13 Moons ... ( *** Off, I'm Fabulous )

taxi73

that sounds great getting the trees in and thinking of ways to use up an old bed frame for a raised bed...very clever

Karmacat

That sounds brilliant! Victoria and Connie might well play ball this year since they're only in bud, not in leaf .... pamper them like crazy, I'd say, which you obviously are .... loving the sound of what you're doing. I'm off to Sainsbo finally, today, stocking up on stuff, I'll see what gardening stuffywotsits they've got, if anything, but tbh there's a lot of plants I brought from my previous garden that need to get planted.

I went back to my old house 2 weeks after I moved, and with the permission of the new owners I dug up my beautiful sedum from the front garden - they were just going to mulch it over anyway. Its been growing for about 4 years, and I split it into 3 when I got it here, then left the roots in a plastic bag. I had a look in the bag last week (oops) and a leftover little bit has survived, and is growing madly in there - so now I have four to be dotted about! I'm very happy

Lula-Hula

Ugh - it's cold, wet & windy here today - big change from yesterday, so good job I settled Connie & Victoria in.

Glad to hear that you brought a lot of your plants with you Karma I have lots of stuff from my parents garden & my mum bought me loads of bulbs & plants too which is a lovely way to remember her.

Taxi - I like to reuse stuff where I can & a lot of the wood from old shelves & such in the shed, has been sat waiting for me to get inspired & motivated enough to use it. Good job it's more patient than me.

I discovered another load of washing to be done after all the mud at the ex-allotment & in the garden.

I felt relieved when we left there, although I did offer to help out if they needed me. I certainly wont miss the journey; it's just one annoying turn after another down narrow streets & forever having to pull in or reverse when meeting oncoming traffic :mad:.

It also means I never have to leave home looking like a tramp again. I can keep my hobo clothes safely at home in the garden. I had a nasty reminder of how rough on hands & nails gardening is I will have to keep special scrubs & creams in stock & get some new gloves. mine had a hole in one finger & I really hate getting my hands & nails dirty . I cut my nails short last night & smothered them in cream.

All the ironing is done so all I have left to do is clean the bathroom, head off to waitrose to stock up on various bits & tonight will be a yoga session.

Looking forward to coming home after work tomorrow & not having to do home-job :j. Need to spend some time on the budget to work out next months CC payments.

Will report spends later ...

Karmacat

I've wondered about that journey to the allotments in the past - I had one in the early 90s, and it was a really bad idea even then :rotfl:

I'm glad you're off to Waitrose - much as I like my Asda smartprice pesto, its an acquired taste, whereas I fell in love with the Waitrose one straight away :heart2: mad really, but there we go.

Right. No more wandering about mse. Downloading from my camera to put stuff on ebay, here I come.

Lula-Hula

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Thanks Bob - if only my holes were metaphorical ... sadly they are real, requiring effort with spade & wet slimy mud, but I do get to wear my wellies so that will cheer me up

I have yet another list of tasks to complete :

- [STRIKE]dig those dratted holes [/STRIKE] DONE :j

- [STRIKE]Strip my bed, air, & then remake[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE] 6 :eek: loads of laundry [/STRIKE] ALL DONE
[STRIKE]- Ironing[/STRIKE] ALL DONE

- [STRIKE]Hoovering throughout[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]Clean bathroom (remnant from last weeks list :shhh:)[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]Ring lovely lady who minds DD during half term re Easter hols[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]Do a weights workout[/STRIKE] DONE

-[STRIKE] Do a full set of yoga sequences[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]Small grocery shopping trip to co op[/STRIKE] DONE

- [STRIKE]Dream up some more meals[/STRIKE] DONE

Hurray - I've done everything on the list & I also got around to washing the kitchen & bathroom floors for free.


I'm relieved to hear that you're glad I went to Waitrose Karma ... as I went with attitude & determination to buy some nice food & bogger the cost :shhh:

Yes I have a bit of debt, but I really cant be doing with claggy, stodgy cheap grub any more. life is too short . I bought some co op own brand wholemeal bread the other day, because it was half the price of the branded stuff & we're trying to save money. Well, it's wafer thin, tastes all yeasty & she will not eat unless it's toasted. Frankly, I dont blame her - it's not the best.

So, we bought loads of luscious fresh fruit & avocado s which DD thinks she'll be using as a face mask, I assured her that the only human flesh they'll be coating is the inside of my tummy . I got some mackerel strips for me & some lemon sole for DD, lovely wholegrain pasta & some plain nuts & fruit for me to snack on ( Hippie food, apparently so my shopping companion tells me :rotfl:). I let DD choose her bread & treated myself to one of the gorgeous nutty, seedy, malty loaves that are perfect just with a smear of buttery stuff.

I know I was meant to be avoiding bread, but one slice of that each day is to be a treat & will replace all the sweet stuff I crave & trough at 4pm.

