Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

Bluegreen143

Back again quickly with a list for tomorrow.

Did I mention one of our chickens died? Sad, but obviously a fact of life. We’re down to two now. Red has apparently caved to Bambi tears and told her we can get chicks this summer!

List for tomorrow

• Update our net worth statement and either print off (in prep for having a money meeting with Red) or write out nicely. I have lots of rolled over prints left in our printing subscription so may as well print.
  
• Relatedly, look into cancelling printer subscription, as we so rarely print stuff off!
  
• Sew a Rainbows badge, and yet another Cub’s badge, onto jumpers!
  
• Think seriously about how I can fit some proper exercise into my routine and make a summer plan.
  
• Check the (many many) charity shop bags Bambi has cleared from her room with Red this week, to ensure it’s all suitable to donate and doesn’t include anything I want her to keep.

beanielou

Could you look in a charity shop for a bag for Bambi?

Bluegreen143

@beanielou possibly, I hate charity shop shopping as it’s so time consuming (generally you need to check a selection of shops and go regularly to keep an eye on what comes in) and right how I don’t have lots of free time where I could be going shopping. Or at least, if I do get some free time I want to spend it relaxing not trawling round charity shops!

It’s not in the slightest that we can’t afford the bag - bags from supermarkets or similar are really inexpensive and if her bag was worn out I would of course buy her one - more the parenting debate of what lessons she learns either way if I buy her a new one when the old one isn’t worn out. I haven’t had the chance to discuss with Red yet and either way it’s one to deal with over the summer - there’s only three weeks left of school!

Red is booking our car in for a service early July, we have started putting money aside in a YNAB pot which is pleasing. All our annual car expenses (tax, insurance and service) are due July/August so will be tough to fund given we just began budgeting again, but once they have passed we will be able to put aside 1/12 of the cost each month.

I did have to fend off Red, who wants to order Monkey’s replacement smartwatch right away. I told him there’s no money aside for it in YNAB but when I get paid I’ll budget for it (next Thursday).

He suggested he could buy it with his own account and the joint account could owe him - I had to point out that this is functionally no different than if I put it on a credit card for a week or raided the car insurance pot then put it back on payday. I’m determined not to do this (Red often will use this as a solution if the joint account is a bit short) as it just makes budgeting the next month harder, as all debt does. I think we need to be strict about the mindset of “if it’s not essential and there’s no money in the budget we don’t buy it”.

Today’s plan:

Bambi has an assembly/concert at school, so I’m taking some time back to go to that this morning. Will drive both the kids there rather than getting the school bus as it seems silly to put them on the bus then follow 30 minutes later (and they really love the odd day I can drive them to school, usually when I’m in the office). But annoyingly it does mean I’ll be there too long to use the free parking at Lidl.

Then, frantic work day as my afternoon is all meetings but I have quite a few things on my list 🙈.

Bambi has Rainbows today. Often Red and I spend an hour in the pub while she’s there, but we’re skipping this week. It obviously costs money but more importantly I’m not comfortable leaving Monkey at home even for an hour with no way to call us if he needs to. Plus after such a tiring week I can’t be bothered! Will suggest to Red that we take a drink out to the garden though (we have a covered area and patio heater) and let Monkey have some screen time so we do still get that time to reconnect.

Weekend Tesco order coming tonight, I’ll come on later and round up the mealplan etc.

Bluegreen143

Have had the sensible idea to just sit in the car and watch for traffic wardens until the assembly is about to start, then move to Lidl. Will buy some cotton wool pads as I need them and forgot to put in the delivery.

Mealplan for the weekend:

Fri - chicken satay, jasmine rice, green veg

Sat - (guests over) spaghetti meatballs, HM garlic foccacia, HM cookies & ice cream for dessert

Sun - roast chicken with mustard cream sauce, assorted veg, new potatoes

Tesco order (total £75.87)

Dinners:

• Beef mince
• Single cream
• Broccoli
• Grana padano
• Pork mince
• Green beans
• Whole chicken
• Breaded chicken strips (dinner party child is fussy and if we don’t use it’s a good emergency freezer thing to keep anyway)
• Garlic
• Spaghetti x2
• White wine vinegar
• Prawn crackers
• Tomato puree
• Fresh basil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Red peppers x2
• EV olive oil
• Fresh rosemary
• Chopped tomatoes x4
• Onions x2
• New potatoes

Breakfasts/lunches:

• Whole milk
• Butter
• Feta
• Mixed salad (also for Guinea pigs - will help to bulk out salad leaves from garden as well have some there)
• Ham
• Strawberries (could also count as a snack)
• Bananas (ditto)
• Cantaloupe melon (ditto)
• Frozen smoothie mix
• Mayonnaise
• Wholemeal rolls

Snacks/treats:

• 5x mini soft drink cans
• Instant decaf coffee
• Pain au chocolat x4
• Sharing crisps

Non-food:

• Antibacterial spray refill
• Hay (for Guinea pigs and chickens - normally don’t buy at Tesco as it’s not the cheapest but am nearly out)
• Bin bags (also not the cheapest at Tesco)

Our budget was £75 so this is ok! (We did buy wine too, but that comes from personal budgets).

