Everybody On The Floor!

I just love council cleanups. Our area doesn't have dedicated days (that's the way it started, in the nineties) but everyone can book a collection for free twice a year, and then just leave all their crap on the side of the road.

So far I've gotten a dressing chair, two matching bedside tables, a third larger one which I'll use in the living room, two outdoor chairs, a rattan linen basket, a peg bag, a child's booster seat, and today (dun dun dun) a huge woven rug in fabulous condition, bigger than the one I actually bought. It will cover most of my bedroom floor, and I'm stoked. I've hung it up on my line, to give it a whack in the morning. 

Quick night-time flash snap. 
It's doubled over - she be massive. 

You'll be proud of me, another neighbour has put an exercise bike out, and I left it there. ✅ 

Stop press: I ended up putting it through the laundromat washer and I'm pleased to say it works well in my bedroom. 

We Are In

Sans furniture, but we're in. I've done quite a lot of saying to myself how happy I am. 😊 I will admit that my lower back and feet are killing me as I've got no chairs - I've alternated between the single blow up mattress and perching on some storage boxes from my sister's place. We managed to get saucepans, utensils, a sheet set (flannelette 😮‍💨) and the score of all scores - a $12 air fryer! 👏

Sis also kindly bought me a kettle, microwave and toaster. 😍

Little X is slowly adjusting, but also digging into bags and boxes non-stop. Sis asked if I'd unpacked yet... And I thought, unpacked into what? There's no furniture... 😂 

I've bought absolute minimums, ie a mattress arrives tomorrow (no funds for the bed yet) and two chairs. Plus a small table for Little X as she's got a chair. Fridge is coming in a week since buying ice will bankrupt me. Washer arrives in a few days.

Freebie win: these, dumped across the road. 

They have a few scratches and slight moisture marks but they are perfectly serviceable, and besides, bedside tables weren't even in my "buy later" list.

Now if I knew I could pay bills after next week, life would be just grand. Stay tuned. 

Full Car

It's full of stuff to return to the shop and stuff to donate. It's mostly stuff that's used occasionally. Seconds and thirds of items that realistically aren't needed. "I use this sometimes" is not the same as "I don't need this and don't want to move it to my next home". 👏 And loads of spare Little X clothes. We had too many. 

The painting actually feels like it's on the home stretch, finally. I've given myself a deadline for listing my flat for sale - I have a week to decide whether I rip out the carpet. I've been avoiding culling the Good Stuff Stack. 🤐 But I actually need the physical floor space to lay flooring. So... I think I have to face that I'm making excuses and pissing about.

Bought: nothing. I've used up all the milk and long-life milk, so today, there's ice-cream in my coffee. ☕  German Supermarket has a £5 voucher thing running again, so that's the plan for my next big shop.

Money: I now have 7 defaults visible, so only 4 to go. 🍻 #6 has locked me out of the app, and doesn't have any generic bank account number online to make payments to, like every other card does. It is also, bizarrely, not really sending any useful paperwork which has this info on it. Just a phone number to pay, and I don't want to do anything over the phone. #7 is a bank overdraft and the account no longer exists, so I have the same issue there. I happen to have a second bank account with them which is empty, so I think I'll start dropping the £2 into there each month and hope they have the sense to take it - legally they can although I understand it's rare they do. We shall see. 

Procurements and Concoctions

Oops: I thought I had published this post, but here it sits in Draft land. A lot has been going on and also, a lot hasn't happened. Anyway... 

Lose: having to resort to really crap nappies for a week because I refuse to buy a third pack. 

Win: a three pack of saucepans and one frypan which altogether cost the same as the 1+1 from the Middle Aisle and I'm very pleased with them. We also got a sieve and a grater. 👏

Lose: My carrot cake was so disappointing, it's a recipe I remember enjoying 25 years ago but this time the icing was awful. I am the victim of low fat cream cheese and not-butter. I ate it all, but spent every bite reevaluating my life choices.

Win: Little X actually eating peas, carrots and courgettes in other foods again.

The nice weather is disappearing far too quickly and it's easy to give in to a low mood. Sigh. 

