How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

silvermaid

Good morning all,
The big yellow ball has come to visit in the last couple of minutes. I wasn't holding much hope for it as the day started cloudy. I almost didn't recognise it as it has been AWOL for a good week I'm sure.

Not getting through the tough times very well today as we are visiting my Mum's care home and taking her out to lunch if she's up to it. Hope she is 'coz it is the only time she gets out into the world these days, but it's getting harder and harder. Anyhoo that will take up the whole day, but it will be good to see her.

Bertiebots - I hope you get things sorted out and your work are crystal clear in their dealings with you.
Grandma247 - Well done on your money management. You're right that a small amount weekly builds up quite well when you look at the yearly view.

dollydaydream07

morning all,

gailey so sorry baby hasn't made an appearance yet ((hugs)) to you
bertie hope you manage to get your pay sorted
((hugs)) to anyone else, it's too early in the morning for me to remember haha

we have decided to stop sending DD to dance lessons - for the last few weeks she has been saying she doesn't want to go, so have decided that she won't go anymore - which will save us an absolute packet of money

today we are meant to be going to a birthday party but DD hasn't mentioned it - which is good as we don't have a present for the girl in question, i did root through DD's books to regift some of them that she no longer reads so had a couple of books for the girl but DD hasn't mentioned the party so as long as she doesn't mention it between now and 11 o clock we won't go - will save me £2.40 in bus fares plus a bit more for wrapping paper for the books and a card - would have been good for us both to be fed at the party to save on our food but never mind

i also completely forgot it's mothers day tomorrow - my mum won't be surprised not to get a card though - i always forget birthdays and stuff and ring my mum up asking her to get me a card for x as i forgot - wouldn't be so bad if i lived in the same town as my family but i don't so always have to try and remember a week or so before the date to get a card and send it!!
can't very well ask my mum to buy her own mothers day card can i?? :rotfl:
i might this afternoon have a nose through my vert limited craft stuff to see if i can knock up a card for her - ok she won't get it for tomorrow but she will get it and know that the thought was there!!!:rotfl:

oh bu**er while i was typing DD asked me about the party - have explained to her that we can't afford a present for O so we have to give her some of her books, she was fine with it and then i said we have to walk there and back from the party if the weather is ok as we just simply don't have any pennies, she wasn't impressed by that - how many 5 yr olds would be at having to first give up something of theirs for a present and have to walk 2 miles to the party then 2 miles home afterwards!!!

i think i will spend the day job hunting today - not something i want to do as you all know but - needs must now, last night DH sounded so fed up with not having any money, didn't help that DD kept asking if she could go ice skating as she wants to learn that, along with going swimming(all things we can't afford to do ) it was heartbreaking telling her we can't do xyz, along with the party conversation we just had
i had a quick search last night and saw a couple of jobs i wanted to apply for so will make sure my CV is up to date and apply for those plus any other jobs i see

haven't drawn my food money out like i normally do at the start of the month, have decided that as we get around £20 tax credits a week i am going to use that as my shopping money and draw that out the day it goes in and use that for the week instead of drawing out all my money for the month and using it all within the first 2-3 weeks and then overspending for the rest of the month

oh just realised how much i have waffled on, i'm gonna shut up now and go and have my brekkie and try to persuade DD to have some too

ohh one last thought, i think i remember having a stash of birthday wrapping paper upstairs so hopefully if we do end up going to the party it looks like i won't have to buy any wrapping paper

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Morning al

Have just caught up with all of your posts. I love this site it can make you angry, laugh, cry and feel happy all on one page :T.

Have had a full on week at work have been exhausted everynight. OH says I look like a panda.

Oh ordered 2 ton of top soil to arrive Mon/Tue, 15 20kg bags arrived on Wed :mad:. Anyway the original order arrived yesterday and we get the 15 bags for free :T. As soon as I got home from work (5pm) I started barrowing it to the back of the house. DD1 helped to rake it across the nre veg plot. By the time OH got home from work I has the 15 bags stacked at the back of the house the veg plot was full Approx 1.3 ton and we had started topping up the very depleated flower bed at the front of the house. OH helped to finish this off and to bag up the remaining soil for later use. It was all finished by 8pm and as a rare treast we had a chinese take away. Extravagant I know but also well deserved. Boy do I ache today but I can not wait to get planting.

