13 Moons part 2 - Freebird & Frugabulous

taxi73

Karmacat wrote: »

Oh my word, how powerful are these postings! In all sorts of ways - funny, thoughtful, painful, happy, determined ... all sorts of things.

The Loveliness of Lula! :kisses3:

totally agree with this:D:D:D:D

makeup

Well Lula sounds like you have brought up [STRIKE]trained[/STRIKE] your daughter very well indeed! :j:j I remember not even bothering to ask for British Knight trainers as I knew my mum wouldn't even entertain the idea!!!!

Not that all this good financial training worked for me, sadly, although my parents are excellent at saving for things, not borrowing beyond their means, cutting down when times are tough etc as soon as I was 18 and at uni I quite happily worked my way through a student loan, overdraft and credit card as quickly as possible :o:o

Good luck with sorting out all your childcare issues, sounds like a minefield!

I'm a bit confused at work, I'm currently acting up in a managers position although we're going through a restructure which means we are losing managers. :eek: I was hoping that there might be a possibility that I would be able to keep my job permanently but now this looks like it won't happen.....although I heard rumour that I might.....

Although I hate to admit it, I think I need to stop listening to rumours and gossip (and in particular stop chasing down my 'contacts' to verify information....:o) and just get on with my job and wait and see.....How very very dull!

Lula - I'm not really much of an inspiration, although one very big motivator in my life is travel. I love all kinds of travel and can think of hardly any holiday that I wouldn't enjoy. I have stayed in swanky pants places which is fab and equally enjoyed staying in bargain basement, cheap as chips basic as well. I remember really fondly a place I stayed on the Gilli Islands near Bali which was basically a raised platform with some blinds around it and a mossie net to sleep under. Cost us about £1.50 each to stay and included banana pancakes for breakfast. Amazing!

Shower was sea water (quite strange to brush your teeth in) and the toilet was down a narrow path.

I blame my parents (of course) - we had a holiday every year when I was a child which was mostly caravanning in devon or wales or maybe a self-catering cottage. However they took us to Australia when I was 15 and the first trip I really remember abroad was aged 7 to Corfu, I can remember so much from that trip (blood oranges, the beach, the van we travelled in, baklava, dancing at the disco with the 18-30s, the sun, learning to swim, afternoon siestas)

My folks are now always either just booked a trip or just got back from one. In recent years they've been to China, Brazil, SE Asia, Egypt, Japan, Aus & NZ, Barbados, Norway and are now booked on a cruise around Turkey and Middle East (Syria, Jordan, Egypt) in November........I can't wait to be retired now!!

Karmacat

Wow! makeup, thats some retirement! Like you, I've stayed in all sorts of places - tents, hostels, B&Bs, ordinary hotels, v posh hotels, self catering villas - I wouldn't go for the tents any more, tbh, but everything else would be fine.

I went on one holiday abroad with my parents as a child - to France, in a hotel. It was when they still served French food the French way to English tourists, and we got very, very hungry :rotfl:

There was one trip out, in a coach - erm, to see the submarine pens the Germans used at San Nazaire bear in mind this was only about 17 years after WWII ended, it was a bizarre thing to do...

My parents weren't really into financial training - they never expected to have money, they always expected to live hand to mouth, so they were genuinely surprised when they finished their working lives with savings weird

Lula-Hula

Hello lovelies,

apologies for absence but my brain is on the verge of overload & all I could manage was The Apprentice & bed last night.

DD did her final performance last night so that's a bit of relief. Today was French Day so dressing up required & tomorrow is Sports Day. My presence is not required so I'm off to meet with my lovely friend for a good catch up over coffee .

Makeup - sorry that work is a bit unsettled for you at the moment, I agree with just taking it one day at a time & getting on with your tasks. Like you, I was very lucky to do a lot of travelling when growing up as well as actually living abroad. I plan to do a lot more & the more I think about all the things I can do ... the less I want to find a partner .

Cockney Rebel keeps telling me that our business is 'going down' & asking if I actually realise that. I'm not quite sure what reaction he wants from me, but I refuse to worry until I'm told there's no money for my wages. I'll happily diversify & work in other areas of the business if required & I've made that known. I was on my own in the office yesterday which gave me plenty of opportunity to print off all the route maps & directions for our trip to cornwall .

During this time my dear little car was having its MOT & service. I dropped it off at 8.45 & they were on the phone by 10 to tell me it had failed it's MOT. One of the parts that has been on the advisory for the last 2 years now needs to be replaced. I said to go ahead & was then told that brake pads were low, said to go ahead & do that & give it a full service & whatever it needs to be safe.

Gropey arrived back in the office just as they called to say it was ready so I was able to whizz over to collect it. Nice lady had itemized all the work, parts & costs for me & only charged me for 3 hours labour, however, ( they were working on it for 4 & a half) the final bill was a bit more than the £220 I had saved up though :undecided

It was actually quite a lot more than I had saved :sad:

I will not be using the £152 leftovers from utility bill to buy school uniform

It was more than what I had saved + the utility left overs :shocked:

It was £457.07 _pale_.

I felt rather stupid for thinking that £220 was going to cover it .

I felt that I should have been saving quite a bit more each month & immediately pledged to do so in the future.

