The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

archersluck

You're so not a scrounger Flower! Either the government have to give people a hand or raise the minimum wage loads, its just not possible to live on basic salaries when you have a family otherwise. Hope your return to work to work goes well

What a cutie Grace is, love her expressions. Hope you find the door key Dinah.

Just done 12 hours at work, which is tough when you're a 9-5'er! Last 2 weeks have been hell, cant wait for the bank holiday weekend. Been told I can leave early on Friday so hope that works out.

Cranny44

Wow i really want breakfast at the broomsticks too...... I have been to Florida but the last time i went HP world was still being built so havent seen it yet. I so want to buy a wand from there too, someone at work got one brought back for her and its soooo cool

The flight i think goes pretty quick i have done direct and 1 stop flights to Florida with young kids as well as teenagers they feed you regular so breaks it up and movies have usually been ok, just coming home on a night flight isnt good as i cant sleep. I am off to the USA next march (on my things to do list) to Texas to see if everything is bigger.. :rotfl:

N.I.M

Cranny44 wrote: »

Wow i really want breakfast at the broomsticks too...... I have been to Florida but the last time i went HP world was still being built so havent seen it yet. I so want to buy a wand from there too, someone at work got one brought back for her and its soooo cool

The flight i think goes pretty quick i have done direct and 1 stop flights to Florida with young kids as well as teenagers they feed you regular so breaks it up and movies have usually been ok, just coming home on a night flight isnt good as i cant sleep. I am off to the USA next march (on my things to do list) to Texas to see if everything is bigger.. :rotfl:

The second time I did it (went 3 times before I was 6) the in-flight tvs werent working so they had a couple with a guitar and crazy fuzzy puppets on strings which came around the plane to entertain the kids...god the adults must have HATED that.

Dinah93

Flower08 wrote: »

Oh dear I feel like such a scrounger after reading the last few pages! We get Child Benefit, £50 Tax Credits a week and £10 a week Housing Benefit. Unfortunatly not spent on fun and games though, spent on making ends meet (unlike the single unemployed mother of 6 living near us who seems to have a holiday every couple of months!).

I go back to work in a fortnight not looking forward to it but its only part time so we dont have to pay for Noah to go to nursery - really wouldnt be worth me going if had to go into nursery.

Hope everyone is ok!

Sorry, really didn't mean to make you feel like that. Surely you can only get tax credits if one or both of you is working though, therefore you're not scrounging, just not having to pay as much into the system. I just need to get this into my own head too.

Sorry about the return to work, hopefully it won't be as bad as you expect.

I wouldn't consider there to be anything wrong with part-time work and nursery for me personally, it is actually what I was hoping for as I think socially it would be good for both of us, it's only Grace's insides making me have to consider options I otherwise wouldn't. We're at the dietician this morning to discuss her fairly appalling feeding and she has an EEG to check for seizure activity this afternoon as she had a few of them when she was last hospitalised, but it could have just been a reaction to how poorly she was. Annoyingly they're at different hospitals and there is about a 3 hour gap in between them, so we'll have to come home, just get her out the car, in the house, on the big tank, fed etc, before having to reverse it all again.

Usually it's Grace crying that wakes me up on a morning, but this morning it was nightmares, so while I've been up since 5am, she didn't get going till just after 7am, but I'll be tired nonetheless.

Birdie85

We bought wands last year Cranny They've got pride of place on our geeky bookcase, alongside a butterbeer mug, an empty bottle of pumpkin juice and a chocolate frog box! There's a bit of a Harry Potter theme going on We hope that this time we won't get carried away and spend $200 on HP stuff... although the chances of us being sensible are pretty slim! I'll have to keep repeating the mantra 'I DO NOT need a cloak' the entire time I'm there! :rotfl:

zigmeister

Oh my days! Even just catching up on the last week has taken me ages and I've forgotten everything I wanted to say!

Dinah, the picture you posted of Grace isn't there anymore?! That is so gutting about the freezer but love that you managed to give some to the homeless shelter. How do you manage to cook so much, so fast?! It'd take me days to make all that!

