Pavlovs_dog starting as she means to go on...

Frugaldom

Great news with the OP, Pavlov's, bet you're desperate to get that extra £175.67 paid to bring you under the £130k. I can see how obsessive I'd become about OPs if we'd gone the mortgage direction but you know how bad I am about rounding my numbers, it's habit now.

Haven't spent much on the moving-in preparations, most has gone on buying a new shed to store what can't go in the house for now. Sale of old shed & greenhouse covered costs.

pavlovs_dog

this diary has been a bit neglected these past few weeks, life at school has been rather crappy and my mind has been all over the shop. Very glad it's half term. Am now on count down to the summer. Only 5 weeks of "teaching" left (by the time you take activities week into account it's actually more like 4), and I'm off on a school trip too so that's a week that doesn't count either. Cannot wait for the summer, feel like I've reach my limit over the past few weeks - I'm a woman on the edge !

In moneysaving news, the utilities switch is all but finalised. Be good to know our gas is cheaper as it's been so cold here in the evenings that the heating has been going on nightly. Also shopped around to save some money on our car insurance - £480 was not as healthy as I had hoped, but it was a far cry better than the £615 renewal quote we started off with. Need to up our monthly DD to the savings account to reflect the fact that car insurance is now ridiculous expensive no matter how good a driver you are. stupid human rights laws!

May OPs were a touch over £200, bringing the OP total to £945/1500, or 63% of target achieved. Looking forward to breaking the £1k barrier next month. Mortgage balance is now firmly in the £120ks... the wrong end of the £120ks for my liking, but there none the less.

to all who follow/lurk/dip in and out - hope you're well and enjoy the bank holiday weekend :beer:

Frugaldom

Great to hear how things are going, even if it is another reminder that teaching seems to be a bit of a thankless job - I'd never have had the patience to even attempt training to work with kids, so hats off to teachers!

The overpayments plan looks to be well ahead of schedule, well done on that. Car costs are always a bit of a pain and always more than anticipated - have just spent over £400 of our precious housefund on getting repairs done to ours - that could have paid the bathroom window!

Make the most of mid-term break and I hope you're able to relax and enjoy your home.

gratefulforhelp_2

Frugaldom wrote: »

I'd never have had the patience to even attempt training to work with kids, so hats off to teachers!

Gawd bless you, guv'nor.

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Cannot wait for the summer, feel like I've reach my limit over the past few weeks - I'm a woman on the edge !

Do you have that feeling like you have been stretched?

gratefulforhelp_2

Six weeks to go now?

pavlovs_dog

this is another 7 week term, so there's now 6 weeks left. I'll be glad when all of the major exams for my classes are over this week, I'm fed up to the back teeth of the sight of mock papers. How people can mark exams for money is beyond me - it's not even that lucrative. My idea of hell - I'd either need to be desperate for moohlah or have a marking revelation to ever contemplate it. *shudders* 4 weeks of teaching, activities week and a week abroad on a trip. Not that i'm counting or anything :rotfl:

TBH I cant wait for the summer hols full stop. Not been treated particularly well by school of late. I mentioned a while back about the possiblity of HoD coming up. Well it did and I decided I was going to go for it. I was encouraged, pushed and chased by the SLT's henchpeople to make sure I applied, only for them to turn around and tell me I'm not experienced enough... well it wasnt an issue when they were chasing me to apply, so why make me think I had as good a chance as anyone else? Didn't even have the professional courtesy to offer me an interview. The only comfort in it all is the support i've received from my colleagues. from a professional self esteem point it's reassuring to know that so many of them though that i was a dead cert to get the job. Nice to know someone appreciates me :cool:

on the mortgage front, have broken the £1k overpayment barrier. Now that tutoring is coming to an end overpayments will slow. Chuffed with what I've achieved so far though - Haven't missed the money at all. As I move on M3 payscale in September we'll up our contributions. Hope to find new tutees as well because I've really enjoyed it. If that doesn't work then I think I'll either look into trying to start some kind of cottage industry or dedicate the time to online money making schemes such as surveys.

financially money seems to be going out as quick as we can earn it. Lucky we're both so low maintenance. had to get new specs and sunglasses today so that was £200 in the blink of an eye (i'm at goldish bowl end of the prescription so have to pay for lens thinning.) Some little toerag pinch the covers off of our wing mirrors so they're going to need to be replaced. Car tax is due at the end of the month. I keeping finding finds i 'need' for the house.