I had a dilemma as the hay and bin bags can be had more cheaply at home bargains, but if Red goes there (as he works outside of the house it fits in his routine better than mine) he usually walks out having spent £30-50 - he can’t resist the place 🤣🙈. So I decided just to add the stuff to the Tesco order and keep him out of there.

sarah_diamond

I know you might have family preferences but you've included pain au chocolat on your t3sco order, we buy the l!dl ones - and that covers you for the parking thing too (caveat, I have no idea how much they are in t3sco but it's a pack of 8 for £1.40ish in wales at L!dl)

Edited to say, I totally understand the h0mebargains/bnm overspend - I can't go there too often!

Bluegreen143

It’s not at all about preferences, but I didn't know I was going to be parked at Lidl when I placed the order, and obviously no point buying more pain au chocolat from there once I had some coming already! Defos cheaper at Lidl though, think it was £1.30 for 4 at Tesco (but admittedly I bought the nicer pack not the cheapest)

For us it works better to shop online rather than in person in Lidl, we can really scrutinise and amend the order that way. Plus it’s the time factor to shop in person which is a struggle just now.

Bluegreen143

Haven’t updated our net worth statement yet, or checked the charity shop bags, but I did sew a Rainbows badge on and chat to Red about the printer ink subscription.

It turns out we’ve only printed 86 pages in the last year, at a cost of £54 for the subscription. Oh dear!

We’ve agreed to cancel the subscription and can get a black ink cartridge from Tesco for £10 and I’d imagine it’ll last for ages. We’ll skip the coloured ink for now - I can’t imagine a scenario where it would be disastrous if we needed to print in black & white!

In other news, Red & I had a budget “date” by sitting in the garden with drinks while Bambi was at Rainbows and Monkey . It was lovely! We had a lot of chat relevant to the budget; Red wants to have a cheaper holiday next year and save up for some home improvements instead. Food for thought. You may remember we tried to save for a new kitchen last year, but had to use the savings towards replacing our car when it died.

Also began making decisions about kids’ activities next school year. Monkey is sorted and will be under £35p/m for his chosen sport + Scouts, same as this year.

Bambi is extremely awkward as (despite not being in the least shy) she’s highly nervous about trying new things. She’ll do Brownies but is spiralling about choosing something else instead of gymnastics, which she wants to finish up. (While it would be cheaper and easier for us to let her do nothing, I feel strongly about expanding her comfort zone).

Whatever we pick, I’m keen to keep Wednesdays free as we had a club every night Mon-Thurs this year, with social plans almost every Friday after school, and it did feel like a lot!

beanielou

Good to have a couple of club free nights.

Bluegreen143

Morning all! Finally starting to feel recovered from my two weeks of overtime/travel. It’s lovely to feel human again! My DH will be glad as he’s been picking up the slack at home.

Today’s list:

• Cancel printer ink subscription - done already!
• Send email to cancel gymnastics - also done
• Sort through Bambi charity shop bags so we can donate this weekend
• Book dentist appointments for me and the kids
• Enquire if Bambi can do her trial sessions of the activities she’s considering before the summer break, so we can just make the decision and not wait to do trials in late August
• Stretch goal - bake some snacks for the weekend

Bluegreen143

Today’s list:

• Cancel printer ink subscription - done already!
• Send email to cancel gymnastics - also done
• Sort through Bambi charity shop bags so we can donate this weekend  Done
• Book dentist appointments for me and the kids
• Enquire if Bambi can do her trial sessions of the activities she’s considering before the summer break, so we can just make the decision and not wait to do trials in late August  Done, and she’s booked into one
• Stretch goal - bake some snacks for the weekend

Not as bad as it looks with my list today, sorting the charity shop bags took ages! Cleaned the downstairs bathroom too and did rather a lot of general tidying.

Spent an hour and a quarter at the park after school with friends - lovely sunny weather. Not quite free fun, as paid for parking, but at least fairly frugal! Even took my knitting with me so was able to get a bit done.

Got a deliberately quieter weekend ahead. A slow day tomorrow - will likely take the kids to the park or for a swim. Then friends over for dinner. On Sunday Red is taking Monkey to another city for his sport tournament. I’ll be taking Bambi to a party, but local to home and only for a couple of hours - I’ll be relaxing or pottering at home the rest of the time, I hope!

Spending update:

£5 - parking

£2.50 - Monkey weekly pocket money

£6.50 - paid Monkey for various chores through the week