She who never saves a penny will never have many

choogirl

abba1772 wrote: »

My little brother has just started the process of joining the army bit wary but it's what he wants to do xx

It is his choice at the end of the day and I want him to be happy,I would be proud of him but I'm still scared!

choogirl

Good morning

Happy Halloween!

All my work is done with a day and a half to spare :j so yesterday afternoon was spent with dd getting her haircut, buying some school uniform and a few new clothes as she's had a growth spurt! We were out of the house for 5 hours but got a lot achieved in that time.

DS moaned about having to wait in for a delivery and stay with dd whilst i went into work instead of been out with his friends but he had been out for 3 days solid so one day staying home will not kill him!

We also did a big grocery shop, cleaned the fridge and sorted the cupboards so everything is back in order! Minimum housework has been over the last few weeks so today is a catch up day.

DS is out with friends tonight at a fright night, dd is at a party, then trick or treating followed by having a friend for a sleepover.
I'll probably be answering the door every 2 minutes to hoards of kids. I'm quite tempted to turn all the lights off and pretend we are not in.

With both the kids out DH and I might get a nice quiet dinner with no bickering going on. I'm cooking steak with a chilli,garlic, ginger soy sauce marinade, served with rice and pak choi.

Work is going well, one of the partners is recommending me to a client of theirs to help them organise their accounting systems so that could be another self employed client for me

On a lovely note, we booked some flights for next years summer holiday using DH credit card air miles so got 4 flights to California for £1500 in the summer holidays :j I'm so excited, it's my dream destination so going to spend the dreary winter months planning out where to go. The AI holiday this summer cost us £3k for a week so flights,accommodation and car hire will probably be the same for 2 and a half weeks in the USA! Just need extra for food, attractions and of course Hollister/Vans/Abercrombie clothes shopping for the kids.

So today I've cleaned the oven, sorted the airing cupboard, 1 load of washing pegged out, another load in the wm,

I've just had a coffee with a chocolate biscuit and are now going to tackle the room of doom known as my office! It's a tip and I don't feel very inspired when I sit up there so I'm going to give it a good blitz and get rid of some tat to the cs!!!

The dog will also need walking at some point so it's a busy day.

Hope everyone has a lovely day xx

choogirl

Good morning


Well the room of doom got a good sort out and I now have a beautiful, tidy office although the cupboard still needs a good sort out but I ran out of time on Friday.
I have 2 bags of toys ready to take to the cs tomorrow when I drive past it so I'll drop them in and under the desk will be clear.

The whole room needs a refresh but for now I've bought some new storage boxes and some lovely dinky desktop drawers for all my pens, post its etc. DD has been told to stay away from the drawers as she has a habit of borrowing things and never returning them or breaking them.

DH and I have decided to give the kids pocket money on a weekly basis. They both get their phones paid for, DD gets her dancing paid for but whenever they want to go out with friends its bank of mum and dad that subsidise the outing with a promise of repayments.
To be fair they are good at doing jobs around the house as repayments but it gets hard to keep track of whats owed etc so DS will get £10 per week and DD £5 per week.

They will be expected to keep their bedrooms tidy, put their clothes in the wash basket instead of on the floor in DS case and help with chores such as unpacking the dishwasher etc. Penalties will be incurred for shouting and not keeping bedrooms tidy. I'm not expecting spotless but to see the floor in DS room would be nice.
They can also earn extra money by hovering the cars out, DS splitting logs etc so hopefully my purse won't be as empty going forward.

DS is now in mens trousers, that's a scary experience choosing the right waist size, leg length and style! It was so much easier and cheaper when we just bought age sized clothes. DS trousers cost £24 a pair now instead of £10-£14!! Hence he doesn't have many pairs,its pointless buying loads when he's growing so fast!


So my list for today:


Reconcile bank account
washing
Ironing
Dog walk


Dinner tonight is an easy one of beef stew, dumplings, mashed potato and vegetables!


Hope everyone has a lovely day xxx

Ali-OK

Hope you don't mind me posting, but similarities here so I am subscribing as teenager into adult is getting expensive too!

choogirl wrote: »

DS will get £10 per week and DD £5 per week.

DS is now in mens trousers, that's a scary experience choosing the right waist size, leg length and style! It was so much easier and cheaper when we just bought age sized clothes. DS trousers cost £24 a pair now instead of £10-£14!! Hence he doesn't have many pairs,its pointless buying loads when he's growing so fast

DS gets £20 a calendar month pocket money and once it's gone, it's gone. I did give him extra for mowing the lawn, but having just taken all the grass up that income stream has disappeared :rotfl:. We're trying to find him a very local evening or Sunday paper round (he's just turned 14 - also choosing options this year at school - doesn't time fly :eek:)

choogirl wrote: »

On a lovely note, we booked some flights for next years summer holiday using DH credit card air miles so got 4 flights to California for £1500 in the summer holidays :j I'm so excited, it's my dream destination so going to spend the dreary winter months planning out where to go. The AI holiday this summer cost us £3k for a week so flights,accommodation and car hire will probably be the same for 2 and a half weeks in the USA! Just need extra for food, attractions and of course Hollister/Vans/Abercrombie clothes shopping for the kids.

This will work out as you say I think. We did a big 3 weeks hols to USA (New York, LA and San Fran) and Hawaii instead of 10 days in Majorca and it wasn't much more expensive at all. Just the 2 of us though. We bought loss-leader flights as soon as they released them and booked hotels that did free breakfasts through comparing sites and then cashback ones. Had a fabulous time and sure you will too. Having that to look forward through the winter and planning will be great.

