Enjoying the Sunshine whilst Saving for the Rainy Day

debtfreewannabe321

slm6002 wrote: »

well done on all of your efforts Never heard of this kondo thing and now off to research it lol

As confessed I haven't read her stuff either :rotfl: However I have seen how she folds t shirts and long sleeved tops :eek: (utube) and I'm impressed with that! I can't seem to find much info on how it actually works for each category with instructions without buying the book! (few days before payday here so no chance of buying it yet :rotfl:)

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

NOOOOOO!! Your life will never be the same again. And.. in a good.. but exhausting sock thanking, plastic bag folding way.

DFW that storage thing is awesome. I was like... OHH I need that, followed half a millisecond later by.. it's a set of stairs for a monster climbing 3 year old. :rotfl::eek: Maybe in a couple of years...

If you bought another, you could tip it upside down and put it on top of the one you've got, then hang the stuff upside down :money: defo space saving.. And stops the climbing.. hmmm

Yes my kids used to climb ours too until we turned it around so it wasn't leading straight up to the windowsill and it faced a wall. They got bored of that pretty quickly and stopped climbing it . It's a great piece though and mine is still wood coloured. I meant to paint it but never got round to it :rotfl: We also have an area in the front room dedicated to toys as that's where the childminded kids tend to play. So the toys i'm happy for them to all share (i.e lego and sturdy toys and crafting/pens etc and not my kids favourite bits) all go there. That way if the kids have friends over they can all go over there to choose something
I would love a playroom for them! But obviously it's off the cards for the time being, I think I must have just been very spoilt without realising it growing up as we had a playroom and a huge bedroom each too so DH keeps telling me to "get real" :rotfl: Anyway i've gotten rid of lots they don't play with so i'm happy about that :T

debtfreewannabe321

So the clocks went forward but I didn't go to bed until 11pm last night (12am I guess as clocks changed) and kids obviously woke up at 7am (although clocks say 8am trying to trick me into thinking they've slept in) and clocks changing confuse me for days and days!!!

This morning a few more items were collected :T and a couple of dvds are still to be collected very soon . I've only made a few quid from it but I'd rather know it's gone to a good home and not to landfill so i'm happy enough. It's raining cats and dogs. I have to walk my dog. :eek: Should be a NSD again. I am thinking of making dinner from the fridge as we have lots in there. DS1 being ill and DH being absent has meant the amount of food being consumed has more than halved over the last few days :eek: I didn't realise just how much ds1 ate :eek:. And yet he is skinny as a rake. How is that fair! He's trying to put on weight and i'm eating less than half of what he does and I put weight on :eek: no fair!

So today I think I will: walk the dog, have lunch, tidy kids room (as it's got stuff piled in the corner where I tried to start on their room yesterday and gave up), hang clothes all over house to dry if it's still raining, have a quick look at my budget again. Find dinner. Not in that order specifically

If nothing pending for tomorrow I will transfer all remaining money in current account to DH's CC (:mad:) there is £7 in there currently :rotfl:. Tomorrow i'll update how much i've managed to save when I've finished rounding down all accounts etc.

Did I say I groomed the dog myself? Took hours to do and I still managed to miss bits :rotfl: well now it's been about a week it's started to grow back (already :eek:) and it looks ok now! In fact unless you look super close you wouldn't know he hadn't actually been to the real groomers, as I managed to do a proper schnauzer cut and everything :T. £37 saved each time I think I will just do it myself from now on in!

Ooh the doorbell just went. It was the kids' dinnerlady :rotfl: here to buy the dvds. I hadn't recognised her pic on fb oops lol. Anyway that's all I was waiting in for today the rest is being collected tomorrow so that's good can go do things now . Wonder what I can sell/chuck out today

Sun_Addict

Well done on all the decluttering and selling. Plus the dog grooming. I've been doing a bit of decluttering myself but I need to be more ruthless really.

debtfreewannabe321

SA- I was doing the same as you I think randomly throwing out one or two things at a time to charity which didn't really make a difference as they weren't big things. I think the thing that made a difference was being systematic about it. Going through all the kids toys at once, doing all the bedding at once and so on.

I haven't done any more de cluttering today as I made lunch and took the kids out for a dog walk earlier and after we got home everyone needed bathing! It was so wet out :eek::eek: So after I'd done the dog each child got in separately and then I decided to cut the smaller two kids hair as ds2 especially seems to be full of knots lately (it's naturally curly too so -bouffant like!) They look much better with a trim and everyone is in pjs and clean now :T My washing machine is on for the second time today though....! Dinners done, just got it from the fridge so I have plenty of dinners still (well two or three and we've only one day left till payday :T)

I've organised to see a friend on Tuesday. Hopefully the money I made from the selling bits will cover the entry to soft play although not sure about the cost of the food in there yet. I have only allocated £40 to "going out" next month and if i'm not careful i will blow all of it in two trips out :eek:. I am also meeting with another friend but we've not arranged when, that will probably be cinema if weather is not good. I want to see the new Cinderella so i'm going to take them at some point anyway

I'm wanting to go and see my mum & sister also so I might factor in a trip around Easter Sunday I think.

