Debt free by 40 -- 19 Months and counting

lhead123

Hi Steph!

Glad you had a nice holiday. I agree with everyone that £100 isn't bad at all for 5 days! I understand that it's a bit stressful thinking about what category you'll steal the extra money from though...

Lovely weather in Dorset these last few days - we had friends round yesterday and went to the park + lunch (which used an entire loaf of bread!!)
We've got more friends coming today and we are going back to the park again! ha ha luckily this friend has suggested a picnic, so I won't have to feed an extra 2 children and an adult again

I think I might have got slightly sunburnt yesterday! The wind really fooled me into thinking it was cooler than it actually was...Think I'll cover up a bit today!

Hope you're having a wonderful school holidays. Do your kids go back on Monday? Poole & Bournemouth seem to be out of sync with everywhere else - DD doesn't go back until the 20th

xx

StressedSteph

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Glad the weather was good :T and I think £100 for a holiday is great! Holidays are about fun and letting the kids do what they're not usually allowed to do so I bet they had a great time and were really thankful for it, so forget the expense and move on ...I spent nearly £100 just on one day out!! I took the kids to a fair yesterday and didn't expect to have to pay to go in as I wasn't going on the rides, well it was £8 per person regardless of whether you were riding! So £32 before even starting there (and £25 in the petrol to get to mums) so I went on every single ride just because I was going to get my money's worth :rotfl: I hated every second of it and thought I was going to die on every ride :rotfl: much to my children's delight (??) and then we bought a take away when we got back to mum's house as it was already past all the kid's dinnertime............expensive, but fun and we don't do it often just like you don't go on holiday every month

Have a lovely day xx

Hi DFW,


Haha you made me laugh about the rides. I always wonder why adults have to pay to get into kids attractions when we REALLY don't want to be there :rotfl:.
Glad its not just me that accidentally lets holiday spending get slightly out of control . Glad you had a good Easter break though, precious memories with our children are worth the extra spends


xxxx

Chrysalis1976 wrote: »

Glad you had a good break, I agree that £100 spent isn't that bad when you consider it's Easter so don't get too hung up on that.

I hope everyone gets paid soon so you can get up to date.

C x

Hi Chrysalis,


Still waiting on a £400 bill to be paid. I am going to put it in my Emergency fund account to get it away from my main account that absorbs money too easily. I might pay the mortgage once I have enough, or if I don't need it, I will keep in my in starter emergency fund.


Its good to have a plan xx

lhead123 wrote: »

Hi Steph!

Glad you had a nice holiday. I agree with everyone that £100 isn't bad at all for 5 days! I understand that it's a bit stressful thinking about what category you'll steal the extra money from though...

Lovely weather in Dorset these last few days - we had friends round yesterday and went to the park + lunch (which used an entire loaf of bread!!)
We've got more friends coming today and we are going back to the park again! ha ha luckily this friend has suggested a picnic, so I won't have to feed an extra 2 children and an adult again

I think I might have got slightly sunburnt yesterday! The wind really fooled me into thinking it was cooler than it actually was...Think I'll cover up a bit today!

Hope you're having a wonderful school holidays. Do your kids go back on Monday? Poole & Bournemouth seem to be out of sync with everywhere else - DD doesn't go back until the 20th

xx

Hi Lhead,


Good to hear you have been having some nice days out with friends. I feel your pain on the whole loaf of bread issue. I am minding a friends three children today so that's five children to feed at lunchtime :eek:. I haven't done a food shop this week as money was tight so lunch is going to be an interesting mix of what is left over.


We had the same with the sunburn, all of us caught the sun on our faces over the weekend, even though it wasn't that warm. Going to sun cream up the children today to stop it happening again .


Enjoy the rest of the holidays, our are back on Monday (Thankfully ) xxx

StressedSteph

Morning


Ok I have 5 children in the house today :eek:


Think I will be lucky to get anything I want done today, I expect to be answering requests and tidying up behind them all day.


Meant to be a hot one today, I have two small bouncy castles that I bought in my spendy days, so I am planning on setting those up with a slide into a splash pool to keep the visiting children happy and also off the electronics .


I am happy to have them though as their mum is going through a tough time lately with a family/work mix disaster and has just resigned and has to deal with all of that today.


