Simplifying Life - Mark II

firework

Ah Lula - i'm soooooo envious of you and your garden and your lovely walk - at the min i've just got a very concrete yard which i never have time to set foot in and spend 8-10 hours a day driving around and around and around(not in the yard - lol).

Hi to everyone else too - mary - pleased to hear you are now plus tooth and minus brother - hope thats all working out ok for you.

FINALLY -well i finally signed up to the DFW nerd club:j and just waiting for my number. i am going to simplify my life bigstyle this year by obliterating my credit card debts which i have now reduced enough to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. i want them gone before I hit the big 40 in november this year so thats my DFD. never thought i would actually be able to set one but with help and support of this site i am managing to live on alot less money than before and therefore able to pay chunks off the debts.

finally i have a signature too - couldn't put my debts in before - cos i couldn't bear to look at 'em all close up and see what i really owed.

Lula-Hula

Morning all & another beautiful one here ,

Firework - well done on joining the nerd club & for addng your sig - it's really not that bad & when you see the first digit reduce that's always a great motivator. It's going to take me a while longer than you to clear mine & every so often I get so frustrated & want to just give in but peeops over on the dfw board are very very supportive & encouraging.

There are lots of different challenges you can join ; I'm a big fan of the No Spend Day Callenge ( actually that's a lie - I hate it, but it's saving me so much money & really makes me plan ahead for shopping :rolleyes: )

As to outdoor space .... hmmmm if you're spending all that time in the car it would be nice to have a bit of greeness to come home to. Could you prehaps ( time permittng of course :rolleyes: ) gather a few pots & plant easy low maintenance stuff in them ? If you have a freecycle nearby, people are often gettng rid of ones they no longer want, & personally i alwasy scour the sale shelves in the local garden centre for the plants that look a bit scraggy & brown... they can often be salvaged . Failing that, you are always welcome to pop round mine for a bit of weeding

I have vowed to wash the car today before I do any gardening so I'd best go & get dressed,

bye for now

lula
xx

ceridwen

'Morning all..I'm focusing on food again today...so holding web discussions on humanure compost for foodgrowing (hope you've all had your breakfast:D ) and nipping to and fro on frugal web info. Lot of foodwaste still going on - over in U.S. anyways - by supermarkets:

http://www.squidoo.com/secretfreegan

reet....must do my bit of simplifying for the day...tidying-up beckons....

Hopefully we'll have a "letter" from Fergus on here soon. Weezl's baby-to-be is now here with us - so the report-back is that Weezl is busy/happy/tired - Fergus is lovely - and ISOM is thoroughly enjoying adopted auntiehood.

mardatha

We have a blizzard and heavy snow, been on since half 6 , fedup of winter now

mary43

Lula - you're doing so well...........what with clearing those 9 drawers out and deciding to enjoy the outdoors while the weather is good...........our garden is a bit of a mess at the minute..........needs a good sweep up. It's mainly concrete with a flower bed and trees down one side -thankfully the wild life garden at the bottom takes care of itself.............just need a bit of a tidy up. OH grows veg in pots and that area needs a clear out too ! House is getting on top of me as well.........folders with mums paperwork in etc. I did put one of her books to one side for charity shop -its one I've aready got. Couple of the others I'm hoping MIL will have if shes not read them. Two music books the boys bought for my Dad I'd like to keep so bookcase needs yet another clear out :eek: Seems to go on and on.......and I can't get into the mood now. Think I did too much too soon and come to standstill. Maybe after Wednesday I'll get my act into gear and plough through it and be more motivated.
Decided to get the builder chappie to come and paint the front of the house -desparately needs it. Our oldest lad had a go but got bored half way through so you can imagine...........one side of the rendering is off white, the other a sort of pale green:eek:
Like the idea of the 'no spend day'............I've found that if I stay at home the temptations not there to dig into my purse for something we don't really need. Have to venture out tomorrow though !!
Good news (after sounding so depressing) - bank loan now paid off !!!!:j

