MeandO's money-shuffling

Newstartforme

Hi Meando, hope your son feeling a bit better today.  Don't like to hear that your feeling a bit helpless , you really do so well , it's not easy being on your own and dealing with nonsense from ex . Thanks for the tips re vinted , I've just started and would not have thought of recording the packaging part of it , great idea but awful that people have to do this because of others being dishonest.  Hope you finish reading your book and feel a bit brighter xx

MeandO

Thank you for your kind words, Newstartforme. X 

I managed to get to a gym class on Friday and have spent a lovely day with OH today so both those have helped lift my mood a bit. DS is back now (still coughing, contrary to what the ex said -not that I’m surprised), he’s happy to be back and it’s lovely to see him and have him home. I woke up around 7am this morning but must have dropped back off to sleep as the next thing I knew it was 10.15am! It’s unheard of for me to sleep that late it I definitely needed it. Now to soon convince DS that it’s bed time as he keeps reminding me ‘it’s the holidays’. Oh for the days when he was in bed by 6.30pm and slept for 12 hours! 

Today OH and I had to run a few errands and I had to pick up some shopping as DS is with me all week so I needed to buy a few more bits in. I’ve loosely meal planned for the week ahead so don’t need to buy anything now other than milk. There is £60 left in the grocery budget to last me until the end of the month but as we’re away for the last week of the month it should more than suffice.

Unfortunately, my kitchen bin met a grizzly end this morning after something heavy fell on it and smashed the lid into smithereens. The opening mechanism had been broken for 4 years but I made do and didn’t replace it. It’s a very narrow bin as it has to fit in a tiny space so I have tried to replace it today but, OMG, WHY ARE BINS SO BL00DY EXPENSIVE?! I wasn’t going to spend £50+ on one but could not find anything anywhere, even online, that would fit the space and was under £30. I gave up shopping in the real world and eventually had order one online. Believe it or not, the best price I could find for the size needed was via MR J Lewis @ £32.  OH kindly used a £5 off voucher he had and I added something for my sister as a birthday gift to make it up to over £50 for free delivery. If I had a bigger space I could have got a cheaper one but unfortunately there’s nowhere else to put the bin other than the tiny gap. I’ve taken money from the house pot to cover it. 

We found a few bits in the sale which we picked up for OH’s niece and nephew for Christmas. OH paid for those despite me offering to go halves. There was also some lawn weed killer reduced, which my poor lawn was in desperate need of with all the resident dandelions that have popped up, so I bought a bottle of that and have sprayed all the weeds today. Hopefully it works but we have had a light drizzle here tonight so I may have to spray more on at some point.

Lastly, I popped to a charity shop as everything in there was being sold at half price! I didn’t have much time to browse but bought two dresses, one is a white stuff one which fits like a glove and I love it, The second is a lovely Oasis dress but is a bit tight on me unfortunately, it only cost me £3 though and I will be able to more than get my money back for it on v!nted, in fact I think it will sell for quite a bit more. 

Talking of V!nted, something felt off about the buyer I mentioned on my last post and it turns out they had several profiles, most of them new with no feedback. I contacted customer services, expa,one’d, and cancelled the sale and blocked the buyer. I am sure they were going to try and scam me.
I re-listed the item and then had an offer from a buyer who had plenty of good feedback. She wanted to buy several of my listings and made a good offer which I accepted so there will hopefully be £110 coming my way soon. I just need to sort a postage issue out as V!nted automatically generated the postage label for the bundle and it doesn’t cover the weight of the clothes. I’ve contacted vinted, will see what they say.

Tonight I’ve had to part with yet more money for DS’s sporting endeavour. More kit that was needed at £27.99 and specialist sports insurance to make sure he’s covered on his trip - £32. I paid on the CC but paid it straight off with the rapidly diminishing funds in the sports pot. I’ve asked the ex to cover half of the insurance, added to the amount he already owes me. I’ve not had a response as yet…

My bed is calling, so I must go… night all x

MeandO

Afternoon all,

The v!nted postage label saga has turned into a right saga as v!nted customer services just won't answer the question posed to them, they seem to skirt around other issues. To cut a long story short, the sale has been cancelled for now and the buyer says she will re-purchase when funds have been refunded to her. I won't bank on that money though which is a shame as I could really have done with it at the moment.

I have had a lady from afar wanting to buy an item on fb marketplace that has been listed on there for a LONG time. I have had several people interested in that time but all have let me down. She says her family member lives in the area so will collect it tonight, again, we'll see what happens. It'll be an extra £35 in the pot if it does go although the item(s) belonged to my grandparents so will be paid off the mortgage - that's the only way I feel slightly better about selling things that belonged to them. I

It's the school hols and DS has well and truly denounced spending any time with his Mum in lieu of being with his friends! I know it's normal and to be expected at his age, but it secretly breaks this Mumma's heart. I was hoping we'd have one more summer of him wanting to go out for the day with me, but alas, no.    I took the week off to do things with him but I've cancelled the annual leave as I might as well work in between taxiing him to friends/the gym/football fields and save the annual leave. On the positive side, I haven't spent any money these past two days. Scrap that, I will need to order pyjamas for him later as it seems most are now halfway up his shins, perhaps the £35 will have to go towards those. 

