MeandO's money-shuffling

Mrs_Money_Penny

You’re doing so well decluttering. I think you’re x doing a fabulous job paying down your mortgage and making your house a home.

MeandO

Thank you Mrs_Money_Penny, the de-cluttering has continued. :)

Quite a large item from the shed has gone today, given away to a lady who was very grateful and can make good use of it. Two more bulky items have been removed from the attic whilst I was up there retrieving a suitcase for DS's upcoming trip. One of the items was something from my Grandparents house so a little sentimental, but of no use to us now and not something I particularly like so have let it go. Both items have now joined the charity shop pile in the boot of the car, I am hoping to get that all dropped off and donated tomorrow. There are a few more items in the attic that can go to the tip when I’m next planning a trip there and probably a fair few more for charity, but sorting those will be a job for another day.

I started writing this yesterday and this is as far as I got…
Yesterday was a tough day. Exhaustion seems to be embedded in my bones lately and I am struggling with my whole body aching and a complete lack of interest and motivation for much. I am having to force myself to complete tasks at work and am putting off other things. Every task seems like a mountain to climb. My fitbit clearly shows I don't get enough sleep but with needing to regulate a teen who would quite happily stay up all night watching shows/scrolling etc if devices were left in his room and needing to start work at 7am, there is little I can do to fit more hours in the night. I try and go to bed early when DS is at his father's but with OH here sometimes and the snoring that comes with him (he is under investigation for sleep apnoea), I still don't sleep well. I know I'm not helping myself as I'm not eating well (I confess, I am fuelled mainly by chocolate, coffee and little else this week) and I get very little exercise these days, but I'm just so flipping exhausted.
Whilst DS is away for a week soon I am going to look after my parents and help them with some jobs that need doing around their property, whilst also WFH at theirs for a couple of days, so I am going to come back even more exhausted to a tired, probably jet-lagged teen. Wish us luck!

I didn't get the fence finished this/last week. There is probably a 10ft stretch left to paint which I was hoping to finish on Sunday but I just didn't have the energy. Now it's raining so will have to wait until the weather is nicer again. There are also 4 large walls to seal and paint and the base of the house at the front and side + windowsills to paint for which I have the paint and sealant, but I'll just aim for completion of that by the Summer. It's an ongoing project… and I still haven't painted part of the outside of the house which has never been painted probably 8-10 years since it was built. Everything is so difficult when you're a team of 1.

I have a birthday this week and the ex has insisted on taking DS out for food that afternoon/evening (just him and DS) before DS goes on his week long trip. He could take him any day but has done it deliberately on that day and DS hasn't made the mental leap that it's the day of my birthday yet and I'm certainly not saying anything. I'm not precious about the day by any means, I don't hold myself at high value like others that I have had the displeasure of enduring for years, it just makes me a little sad that no-one really makes an effort for me as I do for them, so I'd rather it passes without mention. I can't help feeling a little 'unloved' on that day every year though. 😔 I bought something a long time ago for DS to give me, I'd feel happy and a little bit loved if he just makes the effort just to wrap it or buy a card but I'm not holding out much hope.

In better news, the roof repairs were done at the weekend so I'm hoping the issue has been rectified once and for all, time (and heavy rain) will tell. Unfortunately though it wasn't as straight forward as thought and whilst I wasn't charged any extra, there is a lot of cosmetic work to do now to make the ceiling and areas surrounding the roof windows to look less like an accident on a building site. I could probably do a patch-up job myself over a couple of days but it's not going to look professional by any means. I don't have the money to pay anyone to do it though, so I have little choice. That too will have to wait until I have the energy to tackle it. The 'needs to be fixed' list is growing instead of getting smaller. 😔

The washing is done and in the dryer now as it's wet outside today. The dishwasher is on and will be unstacked when it's finished. I hoovered and dusted through yesterday for the second day in a row thanks to the dust created from the roofing work.
I've taken chicken out of the freezer to make a chicken chow mein tonight for DS and I (if I feel like eating any - my appetite for actual cooked meals is non-existent atm, especially in the evenings). I will also have a mountain of ironing to do tomorrow as DS has to pack and is fussy about creases in his clothes. 😑 Just getting him to pack is proving to be a task in itself atm. He seems to think he has all the time in the world and can do it the night before his flight, which I know is not going to work for numerous reasons but I've given up trying to tell him.

