Pen's phase 2 -the long debt slog and de-clutter

penelopedee_2

What a lovely, sunny Sunday. I love it when I've got a couple loads of washing drying on the line and the sun makes everything look happier.

De-cluttered a bookshelf today, 3 bags to go to charity and I've found half a dozen I've not got round to reading yet.

I haven't had to do any running around after people so I feel pretty chilled today. I've blitzed the living and dining rooms. The boys are out watching foottie so I've a couple of hours to myself to sit and admire the tidy rooms before they are trashed again - I really do need to get out more!

Money wise this has been a no spend day and I've found enough change hanging about the house to do DS school lunches for a couple of days.

Need to go and put the roast lunch on now.

penelopedee_2

I've just realised (how sad is this) I'll have no more rushing around sorting out DH work clothes over the weekend anymore Yes I know he's very capable of doing his own but I'm a control freak and don't want my lovely whites and pastels being washed with his dark, dusty work gear.

Another bit of de-cluttering - I'm off upstairs now to bag them all up to go to the tip. At least then they won't be reminding him what was and it will leave a bit of room in his cupboards.

Different_Corner

Hi Pen, found you on polly's diary.
How are you doing on the smoking ?

Decluttering is good for the soul, real sense of acheivement. I really need to do the wardrobe a la penelope style

anonymoose_3

I thought I'd pop by your diary It's made me feel guilty though, I'm useless at decluttering:o Always worry I'll want something back if I get rid of it

penelopedee_2

Hi Polly, I do feel like that too. I intend to get rid of a couple of old coats this week which I haven't worn for about 3 years and I do have nice replacements. But I'm still worried I'll regret it. ... Madness, they are shabby and falling apart.

DC, the smoking is not going too well. I've managed to stop during the day and have kept that up since Christmas. I do need to give up desperately but I can't get the 'want' bit to make it easier.

penelopedee_2

This is my first proper week using cash only (apart from the main on-line grocery shop) and I think the penny is starting to drop - excuse the pun. I can't bear how quickly the money is disappearing from my purse and this is just for essentials.

Today's spends are:

Petrol £37 (I do a lot of running around for both jobs but get help with this)
Milk 70p
Choc (for DS) 48p (had a good report at school today - he doesn't normally get this sort of thing in the week)

Once I take out the rest of DS's dinner money I will have about £5 to last until Saturday - which I should manage quite easy as I'm back in the habit of making lunches for work etc again. Normally I would just wack this on my DCard and not even notice its nearly £40 gone. Its quite painful when you hand the notes over. Add to that £5 to £20 I used to blow wandering around town at lunchtime and I can easily see where all my hard earned dosh is going.:eek:

No de-cluttering today, I've had a housework evening instead. But hopefully back to it tomorrow.

DH and I are currently enjoying a nice cup of tea as I'm too tight to part with any more money for wine today! This should start saving me a few pennies too. My secret mission here is that if I cut the wine habit right back I should be able to do something about the dreaded smoking too. Fingers crossed!

honeybear_2

Yay! Great new diary, Pen :j

I have decluttering planned this week...

penelopedee wrote: »

I've found the cheese grater that disappeared at Christmas.

Maybe I'll find my nail buffer that went into hiding around Valentines Day

penelopedee_2

Hi Honeybear, de-cluttering rules! It was so much easier this morning finding a tidy work outfit, left me a bit of time to sit down with a cup of tea before I left.

penelopedee_2

I have fitted a bit of de-cluttering in - was looking for some shampoo and raided one of my bathroom cabinets. Found 3 eye creams when I thought I needed to buy more, plus got rid of a couple of body creams that smelt very dodgy and some old hair bobbles and clips. Hate to think how long they'd been hiding in there, I've had short hair for a couple of years now. Also found a random bottle of shampoo so don't need to buy more and some value bubblebath which will do to top up the soap dispensers.

So was very worth the 5 minutes it took.

penelopedee_2

No wine for me last night but won't be promising the same tonight, as this is my mid week Friday. Apart from the weekly grocery shop which again was under £50 and did contain wine, I've also managed not to spend today - which is brilliant compared with recently.

It was helped by a very busy day at work which meant I missed my lunch break but my DH has made a lovely hm lasagne for tea and it smells delicious. Looking forward to that in a mo

The dining room table has been de-cluttered tonight and I have two piles of paperwork ready to shred/file tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to do much else though as Holby is on later!

So all is happy and well in Pen Towers and I can't wait for my day off tomorrow. I've promised myself a couple trips to the tip and charity shops to offload a bit more of the tat!