5000 Watt Lightbulb Moment - Determined to Clear Debts

miggy

Hello, I've been reading with interest.

A bit late for this time round but:

We store paint behind the bath panels - no frost and it can't get knocked over.

That sounds like a big garden project! Def too late to mention that I think ground elder is edible...:D but I'm sure you want more variety than ground elder with ground elder!

Good luck with the new job, you've done so well and it sounds really exciting.

P.S. You've put me in the mood to start painting... some subtle colour changes round here would make a big difference.

QOTD

Woo hoo, just checked in the garden and we have 10 fence posts and some extra wood which would make 2 more - so that's enough for 3 frames.

Also have the planks to make one and a half frames plus with the shelves that I took down from the lounge yesterday that would work for a short time to make a third.

Just found some spare decking planks in the garage so I'm pretty sure I can rustle up 3 frames - really happy. Ideally I would like four but 3 is good for a start and the fourth one wouldn't be part of a rotation so it's not imperative that I have this to start off with.

OH, really happy :jI can get started when the weeds have gone. Now the only cost I need to incur is for the compost and lime. In looking around I figure I might need 2 or 3 bags of compost so at £7 each that's £21 plus £4.5 for the lime means that this will only cost a total of £25 to get started and I can work on the paths after which will probably be another £50 on top judging by yesterdays workings.

Now if only someone were to other a load of stones on Freecycle.....:rotfl:

QOTD

What a good idea Miggy especially since you can't see it. Surprisingly the paint that was in a plastic container has survived the the ones in *real* tins haven't... anyway I have basically finished downstairs know. THe hallway looks much cleaner and so does the kitchen.

The sun is shining and so in order to make the most of it I have cleared up for the day and will probably just potter in the garden. I really want to do some digging but I know that I need to leave the weedkiller to do it's work.

However there is a vast space behind the shed that hasn't been touched in a couple of years and is incredibly overgrown. I spotted a compost bin there earlier and remembered it was ours Can't get to it at the moment due to all the bushes. Also remembered that I piled up loads of turf there when I originally dug the ground to make vegetable beds when we first moved (currently the area I dug up is mainly covered in paving slabs to suppress the weeds and the elder is growing between them so I know the hard work has, to some extent, been done). THey've been stacked for 3 years now, actually just over, so that might help with the compost situation. Think I'll put my wellies on and investigate since I don't want any snails slithering over my flipflops :rotfl:

miggy

Great about the wood for the frames - you've saved a fair amount just by 'shopping at home'. It won't be long before you have your own compost on the go too.

Could stacked turfs be used for the walls of a low raised bed? I'm not sure how that would work in practice though as they might have weeds around the edges and might not hold up to much digging?

jaffacakegal

Hi,

Just wanted to say I really admire you! You really seem to have turned everything around so quickly! Think I will be having a look at the books you have mentioned as I could definitely use so more positive thinking in my life!

Gonna subscribe so I can see how you get on with your journey!

JCG xx

QOTD

I know that stacked turf produces loam. Not quite got to finding out what it is useful for, but I'm sure it is.

I didn't quite get to the end of the garden to investigate the *hidden* corner. Instead I remembered that we promised DD that we would move her "Wendy House" (one of the Tiny Tikes ones) closer to the top of the garden so we can keep an eye on her whilst on the decking, plus it leaves the bottom patio free for us as that's where it was being housed.

Managed to move 6 of the paving slabs covering the proposed veg patch up to the top of the garden and lay them down nice and even and put her house on it - it looks great IMHO. Of course, we did have a rockery there so I've had to move all the stones over to one of the beds and all the plants as well - these things are never easy. Now we just need to pot some plants up and put outside her house to make it nice and pretty, but that can wait as have no money to buy the plants :rotfl:

Swept the bottom patio area and put the table and chairs back there. NOw they just need a lick of wood stain and they'll look like new.

First just need to pop to town as OH said this morning that he has run out of deodourant and it was too late to add to my grocery delivery. One back think I'll get the wood stain out. Oh best put hte washing out before I go, I was leaving it in the machine until I finished moving the paving slabs so that it wasn't in the way.

