13 Moons part 2 - Freebird & Frugabulous

Lula-Hula

Oh naughty Rosa, nice that you thought of me though

Before I start on my usual ramblings, I just want to say to all those who's diaries I've not yet caught up with since getting back from hol :

" I'm working my way through them all & I'm not ignoring you ".

Lovely things are happening since we've returned from our Cornish Delight; new opportunities are flowing my way & it seems that I'm in a 'good space' for being open & accepting of them, thank you to the universe for aligning everything so beautifully :A.

Yesterday was a lovely day - although exhausting. Lovely childminer lives nearby another friend with DD who is class mate & friend with mine & had another one for the day too. She kindly offered for us to travel with her which I accepted on the condition she allowed me to pay for the parking. This was just £6 for the whole day & my only spend .

There were 3 other childminders & their 'wards' + another couple of mums & lots of lovely little children who the 3 older girls enjoyed leading & guiding around the various activities; pond dipping & mini-beast spotting + lots of play on climbing structures.

It was very tiring though due to the heat & we arrived home at 4 & after a quick ice cream I started home-job work at 4.30 & finished just in time to watch Sherlock Holmes with DD - we've really enjoyed the series & how it makes us think. DD now set on becoming a detective .

I've been asked if I can do home-job work on monday & have agreed as I'm just keeping a low profile & concentrating on earning as much & spending as little as I can for the next 3 weeks.

A short concentrated burst when I know I'll have another 6 days off - & things to look forward to - at the end of it is manageable. I've not yet decided whether to do home-job the week of the late August bank holiday - the days don't suit me ( Tue, Wed & Thu) & I always feel angry & resentful but I could always take the following week off instead.

I'll mull it over for a few days & see how much home-job work I have in the next couple of weeks & how the finances are bearing up.

I've done a bit of bank account shuffling & tidying this morning & have made a payment of £60.85 to the CC bringing the balance to a tidy £1,100.

Child Benefit is due in to the bank on Monday & I don't believe I have any other bills to pay next week so will be getting that balance down to under the four figure mark :cool:.

I've added up the Clothes Challenge spends & if I count DDs uniform costs, then we're well over the original £500 budget at £553.98. If however, I keep those costs separate then we're within sight of it, but not yet over at £445.03. DD is still in need of school shoes & trainers & will need some new winter footwear too so either way, I'll have gone over.

I'm not too worried though as I've never added up the cost of buying her clothing requirements so the challenge has been somewhat 'experimental' for me this year.

That's my justification & I'm sticking to it .

We're taking one of DDs friends ice skating with us this afternoon & it's years since I've been - think DD was 4 & hated it then . not sure whether to join them or let save some money, let them get on with it & sit in the cafe with a book :think:.

I promised I'd take them somewhere for tea as well & with only £30 to spend in total I need to proceed with caution.

I still have £20 of the weeks; grocery budget left ( having re-allocated £10 of it to nice car washing man ) & have no plans to do a 'big' shop anytime soon, although I do need to consider that packed lunches will be needed for us both next week .

I'm waiting for goodies to arrive via the post & quite excited I am too .

The rain is reydrating the garden which saves me the effort & I'd better go check on emails,

I'll be back with spending report later,

bye for now

boredofbeingathome

I hate ice skating myself- i am not able to control my limbs and end up being an unpaid ice polisher.. as my derriere ends up on the floor so much..

So wishing you good luck with that one

Everything else looking very chipper lula

Karmacat

Rosa, what happened!!! You're posting, so you're not in gaol ... I remember I got accosted by a floorwalker once for potential shoplifting - the video I'd taken out of the library had set off the shop alarm :rotfl: I hope it was nothing worse than that.

Lula, your day yesterday sounds lovely, with mixed ages of the children they get a much more "real life" experience.

And what a brill idea to go ice skating in August! If you do decide to get onto the ice yourself, we want all the details :T

RosaBernicia

:rotfl:

For once I remembered to take nylon bags with me and did the shop n'scan thing - very carefully as I don't use it very often and was v impressed that I figured out how to remove stuff this time! Total at end was just under £35.

Took to quick checkout, they started taking it out of bags. Confused. Apparently the t&c include a 'rescan' at random every 10 shops or so. Fine. Was MORTIFIED :o when the total came to £38-something :eek::eek:, blurted 'did I miss something?' - patronising smile, no answer. Paid up while still blushing and made swift exit to car park. Still surprised at having missed something so checked receipt...

