The alternative hive - making plan B work

Queen_of_the_Hive

Mini afternoon win, finally caught up with diaries as I had fallen behind in recent weeks!

Forgot to say - a good friend from work passed her theory driving test on Friday. We have been enouraging each other but she's done better with it than I. Must catch up and prioritise this.

Finally made a start on 1p a day challenge 2026. Have deposited £96.47 / £780 to holiday fund reg saver. Next month aiming for £50. Hopefully another fruitful time on the surveys.

Edited - strawberry planter all planted. Really happy with how it looks.

IMG20260419161820.jpg

Queen_of_the_Hive

Woke up thinking its Weds and missed a day…really confusing.

Exciting times for DS1 - he starts his volunteering part of DofE. DS1 is more of a taker than understanding the benefits of giving so I hope he see's some positive sides.

By end of the day yesterday on cabin challenge we'd reached £120.16 of £145. On the end straights now £24.84

Queen_of_the_Hive

Can't believe it, have been consistently updating this diary for a week now!

Yesterday was no progress made on cabin fund challenge but today was back on board. Frustratingly the pot to cash out is now upto £140.68 and there is £6 sitting pending. I need £145 for the cabin. One more AI video will do nicely.

Week at work has been surprisingly productive, have had a few outstanding tasks for a while but this week they were actioned so this is always a good end to the working week for us. I also had a bit of potential good news - we become really busy the second half of the year and each year the project seems to get larger and larger. In my one to one i've been asked if i'd be interested in going full time, option for perm or just the duration of the project and the potential for some weekend overtime. No hestiation in my reply. Will wait to hear if and when it may start. I'd prefer to enjoy half term and then start in June. We'll see!

Tomorrow OH has his routine consultant appointment, I'm normally working so they pop me on loud speaker but tomorrow am able to attend so we have that. We have some other little jobs to catch up on the afternoon and maybe we get a takeaway for tea.

beanielou

Good news on the increased hours.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Friday Evening!

I've been on my laptop in quite an heads down focused day - wasn't that exciting but was at least a bit more productive. Have had a really good run on the surveys, cashed out and paid for the cabin next week and have started banking for May. We also are quite behind with some admin on another project we are working on (and have to a degree been avoiding!). But today have made a bit of headway.

A gardening delivery came today from the big forest - some of it was items to get us on our way to dig out a shed base. We also have a mini christmas tree that is in a terrible state, hoping it will be happier once re-potted and good feed. I still need to get my two raised beds up and running. As daft as it sounds can't work out where best to get them started. Might just re-pot the seedlings into some planters I have to get them started. The weather looks good for the weekend so will be a gardening and tennis day tomorrow.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Monday Evening,

I've been trying to write this diary since Saturday and failed myserably, but all is good.

Sadly our planned trip to playing tennis didn't happen, OH struggles with cold drafts, the sun was out but the wind was blowing a chilly breeze so we did a right turn and went home. OH can get headaches from the cold on his head, so we have to be bit more careful than most.

Thankfully the cold wind didn't last too long and we switched our energies back to the garden. We cut some of the grass, set up the first raised bed and repotted the very sad looking Christmas tree. We did some digging, OH has really taken a shine to "project shed base build" and has been happily progressing it.

We did do some food shopping at L*dl yesterday, making use of £5 of £50 shop. We have started stocking up on extra foods for the summer for the kids. This week we bought XL bags of pasta, spaghetti and some sparkly drink.

Today was payday and sad to say cashflow has felt tight even with the superb run on the surveys. I've decided to take £300 from S&S isa to suppliment my cc payments as I am determined to cut into the debt.

Baileys_Babe

Have you made a list of meals for the summer when the children are with you?

Good to hear that progress is being made on the shed base.

Does your OH wear a hat to reduce the chance of cold drafts affecting him?

Queen_of_the_Hive

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81979575#Comment_81979575

Good Morning @Baileys_Babe - at the moment, I don't have a meal list as such but we have some family favourites. Meal plan is def going to happen.

OH does we a hat, he has a little collection of them from his treatment last year when he lost all his hair. He sometimes wears a couple of them. We are back to hospital this week for another appointment with his team so will see if there is anything underlying going on. Thanks for asking :)

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Monday Morning from the Cabin!

We have had a really lovely long weekend here in our posh cabin. We live a quite simple life so have really felt blessed to have had use of more fancy lodgings than we normally do. Loved it so much, have considered booking for next year. We've enjoyed a bbq, woodland walks & a game or 3 of uno on the wooden deck. The kids have been off playing and i've been able to have a bit of time to read my latest book. Sadly though, its back to reality today. Our train back home is later this afternoon so we'll drop the kids back with their dad a bit earlier than usual so we don't miss our train.

Money and finances wise, we only had access to Mr S which is not the cheapest supermarket so we did end up spending £70 on food with a couple of beers for OH and a house bottle of wine for me for the long weekend on 4 of us which is a bit more than would have liked. I had grand plans to order a food delivery to site but didn't organise myself in time. Using cash on Monzo worked well but ran out a couple of times and did use the CC occasionally for small amounts. OH and myself did have a little clothes shopping on Friday while the kids were at school. I bought some vest tops and a lovely yellow summery top and a pair of trainers from TKMxx spent approx £60 but all in cash rather than CC which I would normally have used. In summary, it wasn't a cheap weekend but we have treated this as part of our holiday this year which was lush. When we get home, we will have to have some NSDs in May for a bit of rebalance.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Friday is here!

Hello from the hive. It was a short working week for for me in my pt job. I did have a couple of smaller bits to finish off yesterday morning which was a non working day but hey ho, was glad to finish off one of my recent projects so all is good.

This week has been a time of reflection and personal growth, no I have not swallowed an employeed handbook but after our fab camping trip we recieved the news that a friend of mine, her dad had passed over the bank holiday weekend. I didn't know her dad but we had shared stories last year as her dad was ill and my partner going through his treatment so it was something we could support each other on. Friend is doing ok given the circumstances. The news and the death of a couple of other friends parents this year has had me thinking about my own parents. Mum I am really close to, we have a beautiful relationship. My dad though its been a really strained, toxic relationship and I have had him at arms length in recent years. Just in coincidence my mum contacted me a bit of out blue this week to say my dad is selling up and moving abroad. It prompted a call to him yesterday. It was not an easy call to have but its clear it was the right thing to do. There is a lot of trauma which is shared between him and me & my two siblings but i've offered an olive branch for a meet up in the summer with my two kids (his grandkids). Please no negative comments, he has sucked at being a parent but sometimes its better to make a peace of sorts. I'm also getting a particular piece of furniture from his home which has linked to it some happy memories. I'd asked my dad years ago that if he was selling or inheritance that I could have it. Its an original 50's juke box , its pretty big so no idea where it'll fit but we'll make room and maybe this will be a source of inspiration for home re-decoration.

Money wise - I ended up with some unexpected spends and this went on the CC. It wasn't big amounts but still a bit frustrating. CC1 with the worse interest hit a new month this morning. The balance and interest was less than last month. Interest was £167.32 over £172.10 last month. I know its not a big difference but baby steps nether the less. CC2 still has another week to go till its on a new month and this one will be higher in interest as I have had to use this card for some spends. I do have a DD payment going out on Monday of £60. If I don't spend anything else between now 13th (this is my monthly acc review) I should be on to be £120 lower balance on all three CCs than the previous month. This would take me to 3rd month in a row where my debt has consistently reduced. If I make this target, there will be dancing imoji 😀