have had some bargains though. following a tip from here i used the vouchers on supersavvyme to get a bottle of ariel stain remover for 20something pence (was £4+, but 50% off at tesco with a £2 coupon) and a bottle of fairy washing up liquid for 40p (on offer at £1.40 @ tesco with a £1 coupon). Was a lovely feeling so I'll be keeping a keener eye on the grabbit board from now on. Tea has been cheap for the past few evenings as we've been eating our way through a tonne of 10p yellow stickered salad items from mr Ts. freezer is stocked with 10p bread :T

remember that concrete monolith in the middle of my lawn? Turns out OH is a dab hand at wielding a sledge hammer and pick axe :eek: went so deep we thought we'd find a Chilean miner or two but we got the !!!!!! out. Filled in the hole with a load of compost and have put grass seed down. Can't wait for dry weather so I can paint the gate with my bargaineous £3 tub of wood stain from mr Ms.

cha97michelle

Nothing funnier than schools. My first year i was appointed on a one year post, and worked my bum off. At the end of the 2nd term the dep head had a chat with my head of dept about advertising my job again, and my head of dept went mad about it. The next thing i know i am offered the 2nd in dept with an informal chat, and then another 18 months down the line, acting head of dept with an informal chat.

Then when they changed the way management points were done, i had to reapply for 2nd in dept and they didn't even give it me.

I think you are better not getting it. Might sound harsh now, but the extra stuff you do is more than you get paid for i think, and after one year of teaching you will have a bigger workload so you are better off not being overloaded now.

They could have at least offered you an interview though like you say.

I bet the garden is looking better now. We keep finding we 'need' to spend things too. I just spent nearly £50 on bedding, though our last new stuff was about 7 years ago so i feel it is ok. I also desperately need a new washing line as the current one is pitifully holding up the clothes after DS1 jumped on it, but i keep putting it off. It is only working now as DH tied a metal pole from an old trampoline to the broken arm. It is only just holding. Washing roulette every time.

pavlovs_dog

do you have a folding airer? it's surprising how well stuff dries on that outside. It's what we used before we managed to fix the aerial line.

knowing what i know now about the SLT (i'm not the only young and 'new to school' colleague to be treated in this way this year) there is a tiny part of me that thinks i've had a lucky escape. i knew i was an underdog, and whilst i'd be lying if i said there wasnt still a small part of me that feels sore for being overlooked, that is far, far superceeded by how lead on i feel. i was lead on a merry dance, and that was wrong. i put my heart and soul into that application and the feedback i had was that as letters go, i couldnt have done a better job there. what really p*sses me off is the amount of time i wasted on that stupid letter at a ridiculously busy time of the year. i'm sure in a few years time when i'm older and wiser i'll look back and agree that they probably did make the right decision (and fortunately i think i'll get on well with new HoD), but that doesnt make me feel any less angry now.

cha97michelle

Yup - we have 2 fold up airers, but what with the cat and the kids, i don't want to put them in the garden. I do use them on the landing. I just want to start getting stuff dried outside quickly.

The current one is holding up if i try not to use the half where that arm is supporting as much. I use it more for light stuff and the kids clothes. It has done since last August so far, so it will have to do till we get one.

You sound ready for summer really. Tiredness probably makes your feelings different. It hasn't been a waste of time, as you will have the basis of a great letter if you decide to apply elsewhere.

Sepa74

Back to the chimneys... the problem is that if the electricity goes off you have no energy at all because these days gas appliances all have digital controllers. I have a working chimney with a gas fire in it and if I'm still here in a few years I will convert it to a closed wooden stove with a flat top so at least I can heat water for a hot water bottle should the leccy fail.

I live in a (relatively) well off London suburb and we've had at least three blackouts in 5 years. I think our sub-station is rubbish... but it does go to show that there is a VERY fine line between civilisation and freezing your buns off!!!!

If I was redoing my heating system I would be very tempted to go for a pellet burner. I've seen them in Italy where GCH is not that commonly used because their gas prices are ridiculous. The pellet burners are fantastically efficient and these days have a timer and can even run a central heating system... One I've seen can be switched between burning logs and burning pellets. The timer and CH is still digitally controlled though, so even those functions still rely on the leccy!