Financial faux pas and other disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Coffee break time again. This time around its accompanied by several large slabs of toblerone.

Another cupboard done. Oven shelves have been soaked and scrubbed and are soaking again. Kim and Aggie would not be impressed. Clearly theres something to this cleaning your oven regularly lark although not on the daily bais that my step mother inists is essential but then her house would make Anthea Turner feel like a slovenly ho. I'm such a disappointment.

Still haven't spent any money although its not for lack of trying. Next have no jeans in my size that I like but as thats a chocie of two thats really not a surprise. Miffed to find that Argos are now selling DSs for £80. Can't do anything about it. Had a quick look at the Boots sale but I really do no need any more shower gels ever.

Have been set a mini project by my dad the only person in the civilised world with internet banking on a dial up connection. He wants me to locate half a mug as in a usable mug that has been sliced in half vertically rather than a small mug for something hes planning for his retirment party. Strange to think that hes now six months away from retirement. Helpfully pointed out that with all theis free time on his hands hes welcome to pop over and do some decoarating and some gardening and he can have his grandchildren to stay for the schoo holidays but surprisingly hes pretty sure he'll find plenty of things to do. Turns out my little sister has a longer list of things to keep him busy and she lives closer. Bah.

Still working on my cunning plan for 2010. Vaguely thinking I can attempt 12 months on the enhanced live on 4K a year challenge by living on 20K but that sounds rather excessive although its only actually £1666 a month which really isn't that outrageous (since I seem to get through more than that most months) assuming I simplify it to include absolutely everything so I can't cheat by excluding certain things to make it easier. Will ponder this some more. May have to rethink it to take go go juice into account as between us we seem to get through £300 in fuel each month.

moo2moo

Bored of housework. Why is it the more you tidy the more mess you seem to generate ultimately hitting a point where you either shove a heap of random sstuff in a drawer or chuck it out and then realise you've got rid of something vital 10 minutes after the bin men have been. DD2 is hindering my efforts with a slot together wooden jigsaw puzzle of a dinosaur with 3 pieces numbered 1 and none marked three. Shes doing it all by herself but appears every 10 seconds minus the instructions to ask if this bit is right.I haven't a clue. Have told DD2 to wait for OH to awaken as its an activity requiring the expertise of a man.

Some of the kitchen is minimalisticly fab, unfortunately the bit surrounding the oven is not. To cook would be to risk setting fire to something. Need to go and find sufficient space to throw dinner together.Tonight we're having unlabelled plastic box surprise with a side helping of diced buffalo pan fried with whatever veggies are lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Not the sort of culinary masterpiece you're likely to encounter on Masterchef. Theoretically blew £25 in the Lakeland sale but thought better of it. No one needs that many plastic storage boxes.

moo2moo

Had a major dippy moment yesterday. Found myself watching the Top Gear Bolivian special with an unwashed unshaven Hamster Hammond thinking ooh erm I could quite fancy a chunk of him and then he shaved leaving a really dubious goatee. What was I thinking. I never normally lust after him like a demented woman. Its all getting a bit desperate housewives.

I cooked up a storm yesterday knocking together a truly inspired chinese style sweet and sour Buffallo dish which DD1 assured me was really tasty but a bit chewy. Turns out flash frying stewing meat isn't very kind to your teeth. Theres another good reason to be vegetarian. Fortunately they'll be saved from my inability to cook anything as we're off to a South African restaurant for OHs 40th tonight where the carnivorves will cram thier faces with Springbok and Crocodile (DD1 and DD2s favourites respectively) whilst I get potje (aka veggies in cheese sauce) and the worlds biggest deserts.(Thats plural as DD2 never manages to finish hers so I get at least one and a half. More if DD1 is full too).

Kitchen is still remarkably tidy (at least the patch I cleared is) even went so far as to wash up after dinner which is almost unheard of. Will be continuing my assualt on the cupboards but will no doubt be hampered by OH asking why I'm chucking this and that and the other out. Still if I don't do it whilst I'm on a roll it will be a disaster again in no time at all.

