MF at last! Now for the £300,000 'Mansion' Fund.

earthgirl

Thanks Cath! Well I have finally got the baby fully weaned and I am not breast feeding at all - 5th day! It wasn't that hard as we did it gradually, and it wasn't too bad on me either - a couple of days of soreness thats all.

No posts for a while as we have been visiting inlaws. We had a lovley time and lots of lovely chats and cuddles with oh. My inlaws have a lovley little bungalow and at the end of the garden, they have a little gate which leads out onto the shore (West coast of scotland). It was just wonderful - ds and I played on the beach and went for walks..heaven. It got us thinking though, when is the best to to move with children? 4 years old? I would love to live by the sea and we need a bit more space, but we will get trapped here if we don't move within the next 3 years or so, with ds and schooling.

Oh agrees and we would ideally like to move to our forever house in 3 years quite a bit earlier than I had first predicted (9 years). So now we are looking to save AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE for the next 3 years so that we don't have a massive mortgage on the forever house.

So since coming back I have collected boxes and boxes of brambles, some cooking apples and crab apples, and bags of damsons, ready for a mammoth jam making session this afternoon and tomorrow. These are for hampers for Christmas. I have worked out that I have got all presents and cards that I need for the year in terms of birthdays, and I will try to split the presents I have got already for Christmas, and add to them with home made gifts, to see if I can make them do Christmas 2012 as well!! For example, one of the gift sets is a dressing gown, candle and sleep mask set (£4 in the sale!) so I might give the candle and sleep mask with a homemade lavender pillow, and keep the dressing gown for next year!

I have bought new shoes from the charity shop, still with the stickers on (£39 from m and s!) for 3.99 for work and evenings out as well. The straps off one of my work shoes that I am replacing, has been stitched into a new watch strap.

I have done a weekly shop for £15 - I am really trying not to spend a penny that I don't need to!!

summerday

Sounds like you had a lovely break away, and you're still doing so well.

I have recently been reading back on your posts from when you were pregnant as you were so thrifty about acquiring baby bargains, I'm trying to copy the good ideas you had then! Out of interest, is there anything that you regretted getting used for baby, or any wise tops you have to share?
Thanks, Summerday x

earthgirl

summerday wrote: »

Sounds like you had a lovely break away, and you're still doing so well.

I have recently been reading back on your posts from when you were pregnant as you were so thrifty about acquiring baby bargains, I'm trying to copy the good ideas you had then! Out of interest, is there anything that you regretted getting used for baby, or any wise tops you have to share?
Thanks, Summerday x

NOT AT ALL - Used stuff is they way forward I think, babies use stuff for such a little time.

The only things that I have bought new are a sprung cot matress (bought by my godmother) and a buggy (but it was only £80 new and is AMAZING with 3 air filled wheels so I can go off roading and collect my brambles!!). My mum bought a moses basket and we did use this quite a bit.

The car seats you are not supposed to get second hand, BUT the latest ones were given to me by a very trusted friend, so I know they have been looked after.

I think its a personal choice though, as some people wouldn't like 2nd hand stuff.

twinklie

earthgirl wrote: »

Yes I would say don'y use an agency, get your own clients - I have just a small website that brings me in more than enough clients. Print business cards with your contact details on, and a 24hr cancellation policy - something I haven't implemented, but it means people think twice about cancelling which can be annoying.

Make little booklets of resources up, took me about 4 hours, and then I just use these and adapt for each client, set homework from them etc. so I haven;t planned for a lesson for about 2 years!

Thanks for this honey. Not sure the booklet idea would work for science, each spec and course is very different, but it's a nice idea. But that said, I've loads of resources I could use anyway.

earthgirl

Well everything was going swimmingly until yesterday when ds landed on my right boob and OMG the pain! I endured it until tonight and then was prodded and poked at the doctors, and I have mastitis in that one. Very painful but one of those things I guess. I struggled in vain to find a latenight pharmacy, and I got to one just to have the door shut in my face and the lights switched off - very unkind. I know what its like when you want to leave, but she could have pointed me in the direction of another pharmacy that would be open!

I got a bit upset and came home - oh is now on the hunt for a pharmacy for my pain relief and antibiotics. Not very MS as I get it free in Wales but can't find a pharmacy thats open, so he will have to pay. He is also going to get fish and chips which is doubly bad for finances and waistline, so I am in a bit of a sad mood - I vow to cheer myself up with a quick look at your diaries!

summerday

You poor thing, I've heard mastitis can be very painful. Really hope you get the meds from a pharmacy soon and that they start working quickly.

Try to just enjoy the fish and chips as a comfort food, sounds like you could do with a bit of that right now.x

earthgirl

Thanks girls, oh came up trumps with a great pharmacy, I took loads of pain relief and am feeling much better today. I don't feel too bad about the expense on the prescription and fish and chips, I just put it down to an emergency!!

Back on the mse wagon today, a wee bit sore, but very enthusiastic none-the-less!

The house is full of chutneys, jams and jellys now! I plan to make another batch of chutney, just for some variety, and for presents as well. I need to go and forrage about a kilo of elderberries for the chutney - everything else I have. I did another mini shop yesterday for milk for ds, stuff for the chutney, some staples like pasta, and then a chicken to roast at the weekend, going to try to make it into 3 meals for all 3 of us!

I managed to paint the outside furniture earlier in the week, so I just need to patch the shed roof now and all my big jobs are done. I will avoid the roof today with these strong painkillers though!

Today I plan to:

Finish cleaning the house (approx 1 hour)
Foraging for elderberries
Do some work on ohs business

Get some r and r as well until things are improving with the mastitis!

Courgette

Sorry to hear about the mastitis Earthy, I've heard it can be very painful. Well done on everything else though :j

Still regretting not plucking up the courage to say hi last week!

CathT

Ouch at the mastitis, I hope it has settled down a bit. I guess it's more difficult to treat as you don't want to produce milk but might be worth hand expressing some off to relieve it? Hope you are resting too as I imagine you are feeling pretty rough.

Re: the change of house plans, are you going to lower your budget and just get a mini mansion? I can understand you wanting to move sooner rather than later.

earthgirl

It is getting a bit better today, but yesterday I really struggled and didn't get a whole lot done.. But today I have done 3 ms (£9x3) and read a few diaries. I will try to get out and do my foraging if the weather improves, all whilst trying to avoid the ironing.

I have a chicken to roast later, and I will try to make this into 3 meals. Roast Chicken and trimmings, a curry and a one pot chicken and bacon stew thing that we love.

I have registered for a book shop site, as I think it might be the cheapest way to get a book I am wanting. I have listed some books and put a request in, so fingers crossed.

Right off to go and get motivated to do the cleaning/ironing/foraging.