Pippi’s pulling up her stripey-socks for the final sprint towards the Good-Life……………

greenval

Hi all
Pippi ,glad you are back safe and sound and no doubt relieved to have had the chance to see granny.
The weather sounds awful although my friend who's in Leeds woke up to snow:eek:yesterday so I'm getting of lightly with general murkiness/
I succumbed yesterday. 5 lovely Dahlia tubers and a beautiful white hellebore. I've got other Hellebores but not a white one. It's nice to have something really cheery at this time of year:j
I've also weakened and bought some clotted cream. I was trying to say no but a friend who I had bumped into said 'go on treat yourself' and that was the end of my self discipline. Now I just need to make the scones to go with it.
One cheery thought, the days are really starting to stay that bit lighter aren't they:j

Pippilongstocking

Phew blowy walk - making pimped up tomato soup for lunch

GV great stuff on the plants looks like many of you lambs lugs have survived

Lol to stair lifts and wheelchair whizzing

Cheery_Daff

Glad you enjoyed the walk Pippi! What on earth is 'pimped tomato soup'??? :eek:

Lots of thinking bout budgets here today. Gosh it's difficult isn't it?? We kind of share everything but accounts are separate, Mr Daffs doesn't earn much at all at the minute, but has a fair amount of savings, and I'm now working full time, but with no savings at all. Don't want to run his savings down, but I'd quite like to build some of my own, so don't only want to rely on my wages. How to work it all out?! My head hurts

Pippilongstocking

Bah lost post!! Pimped tomato soup........

Tom value soup with couple tins chopped tomatoes added, two dollops pesto, stock cube, herbs and a handful wee pasta. Simmer til pasta cooked.
Serve crackers, bread and cheese. Kids add cheese or ham to soup too - I like to drop in some mozzarella

Nom nom

Hope you fix your head soon xx

vl2588

Ooh that sounds yummy!

Cheery_Daff

Does indeed sound yummy, well done you! :T :T

troglodyte

Hurrah for whizzy beds and pimped soup!

Glad your trip went well Pippi, and KK that you are having a marvellous time!

Cheri hope Moo is better.

Cheery if you find the answer to that dilemma let me know! We are currently in the exact opposite situation - previously we were both employed and (as far as I know) earned broadly similar amounts. Now I am trying out self-employment at home, which means I'm not earning much at all, but since I'm at home I do all the housework, shopping, meal prep, gardening, taking DD to and from school and childcare after school, while OH is still working at his reasonably paid job and no longer has to pay for childcare (which we did before). We split all the bills equally. What to do? I don't want to become the dependant wifey type.

Cheery_Daff

Oh it's so difficult isn't it troglodyte?! We always split everything down the middle, mostly on my insistence - although because when I moved in he was working 4 days a week, and I was in a much lower paid job only 2 days a week (and doing Phd), I just paid the same rent as I'd paid in my shared house (£265). I've been paying that ever since, although 2 years ago Mr Daffs gave up his job to have a few years out living off savings/doing musical things. I've worked 2 days a week ever since, and just gone up t full time since Christmas - although I've also got a much better paid job now too.

I *think* we've worked it out :rotfl: I'll pay £400 towards house bills (he'll pay £230 ish), and I'll save £400 too. We'll split food/car expenses down the middle. I'll save £100 a month for holidays and days out (for both of us), and £40 a month for general treats ('ooh, I just fancy tea and a bun in this cafe' - those type of treats ). And we'll each deal with our own phones/fun/clothes etc. That way the stuff that I'm paying more towards happens 'behind the scenes', as it were - it's not a case of me always saying 'I'll treat you to a scone' - the treats fund is there for both of us to spend :j

But it's sooooo difficult. We're both very open and honest with each other, and both more inclined to be generous than otherwise, and I'd always had less until now, and was very much insistent on paying half of things - although I never paid quite half of the household bills (partly because we never got round to working out how much they were!). However, I did do stuff like changed the gas/electric suppliers to save us a fortune, and get cheaper car insurance, and get several hundreds refunded in single persons council tax discount :T

Is you going self employed a thing you've discussed between you? Because I'd say it's not fair if you've decided to be in this life thing as a team, to have one of you with a huge disposable income, and the other one struggling - so in your case perhaps you can come to some different arrangement? You're right, you're contributing lots of things, not just money!

(and that's true for us too - I do all the financial sortings out generally, because Mr Daffs hates it. However, now I'm working full time, he's doing an awful lot more of the housework/shopping/cooking etc than me. And he also owns the house (which has only 4 years left on mortgage), and will be signing half of it over to me at some point soon :eek:)

What I think is that it actually doesn't matter what you decide - as long as you sit down and talk honestly and openly about it, that BOTH of you are happy with it (no lingering resentments!) and that both of you understand that the minute one of you starts to feel uncomfortable you can bring it up and re-evaluate the entire thing. Good luck!

(sorry Pippi, you can have your diary back now! :j)

Pippilongstocking

Cheery well done looks like you've got it Sussed Trog I'm in a sort of similar position without the husband, childcare and the income but I'm working on it

speaking of which more plants sold (3) - only house plants the noo @1.50+postage - but it's a peedie start. Book sold on amazon - post office on Monday I think eh?

Will list more seeds on mon. Cheque for extra work - contract or casual hours too. 2 doz eggs sold, money to collect for another 3 doz and another dozen or so to deliver early in the week.

All a peedie start eh, slow and steady wins the race doesn't it. Baby steps - I'm not showing off here honest just documenting it to keep a track of it all.

Kittikins

Well done Pippi, out of little seeds a forest will grow (or something like that)

MrA has been issued with an invitation to dine with us tomorrow, by order of DD! Not sure it will take place yet as it'll depend on how much the weekend has taken out of him, but here's hoping.....goodness knows what we'll cook, reckon it'll be DD's famous risotto, you know the type that is different every time depending on what veggies are going soft at the bottom of the fridge! No expense spared in this house.....lol!