Changing our lives....

Sessie

So… have made SOME progress with the house list, though said list has been scribbled on copiously today by those little people that occupy my house. I would LIKE to say, “Darn, I can’t read it” and then I can’t do it but.. that’s not going to get me anywhere now is it? What I’ve done is written down generally, in no order, what needs to be done in, say, a week such as brush down the stairs, wipe paintwork, clean bathrooms properly (rather than just an every couple of days swish and swipe they get now!), wash kitchen floor etc… What I need to do next is try to divide these tasks into the days I don’t work and I will then put the list on my kitchen notice board where I can’t help but see it every time I’m at the sink (which is about 30 times a day). Thing is, I need to be realistic as it’s difficult to get a lot done when it’s just me and the children at home. I struggled to do my last batch cook and I was only in the next room to them, though they kept coming into the kitchen and getting way too close to the hot oven and pans for my liking.

If I go upstairs to clean the bathrooms I can either leave them downstairs and risk them destroying something or eating the cats (or standing at the bottom stairgate WAILING for me) or I can bring them up with me and they make MORE mess in another room while I clean the bathrooms!

Another thought is to do some things after they have gone to bed but then, by that time - 7pm - I’m usually pretty done in for the day. My average bed time these days is around 9 pm (a bit later of late as I get tied up reading diaries on here!).

See, I work all day Monday, we get home just in time to give the children dinner, bath them and put them to bed. Tuesday I work until 1 pm then go shopping and to FarmFoods for their cheap milk and bread so don’t get home until gone 3. Could do SOME of the quicker things then.

Wednesday and Thursday I don’t work so will need to try to work in some other tasks then (maybe the bigger ones – like washing all the bed linen to give it time to dry all day, esp if it’s raining and I can’t hang it out. Ooh! That reminds me, I want a clothes horse thingy from The Range next time anyone I know goes). Mum and I do go swimming with the littlies one of those days so perhaps if we went in the morning and tired them out, I could do stuff on an afternoon when they’re more likely to sit and watch a DVD or play quietly.

On top of the cleaning/decluttering tasks I also have to do the batch cooks – which I CAN do on an evening as most recipes I make are “bung this in, a bit later add some of that.. .simmer and add the rest of it…. turn to a low heat and allow to simmer again”. Maybe I could iron while things are cooking and watch TV at the same time for a bit of distraction/light relief and still get two of the bigger jobs done at once.

Will have a pop at sorting tasks into days – maybe just giving each day three of the smaller tasks for now – and give it a few weeks to see how workable it is.

T’would be nice to have a day off in all of this!

Anyhow, today was a so-so day. Was going to cook another corned beef hash but… ohhhh the HORROR! Opened the cupboard to find NO POTATOES!! What I had THOUGHT was potatoes in a bag was actually onions! So that was THAT idea down the pan. Hadn’t defrosted any other meat from the freezer to make anything else big so the cooking was shelved for today.

Instead, emptied and sorted through the two kitchen drawers (TICK!) I mentioned the other day and sat on the floor with the children sorting through old takeaway menus, old receipts (some from 2008!!), found 11 lighters in the bottom of one drawer and I gave up smoking in 2006! Took those to work today and gave them to a colleague so that’s a declutter. On the plus side I found another bag of copper that made up £1 and a £5 coin someone gave me years ago. Decided it’s not really sensible to keep the coin “just because not many people have one” so am going to pay that £6 plus the £13 that’s in coin bags under the passenger seat of the car into the savings account (such as it is, it has £17.52 in it!) next Tuesday when I go shopping. Hey, everything counts!! And I make that TICK number 2 (or do I count that next Tuesday when I actually do it?!).

Washed the kitchen floor where the cat dish goes, and the skirting to stop it getting messed up like it was before the decorating was done. Must have washed up about six times today rather than leave it all until teatime (when I’d be at work and it would be down to a probably unimpressed hubby!). Left yesterday’s casserole and some stewed fruit and custard for the children’s tea before I went to work.

