Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

Okay. DH received letter from DCA re court case. The solicitors are putting it on hold for 30 days so we can complete ANOTHER I&E (we sent them one ages ago which they wouldn't accept because they said we hadn't given them a list of DH's other creditors - except we'd already done that!! :mad:) and send it to them. I've already been reviewing our budget anyway, so it shouldn't take too horribly long to write out and send back. Hopefully there won't be any stick over it.

I am making sure it's correct, in that as our gas and electric are being bumped up between 18 and 25% as of August, I will be making sure our monthly payments in gas and electric reflect that increase. I'm not going to end up putting last year's fees and putting us in debt over utility bills!!

And they expect DH to get a stamp at the Jobcentre to verify how much he gets in benefits. So he's got to pay to go in on the bus and get that information. Wasting half a day just to get that done. When he's off sick from work with depression already. As THAT won't stress him out.... Can't drive him there as we're delaying the tax disc on the car for a few days (it's legal, we checked, as long as it's paid by 14 days after it expires and we don't drive or park it on the roadway), so we can pay for it when we have more money next week.

And they require our telephone number for validation. I think we'll have to use a mobile number for a phone we're not using anymore. I'm not giving them our current number as I've already told them I do not want them calling and harassing DH, he's not in a great place right now and would NOT cope with it well.

I'm seriously missing yesterday's weather - warm and breezy. I got 3 loads of laundry done and dried outside. Today it's not raining (yet) but it's overcast and dreary. It looks like it's going to rain any minute. If I put a load of clothing in the washer, it'll rain for certain! (probably just about the time I've hung them out!) :rotfl:

DH walked down to Farm Foods with some change from the drawer to pick up a 6pk of eggs. I'm making banana bread to use up some bananas that are overripe. We're all set for a few days for bread, milk, and fruit, thankfully. Car is on the drive and will stay there for the next 10 days, until we pay the car tax. It's actually a good thing to try to use it less. We definitely need it overall, as we need to get DS2 to appointments with consultants and paediatrician and such, as well as using it for when DS2 is having a particularly difficult day and we can't walk with him. But for the moment, we're trying to do without to save money.

Back to cleaning....

Triggles

Ouch!! Money is tight tight and squeaky tight this week! Until next Friday! But that's okay. We've got about £20 for milk, bread, and fresh fruit until Friday, so the kids will be fine food-wise between that and what we already have in the cupboards. I also have a £2 Tesco voucher if we get desperate towards the end of the week. (THIS is why we stock up! LOL) We're not using the car until Friday, when DH gets paid. Then we have to pay for the tax disc online and then we're okay to drive if we need to. Although we're thinking that we'd like to avoid using the car as much as possible between now and Christmas to save money - hoping that will pay for any Christmas gifts and such.

We have a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so DS2 & I will be taking the bus. I want to stop at the library as well, so we'll probably go a bit early. I would love to do like I used to when I was younger and check out about 10 books and read through them in a fortnight. But I just don't have the time to read as much as I used to anymore. I am trying to carve out a bit of time, even if it's just 20 minutes before bed at night. I think reading is a good pastime - inexpensive if you use the library (or reread books you already have, which I do regularly), exercises the mind, relaxing. I do try to spend a little time reading when the kids are playing around us, as I figure if they see US reading, they'll think it's something they'd like to do too.

Anyway back to the "going into town" thing... the main reason I don't like taking the bus is because when we have DS2 along in his pushchair, we get people making comments and doing the whole "stare, whisper whisper, point, whisper" thing. It makes me so frustrated. And when you get people that come right up to you and say "he's a bit old to be in a pushchair" it just makes me want to scream. I suppose I could say "well, you're a bit old to be so rude, but obviously that doesn't concern you at all" or the standard "how is it your business??" But honestly, I shouldn't HAVE to formulate a reply, because people SHOULD be minding their own business. He's not deaf - he can HEAR what they're saying, and it confuses him. There's just no way he'll tolerate the length of walking from the house to the busstop, from stop in town around to different places I need to go (library, poundland, then party location) and then after the party, he'll be exhausted and not at all able to cope with walking around much then. And I'm just not capable of carrying him - I still haven't been able to get free time to speak to the physio (although I got the info from the GP to go to them).

Wouldn't it figure - I put towels out on the line this morning as it was all clear and sunny. And now it's completely overcast and looks like rain! So I hung the second load of clothing inside - it's mostly the boys clothing so it'll dry pretty quickly anyway.