Reshuffling

I've had a better few days. The mouldy curtains survived a wash, but unfortunately so did the mould. Miraculously, they then survived being washed at 90°C in a whole bottle of bleach, and are hung back up to dry, no mould in sight. ✅ I'm chuffed they are fresh again. I've finished priming that wall and there's one other wall patch to do before the top coats.

My cheap blinds arrived and I think I can make them work. ✅ 

The bathroom plastic shelves now hold shoes, so they're all neatly hidden away in the wardrobe. ✅ 

I cooked properly for the first time in ages. ✅ 

I finished washing my stored sheets, towels and quilt covers, and now they fit into my drawer. Several donated, several binned. ✅

I actually sat down and tried to do my life admin that's outstanding, but the website was down. I then forgot for three nights. D'Oh. I'm awarding myself a bronze Participation Award for trying. 🥉 

I ♥️ Red Tape

Where's my sarcasm font? After trawling websites, emailing, phoning and slaving over stupidly long application processes... I have learned that getting Little X's citizenship sorted is going to be excruciatingly slow. The current estimate is circa 10-12 months. I am quite unimpressed. Hopefully we'll manage to get professional passport photos done this week (professional, because they are very strict on photo requirements). We might as well start now.

Speaking of Little X, she's still not over her tummy bug - she's improving, but it's a waiting game. 

Happy dance: small bedside table £5 from charity shop is now a freezer stand in my kitchen. 🎉 The cleaning and tidying to make it happen is a definite feelgood too. I'm going to see if I can sell J's mini fridge for a tenner once I finish cleaning that as well, I don't use it and it just collects dust. I should have done it years ago, but again with the keeping things "just in case". 

I've painted part of wall #1. Going slowly, at night, to limit paint smell, and opening doors and windows while the weather is good. 

Drinks tonight with Neighbours #8 and #2a. 🎉 

Old-School Bargains

I dropped Little X at nursery during the week for her last trial session and since I knew we were running out of her vitamins, I walked around to the children's centre to pick some up. This was a dangerous move as I haven't been non-grocery shopping in a very long time and it left me in close proximity to several charity shops with 45 minutes left at my parking spot.

I went in hoping to find myself some black trainers for work. I've been needing to buy some for two years 😬 and my soles are very close to letting water in through the bottom. I actually got lucky in the second shop so my new £3.50 memory foam trainers are currently in the wash, and I am really pleased. I also picked up a singing book for Little X for 20p - we have another one in the set so this will be a winner. It needed new batteries though so £1.50 has gone to ebay on those.

Lastly I got a Fisher-Price toy phone for £1.50. I'm not entirely sure Little X will ever play with it but it was a nostalgia thing. I remember having one as a kid and it formed part of every game of "shops". One of the mums at Baby Group heard us discussing retro toys last year and she excitedly jumped onto Vinted to find one. Never mind that she was born in 2005 and has never used a house phone herself or played with the same toy as a child 😂 she just thought it would amuse her grandmother to see it! This is where we are, in three generations the home phone entered our lives and is already leaving.

It struck me just now that these are finds I would have told my mum about. It's OK though, I can be happy that she taught me how to find a bargain. 🙂

Antifrugalista

Me, right now. No matter which nappies we use, they simply don't dry indoors, so I've bitten the bullet and ordered a proper dehumidifier. They're supposed to be cheap to run and effective. It was £89, which I can't afford, but I also can't afford constant re-washing of musty clothes and running a heater 24/7 while living in a damp environment. 🤷 What can I say, it's expensive to be poor...

Stoopid/Winnar: Almost two years ago I cashed in my work bonus for a Primark voucher. I thought the voucher had now expired. Well, this week I checked my bonus account and found the Primark voucher sat there saying it would expire March 2024. I clicked it anyway. It generated a brand new voucher expiring next year, for the full £25. 😲 Unexpedly, it's free new underwear time! 😂

Irritation: the free £43 credit that I have via work perks can only be spent on "selected" retailers. The cheapest Black Friday microwave I've seen so far on these retailers is £20 more than the bargain I found last week. I will watch for another week or so in case these retailers find it in their hearts to actually offer competitive prices... I really don't fancy having to spend the voucher on yet more underwear. If worst comes to worst, I can spend it at Bargain Bulk Retailer.

Spendy: small gifts for neighbours #2a and #8. 

