Memorygirls - Make Do and Mend

Memory_Girl

Hi Guys

Another one slinking in to start a diary having had a mini cashflow crisis.

Situation is:

Double Mum (2 DS - one 9 one 25mths).

In own house (well mostly belongs to the dreaded bank - but there's another journey)

Just fought off Repossession proceedings (Court decided the bank couldn't repossess as I'm not actually in arrears on my Mortgage). The fact that I currently owe £5710 of a £10k personal guarantee that they are getting 4-weekly payments of £330 on and wanted it back quicker didn't seem to impress the court much). Nightmare story - but if you search for a thread named "71p and three nappies" that should fill you all in on the shenanigans.

This is my only Debt (apart from my mortgage which I DO count as debt - which currently stands at £124000)

DS school of 4 miles away - so I run a car for the school runs. The school is in a little village up a hill in the middle of a forest so public transport is not an option. Car is OLD!!! 1999 Vauxhall Astra.

Passed its MOT last wed - Yipee!!!!!!!!! but £58. But OK - Budgetted for.

Blew a tyre on Thursday - both rears replaced - £64:(. Were getting worn so I had money in car maintenance pot.

Needed Taxed for the 1st - £205:mad:. Hurts doesn't it????? But again had the money saved up and paid for 12 months like a good little MSE - LOL

Now the cylinder Head Gasket has gone - needs new water pump and timing belt too - £330.:eek: Bang goes every single penny left in my account.


Good news is that the shopping is done - I'm due Tax Credits on Friday so as long as the petrol lasts we should be OK.

Now I need to get myself kicked up the bahookie and start saving a little cushion for the next set of unexpected's.

So - in the spirit of getting back on the "Make Do and Mend" wagon. I declare May to be the start of my very own £100 challenge. I challenge myself to get creative with my stock-cupboard and see how long I can make £100 go. Banking any extra pennies to give myself a safetly net for the future.

So far - I've spent £5.86 in May for the bits that should make my storecupboard stretch through this week.

Off to update my signature.

Memorygirl

Memory_Girl

Right - dinner accomplish for me and the littlies.

Toad in the hole (posh sausages bought on markdown and frozen in one's)
Roast Tatties
Steamed Carrots
Cauliflower Cheese for me instead of toad

.........with enough leftovers to make tomorrows lunch super quick.


BEST NEWS

Because my car is in being fixed one of the other Mum's did the school run (she left work early just this once).

She came in with a HUGE!!!!!!! bag of clothes and books and DVD's and Videos that her son has outgrown. All the clothes are Next and Gap, and although they are all 5years plus I figure, blink and the wee one will be there soon.

After all the mortgage will still be being paid off in 3 years - and I'm now sitting on a pile of clothes that won't need to be bought in 2013.

Just goes to show you- on the day you get the worst news someone is always looking to make it better.

Boys now watching new movie and feeling rich as can be because they have a pile of new books.

Happy Day in the end

Memorygirl

Memory_Girl

In the words of the song ........

"Oh what a night!!!!!!!!!!!"

About half seven last night I heard someone trying to break into the empty pub next door - cue a call to the police and to'ing and fro'ing till the back of ten.

They got the lad from my description - but the young PC was a bit puzzled when he asked me if I would be able to identify the guy if he was shown to me.

"Nope!" I said. Memory is my expertise. I could identitfy the brand clothing, the rock he was holding (from my garden - old old stones in rockery) but we are not programmed to remember faces from a few seconds - and the angle I was at. I then quoted the FBI research project that demonstrated that. His jaw just about hit the floor.

However the guy was caught in the garden holding the rock - so I'm guessing a visual ID by a witness might be a moot point.

So in all the hanging around I made a start on my no-spend breakfast for us all.

SULTANA BREAD -think Swedish spice bread rather than fruit loaf

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp each of yeast, salt, sugar and mixed spice.
7/8th cup warm water
1 cup sultanas

BUng all the ingresients in bradmaker - use the dough setting.

When the machine has finished - tip onto floured board and form into a thick sausage that fits inside a 2lb loaf tin.

Leave to prove until domed over the surface - you want a nice puffy tender bread.

Cook at 150 C for about 35 minutes. I cook mine in my little halogen oven to save me heating up the big oven - LOL.

