Debt free in ten years-my new, more realistic challenge.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Lovely update Pooh. Glad all is well Xx

grannyx2

Wow what an experience, I've seen pictures of the snow on the tv but up until now not really known anyone affected. Glad you are all ok and survived being holed up for a few days. Sounds like you managed amazingly well.

Granny x

poohbear59

I have the full compliment back home with me again. DS2 came back as his contract at DWP ended. They said to reapply in late April. He has signed on again at JCentre. It makes me really mad that they waste such a lot of time and money on training then constantly run short term contracts...

DH hasn't worked again until today and has half day concreting today. It will give him about £50.

DS3 is still looking for work whilst working as a labourer. He knows he is lucky to have the work but is frustrated not to have secured a job yet. He was really annoyed to take the day off on Tuesday as he thought the financial year started on 1st and employers would have their new budgets. Most were still on holiday..

DB is currently unemployed too. We are just keeping an eye on him as we don't want his depression to worsen. His daughter is getting married in Oz this week and he can't go which is obviously very disturbing for him..

I had a lovely day out at a farm park yesterday. The owner let me in at a reduced rate as we advertise them to our customers. DGD and DGN absolutely loved it there.I came home with a huge bundle of their leaflets and they now have ours on display too. So a good day out and some free advertising.

Today I am going to collect a much needed fire guard from a fellow freegler. DGD is already walking around the furniture at 9 months old! We are going to do some much needed food shopping at 4ldi and we are taking some of our leaflets to a cafe which has some animals too.

I am very pleased because we made a private sale of a week in the cottage in July. That means more than £100 extra for us which this year we are going to try to save towards the cottage Winter bills if we can. This month we are still £60 short for the business dds but have a deposit coming soon. Fingers crossed it gets here in time.

We are still waiting to see if we have been successful in our application for a grant. and still struggling to keep warm in the house. We still have snow drifts of over 6 feet in places but all the rodas are completely clear.

poohbear59

I wrote another long post yesterday but it seems to have vanished.

Things are becoming extremely tight again. I used the cash from auntie to pay a litttle to everyone but then this month I have some of them expecting the same amount!! HMRC being one of them. I will phone to explain and then concentrate on getting DH's accounts to accountant by the end of the week. He made a massive loss last year so they may off set the previous year's tax against it. I am not sure how it works but I can hope.

The cottage is occupied with a friend's family so I sold it at a very reduced rate. That meant we were extremely tight on covering the business DDs this month. BUT a very nice lady has paid me £100 deposit for a week in July, which has given me a bit of a breathing space. Last month's paid late and we had to pay charges. I really need to find a way to get private buyers to pay on time.......

We are still waiting to hear about the grant we applied for.

DB has gone 'walkabout' so I am hoping he will read this and get in contact please as I am worried about him. Suffice to say that other family members are playing dirty tricks on him.

DS2 and DS3 are both job hunting and despite having their own laptops feel the need to use mine as they have their CVs on mine. They don't have Office on theirs and haven't made any effort to find an alternative. I am sure there is info on here about suitable free/cheapy versions. This means I can't use mine as often as I would like but the house is cleaner/tidier now I spend less time on here

Mum_on_a_mission_2

Hi Pooh,

Sent you a PM.

Free software for the boys laptops - try Open Office

Making private buyers pay up - what's in your contract? If they pay late then add in an interest charge on the outstanding balance. And maybe send strongly worded reminders at suitable dates? Just a thought.

Moam

poohbear59

Thank you for the link MOAM. I have sent a link to both sons so they will hopefully download and use it, and give me back my laptop.

And I am very embarassed to admit I don't have a contract. I think I will put that at the top of my list. A lot of our bookings are through an agency so I didn't need to think about a contract. I just write a letter asking for the money by a set date, usually a month before arrival...

Today I have had a lovely day willow weaving and have made a basket. It is quite hard on my hands so I don't think I will be taking it up as a hobby.

I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with lovely people. We took DGD and she was no problem at all. Just hoping she can enjoy another day of beaming her toothy (2 teeth) smile at all who are there. She even managed two short sleeps so DD and I were able to catch up with everyone else.
Tomorrow we can chose to make a hurdle or a wigwam for plants. I chose hurdle but have since found that those making hurdles will be working outside!!! Maybe I can change my mind.....

Financially we are still just keeping our heads above water. Mr Pooh has had no work again this week but has been out pruning some dead branches from some trees in the field next to the house. The farmer has said we can have any fallen branches and can tidy up some of the dead wood. I had to avoid looking out at Mr P up a tree as I would have worried stupidly about him. We now have enough wood for another two weeks. And the house was really toasty warm when I got home this afternoon.

All Ddebits have now been paid this month The council tax will come out of the account on 19th and I will have to try to catch up with payments next month. I wondered why we seemed to have some leftover after all the ddebits had been paid. It was because I cancelled the ddebit when we were really struggling and didn't reinstate it.

DB is home, phew!

please-let-me-be-lucky

So glad DB is home and you are all toasty warm. :eek: to being outside tomorrow though, it's supposed to chuck it down!

Good luck to the boys in their job hunts Xx

grannyx2

Glad DB is home. Hope you enjoyed your hurdle/wigwam making, sounds fun. DGD sounds delightful

Granny x

poohbear59

I got a grant cheque of £500 sent to me yesterday and haven't been told I have to spend it on anything specific. I am thinking of doing what I did last month and pay all my minimum balances and a little extra off everything.
I have to pay the plumber who billed me £60 in January and I forgot about his invoice. He has just sent me a reminder which I am embarrassed about. He has a wife and young child so must be paid first.

I also found that NPower do a Warmth for Health scheme where they help people with health conditions made worse by the cold who have inadequate heating systems. As I have asthma and raynauds among other things I may qualify for help. Only problem is that they may want to replace the oil boiler with another one and we can't afford to buy the oil. I can but ask and see what they say tomorrow.

I have done so much research on all of this I could probably write a guide to finding your way through the maze of funding available but hidden.

poohbear59

The willow weaving was a great two days. I even did hurdle making with a friend outside on Friday. We then went to the pub and I had 3 mugs of tea and didn't spend anything. It was just great to catch up with people.

It was the first time in months that Mr P and I were home alone for dinner so he ordered fish and chips in the pub to take home. I really enjoyed the fish and chips as we sat in front of the log burner then I suddenly realised I hadn't paid for them.:eek:

So that was how I managed a NSD on Friday:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
I did, of course, go back last night and paid so yesterday wasn't a NSD.

The pain levels are worse after the two days out so last night DS3 bought pizzas for everyone from the c0-op. I made the chips in the actifry to go with them. It is sometimes a very good thing we don't have any takeaways near us or we could be wasting a lot more money.

Today Mr P went to the pub to watch footie and has come home and made dinner