I am hoping to get these jobs done around 5 children:-


Finish Oiling the picnic table
Sort through (Konmarie) all the childrens keepsakes
Plant my Asparagus


Not sure what I will achieve today but its good to have a plan.


Not much financially happening today, still waiting for an outstanding £400 to come in, who promised to pay two days ago :mad:.


Thankfully all bills are covered for this week so any immediate panics are dealt with.


Off to drag out some bouncy castles, wish me luck xxx

misstara

5 children :eek: good luck :rotfl: the bouncy castles sound fab.

mummytogirls

Afternoon Steph,

What a lovely friend you are looking after those children for the day... 5 children though think id be ripping my hair out by now :rotfl:. Hope they enjoyed their day of bouncing and paddling xx

StressedSteph

Phew I'm exhausted :shocked:


Visiting friends children have now gone and my two are in the bath. :beer:


I now know why I stopped at two children, it is far too exhausting with anymore. Odd on one of them need you at any given moment. I haven't achieved ANYTHING on my list :rotfl:BUT I think they all had a lovely day, bouncy castles with a slide into a pool and a picnic outside on the grass. Can't get better than that when you are 5,7,8 and two 10 year olds. :T.


House is pretty much put back together, the washing machine is full of wet towels and the pizza dough is churning in the bread machine for dinner. Think I might put the kettle on lol.


Hope you all managed a nice day in the sun and maybe had a little more peace than I did.

Verbatim

Well done you. I agree you're a good friend to look after so many children. I'm glad ir went well albeit exhausting for you.

StressedSteph

Hi Verbatim,


The friends mother is my oldest and dearest friend so I am always happy to help her, I also know that she would help me if she could. We need friends like that in our lives xxxx


Hope you have been enjoying the sunshine xx

StressedSteph

Morning all,


Well I start my new 3.5 hour cleaning job this morning at 10am. Not overly filled with joy at the thought of it but then I guess its hard to feel excited about a cleaning job . I just want to stay home and get all my jobs done .


I guess I need to change my mindset. An extra £35 isn't much but its all money that goes into the family pot. I do feel guilty sometimes that hubby is always working and my contribution to the financial pot is very minimal. So hard to earn much around children, keeping house, running our smallholding and massive veg plot.


I had high hopes that this holiday let cleaning job would be just me left to get it done on my own with my headphones in. Instead I now know that I am jointly cleaning it with the woman who owns it, who is slightly scary and doesn't stop talking :eek:.
Think I have gotten used to my own company being at home for so many years.


Oh well....Got to drop two very reluctant children off at their grandparents at 930am and pick them up at 130ish. Trouble is I will then be stuck there for another good hour as leaving quickly is never possible at the Inlaws .


I sorted out and KonMarie'd all the children's Keep sake suitcases last night. They were over spilling everywhere in the attic and getting in my way every time I go up there for camping stuff. I sat down last night and seriously thinned out all the junk I had kept from their early years and they are now tidy in a box each. Feels good that now when I go into the attic I won't have paperwork and old pictures sliding around everywhere :T.


Not much else to report, Hubby job paid finally from last week so have put £380 into a buffer account, waiting to pay the mortgage at the beginning of next week which will be around the 13-14 April. :j. Feels good to be getting the mortgage paid so early this month, hoping I can just naturally inch it nearer the agreed Direct Debit date of the 1st of every month.


If my calculations are right I should be able to put away about £500 towards the Emergency fund by the end of this month. That's as long as nothing trips us up. Fingers Crossed.


Oh well had better get the children sorted out ready to go. Speak soon xxx

debtfreewannabe321

Good luck at the cleaning job I hope it goes well!

:eek: to the 5 kids! This is like when I used to have my friends 3 kids over every morning and afternoon (till 6pm :eek: ) it was actually making me lose my sanity by the end, and I remember her telling me, very nervously, that I wouldn't be needed any more as she was moving away......I nearly went and packed her bags for her so I could get rid of the kids quicker :rotfl: I love my friend dearly, she really is a good friend. BUT 5 kids in my small house (plus the moody teenager who was always moaning) was just too much! I take my hat off to childminders in my area in the same size house :eek: it's not easy! xx