Yesterday was stressful and really wearing with further ex issues trying to cause trouble between DS and I and it affected mine & DS's day. I am SO very tired of it, I am just exhausted. I had lots of tears. I try so hard to parent DS with him but he makes it so difficult. It is impossible to work together for what's best for our child when he will only put himself first in everything. Yesterday I discussed some ground rules with DS for being out and about with his friends now I'm giving him more independence, including us being able to see his location, having a charged phone, telling us of changes to arrangements etc. A situation arose at the weekend where DS was supposed to be in ex's care, had gone out with friends and his phone battery had died so had no way of contacting anyone and his father didn't know where he was or where/when he was picking him up. I tried to implement mobile phone 'tools' and basic 'rules' for DS to follow so this doesn't happen again and we can know where he is and that he's safe at all times. The ex just wouldn't participate, so basically DS has rules for when he's with me, but not his father. You can see how that goes down...  Anyway, I am doing my best. I couldn't sleep last night with the worry and stress of it all and today I feel like I'm coming down with something, probably the virus DS had last week and is just about shaking off now. I've dosed up with cold & flu meds and am hoping it comes to nothing.

Three more days until payday but 10 days for me to make this month's money last until the new budget month. I'm not sure if this is working or not really, other than being able to see how much I'm going over budget more clearly! I'll give it another month and then re-assess. I'm certainly not seeing any improvement in my bank balance, unfortunately.  

Newstartforme

My goodness Meando they certainly don't make vinted easy do they , I'm finding the level of communication from them a lot and I'm going to post the parcels quickly to try to head off yet more messages ! So sorry with what you are going through at the moment with your ex , you know your son better than anyone and know that in a few years he will see through ex behaviour,  although that doesn't help at the moment . Also tough when they get to the age they just want to be with friends,  although we are adults it's hard not to feel a bit rejected ( going through this at moment ) , they definitely come through it though and happy to go out with mum again , great to have the mobiles though and we can check on them I suppose . Hope your virus doesn't ammount to anything , best wishes x

badmemory

I well remember the times going with DS to buy something he needed & him being almost a foot taller than me.  I often felt like one of those women who have to walk so many paces behind their husbands because he always walked ahead.  They do grow out of it I promise.  They also cotton on eventually to just who are the manipulators & bad actors (I think that is the current phrase).

the_end_of_the_rainbow

Oh @MeandO the current situation sounds stressful 😥 

With regards to his PJs, do they fit still in the top - if so, could you make the the bottoms into shorts/long shorts to save having to buy new ones?

MeandO

Thanks Newstartfrme, badmemory & the_end_of_the_rainbow. Great idea about the pyjamas but unfortunately they're tight around the waist now too so will go to the charity shop. I've ordered 3 more pairs of PJ bottoms for DS from &sda, one was 25% off in a sale, £27.25 in total. The money for which will come from the clothing/uniform pot. 

My new bin came yesterday and so I took the old (metal) bin straight to the tip along with the large box the new one was delivered in. There is a charity shop warehouse near there so I popped in whilst waiting to pick DS up and was really glad I did! They'd just put a rail out with new donations of lovely clothes, all which looked like they'd never been worn and were mostly from Seasalt & White Stuff whose clothes and patterns I love but could never afford to buy new, and all in my size! I picked up some jeans too which fit me perfectly which is unheard of for jeans as it's usually such a struggle to find a pair that fit me. I was in desperate need of some too as my last pair had fallen apart. On getting home, I looked up the label and was shocked to see they retail for around £60-£75! 
I also bought my Mum some patterned summer trousers and a few more tops, t shirts, dresses and a skirt for myself, picking up 11 items for £29 in total. One of the Seasalt dresses was too big for me so I put it on vinted and it has already sold for £4 more than I paid for it. One other dress and a top were also a bit tight and didn't suit me so I have listed those too. One of the tops is a linen Ralph Lauren top and originally retailed for £125! The charity shop gods were smiling on me yesterday for sure. My aim is to make back the £29 spent on vinted with the bits I've listed.

Everything has now been washed and is on the line, drying. The WM is on it's second cycle and the weather's looking good to dry clothes today so I purposely held back on the washing until today. 

The FB sale was indeed collected yesterday and I paid the £35 off the mortgage. It's going to be difficult to fin the extra money to reach the 10% target this year now with everything else to pay for, but I'll try. I can overpay another £1427.55 this year before any penalty. First of all, I'd love to find the £56.86 to get the mortgage down to £52K exactly but that may not be possible this month.  

Mortgage @ 03/2019: £125,000, Now: £52,056.86
Mortgage OP’s: £20,591.73
Remaining 10% OP allowance 2025: £1427.55

foxgloves

I love 'Seasalt' clothes. Inclusive sizing & they seem to last well too. My only problem with them is their love of blues, reds & mustards....none of which remotely suit me, & that's one of the reasons I've resumed basic dressmaking. One of the summer dresses I made earlier this month cost £3 - can't say fairer than that!
I managed a good Seasalt bargain back in Spring. I'd received a £50 giftcard for Christmas, decided to use it in part payment for a long denim coat, which reminded me so much of the sort of thing I wore in the 1980s & 90s. When I got there, they were in an offer at 20% off!! I do think their prices (like everything else!) have gone up a fair bit over the last 2 or 3 years, but bargains can still be had. I like the Lucky Dip days, where they offer a little folded card with some sort of prize. Mr F was with me on one such day & his was '20% off anything today' & mine was a free pair of their pretty socks of my choice, so that meant an unexpected 1/5 off the top I'd gone in to buy, plus a free Christmas gift for a family member who loves their designs.
Good idea to list the dress which wasn't quite right for re-sale. You're already up on the deal there!
F x