Stop Press: Dehumidifier arrived (missing its filter... I have laid cheesecloth over the fan intake, it's only to stop dust on the elements). Currently hoping the manufacturer will send one out. But I am very impressed with its function so far, it dropped around 15% in a couple of hours which is more than I could have hoped.

Typical Isn't It

Job #2 is messing about with my holiday in asshat fashion. Citing rules and policies and blah, blah, never mind such trivial things as laws and entitlements. Clown admin has agreed to put in a special request to the CEO to allow me to take all four weeks that I have earned (like that's supposed to make me feel special?) but if they don't play ball I will just go on Unpaid Parental Leave which they can't avoid... and they still won't have me in the building for those four weeks 😁

Big Boss at Job #1 has been absolutely stellar ⭐ and will work with me however I want to swing things ⭐ which now looks like me lowering to a small contract, dragging my earned annual leave out for months, and then returning one day per week. 💙

My application for Healthy Start has been rejected as I still earn too much. I will try again next month as it will have fallen further. Council tax reduction is only 40% (not 75%) due to my "high income" 😂 but again, I'll have to reapply next month.

I've bought some more nappies. £50 worth. I think I have a problem with buying nappies 😂 in my defence Little X is outgrowing things and it was a good deal. Yeah, excuses. I also bought her a bundle of shorts in size 12-18 months, but unfortunately half of them are still too small to go around a cloth bum, so I bought another larger bundle. Plus I bought myself some shorts. And t-shirts, as two of my old faithfuls have holes.

Bundling

The answer to how much extra I had left to put onto the poison ivy card was £210. Which isn't that much because the card is getting used for ongoing expenses 😕 so the freedom date is not really getting closer yet. It still felt good that all bills are sorted and I survived another month. 

Job #2 is taking forever to approve my leave. Job #1, I have an appointment on Tuesday to talk about my part time return, since it does look like it'd be worthwhile - but I don't want too many hours, Little X is only little once. 🥰 Touch wood with a small contract I can take holidays a fair while first. I'm also going to do an online English course. I miss learning. 

Someone else bought a big pile of newborn clothes, for imminent twins. Not a big sale amount but it's stuff out of my hair. I've sold a handful of other things and listed two more pairs of trainers for sale.

My maternity pay did indeed stop 🤣 so this week I will apply for both Council Tax Reduction and Healthy Start top up, both of which I should get now, together around £80 a month.

Spendy: some bigger night nappy wraps, £20.

Winner: £100 prize from a free lottery 🎉 which is on an All4one card (zero supermarket spending options) so I will probably treat myself to new underwear and socks. 🧦

Win? I had three unopened pairs of tights to return with no receipt. I've had them far too long and finally managed to take them to the right supermarket. Face value was £8 each but I knew if they'd been reduced I'd only get current price. I was hoping for £2 each. Well, I got all £24 but it had to be on Nutmeg products in Morrisons, which is baby wear and homeware, and Little X needs nothing. To my surprise I managed to actually spend on things I'd already had in mind to get. Including a non stick tray to fit my mini oven. Chuffed with this lot! 

Happy Votependence Day

So it's the 4th of July, which we all know is a very important date, that's right, voting day. My area only has two candidates getting a good percentage of the votes, Tories and Liberal Democrats, which works well for me since since I vehemently detest the Tories since Lib Dem is my ideal party anyway.

I have been rejected for significant financial support from the grant scheme I applied to but they have given me a discretionary £300 for cost of living. 👏 I also got the statutory maternity grant of £500 👏 plus unexpectedly got a further week of maternity pay 😲 so now I'm impatient for (1) Friday, to see if it happens again, and (2) Universal Credit day to see how much I have left over to hack at the Poison Ivy card again. 

Little X is fast outgrowing her clothes so I bought a bundle off Vinted, and the seller threw in some extras, it's a huge pile 💕 really pleased even though most of it is for winter & next year. I have finally started listing the newborn stuff for sale, six sets sold within minutes 😲 unfortunately we had to cancel once we clarified the sizes. Still, part of it resold an hour later so here's hoping. Also sold another two pairs of trainers and the next pair is cleaned up and drying as I write. I seem to be settling into £50 profit each month. 

