Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

Verbatim

What a clever OH Steph. Very impressive to fix it

StressedSteph

Morning all.

I had a booking for a treatment this morning at 10am, so thats £35 in the pot :j.

I spent alot of yesterday working on hubby's self-employment tax paperwork. I have broken the back on it now, so just need to do a little bit of work at the end of each month up to the end of March and then I will be organised and won't have a horrendous job in April. :T

Think after lunch I will get down the veg plot and get the muck spread on my two large beds behind the polytunnel. I have some old underlay that I can then lay over the top so that come the spring, I do not have a massive weeding job to deal with. I had such a terrible job of weeding beds last spring that it set me back alot and I never really won the war. If I can get organised while the weeds are not growing then I will have a fab growing season for 2015.

The polytunnel and raised beds have been covered for a while now, its just the last big potato and onion beds at the back that need sorting.

Rain is forecast for the rest of the week and I don't really garden in the rain . Too miserable.

Not much else to report, got to lift some lamb chops out of the freezer for dinner today, and I am baking a fresh loaf for lunch.

Will check in later xx

lhead123

Glad your hubby got the ps3 fixed, that's one less thing to worry about

We've had a rubbish day OH told me the other day that alternator on the car was sounding dodgy and we'd need a new one soon (maybe in a month or so)...today it broke Luckily I'd just got home so I didn't need a tow, however the belt has broken and oh's brother (who's a mechanic and originally bought the car) said when he bought it the alternator had gone, busted the belt and that in turn busted the cam belt and put all the timings out of whack so it wouldn't start...BIL fixed it and sold us the car, and now he's worried it's done the same thing again He lives 130 miles away and there's no way to get the car to him, so if it has done it again it will cost more than the car is worth to send it to a garage ARGH! So we might be without a car now!
I'm hoping when OH can take the engine apart on saturday there won't be any damage to the cam belt or the timings and it's just a simple case of a new alternator and belt, which OH can fix himself, and then we'll be back on the road....

Sorry to highjack! needed to vent

Glad you've got some spa bookings coming through again, hopefully it will pick up a bit more once the kids are back at school

xx

StressedSteph

lhead123 wrote: »

Glad your hubby got the ps3 fixed, that's one less thing to worry about

We've had a rubbish day OH told me the other day that alternator on the car was sounding dodgy and we'd need a new one soon (maybe in a month or so)...today it broke Luckily I'd just got home so I didn't need a tow, however the belt has broken and oh's brother (who's a mechanic and originally bought the car) said when he bought it the alternator had gone, busted the belt and that in turn busted the cam belt and put all the timings out of whack so it wouldn't start...BIL fixed it and sold us the car, and now he's worried it's done the same thing again He lives 130 miles away and there's no way to get the car to him, so if it has done it again it will cost more than the car is worth to send it to a garage ARGH! So we might be without a car now!
I'm hoping when OH can take the engine apart on saturday there won't be any damage to the cam belt or the timings and it's just a simple case of a new alternator and belt, which OH can fix himself, and then we'll be back on the road....

Sorry to highjack! needed to vent

Glad you've got some spa bookings coming through again, hopefully it will pick up a bit more once the kids are back at school

xx

Good heavens Lhead, that is a nightmare. Our cam belt broke on our truck two years ago and it ended up costing us £1800 :eek:. We ended up having to pay it (on a new credit card :-( )as we had no extra money to put to it to be able to buy another car. I will keep my fingers crossed that it is just a relatively simple fix. Good on your hubby being able to tackle the alternator fix.

What will you do if the cam belt is broken?. Can you manage without a car for a while?. We are a 2 mile dangerous country road to school and a 4 mile walk to a shop and we only have a bus once every Tuesday so we live in fear of our car breaking down badly during our debt busting period.

Let me know how it goes. xxxx

StressedSteph

Morning,

Boo Hoo its the last day before life goes back to normal and the school runs start .

The Christmas break has really helped give me some clarity for some of the problems I had last year.

I think I get a little lonely sometimes a home working on my own, so I tend to fill it will 2-3 meet ups with friends.

