My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Hi Polesalot - How similar are we? I just love the build up to a sale. I have decided that i am just going to carry on listing a few items a week and then use the profits to either overpay the mortgage or put it to some good use. I think in the future i am going to have to throw some serious money at my roof......i dont want to think about that at the moment !!! Hope all is going well with the moving house. I bet your daughter is looking forward to Christmas !!

Yesterday was a nice day for me. I was up early and went to the town centre gym and did my usual 60 minutes on the treadmill. I picked up some more "free" greens for my guinea pigs as i probably wont be in town till next Wednesday. Spent a couple of pounds buying some last minute items for Christmas stockings. I am pretty much done now apart from getting my grandaughter a toy. I am still waiting for direction from my son and his girlfriend!! Next was dance aerobics which i really enjoy. Instead of going straight home i called off at the local discounmt bakery and stocked up on a few sweet items as i am expecting the kids round this weekend. I then called at my gym buddies house for a coffee. She is just recovering from a knee operation and we decided to have a catch up. The rest of the day was spent (after walking Sid) either wrapping up the rest of my Christmas presents or Ebay listings. As I had a few hours spare, I composed a few draft sales, so all I need to do in the future is press the send button and the item will be listed.
Today I had a bit of a lie in before going to the gym again, walking Sid and doing a spot of shopping for basics at Aldi. i also posted an Ebay sale. This afternoon is going to entail a few chores before I head off for my tea time zumba class followed by collecting my grandchildren who are staying over. Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan.
I hope everyone has a great money saving day

maddiemay

I have never tried to sell on e-bay, we had a lot of surplus possessions when we came to put our last house on the market 2 years ago, but didn't have a great deal of time so everything went to local charity shop for children with head injuries and suitable electrical items to hospice shop. Fortunately we could afford to give the things away, all our struggling financially had been when we were younger.

I enjoyed my PT session again yesterday, although a few of the things had to be modified for me by the trainer as I managed to bang a thumb joint and it was swollen and very painful, I am pleased that even after this short time my balance, core strength and the strength in my arms and legs is improving.

I hope that you have a lovely time with your little grand-people.

sidneysmum

maddiemay - Hi and thanks for posting. Glad you are continuing with your exercise. Its just great to feel fit !!

Had a bit of a roller coaster weekend. I dropped my baby grandaughter back off home with her mum yesterday morning so i could take my grandson to the cinema. We went to see "Rise of the guardians" which he really enjoyed. After a quick lunch we went to the splash session at the local pool. My grandson (at almost 3 years old) said he wasn't going in the baby pool anymore, but in the big pool. He proceeded to get in the water and played for an hour and a quarter with all the teenage kids without so such as a backward glance at me. Talk about Mr Independent. He just had a whale of a time. I just sat in the shallow end watching him being passed about between all the young teens. They just loved him!!
Anyway he went off back home at tea time and i got stuck into packing up all my ebay sales. Thats the worst part, all the packing but its great to know that all my stuff is wanted elsewhere. I was pleased to sell 2 winter coats for about £13 each as I was just going to hand them in at the charity shop. However charity is having to begin at home at the moment as my roof is still leaking and i am having to get the builder back this week. Most disappointing after having spent a load of money last week.
Today has been a bit different. I didn't bother going to the gym so took Sid to the park. My oldest son, his girlfriend and little girl turned up. They have stayed a few hours. I am so glad I have bags of room at my home as everyone keeps giving me their old toys and children's clothes. At least I can pass them on to my grandchildren.......plus they have loads of different toys to play with when they come round. The plan for the rest of the day is to sort out a few more eBay sales and also have an hour or so reading. Off to work tomorrow so I wont have tons of time to do much.
I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day

sidneysmum

It was a work day for me yesterday. Luckily I managed to keep busy and the day went very quickly. I called at the post office on my way home and posted some ebay parcels. Next stop was returning library books then filling up the car with petrol. My roof is still leaking at home and the roofer was due to arrive at 3pm. However he rang up and said he couldn’t make it. Said it will now be today. Anyway I did a few jobs to make good use of my wasted time. Made a few phone calls and listed a few more things on Ebay. After tea and shower, I decided to sit in bed and have a read. I am reading a book about Ben Needham, the toddler who went missing about 20 years ago. Its been written by his mother. I hope that woman finds some peace soon. She must still be going through hell.
Anyway I hope everyone had a great moneysaving day .

sidneysmum

I am not sure what to make of today. It has been a bit difficult to say the least. I went to work as normal and had an ok ish type of day. I called at the post office on my way home and posted another couple of parcels for ebay. My sons girlfriend and her mum called up at my house with the kids and we had a lovely afternoon. Anyway the kids have stayed with me as per usual on a Tuesday night. Anyway the roofer came back today and had a proper look at my roof in daylight. He told me that my roof is going to start to cause me big problems in the future and its because its pretty much as it was when it was built in 1900. He is not telling me anything i didn't know. The roof just has slate on it and there is no under felt. So........he gave me a price for re roofing the front of the house. Lets just say I will be doing it as the price was good. I know its going to be an expensive job all told but i have decided that i have no choice but tackle the roof in stages. I do not want to have to borrow money to have it done so I am thinking of having it done in 3 installments. My house is the home i brought my children up in and lets just say it is not really suitable for 1 person......but i am happy here. The house is a Victorian semi detached but has 5/6 bedrooms and loads of reception rooms......so there is a lot of roof. Anyway I am really happy with his quote and he is hoping to start in January. Unfortunately I am not going to be able to continue with the mortgage overpayments but i think its more prudent to get the roof sorted as I have got water coming in at 3 separate places. On the one hand I am pleased to have found someone who is a very competitive price but i had such high hopes of overpaying my mortgage in 2014. The good thing is that all this hasn't dragged me down. I feel as though I am in charge of things and am dealing with them.
Anyway ......I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day

Mint1955

If you are staying in the house then getting it put right and watertight is the best thing you can do with the money.

vasseur

Mint1955 wrote: »

If you are staying in the house then getting it put right and watertight is the best thing you can do with the money.