We survived 2 concerts and "survived" is apt since without being able to take a stroller in, it's fairly exhausting. It hurts carrying a kid let that long, who also won't sleep. Might be easier next year! 

The Splurge, Toy Edition

Remember a year ago when I said my house will never be filled with brightly-coloured plastic? Ahem. Anyway, Little X prefers about four toys to all the rest. But I went into a little independent charity shop this week and CLEANED UP, ie, I spent £8 and got an enormous bag of baby toys, which I do actually plan to sell in bundles. More toys for her is pointless right now as she can't divide her attention anyway and having too many surrounding her is just noise. She often ignores the lot in favour of the carry bag, my socked foot or chewing on her sleeve. 🤷‍♀️

I'm hunting around for a jumperoo or walker. Not to necessarily roll about in, but so that she can spend some time upright for the different muscle groups. She's an ace at moving around by rolling and scooting (crawling is on the horizon). 

One pair of trainers sold, two more listed, four to work on and list. I've done £50 on vinted in two weeks, about 30 of that is profit. £215 for bank switching 👏 and I've figured out how to pay several bills on credit card rather than direct deposit, since the "three months of no maternity pay" starts shortly. I can afford a few pounds of interest for a spell rather than affording a few hundred in bills each month. After that my annual leave pay begins and things improve 👏 

We actually went to play group this week for the first time in ages, and it was odd seeing tiny babies! Little X was as good as gold 🥇

Refunded: the trainer cups which turned out to be impossible to assemble without a crowbar (I even found the receipt). In exchange I bought 4 small wide neck bottles new from Vinted for a fiver, and £4 got us some different teats to switch in soon. 

Spendy: £25 on a space saver "real" cot for Little X 😍 and while it's slightly narrower than the travel cot I got free, I don't need to bend down to the ground to pick her up anymore. 😍

The Shoe Saga

Walking shoes - were too rigid across the foot, resold and broke even. 

Trainers #1 - too small. Cleaned up for resale as-is on eBay. No bids yet. 

Trainers #2 - same brand and still too small. Cleaned up and repainted toe leather with sports white. New laces. Need to photograph for sale. 

Trainers #3 - intended for me but not comfy, almost new, dirt cheap, missing laces, unexpectedly they're limited edition 😀 but also suede. 😒 I should be able to recoup the cost and the postage if I manage to clean the stain on the front. 

Trainers #4 - bargain, bought to resell. No laces, very good condition, washer time 👍

New #1 through #9 - heels and espadrilles - from a wholesaler for £22 altogether. Hopefully £100 profit from the lot but may take time to sell. 

Trainers #5 - not arrived yet but bargain, so let's hope they fit my fat feet 😁

Trainers #6 - I bought these because I made an offer then bought another instead, and then my first offer was accepted. They will be Fighting A Duel (tm) with #5 to see who are the supreme trainers. 👟

Bonus... My first posting error, an item which cost me £1.56, I sent to the wrong buyer. She said nothing (I assume her correct item also arrived). I refunded the lady who didn't get her item. Education is never free they say, I was incredibly lucky to only lose pocket change and safe to say I'll be far more careful from here on. 

Enthusiasm

I sold £2 and £3 items on Vinted, and it's required a printed postage label both times. 😒 Little X and I had to walk in the rain, to print it at the library, an hour's work for my £2 profit each time. Thankfully I've now figured out how to disable the "print" postage! 

Anyway, I needed trainers. So I checked Vinted and found a pair for £3. Too narrow, so I've relisted them at £8 and already had an enquiry. Then omfg, the comfy brand-name trainers I wore in the 90s, for £4. They were muddy but seemed barely worn. Sold. Unfortunately they were too small. 😔 I then found others, there are tons, all going for under a tenner.

I checked eBay pricings, and DUDE. OK, 15 minutes of cleaning and a spin through the washer, the too-small shoes are near-immaculate now. I'll list them over there for £25 and cross my fingers. 🤞 If nothing else they might pay me back 😂 even if they take months to sell... 

