Budget - what budget?

This month we have had a few more expenses than I had hoped. Some have been planned, some have been unplanned, I am sick of it.

So far, off the top of my head for this pay packet, darling father's tv, little bear's party, sister in law's anniversary - I don't usually bother but this is her pearl anniversary, two close birthdays which we buy for, the car (still ongoing) and we NEED to replace darling father's chair (probably Wednesday). I am sure that there is more, but I am just too depressed thinking about it.

The latest hit the budget is taking is a skip. A few months ago Nice Mr Next Door suggested that we pool together to get a skip, that is us, Next Door, and Next Door's two sons who are taking over Next Door but One after they have shovelled all the rubbish out of it. It is probably coming next week.

We could really do with the skip. We need to get rid of darling father's old chair, a broken compost bin that is taking up too much room and a broken exercise bike (not broken through use, I might add). We can't get the council to come and collect it. In theory we are entitled to so many free collections per year. In practice, even if there are no cars in the road, the council workers look at our road and say that they couldn't gain access - every time!

We could really benefit from our share of the skip. It is a large one, and pooling in will still be cheaper and it is one skip taking up room in the street rather than another smaller one later. However it has been dragging on for so long that I had almost forgotten to worry about the cost. Sigh.

I have to pay for the holiday next month, and that should be okay. However the latest idea is that we take the half term holiday in October away and while we are away get the laminate floor fitted. That's easily £1000 to find in six months. We need the carpets replacing, they are a health hazard and worn beyond hope. OH does actually need the break before the Christmas rush. I will think of something.

Bless him, darling father has paid for his tv, though I felt bad for taking the money. The cash is now on my desk ready to pay for the car.

On the bright side, after sorting through so many knitting magazines, I am not tempted to buy any more in the short term. Long may that continue!

Not another thing

Well, so far I have a list of things I really want to get - a stair carpet for the stairs to the kitchen, because a hole in the stair carpet is dangerous, a dishwasher because the sink is set so washing up hurts my back and a table top one is likely to cost £139, the holiday to which we are committed, wallpaper, paint, new carpets as all of ours apart from the one in little bear's room are fit only to be condemned and around 20 years old, the bathroom needs to be completely re-done because it isn't really working and one of the struts under the bath has gone...

Obstacles have started to creep in - the problem with the car missing which Nice Mr Next Door thinks is a fuel filter, little bear's birthday party to pay for, darling father's chair needs to be replaced, little bear has needed new vests and is about to need new shoes...

And last night the washing machine went. I was feeling really, really, really poorly so I set the washing machine machine off and crawled onto the sofa. A part of my mind noted that the machine was going, then there was a bang rather than a click and it stopped, but I really didn't feel able to investigate. This morning the power is off and the washing machine door is firmly stuck. Sigh. Most of little bear's school trousers are inside there. I shall investigate the fuse situation, which seems the most likely, after little bear goes to school. However I have been feeling so poorly that I had earmarked today to be asleep. Instead, if it is not a fuse, then today is a 'wait in for the washing machine repair man and clean kitchen so that I won't get reported to Social Services' day.

I hope we are not going to get another spell of everything breaking at the same time. Two years ago we ended up spending around £6k in six months on broken printer, new television as little bear was trying to pull the old style, heavy one forward and it scared me, new gear box, new central heating (it broke completely), new washing machine (thanks OH), new sink unit (old one was collapsing) etc. I don't think I can cope with that again.

Budget? What Budget?

Little bear has a larger than average head. That is, his head is slightly larger than average, though modesty isn't that brilliant either. So t-shirts and jumpers have to be stretched to go over, OH is the same.

Last night, as once again he got his polo shirt all caught up in his ears, and he was undressing himself so he got himself tangled, I had a bit of a light bulb moment. So far he has been wearing lovely, light weight, easy to care for polo shirts. This morning I ordered some white proper shirts in his size.

I know it will mean extra ironing and it will be a little less informal looking (still my little baby), but little bear will have that extra bit of comfort.

Of course while I was on the site (George, through quidco) a few extras slipped into the basket, like some school sweatshirts (that are fine going over his head) in the next size up as his are looking faded and a bit short, and some socks as I swear there is a sock eating monster. I also got some socks for OH as well as his are looking dreadful.

So there is £40 gone. Fortunately I am doing okayish with the shopping. I have bad days. But the delivery is coming in at around £30 per week (without alcohol) at the moment, and I think I can get that down as well. All I need to do is focus.

