Learning to live my dreams not trample on them

savingholmes

Well just spoken to MrAs - they are going to redeliver today - probably by around 9.30/10am. A van broke down - no-one rang me. But getting delivery refunded and they are giving me £20 which as you know for an MSEer is a major result!!

gilligansyle

That's a major result from Mr A's but I do think that they seem to be mucking up quite frequently.

Most of these boiler servicing things seem really expensive, but fortunately DS has a mate who is a general labourer for a plumber, so for the price of a case of beer he comes round and bleeds all our radiators etc. Last year some of the valves had gone, so he just replaced them, it meant the system needed to be drained down, but cheaper than paying a couple of hundred pounds a year.

clearmydebts

Hi SavingH,

Sorry to hear you aren't sleeping well. It is horrible to lie awake for hours. With 2 babies to run around after, I am falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow at the moment!

I am confused, did you not pay off all your debt a while ago or just part of it? There is so much incoming and expenditure in your diary at the moment I don't know how you keep up with it! I am struggling to keep up with my own outgoings at the moment, I need to reign it in I think.

savingholmes

Thanks Gill - I think we'll hold off n the central heating for now.... Mr As have messed up on various orders but I have spent dramatically less on groceries by getting it delivered so still win:win for me.

I was given a 20% off M&S voucher so made full use of that today and bought some xmas pressies, xmas food and some treats... "saved a lot" but therefore still spent quite a bit!

I also went to B&Q and bought loads of magnolia paint (about 40 litres for £50 wasn't sure how much I'd need and it was on offer), some cloth floor protectors and some red paint (for my downstairs loo). I ummed and aaahed over the roman blind at DUn3lm but it would have been £184!! so decided to wait until new floor is down (hopefully around end Nov) and new suite arrives and then make a decision whether or not to stick with current curtains.

The second miracle of the week occurred... OH saw the paint and said where shall we start... so we've made a start on painting the hallway - just what we've done so far looks a lot cleaner and brighter. I've done one coat of paint in the downstairs loo but it will need a second.... I secretly really enjoy painting.... I find it therapeutic.... Will need a shower tonight to get the red paint off. Trying to stop and rest now but I am one of those people who once I start wants to carry on until its all done. Now its dried in the hallway - can see bits we've missed etc and part of me wants to go and sort them out.... But I don't want to be completely wiped for tomorrow...

savingholmes

clearmydebts wrote: »

Hi SavingH,

Sorry to hear you aren't sleeping well. It is horrible to lie awake for hours. With 2 babies to run around after, I am falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow at the moment!

I am confused, did you not pay off all your debt a while ago or just part of it? There is so much incoming and expenditure in your diary at the moment I don't know how you keep up with it! I am struggling to keep up with my own outgoings at the moment, I need to reign it in I think.

Glad you are getting some sleep CMD

We paid off most of our debt a while ago. We could have paid it all off but chose not to - we wanted some ready cash for emergencies and in case my time off sick was longer than planned. Now I'm back at work we seem to have made a lot of spending decisions all at once.

It was always the plan to try and go back to having 2 cars ready for the winter as the last 2 years have been very difficult for OH on a motorbike in snow and ice - and at times very scary! :eek: So last week we bought a newer car:j - paid £2K deposit on and initially got a loan at 8.4% apr for the rest but which for 4% handling fee we are now moving to a 0% card.

We have also bought a new suite which is going to cost us about £58 a month over 4 years but that is easily affordable for us.

We are also redecorating and have new flooring put in downstairs and debtating whether to change curtains and blinds. We also decided to borrow some money towards this.

So we now owe quite a lot again - but if we were up against it - the car and possibly suite are saleable assets, so we would be okay. Also now I have insurance in place in case I lose my job so that would be okay too

If we got debt free our original plan was to go to Florida but we decided that actually there were other things we wanted more that we would get a daily benefit from... so we are investing our money in that instead.

I am deliberately avoiding giving debt totals but basically the suite is on a 4 year plan, we are hoping to pay the car off within 12 months not the original 3 years of the loan and then a balloon payment, we will then still have some other CC debt left to pay which should take less than another 12 months from there. But a lot of that depends on whether or not we manage to make this spend a blip and then focus on tightly controlling our other spends... But given the progress with the grocery bill and fritter spend- that is looking promising

clearmydebts

savingholmes wrote: »

Glad you are getting some sleep CMD

We paid off most of our debt a while ago. We could have paid it all off but chose not to - we wanted some ready cash for emergencies and in case my time off sick was longer than planned. Now I'm back at work we seem to have made a lot of spending decisions all at once.

It was always the plan to try and go back to having 2 cars ready for the winter as the last 2 years have been very difficult for OH on a motorbike in snow and ice - and at times very scary! :eek: So last week we bought a newer car:j - paid £2K deposit on and initially got a loan at 8.4% apr for the rest but which for 4% handling fee we are now moving to a 0% card.

We have also bought a new suite which is going to cost us about £58 a month over 4 years but that is easily affordable for us.

We are also redecorating and have new flooring put in downstairs and debtating whether to change curtains and blinds. We also decided to borrow some money towards this.

So we now owe quite a lot again - but if we were up against it - the car and possibly suite are saleable assets, so we would be okay. Also now I have insurance in place in case I lose my job so that would be okay too

If we got debt free our original plan was to go to Florida but we decided that actually there were other things we wanted more that we would get a daily benefit from... so we are investing our money in that instead.

