November.2015.here.we.come

taxi73

That's a great saving..well done.

mum2one

Can't believe the weather today, thou managed to do hit and miss with the weather.

Took dd to our favourite Ice Cream farm, armed with polos for the ponies, pigs and goats. We avoided the heavy showers, had lunch, dd went up to the craft room, gd value, she made, Pig Bookmark (nannas Pat xmas prezzie), a Chicken Bookmark for me, to remind me of the cottage we've stayed at b4, they have chickens running around, and a gorgeous hair slide, with little fabric roses each end, and 5 jewels in between, all came to £3.50, really plzed.

The animals got spolit, so funny seeing 2 big pigs chaseing a polo on the floor, to see who could get it.

Wasn't to bad, free entry, we had lunch, icecreams, then treat cake + drink b4 we left, and inc her crafts, come to £21. It was a treat b4 going back to school.

Nearly had a heart attack, when dd was doing her crafts, eaves-dropping, as another lady wanted her childrens party their, admitaddly the party includes food, and the organisation, and themed parties, the price was £10 quid per child, if you wanted their party bags, they were £2.99 each.....
:eek::eek::eek:The woman wanted 10-15 children...... £130-£180 quid!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I've got dds party, local sports hall, they supply 2 staff that take care of everything for party games etc, a bouncy castle for an hr. £45.00

We did it last yr same place, had 35 children, inc hire, kids food, did them all in individual boxes, big table food for adults, plus party bags + girls had backpacks, the boys had trainer bag + wallet set, all in £100.
xx

mum2one

Another good day, and in a roundabout day, slightly profitable.

Took dd for her feet to be measured, she was so exicted as she has her feet has grown from size 13 to 1. Mum brought her shoes.:T

Then we did a detour from their to home bargains, - that went on dads credit card:D,:D got nick nacks for her party, some bargain silcone cookwear, they were only £1.99 each, sandwich tins, loaf tins.

Then the highlight of the afternoon a trip to McDonalds....

Took 20 minutes, to do 1 kids meal, 2 x mcflurry, cheeseburger, muffin, and 2 drinks....... the cashier left the burgers on the tray - course they were stone cold.

Complained - nicely (my lovely daughter piped up, nothing new, mummys complaining again!!).

They tried to offer us free desserts.....doh....we'd already got them, then they offered vouchers, but on closer inspection wasn't for free food it was £1.99 big mac + chips, only valid at that restaurant, then I asked for a refund, by this time we'd waited another 15 minutes for 2 fresh burgers.... they finally caved in and gave me 3 x complimentary meal vouchers, :T , which will come in very useful, as stop back at McDonalds coming back from Tutorial.

Also a miracle happened, I paid in cash.... so often grab debit / credit card, very pround of myself.

Digressing again.....

So weird, we had a phonecall from the spaniel rescue centre, seeing if we were still interested in rehomeing a spaniel, as they have got 2 x Springer spaniels come in, brothers, 16mths, the bloke rang us 1st before anyone else, felt so quilty, sounds daft, but I love dogs... couldn't take them on becoz we got Bailey.
Who I must say is getting bigger by the day, and hes so loveing, but hes so cheeky, and when he goes for 40 winks, his one ear seems to stay up, as if to say, I may be asleep, but I'm still listening xx

mum2one

Loan starts 8th Sept-£184.00 66 months
capital One - £305
Aqua - £100 (was start of July)
Vanquis £100
Barclaycard- £625
Halifax card - £1700 (dads on life of balance 6.9%, paying double min)
Overdraft -£1250

Now setting myself monthly targets / break them down to weekly once done.

September.
ALL RELATES TO NEW DIARY
Income support now goes fortnightly - got to jig finances around-

Get correct balances from each card so can do new snowball, - figures and payments in diary - got balances, need to do snowball

2 weeks behind on OU - get that sorted next 2 weeks, need to put each week where should be in the diary

Work out all Septemebers payments and tie in with onlne banking-half done, put all direct debits, and incomings (bar I.S.- till I get the hang of 2 weekly payments)in Diary till July 2010

Check online bankling weekly - checked friday 4th Sept/

(5 tasks -3 half done, 2 to do)
GENERAL

get dd feet measured ready for back to school - new shoes mum paid (DONE)

Final uniform check - she has literaly had 2 growth spurts over the summer holidays, instead of skirts they could be belts..... mums been busy, shes done all the name tags, - just need spare white tshirts (incase of next growth spurt) - remainder of uniform ok (DONE)

sort out remaining xmas prezzies - think done all this years, bar mum, dad, dd -in progress

Work out what presents can be carried forward to next year - save money.-so far done birthday list 2010, 2x 18th birthdays nxt yr

Start christmas card list

5 tasks (2 done, 2 in progress, 1 not started).

