Goal - 3 debts paid by Christmas

Triggles

Well, DH has been off work for 2 weeks (extreme stress, and insisted on by GP), but is back to work today. I think he is a much better frame of mind now, and ready to go back. And after waiting almost 10 weeks for a counsellor to contact him (arranged through the surgery), he is finally going to be able to speak to a counsellor as well, which I think will help as well. We haven't really had a good daily routine in the last few months, but with DS2 starting school next week, I think it will help to have to develop a routine. I think it not only makes things run smoother (less stress), but helps us stay more organised and just all around is easier to live with some structure.

DH has actual holiday time coming up in a few weeks, just a couple extra days, and then a week of holiday time in October (I think), so he has some "built in" breaks coming up. I'm hoping this will keep things from getting on top of him as much, especially now that he can talk to the counsellor. These last 2 weeks have seen him go from barely coping to a fairly decent level of function, which I am so pleased about. The debt stuff isn't throwing him nearly as much as it was previously. Hopefully this will continue to improve!

I think people often underestimate the pressure and stress that debt and constant worries (such as money, health) can put on people. It's like you're fighting this heavy weight on you, constantly pushing you down, bringing you back to the ground, and it can so exhausting trying to stay upbeat.

We had homemade lasagna last night and had a huge container of leftovers. I always make extra, so we can heat up some the next day. DH is going to take some to work with him to heat up for his lunch. A nice change from sandwiches. I'm going to make a big effort this winter to make sure he takes a hot meal at least half the work week for his lunches, so he doesn't get in a rut eating sandwiches all the time.

I may make some rice krispies marshmallow treats today, so DH has one to pop in his lunch as well. He has a little bit of a sweet tooth, but is trying to keep the chocolate intake down. We've got fruit he can take as well, which helps.

I don't even have a clue how I'm going to deal with lunches for DS2 once he starts school next week. He really only likes egg mayo, tuna mayo, and grilled cheese. Those with mayo can't sit in an unrefrigerated lunch box all day, and obviously a grilled cheese isn't going to work. I have a few ice packs, and may have to freeze them and pack them around his lunch box. I don't know if they are allowed to take the little open mouthed thermos containers so that he can have hot food, such as beans or hot pasta or anything like that. I will have to ask when we meet one on one with the teacher the day before school starts. I have a list of questions to ask as it is. I swear I'm going to have to resort to bread and butter some days and pack out his lunch with other healthy foods to make up for it. (it's no different than buttered toast at breakfast, right?) He is somewhat picky on what he will eat when it comes to sandwiches and meat, and if he doesn't like it, he simply won't eat. Which really isn't a good option. There's no way I'm buying the school lunches - they are soooo expensive - £2.20 per meal!! And he won't eat most of it anyway. I will sit down tonight and write down what foods he will eat and can go easily in a lunch box and go from there, I think. I'm not fussed if it doesn't follow the whole "sandwich, raw veg, fruit, dessert" format - as long as it's healthy and he will eat it, that's really all I care about.

Once he is situated at school for the day, I will have more time on my hands to dedicate to cleaning and baking, and spending some more 1 on 1 time with DS3. But I am rather upset that DS2, who has only just turned 4, is going to be at school most of the day 5 days per week. It still seems too young. :mad: I'm all for education, but I just don't see the need to start that young. And no... I am NOT going to homeschool, and he WILL go to school. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Today's MS stuff:
- check bank balance
- leftovers for tea
- no spend day today
- take picture of moses basket to put it on ebay

Have had a few annoyances on freecycle lately. Time wasters really. People who say "oh yes, I really need that item, I can pick it up right away," and then don't bother to show up (or ring) at the arranged collection time. I've decided if we arrange a collection time and they don't ring prior (or immediately after) to rearrange, then they've decided they don't want it, and I will relist the item on freecycle or offer it to someone else that wanted it. Just because an item is free is no excuse to waste other people's time. :mad: Thing is, I don't really care much if they change their mind as that's their option - I'm not going to be offended! I just want to KNOW, so we don't sit around waiting for someone to show up who doesn't. It's only common courtesy...

Friends coming this weekend for the evening and curry. So ingredients bought and put aside. And going to a bbq on Monday (forgot it was bank holiday!!). So busy weekend coming up!

Triggles

Excellent buy today! We needed a new door for our downstairs bathroom. The one the previous owners had on it was a folding/sliding thing that is a bit rickety (and doesn't block any sound...) and just in general looks shoddy. B&Q had a bunch of display doors on clearance - nice interior doors - usually £28 for £6 !! :j So now we have a nice new door for our bathroom - as soon as we take off the old one and sort out the door hardware!

Triggles

DH is finishing up the door on the bathroom today. There was some hinge binding, so he's fixing that today, and hopefully it will be all complete. We had to shave some off the side and bottom of the door, as it was a fraction too big. But oh goodness it is SOOOOO nice to have an actual door on the bathroom instead of that wretched folding thing! :j Hmmm... seems to be a problem fixing the hinge binding problem. I think we'll just leave it the way it is for now, as DH is getting aggravated. The door is on, and that's the main thing.