Blown Budget

We are nowhere near the breadline, however we could really, really, really do with watching the pennies as little bear will need a proper keyboard as ours is just that bit short and so I could do with scraping that money together as well as the holiday money.

But when OH said that he was popping into Matalan to buy a pair of jeans, I said, 'Buy two pairs! And have a look at work trousers! And look at the shirts! And don't forget to look at the underwear!' Before OH went he had one pair of jeans and one pair of work trousers. Just getting him to consider the possibility of thinking about perhaps buying some clothes is a miracle. Stuff the budget, get some necessities!

And yes, I would buy them for him but I do feel that he is an adult, I am not his mother, so really it is up to him to buy clothes. Also, he hides his size from me, so he has to try things on.

I have also spent on clothes. This I regret. However having only two nighties that I want little bear to wake me up in (as he does most mornings) and one of them is torn and the other is splashed with paint (long story), when I found a site with a special offer, I clicked 'Buy'. The gloves I am less guilty about.

Considering the budget

Yesterday I was making lunch, and I was shocked as I tallied up the electricity. As it is a basement kitchen I needed the light on. Then the washing machine and tumble drier were both on - if I am going to tumble dry then the warm air coming out of the separate drier is very welcome. The toaster and the microwave were both on as I was making 'poached' eggs on toast for the lunch. Then I thought about the dehumidifiers (very inexpensive to run, but not free), computers, televisions, radio alarms, etc and shivered. I could almost hear my purse emptying.

Clothes have to be clean, so I will do a regular trick and wash dirtier clothes for longer, rather than at higher temperature. I believe that a lot of the energy in a washing machine goes to heating the water. And sometimes I will need to use a drier, especially at this time of year, but if I were more organised I could dry more on airers. I will get in the habit of feeding the washing machine often. The exercise of hunting all over the house for OH and little bear's clothes will be good for me.

Then the matter of taking nibbles to the concert. It cost me £5.50. If I was a little more organised I could have either bought better/less expensive or made them. In fact, it will be better all round if I baked more and bought less. I think in some circumstances, home made is definitely socially better. It is usually less expensive even with the fuel costs added on, often healthier and I have a load of recipes.

The freezer is looking a little lighter, as I finally cooked the pork joint that has been sitting there, looking at me since New Year's Eve. I had bought it as a 'special treat' for then, so it was a huge tin tray with a rather small piece of pork in which had been all trussed and stuffed for the alleged 'added value' and for £5 fed us only once. Though it was really, really nice, it is still only a 'special'. There is still a long way to go, however, as I would still think twice before putting anything more in it just now, and I do want things to be finished up. The cupboard, thank goodness, is merely jammed full and not currently overflowing. I need to keep going.

What budget

I feel like the diary should be headed up, 'January - fail'. Sigh. I knew this expense was coming, so never mind.

I have finally booked little bear's belated birthday party. It is a party at soft play, and as I went for the expensive option it will be around £160 for twenty kids. This is infinitely better than trying to do it at home.

For this we get an exclusive use of the facility for one hour and thirty minutes, a birthday buffet, jelly and ice cream (which makes it the expensive option as it is 50p per child extra!) and party bags are provided. It would be much less expensive if we had a party at home, but none of little bear's friends have done that, so we will go with the soft play, and it could be a lot worse. It also includes a year's pass for reduced admission for little bear, which will be very useful in the summer. I notice that the discount for next year's party has been carefully crossed out in dark marker. Times must be tough in the soft play business. Now all I need to do is source a cake.

I will not be sending out the invitations for a while, however. If I send them out now then I have to invite the two young lads further down the street. However they are not really nice to little bear, and they may be being evicted. On the other hand, if they are stressed from the eviction/pending eviction then it might be cruel to deprive them of a chance to go to party, but they are still not very nice to little bear. I am waiting and seeing. And while I will be inviting little bear's girlfriend, the guest list is mainly boys as little bear plays with mainly boys, but I will be inviting one or two girls because either I natter to their mums or I really think that little bear's girlfriend should have some company - not that it really matters at age five. Anyway, everything may change by the time the date of the party in March comes round, so there is not much point in sending them now.

