MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

Hope everyone’s had a relaxing Sunday. OH and I had a lovely afternoon out yesterday, exploring a couple of lovely coastal places half an hour or so from us. Only spend for me was £6.50 on a pint for OH and soft drink for myself. 

I picked up the weekly shopping on Thursday, spending £51 ish which included more meat than I usually buy, several tins we’d run out of and some hand soap etc, so a big shop for me. £6.10 spent in Tesco today on some bits I couldn’t find in Aldi. Am hoping to keep to the £200 monthly budget this month so not planning on any top up shops this week unless we need milk and perhaps some bananas. 

I cooked a huge pan of SW friendly Saag Aloo and Bombay potatoes on Friday which left 3 big portions for the freezer, so I have 3 more healthy ‘ready meals’ for myself in the freezer now. It definitely helps on days I can’t be bothered to cook. I lost another 2lb at SW last week so pleased to be back on track and losing weight. I’m 9lbs down now. 

I’m still keeping up with my freezer lists - noting what’s taken out and why gets put in and where. It’s really helping to keep track of what we have and what I can make for tea some nights. Tonight I’ve had last night’s leftovers of Smokey Spanish chicken and DS has had hot crispy chicken wraps. I’m using the air fryer most days now rather than the oven, hopefully it’s keeping the electricity bill a little lower. Saying that though, the tumble dryer is presently on for the first time in ages. DS came back from rugby ‘brown’ top to bottom with mud today and his father hadn’t washed any of his school uniform since Thursday and returned it dirty, so I’ve had to put a wash on. No chance of drying anything outside today, it’s wet and cold.

I ripped my coat this morning getting out of the car, a huge rip that went right across the bottom. I was so annoyed as it’s such a comfy coat and I really don’t want to spend money on a new one. Thankfully, I’ve managed to sew the rip up better than I thought and hopefully it will last me a good while longer. Am thankful for saving some money there!

MeandO

I'm so grateful to have received the cost of living payment today as I wasn't sure if I was going to be eligible. £59.69 of it has been sent to the mortgage as an OP to get the total down to £71,750 and the rest has been sent to the EF which now stands at £4117.97. The next target will be to get it up to £5K. 

Lots of scheduled bills came out today so YNAB has been updated. DS needed a new pencil case, water bottle and ruler etc for school due to stuff being lost/left at his Dad's and disappearing, we bought these yesterday which came to just over £20, paid for out of the pot I allocate funds for his clothing/tuition etc. His sports boots and boot bag has also gone missing at his father's house (his father denies ever having them even though I personally handed them to him) so I need to replace those this week too. I am insisting his father pays half which is causing rows. He didn't pay for the last pair either. This, also coming from the 'father' who won't buy his son a £20 toothbrush the dentist has repeatedly stressed DS needs to use after the problems he's had with his teeth - although when questioned twice over the last year the ex lied and said he had bought it and DS was using it. I have bought the toothbrush for DS to use at his house and told ex he owes me the money, so far this has been ignored. If he genuinely couldn't afford it, I wouldn't even ask but there are two good full time wages going into that house and he never quibbles about spending money on himself. He would have a shock if I sent him a bill for half of what I pay out every month just on DS's school dinner account alone!
So tonight DS and I need to go shopping for sports boots and a boot bag, I hope we can find some at a reasonable price. I'd order online but DS has very wide feet so it is a nightmare trying to find shoes/trainers that fit him.

I'm going to look at my freezer list shortly and figure out what to cook tonight. Last night was a chicken mince bolognaise which made enough for us, some for OH and a large portion leftover for another time. Tomorrow will be something quick and easy as we are off to the cinema after school tomorrow for a treat

MeandO

£15.31 hit my account from topcashback today so have sent it straight to the EF. Now stands at £4133.28 in total.

