Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

Chocforever

It might just be the contrast of the space left after working so hard on an evening. Sometimes there is that restless feeling as if there should be something constructive to do or to focus on.

Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon.

debtfreesomeday

Yes, I think you're right Chocs. Although there's plenty of constructive jobs I could've done last night, the cleaning and washing is just not as exciting as making something pretty! I couldn't even be bothered to put the Christmas decorations up, which is not like me.
Anyway, today is a new day and I'm feeling better this morning.

debtfreesomeday

Just one more gift to buy and then the Christmas shopping is done! (apart from a few little bits for Ds's stocking).
Tonight I've wrapped pretty much everything too; still haven't written one card though, am putting that job off until DH decides to do it as it's a job I really loathe doing. I sound like a right bah humbug don't I?! I just really dislike writing Christmas cards, sorry!

Today we treated ourselves to lunch out, (also attempting to get Ds to eat a meal as we're still having trouble getting him to eat at home; at nursery he is fine...). We ended up spending more than I would've liked but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

I sold an item locally this week for £35 and have advertised another for £45, so hope that will go soon too.

I have put one item in eBay, but it's still at 99p and only 2 watchers so far.

I can't wait until January when I am planning on cleRing the house of 'stuff' a little more and making some more space and hopefully some more pennies at the same time!

debtfreesomeday

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Unfortunately ours was pretty awful again. My Mum was taken seriously ill two weeks before Christmas and it was extremely stressful and upsetting. She is now home, on more drugs, but the problem remains, currently to a lesser degree, but there's no telling when things will flare up again.

Then, my hometown was very badly affected by the recent flooding with homes and businesses under 4ft of water. It was doubtful if we would be able to get home for Christmas. Thankfully, we made it ok, but then DS became ill with a really nasty flu all over Christmas and we ended up sitting in the emergency Dr's office on Christmas Day evening.

To top it all, we've been dealing with tantrums from the in-laws (long story) and screaming fits from Ds as he's been so full of snot and feeling rubbish!

It's been (another) tough month. I can't wait for this year to end to be honest.

Hopefully 2013 will be a better year for my family.

I really can't wait to start clearing and decluttering this house, the amount of stuff we have here is driving me nuts!

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

I'm very sorry to read that you had another difficult Christmas holiday. You clearly have lots of things to contend with and I'm not surprised that you feel that you will be glad for the year to end and to draw a line under it all.

I feel a bit bad saying that I had a nice time. Nothing dramatic happened but a pleasant time all the same. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing and I will be back at work in no time!

I think I will be returning to Ebay too. I have a lot of small value items to get rid of. Not sure how well they will sell. I would like to start chipping away at the pile and, as you say, free up some space. I got rid of so much stuff last year I'm not sure I have much high value stuff left.

I hope DS feels better soon and you have a good New Year.

Best wishes x

debtfreesomeday

Happy new year chocs and all x

Today the great declutter started!

First, I took the tree down and packed all the Christmas decorations away in the attic. Whilst up there, I noticed what a load of 'stuff' we had up there that we no longer need/want/use, so set about sorting it all and ended up with two big bags for the charity shop; a pile of baby bits for a friend of a friend and lots of toys and some baby equipment which I gave to my son's nursery this afternoon.
Once the attic was done, I blitzed Ds's room and turned out 2 bags of clothes and baby stuff for eBay.

I dropped the stuff off at the charity shop this afternoon after taking lots of cardboard and an old printer to the recycling centre.

Tomorrow I plan to tackle the two other bedrooms and bathrooms so upstairs is done. Downstairs may be more of a challenge!

debtfreesomeday

The great declutter continues today with one bag of paperwork shredded for recycling and some more bits added to the charity shop bag and the eBay mountain. I've listed one item on eBay as a BIN, just have two bin bags full left to list now, (groan). I've also listed a couple of books on amazon (only those that would be worthwhile to sell), and photographed some others to try and sell locally.

I'll have to force myself to list as much as possible this afternoon though as we really need the money. The bank account is overdrawn already with over 3 weeks left until payday. Boo. Hiss. We've just spent too much over Christmas; petrol has taken quite a chunk of our salaries this month due to the distances we've travelled. We're now in a mission to make as much extra money as possible and to live as frugally as possible for the rest of the month.

I need some time to work on new products for my business, but at the moment, getting the house in a but more if a tidy state is important to me. Plus, I doubt sales would be great so early in the year due to everyone being skint after christmas.

I have also sold a little bit of gold and silver jewellery I no longer
want. The price given via HGM online was around £120, but I am pretty sure it will be much less than this as I am sure some of it is not gold/silver. We'll see what I get from that in due course.

Right, I suppose I better stop procrastinating and make a dent in the eBay pile... Urgh.

debtfreesomeday

The eBay pile has now all been photographed, weighed and postage prices have been calculated. I'll do the actual listing tonight when Ds is in bed.

Forgot to mention earlier that I cancelled two orange phone contracts this morning, one which will finish in a month and one with the last payment in march. That'll be £25 a month we'll be better off after march.

Chocforever

Wow, you are making great progress with the decluttering.

I'll be thinking of you listing on Ebay

I think I need some of your energy!

debtfreesomeday

Well I gathered all the eBay stuff together next to the laptop, I even opened the eBay website and started to list one item. I also cropped and resized all the photos. What I didn't do though was to get a single item listed - oops. I really am not in the right frame of mind to do it tonight so will attempt it tomorrow morning and the weekend.

To be honest, some sad news tonight has thrown me a bit. An extended family member died tonight, my uncle. It was expected, after a horrendous battle with illness, but it's still left me feeling very sad and cross at how cruel life can be and i don't feel like doing anything other than sitting at the moment.

X