I agree. It is awful just when you were so determined to overpay but far better to pay out to get it fixed now than to pay 10 times that in 6 months time. Water damage can be horrific. Better to use your overpayment money to fix the roof than to end up using it to pay for the damage and replacing precious possessions.

sidneysmum

Mint1955 and Polesalot - Thanks for posting. Thankfully regarding the roof episode i have been able to apply a bit of positive thinking and i dont feel too bad about things. The plan now is to have the front of the house re felted and retiled sometime in January. I spent some of yesterday afternoon in the loft myself and tried to make things a bit drier as a temporary measure. I am happy with the builders price and i am sure he would have started sooner but for the Christmas holidays. I think I will have the front of the house done then have a bit of a breather before I start thinking about the 3 big roofs at the back of the house. Thats going to be serious money !

Yesterday morning I returned my grandchildren really early as myself and 2 of my sons had a dental appointment for check ups. Luckily i just had to have a scale and polish. After dropping my sons off i went straight to the gym and did an hour on the treadmill. Dropped in at Tesco and got milk and sweeteners using a stray Tesco clubcard voucher that was about to expire. I then spent the afternoon at home doing a few jobs (loft, hoovering etc) as well as taking Sid to the park for a quick runaround. Late afternoon, my friend came and picked me up and we went for a meal at another couples house. It was a really simple meal of chicken, new potatoes and vegetables followed by sorbet, but it was delicious. I must admit I am a bit sick of eating already and Christmas hasn't started yet !!
Anyway i hope everyone had a great moneysaving day

sidneysmum

The last couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind. Thursday morning saw me up nice and early and off to the gym. Did my 60 minutes on the treadmill followed by my dance aerobics class. My friend who works at the gym brought me some toys and books for my grandchildren which had belonged to her son. Very gratefully received !! I was quite laden up coming home from the town as I got a bag full of free leaves from my greengrocer. On my way home I called at the local discount bakery and bought a huge bag of flapjacks for £2. I have now bagged them up into smaller portions and will dish them out to my sons as and when they call. Took Sid to the park before I put the slow cooker on and made a few portions of cauli soup with a couple of cauliflours I had. My neighbour was round a lot doing a roof and loft inspection. The plan is to get some lights up in the loft and also some flooring. He is also going to attempt to sort out the leaks if he can. If he cant, I will be having the house re roofed !! All this messing about in the roof is very time consuming. I put the 2 chicken carcasses in the slow cooker once the cauli soup was done and made a huge pan of chicken stock which I have now frozen in small portion. Perfect for including in risotto or soup.
Yesterday I had a little lie in before i went to the diy store to get everything needed to make custom lighting for my loft. I then went out for coffee at the garden centre with my friend which passed a very pleasant couple of hours. My neighbour then called round for his daily loft / roof inspection. He also agreed to sell me a brand new extension lead which he had spare. My current one is just a loose cable and the one he sold me is 30m and is top of the range all in a case. Perfect for using both in the garden as well as in the house. I know i need to buy a few more things - small screwdrivers and a good torch...but i will pick them up in the New Year. Next stop was zumba at teatime which was great before i picked up my grandchildren who stayed the night.
Moneywise i am feeling a bit in limbo as I have stopped my mortgage over payments, as i might be needing the cash towards new roofing if my neighbour doesn't resolve the problem. Anyway I am leaving this little dilemma to sort itself out. What will be, will be !
I dropped my grandaughter back with her mum this morning before taking my grandson to the the Muppet Christmas movie. I don't actually think he liked it very much. After the film I had to drop him off home as he is going to a wedding with his mum etc. The rest of the day will hopefully be put to good use. I have put a load of chopped apples in the slow cooker to make some stewed apples. The apples were looking rather the worse for wear so it was either that or throw them out and there was no way that was happening ! I have got some eBay packing to do as most of my listed items will sell tomorrow. Also I plan on getting my feet up and having a read.
I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day.:)

sidneysmum

Yesterday was quite a nice day despite still having a wet wall in the front bedroom. But hey ho….it will sort itself out eventually. I was up fairly early and went to the town centre gym for my usual 60 mins on the treadmill. I was so glad I had gone as the atmosphere was really buzzing. Next job was taking Sid to the park, then after having some brunch etc I went to the cinema. I saw “Saving Mr Banks”. It was ok, but nothing special. I went straight to visit one of my sons who gave me loads of baby things which had belonged to his 3 year old to be passed to my baby granddaughter. Very useful. Managed to just call at Asda before it closed and I got some reduced sandwiches for at work today and also reduced bread which is now in the freezer. Last night was just spent taking it easy – having a read and making a few phone calls.
Anyway I hope everyone had a great moneysaving day