Lois_E begins a long MFW journey

teapot2

YOOHOO Lois, you have disappeared. Hope you are ok and either still looking for a washing machine or fiddling with a spreadsheet .

Lois_E

Awww! You missed me. Thanks teapot, Michelle, pink poppy and Radish.

I'm fine. The washing machine was beyond repair - I got a man out to it who said its bearings had gone and repairing it would be not much less than buying a new one. I did some research and got separate WM and TD, which is OK because I now have a much bigger utility room than I did in 2004 when I last bought a WM. I only use the TD in emergencies and briefly for getting the creases out of things before hanging them up. The separate TD is much better at that than the washer-tumbler used to be. This is perfect timing, because DS will be going to secondary school this autumn, and will have "proper" shirts instead of polo shirts.

The only reason I haven't been posting is because term started, and the first half of the summer term is manic for those of us teachers who have exam classes: loads of past papers and coursework and stuff to mark. The trade-off is after half term when the exam classes go away and we suddenly get our classroom hours reduced (but not our pay ).

I was extravagant today - paid £4 to park in the car park over the road from church, instead of parking for free several streets away as I usually do. But it was chucking it down so torrentially that I thought just this once it would be worth it.

Hope everyone's well. I've updated my sig (total now under £91k ) and am off to catch up on some other people's diaries now.

Lois_E

Hello

I've been off the wagon a bit. Work was totally manic, so I've been spending money to save time/stress, and I had some unexpected big expenses and ended up having to borrow back some old OPs so as to pay up without getting money out of my ISA and losing the tax wrapper.

Am I still allowed in here?

Radish72

I suppose so

We'll let you off as you have been busy

Lois_E

Thanks Radish

I've just made an effort to do something MSE - been down the Co-op for emergency supplies for tomorrow's lunches but managed to get several things at half price.

pammyj74

Welcome back Lois, I keep going AWOL too but still doing it in the background. I just dont have much time to come on here like I used to.

I love whoopsie shopping but dont get many these days, you need to be there at the right time dont you and then other people swarm in too haha

[Deleted User]

Hey Lois
I think we all fall off the MSE wagon from time to time as life takes over - sometimes I read diaries on here and feel I should be doing way more, but life happens too and sometimes the pay off between spending more and easing stress the easing stress wins!

especially in teaching Ill bet- only a few more days left till the hols!

hello pammy too!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Lois, just a little thread hijacking - I popped into Asd@ a week or so ago, and I swear the mark down guy was being swarmed - only way to describe it. I think they were waiting for the reduce the Bargainous shopping time so it would have been good to look, but I couldn't face the scrum. If I had been the guy I would have walked off :eek:

This MFW wheel does fall off occasionally but I guess we would all be in a far worse position if we hadn't followed this path, so a few deviations along the way aren't a problem, in my opinion. We all seem to jump back on it again, but I do think periods when you are tired, make it more difficult, certainly in my world.

Tllly

Lois_E

Thanks Tilly, TYO and Pammy. I really appreciate the support.

Just finished arranging a very MSE holiday - staying with friends and relations so free apart from the petrol and a gift or two.

Lois_E

Tasks for today:
[STRIKE]1) Get money spreadsheet up to date
2) Write 3 urgent emails[/STRIKE] (there turned out to be 4 of them actually)
[STRIKE]3) Write urgent letter and take to post box with other stuff that needs posting
4) Make phone calls about forthcoming babysitting requirements[/STRIKE] (no reply so sent text messages instead)
[STRIKE]5) Make soup[/STRIKE]

All done!