MeandO

Another £50 spent tonight on replacing DS's sports boots and bag that have been lost plus a football for DS as his never came back from his Dad's (anyone else see a pattern forming here?!). The staff on the sports shop pumped the football up for us but by the time we'd made the 10 minute journey home it was flat again so is obviously defective. I'll have to return it later in the week and pick a new one up for him. Annoyingly, the water bottle I bought him yesterday was also faulty and leaked in his school bag today, getting his work wet. I've dried it out best as we can and bought more new A4 card type folders the school seem to be set on them using to replace the ones we had to throw out. We looked in Wilko first but unfortunately they didn't have any. The only other available shop was whsmiths who wanted £5.99 for 5 - a complete rip off in my opinion but he needed them for tomorrow so I had to buy them. I will see if OH can get any from work for spares. I also returned the water bottle to the shop for a £7.99 refund.

Tea was sweet chilli & garlic noodles with chicken & veg for DS - his favourite - and the same but with more SW friendly hoisin sauce for me. I bought a pack of 6 large chicken thigh fillets a couple of weeks ago and froze them in portions of 2. Cut up in a stir fry with lots of veg, this is plenty of meat for DS and I. There was even a portion leftover for my lunch tomorrow.

Not much else to report, off to add today's spends to YNAB then to go some sleep, I feel really exhausted today, DS was really tired today too. Night all x

MeandO

£31 spent a school trip for DS today - they only had notification of it yesterday and it had to be paid today!
£14 left in the school/DS's clothes pot has gone towards that with £8 from a random child tax credit also thrown at it and the rest from the Spends pot.
Remaining £30 of the child tax credit payment has been sent to the EF - I wasn't expecting that payment so won't miss it. 

It's a lovely day today again so I've stripped DS's bed and put everything in the wash, ready to dry on the line. There's another load to go in the machine after the first light wash is finished. I'm going to sit down this afternoon and meal plan SW friendly evening meals for the next week, hopefully mostly with food we already have in but will pop to Aldi later or tomorrow if there's anything we need. 

DS let slip this morning that his Dad owes him £15. When I asked how/why he said his Dad always takes cash from his money box and never returns it and he's most recently taken £15 out which DS was saving for something in particular and needs it to buy this item soon. I'm not surprised in the slightest but I don't know how that man can sleep at night, stealing from his son. It makes me so angry and sad for DS. I've told him needs to speak to his Dad about it and perhaps start hiding his money at his Dad's somewhere else. The ex owes me £45 too, I've requested that again this morning. It's not like he doesn't earn a good wage, their household income is probably around 4 times mine.

Mrs_Money_Penny

That is so annoying about the money especially your sons. My children at boarding school had a very small metal cash tin with a key. Perhaps one of these would be useful at his Dad’s xx

badmemory

I wonder if he ever contemplates what he is teaching his son?  Although I doubt it, because if he did he wouldn't do it.  I bet it would be a whole different situation if it was the other way round.

MeandO

He doesn’t even recognise what he does is wrong unfortunately, he genuinely believes he is father of the year and will deny all of his actions and behaviour and turn it round to try and say he’s acting in DS’s best interest. Typical narcissist unfortunately.  

MeandO

Just searched for a better price for home insurance than my £180 renewal. I found it for £153 + £36 cashback so a saving of over £60 once I receive the CB. 

3.5lbs lost at SW last week, was over the moon with that.  

One item listed on eBay this week, something that was free to me and I was going to send to the charity shop, but a quick look on eBay suggested it sells for around £20-£25 so hopefully that will bring in a few more £’s. 

MeandO

My ebay item is up to over £12 with a day to go so I'm pleased with that considering it cost me £0.

I've just updated my child tax credits account with my estimated earnings for the next year as I was concerned their proposed payments to me were too high and I'd end up owing them money. It's not easy to calculate as I now work variable overtime hours every month, but I've estimated as accurately as I can. As I thought, the calculations on the CTC calculator suggested I'd be getting a third of what they initially told me I would. I'm not complaining, I'm very grateful to receive anything at all, but considering the income difference is around £2500 before tax it's a heck of a difference!

I received my estimated new energy bills from July once my 2 year fix has ended and it wasn't pretty reading. I currently pay £40 a month for both (I was so incredibly lucky to fix when I did) and now it's estimated at being around £120 a month so I need to cover that shortfall somehow. I have cancelled my pool/gym membership from this month onwards which is a shame as I love going swimming but I can't justify it any longer and don't get time to use it as much as I should. That will be £30 a month towards it so £50 a month to find. I guess I'll have to reduce the amount I send to the savings every month.