We got our court paperwork all sorted for the defence and got it in. It was insane and stressful, but all sorted now. Still have to do the I&E to negotiate with the DCA, but they didn't think we'd be filing a defence and I suspect they were going to push for a judgment without us filing the defence, so they may be in for a surprise. When we talked to them on the phone, they told us not to bother filing the defence or contacting the court as they would put it on hold. We checked with the court, and they hadn't done it yet, so pretty sure they were trying to pull a fast one. Sneaky....:mad: good thing we didn't trust them. :cool:

DD told me about a discount book place that has Dr Seuss books regularly for £1 each. I love those books - we had them as a child, and they good for DS2's level of reading, so once we're a bit more sorted financially, I'm going to go and pick up a few and put them aside for Christmas. The boys always get books for Christmas, so I need to get cracking on starting to sort gifts out soon. Five children (2 adult and 2 younger) and two grandchildren (younger) to buy for, so I want to start watching out for good bargains now.

I think I'll go get a coffee and browse the site a bit.

Triggles

Loads of work inside today!! Kitchen about halfway done - taking a short break. We emptied our huge shelving unit in the dining room - had loads of DVDs on it, but lots of them we rarely watch, but don't want to get rid of. So we're packing them into a few boxes and putting them away, and can take out a box in a few months and watch some we haven't seen in awhile. :j Frees up tons of room for our winter stockup of foodstuffs and household items.

I have a stack of school clothes sitting here looking at me. The question is - do I iron them now or just put them away. I suppose I'll end up ironing them again right before school starts, so I might as well skip ironing for now. Why do it twice, right?

Groan... back to work....

Triggles

Operation basics is on its way. We walked to Sainsburys today to pick up a few basics items that we haven't tried before. We've picked up the following:
- orangeade 25p
- diet lemonade 2L 20p
- baby bath 11p (not sure if little ones can use this due to eczema, but if not I'll use it LOL)
- baby shampoo 17p (again, if little ones can't use it, I'll use it)
- lemon curd 411g 22p
- lager 4pk £1 (this could be interesting! :eek: the plan is to make shandy with it - lemonade can hide all manner of ills right? :rotfl:)
- milk chocolate bar 32p
- white chocolate bar 32p
- pancakes 6pk 29p
- tin processed peas 17p
- tin marrowfat peas 17p (not sure which peas DH & boys will like better, so bought one of each)
- tomato ketchup 22p
- brown sauce 30p
- deodorant/antiperspirant aerosol 41p (another possibly scary one! :eek:)
- skim milk powder 400g £1.61
- ready salted crisps x12pk 68p

Thus far, we've tried the crisps and they're fine. I don't even think DS2 noticed a difference at all. We buy crisps occasionally, so we'd be happy to use these.

We're trying the lager/diet lemonade tonight, so we'll see how that goes. I tried the diet cola (basics 20p) this week. Was a bit bleah, left a bit of an aftertaste that wasn't so great. Probably won't buy it again, unless I'm desperate for a cola as it's cheap.

Triggles

Okay.... basics verdicts so far:

- orangeade 25p not tried yet
- diet lemonade 2L 20p tastes nice - will definitely buy again
- baby bath 11p (not sure if little ones can use this due to eczema, but if not I'll use it LOL) thrilled that boys didn't break out from it - will definitely be using again
- baby shampoo 17p (again, if little ones can't use it, I'll use it) again no skin reaction from the boys with this so we'll use it again
- lemon curd 411g 22p DH loves it - another success!
- lager 4pk £1 (this could be interesting! the plan is to make shandy with it - lemonade can hide all manner of ills right? ) this wasn't great on its own, but tasted absolutely fine with the diet lemonade for a shandy - will definitely buy again
- milk chocolate bar 32p yummmmmmmm
- white chocolate bar 32p very nice yummmmm
- pancakes 6pk 29p boys loved them, they taste just like the branded ones - will buy again
- tin processed peas 17p haven't tried yet
- tin marrowfat peas 17p (not sure which peas DH & boys will like better, so bought one of each) haven't tried yet
- tomato ketchup 22p haven't tried yet
- brown sauce 30p haven't tried yet
- deodorant/antiperspirant aerosol 41p (another possibly scary one! ) smells nice, works great - will buy this again!
- skim milk powder 400g £1.61 haven't tried yet, but plan on mixing a small amount up and keeping in fridge for tea/coffees later today, so we'll see how it goes
- ready salted crisps x12pk 68p taste fine, boys like them, bag may be slightly smaller than other bags, but certainly not a problem

So far, so good. We'll try the last remaining items over the next few days, but very pleased that we've found some keepers and they will save us some money on our shopping bill!! :j

I'll just point out that the way I found all the basics stuff was by doing a search on the Sainsburys website typing in the word basics and it brought up all the basics items. I then browsed through to see what there was that we hadn't yet tried.

Triggles

Further on the basics products - the orangeade isn't bad at all. Happy to buy that occasionally when looking for something fizzy. We generally buy squash (basics) but every now and then it's nice to have something fizzy.

The GP has switched DH's meds, and so is tapering off the old meds and started him on the new ones. Problem is the new ones don't take effect for a couple weeks, and in the meantime, he's getting lower doses of the old meds. :mad: So he's been nearly impossible to live with ... here's hoping the new meds kick in soon - I'm not sure who I want to throttle more - him or the GP! :mad:

I need to finish my I&E for negotiating a payment plan with our creditor re court. There's simply no point in trying to work through it during the day when the boys are up, as it's too difficult. I actually have a fair bit of paperwork to get through - a few letters as well as some filing. I need to update the budget spreadsheet as well. None of which I can do during the day, as DH is not dealing with things well, and I can't leave him in charge of the children.

