Muchin's diary of recover; becoming debt free and being happy

mooomin

Lucky you being able to garden - you'd drown if you tried it here today :rotfl::rotfl:

Munchin

Hi Moomin:) - we had floods here last week so I had fingers and toes crossed that it would stay dry long enough for me to get the garden sorted. If it snowed it would at least cover the ground and no one would need to know that I have a jungle for a garden:o.

I said yesterday was a bit spendy so here is the list -

• £7.17 local shop
• £15 Xmas sale (donation to charity, buns and raffle tickets)
• £10.70 (adventure place)
• £13.28 MaccyDs
• £15.99 Oil for car
• £ 5 Pilates (Sat)

Total = £67.17

That doesn't include £34 spent in Mr S on groceries on Sat. The oil for the car was a necessity as my oil light came on and I was in a bit of a panic. I didn't get anything to eat in MaccyDs either so how it cost so much I have no idea.

I have a lot of jobs to do round the house before winter properly sets in. I did get the front garden sorted today but never got round to the back as I have to go for nephew in about 50 mins and I'm a bit grubby.

Jobs to do

• weed back of house
• strim lane and cut hedge (1 last time this year)
• clean out skirting (soffets)
  
• power hose yard and soffet
  

I can borrow the power hose of OH but my brother has my strimmer so I will have to get onto him and get it back. The yard needs power hosed because tractors drive through it in summer and although I brush it up it means that come winter with wet weather etc you end up tramping muck into the house. It is going to take me a few Mondays to get all this done but for next week it will be weeding the back and possilbly cutting the hedge - weather dependent.

I will have a look later and see if I can find my winter preparation list as well.

Munchin

Hi all

I had a nice lunch out with my ex colleagues today and everyone had a bit of a moan about work but it was good as we know we are all in the same boat one way or another. I'm working on my Xmas shopping and my winter list this evening.

Xmas spending :xmassmile-

• OH - £80
• Mum -£100 (includes food shopping)
• Sister 1 & 2- £40
• nephews & niece - £60
• Niece birthday pressie - £20
  
• Uncle - £20
• rest of family - £30
• Xmas dinners - £60
• Xmas cards/wrapping & stamps - £10
  

Total - £420

Munchin

I borrowed the winter checklist from the "Preparing for Winter" thread but I've adapted it for what I need as I have some of things done from last year.

Winter Checklist

Clothes

Wash all coats, scarves gloves
Buy new socks
Polish all shoes and boots
Go back through clothing checking what you need and what you need to replace. Think - what will I wear - what do I need?

Car
Screenwash (I think I have some but will check)
De-icer
Fluid levels (MOT due in 2 weeks so will get OH to check car)
Check tyre pressures and tread levels (OH)
Rubber mats.

Food
Stock up on tinned products such as soup, rice pudding, baked beans and spaghetti.
Check and clean out freezer.

House and garden
Door curtain to keep out draughts
Clean out your guttering and facias
Candles and torch.
Check heating oil level
Take down any hanging baskets and dispose of the contents.
Get your paracetamol, throat lozengers and cough mixtures.

I will add if I can think of anything else.

in_need_of_direction

I'm a bit paranoid but I always get in extra bottled water.

Munchin

Evening all :wave:

I'm sitting here nearly in the dark and OH is away to bed as he is working tomorrow and has to be up at mad o'clock - 5am.

I had a really good day today. I volunteer for a community organisation but I've struggled as there is money involved and until today there hasn't been any set training courses for me to learn the procedures. Today I went on my first course and it was excellent. I met a lovely bunch of people and some had 20 years experience and 1 man had a months experience. I've now got 3 papers to write but at least by the end of it all I will have a qualification and a string to my bow:).

I still haven't done any Xmas shopping but I got my Xmas savings and I gave Mum £100 which is her Xmas present and a contribution to dinner. Nephew no 1 wants money - can you tell he is a teenager now:)?. Nephew no 2 wants a WWE wrestler and as niece will only be 3 months old I can't imagine she will have much of a clue:).

