The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

kidcat

Shelley thanks - I am working on the theory that its half term next week so am letting stuff slide, washing mountain has erupted and the iroing too but as there is no rush for uniforms etc I will catch up next week.

Have sorted my mortgage deal out, I wimped out of valuation of house and simply took the deal offered by my current provider, as it was still an excellent rate and way less than any others around for us. Have managed to shorten the term by 7 years and we still save £100 per month. In two years the loan to my parents finishes and we will look at reducing the term again. I look at it that we are managing paying a higher sum at the moment and the quicker we pay it off the better.
Having the rate set for 5 years gives us lots of stability too. Phew, I am always so nervous around mortgages, as I still feel very wary that anyone ever gave us a mortgage to begin with, I have a deep rooted fear that one day someone will ring and say its all been a huge mistake,

fuddle

My Scottish friends, what is your take/local/public opinion on Scottish Independance?

About to get my mince in the slow cooker, dumplings tonight.

Need to stitch (again!) DD's school tights. She lost her first tooth last night. Her friends get £5 note from the tooth fairy and a note. It's news to me (£1 under pillow with eldest DD) eldest DD wrote a note from the fairy but DD still only got £1. She woke me this morning chuffed to bits with her pound and super excited at the note to take for show and tell. You all might think I'm hard and should have given what she expected but I'm a stickler for not giving into pressure (from any form) and stuck to my guns with my own families traditional amount. The amount was irrelevant to DD's excitement although I fear a ribbing at school over her pound. She'll learn lessons in it that will be character building and realise that there's always someone ready to tell you they're better and getting more... if she can stay happy with her pound and note I'll be pleased.

Beautiful day. I hope you all got through the past 24 hours ok. I've heard we won't be able to recover from this till May but summer is likely to be hot. Pinch of that salt needed.

Memory_Girl

My take on Independence is that there should ALWAYS be dumplings in mince!!!

MG

PRINCESSX87

Morning all.

Finally, we’re seeing some sun shine. Not a lot just enough to give some hope!

FPK: Wedding plans are getting there. Still haven’t officially booked anything yet, As I’m worried about putting cash down as a deposit and somewhere going bust. We’re still sourcing the best deal on wedding insurance.


Kidcat: Scarlet fever! Poor you having loads on your shoulders. Wishing you & the family a speedy recovery. X

Nutty: Good to hear your mum is getting on track.

Fuddle: £5 a tooth? I’m sure that’s just a selected few children. When we was little it was 50p or a £1 maybe £1.50 if it was a biggie! The only time we got £5 for something like a tooth or illness is if we was frightened about something and it was more of a encouragement thing, IE: If you have a filling & your brave, The tooth fairy will leave you something EXTRA special. I’m sure your little one, Will soon forget anything negative when her other friends are more interested in the note from the fairy.

OH has been home for the past 2 days. Meaning yet another week of short wages. We seem to have more & more periods of everything going belly up. We are finally down to only having 4 major debts to clear & was on the right track, But now, I’m worried we’re again heading for a downward spiral, So again, I’ve been on the hunt for more MS / OS living idea’s to help reduce our outgoings.

We have also managed to save money by putting it aside for a bulk pay off one of the biggest debts. So far we’re around £50 which doesn’t sound a lot but it’s a huge milestone here. We’ve agreed come Christmas this year, This money is all going towards the debts and hopefully, Come next year for our wedding we will have some spare cash.

Valentine’s day tomorrow, Does anyone celebrate it? We are having only one celebration tomorrow and that’s my dear mum’s birthday. I am sick to death of seeing all this money making rubbish all over the supermarkets.

FairyPrincessk

Princess, just keep on with it, you will get there! On Valentine's day, OH mentioned he was going to cook something nice. He finishes work early tomorrow. If I'm feeling better after teaching I may make something for pudding, but that will probably be the extent of it, and then only because we like an excuse for nice food! I doubt we'd ever go to a restaurant--they'll be crowded and expensive and we prefer to save such extravagance for things that we decide are important (i.e. we may eat at one next week after a very important event but it will probably be lunch time so cheaper and still then well considered in our budget).

I don't begrudge anyone who does celebrate more, I think it is important for us all to have regular things that we celebrate, but likewise I think it is perfectly possible to do things on your own terms.

monnagran

Hi.

Re: Valentines Day. My Ds2 & DIL gave us as part of our Christmas present A De-luxe Afternoon Tea at one of the most exclusive hotels on the Island. It has to be before the end of Feb so we booked it for this Friday. We had completely forgotten about St V's Day but surmised that romantic couples are not likely to be indulging in Afternoon Tea, De-luxe or otherwise.

x

fuddle

I'd swap an afternoon tea for a romantic meal any day monnagran!

We tend to scoff at Valentine's Day and always have done, even before I grew to hate consumerism... but I do have a gift for my old man - a tweed flat cap it will raise a laugh and be beneficial for his wee balding rounded head

Possession

£5 for a tooth!? My two have only ever had a £1 and that's all they will have. I've heard of their friends having £2 but definitely not £5.
You've made me want mince and dumplings now, but am trying to stick to the meal plan and it's toad in the hole tonight, using up the mountain of Approved Foods batter mix.
We don't do anything for Valentine's Day, but I managed to get a £5 off £25 spend voucher and apparently M&S see the spend before the meal deal discount so I might get an M&S meal for £15. Possibly. It would have to be something that could stretch to the 4 of us though, gone are the days we can eat on our own on a non-school night!

fuddle

So funny. Dreading the days when my two want a nice cut of steak and won't be fobbed of with macaroni cheese while we indulge in the medium rareness of it all. Ouch. Nasty parents.

Speaking of which I was asked to cook a beautiful steak for a lady last night. I'm not allowed anywhere near good meat at home - DH is a great cook and its too precious to be faffed about by me. Thankfully the lady likes it well done so I got away with it but I was ashamed to be ruining a lovely piece of meat.

stiltwalker

Afternoon all


Hope you are all surviving the weather. Poor DD hated the wind and rain lashing the house last night and got so distressed and wouldn't go to sleep so she is really tired and wobbly today.


She is however very, very happy as I turned up in school after lunch with the hired communication device!! She got the biggest smile on her face, took it out of my hands and immediately pressed "it" "come" "it" "come" before blowing it kisses!


Right, got heaps to do and really shouldn't be lally gagging around on here - catch you all later - Hugs X