My "life begins at 40....better late than never diary!!"

Snowdonlily

Well that was short and sweet. They've gone, and I feel like the worst mum in the world

DS2 goes off to uni on Friday and DS1 goes off on Saturday. Neither are happy to leave their dad as apparently his routine is still the same and he's out at the pub every night hitting the bottle quite heavily.

DS3 must really feel like he's been abandoned. First his mum loses the plot, packs up and leaves, then his two brothers do the same leaving him to pick up the pieces with his dad. I thought I was doing the right thing making sure he stayed at the same school for his final year............now I'm not so sure

Didn't quite manage a NSD today. I gave the boys some money to take with them to Uni. Not as much as I wanted to give them, but what I could afford to give them at the moment.

The old me would be "comfort shopping" now....but the new me has no money!

The only other spends were a loaf of bread and a newspaper.

maman

Snowdonlily wrote: »

Well that was short and sweet. They've gone, and I feel like the worst mum in the world

DS2 goes off to uni on Friday and DS1 goes off on Saturday. Neither are happy to leave their dad as apparently his routine is still the same and he's out at the pub every night hitting the bottle quite heavily.

DS3 must really feel like he's been abandoned. First his mum loses the plot, packs up and leaves, then his two brothers do the same leaving him to pick up the pieces with his dad. I thought I was doing the right thing making sure he stayed at the same school for his final year............now I'm not so sure

Didn't quite manage a NSD today. I gave the boys some money to take with them to Uni. Not as much as I wanted to give them, but what I could afford to give them at the moment.

The old me would be "comfort shopping" now....but the new me has no money!

The only other spends were a loaf of bread and a newspaper.

Don't be too hard on yourelf snowdonlily. It's not as if he turned to the pub because you left, that was part of the problem and he doesn't seem to see the need to change yet.

Obviously seeing you in a new setting wasn't easy for the boys, it'll take some getting used to for you all. As for your youngest, it would be so difficult to move to a new school without disrupting his studies at such a late date. I should just hang in there and encourage him to call/visit as often as possible. You did well to manage some spending money for them, I'm sure that wouldn't count for NSD.

Snowdonlily

Thanks Maman.that's always been my problem, I've always been much harder on myself than anyone else ever is! I'm going to look for the positives today.....at least they're talking to me and came to see me (and gave me loads of hugs as they left).

Time to go to work now, I'm planning on today being a NSD.

Payday tomorrow...yayy!!!

Have a good day x

Snowdonlily

You know you have a shopping problem when you decide to write down all your spends in a little book.............................then spend your entire lunch hour shopping for "the perfect notebook!!"

maman

That's not silly at all. I think if you make a plan then having the right 'tools' to carry it out help. You will enjoy using the special notebook so it's more likely you will stick to writing your diary. Hope you have a good weekend. Do you have friends nearby?

Snowdonlily

Hi Maman, and everyone else.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Its going to be a quiet one for me this week. I'm working today, but off tomorrow, so its going to be a quiet night in with a bottle of wine I think. Much more MSE than spending £40 on a night out and taxi back home to my little cottage

Friends are a bit thin on the ground at the moment. Most of my "friends" were one halves of couples my H and I used to socialise with. Since the split, they seem to have melted away. (Not really a bad thing!!).

A work colleague invited me to go car booting with him tomorrow....so if its a nice day, I might see if I can go grab a few bargains. I need a few bits and bobs for my kitchen. I'm going to try and batch cook some tomato sauce (for pastas and chillis) and some mince for shepherds pies etc, so I need a big saucepan. I've also been given some cooking apples so I need a dish to cook an apple crumble.

I never thought I'd be starting from scratch (and I mean from scratch, I left everything behind) aged 40 but I've never been happier (apart from missing the boys of course). The old me would have been straight to Debenhams for a new saucepan, but I'm actually looking forward to rooting round the carboot sale tomorrow.

My tv is a tiny 15" portable perched on two old cardboard boxes, picking up freeview channels off an old Sky digibox I bought on ebay. One of my last purchases with H was a brand new flat screen LCD TV. I hate to think how much money I've wasted trying to make myself feel better by buying things I really don't need.

Right, I'd better go and do some work. I hope everyone has a good weekend x

Snowdonlily

Its me again!

Had a lovely day at the carboot on Sunday.

I think I was probably too late to grab any bargains, but I did manage to nab two wine glasses for 40p.

I just checked my bank balance online and my loan is under £20k for the first time.......yayyy!

I also joined the October Grocery Challenge this evening. I've set my budget at £200 for the month. I could probably cut down a bit more than that, but I still have good days and bad days......and I'm not ready to cut down on the wine and chocolate just yet

maman

Snowdonlily wrote: »

I just checked my bank balance online and my loan is under £20k for the first time.......yayyy!

I also joined the October Grocery Challenge this evening. I've set my budget at £200 for the month. I could probably cut down a bit more than that, but I still have good days and bad days......and I'm not ready to cut down on the wine and chocolate just yet

Well done on passing below that £20 000 mark:T:T:T

I'm not actually doing the grocery challenge but I have been keeping a track on how much I spend on actual groceries (including cleaning materials etc). I account for the wine separately as I count that as entertainment. I was just curious to see how much it cost us to eat compared with others who post. I'm coming in at about £130 for September (for two of us) but that doesn't include days when we ate out (that's in the entertainment budget too:o). I think we eat fairly cheaply and well but I keep buying storecupboard items in bogofs etc but it all saves in the end.

Snowdonlily

Moneywise today hasn't been such a good week.

I've had to change my car.....again! There was something wrong that was too expensive to fix (so they told me anyway) so I've gone for something smaller that should be more economical to run. Seems like its one thing after the other these days. I was thinking of changing it, but not quite so soon

The grocery challenge is going well. I haven't had any topup shops so far this month, so the menu planning seems to be working. :T

maman

Snowdonlily wrote: »

Moneywise today hasn't been such a good week.

I've had to change my car.....again! There was something wrong that was too expensive to fix (so they told me anyway) so I've gone for something smaller that should be more economical to run. Seems like its one thing after the other these days. I was thinking of changing it, but not quite so soon

The grocery challenge is going well. I haven't had any topup shops so far this month, so the menu planning seems to be working. :T

Shame about the car snowdonlily. They're great when they're running well but....

:T on the grocery challenge. I'm a huge fan of meal planning and only shopping to it. It saves time as well as money.

What happened to your lovely, new notebook? I hope you're keeping your spending diary;)