Have completed the meal plan for next week and written the shopping list. Will be off into town later, OH and kids comming to to get Mothers day pressies etc. Will also try charity shop for new work trousers as despite mentioning this a few weeks ago I have still not been into town. DD2 also neeeds shoes and bras today. I can see that today is going to be expensive.

OH still enjoying work (depression definitely continuing to improve) but still not earning. Has made one sale that we are waiting for the pay for (should be in the next two weeks ) but he is not sure how much it is for.

I am still on a 6 day week to cover the shortfall we need each month. Will be working later today 3 - 10. There are lots of bank holidays comming up soon and I am planning to work extra shifts on most of them (if there are any shifts going) as this will boost the bank balance considerably. I might then be able to have a couple of weekends off to get to carboots to sell some of the excess stuff in the attic/garage. Have noticed its free listing on ebay this weekend so will ask OH to list a few things on there later whilst I am at work.

Need to go and start on the housework as MIL is comming for tea tomorrow and there are also three loads of washing waiting to go on the line. Not sure where I am going to put all of the seedlings that are on the diningroom table when we all sit down to eat.

Hope the yellow ball in the sky is shared around today, looks promising here.

Keep well

Mrs VP

GreyQueen

.........Dolly, I do that almost every year. It's not that I don't love Mum dearly (I do) and we talk every day on the phone but it just sort of sneaks up on a body. This year the penny dropped whem Mum mentioned she and Dad were taking Nan out for a special Mother's Day meal. Got her a nice card and had plenty of time to post it second class but then got concerned that it was oversized. I use snail mail so seldom that I only had a vague recollection of the rules, so I stuck two 2nd class stamps just in case, but it arrived the day after I posted it anyway.:o

I had a late night as was out around a friend's being feasted on vegetarian chili and lovely salads (she is an excellent cook btw) but may have (ahem) drunk a little too much wine..........

Today looks like it will be following the weather pattern of the past few days; greyish start which brightens thru the morning to leave a warm and sunny afternoon. As I am only well enough to garden for 2-3 hours a day, I shall do other stuff this morning and go up to the lottie this afternoon. Really need to get my seeds started in the home-made greenhouse. Courgettes are planned plus peas in toilet roll tubes as if I plant them in the open ground the wretched mice scarf 90% of them.

Deeply envious of these "Ap*roved Foods" type discount stores as haven't anything like that around here. However, I have a leaftlet from F*rmFoods with some good offers and vouchers on it and will be carefully calculating what I can fit in my mini-freezer and if I can get enough in one shopping trip to use the FF spend £25 get £2.50 off. Sadly, a lot of offers seem to be weighted towards the family-sized shop and aren't usable by singletons like me.

Aha! Just had a thought; if I defrost the fridge before I go shopping I'll get the white fur out of the icebox and be able to put some bread in there and leave the proper freezer for the stuff like meat and fish. Yes! It all makes sense..........Oh b*gger, just realised none of my icepacks are frozen therefore can't keep the fridge stuff safely in the cool bag. So, will freeze them now and do all the above tomorrow, FF is open anyway.

Right, will get on with some h*usew*rk.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mardatha

Hellish winds here last night and one of the sheds has a definite list this morning, need to fix that when we get a good day. Hennies are ok though. Now wind and rain so no gardening . Read in one of the papers online that gas & elect is going up 23% but not sure when.. does anybody know ?
And can you actually buy topsoil ? Where ?

HariboJunkie

mardatha wrote: »

Hellish winds here last night and one of the sheds has a definite list this morning, need to fix that when we get a good day. Hennies are ok though. Now wind and rain so no gardening . Read in one of the papers online that gas & elect is going up 23% but not sure when.. does anybody know ?
And can you actually buy topsoil ? Where ?

You can get bags of topsoil in any garden centre/diy chain Mardartha. Glad the chooks survived the night.

