NST April 2023: April adventurising

ldee2111

April is going to be spendy. On the cards this month:

OH’s birthday 

DS’s birthday 

A week at the caravan 

Friend’s expensive hen-do

Everything’s been saved for and budgets have been set… 

1st April we decided not to be foolish with spending and celebrated OH’s birthday with a takeaway.

Yesterday’s family house party for DS went over budget by about £30… but I did go to M&S to get some very nice party food. Grans, grandads, aunties, uncles, mum and dad, and the birthday boy made sure there was little food waste… a few family commented on how fantastic the buffet was which I was pleased to hear. I’ve got some delicious strawberries leftover as well as some breadsticks, olives and hummus that’ll do me for breakfast and lunch. We’ve also got some birthday cake leftover which will go nice with a cup of tea 🙂 

We all had a fantastic day. It was lovely to have everyone together and DS had a blast which was the best of all. His actual birthday is this week so he’s delighted at getting what he sees as two birthdays. 🤣 We’ve got a few activities planned including a trampoline for park (booked/paid for last week) and a trip to the cinema to see Mario (paid for with bank switch freebie cinema tickets). We’ve got a budget for eating out after said activities. 

Next week we’ll be off to the caravan and  will use our weekly grocery budget to stock up on eats for our holiday and for packed lunches on days out and about. Still to decide on activities but it’s in a beautiful part of Scotland with lots of forests and beaches around which sorts us out nicely with places to go/things to do. 

Then I’ve got friend’s expensive hen do which I’d agreed to attend before knowing it was going to be two overnights in Edinburgh with a package of overpriced activities (I’m also a bridesmaid which makes it awkward). Anyway I’m all-in now and can’t back down. I’ve paid up my portion and my share of the bride’s package over the last 8 months. I’ll be trying to keep within budget on the actual do. I will not make the mistake of agreeing to something like this again. 

In short, this month I will not be managing 16 NSDs and I will not be saving much at all but I will manage ice cream. Maybe I should go into my shell and come back out in May when it’s calmed down 🐢🤣

On a BIG plus note… we’ve just paid this tax year’s maximum mortgage OP amount and I’m just waiting to see the bank’s calculation on our new MF date (originally 2040, currently 2031, and hopefully recalculation will take it to at least 2029.) Now saving up for next year’s OP with the added challenge of the cost of living crisis. Energy and council tax going up this month which means an extra £90 added to our monthly outgoings. Closed a couple of savings accounts that we are no longer able to put savings into. 

Grateful today for my family… every single one of them. 

apple_muncher

Wishing you a fab time in Norway, ThriftyT.

Toni'sfriend

Have a lovely holiday, Thrifty. I went to Norway once, a very long time ago, to visit the family of a friend. A beautiful country. So clean and the people are so friendly.

Weill, if you'd told me three months ago that a visit to the cash line machine and a wander round Aldi was an adventure I'd have laughed but there you go. We really only needed milk but I bought some flowers to brighten up the living room and some violas in pots for the porch. Not very MSE but it'll be good for my feeling of wellbeing so it's money well spent.  I'm not really in the mood for planting just now so I've given a lot of seeds to my upstairs neighbour who is turning a bit of neglected spare ground into a flower bed. It might stop random people using it as a repository for their fast food containers and empty drinks cans. We can but hope!

Food has all come out of the freezer today and the same is planned for tomorrow. Did a few little jobs around the house whilst Himself wasn't looking. 

It's a lovely day. I hope you're all getting out and about.
 

lcc86

@Thrifty_Taylor have an amazing holiday!

Today is my non-working day and I've decided to try and make the most of these days to myself. I took myself out for breakfast at a beautiful but reasonably priced little café/tea room. Kept it healthy with granola, nuts, compote and natural yogurt. Then I drove to a local National Trust place and went for a walk. It was an absolute quagmire in parts but the sun was out and it was peaceful!

Came home and did some washing, have been able to put it outside for the first time this year. Cleaned the aquarium (all my plants are dying grrrr have had to order new ones and some fertiliser). 

