MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO

Thank you Sunshine_girl2 x

It's been a bit of a morning already.🙄🙈 Never mind, onwards and upwards…or at least I'll try!
I'm just tucking into my porridge and fruit with a much-needed coffee.
DS is at the gym straight from school today so I have an hour or two to get on with icing his birthday cake before I need to pick him up. His birthday is my favourite day of the year, even though he's being a grump about it this year and saying he doesn't want to go out to his favourite place for food/do anything/doesn't need a cake, but I've told him that's fine, it'll be my celebration of making it through 15 years of motherhood instead then! 😁

There's been no takers for the large piece of storage furniture that I thought would sell in an instant (i'd buy it! 😄). I can't even seem to give it away to friends, so I've contacted the charity shop who will hopefully collect it before the other sofa I ordered in December is delivered as it's currently stashed in that space.

DS should theoretically be eating at his father's tonight when he collects him from me, but I can see him being hungry before then so there's some fresh pasta in the fridge I'll cook if he wants it, or an omelette if the pasta doesn't appeal. OH has kindly offered to take me out for some pub grub this evening which I jumped at! It's just nice not to have to cook or clean up for a night.

It's wet, grey and windy here today. I'm glad I did all the washing yesterday when it was sunny and windy and I actually got the washing almost dry outside on the line. I see the laundry basket has been half-filled again already this morning but that can wait until the half price 'leccy on Sunday unless we have another sunny day, which I very much doubt looking out of the window presently.

Have a good Thursday all, it's nearly Friday! x

MeandO

Morning all, we made it to Friday!

We didn't end up going out last night, it was late by the time DS was picked up and the weather was awful so neither of us was very keen. We combined freezer contents (a few bits from mine and a few bits from OH's!) and cooked something simple but filling instead. Tonight OH is going to cook a dhansak from scratch and between us we have everything needed so no extra spends there.

Coffee has been consumed and porridge and fruit has been munched this morning. I weighed myself first thing and have put on another lb 😕 which is no surprise at the moment as I'm picking throughout the day through boredom. I need to get better with planning lunches as that's my downfall at the moment as there's no planning involved and I just eat whatever is quick and easy which is usually toast or bread based.
I need to pop to the supermarket later and pick up milk, eggs and a few other items we're running out of so will use the remainder of the gift card balance for that with hopefully, quite a bit left over. I may even pick up a bunch of daffodils for myself if the shopping is fairly reasonable. I love them and they always cheer me up but I have been resisting so far in money-saving efforts.

The charity shop can't pick the furniture up for 3 weeks 😫 so I may see if OH and I can fit it in my car and take it down there. Other than that, I may advertise it for free and see if anyone wants it before as it's large, heavy and in the way. The new sofa I ordered last year (in the sale and with a discount code and cashback too!) is being delivered today so I'm excited about that, but the surplus furniture was being stored in that space so I've had to temporarily shift things round this morning. The revamped front room will be completed with the sofa in, other than to fill a few holes in the wall and think about maybe wallpapering in there later this year. The walls are very uneven, bumpy and rough in there as I believe it's the original (100 year old) plaster and could do with being skimmed, but wallpapering will be easier, cheaper and less messy. It's fine for now though and plenty of more important jobs need to come way before that on the list.

Right, must get on… have a lovely day everyone x

foxgloves

My issue is picking too, @MeandO. Mr F is quite different. It's a huge appetite & too big portion sizes for him, whereas that saying, "Little pickers wear big knickers' could have been written for me. I think I need to write it out & stick it on the fridge! I also do much better with weight loss when my lunches are properly planned. I aim to get onto that for the start of next week.

F

Honeysucklelou2

I’m with you on the daffodils. A vase of those brightens up wherever you are.

Hope the new sofa arrives safely and you are able to move the storage furniture.

MeandO

Good luck with the lunch planning too, foxgloves. I always struggle to think of ideas that don’t involve bread or pasta, other than soup, which I love but need to remember to make batches of it in advance.

Daffodils are just so cheerful aren’t they HSL2. I didn’t actually buy any yet though as I couldn’t find any! I will have another look this week as I would love some in a vase.