Going to subscribe and follow.

choogirl

Good afternoon


Hi Ali-Ok, lovely to "meet" you and welcome to my rambling diary xx


We're trying to find DS a Saturday job at the moment but it will have to be a local, independent place as all the big employers such as mac ds etc don't recruit until they turn 16. Your holiday sounds lovely, I've been looking at a few hotel websites and there are a number of deals such as stay x nights and get 1 free so will be keeping eyes open for such deals as well as quidco for car hire.


Time does fly, it doesn't seem two minutes since I brought home a tiny, screaming red faced bundle but now I have a tall, screaming red faced teenager!


So I told the kids about pocket money and all DS has tried to do is sabotage any chance he has of getting anything by the end of the week. He's been told that shouting, unmade bed and clothes on the floor will incur a 50p penalty so he's lost 50p so far for shouting!!! Arrghh I give up sometimes, anyways!!


So today has been a work day and I'm just catching up with invoicing my self-employed work.


I need to make a chili for tea and then put the ironing away from yesterday and finish cleaning the ovens. Hopefully I'll get time to chill out tonight to read my kindle. I've just finished reading The Small Hand by Susan Hill and whilst it didn't scare me as much as The Woman In Black it was still worth reading.


Choo xxx

Ali-OK

I think it's much harder for teenagers now than when I was that age to get a little job. Where as I was working in a fruit and veg shop age 12 for 50p after school a few days a week then £2 for all day Saturday, there just aren't the number of places to find work in. Hotel sounds a great idea.

I did hear B00ts take on 15 year olds if they have an NI card. Will be hot on the heels of that one this time next year, as our superstore always recruits extra staff for the Christmas period.

We had such a fabulous holiday and I'm sure you will too, though wasn't a restful one for us with so much sightseeing. One day on Waikiki Beach out of a 7 night stay there! Hotel deals are sounding good - I picked some boutique type ones by looking at TripAdvisor for ratings and they tended to be lower in cost by quite a margin.

:rotfl: Hope DS calms down and gets on board with the pocket money system. I think I may have gone a bit too far with educating DS on saving for buying a home and furniture when he's grown up - he asked to have his grandparents armchairs when they changed them recently :rotfl: Suffice to say I received a concerned phone call as to why he would want these - apparently he planned to store them in our garage until he left home! :rotfl:

Hope you got your invoicing done. Reminds me I should update my accounts too .

Enjoy your reading - something I seem to have relegated to doing only by a pool (that'll be a few years ago then :rotfl:)

choogirl

Good morning

Hi Ali-ok, I found your diary so I shall read and subscribe x
Bless your DS for wanting his grandparents furniture, he sounds very sensible. I will be keeping an eye on Boots as well, thanks for the tip!

Just started raining here and the dog needs a walk so will wait and see if it stops before heading out. I bought a lovely new coat from Joules yesterday, reduced of course. It's like a big duvet so I'm looking forward to trying it out later.

I've just mixed all the fruit with sherry for my Christmas cake so I'll leave it for a few days and then make the cake. I'm quite excited about Xmas this year and bought a few things already. Last year it just crept up on me, I wasn't focused last year due to the job situation and the dog was stressing me but its all calm this year, I feel more relaxed so can look forward to it all this year!

I've just gone to make carrot and coriander soup for lunch but the big bag of carrots that I bought from the farm shop have all gone manky so DH has gone to buy more :mad:

I'm supposed to be ironing but got distracted with cake making and mse so must get started soon. It doesn't do itself, although I have got more relaxed about ironing, stuff just gets shaken and folded a lot now. DD wears an item once and then throws it into the wash rather than putting it away :mad:

Dinner tonight is a Jamie Oliver fish pie with mange tout and carrots. I was so disappointed last night, turned BBC2 on at 9pm expecting to see Tom Kerridge and it was cra@@y football on instead :eek:
I do like watching Tom Kerridge, everything is lush and proper tasty. I'd love to go to his restaurant but it needs booking a year in advance :eek:

Right on with the ironing, hope everyone has a lovely day xx

choogirl

Good morning

Yesterday was a wash out so the dog got a quick 20 minute walk with his ball, came home and crashed in front of the wood burning stove.

I got all the ironing finished so managed a sit down and watch a film in the afternoon. Very indulgent but necessary sometimes!

It's pocket money day today and surprisingly DS is on £9 and DD is on £4, I expected it to be lower but they've done what's been asked of them.

I need to reconcile the bank account this morning and look for cheaper pet insurance.

The plan for today is to walk the dog and have another quiet afternoon followed by a roast dinner of pork! Sunday dinner is my favourite meal of the week, we are all here and I'm not rushing about trying to fit too many things into the time available!

I tested my new coat out yesterday and omg it was like wearing a duvet, so warm and toasty! I have some lovely muck boot wellies as well which keep my feet warm so nothing is cold when I'm out with the dog!

Better get on, hope everyone has a lovely day xx

choogirl

Hello

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas, it's flown past!
It's been a busy one, entertaining wise but lovely, I'm ready for a rest!

I've had the whole week off work and go back Friday for a few hours and I'm disappointed as I thought I'd get loads done at home but in between running the kids around and entertaining/visiting it's just flown past.

I was spoilt over Christmas and got a Pa****a bracelet, DH has also booked a table at Tom Kerridges restaraunt for over the summer so I am really excited about that. Need to start saving!

The grocery budget needs reining in, DH has been shopping with me over the festive period and won't shop anywhere but Mr S, nice but not Ald** prices.

I'm entertaining again this evening, 16 of us in total, 8 kids, 8 adults so better get moving.

Hope everyone has a good day xxx

mummytogirls

Happy New Year to you Choo! Have a good evening x