Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

Wow, I've been a bit of a slacker, haven't I? LOL Not been posting for a couple days, but been fairly busy as well. Visiting MIL, taking DS2 swimming, getting out and about doing things.

Thoroughly discussed the DLA stuff and decided that we're just going to stick with the MRC, even though he qualifies for the HRC. The money from MRC will cover his needs for now, and I absolutely need to focus on the statutory assessment at this point - much more important as it is for his education and future. We're looking at the SNs swimming programme nearby as well as getting a name from his 1:1 for someone that does private swimming lessons. I plan on starting to take DS3 for swimming at toddler time when I can as well. I eventually want to make sure they both have swimming instruction, as I think it's very important to know how to swim, if nothing just to have enough skill behind you to teach you to come up to the surface and swim to the edge if you fall in. Plus it's good exercise.

Halifax may be the death of me yet! :mad: The account is in dispute.. they know it, the DCA knows it, we know it. But yet we still had to remind them they can't action the account until they resolve the dispute, as they had sent it on to solicitors. So we had to send a letter to the solicitors, who sent the account back to the DCA, who then contacted Halifax, who said "oh.. .is it in dispute?!?" :mad: Since we've had a running (and costly when you have to post it "signed for" each time) correspondence about the dispute, I hardly think it's news to them. :wall:

Went grocery shopping on my own the other day. Soooo much easier!! :rotfl: I'll be doing that regularly now. And less expensive!!

Well, back to work on that statutory assessment. groan... 10 pages and counting of answering questions.... I have to take regular breaks or I'll go mad!!:D

Triggles

Argh! Wanted to get paperwork done, but really need to do good clean of kitchen first, so finally got that done. Laundry washing. Washing up done. Still need to mop the dining room floor, but will get that done tonight.

Remembered to renew my library books online, as I am not done reading them yet. And DD reminded me that I can request books from the library and it doesn't cost anything, so I might be doing that. There are a couple books I would like that are not at our local library, so it's nice to know they can get them in without it costing anything. :j

Getting ready to start doing some work on our rear garden to get it ready for this summer. Which means a couple things:
- we'll have to hire a skip to take care of "area 51" as DH refers to the back corner fenced off area where everything dangerous, icky, or just bulky gets put!
- We need to sign up for the new garden waste collection service with the council, which costs £36 per year. ouch! But needs to be done.
- we have 2 old sheds that were here when we moved here, in various states of disrepair and one is in a really inconvenient location. So we're going to get rid of both of them, buy a new one, and put it together in the newly cleaned out "area 51". Voila! A neater garden with actual play area for the kids unimpeded by a shed. :j
- then we just need to see what type of garden play equipment is good for the boys and will work well in our size garden (not very large!) and reseed grass in a lot of areas (pretty much most of it!)

It'll be a lot of work, and some expense, but we really must have a safe outdoor place for DS2 to play as it is difficult to take him to the park.

Dentist appointment tomorrow for the crown. :eek: Do I want to go?? yes and no. Yes, because I sooooo want to get it over with. But no, because... well....ouch ouch ouch!! And HATE getting dental work done! I will be so glad when it's all done. Just one more day, hanging on to that thought! LOL

Serious need to sit down and reorganise all DS2's school and medical paperwork. Tons of it, and it's all disorganised after all the copying I had to do for the DLA claim. I think that's going to be an evening project, so I can set all the papers out around the dining room table and organise them properly.

Ok... enough stalling now... off to do my paperwork...

Triggles

Well, thank goodness! Another main bit of paperwork done today! Well, the writing up and printing it off part. Now I just need to photocopy a few medical reports and put it all together and that's the statement application for DS2 done. Whew!! :j Those things are hard work!!

I have another letter to put together for DCA regarding Halifax advising them that the account is still in dispute and have them send the account back to Halifax. I can see why some people just get so confused and upset over these situations as the DCAs and the creditors are truly horrible, switching the accounts back and forth between different DCAs and harassing customers unreasonably.

Got through the dental work today... do I say by the skin of my teeth? :rotfl: God, I am SO glad the hard stuff is done. Just need to put the permanent crown on in a couple weeks and that's it. Whew! All this thanks to shoddy workmanship on my teeth when I was a child by a dentist that thought that lots of extra drilling was needed for a small cavity filling. Those teeth that he worked on each cracked and broke. :mad: And my siblings all had the same problem! Ouch!

My foray into Emmerdale. Jimmy. Hmmm... isn't amnesia overdone? I mean, how often does it really happen like that?