I ended up dismantling the piece of furniture so it could be stored more easily. It’s now stashed between the utility room and my office but at least it’s a bit more out of the way for now. It’s simple to put back together for when it’s collected.

The sofa was delivered an hour early which was great as I was at home and it freed me up earlier. It looks really good in the ‘new’ room and I’m really pleased with the whole room. The only thing I would like to do is to put something on the wall above the new sofa as it looks very bare. DS and OH both also said how lovely it feels in there now but both said “you need something on the wall above that sofa, though!” 😂 I will see if I can ‘shop from home’ and find something to put up there or move something else around to save money.

I spent £34 on the shopping on Friday but this included £12 of gifts for OH’s birthday, so I’m still doing well on the grocery front. I would normally transfer the money from the gifts pot to the groceries pot but it’s empty at the moment so I can’t. It’s manageable for now though. I bought extra milk, icing sugar (for OH’s cake) and risotto rice yesterday using the last of the gift card so I will purchase another one on Monday (using the work discount) for the remainder of the month as it’s working really well for me. It’s definitely making me be more strict about only buying what we need and what’s on the list.

Today has been just wonderful and proper core memories have been made for me.
❤️💙 I planned an early celebration of DS’s birthday as he will be with his Dad and busy with sports for his actual birthday. He and I sat on the floor together, cuddled up, whilst he opened his gifts. He wanted me close and wanted lots of hugs, asking me to sit right next to him on the floor and snuggle up together like he used to. He kept saying he didn’t need anything for his birthday and people didn’t need to buy him things. I agreed, but told him people want to and have chosen to as they love him very much and want to make his birthday special for him. He loved all of the gifts and was very grateful. He received quite a bit of birthday money and has chosen to split it between spending money for his upcoming trip, some cash for a haircut soon and some to go in his junior ISA. I’m proud of him. Later on, DS wanted to go to the gym, so OH and I picked up food from DS’s favourite place to eat whilst he was out and brought it back home for us to eat whilst watching the rugby. We’ve just had the loveliest day. I will treasure today. Oh, and DS loved his cake I made too!

Tonight OH has gone home and I’ve put DS’s new mirror up in his room for him, with his help. We’ve set his new TV up (bought pre Christmas in the Black Friday sale 😉) and he’s been arranging his new gifts and clothes in his room. He’s a happy bunny and loves his room.

Bed is calling now so off I go.

Night all, happy rest of the weekend. X

Honeysucklelou2

So glad you have had a lovely day with your DS.

MeandO

Thank you HSL2 x

Another weekend gone in a flash, but the bits spent with DS was lovely.

I applied for the money transfer card last week (thank you for the suggestion @MFWannabe) and today the funds have hit my account. I have repaid the funds taken from the Car/House pot and the ISA I have already paid out for the ordering of the materials and have stashed the remainder away in a high interest account for now until it needs to be paid. I have a plan in place to repay it within the year before the 0% interest period ends.

I received some cashback today too which has gone towards clearing my spending credit card, that should now be paid off this week so all extra funds will now be thrown at the money transfer 'pot' which I'm stashing in my high interest account for now to earn some interest on the funds. Once the MT card arrives I can set up the online banking and start to repay it.

A little bit of shopping this morning (£12 odd) included 3 trays of YS chicken thigh fillets which I'll portion up and freeze later today. I also finally bought myself a bunch of £1 daffodils! :)
I've now also purchased another &sda gift card via the work discount scheme, £100 this time, so I WILL be making that last until payday now in just over two weeks. There's around £20 left in the groceries pot if I need to pick anything up elsewhere. I would have had £250 worth of shopping for £240 this month so £10 saved for no effort. Now that I know it works well for me, I will purchase one again next month in a higher denomination.

I tried to make the most of the half price electricity period yesterday with several loads of washing/drying, hoovering through the house and running the dishwasher. I cleaned the bathroom and discovered the loo was leaking from the seal at the back as I have suspected for a while, 😕 so phoned my dear Dad for some advice and hopefully I've managed to fix it for now by following his advice. If not, I'll try the second fix idea of his, if that fails, it's a job for a plumber. :(

Hope Monday is kind to you all. x

debtfreewannabe321

Aw your day with DS sounded perfect 💓 so glad he had a lovely day!

