MeandO's money-shuffling

MeandO · 18 March 2024 at 7:09PM

Thanks Sudonum-mum x

DS's not yet old enough to stay home alone and definitely not mature enough so it'll be a couple of years yet until he is, probably.
The friends I've met at SW have both also stopped going, but both due to family issues and illness They're not in a position to meet up at the moment but I have said it'll be nice to when we can.

WFH is the main issue for me but I am totally stuck in this job for now. Unfortunately I don't get much of a break as I have to do a certain amount of hours as I work full time but on a flexible basis so I do have to squeeze the hours in with not much of a break. It's frustrating, but I am thankful it allows me to pay for everything on my own and to cover the school runs and be home for DS after school.

MeandO · 18 March 2024 at 7:18PM

OH and I went to stay with my parents this weekend, DS chose to stay with his father and attend a sporting event. It was lovely to see them and help them do some tasks they needed a bit of help with. Time at 'home' always goes too soon though and I was sad to drive back again yesterday
I came away with a new (to me) fridge freezer as my parents are having a new kitchen and they no longer need the one they bought last year. Mine was 7 years old and some of the drawers were cracked, so it feels luxurious to open the fridge and not have contents fall out at me.

I've advertised the old one for a nominal amount on fb - it works fine, just needs a couple of new drawer fronts or to be used without them. If there's no takers, I'll see if the local food bank want it for free as they were asking for 2nd hand ones last year.

I've received 2 of the 3 train fare refunds and have also had notification that £151 is on the way to me from floozyjet after I had to pay for replacement flights in Feb. I can also still apply for the £440 compensation due.

The child benefit has also topped up the account today so I've sent £35 back to one pot I borrowed from last week and have sent £50 to the EF. I'm hoping to be able to send another chunk to the EF before payday, but it depends how much the weekend costs me as I'm taking DS away for a few days.

MeandO · 19 March 2024 at 8:05PM

The fridge freezer has sold for £30 so have combined that with £20 I had in my purse and sent another £50 to the EF. That's another £100 added in the last few days and I can colour in another square on my savings chart too.

A £5 item has sold on vinted and floozyjet have actually refunded the £150 to the credit card so the card is cleared again. I'd paid for the extra train tickets and some things for my parents on it recently knowing it would soon get cleared.

I've jet washed the patio today after borrowing my Dad's power washer thing. It has come up lovely and is not slippery any more.

I've signed up for an energy saving challenge with my energy supplier so I'm trying to use less electricity between 4pm-7pm in the hope of earning up to £10 off my monthly bill. I've been holding off putting the dishwasher on and making a cuppa so off to do both now!

MeandO · 25 March 2024 at 9:01AM

It's payday, so £300 has gone to the EF, £150 to the car/house pot, just under £190 to the gifts pot to make it up to £400 and £35 to DS's school pot for uniform and school trips. £100 will go to the PBs in the next few days and £25 will.go to DS's ISA.
£100 OP will come.off the mortgage tomorrow so I've updated all the signatures. It's great to see that EF pot going up. The next mini target I have in my head is to get it to £7500 as I'll be halfway to my goal of £15K then.

Aimingforthegoodlife · 25 March 2024 at 11:03AM

I did trial a couple of rebelfit challenges but struggle with motivation online, but yeah following the group I really like some of the indepth posts he does about weight gain and the complexities with it! I find the posts about his daughter a bit annoying, but perhaps as I don't have children I just don't appreciate them?!

That is some amazing work on the payday shuffle! Your EF is looking really healthy, and all those pots and OP's are great, you need to give yourself some huge credit right there. You are a single parent and look at how much money you are able to shuffle around, incredible! Mortgage is looking great as well!

MeandO · 27 March 2024 at 11:17AM

Thanks Aimingforthegoodlife. I have to confess I have unfollowed RF on facebook as the posts about his daughter and then endless angry rants about SW were just getting annoying tbh! I totally get what he's saying and agree with most of it, but it was getting a bit much seeing angry posts all the time. I'm leaving all thoughts of diets aside for a few weeks and just trying my best on my own at the moment. It helps that I'm craving veg and healthier foods presently and I seem to have lost my appetite at the moment for some reason. I doubt it will last though...

MeandO · 27 March 2024 at 11:56AM

DS and I have had a really lovely long weekend away and now that he's at his Dad's until the weekend, I'm missing him like mad. I spent money on food for us both and admission to a couple of places, but it's all been covered and I don't regret spending a penny of it. We had so much fun and laughs together.

In contrast, I had a birthday in the last week which was bloody awful and made me feel pretty cr&p. To sum up, most people forgot (including DS, but he's a child and that's fine, although I always buy and make sure he has birthday gifts for his father or all hell would break loose!) and those that didn't forget just made no effort. I'm not materialistic, I don't ever want people to spend their money on me, I dislike being the centre of attention and I don't need or want for a thing, but a nice card chosen with thought would have been great and more than enough, especially from my so called OH whom I go to so much time, expense and effort for to make him feel special on his birthday. He gave me booze (I rarely drink), out of date (last year) chocolates which had been in his house for ages which he then proceeded to open and eat, and something I know he bought for himself a while back which I would have no use for. The card was the worst and I actually found it quite offensive, it's so unlike me that I think it was chosen with a colleague or someone in mind. I turned down his offer of 'cooking something from his freezer to use it up' and then a supermarket ready meal and said it would be nice to go out for a cheap meal as there's no other food in my house as we've been away and I didn't want to cook and wash up on my birthday! He was grumpy from work and not in the best of moods, but we ended up in a carvery-type chain pub place where he wouldn't even get up and go to the bar to order. I did it and paid for us both myself, he later transferred the money to me. We got home, I had a bath and made my excuses and went to bed early, to which he was annoyed about because he'd 'come over to mine and made the effort so we'd had a lovely (!) time and now I was just going to bed.' The worst thing is, he thought nothing wrong of any of it. There is no emoji on here to demonstrate my feelings about that one.
I was upset last night, it seems I do everything for everyone, him especially, and no-one spares my feelings a thought. It's a pretty sh*t feeling tbh. It sounds selfish, but as I said it's not about gifts or material things, I want neither. My parents' next door neighbours took time out to send me a lovely birthday card which I thought was such a lovely gesture, it meant a lot. I didn't even get a card from any of my family, other than my sister, but I'm seeing them next week so they're probably saving on postage which I can't blame them for with the cost of stamps! Would have been nice to have felt stamp-worthy though.