However, on the budget front, my last delivery was just around £30, and while I am mentally composing my next one, I am not planning on spending a lot. I have also felt absolutely no desire to browse on ebay etc. However, I am almost tempted to buy little bear some braces. He wants them so he can dress up like Dr Who. I am currently resisting. So it could be worse.

Budget fail

I caved and ordered at Lakeland. As I had wrecked the base of the Remoska I needed a new one, as the remoska is an incredible tool.

I am not entirely convinced by the foaming soap hand pump that sort of fell into the order. The stuff that comes out seems very foamy, but not that soapy. Perhaps I made it too dilute. It was £6.50 (on sale), so it could have been worse, but that is just over half the cost of one of little bear's piano lessons. If it works out it will pay for itself, if it doesn't then I can chalk it up to experience. And grumble.

I treated myself to a cake yesterday which neither my figure nor my purse appreciated. However I did have a very grumpy visit to town, and it almost sweetened my mood. I hate being told off by shop assistants, because, you know, customers are sooooo difficult when they actually want to buy anything. Do not get me started. It would not be pleasant. I have been a shop assistant, I know that it can be tough, I try and be nice, but I have limits.

And yesterday I received an invitation for little bear to go to the birthday party of one of his best friends. To put it another way, I had eight days notice to find a superhero costume for little bear and he would be devastated if he couldn't go. I feel an expense coming on, although he does have a (incredibly well used) superman cloak. If I had more notice I would have gone on ebay, but I daren't risk it in the time span. I have a sinking feeling it means the Disney Store, or BHS - at least it is sale time.

On the other hand, no takeaways and the school haven't asked for money yet and the term is four days old!

Budgetting the deliveries

I decide I need to save money, then go and spend it. Casserole meat (diced turkey leg is very nice, and inexpensive) and some veggies. I am hoping that it will save a lot more in our health as well as our pockets to get a frozen casserole out instead of a takeaway.

Though we can all eat well from a very pleasant local chinese takeaway for @ £10, but I am fairly confident my casseroles are lower fat. They are also likely to be lower in salt (though less than you would think as I use stock cubes or packet cuppa soups as stock).

Then the presents - alcohol is welcome for those presents, and the supermarket is as cheap a place as any, usually. My poor brother in law has been receiving Jack Daniels for Christmas and Birthdays for at least four years. He hasn't complained. The niece, in her twenties, will like something a bit unusual in the booze line, although creme de cassis isn't really that rare.

What I need to do is balance the stuff I like to get delivered with the need for the frequency of deliveries and the minimum charge of £25 with the vast quantity of food in my cupboards and the need to use it up. Next week I will have to balance the delivery fee of £3 to get fruit, veg etc with bus fare of £4 but take into account that I will need to have a minimum of £25 on the delivery to qualify and I don't want to be buying meat. Or alcohol. Or tinned goods. Or possibly even catfood, evil cat is cutting back a bit. So it may be worth me getting the bus after all.

You need to be a black belt shopper to work out what is for the best.

Tactics and planning

A delivery is coming tomorrow. Sigh. It is going to cost a fortune. There is our present for OH's brother in law (bottle of Jack Daniels) and a gift for his neice (creme de cassis) that is for their respective birthdays, so that adds on. I am going to try and get a couple of casseroles in the freezer tomorrow to have instead of takeaways, so I have bits for that. There is catfood etc that I am not going to walk to Makro for, not this week. The forecast is vile and I am still pretty much floored by this stupid cough.

All the above are useful, and potentially money saving. However a lot of treats are on their way, as darling father is poorly and I want to fuss him. There are a few mini pork pies that I think he will like, some egg custards (did you know, on the Asda site, the pack of two egg custards at 58p each are listed about two pages earlier than the pack of four at £1.00 - normal practice would be to get two packs of two if you wanted four, and Asda are 16p better off!) and some chocolate eclairs which I know darling father likes. As little bear will be at school when the delivery takes place, darling father will have a chance of it.

As for the eclairs. We had a delivery between Christmas and New Year which included birthday cake and a pack of four eclairs. Little bear said to me, thoughtfully, 'I really like eclairs.' I insisted on him finishing his cereal, then he had his eclair. As it was his birthday, after some serious hinting, I let him have the one that was supposed to be mine. Then little bear started on how he wanted his daddy to come down and put the Tardis play set together (I wasn't touching it!). He was so unhappy (he said), he was really sad (he said) that the Tardis was not put together. He sighed heavily. OH had come down to watch little bear open presents, but being on antibiotics and having had a bad night, he went back to bed and I wouldn't let little bear disturb OH.