Trouble is my 3 really close friends are all busy 30+ hours per week working women so they cannot meet up all that often and at the drop of a hat, so I ended up meeting up with other mums from school.

I have unfortunately learnt though that the group of women at school are a little toxic and it seems they mainly want to meet up to complain and B**ch about other mums, spread rumours, fall out with different people each month and I found it all very exhausting and it made me very anxious. I try to be friends with everyone as no one person has done anything nasty towards me, but there seems to be two groups and you end up feeling like you have to make a choice between the groups and feel anxious if you have a drink with people from both groups :eek:. Awful....

So I have decided that coupled with me having tonnes to do at home, my treatments and also new cleaning jobs, I should STOP meeting up with any mums from school.

I can then concentrate on getting jobs done at home and on the smallholding and then put my energy into meeting up regularly with the 3 friends I treasure, rather than the negative circle at school.

Morning drop off is easy at school as you can just drive through, and drop them off without getting out the car.

Afternoon pick is trickier, but I am going to leave it to the last minute and then dash round, so I don't have to spend 10 minutes talking to everyone.

Its a silly plan I know, but it was a big issue to me last year and now I know that I don't need to meet up with these people and try to have millions of friends. Three close friends is quite enough for anybody.

Ok I have got that off my chest, today is mainly checking uniform is all sorted, kids showered/bathed, cake and cheese straws to be made for packed lunches.

Dd has her first of 2015 Gymnastics tonight at 6pm, so want to get them all organised during the afternoon so I don't have a panic when I get back tonight.

I have yabbered quite enough so speak laters. xxx

abba1772

Schools are back on up here woo hoo my kids were itching to get back to see their friends xx

I agree with the school mums being clicky it's not nice I have a couple of friends round here then I have my best friends who live about half hour drive away who I see every few months as like you said were all working so its hard to catch up face to face thank goodness for mobile phones and internet xx

kelpie35

I think that you have made the right decision about chatting with other mums.

I went through a similar experience when my son was in primary school and it used to cause me sleepless nights..............then realised there were much more important things in life.

Are you still going to do your shopping and filling up with fuel when you take DD to her activity.

Hope you have a good day. Take care x

StressedSteph

abba1772 wrote: »

Schools are back on up here woo hoo my kids were itching to get back to see their friends xx

I agree with the school mums being clicky it's not nice I have a couple of friends round here then I have my best friends who live about half hour drive away who I see every few months as like you said were all working so its hard to catch up face to face thank goodness for mobile phones and internet xx

Hi abba,


Yes I think I need to concentrate on learning to be happy on my own at home getting valuable jobs done, rather than accepting any old coffee invite just for a distraction.


I think if I put more energy into my 3 good friends then they will find more time for me in return.


xxxx

kelpie35 wrote: »

I think that you have made the right decision about chatting with other mums.

I went through a similar experience when my son was in primary school and it used to cause me sleepless nights..............then realised there were much more important things in life.

Are you still going to do your shopping and filling up with fuel when you take DD to her activity.

Hope you have a good day. Take care x

Hi Kelpie,


Yes I have lost sleep over the back stabbing and nasty atmospheres at the school gates.


Dd is at Gymnastics tonight, but I am trying not to buy any groceries this week, I will fill up with fuel tonight at Tesco's as its a lot cheaper.


Next week my plan will start properly when I will do my food shop on the Monday night.


xxxx

sweetpea26

Happy New Year Steph. You have been very busy and you are starting Jan. with a great attitude.

The school gate mams I can just about remember..what a bunch of gossipy women. Avoid them like the plague lol

Won't it be lovely to see the Spring again. Take care of yourself.

StressedSteph

sweetpea26 wrote: »

Happy New Year Steph. You have been very busy and you are starting Jan. with a great attitude.

The school gate mams I can just about remember..what a bunch of gossipy women. Avoid them like the plague lol

Won't it be lovely to see the Spring again. Take care of yourself.

Thanks sweetpea, Happy New year to you too.

Yes I am feeling really optimistic about 2015, fresh start, fresh attitude :T