The Quest

moo2moo

Finally got home at 9:30pm last night from the most drawn out meeting ever. The good news is I've managed to offload my rolls as secretary and hopefully chairperson so just need to find some mug to do the accounts now and I'll get some of my life back.

Congrats on your second NSD Lula. Mine wasn't quite so good. Went to the cash and carry for work and blew £150 (their money not mine). Talked myself out of a box of 48 packs of crisps for £1. Pretty sure they wouldn't last a week in this place and I'd rather not encourage the DDs to eat crap. Didn't make it as far as tyres as I ran out of time but did buy chicken feed at £18 but hopefully I'll get 3 weeks out of it. Not that I've had an egg for almost 4 days.

Todays a mad housework day as the wriniklies re coming to stay tomorrow. Place looks worse than ever. OH has been cooking but won't wash up and struggles to remember to turn the dishwasher on. Ho hum. Have lots of things to E-bay too just lacking in enthusiasm.

[Deleted User]

Hi Lula hunni,

Sorry to hear about your colleague, my thoughts are with you at this time as it must be very stressful and worrying for you.

Well done on the NSD's this week and on paying £50 off your CC.

Tea
xx

Lula-Hula

Hello lovely people,

moo- well done for offloading tiresome tasks & no doubt your enthusiasm will return when you remove OH from kitchen & wrinklies from home . Well done for resisting the £1 crisps too - I have been conned by those kind of offers many a time :rolleyes: but like you now I just put the 'junk' thought in my head & walk on by .

tea - thanks for the comfort :A my colleague has temporary respite by offering a huge wage cut which was ( as I bet her ) accepted. I shall not be offering a similar deal, it took me 6 months of plucking up courage to get a pay rise earlier this year & I'm not going down to minimum wage again ...yet. If I didnt have the debt I wouldnt be particularly concerned as I'll do pretty much anything to keep the pennies coming in & my general living expenses arent too high. I just really really want to avoid going down the dmp route if possible - my financial status is a well kept secret as far as family concerned & I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible.

So, I've checked out the accident insurance & it really is worth me keeping it as losing a minor digit would actually clear the debts if the worst happened ...I am joking .

I've had my 3rd NSD today :j & am now on a mission to only spend £50 a week. Rather than having a fund for buying stuff for the house I'm going to have to be a bit cunning & clever so that if I want to buy stuff that's non essential then I'll have to spend less on the groceries & cleaning. That should prevent overspending on brands . It's a bit of a pain as tomorrow I have to get stamps to send DDs thank you cards out. I also have a few bits & pieces for the charity shop so will see if any potential christmas presents are in there too.

Xbf was round today & kindly fixed a new innertube to my front wheel but has now banned me from using the bike because the front tyre has cracked & perished & he reckons it's dangerous, that's why I'm keeping the accident insurance so I also need to check out the price of a new tyre :mad: .

Gosh, just realised how late it is :eek: must get to bed now

G'nite
lula x

moo2moo

XBf banned from using you bike because of a cracked tyre? I'm assuming we're talking a pedal bike here not a motor bike. Once again we'll remind you of the X part of the XBf bit. The worst that can possibly happen as you zoom along at 5 mph is that the crack gets bigger and the bike gets harder to cycle thus using more calories and the likellihood of punctures will increase. You're brakes won't be quite as effective but thats it. Its not like you'll suffer a blow out at 70mph in the fast lane. Equally a new tyre isn't too pricy. If you have a big Asda near you they sell them relatively cheaply as do Halfords and if you have a little local bike shop they may well even fit it for you thus removing the need for assistance from XBf. When is he leaving the UK again?

House will fail the parental inspection. Step-mother will walk in and start washing up and counting cob-webs, not helped that DD2 has a pet spider called Sally who lives in the corner of ther bedroom in an enormous web. Guess where grannys sleeping. Have promised DD2 that Sally will escape unscathed and have post-it noted "Sallys Web" on her bedroom wall just in case. I have no enthusiasm for cleaning though. One of my cleaners called in sick yesterday so I had to squeeze her work into my time (oh the joys of management). 32 toilets later......

[Deleted User]

Hi Lula,

Well done on another NSD, you're getting good at this now.

As moo2 says...when does xbf leave the uk again? seriously though, the tyre shouldn't cause you too many problems when riding it I would definatley shop around if you are going to get a new tyre and check out the local bike shops as they are usually very good and cheap.

Will catch up with you hopefully next week, no doubt you'll have even more NSD by then

Tea
xx

Lula-Hula

Grrrrr :mad:

I've just crafted a fabulously witty post & previewed it only for it to disappear into the place where lost posts go .

I dont think I have the energy or will to recreat it again so suffice to say :

Thank you to my 2 guardian angels/consciences - Purpletea & Moo2 & much as I would love to give you the impression that I roar about on a shiny Harley...it's a push bike, & 5mph ? not that damn quick either :rotfl:

Was going to get a new tyre today then realised I have to buy a school photo for £11 so will get it next week instead.

I've been very good today :

took stuff to the charity shop - not ebayable even if I did have the means to list items.
Transferred DDs money to her account & opened a new one for me - should now get 3p interest rather than the usual 1p, cant wait :rotfl: .

did a quick whizz around Waitrose & spent £46 then when I came home & entered everything into the spending diary I realised they'd double charged me on a couple of items to the tune of £4.22 :eek: jumped straight back in the car & up to the customer service desk & reclaimed my dosh along with profuse apologies .