Eventually I weakened. 'I'll make a deal. If daddy hasn't come down by 11.30 you can have his eclair.' I said, fairly confident that OH would be fine with the other goodies. Little bear's face lit up. Of course he was demanding time check after time check and then finally, he got his sticky fingers on the eclair. He was sparkling with mischief, really full of fun, and put the eclair in his mouth - just as he heard OH's footsteps on the stairs. Bless him, little bear solemnly handed the eclair to OH, sucked end and all. OH let little bear finish it off.

Step One

Sorting where the money goes.

Today I start a spending diary. I start to consider meal planning. And I stop buying little bits for little bear - he wants for nothing!!!

When little bear is at school I can go through the statements and bills and see what I can do. My target by the end of the week is to have that done and all the food written down on a spread sheet.

Added to the need to budget - the stairs on the way down to the kitchen is carpeted, and there is now a hole, with the grippers poking through. It has been that way for a while, but I have been scared to cover it with gaffer tape as it is a vertical bit of the the steps and heels could get caught. The steps to the kitchen are extremely steep. Little bear caught his bare heel on one of the grippers yesterday, and he was very upset (and still is when he remembers it, sigh).

Priorities - holiday (I'm committed to this, so I have to find the money, no leeway), then stair carpet, then probably another holiday because OH will need it, then dishwasher.

Money again

I need to find the rest of the money for the holiday by the beginning of April. It seems a lot of money to me, but it is perfectly doable. In theory.

Last night I slept in OH's room as he did the night shift. I spotted a patch of black mold. I could have cried. I have been nattering away at the damp in this room for years. We have got the guttering fixed, we have the roof fixed, now it is just condensation. I did look carefully at the roof, but OH's room is the top floor of four, with all the warm air rising and then all the water condensing out in a cold room at the top of the house with no insulation in the attic (no access to the attic, and no desire for it - the local scallies used to hide from police by going into one house and into their attic space and then down into another house until all the houses got locks except for us as we don't even have an access hatch). OH has piled stuff against the radiator and against the outside wall - it just seemed common sense to put stuff there at the time.

We do have a dehumidifier in there. Of course, half the time I am not actually fit enough to climb the extra set of stairs to empty it and make sure it is set off in the morning, and OH rarely remembers. However I have noticed that it rarely manages to fill in more than a day or two, and the one in the dining room, at the bottom of the house, is emptied twice a day, and that room feels dryer. Then I remembered that the dehumidifier in that room is at least fifteen years old, and the setting switch stopped working a long time ago.

So I am setting up a new regime. A new dehumidifier has been ordered (optimum conditions removes 12 litres per day and runs on 220 watts), and a small halogen heater. Regardless, first thing in the morning after OH goes to work, I go up there, open the window a crack and set off the dehumidifier. It doesn't feel right for it to run while OH is sleeping. If I empty it, I empty it out of the window and it is one of the minor pleasures in my life seeing Oscar pause in digging up darling father's garden and running for his life. Then when little bear starts his bedtime routine, the window is shut and the small halogen heater is put on, until OH goes to bed.

The new dehumidifier and the halogen heater have cost just short of a quarter of the holiday money.

I shall have to put in a very rigorous budget in place as OH doesn't get paid until the end of January. We are well stocked with practically everything, so it shouldn't be too hard for groceries etc. And January isn't a bad time to start sorting out finances.

I am off now to MSE to look at the storecupboard challenge thread.

Roof

The roofer came. £120 to tidy up tiles, clear area and point loose ridge tiles (which I had known about for ages, but had been too scared of the bill to do anything about). £60 to re-cement the chimney pots - he went to show how much they could wobble and loose cement fell everywhere. He also offered to paint some of the stone work for £120. It badly needs doing - really badly. Again I have been scared of the bill. The thing is, we all know what last winter was like, and the winter before, and after a cold summer I am not sure that I expect anything but another bad winter. I can't risk the chimney or ridge tiles coming off any longer.

It all really needs doing but today I have also received the AA membership renewal. We pay in a lump sum, as I believe it was cheaper when it originally set up. This is an absolute necessity, OH doesn't know where the oil goes. Actually he doesn't know how to refill the windscreen wash. I know less.

I feel a bit battered by bills. We can find the money, but I wish we didn't have to.