I took my savings to the post office along with £140 of £2 coins and there was quite a queue. The 3 people in front of me were handing over bags of coins and this elderly lady behind me was tutting and giving off as she had to wait. I couldn't tell her that I had 7 bags of coins as well:o. I think in GPs thread someone said about the queue in the post office because of people depositing coins and I have to agree with her - us MSE peeps are causing the queues .

My plan over the next 2 days is to -

• weed back wilderness
• clear guttering
  
• power hose yard
• & read manual to prepare for assignments.

I think I will have enough money to make it to 01st Nov even when I get paid on Wed.

Greying_Pilgrim

Ay up Munchin - you're sounding grand Love that you've gained so much from the community volunteer training. It's good when you can see the practical applications - after all, so much 'training' is just a box-ticking exercise isn't it?

Agreed about the queues for depositing coinage. But I think that it is a good thing that folk are realising the *value* of money. If you've had to carry your jam jar or carrier bag of coinage into town on the bus, you've some idea of it all - not like swishing a card in front of a reader, eh? Mind, I do think that those cash counting machines in banks would probably be a good introduction - not taking 7% or whatever of your deposit like the supermercados ones though Mind, if the banks were a bit savvy, they could have ones that also accepted 'bagged up' coinage - after all, that is how the staff at the bank/PO know if you've counted right, don't they? By the weight

Sounds like you've Christmas pressies sorted Nephews/nieces are all on monetary donations this end. For the ones that live away, the postage quickly got to be more than the value of the gift, so it's the best way of making sure the child gets *as much* as you can afford to give, rather than *sharing* with Royal Mail

Greying

Munchin

Hi Greying - we got word last week that our local bank is now shutting. It is quite a busy bank as it is the only 1 in the town but that wasn't enough to save it. I know that we all do so much online but there has to be somewhere we can take our bags of coins to:). It feels like so much "community" & customer service is leaving the town for the sake of progress.

I'm starting to feel a wee bit dosed this evening and the sniffles are starting to come on. It's my own fault as I got soaked yesterday clearing out gutterings but rather than coming in I just stayed out to finish the job and it was freezing.

I'm doing ok on my preparing for winter list which I will update on the next post. I've concentrated on getting the winter jobs round the house done and now I need to move on to the list -

• [STRIKE]weed back wilderness [/STRIKE]- done
  
• [STRIKE]clear guttering[/STRIKE] - done
  
• [STRIKE]power hose yard[/STRIKE] - done.

I'm still at Slimming World and it is going very slowly. I've lost 4.5 lbs so far and I think I'm doing ok on balancing my need not to "diet" and trying to be healthier.

Ok away to find a lemsip:)

Munchin

Winter Checklist - Updated 27 Nov

Clothes

[STRIKE]Wash all coats, scarves gloves [/STRIKE]
Buy new socks
Polish all shoes and boots
[STRIKE]Go back through clothing checking what you need and what you need to replace. Think - what will I wear - what do I need?[/STRIKE]

Car
[STRIKE]Screenwash[/STRIKE] - I bought new as I only had a tiny bit left.
[STRIKE]De-icer[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Fluid levels (MOT due in 2 weeks so will get OH to check car)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Check tyre pressures and tread levels (OH)[/STRIKE]
Rubber mats.

Food
[STRIKE] Stock up on tinned products such as soup, rice pudding, baked beans and spaghetti. [/STRIKE]
Check and clean out freezer.

House and garden
Door curtain to keep out draughts
[STRIKE]Clean out your guttering and facias[/STRIKE]
Candles and torch.
[STRIKE]Check heating oil level[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Take down any hanging baskets and dispose of the contents.[/STRIKE]
Get your paracetamol, throat lozengers and cough mixtures.

Greying_Pilgrim

Munchin wrote: »

Ok away to find a lemsip:)

Take care You!

Greying