The alternative hive - making plan B work

beanielou

Absolutely no problem with just meeting up with your friends for ice cream. Eating out is fast becoming a luxury.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Sunny Saturday,

Thanks @beanielou and @Baileys_Babe. Sadly I did not take my own advice and feeling under pressure to not stand out I relented and ended up paying for food and drinks out (not very MSE). We did have a very lovely evening and it was a much needed boost but i've pretty much stuffed this months debt reduction challenge. Number crunching today suggests i'm over by £17 🙄 and frustratingly find myself in an issue with the CC and a direct debit payment. Need to give the CC a call to sort out but everything was paid on time etc. Considering overpaying to at least break even. Will see how cashflow is on 13th Aug. This £17 does include the interest charged on CC2 though so not all bad.

Well I am on partial holiday from work this coming week - I have Monday and Wednesday off and excited to have the time to enjoy with the kids. Today we are taking the train to Hull and to explore the area a bit more. We previously visited the Streetlife museum which we loved and we want to see a bit more. I believe there is some street festival stuff going on and also the newly renovated maritime museum opens today. Going to take a packed lunch and flask. OH has paid for the train tickets too. Hoping for a less spendy day.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Good Monday Morning!

Its a good start to the week as today is a day's holiday from work! Hurrah! No big plans. OH is exhausted from our trips out and the kids are quite happy to chill at home. Need to clean the bathroom and do a top up food shop. I need to make a list of whats in the freezer and meal plan from there.

We had a really good weekend enjoying things on our doorstep. On Saturday we had a brilliant time in Hull. I used to go to Hull as a child with my grandparents and the Hull I knew is very different from the Hull we saw. The Hull of my childhood was based on the big department stores with their old fashioned lifts, the sea and the harbour. I recall talk of archeological digs for the development of the Princes shopping centre. On our day out we explored the marina, looking for clues of the bits I used to remember. Myself and OH loved the revamped 'Shoreditch' style Fruit Market area. I'd booked us a free ticket to wander around the lighthouse boat. This was a winner with the kids. I'm not great with verticle ladders and it took a bit of persuasion to go down said ladder but it was worth it. The revamped Maritime Museum was having its first day re-opening. We saw some street entertainment but didn't venture in. We'll keep this for another day out in another school holiday.

Sunday was an unexpected pleasure in our home town. We started the day with a walk into town with the aim to take a boat trip. I was surprised to say this was our first boat trip of the year! We loved the boat trip and it was perfect timing as there was another boating event happening on the water which we got to see a bit more close up.

After the boat trip, I'd stupidly made a comment to the kids saying we should all go on the pirate ship ride.The last time i'd gone on this was at Alton Towers at 16 yrs old and totally freeked out and this put me off rides "for life"! Being brave we all went on, DS2 freeked out big style and I was having my own internal meltdown (not helped by DS2). But we made it through and was chuffed to have "survived". We decided we'll wait until DS2 is a bit older before trying him on any other bigger rides and that i'd be better left holding the bags 😆. He seems to have his nervous dispossition from me, poor kid!

We faux pas a bit as we didn't bring a picnic lunch and the kids wanted something a bit more substantial than chips so it was lunch in Sp**ns. OH paid. We then took the land train onto the cliffs and visted the model village. The model village was wonderful and actually we timed it perfectly. It was close to closing time, it was really quiet so the kids could go back and forth and hunt for the answers for the quiz. We came home, feeling very happy but really tired and declared Monday an easy day at home. It was quite a spendy day too.

The kids are with us till Friday when they go back home to dads in the city and then they fly out to Spain for the last two weeks of their summer holidays (lucky kids!). We have some plans for this week, today is easy day, tomorrow is work for me during the day and an evening playabout in the tennis courts with the kids, Weds is day off work and with the grandparents we are going to a lake with water sports. This time we are just going to walk around the lake as funds are low but the plan is to see if the kids like the look of it and we try some water activities next summer. We are looking at finishing the holidays with a trip to see the new Spiderman film on Thursday evening.