DD BIRTHDAY

prepared for dds birthday party - 30 children - have all items for party, party bags + fillers, - NEED TO BE made -
so far,
sorted out nick-nacks for party bags, baged as boys/girls
prizes ready
food boxes brought
party bags ready - got brown lunch-bags, dd going to decorate
printed off meal paln, (each child has their own food box)

Make 4 pass the parcels
Got everything ready, middle presents, Simpsons stationary sets, (49p from Home Bargains), then got sweets + large novelty paperclips for the inbetween layers).

Get dd birthday presents sorted - all brought just need wrapping
brought Disney Princess paper
The man who does all my computer set-ups etc, finishing off set-up on Wed
When back at school get list of children to send the invites out to, then spare numbers

4 TASKS (3 in progress 1 not started)

OPEN UNI

catch up to date- half done, upto date with online activities, count towards assisgnment

do an assisgnment - ask for an extension-Plan B. With tutors agreement, just done online work worth 20 points, not done the assisgnment, already passed the assisgnment side, got one more to do. (DONE)

work out Octobers OU work - got exam HELP -

3 tasks (1 done, 1 halfway, 1 not there)
HOUSE

gut dd bedroom before her birthday - old clothes, junk etc -half way through

gut my bedroom - move the xmas prezzies out - find new home for them
dont even go there

2 tasks - 1 started, 1 a pipe dream
HAVE A LIFE - WHEN., WHERE, HOW, HAVEN'T WORKED THAT ONE OUT YET

I've tackled over half, got couple done, a lot are in progress, but getting there.

Fun week next week.
Monday - DD last day of school hols, taking her out somewhere.
Tues - DD at school, got lone parent interview at job centre. Into bank sort money out
Wed- My computer man - finish setting up computer
Thurs- Blood test am, dd starts swimming lessons again
Fri - Open meeting with the headmaster - watch this space - sparks will fly.

I've got 2 weeks worth of OU work to do for next 2 weeks, get me back to where I should be.

Took dd to the cinema this morning, Movies for Juniors £1.00 each, we saw Night at The Museum 2, it was brilliant.

xx

taxi73

Looks like you've been busy and are going to continue to be busy.

mum2one

Quick financial update, (if I dont log it on here and put it on a bit of paper keep loseing it)

Loan starts 10th Sept - 1st payment 10th Sept, 65 to go!!
capital One - £305- pd 50
Aqua - £100 (was start of July) to pay 50 - set to come out next week
Vanquis £100- paid £50

Now setting myself monthly targets / break them down to weekly once done.

September.
ALL RELATES TO NEW DIARY
Income support now goes fortnightly - got to jig finances around- think 90% sorted, in theory, lets see how the end of looks, figuring take Sept/Oct to get sorted

Get correct balances from each card so can do new snowball, - figures and payments in diary - payments scheduled on account, payments in + out in diary, (my incomings done to July nxt yr!)

2 weeks behind on OU - get that sorted next 2 weeks, need to put each week where should be in the diary - still 2 weeks behind, but positve got no further behind, had hard week of studying.

Work out all Septemebers payments and tie in with onlne banking- done, all by the 9th Sept

Check online bankling weekly - so far checked 3times


GENERAL

get dd feet measured ready for back to school - done, new shoes - mum paid

Final uniform check - she has literaly had 2 growth spurts over the summer holidays, instead of skirts they could be belts.....sorted, just needed white tshirts for pe

sort out remaining xmas prezzies - think done all this years, bar mum, dad, dd - done - got 3/4 bagged up in individual persons, others in 2 big boxes

Work out what presents can be carried forward to next year - save money. - got half done, accounted whats downstairs, got box full in loft, that be next mths to do lidt

Start christmas card list - mmm maybe a bit to early...