Feels like it's been a really productive day.

QOTD

Thank you Jaffacakegal that's really nice.

When I was walking the dog this morning I worked out that it was practically 3 weeks to the day from being told personally that I was redundant to getting a permanent job (and one that I wanted!)

I think that being completely focused really helped a lot since according to the agencies it takes on average 3 months to get a new job. And now of course, we are heading into holiday season so recruitment will hit a slow down over the next month.

By the time that I start work next Wednesday I will have had 5 weeks without working. The first two were really stressful with worrying and the like, the third I shook myself out of it and also felt better as I had 5 interviews lined up FIVE!! Then I obviously got a job so the last 2 I have been about as stressfree as I could possibly get as I want to make the most of this time since I hope never to be in this situation again but also know that it is a blessing in that I have no work to worry about or think about doing when I get back to work - if you see what I mean. It's just a completely clean slate...

Right off to the washing line and then to town...:D

burntfingers_2

Very productive day yesterday I have to say. I do admire you for achieving so much in a short space of time.

I have issues with confidence etc so I might have to have a peek at amazon for them or maybe to be totally :money:borrow them from the library...in which case can you tell me the full titles.....:)

thanking you in anticipation

bfx

QOTD

And today was the complete opposite in that we had a nice relaxing day at the beach in Wales. DD loved the picnic on the beach and DS just wanted to eat all the food!

It was a beautiful day - completely stress free, no tantrums, no tears. Funny when DD said that the sand was too sandy and the sea was too wet but ended with the inevitable "I'm tired, carry me" but this was literally with 100m to go to get back to the car so I'm not complaining.

I feel nicely rested now to get some more work done tomorrow. It's threatening rain according to the forecast but the morning should be dry so I'm hoping to repot some strawberries in containers around DD's Wendy House which should make her smile when she gets home from nursery tomorrow.

QOTD

As it's Wednesday that means it's pizza night. It's been the tradition now for heaven knows how long since Wednesday is usually the day when I get the shopping so an easy meal is just hte ticket and pizza fits the bill perfectly.

This week we are having homemade pizza again so a nice and cheap option although I did treat us to mozzerella instead of just bog standard cheese topping. Still the Tesco's value mozzerella is only 40p a packet so 80p in total for our pizza/meal is pretty damn cheap as we have everything else in - flour, yeast,salt and all that for the pizza dough (although I will be making the dough myself, I will also be cheating as I have a breadmaker and just let it do it's work on making the dough ). I ALWAYS have a cheese and tomato pizza. Sometimes I put artichoke hearts on when I have picked them up in Aldi. Usually I put anchovies on them but at the moment I am not using anchovies since it's an unnecessary extra so I'll just add some sundried tomatoes since I have a whole jar that needs to be used.

THe OH always likes tuna or meat of some sort on this, but he found some tins of tuna in the pantry last week so he can just have that this week. All in all - a nice cheap meal.

DS doesn't like pizza :eek: so he always has either scambled eggs or spaghetti on toast and DD normally gets fed at nursery but since I've had her with me today she will also be having pizza - and we are lucky enough to have a spare small one in the freezer.

Just good ole money saving. Brilliant.

Need to update the August grocery challenge as well, I figured that I would increase the budget this month following last months severe restriction to £100 for the month and double it since I know that we have money coming in. Doubling it might sound horrific, but when you consider that I cut it from spending about £350 a month, increasing it to £200 doesn't actually sound that bad.

Actually it will probably be more since there will effectively be 5 weeks in August (payday to payday) whilst there were only 4 in July.

The plan was £100 in week 1 (to get a bulk buy in) and then £40 in subsequent weeks (in July budget was £20 a week plus £20 for household stuff like toilet rolls, etc). This takes the budget to £260 - which is for 4 people and is still £100 off previous bills. I would LOVE to set the budget at £30 a week but I know that it will be difficult and I want to set a realistic target that I can hit so I'm planning for £40 a week.

I already got todays shopping in (yesterday since I knew we were out today) and was under the £100 target so I'm off to a good start but will update the grocery thread later.