I also bought some water - after having a discussion with DD in the aisle about how her teacher says that tap water is better. Maybe Miss, but our water tastes horrible so I dont drink it & end up having tea & coffee instead. I need to drink the stuff after doing workouts & I'm paying so I got the water, DD got a small tub of Green & Back vanilla ice cream. I did have a co ordinating chocolate one, but heroically returned it to the freezer, all in the name of reducing my hips

Enough diversion tactics; you want to know the cost of all this oral gratification. It was a tasty £56.12p & worth every penny.

Total grocery spend now = £ 162.62
:whistle: That's more like it :rotfl:. When I started on this debt reduction jaunt, I filled in one of those CCCS forms about income & expenditure & even back then in 2008, their recommendation was a grocery & household budget of £200 a month for us, so I'll not take any criticism to heart.

We had a delicious quorn spaghetti bolognese for dinner using half the jar of sauce & saving the rest to go in a slow cooked chicken dish later on in the week.

Due to the grocery gorging I dont have enough in the bank to make the usual £125 payment to Uncle Richard so it's just £70 for now & another £25 via direct debit on friday. I will do my very best to make this up next week. I'm sure I can find an extra £30 from somewhere ...

Too late to make sense now so will return when feeing suitable remorseful :whistle:

G'night
xx

taxi73

Don't blame you reverting back to Waitrose as the food is of much better quality than anywhere else.Am thinking of shopping online again at Ocado as it's the only place that stocks everything I require.

Karmacat

Excellent stuff! The only thing I'd say, Lula, if you have an Iceland near you, is get you down there quick, girl - they have a sale on quorn! Branded, not theirs OTOH I wish I knew how to buy/store/use avocadoes - I've tried so many times over the years, but I always end up with those nasty black lines running through - I've given up now, and because avocadoes are so good for you, I buy avocado oil and drizzle it over some things. My Zimbabwean cousins had avocado trees growing at home, they used to just pick them off the trees and eat them as snacks whenever they felt like it ....

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I have returned to confess my sins & declare my deeds .

It's been a quietish week at both jobs & I've been taking the opportunity to do some financial forecasting & budgeting & some serious ebaying too.

No, dont be silly, not the selling kind. I'm a buyer :rotfl: I've spent a mahoosive £36.18p this week on a pair of trousers, a jacket, luuuuuurvley bag & an awesome pair of bright red, sky high wedge heeled Faith sandals. They'd better fit or I will in frustration.

Not doing home-job on monday was everything I'd hoped it would be, & more. While I was cooking our meal for that night, I prepped tuesdays slow cooker meal & bunged it in the fridge ready to be cooked the next day while I worked. The relief of coming home & not having to cook is fab.

I ended up not actually having too much home-job work & therefore minimal earnings, which had the effect of prompting my lazy self to consider getting a new financial year budget going.

The arrival of notification of a rent increase from April 4th & realisation that having to pay Council Tax is now imminent got me from consideration gear to action gear pretty dam quickly :eek:.

So, a fairly generous budget has been done. By 'generous', I mean one that allows monthly grocery spends of £215, and a clothes, shoes, accessories & fun allowance of £100 & all my other funds as they are.

I would love to think that all DDs child benefit could be spent on fun stuff for her, but the reality is that it actually just about covers the cost of childcare during school hols. I may re-investigate potential help with costs, just not sure if I want to go back to claiming benefits again if I can manage without.

I estimate that with the debt gone & on my work job wages alone, I'll have about £150 'spare' each month. Bearing in mind that I want to get some savings tucked away for emergencies etc, I can see me continuing with home-job for the forseeable future. I can manage 2 days a week without any stress or major disruption & the little extra I earn from this will go towards home improvements, holidays etc.

The secret plan to clear the final dregs of the debt has been burning away at the back of my mind & today I gave in to it. a while back my dad gave me some funds to put in an ISA which I duly did without even hesitating. There's enough in there to completely clear the CC, but I couldnt bring myself to use it for the following reasons:

1) He doesnt know about the debt & it would have eaten away at my conscience.

2) The CC is still on a 0% deal until april 4th, so I wouldnt actually gain/save anything by clearing it sooner.

3) I think I needed that harsh budgeting lesson & had I just paid it off, I dont think I would have learned that I can actually 'make do' without a lot of things.

Now however, I'm getting a bit panicky about the looming deadline so thought it might well be time to make use of some of that cash to clear a lump before I have to pay interest.

So, I rang up & transferred £600 to my current account & immediately paid it straight to the CC, which is why I now have an outstanding balance of £1580.

Why that particular amount ? Well, mainly because it leaves 2 months worth of income in the ISA in case of redundancy/emergency & still gives me a challenging goal to clear the rest of the debt by myself. It's also roughly equal to the amount that about 2 years ago dadoffered to pay for the new cambelt for my car ... but then never did, meaning I had to whack it on the CC . It did teach me a lesson though; never rely on anyone else to pay for stuff & to save up for car expenses .