Anyway... off to browse the forum for some money-saving inspiration.

knithappens

Hi just came across your diary hope you dont mind if I follow trying to get debt free and mortgage free myself

Triggles

knithappens - hiya! welcome! I take it from your name that you are a knitter!! I love to knit but haven't been able to take the time to do it recently. I have a small stash of wool and patterns and am itching to do some knitting for some Christmas presents this year. I would love to hear what you have been working on! Best of luck in your goal of debt and mortgage free!!

Speaking of knitting, I need to get a move on in organising my Christmas gifts list. I have a couple vague ideas, but need to firm them up. I'd really like to make a lot of gifts this year, rather than purchase them. One of my friends is brilliant at making jars of relishes and stuff like that. We talked about working together a bit last year and making some things before Christmas - she will provide the expertise on the cooking part and I will provide the expertise (and supplies LOL) for gift labels/tags for the jars. It would be great if we could make time to do that. I will have to bring it up again next time we have coffee. Last year when we discussed it, it was already too late to get the time together to do it. This year, we need to organise early and plan ahead. LOL

I've been popping around the house doing spot cleaning here and there. Laundry washing right now, washing up done, off to do some ironing in a moment after I finish my tea. Then back to the kitchen and then the dining room to sweep the floor and possibly mop as well. I would love to get the bathrooms cleaned, but I think it's going to have to wait until tomorrow so DH can keep the boys downstairs while I'm upstairs scrubbing out the tub. Otherwise they are constantly begging to have a bath while I'm in the middle of scrubbing it! :rotfl: I'll just be grateful they like baths. DD goes spare sometimes as DGS hates them. LOL

Well, tea done. Guess that's my cue to go get the iron moving....

Triggles

Alright. More paperwork done today. Hmmm... does it ever stop? That paperwork I needed to photocopy and send off to do our new wills? STILL haven't done it. So it is on my priority list for tomorrow. Along with a bit more filing. DH on holiday starting this weekend, so we're planning a bit of "shredding burning" - meaning we are burning the paper we need to shred in our chiminea outdoors in the evening after the boys are in bed. A nice glass of wine in front of a fire. :j Sounds good to me! LOL

Council supervisor came and checked out our windows today. We need to have a few repairs done in the house and locks put on the interior of a few windows that need them. The latches lock them (so they can't be opened from the outside), but we need extra keyed locks to make them childproof so DS2 can't open them. So they'll be sending someone out to sort that out. And reseal our kitchen sink, and a few other things we're not quite comfortable doing ourselves. The sealing of the sink is along the back of it, and it's rather hard to do because of the way the window is set by the sink. So we'd rather have them do it, as if we don't do it right, it could leak down into the cabinets and cause water damage. I would rather inconvenience them now than have to pay to replace the cabinets because we botched the job.

DH won another £10 Iceland voucher on the free bingo. That's two we have now. Yay!

More cleaning done today. Little by little, regaining control. LOL Typed up and posted a couple letters to DCAs today regarding accounts. Still waiting on response from PPI request, other than "we're investigating" but I figure that'll be a bit longer yet.

We're going to go on a 6 month blitz on spending and see if we can't sock aside as much as possible into savings and manage enough to offer a full and final on the overdraft by Christmas. here's hoping....

poppy_the_saving_cat

Hi Triggles, ive just read your diary and am enjoying reading x where do you win iceland vouchers if you dont mind me asking xxx

Triggles

poppy the saving cat - iceland vouchers are on freebingohunter website. they have draws for free bingo money and iceland vouchers every night. It's free to enter the draws, you just sign up to the site and each day go in before the draw and enter the max times (free). That's it. Easy-peasy!

I did an inventory of our freezers this evening, so I can work on meal planning tomorrow. And then I'll be taking some cash out to cover groceries for the rest of the month. I just have to figure out how much to budget for, as our budget was juggled around a little due to lots of utility bills this month! LOL

Trying to read through the green paper re SEN that came out today. My brain hurts. Honestly, I cannot understand how people can use so many words to say so little. They hide stupid little dreadful cuts and changes in so much jargon. Makes me crazy! Practically need an interpreter to read the thing through. Or lots of caffeine, as it was putting me to sleep.

DS2 invited to birthday party that is in 4 days. Not much notice. sigh. And all together a situation that is not great for him. So we may be passing on it altogether. Still thinking about it.

Anyway... I did buy a couple books the other day, but they were £1 each for brand new books, by James Patterson and Jonathan Kellerman. Good books. :j And both DH & I will read them - and I have a tendency to reread my books, so worth the £1.