I collected the car, went back to the office & pouted a lot. This was shameless & tactical use of feminine wiles . Gropey loves a captive audience & a damsel in distress is good for any older mans ego. He offered a hug & I allowed a very brief one to occur. He said that he could have done the brake pads for me. I thanked him but assured him that the car is the one thing I am happy to pay for as I really know nothing about mechanics etc & this is why I go to work, so I can keep it safe & on the road.

I reminded him that I was having a bad year what with laptop replacement etc.. told him all about DDs excellent SATs & report, how proud I am & then hit him with finishing early on Thursday & coming in late on wednesday :rotfl:. He was powerless to resist.

I am actually very naughty though, today I gave Goblin the details of the extra hours I've done but 'forgot' to mention the extra time off :whistle:. I need every penny at the moment.

I felt rather despondent last night but I suppose that I am earning cashback while using the CC & when I got home I immediately transferred the car funds to the CC, although there is still £79 not covered. The funds are now reduce to just £200 for Car Insurance & £20 for Car Tax. I could have used this too, but I'd rather not touch those funds & the insurance is due in November so I do need to keep that sacred.

Today DDs school blouses from M&S arrived & they fit perfectly & are so much better quality than the Tatco ones. We decided to return them & I needed to fuel up. Fuel cost £44.41p & then we went into Tatco & discovered some fab curtains for DDs room, a matching throw for her bed, a skirt & t shirt for her & a few other bits & pieces like pens, a replacement pyrex bowl for the one that got dropped earlier this week ... when we got to the till I'd spent £54.18 . Not a single item of food though :rotfl:.

CC balance now £1371.59 *sighs*.

Karmacat

You're doing as much as you can, Lula! You need the car to be safe, of course you do - love the manipulation of Gropey and Goblin tho :D:D you really are clever

Got me thinking on buying a replacement pyrex bowl - maybe thats when you know your decluttering has worked, that if you break something, you don't have something else you can just start using instead, you actually need to get a replacement? Just pootling in my head instead of, you know, working

Lula-Hula

Hmmm not so sure about clever, I think 'desperate' is a more apt description .

I'm trying not to worry too much about Custard Card at the moment. Giving DD a great holiday is paramount, I now have £265 cash for spends & hope to get that up to £300 by the time we go - home-job hopefully. I was aiming to get to £350 which would give us £50 a day to cover food & entertainment, having checked out places we want to go, most will cost about £30-£35 between us. I will also give her some spending money.

I hadn't factored in fuel costs which will probably be about £100 & will also need to give DD1 something for staying here & looking after the kitty & home. I propose to give her £50 so she can spend on food or just eat what's here ( tumbleweeds probably as we'll be taking it with us :rotfl:).

It would have been cheaper to go & stay with lovely auntie in Portugal, but they had a buyer for their house so I felt it was too risky in case early exchange happened. Typically, buyer disappered 2 weeks ago - not even his solicitor can raise him - so we could have gone :mad:. Feel so sorry for auntie who really wants to come back to UK.

Did find cheap flights for a 5 day visit first week of September ... cost of car ate that dream though.

I'll not worry about spends until I have all DDs uniform, shoes, trainers, football boots etc. Once that's all done I can launch a super-concentrated mega assault. Thoughts of clearing it by 1st September vanished along with the servicing fund :rotfl:.


So today; 2 loads of washing out on the line & the 3rd being rinsed as I type. Found a poor little Mrs Blackbird caught in the veg patch netting, had to cut it all up to free her & held her in my hands. Put her in a box safe away from kitties & went to find some food & water. Tried to get her to eat & drink but she was very weak . Left her to rest while getting next load of washing but sadly when I next checked on her, she'd perished .

I feel terribly guilty & sad, will have to come up with a new plan for veggie growing - have gone right off the idea for now.

As soon as the next load of washing is out I'm off to meet my friend for coffee.

The bathroom has been re-sparkled & this afternoon I must get the grass cut as rain due all weekend - hence the manic laundry doing.

Tomorrow need to go to town to buy gift for DDs friend & also teachers & T/As etc... fortunately I have £160 in the presents fund so that is covered . I also need to get DD some more flat pumps as her others are worn out & she no longer fits into my shoes so can't borrow for hol.

I'm away now to get ready & then hang laundry out.

Back later to report more scintillating events & spends ...

fedupandskint

Feeling better today, mind you a lot of lounging aronund and taking things slowly too - waiting for the floors to dry before dinner time.

Happily have lots of strawberry jam now cooling away ready to eat or save for winter and just making a list of what else to make in the autumn - jellies I think for a change

Sadly money is quite tight here atm so unfortunately no overpayments to CC as planned. Must be all the price increases that are kicking in over the last few months

Have a good day

Karmacat

Poor little Mrs Blackbird .... that makes you think, doesn't it .... please write what you decide, that sounds important...

Mags30

@ the cost of fixing the car. I live in fear of unexpected expenses like that. You've actually done pretty amazing to move money around to cover it. Don't feel bad, it wasn't your fault, it's not as if you got clamped. It's just another of those cost of living expenses which make life so difficult sometimes.

Another @ the blackbird. But you did everything you could to save it.

fedupandskint

Preserving help on my diary now for you - River Cottage Preserves Book is my best help - have a look on spamazon and try not to be tempted by the other books in the series!