Hmm, need a final tick. Can I count thinking about dividing the chores up (as wittered on about above)?? It’s to do with the decluttering/housework and, what’s more, it’s my diary so yes! Yes I CAN!! TICK!

Oh and today was an NSD as hubby took the last of the cash in my purse for his dinner so I couldn’t get my prescriptions. That’s three this week! That makes up the rather lacklustre other two ticks from today to a full three I think.

On a side note, it was our recycling day today and instead of the usual six (yes SIX!) full boxes I usually put out I only had three. There’s a stack of cardboard but dad has regular bonfires (for which I am Chief Poker With Large Stick whenever possible!) so am keeping that for then. The reduction in packaging and stuff MUST be down to buying lots of fresh stuff and cooking from scratch, so I’m even helping the environment as well as our family! Bonus! That’s SORT of a declutter right?

On another side note (and this might be a bit of a de-tick as I did the SOA the other day and it was on there) but whilst sorting one of the drawers today found our telly licence which runs out at the end of September. Bah! £142 not accounted for in the post the other day of upcoming expenses – see? TOLD you something would come up!! Grrr…. Will have to go to their site and see if I can do DD for it, just can’t find the whole amount upfront next month.

Darn it, there was something else I was going to say - something inspirational someone said to me - and can I remember it?? Can I jiggery! Only as soon as I press "post reply" I'll remember!! Ah well, t'will wait until tomorrow.

Finally, will also look into the prescription thing - I thought it was for more than two so thanks for that tip!

Off to Old Style board - am finding that rather addictive too! Sleep well all and have a lovely weekend!

x

Sessie

aaand back again!

Hope everyone's weekend was good!

I worked all day Saturday, took a packed lunch so I didn't have to spend and was feeling good about it being another NSD.... Hubby picked me up and asked me to go and get some milk from the shop on the way home. I thought, "That's not really a "spend", we need it for the children at bedtime" and was still feeling pretty good. Then I saw them. Twelve PROPER made-from-beef-mince and onion shaped burgers for £3.00 - like the barbecue 3 for £10 types you get. They should have been £6.00. I don't mean carp burgers, I mean PROPER ones. So I caved. Got to the counter and the assistant said, "Oh these are only £2.00 now".... so I got ANOTHER pack! She also told me that if I went back after 6 pm they'd be a pound as every meat item goes down to rock bottom after 6 pm so they can get rid!! Guess where I'll be "popping over to" a few nights a week after we put the children to bed as they often have big packs of mince or chicken. So not an NSD after all but a nice little budget helper so I reckon that evens things out! TICK! *cough*, look, it's a tick okay??

Made the children two of the burgers for their tea (WOLFED them down!), along with pasta and some (home made!) cheese sauce which went down a treat. Made enough pasta and sauce for two days so TICK! (money saving, time saving so I can get on with other things tomorrow). Think they might be suffering from blackberry fatigue so they had milk biscuits (malted milk thingies with the cows on, forget what they're called) and grapes for pud.

Wasn't very well Sat evening and overnight, didn't get online, went to bed at 9 and was awake most of the night so didn't do much else or get my third tick. Bah.

Sunday or, as it's more commonly know, today!), went next door and picked what I could reach of their blackberries, also neighbour told me of a place near us where there are apparently LOADS growing over a fence so will go and check that out after work tomorrow. Put two loads of washing through, including the children's linen so they could have a bath tonight and then get into lovely clean linen, washed up and cleaned kitchen tops, cleaned cat dish area of floor again, put ironing ready for when we got back from our day out (TICK!) and off we went.

