at school and it didn't link up to last week's trip as its a fixed thing. Have booked super cheap coach tickets for part of the journey, its just me.

Today is day 4 of the fasting and its going well so far. Was hungry yesterday and had to go over the daily cals but sleep has been improving and feeling a bit calmer so all good stuff and have been getting out for my daily walk. Having to split my fast up a bit today, travel days are naturally quite tricky as I tend to eat more "on the go" food but giving today a good try. Going to have a small bowl of porrage which fills me up and have a pre-bought tuna salad to try for lunch. Not sure yet what dinner will be. Hopefully find something healthy in the supermarket.

We have a plasterer coming this weekend for a smallish "patch up job". Its kind of a temporary fix to improve a problem area. We really need to re-do the roof but that is way out of our budget at the moment but this will last us a little bit