MeandO

Thank you DFW321 x

Is it bedtime yet?! I’m so very tired today, no particular reason for it as I was in bed quite early last night. I had a quick chat with a friend earlier and she said the same, so it must be a day for feeling shattered! I feel head-achey too so hopefully I’m not coming down with anything else.

I’ve portioned and frozen the chicken bought earlier today and have updated my freezer list. I still only have the one freezer running at the moment (freezer part of the fridge freezer) and everything just about fits in there.
I’ve got some chicken marinating in the fridge for DS’s tea and the veggies are chopped and prepped. I’m not feeling hungry at all and don’t really fancy anything to eat, something plain for me later I think.

I was successful in my ‘shopping from home’ and found a framed map from my home area to put on the wall that I’d bought a little while ago but had nowhere to put it at the time. That’s now been hung in the ‘new’ lounge and a picture swapped around to go above the sofa so it doesn’t look so bare now,

I heard from the roofer today and scaffolding is going up on Wednesday so I need to clear an area at the back for access. That’s on tomorrow’s list. I’ll just be glad to get the roof all done and move on now.

MeandO

I successfully persuaded DS to go to bed an hour earlier last night so we both benefitted from an extra hour's sleep. I shall attempt the same tonight, wish me luck!
I feel better than I did yesterday but still a bit head-achey this morning, hoping it clears soon.

I have done what I needed to do in the garden this morning for the scaffolders to obtain access. I managed to get it done in between rain showers so didn't get soaked which is a plus.

I've stripped and changed DS's bed and one load of washing has been done and is currently in the dryer. Needs must in this weather, unfortunately.

Last night I requested another bit of cashback which had reached payable status. That will go towards the purchase of 4 new charging plugs I bought yesterday (and were delivered already this morning!) as I bought the wrong charger cables and didn't have plugs to fit them. 🙄 The cables were an excellent price and a good make as I've had nothing but trouble with new phone charger cables failing after a few weeks lately. I've sent two back for a refund and thrown away so many others so will stick with these 'branded' cables and bought the plugs to fit them. I had an unexpected bonus as I didn't realise the plugs came with cables too, so now we have 6 cables that work and I can throw all the other ones out that will only charge very slowly. I've told DS he can take a plug and charger to his father's house to use in his room but has to keep it for his own use - he has no means to charge his phone there as all previous cables/plugs he's taken from here have gone walkabout from his room never to be seen again and there's no chance of him being bought any over there.
His phone was flat last Friday after staying there and I ended up having to drive round looking for him after school as he called me after school to say his father hadn't turned up to collect him, his father wasn't answering his phone and then DS's phone died before I could tell him I'd be there. He'd started to walk home to our house, then his father called me in a strop because DS wasn't there when he eventually got there and he wasn't happy with an extra 5 min drive to pick him up from ours instead and of course blamed DS. 🙄🙈

I've sorted a couple more bits out to go to charity and will try and fill another bag before I take it all there. The other bag and mirror are still in the boot of the car to be dropped off as I haven't got to the shop yet. I might see if OH fancies a mooch around some charity shops with me at the weekend as he is on the lookout for an item of furniture but doesn't want to pay a lot and I could do with a few more tops and possibly some jeans.

I've taken some steak out of the freezer for DS's tea tonight which I'll cook with a jacket potato, some veg and coleslaw which he loves! I'll join in with the jacket potato and veg and possibly some steak if there's enough, or tuna if not. They're thinly sliced steaks so will cut them into strips and cook with onions.

I've started a shopping list but shouldn't need to pick all of it up until the weekend, just milk before then, maybe.
I was telling a not-very-money-savvy colleague about the gift card work discount thing I've been doing this month and I think she thought I was mad, just to save £10. I had to top DS's school dinner account up by another £10 this morning though so it's paid for that. 😋