It costs 35p to make the loaf - which gives me 12 slices - so about 6p each for breakfast with a smear of butter and some fruit . I had a lovely orange melon that had just reached ripeness so a lovely breakfast and no additional spendies.

I'm off to rake through my cupboards to find what decorating stuff I have in the house. Spring has sprung and this home needs to be jollied up a bit - on a budget of £0.00 of course.

PLenty Stardrops - so the first project will be to Clean. Clean Clean.

Wish me luck for a NSD

Memorygirl

spendtoomuch

Hi Memorygirl, I do so love reading your diaries so glad to find you have started a new one! You are a true inspiration on how you manage on your own with two little ones and all the problems life seems to throw at you and you do it all with such great humour! Keep posting xx

Memory_Girl

Thanks spendtoomuch - I'm not sure I do manage very well. But I am pretty good at making it up as I go along!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went searching for some binbags under the stair and came across a pot of pink paint I bought for £1 when a local shop was closing down.

Me and the baby are now out of puff - having given the kitchen a fresh lick a bubblegum pink. Its a north facing room and pretty drab - but now its bright n clean.

I'm inspired by the ladies on the shabby chic thread to have a rummage around my house to find some bits to transform my kitchen into a lovely place to hang out - instead of cream and a bit grubby around the edges.

Now I'm sure I got a pink duvet cover off the pound rail before Xmas that I can turn into some bits - I feel a day with the sewing machine looming. - if I can persuade the baby to keep his fingers clear.

Off to hunt n gather - if I don't appear again the dust monster under the stairs has got me. LOL

memorygirl

Memory_Girl

Got my car back - :j

BAd news is it cost me £350.83:eek:

The garage told me £320 so I thought I was OK - managed to scrape together all my pennies into my account so could pay on my card.

In the end had to borrow £30 from my Mum who had given me a lift to collect the car. I felt like pants - till my Mum told me about when we were kids she figured out that the local Co-op took 5 days to cash a cheque. So in the week before pay-day if she was really stuck for food she would get a shop from there and pay by cheque - knowing her wages would be in her account before the cheque hit.

So I am going to regard it as a cashflow issue - we are only skint - we are not broke :rotfl:Kiddie Credits in on Friday so we can start rebuilding from there.

In fact I am going to go one step further and give myself a pat on the back that I had budgettted for (and actually saved up) most of the money need to Tax, MOT, retyre and fix my car without having to borrow more than £30 - or even worse slapping the whole lot onto a credit card.

One thing about weekly budgetting that cheers me up. As our money comes in by dribs and drabs throughout the month you are never more than a few days from a "payday". If I was paid monthly - there would be a looooonnnnnnngggggggg month to go before we had any money at all.

So today -must remember to vote.

Take my Healthy Start vouchers to Tescos and spend on some bits of veg for the kids (make £3.10 streeeettttcchhhhhhhhh!!!!). Better take a calculator so that I don't spend any of my £100 Challenge money (cos I haven't actually got it right now - LOL)

Continue to spring clean and organise our home. I had beed storing my parents stufff whilst they renovated and only this morning I realise I have a whole quarter of my home that I never go into that needs to be cleaned, cleared, set up as bedrooms for the day I get back to work and can take advantage of the "Rent a Room Scheme".

Good news is that I found a stash of paint in pretty colours that I can water down with some trade white emulsion to give the place a freshen up.

Memorygirl

Memory_Girl

Well I remembered to vote yesterday - not that anyone is taking any notice - they are still arguing about it:D

Had a discussion about Democracy with my 9 yr old as we walked over to vote - did the whole

"It's important I vote. Women died to get me the right to vote. You have to take resposibility and get involved. Countries get the Government they deserve (or not as the case may be:rotfl:). No I don't have to tell you who I vote for - that's why its a secret ballot"

The officials were great -explained the whole procedure to him - showed him a ballot slip (refered to this morning as a "betting slip" - he's only been in the bookies once with his gran to put 50p on the National - :rotfl:) Showed him the sealed boxes, showed him the posters of all the parties and their different colours.

Local Newspaper guy came up to ask him if "Mum had just voted?" "Yes" he pipes up "but she won't tell me who for, I think she voted for Bamzookie (kids programme)" I think he was kidding - but the reporter went away in hysterics:D

Seriously - hes getting taken no-where until he's eighteen - LOL.