I really have enjoyed our staycation time but really I have come to the conclusion that for next year I need to factor in a budget for 1k for food, activities and extra spends on travel for the summer holidays. Normally for food its just the two of us so that has been a bit of a shocker. When the kids are back to their dads I will add this as a savings pot going forward.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Its taken so long to write the diary update I haven't added

• Finished another book yesterday - sat in the garden at 5am while the air was cool but warming. It was lush! Have now started a very different book. Last one was Diary of Anne Frank and this one is a easy, summer romance which was picked up in one of those mini book swap libraries. Hoping it will be a relatively quick one to pick up the pace on this years reading challenge. Am very behind!

• Today need to get a couple of spare sets of keys cut - have been slowly making progress on C25K and the bumbag I use is rather too small for my big bunch of keys so a small set just for this bag would be perfect.

• Need to order brown paper bags for seed collection. So far this year I have a generous amount of sweet pea seeds to de-pod and bag. This am rather excited to do when life is back to normal.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Sad Friday,

Its officially sad friday in the hive! The kids and OH have left for the city and i've cried twice already and its not even 8am! Giving myself 1 hr before work of self pitty and 9am back to happy QofH for work purposes 🤔

In all seriousness, I do find this day and the next week a bit rough usually. But will do my best to keep busy with enjoying a bit of kid free time and making the most of rest of the warmer weather. Our house is lovely and just the right temp but as its a cold house by nature it won't be too long before we'll be back to thick jumpers and layers. We'll also be trying our best to be frugal whilst still not being too tight to enjoy life. Its a very fine line for us tbh. I would love to take trips to the beach in the evening after work and enjoy a glass of wine and reading or doing puzzles. Thats a happy place kind of thing to do. Also heard there is a new board games cafe in a town close to us so OH and I will have to make a trip out. One of the things we have embraced a bit more this summer was doing things in the evening and I would really like to carry this on when its just the two of us.

Yesterday was the 13th of the month and was monthly accounts review. Sadly I funked up and ended up with CC debt higher than the previous month despite paying extra down on the debt. June, July and Aug have been spendy months and it was about £80 over as I'd needed to do a food shop that was £50 and also one of the CC had moved on to its new month on 13th too so the interest was charged. Total CC debt now sitting at £21,185.65 (gulp!) and £205 (inc interest) above where we wanted to be.

Today is working day, OH won't be back from the city till 9pm and I plan to go for an evening walk. The kids room will be carnage (as usual) so will get that organised tonight and may pop on a movie. Tomorrow am planning to have a go at the local park run. Its been a few years since the last attempt at park run but tomorrow am hoping to park run to wk 4, run 3 C25K!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Sunday Morning,

Golly gosh, just re-read Friday's post. Its a bit gloomy ooops! Am doing fine, it was a bit overly dramatic. The kids are now happily in Spain on part deux of their summer jollies. It was a bit of fun last night tracking their delayed flight from Gatwick.

Yesterday was all about cleaning and sorting out the house. Our hover had been playing up during the week, so following the manufacturer instructions i'd cleaned and washed the filter and left it out to dry. Yesterday it was ready to use and wow what a difference - the suction on the vacc was much more improved! Ran the hover over the kids bedroom, made beds, sorted washing so its looking much more presentable for next visit. Didn't do dusting or changing the bedding. This i'll do just before they come to stay in October (eek!). The kitchen had a good spring clean and de-webbing whilst getting some clothes washing. Yesterday was also a "catch up and clear out" of surveys and the inbox I use. I had quite a lot of junk emails to delete and went through and completed as many surveys as I could. It was a bit dull but needs must an all that. Surveys have really taken a back burner as the kids were here.

Last nights tea was a budget one from the freezer of yellow stickered fish cakes with beans. Today I want to make a new batch of carrot and red lentil soup for work lunches this week. Need to go through the freezer today and make a sensible meal plan for this week and next for just the two of us.

This months survey challenge is behind but am trying to catch up. Need to earn £4.51 p/d. Thankfully some back to back surveys came in this morning. Sitting at £55.32 / £140. £16.84 behind. Lets see how the day pans out.