What a moaning Minnie I am today. Sorry, people. I'm just so very worn out at the moment and can't see an end to it. At least it's pay day tomorrow! That's something to celebrate! I am extremely low on funds and have had to transfer money from savings pots to pay for things that have cropped up or needed to be paid for for DS's forthcoming trip and now the sporting one which is happening again this summer which the ex is pleading poverty to pay for yet again, no surprises there.

foxgloves

Well @MeandO - There are lots of reasons there for feeling so tired, but one that is in your control would be to try & eat at least one nutritious meal each day, so that your body is being adequately fuelled. …though I'm not remotely going to pretend that I live in a coffee-free house! Nice as chocolate is (& I love it) I think using it as a sort of meal replacement will definitely be affecting your energy levels. You wouldn't put cola in your car instead of petrol & expect it to function optimally, would you?!

We now have an old water ingress problem that some builders are coming to inspect this week, so after also paying for a new roof back in January, I am with you on the cost of repairs. Am hoping that the old roof was the cause of the damage/blown plaster. I feel privileged to be a home owner in this day & age, but houses can be such absolute money pits, can't they?

Hope pay-day provides you & your pots with a bit of a boost. It's my Big Budget Day on Friday & I shall be looking at how much I can get into the House & Garden Pot in readiness for builder's quote. It's already been skimmed to add to the Emergency Fund to pay for the roof, paid for gutter & window cleaning post-roofing & some electrical work to sort out a dangerous problem discovered during the roofing work.

Hope your jet-lagged teen isn't too…..jet-lagged.

F x

sudonum-mum

Happy Birthday MeandO 🎉

How are you feeling now?

I am the same as you with food and when I can't be bothered I resort to chocolate and coffee for my tea, when I can be bothered I try to make large amounts of vegetable curry which I eat for days on end and hope that offsets the days of chocolate.

I recall a while back you mentioned taking medication and how much difference that made. Are you still taking them? If you are is the dosage still correct?

The other thing I thought of is menopause, or peri-menopause. I've joined some support groups on Facebook and also follow Dr Amir Khan on Instagram to try to get more knowledge. My main symptom is being awake at silly o'clock hence this post. Today was 3.30am but sometimes it 2am - there is a reason for it and Dr Khan did a great post about it the other day.

Hope DS has a lovely trip and you have a lovely time seeing your parents.

Newstartforme

Dear Meando, happy birthday whatever day it falls , I really do hope you have felt a bit better as the week has went on . I am a firm believer that we are what we eat and I think even small steps like adding in a bit extra fruit and veg would help somewhat . I hope you have a lovely week with mum and dad , you will be tired but happy that you have helped out. Truly hope things improve for you soon xx

Mrs_Money_Penny

Happy Birthday have a lovely time with your parents x

debtfreewannabe321

Happy birthday 🎂 🎁 I could have written at least 80% of your post. My birthday passed without my youngest wishing me a happy birthday. But at least my other two did so kind of made up for that.

Hope you get a rest this weekend. Are you off over Easter at all so you can recoup....I'm limping on for that break myself.

weenancyinAmerica

Hope you had a happy birthday.

MeandO

Thank you foxgloves, sudonum-mum, Newstartforme, Mrs_Money_Penny and weenancyinAmerica. I really appreciate all your insight and good advice, cheerleading and birthday wishes.

DS is back from his trip and I have just completed the mountain of washing and ironing that returned with him! I was extremely grateful to the weather gods for two lovely drying days as 99% of the washing dried on the line.

I struggled hugely with anxiety the first few days DS was away as he was SO far away (3500 ish miles). He was also ill the first day which resulted in his teacher calling me from overseas (mass panic when I saw the name flash up on my mobile), but thankfully it was just the effects of long haul travel and he was fine again the next day. I, however was not…

..the day DS left, OH and I decided to use up the club card restaurant voucher we had left over. Unfortunately it was awful, so we were glad we didn’t pay much for it, but on our return to the house at about 9pm my door key wouldn’t work and we were locked out. We stayed at OH’s that night instead of calling an emergency locksmith, but to cut a long story short, the whole composite door locking bar system (within the door itself) had to be replaced at a cost of £200. It also took two days to order the part. Money I really didn’t want to spend.

When we finally got in, I was exhausted after two nights of worry and very little sleep and I managed to fall down my stairs ‘good and proper’ and have broken my coccyx bone. I’m black and blue and am feeling very sore but as there’s nothing that can be done about it, am just getting on with things and trying to ignore the pain!

The car also went in for the MOT and service and needed three new tyres and windscreen wipers to pass the MOT. That was me £490 poorer.

I’ve achieved more than I thought I would in the past week and have actually managed to cross a few items off the ‘fix it/do it’ list. Both the shower and toilet have been mended - one needed taking apart and re-tightening everything, the other needed some sealant. I’ve sealed the garden block wall, ready to paint and kitchen cupboard door hinge has been fixed. I have also arranged for a plasterer to come and bore and plaster the areas around the roof windows as I realised it was beyond my remit after finding out it wasn’t as straight forward as I thought it would be. That’s going to cost me another £390, £120 of which I’ve already paid as a deposit.

