Burlesque Babe bid to stay debt free in 2010

beanielou

Wow you are clever.
I am so thick at these things.Fact.

ZTD

Burlesque_Babe wrote: »

I'm going to change the email account I use with ebay. One I don't use very much. I'm also changing virus protection from Avast to Microsoft as something is getting through to my lappy.

Some sites for you to looks at:

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2008_11.php

http://www.pcworld.com/article/124475/top_antivirus_software.html

Burlesque_Babe

had an email from Land's End. They are going to refund me the £7.06 it cost to send it back AND the £3.95 I initially paid to have them sent to me.

My knees are killing me. I have no idea why. I thought I'd twisted/strained the right one a couple of weeks ago but today both are REALLY painful. I do wonder if it is the chair I'm using. The hydraulics are knack'd so it is at a really low level and I have noticed I often sit in a kind of 'knock knee'd' position and if I'm doing that every day for a few hours a day, that can't be doing my knees any good. I noticed it earlier and how much I could feel the pressure on the inner and outer edges of each knee. I'm going to swap the chair for a dining chair I think for a few days and see if it makes a difference.

beanielou

Result on Lands End
Watch your knees hun.

ZTD

Burlesque_Babe wrote: »

My knees are killing me. I have no idea why. I thought I'd twisted/strained the right one a couple of weeks ago but today both are REALLY painful. I do wonder if it is the chair I'm using. The hydraulics are knack'd so it is at a really low level and I have noticed I often sit in a kind of 'knock knee'd' position and if I'm doing that every day for a few hours a day, that can't be doing my knees any good. I noticed it earlier and how much I could feel the pressure on the inner and outer edges of each knee. I'm going to swap the chair for a dining chair I think for a few days and see if it makes a difference.

Ergonomics. H&S. And all the rest. Take care of yourself - get a new one.

Burlesque_Babe

well, OH got picked up at 2 this morning and is just about to fly according to the Gatwick live departures. He'll be back next Sunday.

I am going to try to lead a really frugal life foodwise for the week and save the pennies whilst he is away nd make the shopping I had delivered on Saturday be more for when he gets back and the following days after that. I've got tuna jacket for lunch and leftover bolognaise with half a packet of filled pasta that I stuck in the freezer left week tonight.

-8 this morning apparently!! Very frosty but looking on FB, all my DFW friends seem to be waking to snow.

Need to carry on with the list from yesterday. Technically none of it is 'urgent' for today or tomorrow as I could do the teaching stuff for class on Tuesday tomorrow night. Not sure - might do that and maybe try to do a bit of housework today.

OK, maybe I'll do my teaching prep. instead :rotfl:

Burlesque_Babe

plodding on through my list. All the 'must do' stuff is done. Also managed to do a bit of dusting (but not much!).

Took Thunder out for the first time. I was embarrassingly nervous about it incase something awful happened mechanically. I did smell a tiny whiff of oil after about a minute coming through the air vent that I didn't smell on the test drive. I was on my way to see Charlie so my ex had a look with the engine running and said there was no leak etc and it was probably just a bit splashed on the manifold from the oil change in the service. Got brave, took it and put petrol in, then took it to Asda and back. The petrol gauge seems a bit odd, it was below the bottom when I drove it but the light wasn't on and £10 worth made it veer between just above the red and quarter full as I drove! Perhaps the weight in the tank isn't working properly so the reading is a bit all over the place. Other than that it seemed ok and I felt I was getting used to it quickly.

beanielou

Car seems ok & yah to you getting used to it so soon

Burlesque_Babe

Almost had a takeaway last night but didn't give in and was a good girl and had leftover bolognaise, garlic bread and the last few Doritos in a bag. Also made rolls for lunch which i'm currently munching.

Very cold this morning. Paths and side roads were shiny and frosty.

Remembered this morning that I agreed to invigilate on Wednesday evening so I'll stay at work after I finish, use the hour or so to do teaching prep. and then invigilate the exam. Long exam so won't get in until much before 9 but with OH away I can just slob out as soon as I get in. I'll earn £24 before deductions to it all helps.

Burlesque_Babe

had some news tonight that is now making me cry for a number of reasons.

I went to see Charlie and my ex has decided to sell his (our old) house. It isn't completely unexpected but for him to actually make the decision is upsetting.

Since he was made redundant in July from his teaching job, he has only had a rough average of 3 or 4 days of supply a month. I've helped him pull in his finances in lots of ways but he hasn't pulled in his food shopping. He has around 15k of CC debt and about 10k on a secured loan.

He hasn't bothered looking for a job other than the occasional look at the Times Ed. online on a Friday. I've been desparately trying to help - sending links to jobs (over 90% of which he hasn't bothered going for), links to job websites (again, he doesn't bother looking at), links to free or very cheap training (his IT skills are poor and I have tried to hammer home how important some IT training is needed even if he gets another job teaching PE). He's just ignored all the training I've given him information about. His IT skills are really prohibiting him getting another job and I've really tried to push this home to little success 'you can teach me all I need to know'. No I can't!!! I can help and I've taught him the basics of Word, email and the internet but he really needs some IT training.

I'm upset because although we split over 6 years ago, we've still kept in regular touch and so to see 'my' house being sold is going to be horrible. I also feel frustrated that although he says he understands the enormity of the situation he isn't prepared to go out and look for work 'in case I get a week of supply work which will pay me over £100 a day'. I've said he should have been going round temp agencies for warehouse/gardening etc work back in July to get some work which may only pay £800-£1000 per month but would have eaten into his redundancy money much slower than it has done. He has about 2 months money left. I feel (perhaps stupidly) that I've spoon fed him so many opportunities, advice and opportunities to at least try to improve his 'lot' and that he's just shrugged at the whole lot.

For a minute, I felt incredibly guilt which now makes me cry harder. I thought - if we hadn't have split this wouldn't be happening. There would have been 2 incomes and we'd have coped. But would we? I have fully embraced the ethos of MSE and realise that money management is sometimes bloody hard work. He has just blindly carried on spending £80+ a week at the supermarket, would I have been able to change this if we'd been together? Would I have become a 'convert' at all? Maybe we'd have both been sinking by now.

The estate agent is coming on Wednesday to take photos. My ex still wants to get a job and not to move. The problem is that he is looking for a job which is so specific only 1 or 2 will come up per year and whilst I've said that, it seems to change nothing. It's almost as if the day he was made redundant, he has been planning for today to happen as some kind of inevitability. He feels he is 'too old and too expensive' for the job he does, yet that is the only job he'll go for.

I feel that he should get out there and find a job - any job. Put the work in and be motivated and positive. Life's bloody hard at times but it can be a positive experience and that just giving up the minute he gets the opportunity is the wrong attitude. I guess I feel if I can do it, then why can't he?

He won't be on the streets - his Mum has said he is more than welcome to go home. After paying off the mortgage and his debts, I guess he'd have around £60-£65k in his pocket to start again. A decent deposit if he can hang on to it.

Of course, there's the issue of losing even more contact with Charlie. His mum lives on the outskirts of Portsmouth so about an hour away and he has said he still wants to do supply in Poole and would he be able to drop him off with me so I can see him for the day?

It's all a load of horrible mixed emotions.

Including - perhaps he has the right idea? Perhaps I'm the stupid one struggling on?

I don't expect much of a detailed reply etc, I just need to get it all down. I just keep crying but I don't know why. I wouldn't want to be with him again, but it is hurting that it has had to come to this.