I can't wait for the weather to warm up just a bit more so I can hang clothes outside again. I hate hanging them up when it's cold - takes forever to dry and just feel icky after being out in the cold. Yup, icky. My officially silly word for the day, but it seems appropriate for the description. :rotfl:

Using a beef roast that was hiding in the freezer for roast dinner this Sunday. Will probably actually cook it for ages in slow cooker, just in case it's a little tough, as meat seems to cook better in there. We also seem to have a zillion "half bags" of yorkshire puddings (I know, I know - we use the frozen ones :eek:- so shoot me! :cool:) and roast potatoes (yup, again the frozen ones;)). Just need to use them up so we don't have a huge collection of them throughout the freezers. LOL

pennywisepoundstupid

HI Triggles, just found your diary and have subscribed, just wanted to say your amazing can't believe how much you fit into a day.

I will keep popping in and saying hi, off to look at that bingo site as well.

Triggles

A moderately productive day, I suppose. Got a fair bit of cleaning done. 2 loads of laundry (where does it all come from?!?!), washing up, sweeping, putting away clothes, a bit more work on the budget. Meant to get to the ironing, but repairman showed up to check out our windows and it took longer than planned to put a locking safety latch on the bathroom window. While I'd prefer to replace all the windows to regular ones (instead of the tip/tilt things we have now), it's a bit out of our price range for the moment, so safety handles are being put on instead to make sure DS2 can't get them open and put himself in danger. So one hazard sorted (well, as soon as they're all installed in the next couple weeks, anyway!). :j

Playing a bit of free bingo/slots tonight to try and build up points for an Amazon voucher, but nowhere near enough yet. Ah well.

Still up in the air about the birthday party. I'm leaning towards not going, although I feel a bit guilty about it. I don't want to diminish DS2's "social life" - although let's remember he IS only 4 and in reception. But on the other hand, if he goes and can't cope, that won't help his social life either, will it? We may go swimming that day instead. Because DS2 is under 16 he is free to swim, and as I'm his carer, I get in free as well. So it's at least a cheap option that he enjoys. He doesn't know that there's a party and wouldn't really understand that he missed it, even if children were talking about it on Monday. And it's late in the afternoon (4-6pm) which is the absolute worst time to mess with his schedule. sigh... birthday parties should be outlawed. They cause so much uproar.

DH & I want to get a little DIY done in the house this week while he's off on holiday. Yes, I know he just went back to work after surgery, but his holiday time off next week was booked last spring, and he can't really change it, so here he will be home again. :rotfl: I don't want to go crazy and take on too much. I'd be happy with little things. Possible options:
- painting the trim upstairs on the doorframes
- painting our bedroom door
- putting up the pictures that we STILL haven't put up LOL
- re-securing the curtain rod in the living room (we have dreadful walls!)
- pulling out all the appliances and cleaning behind them (okay, yeah, not DIY but soooo desperately needed!)
- gardenwork (also needs to be done, but need to call the council and get the green bin and pickup sorted - new services and expense now)

DH mentioned working on the staircase, but I'd prefer he wait until May when his next holiday time is off and do it then. It's going to be tough work and he's still somewhat recuperating. Plus, a bit warmer, so if we work on it while DS2 is in school, we can open up the door a bit and let some fresh air in.

School run was particularly hazardous this morning. We have been driving during the colder weather, as it's too difficult for DS2 to walk to school right now. We were going to wait a bit longer to try walking him to school again (to see how he does), but I think we're going to start walking again. My goodness, bad drivers, bad tempers, people walking out in front of cars without looking. I'd rather not drive there anymore. It's not good for the blood pressure! :eek: If there was ever an example of scary mob mentality and people reverting to dreadful behaviour, that's it! School run! Just scary!!!:eek:

Mince thawing for tomorrow's tea. I wish I could say I finished the meal planning today, but I didn't. Options are cottage pie or I could possibly put together a medium (as opposed to a large one that I normally make) lasagna. I'll browse ingredients tomorrow, but probably end up with lasagna. Easy to make and toss in the oven, and leftovers heat up well. I have some sausages in the freezer that will most likely end up as sausage and potato pie Saturday evening, although if we opt for the birthday party, it'll throw off the tea schedule for the whole family that night. Argggghhh! :mad: Beef roast from the freezer on Sunday. And then I'll need to make sure I finish the mealplanning by Monday.

Quick trip to Farmfoods today to get milk and bread. So much cheaper there. Although I was buying sugar there, it's gone from 2 for £1 for a bag of sugar to 89p per bag. So that's no longer cheaper, and I'm better off buying at Sainsbury's with the rest of my groceries. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. Loo roll is still cheaper at Farm Foods though. And it looks like bacon may be as well (frozen). We also buy our fish cakes there as the brand they stock are really good and the boys (okay, and DH & I) love them. Yummmmm

Alright. Time to sleep. I've got to get through 2 more loads of laundry tomorrow - is it too cool to hang out clothing outside still? I prefer drying towels outside in the wind (unless it's raining of course LOL), but not if they're going to get stiff from the cold and take forever to dry. I'll have to check the weather.