Back filling the big hole I dug with my credit card

PiggyBankShaker

Ach, we are plodding on with the floor. I'm annoyed about the weather though. When we were trying to do the back yard, it rained all July and August. It was a nightmare. October the 1st and it's blazing hot sun all day everyay, we're inside laying blocks. Were committed to finishing the floor now, we're in so much choas we have no chocie and I doubt the weather will last until the floor is finished and give us a chance to do some work in the back yard. Oh well.

Got paid on Wednesday, but unusually, I haven't done the online banking yet. Must do that today.

PiggyBankShaker

I think the £1,000 my parents have given us has gone a bit to my head. I keep thinking about all the things I want to do to the house, like spending £50 on wallpaper or £250 on new radiators, because it feels like suddenly we're not skint anymore, but actually we still are. I still have £2000 to pay off my credit card (another reason I'm not feeling skint cos that's so 'low') ATS has like £3000 on his card and it's just 7 months until we could lose the bulk of our income.

I have spent a small fortune on the floor. £200 in Sept on sundry stuff like levelling compound, sanding belts and adhesive. And I just spent £193 today on finishing products with at least another £100 due on Friday for the sander. And, £200 on skirting!

The really good news is though that I still have not put a single penny on my credit card since January. I can't hardly believe it really. I get paid again on the 10th and need to make that money cover all our outgoings, including credit card payment and floor stuff until the end of the month.

Still no progress on fixing the ceiling in the spare room but need to get that done by 1st weekend in Nov as ATS sister is coming to stay with her her new baby.

Aesop

word of warning.... anyone who was with pigsback... you have lost your points

I will say this to anyone, don't leave your money/points etc sitting in paypal, daily clicks/cashback sites, waiting for big payout, always cash out as soon as possible. I know with things like amazon, you usually need £20 for a voucher, but if you can get to to it, cashout as quick as youcan.

pigsback changed overnight, with no prior warning :mad:

PiggyBankShaker

It's been a horrible week. I help run a small community organisation in my spare time and the manager that we employ has been trying to get an extortionate payrise from us and threatening to leave if the don't get it. My instinct is to say, 'well go then' but I know they are a good manager and if they left and we got someone less good to replace them and the service the organisation provides when downhill I'd feel really guilty, like it was my fault. One other person thinks we should give the manager whatever they want to stay, but I honestly don't see how we can justify and afford such a huge pay increase (35%) for one staff member whilst giving the others about 5%.

On top of that our neighbour came round and shouted at me on the doorstep for making to much noise with the parquet floor laying. Insead of just saying casually 'look guys I can hear you when youre doing your DIY would you mind keeing it down after 8pm' (or whatever) he was angry and shouty and very rude and didn't believe me when I said I didn't realise he could hear our tapping noises. I would never have made noise in the evenings if I knew he could hear it and it was bothering him, but how could I know unless he told us?

The floor is on go-slow. I was so demoralised after the set-to with the neighbour that it took what small pleasure there is in the process all away and I haven't done any since Thursday night. ATS is battling on and we hope to finish the laying today or tomorrow. It does look amazing though.

I spent a part of Friday in bed with 'my nerves' as my mother would say. The stress of the week with the payrise shenanigans and the neighbour and the mess of the house was all too much for me and I couldn't cope with literally the smallest things. ATS was very good at recognising what I needed (rest and relaxation - NO stress) and giving ot to me. This is a HUGE step forward from us and probably averted a major emotional meltdown. Before now I would have struggled on getting more and more stressed, anxious, depressed and uspet and ATS less and less patient until things ended in a huge row that tipped me over the edge into breakdown territory. It shows how very far we have come these last few years and how much better we are at recognising the symptoms and cutting them off at the pass.

I'm going to try and lay some floor now.

groatie_queen

Well done to you both for recognising what PBS needed to reduce stress, and taking remedial steps. The floor will get done, I know it must seem endless atm but will be so worth it when done. I'm quite taken aback by the manager demanding such a hefty rise - he seems very certain of his position! And his value. No one is irreplaceable.... my perspective is of working p/t in the not-for-profit sector and not had any rise since 2008, which was below inflation.

Keep on going guys... you're doing so well!

PiggyBankShaker

groatie_queen wrote: »

Well done to you both for recognising what PBS needed to reduce stress, and taking remedial steps. The floor will get done, I know it must seem endless atm but will be so worth it when done. I'm quite taken aback by the manager demanding such a hefty rise - he seems very certain of his position! And his value. No one is irreplaceable.... my perspective is of working p/t in the not-for-profit sector and not had any rise since 2008, which was below inflation.