I whizzed to my favourite shop this morning to get some packed lunch stuff for DD as she's at the childminders next week & tried to get everything we'll need until the end of the month & next payday. I got plenty of stuff but it cost me £42.75 meaning I've spent a very very naughty £ 205.37 this month.

Victoria & Connie seem to be fine & the persistent rain seems to suit them, I'm getting fed up with it although it's dry for the moment. Need to visit family at some point over the weekend & plan to go to the cinema on monday as it should be about £5 cheaper .

No other news to report although with Grumpy out of the office all next week, Gropey is liable to be very fractious & in need of a slap. Business is slowing down & there's a vague sense that heads may roll if it slows much more . I'm hoping it's just due to the end of the financial year & will pick up again in a couple of months. I hate kissing a$$, bit for job security may need to be very flexible ... although not as flexible as Grumpy has suggested I could be to keep him amused :rotfl:

taxi73

looks like you've had a long hard think about your finances and all sounds good except the rain.

Karmacat

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Hello,

I have returned to confess my sins & declare my deeds .
And we know *just* how penitent you are :rotfl:

It's been a quietish week at both jobs & I've been taking the opportunity to do some financial forecasting & budgeting & some serious ebaying too.

No, dont be silly, not the selling kind. I'm a buyer :rotfl: I've spent a mahoosive £36.18p this week on a pair of trousers, a jacket, luuuuuurvley bag & an awesome pair of bright red, sky high wedge heeled Faith sandals. They'd better fit or I will in frustration.
Ooohhhh .... I must try to remember where the posts are where you gave me some great advice about how to buy on ebay ....

I ended up not actually having too much home-job work & therefore minimal earnings, which had the effect of prompting my lazy self to consider getting a new financial year budget going.

The arrival of notification of a rent increase from April 4th & realisation that having to pay Council Tax is now imminent got me from consideration gear to action gear pretty dam quickly :eek:.
Oops.

So, a fairly generous budget has been done. By 'generous', I mean one that allows monthly grocery spends of £215, and a clothes, shoes, accessories & fun allowance of £100 & all my other funds as they are.

I would love to think that all DDs child benefit could be spent on fun stuff for her, but the reality is that it actually just about covers the cost of childcare during school hols. I may re-investigate potential help with costs, just not sure if I want to go back to claiming benefits again if I can manage without.
Surely as a single parent you qualify for help with childcare? Martin's always on about it - I heard him the other day on Daybreak.

The secret plan to clear the final dregs of the debt has been burning away at the back of my mind & today I gave in to it. a while back my dad gave me some funds to put in an ISA which I duly did without even hesitating. There's enough in there to completely clear the CC, but I couldnt bring myself to use it for the following reasons:

1) He doesnt know about the debt & it would have eaten away at my conscience.

2) The CC is still on a 0% deal until april 4th, so I wouldnt actually gain/save anything by clearing it sooner.

3) I think I needed that harsh budgeting lesson & had I just paid it off, I dont think I would have learned that I can actually 'make do' without a lot of things.

Now however, I'm getting a bit panicky about the looming deadline so thought it might well be time to make use of some of that cash to clear a lump before I have to pay interest.

So, I rang up & transferred £600 to my current account & immediately paid it straight to the CC, which is why I now have an outstanding balance of £1580.

Why that particular amount ? Well, mainly because it leaves 2 months worth of income in the ISA in case of redundancy/emergency & still gives me a challenging goal to clear the rest of the debt by myself. It's also roughly equal to the amount that about 2 years ago dadoffered to pay for the new cambelt for my car ... but then never did, meaning I had to whack it on the CC . It did teach me a lesson though; never rely on anyone else to pay for stuff & to save up for car expenses .
There's a lot of sense in all of that ...

I whizzed to my favourite shop this morning to get some packed lunch stuff for DD as she's at the childminders next week & tried to get everything we'll need until the end of the month & next payday. I got plenty of stuff but it cost me £42.75 meaning I've spent a very very naughty £ 205.37 this month.
Now hang on! You've just told us your new budget is £215! Explain in 100 words or less why £205 is naughty? I dare you :D:D

Victoria & Connie seem to be fine & the persistent rain seems to suit them, I'm getting fed up with it although it's dry for the moment. Need to visit family at some point over the weekend & plan to go to the cinema on monday as it should be about £5 cheaper .

No other news to report although with Grumpy out of the office all next week, Gropey is liable to be very fractious & in need of a slap. Business is slowing down & there's a vague sense that heads may roll if it slows much more . I'm hoping it's just due to the end of the financial year & will pick up again in a couple of months. I hate kissing a$$, bit for job security may need to be very flexible ... although not as flexible as Grumpy has suggested I could be to keep him amused :rotfl:

Yeah, not that sort of flexibility Seriously, I hope there isn't a problem of that sort looming - breakfast tv was quite gloomy today, I have to say

I'm not! Grumpy-in-the-office actually sounds quite fun too