I am deliberately avoiding giving debt totals but basically the suite is on a 4 year plan, we are hoping to pay the car off within 12 months not the original 3 years of the loan and then a balloon payment, we will then still have some other CC debt left to pay which should take less than another 12 months from there. But a lot of that depends on whether or not we manage to make this spend a blip and then focus on tightly controlling our other spends... But given the progress with the grocery bill and fritter spend- that is looking promising

Lol! All makes perfect sense now. My brain was just muddled but then I am easily confused these days. Your house should look lovely with all the improvements, and just in time for Xmas too

savingholmes

Hi CMD - yes the house should be lovely when we've finished. Should all be done 2 or 3 weeks before xmas so should be all bright and cheerful! Not sure where the xmas tree will fit mind you as I'm going to have a corner chaise where it sat in the past!!

As I say not painted anything downstairs other than the kitchen and some doors since we moved in 5 or 6 years ago so in need of a paint and clean. The hall already looks a lot brighter just from doing the downstairs bit in fresh magnolia paint.

The downstairs loo has always been the wrong shade of yellow - one that grated on the eyes and had a border that was ripped - that is now going to be red walls with a white ceiling and white skirting, door etc and a pretty mirror and mirrored picture we already have. I think that will then help it link back with our front room - which is going to have red and chalky white as a major theme in the furniture..... but magnolia walls to keep it all from being over-powering....

At the moment we have a carpet in the lounge that we've never liked, spill things on regularly and which matches our faded, sagging, second hand suite (MIL gave it us when we moved in as she got a newer one). I will be so glad to see the back of this carpet as it regularly smells damp and is impossible to keep clean. The suite covers have been washed too many times and have shrunk (and apparently washing reduces their fire retardance too) - whch contributes to the lack of support from the suite!

OH's study has a carpet with oil stains on it from his swivel chair and the curtains are at least 5 inches too long.... (I may have to see if a friend can shorten a couple of sets of curtains for me - I think I will try asking at church tomorrow as I think it would make a big difference to both the lounge and his study). I really like the curtains but OH finds them annoying but mainly because they are too long.

I'm tempted to do a feature wall in the study and possibly kitchen and perhaps even one bit of the hallway but will take some time to think about it rather than rushing in to it.... We have various pots of part used paint that I am sure we could use - or perhaps even create our own shade with!

I've also found some paint I've had ages that I can potentially take back and swap for other colours so going to give that a go probably at some point.... We've hardly used any of this 10litres of magnolia so far so it may be that I can take quite a bit of it back which would be good.

It will be nice to have a house I am proud of again.... I think because we tend to be messy, cluttered, and the paintwork and stuff is grubby - we stopped being as hospitable and want to reverse that.... and are already taking steps in that direction.

savingholmes

Hi guys

Well made it to church - late but made it. Had a fab sleep last night.... which was such a relief

Today also went to Ikea got replacement mirror for £10.99 so pleased with that - and some new glasses for the kitchen at £1.99 for 6 (got 3 lots). DD bought herself a cuddly elephant for £15. I also got a new laptop table for about £18.


DD has gone to MIL's until weekend - she also gave me some clinique, and a fancy shirt and a nice jacket which was nice.... And a load of clothes for a friend. She gave DS a fiver too...

DS and I also nipped to see my sis and BIL which was really nice. We ended up going out for a meal which was really nice. MIL has some sofas and curtains which sis is going to have a look at and may end up having.... It's nice when you can help out others with help from extended family... We have a storage chest in our garage which a friend at church is probably going to have - which will cheer up OH as it will create space and me cos I am helping a friend..... It is nice when giving has its own little circle....

The downstairs loo still needs a third coat of paint which is irritating

savingholmes

Hi guys

Well had a good day today. Didn't feel I slept much last night but OH said I was asleep when he came to bed. I think I'm just waking early at the moment.

OH is at hospital tomorrow - I'd forgotten - so now need to do some work tonight so people can prepare before a meeting I have Wednesday

Boss still being supportive

BC just sent an offer for 0% and an upgrade massively in credit limit so even if did get refused by V would get it from them. V it could take up to 5 working days for transfer to come thro but will check it shortly...

savingholmes

:rotfl:It looks like I saved over £50:money: at the weekend using MIL's 20% off voucher and multi-buy deals.:j(Only I could justify spending to save tho :rotfl::rotfl:) I was kind to myself and froze some of the "normal" grocery food I bought from Mr As for another week - and bought some ready made meals from M&S (at 20% off) instead since OH seems to have developed an allergy to helping me out with the cooking and I'm too tired to do as much of it as I'd like:o. I also bought loads of musical biscuit tins as xmas pressies - they were £5 reduced temporarily from £10 but with MIL's discount - worked out at about £4 each:money: but will fill out any hampers nicely LOL :rotfl:It will also make a nice pressie to take into work just before xmas as you do to share with colleagues.... (I might have bought 8...... :eek::rotfl::eek:ROFL)

I also qualified for the £5:money: back in £40 spend on top of the £21 credit they gave my account from Mr A spend at the weekend despite my shop being £12.21 cheaper that Mr Ts!!:money:. I don't count Mr A multisaves as I did those prior to MSE.

The clinique thing from MIL will make a nice pressie for one of my sisters too..... so save me one lots of gifts!!:money::j:rotfl:

I also found a free car parking space again:money: today saving me nearly £3 and took in food to eat for lunch but that had cost me about £1.60 (part of my M&S weekend spend....)

I got home tonight and realised I'd forgotten that I was at hospital with OH tomorrow :oand had a critical piece of work to finish:eek: so ended up spending 2 hours on it tonight....:eek: Have felt much better today and more with it so it may be that I am recovering better.:j I have taken one less diclofenac so whether that has also been a contributing factor I don't know.... I did have an hour an half meeting but felt energised rather than drained which was a relief!! :beer: Brain perhaps returning to normal. I've decided to go to bed a bit later in the hope that I spend less time lying awake.... and paradoxically therefore more time sleeping - making the process of sleep less of an ordeal.....;) Her's hoping anyway... On that note I'd better take my tablets and try and get some sleep