We've asked MIL to come over for a bit today. She can keep DH company, help out with the boys, and basically keep DH awake for a bit (he's constantly trying to go to sleep - a sign of badly managed depression - even though he slept a full night last night). He needs to join the living - hibernating up in the bedroom isn't helpful for him (or anyone else for that matter). And it's hardly fair to be piling more pressure on me, I've been dealing with far too much pressure for far too long!

DS3 is up for his nap, so DH went to take one himself, but I sincerely hope that isn't going to become a habit. It's escapism, and then he starts pushing for DS3 to take his nap earlier in the day and go to bed earlier and it's just ridiculous. You can't put a child to bed earlier than normal simply because you don't want to deal with things.

Ooops... gotta run for now.

Triggles

Verdict on further basics items:

- tomato ketchup - lovely!!

- brown sauce - excellent!

We'll be trying the peas tonight. And hopefully the fish fingers tomorrow night.

Some other basics we've tried before and still use:
- shortbread
- chocolate digestives
- rich tea biscuits
- digestives
- tortilla crisps
- hula hoops/potato rings
- baked beans
- crackers (like TUC crackers)
- squash
- tinned potatoes
- tinned carrots
- tinned tuna

The diet cola and the cider were not great. Probably wouldn't buy them again. But by far most products were good!

pennywisepoundstupid

HI triggles, i've also been trying out some of sainsburys basics, had there frozen chips last night can be fryed or done in the oven had them fried and they were fab, kids tried the fromage frais and loved them as well.

Triggles

We've bought the basics chocolate mousse and yogurts. They were both good. And we've picked up some UHT skim milk for our tea (keeping the more expensive whole milk for the boys, DH & I are probably better having the skim LOL), so we'll see how that goes.

Horrendously stressful few days. Our lives are chaotic - debt, depression, toddler who has really taken to heart the whole "terrible twos" , child with special needs, dog - it just seems like things have gotten on top of us lately. Overspent a bit - I think partly because we saved in other areas, so we spent as well. Although some of it was needed things - school shoes for DS2, couple new jumpers for school (last years too small - we'd just barely got him through school year with them), couple things for around the house (couple storage boxes), expenses for the dog, school milk fees for DS2... lots of little things but they add up, don't they?

And a couple takeaways for a few days when we were literally falling apart and could not cope. And a couple outings to play places and such for the boys (I suppose to be expected over summer holidays).

At least we didn't go off on holiday anywhere - I swear sometimes it's more expensive to stay at home! :rotfl:

Couple of bad moments at supermarkets lately. Picked up some boxed macaroni and cheese for DD at Asda - she got it home and all 5 boxes were water damaged inside and moldy - one had BUGS in it!!! So we had to drive back to Asda and get money back. (just disgusting though!)

And our local Farm Foods seems to be getting their milk deliveries later and later during the day. We've gone in a few times recently at 11 am or noon and their delivery is not there yet - no milk. Having a better price doesn't help if there's no milk there! :mad:

Very sleepy tonight... will wander off to sleep now....(after waking up DH who is sleeping in the other chair in the living room )

Triggles

Ah.... slowly got some things done today. Made a huge "to do" list and have been slowly but surely working my way through it. I actually found the top of my desk, organised a bunch of paperwork, cleaned up the stuff on the desk.

I'm poring through pet insurance at the moment to see what company we want to go with. We've only got a few days left, so need to get it sorted quickly.

A bit stressed over finances at the moment. I think GP is going to recommend that DH go to day shift at work. To be honest, I just don't think his system is coping with night shift anymore. And he needs to take his meds at the same time each day, and they make him sleepy, which can be problematic when you sleep nights sometimes and days sometimes due to your work schedule. He's been having a lot of sleep issues as well, but we're not sure if they're simply stress (I know, nothing simple about stress, is there?) or due to his shift work. But that means a drop in pay as well as loss of shift differential. Argh! But if that's what we need to do for him to be better, we'll deal with it. I just want him to get on that road to recovery. The GP still hasn't bumped him up to an actual therapeutic dose of his new meds, and is waiting until his appointment this week to start him on the appropriate higher dose. I can't imagine she'll let him go back to work this week, as he is all over the place. These meds usually take about 2-3 weeks to kick in. I'm so worried his workplace is going to give him hassle about being off work sick for so long, but he absolutely has been in no condition to be at work. Yes, he's been driving me insane, but today has been slightly better so I'm less agitated and able to look at things a bit more clearly than in the last week or so.

We're trying the basics brie tomorrow, with the basics cooking bacon and part-baked rolls. Our basics trials continue....