Kymbogs' long slow (and possibly painful) debt-free journey!

kymbogs

Oops haven't been online much over the last few days. Here's an update;

Friday: Put off and put off going out but then the electricity ran out so that decided it for us. Will need to find a different PayPoint to use for the leccy as the one I found has 6 steps outside and try as I might I could not get the tandem in. Thought having a key for the prepayment meter and topping up at PayPoints was supposed to make life easier? Have looked on the site and the ones that are supposedly near to be are at least a half hour walk away. There is another one in town somewhere will have to track that down and hope there's no steps.

Decided to put our 50% off Pizza Hut voucher to use as we went out in the afternoon and met Husband in town. Came to a whopping £5.82! Helped by the fact that Mollys meal was refunded as the chicken we ordered for her from the little peoples' menu had a Southern-Fried flavoured coating, it didn't say it in the menu and she wouldn't eat it, I wouldn't have ordered it if I'd known it was flavoured. She ended up eating the stuffed crust off my pizza slices which she liked, funnily enough :rolleyes: Also I noticed on the receipt when we got home that they had forgotten to charge for our drinks. So a very cheap dinner out in the end but shame Molly didn't get a proper meal.

Saturday: Didn't go anywhere, got some washing done and baked some cookies and bread. I decided to start a compost bin using the food waste bin the council provided but never collects, until I manage to track down a cheap actual compost bin. I went out and caught myself some worms to put in it! Was very pleased as I remembered something useful from school to help catch the worms.

Sunday: Was totally miserable and bored stiff so Husband got us out of the house. We got the bus to Huddersfield and visited my aunt, then tried to visit my parents but my dad had left early for work (he's a bus driver and does afternoon/evening shifts) and my mum was in bed (she works nights at ASDA). I needed the loo but my dad had locked the porch door and I only had my front door key not the porch key. No idea where it is actually!

So we walked into Huddersfield town centre and on the way popped into the Laura Ashley store. I've never been in one before and wow, gorgeous stuff! I said to Husband we had to win the lottery and come back. Managed not to buy anything, got a sample of some lovely wallpaper that I might frame and put in the girls room. Might sound like an odd thing to do but it is a very nice pink pattern...

We had to stop for a bite to eat (had been hoping to get a sneaky sandwich at parents house too) as it was getting on and we were both very hungry. By the time we finished eating and had fed Megan her afternoon bottle it was almost 4pm and everywhere was closing! And it was raining. Grr. So we walked back to the bus station and got the 4.30pm bus back to Halifax, when we got to the stand for our bus home we discovered there was a 40 minute wait for the next one so we ended up shelling out for a taxi home - it was only £3 though for some reason, it's usually closer to £4 and even more on a Sunday.

I did manage to pick a fair few blackberries on our travels yesterday which was a total bonus, I've not found many in Halifax. I weighed them all when I got home and the ones I got yesterday added to the ones I already had takes me to just over 300g, must find out how many I need to make bramble jelly.

Today: Been doing some cooking to use up things that needed, well, using up. Have roasted a pepper, some courgettes, tomatoes and an onion and I'm going to blend it to make a pasta sauce. Had a banana loaf that was on the v erge of growing a fair coat so I've made banana bread and butter pudding (just ate some it's very nice actually). Also made apple and sultana crumble - got tons of leftover crumble topping though so might try freezing that, reckon it should survive.

My veg box delivery came from Abel and Cole today. I weighed all of it and have priced it up and if I'd bought the same from a supermarket it would have been at least £2 more. It all looks lovely too and of course with the added bonus of the cashback, which has tracked twice so I may end up with over £20 for it :j

So yeah...thats my exciting weekend done and dusted.

kymbogs

Brrr it's a bit chilly up north today! Would probably help if I shut the door, but left it open to help the kitchen and living room floors dry faster.

Yes, I have been mopping, after gutting the living room and kitchen, producing a giant bag of rubbish and a carrier bag of 'stuff' that I'll need to sort out later.

Just stopped for some lunch and have to take Meggiefish to the docs soon for her jabs (only 10 weeks late!) then I'll crack on with upstairs. And our bedroom...don't know when the last time our bedroom was hoovered, but it was a fair old while ago....

Then again Husband has been 'going to' hoover it for ages so I might leave it for him!

amyandjon

hey love ive been away on a nice sunny holiday it wa nice and refreshing not to be thinking about debt all the time updated all my payments and im doing very well on my slimming world diet so far next thursday weigh in so i hope ive shifted the holiday gain hehe doing my excersise etc and im feeling ok weathers not ideal but naymind hows hubby did he get the stp up ?? hope u and kids are well tatty bye for now x

kymbogs

Goodness me where have I been!

Sorry for being a slacker.

Just come to have a rant at the moment. I'm always looking for jobs, full-time or part-time, any time, days, nights, evenings, weekends, always on the lookout for something that catches my eye. I'm currently on maternity leave and not particularly looking forward to returning to my old job in November.

I found a job I love the sound of and the pay looks great. But I've just been doing the maths and no matter where within the payscale I got paid if I got the job, I'd be worse off than I am now. My part-time pay is about £440 a month and we get the same in tax credits.

I've worked out that if I was being paid somewhere in the middle of the payscale being offered I would get £220 a week towards childcare costs, leaving me paying £440 a month and being several hundred quid worse off than I am now.

I'm so frustrated!

kymbogs

OK..so I haven't posted for ages....been busy and not getting online as much and you know how it is when you haven't posted for a couple f days and you think god it'll take me ages to update I'll do it later...and before you know it, weeks have passed and updating is a pretty daunting prospect! (Just ask my livejournal..I haven't posted on that for months...)

Anyway, news in brief. I messed up the standing orders for the month, a miniscule error of forgetting to change the date. Certainly not an error of a magnitude deserving £210 worth of bank charges...anyway after a lot of debating and pleading, they have been reversed, for which I am eternally greatful.

I finally managed to pick enough blackberries to make jam and it is the best jam in the world ever.

I'm going to Blackpool at the end of October as a treat for me and the girls from my mum and auntie. I shouldn't need to take much cash as we're just staying two nights and breakfast and evening meal is included. In November I'm leaving the babies at home with the Husband and going to London for a shopping weekend with my mum and auntie. I've been giving money to my mum to put away for buying christmas pressies with and so far have put aside £80. I'm also going to ask relatives who would usually give money to the girls as a gift if they would mind giving it to me in advance so I can take it to London with me and see if there is anything I can buy with it there. I'm realllly looking forward to going round Hamleys...

We're £300 down this month due to Husband changing jobs. I've done the maths and we should just about scrape by, and I get paid two weeks on Thursday anyway. It does mean that I won't be able to put any money away for trips for the next few weeks, but when Husband gets paid at the end of October he will be paid a week or so extra from this month.

Think that's it for now....