I now have £7.70 to last the week if I'm going to stick to the £50 spending allowance & should only need bread & maybe some fruit. I'm trying to wean DD off her exotic fruits & keep her on apples & bananas whilst they are so cheap.

I've also topped up the gas & electricity meters & start new supply with southern electric as from 15th...will see how that goes & if I notice any difference. I'm dreading the virgin bill as I had to make so many calls with all the car palaver, just after I cancelled the free calls package :rolleyes: so that could be nasty.

Good luck with 'the visit' Moo2 & I do hope Sally survives,
Purpletea - I've been thinking of you all day & look forward to your speedy recovery & return to the boards :j

bye for now

Lula x

Lula-Hula

Just whizzing in for a quick update -

I've been having a fab NSD, took DD to hobbycraft & she hapily bought some stuff to amuse her & I didnt even think of spending any money. Got home & the window cleaner was waiting for me :rolleyes: so I now have lost a NSD & only have £3.30 for the week. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing if I can actually last on that money.

I even resisted using my 5p off a litre petrol voucher just so I could have a NSD. Also as I'm hoping to be rid of car soon I dont want to fill it up with petrol then part ex with it a full tank, I'd have to try out that dodgy hose trick :eek: .

Have a friend coming round this evening so we'll have a cheap pasta meal & watch tv / or play on the wii.

Hoping to get DD to tidy her room tomorrow :rotfl: & I'm intending on cutting the grass if I can find an extension lead long enough & the motivation, feeling very lazy & not wanting to do much at all really.

Bye for now
Lula x

Lula-Hula

:hello:

I'm on the wagon now ; 2 NSDs in a row :j . Sunday we spent all day in the garden constructing my 'stone circle'. These were originally meant to be the base for the gazebo/greenhouse/tardis but, I just dont think it's going to get put up in my garden. It's now been in the shed for the best part of a year & it's not looking any less damaged & rotting than when we got it :rolleyes: also, DD has become a football fiend ... I can already hear the sound of breaking glass & see the blood.

The stones are now set out very dodgily & quite unevenly under the tree with a wooden bench in the centre. There's a lot less grass to cut now & as we put some pea shingle in the middle it can also double up as a barbecue area rather than scorching the grass . After all that I still found the energy for a quick half hour bike ride then had to have some chocolate to restore my energy so not expecting wight loss any time soon :rolleyes: .

Apart from the school run I've been working all day so no spending today either . I've had a leaflet about the half term sports camp & DD is keen to go again - £56 for the week :eek: so have persuaded her to just do 3 days for £39 .

I've got the change bug in me - so I've been moving furniture around in my room & I still havent got everything organised in the living room yet, there are piles of photo frames everywhere & I'm still not allowed to take DDs birthday cards down yet & the balloons are gathering dust .

I've also paid another £50 off cc1 today so that's now a sickening £2,800 -still . Even if I pay £50 a week until the end of the year the balance will still be above £2,000 :mad: , in fact I'd have to pay over £80 a week to get it below £2,000 so I wonder if that can be done ... hmmmm need to ponder on that, would be such a boost to morale

All this labouring has worn me out, so I'm going to snuggle down with my calculator, a calendar, pen & paper - the DFW kit

G'nite
lula x

[Deleted User]

Hi Lula,

Not on much for the next few weeks due to my op but just a quick note to say hi and keep going you will get there.

Op went well but not allowed to do anything but rest for the next four weeks or so.

Tea
xx

Lula-Hula

Hello everyone,

Tea - thank you for popping in - I've been wondering how you are, so it's good to hear that the op went well , I'm relieved & now wish you a speedy yet relaxing & restful recuperation, here 's a little something just for you : :grouphug: so you know that we're thinking of you & looking forward to the day when you can be doing this : :j .

I'm ashamed to say that I found a few coins around the house & added this to my meagre £3.30 BUT I only spent £1.50 on stamps in the post office & had to buy some chicken for DD & Bessfriend's tea tomorrow & however hard I try I cannot make one slice of bread last til friday so had to buy a loaf. Quite pleased though as it was large hovis reduced to 49p - DD wont be happy that it's wholemeal but when I tell her I saved 86p I'm sure she'll forgive me .

I now have £2.60 left of my amended budget but hoping not to have any more spend days until friday.

I've just done another lightspeed survey & now have 1950 points, if I can get to 1100 then that's 2 £5 hmv or amazon vouchers which will buy a present for someone.

I spent some time with my calculator, calendar & paper & pens early this morning & if I keep up the £50 a week payments on cc1 til the end of the year & then increase them to £60 a week I will clear it by the end of October next year. I now have a firm & achievable goal that wont take so long to achieve that I get bored . So, that is my mission & I'm counting on some good DFW @ss kicking to keep me in line because ... if I succeed then I can balance transfer cc2 & pay that off by December 1st 2010.

Of course all this careful planning & scrimping & saving will only work if I still have a job, but that's a minor detail :rolleyes: .

Not too worried as during my last conversation with xbf he mentioned selling his body to earn money; I made him a quick offer & then said I hoped he wouldnt mind being broken up & sold for spare parts - fresh kidney anyone ?

I'm off to top up my quinine levels now,

G'nite
Lula

PS - Moo2 - how did your wrinkly week end go ?