Took the children to Bridlington for the day, much less crowded than Scarborough and, actually, we think a nicer place to go these days, space on the beach to move around, much bigger beach, nice rides for little kiddies on the promenade, donkeys (always a winner). Only spend was lunch as we thought, "can't go to the seaside and not have fish and chips!". Played for AGES in the sea and on the beach butt naked (the children not us!!) and they LOVED it! Last time we took them to Filey, a couple of months ago, they HATED it and cried and were scared but today, OMG cuteness doesn't cover it! So anyone that says there's nothing to do with children that doesn't cost just isn't thinking. Okay so there's petrol to the coast but there'd be petrol to whatever you wanted to take them to that costs money so that argument doesn't wash. Lunch aside it was a free day (TICK!) costwise and timewise and one of the best days we've had as a family for a long long time. First thing Boychild said when he saw the sea crashing on the rocks and the sand was, "Oh wow!....big bath!" with wide eyes! They scooped shells from the sand underwater, splashed in the waves, sat and pushed sand around, we found a couple of spades (we did check if they belonged to anyone nearby but they didn't) so we played with them and brought them home for another time. They saw fish in rock pools and had the sun and breeze on their skin for a few hours. It was magical.

We were really late home so I did tea while hubby ran their bath and we gave them milk in bed. They've been there about an hour now and there's no sound so hopefully we will get a quiet night!

Mum had been to the house whilst we were out and left some fruit she had stewed, an apple pie, my prescriptions and she'd brought the washing in and folded it all up. Lovely woman but she stole at least half a tick from me there!!! Rang her to say thanks and that I was booking her birthday meal for next Saturday lunchtime. Must. Actually. Remember. To. DO THIS!!

I had a bath once the sleepy children were down (which was LOVELY!) and cleaned the whole bathroom after I got out. TICK! One less thing to do this week. I was tired and really couldn't be bothered but it was thinking I could come on here and get a tick for it that spurred me on!

It's been more of a "doing housework not leaving it, making double portions of meals to save time and money" sort of weekend as we've had so much on but I don't regret that. We've had a lovely time and with hubby working so many long hours we deserve a treat. Whilst I'm not flagging in my tasks and aspirations moneywise etc... my family will ALWAYS come first. So if it's a day at the beach with the children or doing the ironing and sorting out the airing cupboard... well, I guess we'll be wearing creased clothes this week!

Normal service will be resumed next week. Finalising daily housework list to give it a try, need to put TV Licence on direct debit, need to start list of questions for Financial Advisor, need to do another batch cook, need to look into how cashback sites work before I start on looking at utilities/insurances and switching to save, so plenty to... "look forward to"!

A short read and a coffee and then bed for me, all that sea air has me blinking heavily too!

x

Sessie

Forgot to say, used a free sachet of hair conditioner to shave my legs last night (!TMI? Sorry!) as I'd read a tip that it worked really well and saves on buying gel).. and it did!

So now, not only am I fuzz-free, any new hair that grows will be silky soft and shiny!

Because I'm worth it!

x

whatatwit

Hi Sessie, sounds like you had a great day at Brid.

I think the TV licence peeps take double for the first 6 months and then 1/12th each month after that, but still better than forking out in 1 go.

I know early on you stopped buying magazines, but miss Prima & such, have you asked on your work intranet if anyone has any, I get them from my local charity shop and they tend to be the ones with the patterns in, so obviously from a subscription. (I will get my sewing machine used)

Sessie

another reminder for later to be edited:

cat flap!

Sessie

I'm getting the hang of this lark y'know!!

Yesterday worked all day and then went to mum's as hubby was helping dad with a project there. We ate there so that was good (mmm scaaamppiiiii).

Was an NSD as I took a packup to work. TICK!

When we got back I spent most of the night on the Old Style Board reading up on the Preparing for Winter topic which has some GREAT ideas on. Wrote a huge list of things to get/make/work on over the next few months so we're not shelling out loads late in the year when the fuel bills are up, cost of things is up generally and we're having to lay out for Christmas. TICK!

Also went to Mr M's website (the supermarket) and made a note of all the things that are on offer at the moment THAT I WOULD BUY ANYWAY!! The words in caps are the important ones. Before I started all of this, I'd pretty much go for any offers, whether it was stuff I normally bought or not. Of course, eventually I did use whatever I'd bought but it was unnecessary and was what was making my till receipt higher than it should have been. I could have easily coped without a lot of the things so any offers I get now either tie in with my meal plan for the week or are too-good-to-miss reduced meat for the freezer or reduced veg etc...