I've started thinking about 2027 and wanting to get ahead and improve on the budgeting tools that I use which is basically 1 excel sheet to track spending and 1 excel sheet to track savings and debt. In my old ways of working I would pay for everything on CC and pay the balance in full and track this on the "spending sheet". But as our circumstances changed around 2023 the "spending sheet" is not really capturing everything as I've moved in 2026 to getting a better handle on the purse as life has become a bit calmer. But moving in to 2027 I feel its time to for an update to the trackers to more represent now than the past and to capture a bit more of things I've learned from the fabulous diaries on here. Things to capture (writing here for easy access):

• Track bank transactions
• Categorise spending
• Review savings pots inc the interest in each pot
• Budget for and save for annually paid costs over the year.
• Set monthly budgets for the big ticket items.
• Include OH outgoings.
• Combine both budget sheets.

Admittedly some of these things I have deliberately chosen to not do in the past because this brings a degree of pressure / MH load but I think its time for a fresh outlook.

Tasks for today:

• Go for a run (v good at procrastination!)
• Meal plan
• Vac stairs and landing (missed from yesterday)
• Bulk soup cook
• Meal plan for next two week & update freezer list.
• Read book
• Du*lingo

Tasks for this week:

• Admin for self assessment
• Admin for self assessment for OH
• Surveys where poss
• Plan for Autumn city trips
• Kids admin - list of tasks
• Volunteering admin
• Get out in the fresh air!!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Progress today so far:

✔️Go for a run (v good at procrastination!)

Meal plan for next two weeks & update freezer list - in progress

✔️Vac stairs and landing (missed from yesterday)

✔️Bulk soup cook

✔️Read book

✔️Du*lingo

Please with progress above. Run was good, feeling a bit fitter and stronger. Week 4 completed and onto week 5 on Tuesday of C25K.

Yesterday ordered sim for new provider. This is a job have been meaning to do since May after coming out of contract but life got in the way. Anyway it should arrive this week and will give it a go. If its decent enough for work piggybacking will swap over from current provider and should save us around £15 p/m.

Stupidly got the dates wrong on a train delay repay, now expired - these tickets were a nightmare when they were originally booked so frustrating but won't miss the hassle.

Meal list - have some wobbles on this one. Am trying to lose a bit of weight but its not as easy with OH as he needs to maintain or gain weight and its a balancing act to meet both our needs. At the moment OH health is good and his weight looks to be in a good place too. So going to give it a go. Am an emotional eater and have created a problem for myself. The kids were great motivation though.

KajiKita

On the eating, could you just dial back on the obvious carbs, either wholly or partially? So when DH has curry and rice, you have curry and cauliflower rice (you can get single portions of frozen cauli rice you can use the microwave for), or a half portion of wholemeal or wild rice? When he has pasta with bolognese you have lentil pasta (needs slightly more careful cooking but not much more effort). With a roast dinner, you have one roastie or none with lots of veg and he has the rest?

You don’t need to be full on keto (not that healthy, flipping expensive and dull) but I do find dialling back on the low fibre, low nutrition carbs makes a big difference to me.

KK

Queen_of_the_Hive

Spoiler Warning

Hello Tuesday!

Happy to report wk 5 run 1 is complete! Was going a bit too well when mum caused a mini panic by calling me mid run to discuss non emergency topic! Its v unusual for her to call and to then call early assumed there was something really wrong, but no. Panic averted! It did give us a bit of unexpected rest time between jeffing.

Yesterday was a positive day of sorts - cashed out from Qu***o of £77 plus change to top up S&S ISA. Nearly at the first 1k! 😀

Last night and today we are powering down for the big fish for an hour. We benefitted from powering down last week for 2 hours when it was the Eclipse. Made full use of the 1 hr "free" energy on Sunday to make soup and do a wash load.

OH wasn't impressed with us yesterday. He's a very basic cook and assumed the meal plan i'd wrote for the week meant we had everything in. But no, it was a trip to L*dl yesterday for top up. Wasn't too bad £37 for us two for most of the week. Included 2 lots of reduced fish.

Spoiler Warning

Apart from the food shop - have been laying low on spending. Have a friends 50th coming up in Sept and next trip to the city which needs to be organised and paid for.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Oh my days! No spoiler alert. Can't get it off!!