I've been browsing about for some fleece to make more nappy wipes and found a second-hand fleece blanket for £4. I reckon I'll get about a hundred wipes, much cheaper than paying £30 for the fabric. 🕺

Stupid eBay has blocked me from listing nappies. I've posted some in a nappy group on Facebook, I really want to shift some of the sheer piles of stuff in here. 🤞

Spendy: trainer cups for Little X. And I can't find the receipt 😡 and I suspect we won't need them all. 😔 

Spinning Around

Me and Little X. One day's adventures: supermarket #1 for snack food, fuel with my Nectar points, class party for my course, supermarket #2 for discounted veg, supermarket #3 to post something I sold. Every stop required lugging a pram in and out of the boot or hauling a baby carrier. Plus we got caught in a storm running for the car, the rain cover was blown aside, Little X had rain and wind blustering in her face, poor little thing got all wet but didn't complain, just had a face full of frothy drool 🤤

Two hours in my sofa that night and I was as stiff as a robot. I found myself thinking that I really needed to walk more. Yes, I was so tired I forgot I'd spent the entire day running around 🤣

Some nappies arrived from Vinted (threadbare & smaller than expected) and a completely un-ordered set of kids clothes... the seller had a day like mine and sent my cot sheets to a person expecting kids clothes. I also got the pram liner, a box of baby toys, and my bed risers. 

Current project: to rearrange furniture and sort through the mountains of stuff. It's really rather difficult due to the sheer lack of space. I spent today moving furniture around, which was a bit like those parking games...

Moving furniture in my flat is actually like this. 

Boxes and bags are stacked everywhere but I also have a whole empty shelf unit which I'm going to use for stuff which I list for sale.🤞 And most importantly there's now space for Little X's cot, which she's now snoring away in as I speak. 💕

Happy Easter if it's your thing, I hope the bunny was good to you. 🐰 

Chuffed With Today

Today we popped into the baby bank. It's only open once a week, for two hours, and no matter how organised I am, I always feel rushed and forget something. Anyway, we got some fabulous sensory toys for Little X. Plus some musical instruments so that I can hate my life. 🤣

I'd been meaning to check for funky outfits, but she was starting to grumble. I did find a few cute rompers and some tights, but nothing coordinated or fancy. Then in chatting to another mother, I mentioned we don't have a cot yet. The coordinator pulled out a ratty red bag. It turned out to be an immaculate travel cot. Then on Facebook marketplace I found someone giving away a mattress that is also immaculate, and fits perfectly.

Fairly decent fit.

I fashioned a waterproof cover from an old work food satchel, then washed the mesh zip cover and zipped it over the top. Another lady on Facebook gave me some fitted cot sheets. 👏

I sold the big pram today for £10. Mainly I just needed the space. I also received my new £9 changing bag off Aliexpress and when I saw the quality I was over the MOON. 🌙 I've also spent a bit more on resellable items. Touch wood.

Tempted to spend some time charity shop browsing, to see if I can find anything amazing to sell.

Spendy: an £8 set of risers for my bed, so that the crates in my storage shelves fit under the bed. 

Accounting

So my phone is driving me insane and after a year of battling, I quit. I simply need one with more memory (I have plenty of storage, but I've nearly gone bananas having to make space for app updates). 🍌

New phone has been chosen, £120 on offer, plus I have bought via a cashback site for ten quid in hand 👏 and I also did it with my work perks card. I discovered through the hellish purchase process that I can buy a virtual mastercard at a 7% discount which I can use online anywhere. The drawback to these is you can't top up later, so you need to purchase exactly the amount you need in order not to waste any. That's OK, I'll just use them for Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress.

Speaking of the latter, I've given the pram bag a go, but it's not big enough. I went to look second hand and saw what I think are brand new, from the same site, at double the price... So I did buy another and also nabbed a couple of other items that I'll list for resale. If it doesn't work, I've lost ten pounds. If it does, I've gained ten and I'll do it again. 🤷‍♀️

I was rejected for subsidised housing on stupid technicality. 🤦‍♀️ 🏡 I recalculated my expenses for post-June, and it will require creativity. Survival will require kicking the can down the road cash-flow-wise, but it is what it is. Little X is getting bigger and eventually there will be more working options to get the debt down. 

