£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Week 35: Day 6

Morning! A day of catching up on house stuff and trying to clear some of my To Do list before the weekend starts (I am working tomorrow, but I like to have a full day's work clear of little nagging jobs when I can). Also have to go and watch the older DCs in their harvest service, which means brining DC3 with food to keep quiet for the duration!

Christmas present news; I've been keeping a note so far of spends. I budgeted £120 for all the adult presents we need to buy this Christmas (14 adults but mostly couples, so 8 gifts to plan). Have decided on a hyacinth pot and a small homemade candle/hm fudge each for those I'd like to give a little more to (maybe 4 couples). So far the hyacinths have come out at a total of £48 even allowing a generous £25 for the actual bulbs from the garden centre today (in case they are more expensive than the online place). Even if I have to buy some new essential oils and glass jars for candles or baking ingredients, I'm confident I can bring the adult gifts in for well under £100, which I'm really pleased with.

To do today
1. menu plan and food shopping list for tonight/tomorrow morning, including batch cooking ingredients for Sunday (this may bump the price up a little as I'd like to get a handful of different packed lunch options made).
2. 35 items on the To Do list. The mission is to get that clear before the end of the day, and sensibly reschedule anything left, rather than just carrying it over to tomorrow.
3. buy hyacinth bulbs.
4. ask school about hot packed lunches.

To do this week
1. Continue to plan Christmas gifts.
2. Plant hyacinth bulbs.
3. Charity shop trawl for stocking fillers and hyacinth planters.
4. Library ebooks.

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Currently budgeted at £3,376.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts.

Silver_Queen wrote: »

14 adults for under £100 is amazing! I won't even confess how much I've budgeted for Christmas

Oh go on, it will give everyone someone new to be horrified at .

DawnW wrote: »

Love your Christmas present ideas TOPM, much nicer than buying items that would probably never get used. Especially for older folks who don't want more 'stuff'
Remember to ask for 'prepared' hyacinths though, if you want them to flower around Christmas indoors

My mum always says she has enough 'stuff' to see her through till she dies, she likes consumables/things that don't last.

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I love the fact that you have postponed your planned meal to next week to use up all the leftovers (this is our particular weakness - with a collection of random plastic things of indeterminate origin in the freezer). One of the grocery challenge people decided this was happening so often that she now aims to make her weekly shop last an extra day every week. That is fine if you can change when you shop but I try to buy for four days and adapt what I have in for the rest, which helped me cut down a lot.

We usually freeze leftovers, but for some reason it didn't happen this week, which is why they needed using up - they usually get used as emergency meals or for DH's lunches.

Quick list round up before bed

To do today
1. menu plan and food shopping list for tonight/tomorrow morning, including batch cooking ingredients for Sunday (this may bump the price up a little as I'd like to get a handful of different packed lunch options made). Done. I think the shop is going to come in fairly expensively, which is irritating, but it should knock a noticeable sum off the shop for the next few weeks. The proof will be in the pudding (or batch cooking).
2. 35 items on the To Do list. The mission is to get that clear before the end of the day, and sensibly reschedule anything left, rather than just carrying it over to tomorrow. Down to a measly little nine items to add to however many I have planned in for tomorrow. It says something about my schedule at the moment that I am considering this a huge success.
3. buy hyacinth bulbs. Not done, garden centre in the morning.
4. ask school about hot packed lunches. Not done, forgot.

To do this week
1. Continue to plan Christmas gifts.
2. Plant hyacinth bulbs.
3. Charity shop trawl for stocking fillers and hyacinth planters. Done.
4. Library ebooks. Done. Need to test on DC1's mp3 player, but working on my phone, hurrah!

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Currently budgeted at £3,376.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts.

Week 35: Day 7

Wow, another week coming to an end. Crazy how it goes by. This has been such a stressful week with all the work stuff hanging over me. I'm feeling a little more zen about it now, but looking forward to the meeting I'm having on Tuesday and having a clearer path ahead.

Some energy on my smaller business has paid off - nothing major, but an hour or two's work earlier in the week and it made perhaps £35 profit within a day or two. Going to spend some more time on it today. Nothing like the profit of my main business, but it does have the advantage of being much more reliable in terms of work in = profit (albeit small) out.

My list has a piddly little 19 things on it today, of which I have already done three. Always makes me feel a little less stressed to not have 9,000 things hanging over me.

To do today
1. food shopping.
2. buy hyacinth bulbs.
3. plant hyacinth bulbs.
4. try ebooks on DC1's MP3 player
5. Assuming the above works, check entire audible library is downloaded and cancel membership. Even if it's only for a few months it will help.
6. check HMRC childcare account - at some point I have to confirm the 30hrs funding for next term and I am terrified of missing the slot.

To do this week
1. Continue to plan Christmas gifts.
2. Plant hyacinth bulbs.
3. Charity shop trawl for stocking fillers and hyacinth planters. Done.
4. Library ebooks. Done. Need to test on DC1's mp3 player, but working on my phone, hurrah!

To do this month
1. keep the total spend for the month below £3,500. Currently budgeted at £3,376.
2. work a sensible number of hours, even if it means slower progress on the work and debt front. September was rubbish. This is going well so far.
3. make any homemade Christmas gifts.