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

Bluegreen143

Going to keep a running list on here of “stuff” needing bought (outwith food/consumables) to serve as a thirty day list if it’s not essential (rather than just going off and ordering it!) and also remind me to check out buying stuff second hand, borrowing, making do etc. 

“Stuff” to buy/borrow/make/mend:

1. Navy jogging bottoms for Monkey - both his current pairs have small holes or stains, which is OK for playing at home but not for sending to school for PE.

2. Check that Monkey has enough branded school jumpers in correct size (if not, should be able to make do until next second hand sale at school. They are £4 second hand but £27 new!). 

3. Non stick/ceramic coated frying pan as ours isn’t in good nick anymore.

beanielou

£27 for a primary school jumper!!! 

Lies in a darkened room. 

fionaandphil

Lots of the school uniform kit at the supermarket has jogging bottoms just now. I'm sure I saw some in Aldi and Tesco in navy and black

zcrat41

Hello, really enjoying your diary. Like you, we’re a family of 4 with a tendency to overspend and a love if making UPF free home food! 

We have a great repair shop near us that sews up tears in jogging bottoms or patches them over. So far I’ve got away with my kids being proud of that as they’re helping the planet. Might not be a able to get away with it as we hit the style conscious teenage years!! 

With a tricky few months ahead to get back on the level is it worth restraining the holiday budget by a little bit? Maybe £150 on food not £200? Can either if you do any overtime ir side hustles to get over this hump? Once you have those pots in place and the cc paid off things will be ok on your income. 

Bluegreen143

Morning all!

Yes, £27!!! I’ve only ever bought a couple new for Monkey though in his time at school and managed to get the rest at the second hand stall. I got Bambi one new one for starting school and two second hand. 

Next time they have one I’ll snap up next sizes for both kids to grow into as inevitably they’ll outgrow them when there is no second hand sale planned! One year they put them on every month which was fab but usually it seems to just be a couple of times a year at school events. 

Monkey’s joggers are both beyond repair really but I will try to get better about mending things! 

Re holiday budget. Realistically I don’t think we will spend less than that but I may suggest to Red we both contribute say £50 from our personal budget to the pot which reduces the pressure on the joint budget. 

Neither of us can do overtime and I don’t have any side hustles. I really don’t have any spare time to do the likes of surveys and don’t find it a good use of time tbh for the amount you earn. I reckon I save more using that time doing some cooking or mending or something!

I could much more effectively increase my earnings by going full time at work given I have a decent salary (I currently work 32 hours a week and FT is considered 37) but I REALLY don’t want to do this. I find it difficult to balance work and home and kids as it is. 

Red is allowed to sell excess copper wastage from his work and does that twice a year for a couple of hundred £, he does have a bunch saved up which he was going to sell before the holiday but I don’t think he’s had time to strip and prepare it yet. 

Right. Plan for today. Last day of work before two weeks’ leave!! I’ve done decently at getting everything done in advance this time (I was soooooo stressed out before my last lot of leave!). I’m not finished my big project but I think I’ll get it done enough to hand over in the time I have today.

After work I’m taking both kids for a playdate to Monkey’s friend’s house and I’ll have a good catch up with the mum, who is lovely. I think I’ll brave us all cycling over as it’s only a mile away and unlike most of the places round here, it’s not a hilly route. You don’t have to pay for parking there but it’ll save a little fuel if we cycle. 

Tonight we’re having hot dogs. We haven’t any barbecue coals in so will likely cook them inside. We do have absolutely tons of firewood though so could maybe cook on a wood fire (we have both a fire pit and a clay pizza oven) - I do like to try to cook outdoors sometimes in the summer! Red wants to watch the olympics opening ceremony with the kids after. 

Plan for tomorrow is to try out the new inflatable kayak as the weather looks OK. 

Bluegreen143

Oh small MSE win to report. We’d hired Monkey’s violin on a hire to buy scheme and Red thought we owned it now. I got him up call and check and turns out you don’t own it for two years so he’d have had another direct debit coming out soon (it’s once a quarter). As Monkey has given up lessons and not chosen to touch the violin all summer it would have been annoying to have another bill out so glad we found out in time to return it to the shop. 

Just as I said about mending things Bambi has come in asking me to sew up two holes in her stuffed animal so I guess that starts from tonight! 

And thanks @f@fionaandphil - we have a big Tesco near us so will get the joggers there. 

FlorayG

Go to HomeSense/TKMaxx if you have one for your new frying pan - and look on the 'bargains' shelf first. They have really nice quality stuff sometimes half price

Bluegreen143

Good tip FlorayG!

MSE to-do list:

1. Return Monkey’s violin (Red is to do this - putting it on here so it’s not forgotten)

2. Make hummus for the weekend. Also considering baking some cookies or twinks hobnobs. I’ve not baked in ages because of healthy living goals, but it may soften the blow of buying fewer weekend treats if I start occasionally baking again! 

3. Mend Bambi’s toy

4. Cut up brown bananas & freeze - ✔️ (well one made it in there and Bambi wanted the other 😅)

5. Cut up old stained polo shirts for cleaning rags 

6. Decide if old favourite dress can be mended - it’s a very light, floaty, patterned maxi dress and has been mended three times already - the fabric is worn thin by a lot of use and it rips more easily now - but I really like it so going to investigate if I can mend it again or not 🙈

7. Finish next week’s mealplan & Tesco order, keeping it under £91 ideally 

8. Sort fridge and check for food needing used up quickly

9. Take kids to the library and swap books (maybe tomorrow if we’ve time before kayaking?)

10. Not really MSE, except mess & disorder tend to make you spend more IMO - but I want to declutter and organise our living room and dining room shelves and move things around 

11. Switch my Audible account (comes from my personal spend fund) to annual to save quite a bit. 

EDIT TO ADD

12. Finish knitting jumper I’m knitting for Monkey before it’s too small for him! 

Bluegreen143

Mealplan for next week

M - chicken shawarma pittas w/hummus and salad
T - salmon, rice and veg
W - meatball spaghetti & salad 
Th - minestrone soup 
F - HM pizza 
Sa - Red and I out for dinner* / kids staying with my parents 
Su - chicken pie, veg, mash

Will get usual fruit, yoghurt, milk, bread, salad stuff, ham etc in for breakfasts and lunches.

* We have a £50 voucher for a posh steak place Red got for his birthday in Feb so going to use it up on a date night. It will cost more than £50 but we’ll split the cost between our personal spending pots. Will investigate if we can bus there and save on a taxi (we’ll need a taxi home) - it’s about 2.5 miles away and I’d be up for a lovely stroll there (if it’s dry) but not sure Red would be!

Bluegreen143

Aaaaaand I had forgotten that Red’s pay will be a little short this month because of his unpaid parental leave. My unpaid leave (we both take two weeks a year to help with childcare in school holidays) is divided up by my employer over 12 months (so you don’t notice it) but his comes off the month he takes it. I did know about it, obviously, but thought it was all coming off September’s pay rather than one week off August and one week off September. 

He will be paid around £2,150 which equates to £1,650ish in our joint budget, rather than the £1,800-1,900 I was expecting. On the flip side his September pay will be higher than expected. 

Hmmm. Will sit down over the weekend and plan out next month’s budget!