Currently eating yummy snacks that Poppet gifted to me 🍪

Mathing

I have several options for buying discounted supermarket gift cards (app, work perk, cashback sites) but none of them seemed worthwhile for different reasons. I almost bought at a 3% discount yesterday on the app until I realised they only take debit card... but this in theory ring-fences cash that could be paying off interest. The rabbit hole beckoned and long story short it's about 40p bonus for a £10 voucher if I spend it within a month, so I bought one, but not from the app 😁

Next day: £2 TopCashBack bonus on gift cards 🤦‍♀️ so I bought a £5 one too, to get the bonus. 

Big win: all three bank switches have completed and all three paid me the £200 bonus. 🎉 👏 😁 I ended up putting £100 onto my poison-ivy credit card and £500 is staying in my bills account to wipe off the overdraft. Technically I'd be better off maxing the overdraft and putting it all onto PI CC, but it's only pennies different and I think it'd be nice to have a small cash buffer, since I haven't had an emergency fund for a long time. 

Last week I snapped up a mini dehumidifier from a German supermarket for £35. I didn't expect miracles but I thought I would try. Unfortunately even though its stated capability was only 300ml per day, I emptied it after 24h and found... 100ml. Unimpressed. 😒 Promptly returned for a refund. As an aside, I bought this on credit and returned it to my debit card because nobody checks and so you can essentially do small money transfers for free. I might have to remember this trick.

Spendy McSpenderson: a pram baby bag, a baby bottle handle adapter, a harness for Little X's mini high chair, baby ear defenders, and a baby bag in a backpack. The last two are for our two concerts. They're not until June but I saw the backpack and ended up buying the other four items because I was tempted by the free delivery over £10. Never mind that it went over £20 (they always get you this way). All except the harness have arrived and I love both bags, the bed bag especially is fabulous and really a bargain. It was £13 and I got a £5 credit for being a new customer. Not bad.

Child not included. 

Currently procrastinating about food club or the supermarket. Every time I visit one or the other I buy too many snacks and then gorge on them. 😒 

Snip Snip

We tried out reusable wet wipes and I was prepared to consider them a sacrifice, but they are so good that I've ditched the crappy disposables. I've been merrily snipping my way through a bunch of old clothes to make more squares. ✂ ✂ 

A weird rustling sound scared me earlier until I peeked out the window - the world is bathed in white hail. It's small enough to look like snow. ❄ This is only acceptable when you don't have to leave the house. I hope it melts quickly. I ordered a cheap little humidity meter off ebay and we're over 80% (no wonder clothes take forever to dry) but it ain't much better outside right now. 🙄

Annoying: Little X's vaccination was delayed... then cancelled... I get a reminder for the cancelled appointment 🙄 which I "cancel". They re-book (I turn up and they ask why I'm there 🙄) and when I actually turn up at the right time, I'm 10 minutes late and they won't see her. The waiting room was empty. If I weren't so frustrated with myself, I'd be angry at their general incompetence (or indifference?). 

Two bank switch bonuses so far 👏 🎉 and hopefully the third one comes through in the next few days. 🤞

Assignment Complete

Last night I did a good solid hour of adulting - which is unlike me. I had several spare current accounts ready for when the bank switch deals returned. I missed the last offer because it ended after only a week (!!) so the lesson has been learned. 

Four offers came up this week and reading the Ts & Cs I appear to be eligible for only one of them because I've done one bank before and the three other banks are all in the same ownership. However in my travels I read that people managed to get all three last time regardless... So, nothing to lose, I hammered out three switch applications in a row. I should get £200 minimum from the switches and fingers crossed I actually get all three, £600 🤞

This week I actually got slightly determined, and cooked several meals. 😲 The Too Good To Go app keeps reminding me to go back to where I scored that great haul, but I've been resisting (it's after Little X's bedtime and we've been doing so well, I'm not keen to derail it). So I'm watching out for earlier collections. 🤞 We did manage to finally get over to Big New Discounter to spend my gift card. I'm afraid I went a bit nuts and my freezer is full. At least I didn't spend any cash.

The Wet Washing Battle took an expensive hit this week. On Day Four the still-damp nappies had that "eggy protein" whiff like when you've washed up eggy dinner and then done all the other dishes. I had to put them through a hot wash then tumble dry them, which takes hours. 💰 Fortunately we had better weather after that so I was able to get dry air inside.

Currently listening to: "new" baby bank clothes in the washer.