DD BIRTHDAY

prepared for dds birthday party - 30 children - have all items for party, party bags + fillers, - NEED TO BE made - invites out to 30 children, so far 15 coming.
Decorated 30 brown "sandwich bags", filled them, all ready, just to be names stuck on them

Make 4 pass the parcels - done - very mse, wrapped them all in the leaflets and magazines, so if the kids get bored they could do their xmas shopping!!


Get dd birthday presents sorted - all brought just need wrapping - after a visit to Sainsburys - presents have increased, I'm only guilty for DS game, Word Coach, mums bill- newclothes, another couple ds games, bargains for a fiver.

When back at school get list of children to send the invites out to, then spare numbers - done

OPEN UNI

catch up to date -2 weeks behind

do an assisgnment - ask for an extension - plan B, done a "I need to do a pass on this one", but bless him he gave me 20% for the online contributions,

work out Octobers OU work - got exam HELP - got tutorial next week, one of the discussions the exam, so guess I'm not the only one worrying.

HOUSE

gut dd bedroom before her birthday - old clothes, junk etc

gut my bedroom - move the xmas prezzies out - find new home for them

Plan 99 -Dont even go there.
HAVE A LIFE - WHEN., WHERE, HOW, HAVEN'T WORKED THAT ONE OUT YET

mum2one

We had an issue with dds school, from last school year, when she was so ill on hols, among issues, the school dont recall the two telephone calls, the letter sent to the teacher on return or the copy sent to the office.

Nor do they have any record of 4 letters hand delievered and 3 further telephone calls asking for an appointment to discuss the situation.

The upshot of this incident - the school reported my daughter as staying on holiday, and as well as being on her school record, the school welfare officer is involved, and is threatening me with a fine and / or court action.

So friday afternoon, was an open meeting at school, dad came with me, (he takes/collects dd from school), once the head had done his speech, he asked for parents comments, any issues, no one spoke, so I brought up the issue, he tried to brush it under the carpet as miscommunication, I wouldn't drop it, produced copies of the home line phone bill (with the school number highlighted), a copy of email from my mobile company saying calls can be traced, and 3 letters that I had sent to school.

To which point he decided he could suddenly see me for an appointment after the meeting, to which another parent replied I don't get replies when I ask for an appointment,...

Result from the "one to one" meeting, he admitted there had been errors on the part of the school, he will send me a formal letter of apology, and fully investage, get back to me and also sort out the issue of the school welfare officer, tellling her it was a mistake and adding an admendant to dds school record saying there was an error!:T:T

Also complained that at lunch times the girls have to use the boys toilets, and my concern was that if a boy came out not dressed properly or at the urinial block, then dd would be exposed to unnecessary body parts.

The upshot, he has now said there will be a dinner lady present at the toilets to ensure that no mixed sexes. I know it may sound picky, but one of dds friends, shes yr above, (shes 8), had to use the boys toilet, as she was washing her hands a boy came from urinals, pushed her into the sink + hit her.....

dad left as he picked dd from school while I stayed for the meeting, but apparently when I brought up the issue, the head just didnt know what to say or do.

Dont take me wrong I have the upmost respect for teachers and I couldn't do their job for all the money in the world, but I just want to be treated fairly.
xx

taxi73

At least you got it all sorted in the end.I too wouldn't be happy about boys and girls using the same toilet either.Looks ,like you're getting on top of the finances as well so all looking good.

mum2one

Started into the 4k repayment bracket - Def looks like its going to be afternoon Tea at the Ritz, (courtesy of my best mate - deal was pay 5k - Ritz on her).:T:T:T

Only another £975 to go!!:mad:


I've cancelled my TMobile contract for mobile internet - £20 a month, given 30 days notice, ends 7th Oct, then get final bill. They tried to bribe me to stay with a free mini lap top - mmmmmmmm- interested..... but they don't know when there be in stock, but I could sign up for a 24 month contract.

So big NO THANK -YOU

I'm buying the pay + go version, £20 for the unit, you top up, its £2 a day, £10 week, or £15 for 30 days. But you top up as needed.

I originally had mobile internet for travelling, 90% of my hols in Devon, the site has now installed wifi in the clubroom (free useage), so there only be odd ocassions when I need it, but after one month I'm in profit, and its a further £20 off debts, not much, but every penny or £1 helps. xx

taxi73

You'll definitely get that goal then as you have quite a while yet.