Looked at what I had in before I went to the site and planned my shopping list both around what's in the cupboards and what was on offer. Wrote shopping list out - was less than an A5 sheet long as I still have loads of potatoes, pasta, rice, meat, tinned tomatoes etc.. in TICK!

That's the three for Monday sorted then!

Today, worked 8-1, I have cereal under my desk so had that rather than buying anything from the vending machines. TICK!

Oh, first thing before work I put all the ironing away and gathered the next lot of washing for the basket.

Went shopping straight from work to Mr M's. Pick of this week's deals:

2 x 180g chicken breast - £1 each - each portion will easily do hubby, children and me, probably with leftovers for the children another day once stodged out with veg, lentils etc...

5 yes 5!!! 480g jars of Uncle Ben's sweet and sour/Curry/Cantonese etc.. sauces for £5. Will EASILY make two meals EACH. Am going ask my sister to get me another 5 to store for winter as she goes quite often. Normally they are about £1.89 EACH. I have been making my own meals and sauces for weeks now but, c'mon, sometimes you just want to throw some meat into a pan with a sauce for ten minutes right? Especially as it gets colder and darker.

4 x 4pt milks - £0.50 each, yes you read that right. They are in the freezer for the next week.

6 x huge loaves of bread at £0.50 again.

8 x thick pork sausages for £0.50 per pack (got 2).

ALMOST stuck rigidly to my list. However, Mr M was ALSO selling Febreeze Cotton Fresh for £2 instead of £2.98. I absolutely LOVE the smell and use it ALL the time at home to make sure it never smells of nappies or baby... uh... aroma. Anyhow, my meals for at least the next four weeks are sorted as I also got some reduced turkey stir fry meat (2 packs). So all that, together with what I already have in means my freezer (a big chest one in the garage) is almost full, which ALSO means it's running more economically than if it were half empty so... TICK TICKETTY TICK!!

Came home, put everything away whilst meal planning in my head (!), made the childrens' dinners, cleaned highchairs, washed the kitchen floor, washed up and put everything away, cleaned all kitchen tops, cleaned out microwave. TIIIIIIICK!

So, thought I'd read some more on here and the Old Style board - am now ploughing through the "It's Still Tough..." thread as there are a lot of good ideas in there too.

Need to leave the above "cat flap" reminder until I've sorted it. They managed to pull off all the "brush" stuff that holds the door in place so in windy weather it just blows open all the time and makes the house freezing. Need to either find someone who can do it or post something on a forum here and see if anyone has any ideas. Don't really want to buy a new one as I don't need one, just need to mend the one I have.

So... off to Old Style! Keep it up everyone, only... stop making your diaries so darned interesting - I keep staying up WAY too late!!!

x

Sessie

Eeesh!

Forgot to say also that today I put in the bags of coins from last week into the bank (split it between the childrens's accounts) along with some money my mum was giving them for their birthday.

Also got a HUGE box of Daz from Mr M's for £6.00. I already have a huge box of Surf and Persil in the garage from other supermarkets recently who were having offers - I won't need to buy washing powder until about 2012 at this rate!

Okay, now I really AM done for tonight, off to bed!

x

humblepii

Hi Sessie, found you :wave:

Can't wait to have a sit down and proper read through your thread later. Your dedication to it is inspiring. Having just had a quick skim through, the crumble recipe caught my eye... humblepii likes pie!!!

Hope you're feeling good and on track today.

girlracer

Sessie wrote: »

Forgot to say, used a free sachet of hair conditioner to shave my legs last night (!TMI? Sorry!) as I'd read a tip that it worked really well and saves on buying gel).. and it did!

So now, not only am I fuzz-free, any new hair that grows will be silky soft and shiny!