We had a stormy night too but not much damage. It has calmed down now so I need to get out into the garden and find room in the greenhouse for all the school garden's seedlings as they are closed now for Spring break. I also need to plan out a bit more of my veggie garden as I think I am running out of room again. I really don't want to grow anything in the flower/eating part of the garden but I think I will have to this year so will choose edibles that are pretty to grow in pots among my roses and lillies. Also if OH moves the log pile I can use the side of the house for spud growing again.

dollydaydream07

hmmm, didn't have a stash of birthday wrapping paper, thinking of going to £shop when we get to town to get a gift bag until DD suggested we use tin foil to wrap the gift!!!!!!!!!!!:rotfl:

do you think it's acceptable to wrap the gift in tin foil?? or could that be a step too far?

and it's bl**dy raining here so looks like a trip on the bus for us

kidcat

Dollydaydream - do you have any brown paper? or plain white paper that you can get DD to decorate herself? Plain box that DD can decorate? I have used all sorts to wrap presents as I can never remember where I have hidden the wrapping paper!

Its cold and wet here today and I have so much washing, but I am determined that there will be no tumble dryer this week. DD16 is having sleepover tomorrow so I have set the eldest two to clean up duties. DS12 will have his sleepover later this week so it seems fair they both chip into the work.

Have seeds growing on the windowsill and there are loads of little shoots, the sweetcorn ones look furry and Ds12 is convinced its mould? Could he be right?

MOthers day - is always a sore point in this house as OH never makes any effort - even my first ever mothers day he completely never bothered - it hurts but I am trying to accept he will never change - trouble is, his attitude has rubbed off onto the eldest two so its never a good day. This year my dad is taking DS12 out for the afternoon/evening so I have invited mum to come for her dinner here - seemed less hassle than dragging kids to her place and then trying to get them home again. Have bought some plants and will let the kids plant them into her pots for her tomorrow - Home bargains and Aldi had loads of cheap bedding plants that were ideal. Leftovers will be potted up here ready for move - nothing like arriving at a new house and having a nice pot or two to place in front.

Bought growing bags for potatoes yesterday - they look like they will be easy to transport and ideal for the move, all I need is to actually plant them now - but as kids will be planting up mums pots tomorrow the compost will be out so it should be easy enough.

GreyQueen

dollydaydream07 wrote: »

hmmm, didn't have a stash of birthday wrapping paper, thinking of going to £shop when we get to town to get a gift bag until DD suggested we use tin foil to wrap the gift!!!!!!!!!!!:rotfl:

do you think it's acceptable to wrap the gift in tin foil?? or could that be a step too far?

and it's bl**dy raining here so looks like a trip on the bus for us

I'd go for it. I don't think the birthday child will care and if other adults notice, well, we've all been caught on the hop at one point or the other. Kidkat's ideas are good but if you're deficient in brown paper, do you have any greaseproof in the kitchen? Some fast work with felt tips/ crayons could pretty that up. One year I spraypainted newspaper with car paint (aerosol) as that was what I had to hand and it was interesting and attractive paper. I've also heard of people using glossy mag paper and the cartoons page from the newspaper. If I see part rolls of attractive wallpaper going for a few pence at the boot fair I'll have them as they make sturdy wrapping paper. I've even fashioned h.m "shopper style" gift bags from wallpaper with cord handles from my box of stuff. You can do it quite quickly with a stapler and it looks a bit swish. Good luck!

Sun's getting stronger every minute and I've done a load of washing, some vacuuming, the shredding and washed part of my living room walls. I love their warm soft yellow but it does show up marks. Mind you, they haven't been washed down since I painted them 5.5 years ago (:o) so I shouldn't complain. Probably not the most practical colour for a family home, though!

bertiebots

Thanks for the support everyone...I know I need to deal with this and am realising more that she is totally in the wrong. I dont want to get anyone into trouble but if she refuses to let me fill out my own time sheets from now on- I will report it to her supervisor (who happens to be the person who supervisors the flexi's ie:me!)
I just wonder now how much work I have done that I havent been payed for because I trusted this person who is so nice to my face grrrr!
I am off to look at all my wage slips again!
I bet because I have allowed this to happen that theres nothing I can do about any earnings lost!

Hugs to everyone out there as I know lots of you have it far tougher than me x