Kiddie Credits in today. £20 on petrol:( But it is the regular budgetted amount.

Then I spent £12.58 at Tesco's minus £6.20 of Healthy Start Vouchers so that makes £6.38. Annoys me that the only place to get fruit and veg with these vouchers is 50% more expensive than LIDL's. My kids could get 50% more fruit n veg if I could use them there.

I then spent £4.47 in LIDL making a grand total off my £100 challenge of £4.47 + £6.38 = £10.85.

For that I got

10 eggs
Big block mature cheddar
2 bottles Lidl brand diet coke
Salted tortillas
Dairylea Spread
6 fromage frais
4 pints milk
Head of celery
Courgette
3 peppers
I round lettuce
6 red apples
6 pears
1 bag carrots
1 multibag of skips (DS2 favourite)
2 multibags (BOGOF other crisps) DS1 packed lunch

I know it looks an odd list but makes it possible for me to now plan 2 weeks of food with minimal spend - apart from nappies and milk next week.

Off to grate and freeze the cheese to make it last longer :rotfl:

Happy Fridays

Memory Girl

[Deleted User]

Clicked on this thread by mistake but read it! My children loved clothes that other people gave them. When I was given clothes I sorted then into age and season and then bagged them up with a homemade luggage tag with size and season so I could find them easily and not forget what I had

Memory_Girl

onewom wrote: »

Clicked on this thread by mistake but read it! My children loved clothes that other people gave them. When I was given clothes I sorted then into age and season and then bagged them up with a homemade luggage tag with size and season so I could find them easily and not forget what I had

You know - that is a genius idea:beer: I've had one of those light-bulb thingies!!!! I realise now it's not about the money I don't spend now thats important - it's the money I don't have to spend in the future. So those 50p Clarks shoes in the Charity shop for the baby are a bargain - even though he won't fit them for another 2 years. Because in 2 years I won't have to spend £25 + on them:T

I can feel a dedicated storage area being cleared in the attic to store his "you'll grow into them someday's". Definitely going to create a season / size page for my household manual so that I can see at a glance what "I've got in stock" IYSWIM. Would be like creating a stock-cupboard for the future full of bargain acquisitions now that will be like gold in the future.

I've also got my stash of freecycle wool that I could convert into big boys jerseys (traditional fishermans rib, arans, moss stich etc that don't date).

Oooohh!!! I'm all full of get up n go now (and seeing as I was up at three keeping our politicos company thats a pretty good thing right now)

Thanks for your post - sometimes all it takes is a random comment and the future has got a plan again.:T

Off to find/make some luggage labels

Memorygirl

Memory_Girl

Hiya if anyone is reading my rambles.

7am yesterday my Mum arrived to help me move furniture around in my house. We had all of their stuff in here whilst they renovated their new place - they moved out a couple of weeks ago - but being here on my own was a nightmare because every room needed rationalised and I couldn't shift the big bits on my own.

By 2.30pm (when I left to take my DS to a footbal birthday party (a kick around on the astroturf with snacks and water - LOL) the place looked like AN ABSOLUTE TIP:eek:. But the furniture for each room was actually in the room so I could start getting organised.

Even better I was organised with a snack and juice for the littlie - and a book for me to enjoy. So popped DS into the party, parked up in the sun and read for 90 minutes whilst the baby snoozed in his car-seat. Normally I would have used this time for a mooch around the charity shops and would have spent money (but on our £100 challenge budget there is no place for unplanned spendies)

Got home at 6pm (Dr Who - compulsory viewing in our house) but pottered around for another couple of hours popping stuff into the rooms where it needs to be - and putting together a hanging rail for my room.............. where oh where oh where do the thousands of Alan Keys I own dissappear to when I'm looking for them??????:mad:

So all in all a successfull NSD.

Now I need to find the motivation to turn this bombsite into a home - without spending a penny.

Make Do and Mend Team on a Mission.

Wish Me Luck

Memorygirl

PS Decided I'm taking pictures of the "before's" - then I will be shamed to delivering a beautiful "after" in case you all think I'm a slovenly hussy:rotfl:

ClootiesMum

Course I'm reading your rambles - I have to as you're a fellow Fifer.

Best of luck with the house organisation - and when you're finished do you fancy tackling my garage????