Settling in for the long haul

Dakota_Rose

Today’s MSE win was down to Mr D, who has scratched his arms to ribbons replacing my car’s boot struts. Now, these cost £800-£850 to have replaced at the car dealership and we purchased the brand new parts online for £82 and Mr D has replaced them this morning. Once again, he’s earned his keep 😊.

In other money-sensible news, boys had home hair cuts yesterday and we were £15 under budget for our 4-daily food shop. Today will be a NSD.

Dakota_Rose

We’ve decided to place our Christmas savings into premium bonds. They won’t be there long but they’ll be earning next to no interest in the bank short term, so they may as well be in with a chance of winning something in the meantime. £500 put in today, and another £500 to follow at the end of September. We will start to prepare for Christmas at the start of November at the latest so any further money will likely be in and out of the sinking fund then.

Dakota_Rose

Another NSD here today. Had a quick visit to Mum’s this morning to collect Little Miss who had been for a sleepover (or three), then back home for Mr D’s pancakes which were delicious as always. The rest of the day has been spent lounging and reading for me, playing and relaxing for the others. Dinner tonight will be chicken curry using the leftover chicken from yesterday’s roast.

All in all, a very satisfactory day! Hope everyone else has had a good weekend.

Dakota_Rose

I read a crazy amount yesterday, finishing my book at 11pm, then struggling to fall asleep and then dreaming about the blooming thing most of the night before waking early this morning 🙈. I suppose that’s the sign of an engaging book though and I’m on holidays so can get away with it.

The book I finished was the second in the ‘A Court Of Thorns and Roses’ series. I found the first slow going in places as there were so many new characters and a lot of new information to absorb, but was completely absorbed in the second half. I can see how people have got addicted to them! I’d rate it 9/10 and will have to think about ordering the third in the series now. The first two books I picked up on offer from Sainsbury’s for under £3 each for my holiday. They’ve gone back up in price now but as I think I would reread them in the future, I’m tempted to buy the next one rather than borrow. There were a few times when reading book 2, that I dipped back in to book 1 for reference.

Anyway, my challenge is going well. I should be on track to complete it if work does not completely take over in the next few months.

26 books for 2026

1.You Are Here (easy read) 9/10

2. The Seven Murders of Evelyn Hardcastle (time-travelling murder mystery) 9.5/10

3. Love Untold (ending made a middling read worthwhile) 8/10

4. Way Back (engaging easy read with a farm theme and a few typos) 8.5/10

5. The Cuckoo’s Calling (first of the Strike detective novels) 8.5/10

6. Yellowface (‘too awful to look away’ page-turner) 10/10

7. A Thousand Splendid Suns (emotive, heavy but worthwhile read) 10/10

8. Before the coffee gets cold (Japanese coffee-shop time-travelling scenarios) 8/10

9. Us Three (screenplay-style friendship story) 9/10

10. The Twyford Code (a puzzle within a puzzle) 9/10

11. The Shock of the Fall (first person narrative with flashbacks - includes childhood trauma told sensitively and with humour woven throughout) 8/10

12. Guilty (lots of shock factor details, but predictable storyline) 7.5/10

13. The Falls (Scottish detective novel) 8.5/10

14. The Examiner (murder mystery told through emails and messages) 8.5/10

15. First Blood (prequel to a favourite detective series) 10/10

16. We Solve Murders (cosy murder mystery) 8.5/10

17. A Court of Thorns and Roses (fantasy romance) 9/10

18. A Court of Mist and Fury (second in the ACOTAR series) 9/10

Dakota_Rose

A new month is here and the first couple of direct debits have come out of the bank. Nothing unplanned has been spent today but we went out for our four-daily food shop which is still going well as it is the perfect amount to avoid a top up shop and everything stays fresh and to a menu that we’re still in the mood for. I hope we can continue to make it work once we’re all back in our school/work routine.

Nothing else to report really. As it’s our final week off it feels like we should be living life to the max but I always feel better preparing the house and everything for a calm return to work and school. We have a seventh week off this year and it feels lovely and long. Beyond household tasks and decluttering, my last week leisure activities will mostly be made up of reading, sewing (Christmas presents) and walking (the walking pad has been used almost daily since purchase and I’m feeling the benefit of it already). I will also do a full day’s work on Friday.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

I’ve just got into ACOTAR… kindle had the bundle of 5 books recently for about £20 I think. I started the first book last week and have been obsessed, I’ve just finished the 3rd book 🫪. I’m having a little break before I start book 4 😂… books 6 & 7 are coming out later in the year 🤩

DancingInTheRain

Great to hear the 4 daily shop is working out. Might have to borrow that idea from you to help put some structure in for us as we're a bit higgledy-piggledy with me not working regular days and DH being a combo of travelling for work or working remotely at home.

Enjoy your last few days off.

Dakota_Rose

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82122338#Comment_82122338

That’s a great deal! I’ve just treated myself to book 3 from my personal spends. I’ve started with the paperbacks now so will need to continue with them for the bookshelf 😂.

Dakota_Rose

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82122438#Comment_82122438

Give it a go and see what you think. For a family of five, it’s taken us ages to find a ‘sweet spot’ for weekly shops as the kids seem to inhale fresh fruit and treats!

Dakota_Rose

This week is flying by though it continues to be pretty chilled. Today has not been a no-spend-day (or low spend either), but all purchases have been useful.

I took Mum out shopping this afternoon and I picked up some birthday treats for littlest and a few bits from home spends, such as some Tupperware type items. I managed to limit this to the exact pieces we needed though by doing a Tupperware inventory (aka clearing out the cupboard of doom) before I went. We now have one lunch box and insulated bag per person on the bottom shelf, spare storage containers for soup, sandwiches and snacks on the middle shelf, and one water bottle and one insulated cup per person on the top shelf. You can call me Dakota Stacey Hinch 😂. Home Bargains just can’t be beaten for things like this, and I got a lidded soup mug, lidded microwave bowl, two airtight pots for yogurts and fruit for a little over £5.

My other happy find of the day was a 5kg bag of bath salts for £4.99. These were on my list and I had just picked up the cheapest choice which was £2.99 but for only 1kg. The massive bag it had to be. Home Bargains can also not be beaten for not-on-the-list items making their way into your trolley. There were a few of them too but could all be covered by various pots and are things that will come in very useful - I just didn’t know I needed them before I went in 🙈. An example being 2 boxes of breakfast biscuits and a box of porridge sachets for my work breakfasts over the next 7 weeks. The price was so good, I grabbed them while I could see them. Another thing was a birthday gift for littlest that I’d seen online and had dithered over that was half the price on the shelf. All in all, the whole trolley came to £56 and was covered by the home spends, birthdays and personal spends pots.

We were discussing littlest’s birthday cake when back at Mum’s. Now when the older two were little our close friend would spoil them with the most amazing birthday cakes fit for royalty. Those days have gone and we’re all usually happy with a simple sponge cake. As littlest is having a special party, we wanted him to have a special cake too as a one-off. The themed ones I had my eye on we just can’t justify the cost of, and can’t be delivered if pre-made and purchased as seen slightly cheaper online. So, we opted for a really lovely Patisserie V offer, serves 20 and will look pretty special with an added topper which we already have. We got a discount code and went through TCB, so I’m happy with this. Will need to navigate the dry ice packaging and defrosting the day before the party though.

Well what a lot of waffle for not a lot of goings-on that was!

In other news, we didn’t win anything on premium bonds so I really will have to return to work next week! Congrats to those who had better luck this time 😊.