Hope O

As Christmas fast approaches, all I want is for my kids to have a lovely Christmas and be happy. My youngest was excited as he went on a school trip to the panto. This is something I couldn’t afford on my income, so I’m grateful he got to go. Our tree will go up next week. But for now I’m budgeting every penny and allocating money for certain things. I have just got my youngest his advent calendar which was reduced slightly…. I couldn’t afford it before the 1st however he gets to eat 5 chocolates today from it to catch up.

It’s sad as he comes home telling me his friends have choc advents and their trees up and they’re elf on the shelf have done this and that. He is so patient.

My friend and I have all agreed that money is tight so we won’t be buying each other presents. We will instead look around our house see if there’s something we no longer use and pass it on. For me some books I have read that I bought in charity shops. Friend with kids we will catch up over the school holidays and go to parks for play dates.

I recently got some vouchers from Tesco as I have been saving my points all year. This will come in handy for Christmas foods for the children and myself.

Gift wise for my children. My 9 year old has asked for a few things so I’ll need to wait until my universal credits come through to see what I can afford. My older child has asked for money to go shopping for clothes in the new year. I hope I can manage. I’m also sitting on a huge electricity bill that’s still to be paid along with childcare cost etc

still attending my local food banks and try and freeze as much as possible. Food banks and olio app have hugely helped me.

It won’t be a lavish Xmas by any stretch but as long as I’m with my boys I’ll be happy.

Somehow I’ll make it work ! But just now I’m not feeling very festive.