Compingirls onwards and upwards diary

Compingirl

1 MS complete - freezer is restocked with ice creams and £11 winging its way to me, plus I managed to book onto the car boot 20 June so now have an e-bay incentive with deadline plus I got an email Sunday is free listing day so pretty perfect really

My garden is in full bloom :T Weve eaten all the baby turnip - v nice but take a lot of room up! and ive pulled up 12 pack choi for tonights tea - and WH you will be pleased to know this lot was relatively slug free :rotfl:My broad beans are making pods and ive got flowers on the mangetout & tomatoes

The greenhouse strawbs have started to ripen so ive moved my outdoor pot in there to protect from birds etc and force them on a bit, all in all makes for a very happy CG:cool:

WorkingHardDFW

sounds like you are very good life there - well done you !! A description of my garden is green !! Thats about all I can say about it.

Fantastic weather we are having. We've had tea in the garden for two nights running - SUPER Fantastic

Compingirl

I know its been bbq heaven ive been offered an allotment today - going to have a look on Wednesday, but dont know if it will be too big for me, I like having my 'babys' at the bottom of the garden where I can tend them every day - sad or what!

Weve had a shock today - I changed energy companys and ive had the final bill from Eon £353!!!! I nearly fell through the floor - i was hoping for a rebate 'cos I was paying them £144 a month! ive phoned them and I can pay £118 over 3 months, but this is on top of the £120 I am now paying to EDF - what a croc!

Good news, decorators are doing a lovely job and should be finished tomorrow, so I can get the house back to normal, bad news OH has taken up the carpet in the hall stairs and landing so now I need new carpets as well as laminate - I am truly horrified! This was never discussed or budgeted for and now we have no option but to replace it - I am very upset OH resorting to dirty tactics.

beanielou

Ooooops to dirty tactics & to Eon.

Compingirl

Thanks Beanie, finances are a total mess at the minute, it seems like its 1 step forward 10 steps back, but it will come to an end soon. This is the last big expense, so if I can just get to September without total melt down I might be able to claw things back.

Very cross at OH, but what is done is done cgx

beanielou

As you say whats done is done.
WHat happens in September?

WorkingHardDFW

I guess you'll get some lovely decorated rooms and new floors. Our carpets could all do with replacing but they are going to have to wait. I'm with BL what happens in September?

Compingirl

Nowt! Zero, zilch, nada etc etc etc lol! That means I won't have to fork out for decorating, beds, carpets, birthdays, holidays, weddings etc etc and might actually have some spare cash to throw at our debts lol!

Just spoken to OH, and explained how I felt at the carpet decision, we've had a good chat and cleared the air, I explained my worries with the current economic climate - we are both private sector and potentially facing wage cuts or at least a pay freeze and possible redundancy. If they cut wages by 5%, increase taxes and cut child benefit we could be upto £500 down a month!!!! so, as you can tell I am stressing about this rather a lot whereas OH is very much, what will be will be, we will manage, we always make the payments etc.

We have done loads to the house in the last 12/18 months together with several large purchases and replacement white goods and I am very pleased with the results but at the same time paying this debt also has to be on our list of priorities or we will never shift it, our total debt has more or less stayed the same for 18 months so we haven't added to it and I suppose we've paid the old debts but run up new ones in there place either way a debt is a debt and there is always going to things we want or need. If we were debt free it would be marvellous, we would be living within our means but we aren't there yet so need to make more effort to reduce our debts.

I guess I'm just a financial mess. My problem is ive always been good on paper (or spreadsheets) I can alway balance the books - or cook them - perhaps I should apply for the chancellors job lol!

Anyway, on a happier note, ive been to look at this allotment and it looks fab. Its already cultivated and ready to go and ive got loads of spare produce that needs a home so I think im saying yes to it. FIL says its free so even if I just give it a try for a year i've nothing to lose - plus thre is a massive strawberry bed already established at the bottom so yum yum here I come! catch you later cgx ps just heard they are re-launching the voluntary redundancy package next week so I will wait and see what the new terms are

Compingirl

Thats another MS done and another one picked up yay! Now, can anyone explain to me why ive just sat and mucnched through nearly a full packet of jammy dodgers?? (only 2 left!) cgx

WorkingHardDFW

The allotment sounds great - all those lovely veggies.

You aren't necessarily reducing the debt but you are living within your means and that the first step for tackling debts. Don't be too hard on yourself. I'm with you on the worry about things like CB going though. Its certainly kept us making ends meet over the years and if it disappeared it would certainly have to make us reassess our budget big style.

Stay positive, enjoy your upgraded house and those MS's which keep appearing!