Picked up a £3 chicken at Aldi's for today. I will make some chicken stock tomorrow with the carcass and freeze it to use later for soup. Probably freeze some chicken as well. I've got some peppers and onions that I need to chop up and freeze today. They will come in very handy in the winter when making soups and casseroles. I like to keep a big container in the freezer of each. May do carrots and mushrooms, each in a container. These are all things we use a lot of over the winter in various dishes. I need to brush up on my pastry skills, as we tend to eat more meat pies in the winter. yummmm DH also picked up a package of their frozen lamb burgers. Yes, prepackaged food, but oh they are tasty and so easy. And the boys like them, which is great, as I like to get a lot of different foods in them. We don't eat lamb too often, much as we like it.

We've got 2 turkey drumsticks thawing today, and they'll go in the slow cooker tomorrow morning to cook all day for curry tomorrow night, as we have friends coming over in the evening for tea.

Freecycled a few more things recently, so slowly clearing the baby clutter as DS3 outgrows things. The dining room is slowly taking shape as well. I've sorted a vast majority of my craft stuff and am now looking to see the best way to store my sewing and knitting items. As soon as I get it sorted, I'm going to start working on my sewing - I want to get that cloth advent calendar done well ahead of when it's needed, so I can figure out what to put in the pockets. DS2 doesn't like chocolate, so I need to think of interesting things to put instead. I'm thinking some treats that he will like, but also little things representing an outing for the day - just need to work out what.

Triggles

I am sooo pleased. Dining room is nice and orderly again. Kitchen is nice and orderly again. Living room (except for some toys) is nice and orderly again. Bathroom has a nice door on it now. And we are going to get back to work on the entryway/stairway walls.

We had a lovely evening on Sunday - friends came over and we had an inexpensive but very tasty curry with rice and a fair bit of wine. Yesterday was a bbq at DD's. And today is a "relax" day. I finally got DS3's CTF taken care of - I had been procrastinating forever, but the certificate expires in 3 days, so HAD to get it done.

DMP situation is as follows - we are currently paying one creditor, who sent us a legible, enforceable CCA. So we are happily paying them by SO every month, with a reduced payment, and they in turn are not hassling us at all. :j I am paying off the overdraft by SO with a reduced monthly payment, and the bank is not charging fees or interest so long as I continue to make the payments. The overdraft is the only one in my name, so I am taking care of that. One creditor has advised us we have a £0 balance with them - so that's ONE debt done. Two more have unenforceable CCAs. So that's THREE debts done in total. Two others haven't bothered to send the CCA back, so they are currently in default due to this. Another is faffing about demanding signatures and we suspect they cannot find the paperwork, but regardless it is also in default as they have not responded with a correct CCA. Hence, one creditor is receiving payment at this time.

It is the start of another month, and the grocery budget starts anew. We are determined to keep it down this month. Each month we slip some, so this is the tough month! I will be reviewing last month's budget and updating the spreadsheet, and preparing this month's accordingly. There shouldn't be much changes, but I like to review it. I will also be sorting the mealplanning for the next couple weeks and the next grocery shop. I will be adding a few non-perishables as well, most likely including some UHT milk to put aside for the winter.

I better go update my 100 days challenge as well.

maman

Just been catching up on your news triggles. Your home sounds very organised at the moment and it must be a great joy to have a door on your bathroom! Sorry to hear that OH hasn't been feeling too good but great news about the counsellor and him getting back to work. You may find that DS2 widens the list of what he will eat over time as he notices what other children at school are eating - hopefully not a load of rubbish:rotfl:You're right about 4 year olds and full time school but they soon adjust. Actually sending them before they're five isn't compulsory but very few parents don't take up the offer for lots of reasons.

Triggles

Maman - you're right - DS2 is doing so well at school - two days now and the teacher says he is doing wonderfully, and he loves it so much that he was rather annoyed that he couldn't go to school today on Saturday. :rotfl: Haven't decided yet if I'm pleased or sad that he was so keen to leave us for the day for school. As always, it's us as parents that have difficulty with little ones starting school, I think.

It's been, if nothing else, a busy couple days. We've gotten some little things done around the house while DS2 was at school. Monday sees us getting back to work on the entryway/hallway, as we can do some of the louder work (DS2 gets easily unnerved by loud noises so we were waiting until he started school) - sanding and such. I'm looking forward to getting it all completed, as then we start on the downstairs toilet. :cool: I've got border paper purchased (lovely purchased on clearance at B&Q) and ready to go, once we've stripped the walls and painted them. LOL

DS2 has eaten peas and a "sloppy joe" hamburger (loose browned mince cooked in worcestershire sauce, ketchup and yellow mustard - sounds yuck but is very like a thing called "manwich" sauce in the states, which we love and can't get here! LOL). Seems like a small thing, I know, but I am pleased when he is willing to try things. He also tasted a bit of pizza recently - he wasn't horribly keen on it, but at least he tried it. Big positive step!

