From Trash to Cash: Dribbling a river

jo70mo

Mambury other thing you could do is set up a tongue in cheek reward chart for arguing but tell them you are going to put a star on it for every time there is a cross exchange. you don't need stickers just coloured pens. the more stars they get as a group by the end of the day the more pennies they can have for some sweets/ or give them crafty items/ or pieces of popcorn in a bowl to share. anyway decide on something you are comfortable with and let them know the reward. then each time you here cross words say ooh here we go more popcorn stars what colour star would you like me to put on etc. It will take the heat out of the arguments and mean they start having playful arguments instead especially if you are acting completely the opposite to normal eg woohoo here we go another popcorn star yayhay this bowl is going to be so full. can you think of anything to say back for another star.
I know it sounds like encouraging arguing but actually it takes the heat out of it and makes it almost impossible to do.
Your kids might be a bit young for it though and you need to remember to take care of anyone who has been genuinely upset cos you won't always be there to intervene at the start of an argument.
Jo x

2cats1kid

Morning! Amazingly DD and friend are up and out already. They have gone to the playground on their bikes (well, friend is on DD's bike and DD is on my bike). I wouldn't normally see mine till lunchtime, so this is a revelation!

I didn't do any more scrapbooking last night. I went to bed early with a book and fell asleep reading - what a treat!

Have done a prowl round the garden - the gooseberries are getting big now and I can see which bits need pruning next. Thankfully it's pretty obvious as pruning is a bit of a mystery to me - it tends to turn into an indiscriminate hack! The romaine lettuces and pak choi first sowing are nearly big enough to eat, and the radishes look like they don't need too much longer either.

Going to do a quick Fly round the house, then a page or two of the album. Tempted to sit in the garden with a book as it's a beautiful day here. Maybe that will be my treat for later.

jo70mo

saving £1.50 today by asking DH to make my lunch instead of buying it at work. now thats easy (for me) money saving lol.
Jo x

elly68

thanks for the ideas on the boxes and display stands will have a go determined to get stuff done today so im going to do 15 min stints in each room as i do get bored easily will let you know how i go ,study day tomorow and shed arriving friday so boxes will start to leave the house soon whoohoo.
have a good day all

nolongerindenial

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently, about a hell of a lot of things. And it leads me to the conclusion that everyone has guilty pleasures - but what are yours!

To give you an idea what I mean, I am above average weight and am always finding myself snacking on things, even when I am conciously trying not to. A big bad habit is buying chocalate at the till as it is there - now I am in financial meltdown and know this is not the way I should be behaving - yet the pile of empty kit kat wrappers are still building up on the floor of the car and making me think something is not right.

Most of my guilty pleasures involve food (Shock horror for an overweight male) - the curry I adore as often as we can afford it - the minimum of a chocalate bar a day - fizzy drinks. I eat these foods as I see them as a quick way to relax for 2 minutes during my stressfull job. I try my best not to buy the chocalate and I would probably have a heart attack if I looked at what I spent in may on kitkats - yet it is still a fight to prevent it.

So what are your guilty pleasures?

moneymabel

pizza chocolate anything fattening...mmmmmmmm

Not ahppy-just got back from the garden centre (which didnt even have what i wanted) to find that the dogs (puppy to be precise) have got over the fence into my veg patch, done some digging and drunk the beer out of the slug traps-now I have two hyper dogs and a lot less leaves on my runner beans than i had this morning, luckily they havent done too much damage. Now I need to get a higher fence that i really cant afford-aaarrrgggghhhhh

elly68

always chocolate however very rarely feel guilty about it lol. are you starting to get things sorted nlid you sound happier today

elly68

mabel after moving to get dog big garden she has had to go back on rope as she found out she can jump back wall so poor hubby's next job is fence along back wall obviously she doesnt think its big enough lol

moneymabel

Oh dear Elly! Thought i'd grow veg to save money and its going to cost me a fortune!

nolongerindenial

I think in my head I am starting to come to terms with the innevitable... unless I can get a shedload more sites finished in the next 6-12 weeks and start earning real money - I will probably end up going BR.

I still veel very down but I spent the weekend with my loved ones and reasiled - as flippant as it sounds that as long as there is food in the cupboards, a roof over our heads and clothes on our backs - I really couldnt give a flying duck about my creditors protecting there profits. if BR is a way to make ends meet and provide my little boy with everything and puts us in a better position long term then it is an option I must consider.

I have looked at rented accomodation and am yet to find anything suitable for us - however it is always a possibility.