Because I'm worth it!

x

I have done that myself many a time, and it does work really well

Sessie

Hey Humblepii!

I know I keep doing really long posts, it's partly because I've always written like I'm talking to someone (kept a diary for YEARS) and also just because I keep thinking of more stuff to add!! I didn't really expect anyone to still be reading apart from me as they are so long!!

Today was a good day and, as I didn't expect it to be, it was an even better day! I was on my own with the twins (aged 2 for anyone who hasn't read the whole thead) from 7 am until their bedtime. Decided to try a different slant on one of the Flylady ideas so that I was giving my children valuable time but also getting things done. I spent 15/20 minutes playing with them, crawling around on the decking outside with their farm animals, cars and fairies, opened up their outside playhouse (where there is a play cooker and a few drawers of play food) etc... Then, when they were engrossed, sloped off and chopped some veg and defrosted some meat. Played a bit more, cooked a meal, played a bit more, stewed the last of the blackberries and apples to freeze, played a bit more...you get the picture! In total today I;

(1) Cooked 2 different meals which will each do for the 4 of us for 2 meals, so after tomorrow, when I'm doing a new recipe I got from the Mr M's website - butternut squash and chorizo risotto as we are having company - the next four nights will be one, then the other, one, then the other. I also gave two portions of one of them to my mum who popped in to save her cooking tea for her and dad tonight.
(2) Stewed and cooled the fruit.
(3) Mended the downstairs changing mat (it was splitting, normally I'd have just thrown it and bought another using the excuse, "They're only £6" but NO MORE!!). It mended well in about 3 minutes flat.
(5) Did 2 loads of washing and put each load out on the line to dry.
(6) ShakenVac and hoovered all upstairs rooms
(7) SnV and hoovered living room
(8) Washed up all cooking pots and plates etc.. we'd eaten from today and cleaned all the tops. Left the place looking like a showhome!
(9) Washed some of the paintwork and surfaces in the living room. This was the last job before I had to bath the children and I was feeling pretty pleased about how much I had managed to get done whilst also giving them a lot of mummy time. Gave each child a small sponge so they could help as they are just (my son particularly) at that age where they LOVE to feel they are doing "what mummy does".

Was careful to put the bowl of soapy water on the windowsill rather than anywhere they could reach... or so I thought.... (you can see where this is going can't you??!). Have learned today that Boychild can stand on tiptoes and reach WAY higher than I thought. As I turned round to rinse my cloth I just saw the bowl falling... falling... and the huge amount of soapy bubbly water sinking into the carpet. He turned to look at me and very solemnly stated, "oh-oh... fall DOWN wet!". I'm afraid I did "raaaaaar!" for a minute but then just got a few towels and trampled on them to get as much water up as I could and then gave it a good rubbing down with another clean towel. Only problem now is there's a really CLEAN patch showing up that the rest of the carpet... well, let's say it's "seen better days" and leave it at that shall we!?

I reckon all that's at least one TICK!

We also got out to the park which is a stone's throw from the house for an hour where they ran around like maniacs. It was lovely and warm so the fresh air and exercise was good for all of us.

Today was another NSD - so another TICK!

Also found my winter hat and two scarves that I thought I'd lost, found the children's hats for last winter. Sadly they don't fit so I have put them in a bag to take to someone at work for their grandson who is a year younger than mine (small declutter there but they all count!). I have a day off in a couple of weeks when I can get into town on my own so will be making visits to Boyes, Poundland, the other Pound shop whose name I forget and another "everything emporium" we have. Want to start building up winter supplies now - following the "Winter" thread on Old Style - I bought some cold remedies and children's paracetamol (own brand not brand name) yesterday when shopping for this purpose too. Final TICK! of the day.

Currently watching a programme about food waste and it's making me SO angry. Even before I climbed on this sorting-myself-out horse we were as careful as we could be not to throw food out un necessarily. Though, if anyone else watched the same programme, I'm still afraid I'm not eating pigs' head ravioli with fried pig's ears!!

x