Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

StressedSteph

Afternoon.

Abit of a dis-jointed day. I popped out this morning to buy some seeds & bulbs. I found abit of a bargain in the garden centre, in a bucket by the door was a reduced bin. "Everything £1" and in the bucket were Veg plot books, all abit faded and bent but still brilliant, so I picked up two for more reading .
While I was out i got invited for a coffee with a friend who lives up the road, so I naughtily snuck off there for an hour for a chat ;).

Got home at 11.30 and went down the poly-tunnel.
I have dug another 10 ft of ground and planted Broad beans and garlic.
I have also taken a gamble and sown some sweet pea seeds. I have read that people often sow them now, but I am not sure I can keep the tunnel warm enough, but I have covered them and will see what happens.

Had to come up to the house now as need to get dinner in the oven before I go on the school run. Dd has Netball tonight at 5pm so need to do a quick turn around with dinner.

That's about it for me today, I will plant up my pots outside the house with the tulip and daffodil bulbs tomorrow and carry on with my veg plot work.

Phew.......

ps. Nothing to report financially until the rest of hubbys invoices get paid. Sorry this isn't a gardening forum

misstara

Sounds like you've had a super busy day Steph, definitely deserved a coffee break with your friend

baglady1

Hi Steph, laughing at your it's not a gardening forum" comment but it's lovely to hear your doings - bits of shopping, coffee with a friend, day in London. You're sounding cheerful, happy but still focused on the debt busting. Having a bit more fun in life. Sorry if I'm getting too personal with those comments but I really enjoy your diary day to day. Cheers bl1

wantabetterlife

Me too Baglady :D

StressedSteph

Thanks MissT, Baglady and Wantabetterlife.

So glad my daily mutterings are not driving you all insane. I sometimes feel I don't stick to the financial chat enough, but during these long months of debt busting its impossible to be achieving something EVERY day.

Although I have just achieved a good financial thing. My renewal for our AA Breakdown membership came through just now. We HAVE to have breakdown cover as we live in a very rural area and have to travel long distances even to get to shops and also both my truck and hubbys van are over 10 years old so highly likely to leave us in the middle of nowhere :o.
Last years monthly cover was £11.90 and I was shocked to see that it had jumped to £17.75 per month for December renewal :eek:.
I rang up and the bloke said that they always renew at the standard price but as I have rung up to query they will look to see if there is a better deal. He managed to get it down to £13.31 per month. I have double checked against RAC and it is cheaper than them.
So glad I called, as I have saved myself £53 for the year.

A few years ago it would never have crossed my mind to call and question the cost, but now I get angry and get straight on the phone to haggle a better cost. Yay for me :T:T

Ok so today, I have potted up my 5 pots by the back door with fresh compost and lots of lovely tulip and daffodil bulbs and covered them with a layer of grit. All nice and tidy ready for a lovely spring neat year.

I have dug and prepared another 10ft of ground in the polytunnel and planted some peas and onion sets.

Had to give up at 1pm as I had to get dinner on as Ds has a busy football evening tonight and i need to have dinner ready so that after his school football match he can have dinner and then will go out again to football training at 645pm.

The village have fireworks on tonight which are about the same time as I have to pick Ds up from football. I am hoping I can pull in a layby and we can watch the fireworks from the car. (Yes I am that tight hahaha).

I have chopped up a pumpkin from the garden and added some other last bits of veg I have and I am currently boiling up a soup for dinner. I have put some dough to make in the bread machine, but I am slightly tight for time to turn it around. i might have to risk it and pull it out sooner than I should just so I can get it baked and ready for Ds.

Been a lovely sunny day today. Hope you all have had a good one xxx

lhead123

StressedSteph wrote: »

My new Filofax was delivered yesterday :T.
It was abit of a luxury at £30 :eek:, but I had gotten so disorganised this year, forgetting birthdays, appointments, losing my address book etc etc. I really wanted everything to be in one place.
Birthdays listed on a years view calendar so I didn't have to transfer it into a new diary every year.


It is AMAZING!!!! I am such a geek to get excited over it.


I have a week over 2 pages diary
Years view pull out for birthdays
Contacts sheets with everyone's address's
A section for my veg plot / garden plans
Shopping list section


In between each two page week diary I have added a small piece of paper for me to write my TO DO list of things I want to achieve that particular week/


If this doesn't get me organised then nothing will.

Oooh loving that you've got a filofax!! I'm a bit obsessed with them which one do you have? I've got a personal malden and a personal Holborn zip I can send you a load more facebook group links if you want to see what people do with them I print my own inserts as I don't get on with the filofax pre-made ones I have a hole punch specifically for filofax pages too :rotfl: that reminds me I need to print some more

Hope it does keep you organised it helps me a lot with keeping track of kids appointments and school activities.

L xx

StressedSteph

lhead123 wrote: »

Oooh loving that you've got a filofax!! I'm a bit obsessed with them which one do you have? I've got a personal malden and a personal Holborn zip I can send you a load more facebook group links if you want to see what people do with them I print my own inserts as I don't get on with the filofax pre-made ones I have a hole punch specifically for filofax pages too :rotfl: that reminds me I need to print some more

Hope it does keep you organised it helps me a lot with keeping track of kids appointments and school activities.

L xx

Hi lhead

Haha glad its not just me that gets excited about a Filofax :D

Mine is a A5 Metropol Organiser in red

I wanted a fairly big one so I could definitely fit everything into it. That's the mistake I have made in the past with having separate books for everything and I either lost them or just forget to look in them.

Feels so good to immediately write appointments into it so I know I am not going to forget them or double book etc.

I love the idea of printing my own ones, the official Filofax ones are sooo expensive. Think I paid £3.99 for just the birthdays annual planner :eek:.

Can you let me know where you find them?. Is it on the facebook pages? would love to know some of the good ones thanks in advance.

I will have to invest in the hole puncher for it.

Thanks hun xx

lhead123

I've sent you a message Steph

StressedSteph

lhead123 wrote: »

I've sent you a message Steph

Thanks Lhead, I have replied xx

StressedSteph

Morning all,


Children's tax credit went into the bank today, so I allocated it against a tonne of Direct debits due to come out in November.


I always allocate to those first, then mortgage then debts.


Hubby isn't working tomorrow. He has a funeral to go to. It is the father of a distant friend. I must be a terrible person because all I could think about was the lost wages . I think it is because it is a very distant connection, but guess its nice to pay your respects. .


Planning on baking my first ever Christmas Cake this morning. During our latest Village Ladies group, we had a Fondant Icing tutorial and we all make decorations for the top of our cakes. This has given me the impetus to get on and actually make one. Should be fun.....


Ds is off school today with a runny bum . He is safely ensconced upstairs away from cake baking, as don't want his germs near my cake :eek:.


That's about it for me, hope you are all well. Its gone really cold out there now