Also ordered a birthday card and voucher for my sister's partner. So all in all a spendy day but nothing unexpected and all within budget.

Tomorrow I was meant to be working at the Old Bailey but the case has been adjourned. This saves me worrying about buying lunch, but I'm going out after work to meet some old work colleagues so likely to be a spendy one and a late one!

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for the sunshine, for a good revision session at school, for the coach company finding the lost passport wedged in a seat from last Thurs, for dc's hair looking fab after I bleached it, for a good book.

grandmanerd

My legs were very wobbly when I woke up so I did easy jobs - cut some strips of fabric into rags for cleaning and started to list all my seeds. I've done more than half and worked out which ones need using up first (found a couple of very ood ones but worth sticking them in compost to see if they germinate). Renewed all my library books online, then took 6 of them back and picked lots of new ones (they were due back today and renewing meant I didn't have to go if it was too hard). i did it but with lots of sitting down for a short break and sometimes I tried to get up and decided I needed to sit for a bit longer. 

I've had a full body workout over the course of the afternoon and evening. I checked the bin schedule at the same time as renewing my library books and they need to go out today for collection tomorrow (Tuesday instead of Wednesday). The glass, tins and plastics bin was nearly full and then the midnight pixies brought two large sacks full down. They've just bought a can crusher and as they were both going to sleep I said if they brought it down I would try to crush a few cans to get more in the bin (only collected every 3 weeks).

So I've alternated between sitting in the kitchen crushing cans, emptied the nearly full bin out and did more cans by stomping on them (holding on to two bins so I could lift my feet up without falling over) and sifting soil - separating out stone, brick and slate; sticks, weeds and dead leaves (I'd like to keep it, it's nearly leaf mould but I'm resisting - too many other things to do). Used the old hoe a lot to scrape things out of corners and into a heap and also used it to round up cans and make them go where I wanted them to. I have had breaks (came in for my 2 pm pill at 3 pm and spent about an hour reading on the bed) but everything hurts. I wanted to give up but I wanted the green and brown bins to be full for collecting (and not have sacks of cans hanging around for another 3 weeks).

It's taken me about an hour sitting downstairs before I felt well enough to get myself upstairs but I've had a shower and directed the jet of water onto several  problem areas and had a couple off painkillers (I'll add some ibuprofen gel when I find it. My pills are being delivered tomorrow so I'm going to claim the couch and nest with a pile of books. I've done lots of looking at options for the trellis and a number of other purchases and I'll probably do some ordering. I've brought some coloured pens and squared paper up for another project (might do that if I do my 1-2 hour awake in the middle of the night but I'll have time in the morning to sort out the layout I want.

Grateful for a good library visit, getting things done (and out of the house) and moisturiser (going to smother my hands and feet in a minute)

beanielou

@grandmanerd~~As always I do not know how you do it.
I salute you  

Starlight_at_Sea

Celebrating a stage further in the house purchase - mortgage application has been accepted! Am not sure I am financially fit for the move for another two paydays, and that's with a bit of short term help from a friend as really I had factored on three more paydays, but I think it will likely now go through faster than that. We'll see. It's the SDLT that ramps it up, as this will be at second home rate. 

Took a few hours off this afternoon and did some adventuring with mum. We got out of the house, found a new wheelchair-friendly cafe, and drove around a national trust parkland a bit, lovely views! Was good for both of us I think. I needed to get away from the screens given some of the political nausea that was happening today - all felt a bit close to home. 

I think today was a NSD - paid my credit card in full, but that was a pre-planned thing. I bought lunch, but mum paid Mr back. I booked a oven repair person, but they aren't coming for a few days and no bill yet! So think we might have made it to NSD #1! 

 

DrCarrie

Hi Turtles, 

Yesterday was NSD1/16 and no adventures. Two-hour a yoga session in the morning and an hour of yoga chat last night. with lots of work in between. I didn't get out at all and was very tired. 

I was grateful for, getting the washing dry outside, my commitment to myself and life via yoga, and food in the fridge. 

apple_muncher

I like the commitment to food in the fridge, DrCarrie!!!