Another trip to the post office on Monday, to send some more letters regarding our DMP. I think the poor woman cringes when we walk in, as we always end up sending a fair amount "signed for", so it takes longer. The day we sent about 10 of them I felt awful as the line was backing up, but it had to be done. Now we try to spread it out just a bit so it's not all in one day. And when I can, I use a cheque for a £1 payment instead, as it pays towards the debt, and gives proof that they received it (if they cash the cheque, they've obviously received the letter, as the cheque was in with the letter) without me paying extra to the post office.

Triggles

It's been absolutely chaotic and insane around here the last few days. I will pop back on later to update. But alive and well at the moment! Budget has been blown apart here and there. But at least we can try to put things back on track at this point.

Triggles

Oh goodness. Things get hectic and I forget to get on here and update.

Let's see. Recently... MS things?

- went to the local market yesterday to buy our roasts for the next 6 weeks from the butcher. We get 6 roasts for £25 from them - pork, gammon, beef, lamb, and 2 whole chickens. The roasts are always huge, fresh, and good quality of meat. We've compared the same at the supermarket and it's definitely cheaper! So they're all labeled and wrapped up in the freezer now.

- bought a lovely fire engine with sirens and little figures and such for our 1yo for his Christmas present - was on sale at Early Learning Centre. I don't generally purchase items from there unless they are on sale. LOL I like the toys, but not the prices. :rotfl: DH & I will be sorting through the Christmas boxes next week and making sure we're all updated on our list. I think we've pretty much got everything purchased and put aside for the both boys and the grandchildren already, plus a few things for our older children.

- recycled some aluminium cans at Tesco recycling centre, where we get Tesco points instead of simply putting them in the council recycling bin. It's not much, but a few Tesco points here and there add up, don't they? :j We always take them by there when we're already enroute to somewhere nearby the Tesco, so that we're not paying petrol for an extra trip.

- making chicken stock to put in the freezer to use later this month, so that our vegetable soup and dumplings doesn't ALWAYS come the day after we have roast chicken.:D Shake things up a bit. LOL

- freecycled a huge amount of baby stuff, clearing up a fair bit of room, just waiting for someone to come collect the last of it.

DH is back at work again, and seems to be doing alright with it. DS2 has started reception and also seems to be doing well. A few wobbles, but we're sorting through them.

I've been working on this month's budget, including the spreadsheet, to make sure of where we are. We've managed to mess up the budget somewhat, but from what I can tell, we can still keep it okay with a bit of juggling here and there. Whew! Can't continue to do that, though! I've noticed our worst bits of falling astray of the budget seem to be when things are really stressful and we're both at wits end. Definitely a pattern we need to prepare for.

Have written a few letters today, one to my bank regarding the overdraft I'm paying back. The temporary arrangement (I pay £50 per month and they cancel all fees/interest/charges) has come to an end, so I'm asking them to extend it for another 6 months to a year, as my circumstances have not changed (and also because it's an amount I can afford and have stuck to religiously!). Here's hoping they agree, as it will help immensely.

The DMP is still going along, although we've been sidetracked slightly by the CCA stuff. As some are unenforceable, we're dealing with those from that point. Another is enforceable, but needs the PPI reclaimed. So I'm working on that.

oops fussy child, must go.

Triggles

What a lovely productive day we've had today! So far we've:
- hung a clock in DS2's room that will help him learn to tell time
- hung small rack in kitchen to put cloths on
- updated budget spreadsheet
- caught up on all letters (written, printed, and posted!)
- put together small dumbbell tree up in bedroom again, so DH & I can start doing our workouts (part of our drive to get into better shape)
- cleaned up, swept dining room
- put away all the clean clothes
- cleaned our bedroom
- written out menu plan for the next two weeks

So now I'm relaxing a bit while the boys play in the living room, and DH is doing some wall prep in the hallway/stairway so we can do some more painting. I'll need to update my 100 days challenge as well today.

We made a lovely meal last night - meatballs in a marinara sauce, which we let simmer in the slow cooker for awhile. Then we split open crusty finger rolls, put in the meatballs and sauce, added some shredded cheese to them and popped them under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese toasted a bit. Yummy!!!! Tonight we're using the leftover meatballs (broken up a bit) and marinara sauce, cooked pasta, and shredded cheese and making a nice pasta bake in the remoska. So two meals out of it. :j

We're trying to empty out the freezer right now, so that we can reorganise it and put new stuff in for this winter (except for the roasts, which we buy on an approximately 6 wk cycle).

Anyway...off to get some other things done now...

Triggles

Hmmm... got 3 meals out of that meatballs/marinara sauce stuff. Yumm! And inexpensive - definitely that sauce is cheaper than buying bolognaise sauce!! The plan is to do that from now on instead of buying the jarred bolognaise sauce - and it tastes better too, so that's always a plus. :j So tinned chopped tomatoes will be on my "stock up" list of things that I don't want to run out of.

After mulling about the price of fresh veg, and noting that Farm Foods has frozen mushrooms, onions, and peppers chopped up and in bags for very cheap (£1 per bag), I think I will clear out some room in the freezer for them. I still have some frozen that I chopped up myself, however, when I need more, I will buy those frozen bags.

OOops.. off for the school run. back later...