Settling in for the long haul

Dakota_Rose

Declaring early that today should be a no spend day. We’re getting short of our usual meal choices but we’ll survive the day I’m sure. We have plenty of food in the cupboards and fridge, including bread, cereals, waffles, eggs, cheese and biscuits so will make do. Think dinner tonight will be jacket potatoes with cheese and beans.

I’ve just remembered that we saved most of the mushroom pate and half the profiterole stack from our Valentine’s meal - they were delicious but very rich.

I feel so much better this morning after my third early night in a row. I was definitely on the edge of burnout so the rest was needed. Mr D brought hot tea and mini hot cross buns up for breakfast in bed this morning - which felt like a real treat. Will try and stay awake long enough this evening to watch the next episode of Bridgerton and enjoy a glass of wine tonight!

The extra ££ that have been thrown at the emergency fund this month has had a positive knock-on effect on future monthly budgets. I have enjoyed diverting the leftover amounts to new priorities in March and April’s spreadsheets. Hopefully more to go before the end of Feb.

It has already felt like a productive morning as I’ve gathered all my (ancient) scrapbooking materials up for mum, who has taken it up as a new hobby. All those years collecting tools and resources means that I’m able to gift her a lovely bundle when I pick Little Miss up today.

Dakota_Rose

I’m glad to report back that it was indeed a no spend day.

We had a nice few hours out visiting family and exchanged our wares. In return for my craft selection, mum had a large pack of white printer paper, sticky syrup sponge pudding and custard as well as two tins of tomato soup. She was sure they’d just gather dust in her cupboard so I was happy to take them. My brother had baked a fresh loaf for us and we had taken him a bottle of fizz (leftover from Christmas) as a thank you for his most recent clear out items (including a very expensive fan and steam mop!) a load of posh teabags in individual wrappers that wouldn’t be used in our house and a book. It does make you realise how much ‘stuff’ we have in our homes but we were glad to have been useful to one another and it felt like we all had some new treats to enjoy.

When I got home, it looked like I had been to market. Dinner is suitably sorted though with soup and bread for the boys, and jacket potatoes as planned for the girls.

It is a relief not to have school to prepare for tonight. We will be relaxing with a good book, bath and hopefully a bit of yoga before the tele tonight.

Artyfarty86

Sounds like a good day, especially as a no spend!!

Dakota_Rose

Thanks @Artyfarty86 - should never complain about a no spend day if we’re comfortable should we. The less we spend, the more we appreciate what we already have!

carboot_karaoke

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81886337#Comment_81886337

Very true 😊 the best things in life are one that don't cost money.

I love the idea of swapping items money saving, and no waste. I've been to clothes swaps with friends before, but actually l have lots of "bits" l don't know what to do with.

Dakota_Rose

It’s probably a sign that we’ve all bought things we didn’t really need or want in the past @carboot_karaoke but it does feel a bit cleansing to be able to put our belongings to use elsewhere doesn’t it.

I try to be far more mindful of what I spend my money on nowadays. It does tend to be that we ‘buy once, buy right’ now as I have got so sick of buying cheaply thinking I’m saving money for the item to be not quite right, or substandard and disappointing before too long. For example, I am currently saving a little of my personal spends each month for a replacement pair of sunglasses. I have a pair I love, that Mr D bought me around 4 years ago, but they are scratched on one lens and very blurry as a result. I couldn’t believe the difference in quality having only ever owned supermarket ones. Due to having sensitive eyes, I wear them year round for driving and when I get migraines and so I think it’s worth buying a good quality pair.

Today was NOT a no-spend day. We needed groceries and drill bits for fitting some outdoor lights to our house. Mr D indulged in a new pan for pancakes tomorrow and packaging tape for a big item he has sold and needs to post. I also ordered the first Strike book as recommended on here and was quite happy to find a used copy in very good condition for £3.30 online. Have treated myself to this from my personal spends. Then eldest had a game voucher he wanted to put towards a more expensive game, so he has been put to work in the garden clearing leaves to earn the extra few pounds. A very expensive day if you add it all up. Thankfully, having allocated pots for all our spends means it has been covered within budget.

Little Miss has been keeping the money-saving faith going today though. She has cleaned and polished her old electronic keyboard and I’ve listed it for sale on her behalf.

Littlest one had a very sad face leaving the shops empty handed today. Anyone passing would have felt very sorry for him with his puckered lip and tears. All of this, dear reader, was for the fact that I would not buy him a pair of ladies’ reading glasses he so dearly had his heart set on taking home with him.

A nice snack plate cheered him up once we got home and we are all looking forward to some family meals again after a few days of use-it-ups. Tonight will be spag bol, which is always a hit.

I have received the first of (many I expect) the April pay-increase emails today. Our broadband is due to go up by £3 a month. It’s still a reasonable price but I clicked onto our upgrades and offers just to be sure we have the best deal. It turns out that we could be having double the amount of broadband speed for the same price so I have upgraded and will begrudgingly update my spreadsheet for coming months to reflect the higher price. It remains to be seen whether we see any difference in performance though!

Dakota_Rose

I am really enjoying being off work this week and it feels like a week of Sundays. Very relaxed and no big plans to do anything other than jobs around the house, reading and relaxation.

Mr D took littlest one out to run some errands in the car and I took the older two out to blow off the cobwebs on a nice fresh dog walk. We’re very lucky to live within walking distance of fields with public footpaths so it doesn’t take too long to feel miles away from it all. There are signs of spring everywhere now and it does make things feel a little more hopeful again.

The rest of the day will be pottering about and we have a roast dinner to look forward to. There is a movie I have promised I will watch with Little Miss as she is going to the cinema with a friend later in the week to watch the sequel. The nearby city has an animal and conservation park with free children’s entry over half term, so we have booked to take the kids (plus a friend) there for the afternoon tomorrow. £17 for all of us is great, and has been covered by the family treats pot.

Dakota_Rose

A little bit of money spent today from the family treats pot as planned. We bought tickets for a nearby animal park a couple of days ago, which the children enjoyed but it didn’t pass as much time as we expected. It was fairly small and extremely cold so after an hour or so, we had to call it a day to get warmed up and some lunch. A lunch out was bought for the children and Mr D treated the two of us to an M&S lunch of sandwiches and soup.

The rest of the day was spent at home, reading and relaxing. We still have not made our roast dinner bought on Monday as we’ve stretched other meals so that is still to look forward to. Tomorrow will be a low spend day as we need dog food and dishwasher tablets.

Have felt very low on motivation and energy today as I’m fending off a migraine. Think it will need to be some paracetamol and an early night tonight. These have been more regular over the past two years and definitely hormone-related as I seem to go down with one once at a similar point each month.

On a more positive note, both items I listed for sale on Monday have sold. Little Miss sold her keyboard the same day for £50 so that’s topped her savings pot up nicely and a very large plant I couldn’t rehome via family is hopefully being collected tomorrow. That will be another £10 towards the emergency fund 😊 I wasn’t going ask for anything for it, but others were selling at a far higher price so I thought it was worth a try. Someone will be very happy to have it but unfortunately it’s just too big for our bathroom now.

Cherryfudge

I haven't tried this tip but some people say you can cut dishwasher tablets in half to make the packet last twice as long. They've even posted about it on YouTube.

Dakota_Rose

Well that’s something to consider @Cherryfudge! We don’t spend a great deal on them to be honest as will usually buy when on offer (or snap up a box when we get a free cleaning item voucher in Lidl). The dishwasher only goes on once a day too. However, ours is smaller than most, so may well work fine with half a tablet. Will experiment and report back!