It was lovely to spend some time with my parents and help them with some bigger jobs that needed doing. I really didn’t want to come back, other than to see DS as I missed him so much!

Today I bought 3 bags of compost, a bag of postcrete to fix some loose coping stones and several tomato and lettuce plants which were marked down at half price as needed a little extra love and care. All of the above was covered by a £30 gift card I have had for some time but was one of those ‘spend in several places’ cards which turned out to be extremely difficult to actually spend as you can’t use as part payment and has to be the exact or lower than the amount gifted. Anyway, I was extremely grateful to get this at no cost to me and happy to find some plants on sale too as I was given a little garden ‘grow house’ recently by my Dad as he no longer had use for it. The plants have been tended to and are currently sat protected in there. :)

This afternoon, I’ve had a lovely time in the garden, filling several troughs with wildflower seeds to sit along the wall at the back of our garden. The seeds were freebies and are quite old, so I hope they germinate OK. If not, I’ll look for some plants to go in the troughs instead but I thought the seeds were worth a try first. I’ve also cut the grass so the garden is looking nice and tidy. I still have several jobs to do out there but am tackling them gradually.

The only underspend to report is the grocery pot which is looking really healthy as DS was away and I was at my parents’ for a few days. I’m trying to keep it that way! Most other bills have gone up this month, as they have for everybody, and I’m feeling the pinch there. I will also need to save as much as possible to both the car and house sinking funds (I’ve now set up separate categories instead of combining the funds) as the house insurance is due soon and both the car and house pots have taken a beating with all the expenses lately. I have adjusted the budget a bit to save more into those pots for now to build them back up and less into the general ISA pot.

I’m really tired so I’m not sure how much sense I’m typing at the moment, so probably best I call it a night and save the rest for another day.

Much love to all x

MeandO

Sorry, I don’t think yesterday’s post made the most sense, I was so tired. I didn’t feel much better when I woke up this morning, but I’ve felt better as the day has gone on so I mustn’t grumble.

I’ve struggled getting comfortable at my desk today, sitting is not fun presently, so I worked downstairs on a different chair which seemed to help a bit. Once work was done I popped to the bank to pay in some cash that was a combination of birthday money I was kindly given and payment for things I’d bought on behalf of others. It will be split between being paid off the CC (the items I’d purchased for family members) and house savings (birthday money). I need to buy some new blinds for the roof windows now that they are a different size otherwise the kitchen turns into a greenhouse in the summer, so that will go towards those. I tried to sell the old ones of FB but there were no takers so I guess they’ll go to the charity shop. It’s a shame they can’t be adapted for use in the new windows but it’s a completely different type and material of window frame unfortunately.

I also popped to Asda to buy wraps, bagels, yogurts and some chicken wings as DS is with me all week in the hols so I need some extra bits for lunches. It came to just over £10 which was covered with the monthly gift card, speaking of which, I have over £200 of £250 left on it with only 2.5 weeks to go until payday! I’ve only spent just over £50 so far on groceries which is unheard of lately for this far into the month! It’s because both DS and myself have been away for a week, but if I can keep spends low I can hopefully go into next month with some of this month’s grocery budget left, meaning I can allocate more to savings and less to the grocery pot. I will be so chuffed if that happens.

After taxiing DS to where he wanted to go and back (the gym), I cooked a variation of a Thai rice dish using turkey mince I had in instead of chicken. It was a hit with DS and there’s a portion in the fridge if he wants it for lunch tomorrow, if not it will go in the freezer for another day.

Washing dried outside in about an hour this morning as it was sunny but SO windy. In fact I thought I was going to have to retrieve some of it from next door’s garden at one point so brought it all in, thankfully it was dry with just a couple of DS’s joggers (waistbands) needing to be hung inside in a sunny spot for an extra half hour. No ironing needed today, thankfully.

I’ve also had a lovely potter around the garden and a wander round, moving pots and plants and planning where to dig in two fruit trees that need coming out of pots and into the ground. I need to get the ground prepped for them first though as one site is currently covered in chippings so will need some work. I also have a grape vine to plant as my Dad no longer wanted the one he started growing last year, he has a fruit tree in its place now instead. I’m planning on siting this along a sunny wall and training it up along a fence, so will need to put some wire up along there for it to grow along. I also need to paint the wall below the fence first before planting the vine. I’m hoping to get that done by the end of the weekend, weather and time permitting.

It’s exciting to finally be making progress in the garden and getting things a bit more established. :)