SO back to the house, it should be looking cleaner and less cluttered but for some reason looks worse at the moment :eek::eek: Not sure where i've gone wrong :rotfl:. I think once everything has been sold/taken to charity the front room will be back to normal Oh and i've also got someone coming to collect dd old bike for scrap next week. The garden is looking much better now all the fencing has gone :T.

NSD today as we were going to stop at the shop on the way back from the dog walk but DD had fallen in a puddle and screamed her head off until she got back to the car (luckily we were on our way back anyway!) and ds2, well he's just a boy and was covered in mud anyway :rotfl: I had managed to slip over once too so had mud all over my hands, coat, legs & bum :rotfl: so we decided against treats! And the money is still in my purse

Eager_Elephant

DH asked to Kondo his drawers when I did mine so today we got on and done it!
I did mine drawer by drawer and it's not finished yet but we did DH's by category so did all the tops (t shirts, shirts and jumpers) and then trousers and then PJ's.
It was definitely better doing it this way as you can see at a glance what you have got.


I should have counted but I reckon he got rid of about 50 tops (some went to charity and some have gone in the bin), some underwear, a few pairs of shorts and trousers)


Everything now fits into his drawers and wardrobe so hopefully when the washing is ready to be put away it will be easier to do.


He has so many empty drawers now it is lovely.


I really need to finish mine off and then look at DD's.


I agree that it looks worse when you are half way through especially if you have to store things before they can leave the house.
I have found a charity shop with a clothing bank outside the back doors so you can drop off at any time and I know it's going to that charity shop rather than abroad.


Marie Kondo says that eventually it will all look tidy, the chest of drawers and wardrobes you have done will continue to stay tidy as you work your way around the house.
All the mess will eventually be sorted, some thrown and the rest will find their natural home and then will be kept tidy.


Sorry to keep going on about Kondoing!!!

liltdiddylilt

Evening!!

I am SO impressed with you doing a shnauzer cut.. genuine actual jaw dropped respect for that!

And with managing to cut the kids hair too. Jellytot (as you probably know) has corkscrew curls so I got away with doing hers for quite a long while but it is so thick, a side parting naturally and needs layers to take the weight out not to mention all the feathering in. I really don't mind paying someone else to deal with it :rotfl:

As for finding that decluttering is making it look worse, it is always the case. In order to clean out a cupboard I have to empty the entire thing on the floor, to wipe down the shelves etc and start again. So of course it looks horrifying to anyone walking in looking at me knee deep in gone off couscous and 14kg of pasta spirals the point is, it gets better in the end. I like the anticipation of knowing I am going to move house. I tend to get far more ruthless then.

As for Ms Kondo, the mainstay of her theory is to keep the things that bring you JOY only. So memories of ornaments being on shelves of people you wish to remember.. that is a keeper. Same with the ash trays. I've got a little jewellery box of my mama's. She has been gone 15 and a half years, but I still open it to touch the velvet she touched. I play with the cheap Christmas Tree earrings that are about 1 carat gold or something equally rubbish. I see them in her ears, and I remember being a teeny little girl sitting on her lap touching them in her ears and marvelling at her skin as soft as a peach. Some things in this life are priceless. I can bring her to mind any given second of the day, but nothing jolts me back like those earrings. I can feel her skin xxx

grannyx2

Lilt that is beautiful x :A

debtfreewannabe321

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

DH asked to Kondo his drawers when I did mine so today we got on and done it!
I did mine drawer by drawer and it's not finished yet but we did DH's by category so did all the tops (t shirts, shirts and jumpers) and then trousers and then PJ's.
It was definitely better doing it this way as you can see at a glance what you have got.


I should have counted but I reckon he got rid of about 50 tops (some went to charity and some have gone in the bin), some underwear, a few pairs of shorts and trousers)


Everything now fits into his drawers and wardrobe so hopefully when the washing is ready to be put away it will be easier to do.


He has so many empty drawers now it is lovely.


I really need to finish mine off and then look at DD's.


I agree that it looks worse when you are half way through especially if you have to store things before they can leave the house.
I have found a charity shop with a clothing bank outside the back doors so you can drop off at any time and I know it's going to that charity shop rather than abroad.