firework
In our 'concrete yard' laughingly called a patio weve got loads of evergreen things so what with those and OH's veg in the summer it's a load of greenery...........very restful I think. Our twisted willow sheds its leaves but even then the shape of the branches make it interesting to look at and with a few bird feeders on it, its become a little bird bistro..............lol

ceridwen - congrats for becoming 'auntie ceridwen'........:j and best wished to Weezl and baby Fergus. Wonder what he will make of this weird world we live in

marthada - dont blame you for being sick of the winter weather. It's seemed a long season...........at the minute we've got sunshine but a bitterly cold wind, much colder than yesterday. March is such an up and down month.
Stay warm and look on it as natures way or warming up the plants underneath a white blanket

In_Search_Of_Me

hello honorary auny ceridwen!! Hand delivered a kiss to Fergus for you yesterday and your pressie...most impressed they were by your thoughtfullness...Weezl will post when she can..poor love is inundated with lovely visitors and I'm hoping that they will have some mummy, daddy and Fergus time soon...it's lovely that we all want to see the lil man and give hugs but also consious that huge adjustments being made...just popping in to update albeit from yesterday but he was even more cute day 3 than day 2!! Less wrinkly!

ceridwen

MARY - its not going to be the end of the world if you have a couple of days break from sorting things out...it takes whatever time it takes. Congratulations on getting rid of that loan - so thats the mortgage and that loan gone in pretty quick succession. So - whats the next financial target? Is there any more debts to get rid of - or was that the last one?

ISOM - Thanks for update. As you say - Weezl and Acetate Monkey (aka Weezl's husband) are going to have a spate of visitors initially I guess - as everyone wants to have a looksee and say hello to Fergus.....so we'll "see" Weezl when shes ready...

mary43

ceridwen - OH keeps telling me to 'take my time' but mums furnitures being collected on Wednesday and due to the distance we are away it made sense to fit in clearing the rest. Gives me a chance to see mums friend too and know she's happy with what she choses of mums. Once thats done maybe me and OH can start being 'normal' and do the things we did before,
At the minute I'm finding it hard........some days not so bad but others it all catches up.
Just rang MIL and she wants some of Mums books so we'll take them up when we go for her birthday in June.........only one going to charity shop now -quite pleased about that. The books MIL is having were presents from me to mum so it's nice she's having them.
Mums friends niece always did mums nails for her so mums manicure set is going to her.........she's so pleased -she remembers getting it out every week to tidy mums fingernails up. I can take that to her on Tuesday so that'll be another thing out of the way.
So, I'm sort of getting there.............few more phone calls to make once the flats empty -council, care home, solicitor etc. and hopefully that'll be it - at least for now - and then maybe I can get back to being 'me''.

Have done a bit of 'chucking out' of stuff of my own that had been kicking around for a while and quite honest, was no good to man nor beast. So, one bin bag for the wheelie bin and a bag full for charity shop :j (pats self on the back)

Oh....forgot to add - still two credit cards to pay off but they're not too bad thankfully. Then the house needs painting, our ''pig sty/junk room' needs pastering out and think we'll need a skip for the overflow of stuff that seems to breed in our garage !!

In_Search_Of_Me

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=19520407&posted=1#post19520407

go see if ya want to see a wee piccy of Fergus!!...

Lula-Hula

Hello again,

thanks ISOM for that link to lovely baby :j

well I've inadvertently been simplifying again - DD had a friend round to play today & I got them to help me move the tumble dryer to the front of the homes ready for WEEE collection . We did this very cunningly with the help of a skateboard & probably amused the neighbours no end :rolleyes: .

The girls went back inside & then the sky went black & it pured with rain, hailstones & the wind was wild :eek: so .... I spent half an hour in the shed tidying & clearing out all the junk (again :rolleyes: ) . Result is one very tidy shed that now has room for a work/potting bench as well as the lawnmower & bikes

Gosh, I'm just like whirlwind myself at the moment what with all this clearing & tidying :rotfl: