Sorting through my rubbish

trixiepix

Good Morning ☺☺☺


Hope you've had a lovely weekend ☺


Yes, I completely agree about Ebay - the fee's have become extortionate and when selling low price items it does make me question whether it's actually worth the hassle (and as you rightly say, add in difficult buyers it does make me think why I'm bothering) but then on the flip side over the years I've sold over £10,000 worth of loft items (mainly toys/clothes that have been outgrown or household bits and bobs that we've changed) which has equated to over £1000 a year, which has been really, really helpful!


I've too set up gift aid status with the 2 local charity shops and a fair amount does head their way but I think I need to strike a better balance and send more to charity and less to the loft!!


Well done on the sorting you are doing, you're obviously in the right mind set to be systematically moving things on - it's really cathartic to see space appearing, being organized and knowing what you have and where it is!!!


Well done too on the weight loss so far, my weight loss follows the same as the rest of my life - I do good for so long and then I hit a stumbling block - note to self, must do better, lol!!


Keep up the good work xx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi Trixie and anyone else loitering!

Wow Trixie £10,000 of ebaying, that's amazing, I've done nowhere near that amount! I tend to have a bash coming up to Xmas and make a couple of hundred but thats it really. I haven't even done that in the last couple of years as I don't have the time or inclination.

Well this weekend ended up being quite stressful and expensive, not how I planned it at all! My little run around car broke down and I had to abandon it in town and walk home. DS1 is home but had gone to London for the weekend so I couldn't use his car, DH is on nights so sleeping all day, just waking up in time to wash, eat and drive back to work! DS2's driving licence arrived on Saturday so yesterday morning I transfered his car into his name, taxed and insured it (also in his name) and then used his car to meet the RAC to rescue my car which needed a new battery, drove that one home and then had to walk back to collect the other car. Then took DS2 for his first driving lesson:eek::eek: and then took mad hound for a nice long walk on the hills, home to cook dinner, bath and in bed by 8.30 as I was shattered! Then DS1 and his g/f returned from London so I got up again to hear their stories! The good news is I appear to have lost 5lbs since Friday (I'm sure most of that is water retention or something but it made me smile as I stood on the scales this morning!). I hope your weekend was more relaxing and calm Trixie.

However, apart from car bills, I have been quite frugal this weekend, few grocery bits (ie bread milk etc) and a bit of a splurge in £land (£24 but that included easter gifts and some luchbox bits for DD). I didn't get around to tackling the lounge and loft as planned though due to all of the car escapades and walking! DH is home for the next couple of days so will coerce him into the loft!

DD is off to London with her school tomorrow, they are seeing the sights, going to Lion King and stopping at Legoland on their return trip on Thursday, then it is the two week easter break. My plans are to walk to work when I can over the next three weeks (save money and help the weight loss), use up food from stocks (hopefully do some baking to keep them fed while they are home) and get DD to blitz her bedroom otherwise we will not be decorating it as if it's not done prior to my op I won't be able to do it for 2-3 months after.

Meal wise, hubby did a massive spag bol on Friday which fed 6 of us then, there is some in the freezer and he has taken some to work for his midnight lunches! I made a crustless quiche on Saturday whihc we had with jacket potatoes and yesterday the kids asked for their favourite Cheese and Tomato pasta bake. Tonight we have Cajun Chilli Chicken, its a packet mix I bought reduced to 19p plus one of my 3 for £10 packs of chicken breast and onions, peppers and sweetcorn from the freezer. The kids have gone off to school/college with cheese and bacon croissants for their lunches (reduced croissants 8 for 15p, reduced bacon and cheese from the freezer) a new favourite!

Anyway must go as at work and got an apointment due.

Enjoy the sunshine

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi All

Well the Cajun Chilli Chicken last nght was lovely and plenty of it for 4 of us from one pack of chicken. It was quite spicey but the kids loved it and just as well really as I bought 3 more of the packets when they were reduced to 19p!

I have planned out the Grocery shopping for most of this coming month, I have a Mossies voucher worth £5 if I spend £40 this week, which coincides with Payday so I will definately be abe to make use of that and then a friend gave me a £10 off £60 spend as [EMAIL="Asd@s"]Asd@s[/EMAIL], our nearest is a 50mile round journey so I have booked a £1 delivery slot for the middle of April, filled my trolley with basics and that will top us up til the next Payday:money:. We are off to my sister's on Sunday so the leg of lamb will have to wait a little longer to get used, maybe for Fathers Day? The swordfish steaks that I had earmarked for Good Friday were rather frostbitten so the other day I cut off the worst, diced the remainder and made a gorgeous fish curry, a family favourite made with peanut butter so a bit like a satay, yum! Need to sort a meal plan again to use up some of our stocks.

DD has gone on her school trip and DS is away at his girlfriend's tonight so I had thought we would use up some chilli from the freezer and tortilla chips from the cupboard and have chilli and nachos for a treat BUT hubby has other plans and has bought us steaks and sweet potato fries, he has rescued some blue cheese from the freezer for a sauce and there are some stuffed mushrooms in there too. Very sweet of him and I have calulated my calories and can push the boat out and have a GnT with it! He plans to snuggle up and watch a film too so no housework tonight!;)

DH has been on nights but had the day off yesterday and today and has been tackling his wardrobe and bedroom cupboards, he has just done a charity shop run and will get the boxes of books down from the loft so I can sort those out. Feels like a team effort at last on so many fronts and it makes me happy that I am not trying to do this alone anymore! I think the fact I have another op booked is spurring him on as I wont be able to do much for quite a while afterwards except sit on the decking in the sun giving orders:rotfl:

Payday on Thursday and I hope to pay £1000 off of a card (what a scary figure!), its DH birthday next week and I haven't a clue what to get him, will ask him tonight if there is anything he wants/needs. The trouble is he always goes really overboard with presents for me, even though I tell him not too, and that makes me feel that I should reciprocate even though we can't really afford such expense! I never spend as much as him as I dont believe in buy stuff just for the sake of it, I would rather pay for a trip or something so for his 40th I took him to Paris, a couple of years we have been in Spain for family holidays and last year we went to Cardiff to see Simple Minds, next year he is 50 so I am planning a surprise trip for that.

Anyway that's enough from me, sorry for the long post but helps to get it all down on here so I can read back and remember what I am supposed to be doing!

Have a good day

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi All,

Just popped in quickly before I leave work.

I'm a bit hacked off, we redecorated the dining room several weeks ago and decided to replace the slats of our vertical blinds (which have been up for 13 years and are looking very tired). I found some beautiful, patterned ones which wiould go perfectly with the new paint colour and pictures on the walls. We ordered them a month ago, have been chasing delivery and been fobbed off and then given delivery dates which came and went. Found out today that they can no longer get the fabric and have cancelled our order:mad:. So back to the drawing board for me. I had taken ages to find them and they were really more than we could afford but perfect, I guess I might find some cheaper ones this time which will help the budget but:(!

I've walked to work today and yesterday but will need my car tomorrow as I have meetings to attend and they are the other end of town. Hubby is cooking dinner again tonight, but this time going with my chilli and nachos suggestion to use up stocks. The steak last night was absolutely lush, rare and juicy, just how I like it!

Payday tomorrow so will be playing around with figures and hopefully making that big repayment.

Catch up soon, take care

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi All

Payday!! Have done my calculations and am going to pay £750 off of my credit card debt, think I was being over optimistic with the £1000. It's DH birthday in a few days, I have to put 2 tyres on the car, half term etc. I have topped up my personal emergency fund by £300 to bring it to £1000, might need that if I dont get sick pay for my op.

A bit of good news, joint account (which we pay bills from) was terribly overdrawn, frequently going over the £1250 over draft limit, to the extent that we were having to monitor it almost daily to avoid fees. We agreed to both pay an extra £25pm into it and slowly but surely it has come back into credit, helped by the 2 months with no council tax or water rates, this month we should still have about £300 in there once the bills are paid and it should carry on slowly climbing up. Added to that we have a joint emergency fund of £3000 thanks to hubbys PPI claim and I have since started one although im pretty convinced I never signed up for any.

I have been looking for some alternative blinds as the 'perfect' ones are no longer available. I've found some that are 'nice':o and will do the job and are about a quarter of the price. Will see what hubby thinks of them tonight and get them ordered.

So a four day weekend is looming, hubby is home Friday and Monday so will get him up in the loft on Friday and chillaxing day on Sunday, Saturday I will be home alone so will tackle our bedroom again and hopefully the lounge and Sunday I am off to visit my sister so all in all a nice mixture of work and play!

Tonights plans are grocery shopping after work (as I have a voucher) and then pick up DD when she returns from her school trip, I expect she will be exhausted! Need to eat something 'good' tonight after the last two evenings and have been very good at lunchtime, Heinz tomato cup-a-soup and ritz crackers and a 10cal jelly, I will loose this weight! Think it will ony be myself and DS2 for dinner so he can eat up the leftover pasta in the fridge!

Right must go, have a very happy Easter:EasterBun

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi All

Hope you have had a good weekend and enjoyed plenty of Easter goodies!

We have had a mixed weekend. I did my shopping on Thursday straight after work and hit it just right for reduced veggies, colcannon mash (6x19p), mediterranean veg (19p), various chopped and prepared veg (peppers, onions, brussels sprouts, cauliflower etc all 9p per bag), then went to the fish counter and there were two packs of fish pie sauce reduced to 9p, perfect for my planned fish pie on good friday which was topped with some of the colcannon mash and fed us for several meals! They also had loads of other veg at 29p per pack, I think there was a supermarket war over veg at the weekend, so I stocked up on brocolli, onion and potatoes. I also got 3 packs of chicken breast, 4 packs of bacon, 2 x 350g cheese, toilet rolls etc and spent about £50 in total, had a huge trolley load. I made a slimming world crustless quiche with some of the brocolli and low fat cheese. Tonight hubby is making bubble and squeak which we will have with bacon and eggs, yum!

I did go and visit my sister with the kids, she lives 60 miles away, unfortunately shes not a great one for cooking and had booked us into her local pub for sunday lunch so that cost £75 which was 50% more than I had spent on my weeks shopping! It's quite shocking when you think of it like that! It was lovely to see her and her family though and we dont go there very often.

Its hubby's birthday on Friday (yes - he is an April Fool!), I think we will be going out for dinner and he has found something he would like as a gift, its £80 but he can get it for £60 if he waits a couple of weeks and uses his discount and he has agreed to do that.

I did do some more sorting in our bedroom at the weekend and gave a bag of clothes to a dear friend. We also managed to get 6 large crates of books, dvds and cds down from the loft, we are keeping just a handful of items, I am donating some to work and the rest are going to the charity shop today, that is quite a big space cleared and was a relatively painless process!

I am back on the diet today, have been rather naughty over the weekend, although I only had a couple of small pieces of chocolate bunny, so need to be really good this week. I seem to have plateaued again which is very frustrating as I only have 2lbs to loose before I go down to the next stone!

Must go now, have a great day

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Morning All

Had a good night last night, managed to sort out another couple of crates from the loft so have brought more items into work and set up a book and DVD lending library for the residents to use. Hubby will do another charity shop run this morning and (hopefully) get some more down from the loft.

We had the bubble and squeak last night, it was delicious and we ate it with smoky bacon and fried eggs! The kids didn't want any (they had pasta bake) so there is plenty left for us tonight. Chinese style chicken curry tomorrow night and then out for DH's birthday on Friday, a friends 50th on Saturday (no pressies - just Bring a Bottle) and taking DS1 back to the airport on Sunday. A busy weekend!

I think we are taking the kids to the cinema tonight to see Batman vs Superman but instead of going to 'Big Town' Cinema at £10pp plus £7 for popcorn we will go to the local 'fleapit' £3.50pp and £2 for popcorn! A lot of locals won't go there, preferring to make the 50 mile round trip to Big Town but we can go 3 times for the price of their 1 visit!

I had a delivery from Nexxt yesterday (bargains from the sale) but I was very good, just kept some cashmere blend cardigans (£12/15 down from £45!) and two tops for work (£4 and £8) which I will deduct from my clothes challenge.

Hope you all have a good day

321 xxx

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Hi All

Thank goodness it's Friday at last, for a 4 day week it has seemed incredibly long!

DH birthday today, I havent bought anything as he is having his 'gadget' as soon as he can get it with his discount (25% off), just got him a nice card and will pick up a cake on my way home. We are off out for an Indian with the kids later so he will enjoy that (bang goes my diet as he brought home a Maccy D's breakfast when he returned from his nightshift this morning).

I've got to pick up some dog food tonight (from our breeder friend, she gets me a larger bag than the pet stores sell for less money!) and a toy that DD has wanted for ages, worth about £25, someone was flogging on Facebook for £5. Doing my cleaning/caring jobs tomorrow so with that £30 will pick up any groceries we need, just bare essentials as we have a discounted ASD@ delivery due on 6th.

We have a friends 50th tomorrow but just need to take some booze, no pressies, will be nice to have a night out with hubby although I'm not sure he will know anyone else there!

The plan for the weekend (in between celebrations and airport runs) is to attack the loft again and also to do some baking/cooking to get ahead for next week, will report back what I concoct!!

Im still trying to be frugal, last month didnt turn out so go for NSD's or the amount spent but there was Mothers Day, DS1's birthday, DD's school trip and concert in Cardiff and a trip to my sister's so I could have been a lot worse! Will try and do better this month, keep all spending to a minimum. I have been a bit naughty in boots/superdrug today but it was all bargains, reduced lynx, toothbrushes and [EMAIL="l'Ore@l"]l'Ore@l[/EMAIL] facewipes in superdrug all for £3 odd and some Cremolia in b00ts, 3 for 2 so £2.58 for three x 110ml plus a lovely photo album (£2) which I will fill as a gift for a friend who is moving away, so although not all strictly necessary today these purchases were bargains and will all be used eventually.

Right must go now, have a great weekend

321 xxx

pennywisepoundstupid

Happy birthday to your DH, hope you have a lovely meal tonight, I love Indian food nom nom.

3_kids_2_jobs_1_dog

Thanks PWPS, the meal was lovely, ate far too much!! I had a venison curry and it was amazing. Hubby had a lovely day as he was home with the kids all day and then the meal in the evening, he is a real family man, misses us all like mad when he is away from us.

I've tried not to spend over the weekend, brought bread and milk but not much else grocery wise. Took DS1 to the airport so bought coffees there as his flight was delayed. Apart from that the weekend has consisted of dog walks and sorting through various boxes of carp! DS1 has gone through the stuff we were storing for him and whittled that right down. DD is slowly sorting her room and DH brought down some more crates from the loft, most of which has been taken to the charity shop.

I didnt get around to doing much cooking in the end but we have managed to use up some bits and bobs fromt he fridge/freezer and cupboards for meals.

DH is on nights for a while now so that messes things up at home, dinners are rushed so that he can get to work, we see him for about 10 mins in the morning and then he sleeps and we need to be quiet, not easy!!. Will have to think about what I am going to do when and also meal plan to make the most of stocks and the time we do have together.

Must fly,

Have a good day

321 xxx