Marie Kondo says that eventually it will all look tidy, the chest of drawers and wardrobes you have done will continue to stay tidy as you work your way around the house.
All the mess will eventually be sorted, some thrown and the rest will find their natural home and then will be kept tidy.


Sorry to keep going on about Kondoing!!!

This is so true as everytime I felt a bit down about the "toy" situation I went upstairs and looked in my "airing cupboard" cupboard for inspiration and to feel better :rotfl: The kids also have one tidy cupboard too so I am happy with that

Please keep going on about it btw as then I can just take tips from you, lilt, steph and anyone else decluttering/kondo-ing without reading the book :rotfl:

debtfreewannabe321

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

As for Ms Kondo, the mainstay of her theory is to keep the things that bring you JOY only. So memories of ornaments being on shelves of people you wish to remember.. that is a keeper. Same with the ash trays. I've got a little jewellery box of my mama's. She has been gone 15 and a half years, but I still open it to touch the velvet she touched. I play with the cheap Christmas Tree earrings that are about 1 carat gold or something equally rubbish. I see them in her ears, and I remember being a teeny little girl sitting on her lap touching them in her ears and marvelling at her skin as soft as a peach. Some things in this life are priceless. I can bring her to mind any given second of the day, but nothing jolts me back like those earrings. I can feel her skin xxx

Ahhh what a lovely story :lovethoug thank you for sharing. I think that answers my question about the ornaments on my bookshelf then. I glance over there all the time and I don't see them in my mind's eye as on my shelf but on my nan's fireplace Will definitely keep them then.

grannyx2 wrote: »

Lilt that is beautiful x :A

I totally agree :A
And granny!!!! Can I just say you don't look a bit like I pictured you. When I picture a granny, well I sort of picture one of my grannies :rotfl:. When really I should have pictured you as a young granny like my mum was (I made her a granny at 40 :rotfl:) and whenever people see us together they usually think of her as my young aunty or older sister (I try not to take offence to this and think people are telling me I look 20 years older than I should :rotfl:)! It looks like you are having a fab time in Aussie too. Totally jealous here!

debtfreewannabe321

I slept in until 10.30am today :eek::T:j:beer: I feel like a new woman :j Even if I take into account the clocks going forward that is still 9.30am on my body clock time which is also amazing .

So today I am waiting in until 12.51 for a delivery. I'm amazed that they can tell me down to the one minute when my parcel will arrive :rotfl: So my old humax box will be going back and apparently my new one will be handed over at the same time?!? We'll see. Sounds too simple after the nightmare i've had with them so far!
DS1 got up two minutes after me this morning screaming "come here, come here" I assumed it was a spider :rotfl: but there was a bug on his pillow! He then said " i've seen hundreds" :eek: I googled bed bugs as I didn't have a clue and they looked similar CUE panic from me, ordering him to strip his bed, boil the sheets, throw the pillows in the bin and put the duvet in the garden on the line for inspection all in the space of one minute (3 minutes after i'd gotten out of bed :rotfl:) SO 5 minutes after i'd gotten up a wash was on boiling sheets, duvet covers & pillowcases, the pillows were in the bin and I was ordering him to hoover and polish everywhere in his room. 2 minutes after this he 'fesses up that actually he might have exaggerated a little and he'd only seen one :mad: bloody man child!!! :mad: So he's getting new pillows for nothing now and a clean room, oh well I guess gotta look at the bright side of it :rotfl: I think the bug had actually flown in through the wide open window :wall: :rotfl:

So anyway whilst I was sleeping the two smaller kids had been cleaning their room :T they liked the fact i'd gotten rid of "baby furniture" and tidied their room a little and they'd carried on :T the room looked great although not exactly how I like to tidy (throwing it all in the wardrobe) and I thought, it will do for now :rotfl:

So today I will be buying new pillows from the child benefit :rotfl: and getting a bit of fridge shopping in with that money. Everything is bare -cupboards & fridge. I do randomly still have a few dinners left though (mainly pre-cooked ones in the freezer) so I will go get a few bits as I won't have time to shop tomorrow with meeting my friend. I will do a bigger shop Weds/Thurs
I've checked pending pay and it's £350 more than usual :T but i've a feeling Dh will want all of it for his trip over there he's planning. But if it's not going onto the CC then i'm happy and if it means I don't have to find it from my usual budget i'm also happy. Not sure how it will impact on savings though. I've messaged him to see how much he wants before doing anything in budget with it. I am savvy enough to be able to save a few hundred quid somewhere along the budget anyway so even if I don't get the £600 saved that i'd like I damn well intend to get half of that saved