... which showed that not only had the pizza gone through at original price instead of reduced, the b*****s had scanned it TWICE! In their own quality assurance process!! :mad::mad: For once I was so annoyed I got over my general Britishness and stomped back in there to complain! Can't say I got much of an apology, but I did get refunded for the pizza and got it free too... so a result of £8 saved and a free pizza ... plus being still able to show my face in Waitr**e, being barred would be a big scale disaster!

And yes I escaped arrest, I was innocent! (Sorry for hijack Lula but beware the shop n'scan!)

Rosa xx

RosaBernicia

Hurrah to helpful universe, days out and ice skating :j

Rosa xx

Karmacat

You poor thing! At least their error in relation to me was technological, not of their own doing ! I'm shocked they didn't apologise to you properly, them of all people. Hope you really enjoyed the pizza too

Mags30

Can I ask what home-job involves? No worries if you can't say, just looking for some inspiration because I could do with a home-job myself. Occasional mystery shopping isn't providing much income.

@Rosa Write a complaint letter expaining how :o you were. If it's in writing they'll take it more seriously, might get you a few vouchers or something.

Lula-Hula

Mags - just PM'd you re home-job .

Rosa, that's really shocking :mad:. I would certainly consider a complaint in writing, they are usually very good at soothing customers ire or disappointment.

I did attempt to sign up for the shop n scan once, but at the time it was necessary to hold a john lewis account & thankfully I didn't apply or I'd really be in financial trouble.

Can you imagine me with a licence to shop on CC at waitrose :eek::rotfl:.


It's been another spend day today, but a lot less than yesterday. I decided to let the girls skate while I treated myself to a cappuccino & the 2 glossy's I forgot to take on hol with me.

It was £13.20 for the girls to skate & hire boots for 2 hours which I thought was quite bargainous, & another £2.40 for my lovely coffee - yes I did make it last nearly the full 2 hours - Well I pretended to sip for the last 40 minutes so I coud keep my little table by the viewing window

They loved it & are keen to go again so I'm happy to support that as if I only paid for DD, it would be £20 an hour cheaper than a horse .

They chose to go to town for tea so I parked & as we were heading down we bumped into DD friends parents & they insisted on paying for her meal at outlet & then took her home. DD was not keen to hang around even though it was late night shopping, because she had refused to wear 2 pairs of socks as I had suggested & had blisters.

I have no sympathy as I clearly explained why I always wore 2 pairs, what would happen if she didn't & strongly encouraged her to do so. So just £4 on a meal & £2.20 for parking & 3 x £2 coins in my change . I now have £160 in my sealed-ish pot.

We got home to a little pile of post that included the new railcard :T, £20 M&S vouchers :j& another glossy complete with hair treatment sample .

Spoke to my sister this evening & we're going to meet up at Dad's this weekend & take my grandmother along too so cunningly getting 2 rellie visits done in one go . It may sound selfish, but ti's actually very MSE as I'll be saving myself from doing another 20 mile round trip next week end.

I'm toying with the idea of buying a new swimsuit - have actually found one I like in M&S that will keep Daphne & Delores under control ... but although I can order via quidco & then collect form the store, I dont seem to be able to use the paper vouchers.

I could go in to the store & use the vouchers & the Uncle Richard CC with the credit balance which will in fact cover the entire cost of it, but I'm not sure exactly how often I'll wear a swimsuit although there is a pool at the leisure centre where girls skate ... & even better, there's a lido over the road. DD did mention starting to go swimming again but I just have a complete horror of getting my body out in public in my local area; I know, really stupid .

No plans for tomorrow apart from wielding hedgetrimmer about if dry & starting the painting in DDs room if wet.

I have a lot of paperwork & correspondence to catch up with too so best get myself off to bed now so I'm all bright & bang on it first thing.

G'night
xx

RosaBernicia

Hmmm, maybe a letter is worth the potential benefits...

You don't have to have an account for shop n'scan any more, you can register any card. I keep thinking about getting a JL account for the points but they are very mean with them - think you have to spend £500 to get any back (and it would take me ages to do that of course :whistle:) .

Rosa xx

Karmacat

Rosa, a letter is a good idea, absolutely.

Lula, love the idea of the skating being cheaper than a horse! And love that DD is so enthusiastic about everything and can imagine herself doing all this stuff that she sees - very empowering.

And not selfish at all to do the two relly trips in one, of course not - nice for them, actually, multigenerational and whatnot, its nice.

As for the swimsuit - hmmm. I'm with you on the not baring, sadly - trying to think when was the last time I wore a swimsuit ... it must be about 7 years ago and since then I've got cellulite on my legs, and it freaks me out to see it.... but it would definitely be a good form of exercise for me, as long as I didn't pick up any lurgies at the pool... must think about that, but I think its not for this year, maybe next.