Keep on going guys... you're doing so well!

Thanks grotie queen. Yes our manager is being very selfish and short-sighted. And very ungrateful too, I took time off work this week to try and sort out the situation and look at teh books and find a way to give the staff some more money, and all the time the manager is acting like I'm tring to give them a pay cut! It's ridiculous.

I haven't done any floor still today, 'nerves' too fraught. Had a nap this afternnoon, which helped and hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

ATS is being really good, he looked after the kids all day today cos I was just too rubbish to do anthing even remotely helpful. And even now he is sticking parquet blocks down in the hallwa.

It's PAY DAY tomorrow! Yippee! I got my exenses in on time so I have HUGE (relatively speaking) wage packet. We'll have to look at our budget nd see how much debt we can afford to pay down.

chevalier

Hi PBS sorry I don't post on here very often.

Sorry that you have had such a tough week. I wish my OH was as sensitive to my needs at ATS is to you. He is one in a million.

Sorry about the manager too. I am surprised you weren't rolling around on the floor laughing at the 35% pay rise they are wanting. With all the capable managers and support staff that have been laid off from central and local government, and other big organisations, does he/she REALLY think that they are irreplaceable. There is NO WAY that you should give into this black mail. Cos that is what it is. That money could be better used helping the people the service organisation was set up to help, not to line his pockets.

I mean really most people in the WHOLE country are lucky if they are ONLY having their pay frozen not cut. Really lucky ones are getting an inflation increase. And they want 35%. THEY ARE DREAMING. And you should tell him so. Really angry that you are being taken advantage of like this!
chev

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff

It has literally been about a month since I posted on here. Mainly because I have been repeatedly saying to myself (like with so many other things) "I'll do it when the floor is finished". Alas, the floor has (and still is) taking waaay longer than anticipated. It has now been over a calender month since we started. However, the end is very much in sight and it WILL be finished this week if it damn well kills me.

Every piece is now laid and today I have finished the machine sanding. Tonight I need to do some hand tidying up of filling and sanding bits and then tomorrow the first finishing coat can be applied. Very exciting.

I am just managing to keep my affection for it. Much more and I really think there would be a risk that I would end up resenting it. Not least because it has cost a lot more than originally anticipated. Don't get me wrong, it's still a bargain and way way cheaper than an equivalent quality professional job. In fact, the overall cost is probably about the same as it would be for a DIY laminate job and the quality between that and what we have laid is literally incomparable. Despite all that, I stood in the hallway today and looked through across the floor to the stove and the fireplace and I did feel very proud of what we've achieved and felt very excited about it all being finished.

Currently the entire house has a film of dust over it so the clean up job is going to be quite a task in itself.

The money saving side of things isn't going so well either because the additional floor costs have prevented any decent credit card payments for two months and I'm really not sure how things lie as I've taken my eye of the ball. We are still as skinflinting as ever in day to day life but I'm not sure we've been fully on top of things. We've also been spending money on some prep for PBS' business but no real chance of seeing any return on that very quickly atm.

All in all its been a busy and stressful last month. On top of all that I've also suffered a broken finger and had a vasectomy so I have been in some way physically impaired through it all too. I just hope the floor is as good as we have wished when it's done. I'm sure it will though. We'd been dreaming about the stove for over two years and that hasn't disappointed.

Anyway, this has been a bit of a ramble as I've got so many thoughts atm and trying to make them coherent whilst looking after DD who is currently throwing a mini-tantrum hasn't been easy. Still, it is literally the first ten minutes I've had to sit and type in weeks. Hope to get posting more regularly - and get back to our best debt busting form soon too.

groatie_queen

Ouch - you really have been in the wars! But well done for perseverance, and yes, you will so enjoy the floor and what it respresents in achievement and all through your own efforts - the feeling will be priceless.

Big projects like this have a way of sucking up all available time, energy and focus. No matter, it's a good thing to have done. You'll get back on track all in good time, but with the satisfaction of a considerable improvement in your living environment, done in a sustainable and money-saving way.

Hopefully you can have a rest from any large diy projects for a wee while?

AllThatStuffIsJustStuff

Thanks for your support, GQ. I've been requesting a DIY break from PBS but even negotiating a couple of weeks is tough. Don't get me wrong. I love the DIY and I love upskilling myself. It's the juggling everything else around it that is tough. This is especially true of the kids as I want to make a house great for them to grow up in, but not at the cost of them actually doing so. On that point, DS has just started crying so that will curtail this post.