So plans for today:

• Venture forth into the big wide world to pay a bill due on the 6th which will not arrive in time if I post it so need to find a bank to do it in person
• Walk past all the very tempting sales shops without making a purchase. Not overly difficult as shops rarely stock anything that fits me but that doesn't stop me falling in love with things only to find they're too short. Humph.
• Yet more laundry. Am averaging two loads a day which is truly ridiculous. Must convince the DDs to at least attempt to wear things two days in a row especially when they don't get dressed until the middle of the afternoon.
• File all the random bits of aper and reciepts for things with warranties that were removed from kicthen cupboards and drawers.
• Attack the overflowing junk drawer in the kitchen in the hopes it will eventually shut willingly on the first attempt and crucially will open again without being rattled when something within it is required.
• Dig out my contract and work out just how long I can get away with not going into work. Am entirely unconvinced whether I have 50, 60 or even 70 hours holiday left with which to slob off over X-mas and Feb half term. Having used 28 of them last week it would be nice to have a vague idea rather than discover I need to sleep there next Sunday to wedge in enough hours in the building.
• Find something to wear to restaurant. Its so not a jeans place. Its too chuffing chilly for skirts and heels (chunky ones) so whatever it is needs to be wearable with either purple Doc Marten boots or chunky builder-esque boots. Perhpas a spot of shoe shopping is required.

moo2moo

Thwarted before I'm even dressed. My stealth escape into civilisation on my own for an hour will not be happening. Instead the DDs have announced they have money to bank and need to purchase wrist straps for their DSs to stop them accidentally being dropped on the floor. I can order 4 from flea bay for £1.50 but they insist they can't wait 10 days for them to be shipped from Hong Kong as an accident can happen at anytime. No doubt its impossible to prchase just a wrist strap and they'll end up with a themed case and several other naff bits with little change from a tenner. Off to do some high street homework.

moo2moo

Must also remeber to pin OH down and insist he phone both Tesco and the RAC to persudae them to better their on-line quotes as his insurance expires on New Years Day.

mooomin

Don't go out!

It's a Bank Holiday today and most banks won't be reopening until Tuesday.

Have chocolate and coffee and stay inside

moo2moo

Aw !!!!!!. Didn't know that. Shows how much attention I pay to the world outside my walls.

mooomin

It's because Boxing Day was a Saturday and this is a non-working day for banks (Although many of them open their branches on a Saturday) When this happens the Bank Holiday rolls over to the next working day. I suspect it will be the same for New Year in Scotland as January 2nd is a Bank Holiday for us (National Hangover Day is how I think of it!) Those of you in Englandshire/Wales should be fine next Monday though.

moo2moo

On the brightside the unexpected double bank hooliday means I can stretch my remaining holiday allowance by a further 12 hours so will only need to do a day and a half in the school hols remaining between now and Easter.

Took the DDs to the shopping park and purchased wrist straps and cases using their birthday money. Exchanged some ghastly X-mas clothes in an age 5 for a more appropriate age 7 with monkeys on. DD2 is obsessed by monkeys. Ventured into the Next sale and found a fab pair of trousers for a fiver. Unfortunately they were enormous on and so I left the store empty handed. Visited the Boots sale and purchased nail clippers paying with points so technically a freebie. Made the mistake of visiting Mr Ts for bread and milk. £60 later we also have vino and 100 washes worth of Persil small and mighty. Heres hoping that and the box of Persil I've got left from the last mega purchase will see me through to at least Easter. It might be cheating but I need all the help I can get if I'm going to stand a vague chance of surviving the live on quite a bit more than 4K a year challenge and with that in mind I'm off to do some number crunching.

moo2moo

Since theres no time like the present heres a copy of the post on the live on 4K a year challenge thread:

I'll be biting the bullet and aiming for £20K to cover a two adults, two children, a large dog with hollow legs, a semi feral self feeding cat, a chinchilla, several dozen electricity gobbling tropical fish, yet more electricity hungry pond fish and 16 chickens.

Having given this a trial run and failed miserably by budgeting for three months but doing it over a period of four I have a very rough idea of how things look. I'm including absolutely everything as I'll confuse myself if I don't, I've also rounded everything to whole numbers so things look a bit like this each month:

Interest….................................... 80
Council tax................................. 103
Electricity..................................... 60
Gas.............................................. 60
Coal and logs................................50
Water rates.................................. 15
Telephone, mobiles and internet.... 30
TV Licence.................................. 12
Groceries and pet food…............ 250
Clothing and shoes....................... 40
Petrol/diesel............................... 260
Road tax...................................... 20
Car Insurance.............................. 45
Car maintenance………….......... 70
Dental.. ……………….….......... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................... 40
House insurance........................... 20
Entertainment.............................. 100
Children’s Savings Accounts. ......110
Riding Lessons............................. 80
Fags............................................ 100
Pension........................................ 80
Endowments............................... 110
Chicken feed…………………....25
Anything that I’ve omitted….........62

Total monthly expenses......... 1667 x 12 = £20,000 per year