Good lord, where have I been?

[radegund]

Where did the time go?

We're still pretty whacked out after the extension. Snag list is outstanding, but it's essentially done. We live here now, and every day it feels less and less likely that the real owners are going to come back and evict us. Most of the boxes are even unpacked.

Our main object at the moment is to juggle the cashflow so that we squeak unscathed from payday to billpay, slaloming between our creditors like an Olympic athlete. Fun times. [We'll be fine. But it's a little hairy this month and next.]

To that end, we're penny-pinching. (Or cent-cinching, which is the same but in euros.) Problem is, we trimmed out a lot of the fat a few years ago, and it's tough enough to see where we can trim any further.

Things I'm perfectly happy to do, off the very top of my head:

• Go back to washing my hair in bicarb and vinegar (reasonably effective, as I recall from 2006).


• Shop more often in Lidl.


• Find out which of our staple meals are actually cheapest and dearest, and plan accordingly.


• Keep a hawklike eye on expenditure, and stop spending on non-essentials when the allotted budgets are exhausted.


• Work for pay every spare minute I get (which is not very many minutes, admittedly, but I have been doing a bit of paid work).

Things I'd strongly prefer to avoid:

• Stop buying organic food.


• Cut out paid childcare and house cleaning (they're such a relief).

I dunno. What are your favourite money-saving strategies? I'd really love some inspiration.

Comments

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's funny, isn't it? Perhaps the oddest aspect is that I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out that I really, honestly don't talk about it, even to you. So, here, pull up a chair:

Walking for any length of time (five minutes early on, later up to twenty) was uncomfortable to argh-don't-do-that painful for upwards of fourteen months after F's birth. I also had continuous mild to severe discomfort on and off for much of that time. I don't remember exactly when it went away, because one doesn't notice the cessation of pain nearly as much as its onset.

And actually, I don't know if it has gone away, because my habits have changed so much: I rarely walk for long these days. I do get twinges if I have an unusually active day, and it's the main reason why I don't sling F much now that he's heavier. I don't remember noticing it the day you and I went into town to drink tea and swear :-) I was chasing the boys around the garden earlier, and I detect a faint ache now, but that might be just because I'm looking for it.

As for why I don't mention it, well, it's partly because it's Only Me, and it isn't incapacitating or anything - nothing compared to what Everyone Else went through, etc. (See under My Experiences Don't Count; thank you very much, family trauma.) It's also caught up with a nest of even more twisted emotional crap, which I'll tell you all about some other time.

(Heh. I was about to apologise for hijacking the thread to talk about my own issues, when I remembered that THIS IS MY JOURNAL. Sheesh.)

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Oh love, I am sorry to hear this. Have you been to the doctor about it? Erm, I know this is financially counterproductive, but it sounds to my completely ignorant unmedical ears as though some kind of physio or yogic exercise might help. Or maybe it wouldn't? I am glad things are much better, at least!

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Was just going to ask if it was something where a physio could give you exercises to help with further recovery: that probably is something worth spending money on. You poor thing.

[rmc28]

Oh good grief! I'm really sorry to hear that. I remember how frustrated I was about SPD and I only had it the last couple of months or so of pregnancy :(

[londonn7.livejournal.com]

I didn't know this (obviously), poor poor you. I had weird bent-over-double cramps for about six weeks but otherwise things basically went back to how they had been. Our family physio is absolutely fab if you are looking for one, and is brilliant on post-birth stuff.

and for economising...is it feasible to change your mobile to a pay as you go? Probably v expensive if you make any amount of calls on it. I'm also plumbing the depths of the wardrobe and resurrecting winter clothes rather than buying anything new, not least because of the rapidly emerging bump. It is also fab to have all my maternity clothes right where I left them not 6 months ago...I am determined that the only new baby purchase will be a double buggy of which the British Government is determined to subsidise most of the cost....

xxxxx