Birdie that hotel looks amazing! And that guy sounds like a complete kn0bhead. So hard to deal with people who don't show their true colours in front of everyone. A guy at work had it in for me and was upsetting me and I loved that my OH was getting so angry on my behalf. My ex-OH hated arguments, but I quite like it when OH gets all angry and Scouse (His whole family is Irish but he was born in England, unfortunately.. No sexy Irish accent for me )

Cinny, messaged you on Facebook - too much to write here!

Love that the Day Zero thing came up, I was looking up mine the other day. I've managed to tick off go travelling on my own and go to Australia at least! It's bad but I almost want to start a new list. Maybe I'll just edit it.

I really need to start exercising. I'm gonna be on a beach in 2 months and I'm dreading it. I've been ill all week - I've literally eaten 2 bowls of soup, a couple of pitta breads and a couple of tablespoons of rice. According to the scales I've lost 10lb but I think the scales are dodgy..

We're starting to make plans now which is exciting. I've absolutely loved living in Melbourne but I'm so excited about the next few months. We're doing a few days in Tasmania next week (fingers crossed I'm better..) and going to the Whitsundays end of October. Staying here, thank you Groupon! Then Sydney, NZ and Asia. Really don't want to come home but we've very vaguely discussed the possibility of saving up then going to America/Canada and possibly come back to Aus to try and get sponsored. Who knows. It's a weird situation. We've only been together like 6 months and it's still all pretty new (but brilliant!)

Hope everyone has a good day! It's 5:48pm here and me and the boy have been watching The Sopranos all day, love it.

Tete_en_l'Air

Thanks for that Shrimpy - downloading as I type (sorry guys, obviously now that I'M in on it it will be discontinued, it's the Curse of the Tete).

Argh how cute are those owls??? I have repinned it for the future - circles and pointy ear bits are a bit beyond me at the mo. I've been crocheting like a maniac all week trying to finish these Harry Potter scarves for the weekend. I have half of two still to go :O Gonna finish early and go home to finish them haha!

Re claiming benefits - I think this definitely Dinah's problem not yours Flower (in the nicest possible way D ) - as she says, she needs to get into her head that she's not scrounging - you both work so how can you be scrounging?! And if Dinah does have to take a sabbatical BECAUSE OF GRACE'S HEALTH, well she's entitled to it as she's always worked, NIM is working, and GRACE IS POORLY. No one would begrudge people in that situation a little bit of their tax money!

Ugh sorry for all the capitals - lack of sleep and crochet anxiety!

Lovely to hear from you Zig! Hope you feel better soon though - can't imagine eating soup in Oz but I guess it's their winter??

Hope everyone else is well - need to go and do some work xx

Cinny91

Cranny44 wrote: »

I am off to the USA next march (on my things to do list) to Texas to see if everything is bigger.. :rotfl:

I would LOVE to go too Texas But California will do me nicely Was speaking to my OH as going to see my Sister once a year will be our holiday, he seems fairly accepting!

Those comments are SO creepy, Ruby!! But equally hilarious, sorry!

You're not a scrounger at all Flower, don't feel like that! Scroungers are people that abuse the system, you just need the help and you're accepting it. Would love to see photos of Noah too when/if you can get them up!

N.I.M wrote: »

You have an accountant? Also what cons you thinking of going to?

Memorabilia in November Waiting until they announce some of the guests, so we can pick the right day. Cause knowing my luck if I book blindly, I'll pick the wrong day completely! I wouldn't worry about sticking out for being a girl though, Birdie. Way more girls are into "that stuff" now. Be it because they're those annoying girls who like it because they think it makes them 'different' and 'attractive' or ones who are genuinely into it. I heard rumors of there being HP people at either Memorabilia or MCM Expo, so I'll let you know if anyone gets confirmed, Birdie

Hope Grace's check up goes well! SHE'S SO BLOODY CUTE!!! PD-Effing-P if I've ever seen it.

Tete_en_l'Air

PDP?

I forgot to say Ruby that snowflake comment made me hoot! Reminded me of an acquaintance who once described his girlfriend as a 'beautiful enigmatic strawberry' on facebook!

Loving the quidco app already sadly I'm not close enough to town for the check ins to work from my desk

ruby_eskimo

That's right, all laugh at me because I've attracted the office weirdo!

It's hilarious though because every time he makes a comment, I say thank you and this girl that sits opposite him says "SHE'S ENGAGED, LEAVE HER ALONE!" and then he crawls back into his little corner.