Here I am in debt again. 2nd time lucky

StressedSteph

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

You have my every sympathy with the scrap/shotgun money. I feel your pain Xx

Not much I can do about it really. At least if he gets this bloomin shotgun then I can fool myself into thinking that will be the last of it. Although I have a scary feeling there will be numerous accessories that HAVE to be bought :mad: MEN!!!!

I suppose I just have to be grateful they won't be coming out of the budget

StressedSteph

Morning Diary,

Have listed the last of my jewellery onto #bay. Have done "Buy it now" or Best Offer" to make sure I get decent prices. Not sure if they will go, but we will see.

Not much planned today, but have got to:-

Bake a cake
Finish Mr T order.
Keep washing machine & Tumble going.
Bath children
Cook dinner.

I cleaned out all the chickens, ducks & geese yesterday, they now have cozy clean beds again. I have to be on the hunt for someone selling small bales of straw as I have run out.

Hubby is hiding in the barn tinkering with a motorbike that he bought back from his dads last night.
when he was doing his scrap metal trips, he called in to his dads to take on anything he wanted to get rid off. He came home with 2 motorbikes and an old ride on mower :eek:.
He is keeping the ride on mower. The one moped is beyond hope so he will take that to the scrap metal people, but he has the log book for the other bike and has visions of getting it running and trying to sell it on #bay. All in aid of the blasted shotgun fund though, so no use to me :(:(.

Of course yet again, he gets to hide in the barn while I deal with the children all weekend .

Had abit of a lazy week last week, so have made a promise to myself that I will get the house thoroughly tidied and cleaned. It really should be sparkling because I am home all the time, but I just have no motivation. It is always pretty uncluttered, but I tend to just do the basics and not the DEEP cleaning stuff.
MUST do it next week.

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.
xx

StressedSteph

Update:

Have counted the pennies in my purse. (unusual that I have any)

I have £9.01. I would usually put all the change into my Sealed Pot, but I have been caught out with this when the children need a £1 for school, or I need a £1 for a trolley etc.

So will see how long I can make this £9 last. The whole of February is my challenge.

The children need £30p each every Thursday for School Tuck shop
60p x 4 = £2.40.

I let them buy a sweet out of the shop every Friday after school.
£1.20 x 4 = £4.80.

That equals £7.20 for the month. That leaves £1.81 for misc stuff.

Its been awful in past weeks when I have had to try to raid the Sealed Pot with a knife to get the children their 30p each on a Thursday.:o

freebyfifty

Lol at you with a knife at the sealed pot. :rotfl:
What I do is empty my purse whenever I have spent anything of all the shrapnel. I keep th £1 & £2 coins in my purse and the 50p's go in my sealed pot. Then I put the rest into an old glass. When I need change for anything it comes out of the glass, which usually means the wheelie bin cleaning man and the window cleaner get paid in 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 pences. It gets rid of all my change, they're getting paid and I'm not breaking a note. Everyones a winner

Take it out of your purse and allocate it into the various little piles and then you know what it's for and you won't spend it on something else.

rising_from_the_ashes

freebyfifty wrote: »

What I do is empty my purse whenever I have spent anything of all the shrapnel. I keep th £1 & £2 coins in my purse and the 50p's go in my sealed pot. Then I put the rest into an old glass. When I need change for anything it comes out of the glass

I've started to do this - thanks to Freeby and Beanielou's advice - it helps save the odd NSD when you realise you need a pint of milk or - usually in my case - a pack of crumpets!!

I save various coins - 50p, 20p and £2 all go into their jars ... I put the odd £1 coin (usually if I've loads I'll stick a couple in) into the "mattress fund" jar .... but the rest is now going in a jar at the end of the week

StressedSteph

Thats a good idea thanks Fifty.

I was trying to be ruthless by putting it all straight in the Sealed Pot, but life isn't that simple is it .

Will start a jar with kids extra's and will put it in there.

Talking of the kids. Ds came home yesterday with two letters asking for money :eek:.

Trip to Tank museum (Payment by 15th Feb) £18
Trip to Ancient Technology Centre (Payment by 1st March) £15.

I think its really bad that they have sent both forms home at the same time. Thats an extra £33 I have to find from nowhere :mad:.

Off to try to squeeze it into my Spreadsheet.

wannabee_in_credit

Tell them you're not paying. Schools are not allowed to ask you to pay for trips any more - just voluntary contributions. Then they either let him go for nothing, or cancel the trip if they don't get enough contributions.
I have never personally done this but have been assured that for every trip I pay for dd for, there are at least 2 or 3 going without paying.
I think it's really off that the school send two trips home at the same time as well, and if it were me I would be at least ringing to let the Head know I was unhappy.

StressedSteph

Morning Diary,

Not had a bad start to the week so far.

I started the children on a new rewards system. I have a load of pretty beads in a large jar. So I renamed them "Perfect Pips".

They have a list of things they can do to earn Perfect Pips.
These include basics like, Making their bed, Drawing curtains, Getting Dressed. upto extras like 10 minutes of homework, Reading their School Book, Doing a Kind thing for someone.

Each Pip is worth 10p . At the end of each week they can count up their pips and I will write them out some "Mummy Money" for that amount (Basically an IOU).

They can then decide to save or spend their earnings :T.

It has worked out well so far this morning, they were all dressed and sorted really quickly and have both earnt 60p.
Only worry I have is that I maybe ought to have not made each Pip worth .10p. Think this could add up alot of money :eek:.

The children never get any pocket money and now I am not buying them the odd bits like I used to, I thought they ought to have the opportunity to earn some.

I am waiting for my MR T delivery to arrive, once that is delivered and packed away, I have to head into small town to bank some cheques and post a ring I sold on Fleabay last night. I got £85 for it, which is good .

Not much else to report really, sun is shining but the wind is FREEZING.

Speak to you all later xx

StressedSteph

Todays List

[STRIKE]List 14 Items on #Bay
Clean up Kitchen
Do weeks Menu Plan
Update weekly planner chalk board
Put away clean/Dried Washing
Pack away Mr T Shop
Run errands in Town
Prepare Dinner[/STRIKE]

clearmydebts

Love the pips idea Steph. I think I will introduce that when mine are older. They are nearly 3 and 16 months so a little young yet!