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. 

Zoom-a-Zoom

I've had some unused frequent flier points since forever and all I ever seemed to do was ignore them... ✈ Well, based on a tip from Martin Lewis, I've just converted them to Nectar points and I now have enough for a free tank of fuel. Not shabby at all! ⛽ 🚗

I saw someone mention last year's member bonus for Nationwide. I didn't qualify without either a mortgage or savings account. 😒 This poster was hoping out loud for £100 again, so, long story short I've just opened a savings account that I've got no savings to put into. 😂

I've had another broker look into refinancing what I owe as a mortgage. This time looks slightly more positive, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. 🏡 They've been quiet two days so it's anyone's guess. 

JamDoughnut fun, I bought another gift voucher for one of my fave supermarkets to get 2.5% cashback. These little vouchers have the bonus of forcing me to go spend them rather than pulling into the nearest shop. 👍

Freebie: a fancy pushchair for Little X. The travel system pram was what I thought I needed (since they insist it must lie completely flat) but it's unwieldy in and out of the car. Turns out they make decent stroller types which would have done just fine. In any case, she can sit up now on an incline. The kind man who gave it to me will also have a cot bed soon and promised to get in touch 💕

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. 😒