2014 - New Rules to Live By

Pennydropped

Good news! I've managed to get a partial refund from my holiday booking. I couldn't get a refund of the Sun fees (as it was a Sun holiday), but I got a complete refund of the money paid to the actual holiday place. I just received it today, so am very happy with that!

I put up some blinds in the dining room today. They look great. The wall is pretty rubbish, so I was a little worried, but it's all up and seems sturdy enough. It looks so much better than the curtains that were up previously. That means in the autumn I can move on to replacing the flooring in the dining room. :j

I haven't gone back to finish the bannister yet. I'm still giving it baleful looks as I was working on it just before I got ill, so I a bit loathe to revisit it at the moment. Plus it's pretty warm and I was worried it would mean the stain would get a bit sticky and take longer to dry. I'll get back to it probably next month when I'm feeling more myself. It's obviously my nemesis. :rotfl:

Pennydropped

Busy day today. A trip into the high street to pick up ds2's glasses from SpecSavers (2 pairs free with voucher), a stop at Primark for some new socks and pants purchased for the dcs (as well as an umbrella for ds2 as he has been wanting his own for ages), and happily a brief foray into the bank to close my old joint account with my ex (well, soon to be ex, anyway). All done and dusted, so no worries that I'd be liable for anything that he might decide to do with the account. It's just been sitting there ages with a zero balance, not used, so I felt it best to cut that tie and lessen any potential liability. And then a grocery shop to stock up again. A bit ouch, but needed to be done. Plus some HE for ds2 of course.

Now I can rest a bit. Whew! :cool:

Pennydropped

The last month has been an exercise in just trying to keep up with everything and making planning lists. Appointments, school functions and meetings, paperwork, housework, and basic day to day tasks have been the focus. That and recovering my health. I'm still getting there slowly. I cannot believe how long it's taking, but I imagine the stress, lack of sleep, and chaotic schedule of my life is slowing it down somewhat.

I'm organising my "winter prep" list at the moment. A few of the items are crossovers to the DIY list - such as putting blinds on the kitchen window and possibly my bedroom window. But a lot of it is taking out and going through winter clothing to see what fits and what doesn't, what needs to be replaced, and what just isn't worn anymore. Anything that wasn't even worn in the last year is going to the charity shop. No point in having it taking up room here. I've replaced a number of things for dc1 recently, but he chews through clothing and picks at threads, which means he goes through more than other dcs might. There's no getting around that.

There is also a DIY list of things I'm hoping to get done by mid November. Obviously the bannister is one of them. :rotfl: Also included is wallpaper on the stairway wall, replacing the flooring in the dining room, filling any gaps and holes in the plaster throughout the house, and possibly painting the bathroom. I need to reglue down some edges of the wallpaper in the bathroom, but it's the wallpaper you paint over, so I'm hoping if I can get the edges down neatly enough that I can just do a good painting job and that's it. At some point I'll need to take it all down, I think, and redo it, but that is definitely not on the cards for this year!!

I've been doing what I can in the garden, but I've finally admitted to myself that in order to get it all done properly (without taxing my health unduly) I will need to hire someone to do some of the work. I can't afford to get it all completely done, but I think if I get some of it started this summer/autumn, and then the rest next spring, it will spread out the expense enough to be manageable. Until I can get it sorted, I will continue to whittle away at it myself as I can, which will hopefully keep the eventual expense down.

Anyone that has a phobia about Christmas might want to look away now - it's less than 6 months until Christmas!!!! :xmassmile:xmastree::snow_laug:santa2::rudolf:

Yes, yes, I know. I've already been paging through my Christmas binder that I put together, thinking about how I want to decorate, obviously using what I already have and possibly adding a few new items to the mix. Now that my dining room is looking good (and hopefully with a new floor in there by Christmas!!), I want to make it look nice and festive in there. I want to put a wooden mantel/shelf of some sort on my fireplace, but it's not something I'm sure I can do, so will have to have a think about that.

But the day is moving along now and I've got to get doing things.

Pennydropped

The "winter prep" list is printed off, and I'm slowly scheduling things that need to be done, ticking off what has been done, and planning when best to do some of it. I love this prepping for winter. Once we're less than 6 months until (ssshhhhhh!) Christmas, I tend to feel more optimistic about everything.

Certain things - like buying UHT milk - I will need to wait until closer to winter, say October, to make sure the shelf life is through the whole winter. Other things, such as cold meds, painkillers, and calpol, I will stock up on from now until mid autumn, adding 2 items to my grocery shop every week until I'm stocked up. I need to buy vitamins ahead of time as well - I tend to buy them when they are 3 for 2.

Not a necessity but certainly something I'd like to do is decorating for autumn more this year. Not Halloween, although I do have a few decorations for that, but more harvest-y autumn stuff. I've been browsing through Pinterest (a dangerous thing that!) and looking for inexpensive or free decorations that will look nice. Once I've decided on some things, I'll jot them down and make a short list of any items I need to buy or make, so it's all ready to go in September.

Finishing off some lists today and starting some prep work. Can't wait!

Pennydropped

I took the dcs out today to the cinema. We went to an autistic showing, due to their special needs, so as it was over lunch time, I packed them a nice lunch of nibbles and a water bottle for each of them to eat, saving loads of money as cinema food is so expensive! It's rare for us to find an activity that both dcs can cope with that isn't a logistical nightmare, so I was thrilled that it went so well today. I will be ordering a CEA card, so that we can afford to do that again!

I'm finding as I'm cleaning in the house that I am running across things that are just "stuff" and are not needed. So I'm going to make an effort to rid the house of extra miscellaneous junk. The picnic blanket that we never use as it's too small and narrow. The broken games controller that is sitting in living room. The huge amount of tupperware (or more accurately store brand) containers that are just not used regularly. The older colouring books that the dcs have mostly filled and no longer use. The Thomas the Tank DVDs that the dcs no longer watch. Baby blankets (youngest is in school now!).

I've got a growing pile of clothing that the dcs have outgrown, and I'll be taking that in to the charity shop or clothing donation bins soon. And oddly, a number of old eyeglasses that are no longer being used. I believe they can be donated as well, so I will look into doing that. I probably have 6 pairs of my old glasses just sitting in cases up in my room that I can no longer use. Why? Heaven only knows why I haven't donated them previously. I guess in the chaos of day to day living, I am focusing more on the getting specific things done and I often don't notice the minor clutter here and there.

I don't have an ebay account, and from what I can tell, ebay has become a real nightmare to sell stuff on, so I'll stick to local donation whenever possible.

kbl

Hi, haven't been on here in a while, so only getting caught up now, have you looked into selling on facebook or gumtree? Might be worth a shot?? Anyhoo, just taking a quick minute to log in, must drop dd to work and finally get to bed (I work nights), am absolutely shattered, 'chat' soon

Pennydropped

I've thought about different modes of selling, even car boot sales as there's a decent one nearby, but all the faff of packing items up and getting in to the post office (have to drive to one) with dcs along that don't deal well with the inevitable wait becomes a nightmare. I am taking the simpler route and donating where possible. I don't mind that - declutters as well as benefiting someone else hopefully.

Family birthdays coming up and I'm trying to organise gifts, but with the dcs here, it's difficult. I can't buy a child's gift when they're with me, and any family gifts purchased means the child is saying "oh, so-and-so, we bought you xxxx today!!" I think I'm going to have to resort to online purchases for now.

My dcs are making "lego displays" out of their many legos... the problem now is that they want to display them. I have about half a dozen "displays" lined up on various things in the living room at the moment. I've warned them that before the end of the day they have to pick ONE display each, which will be on display for an agreed upon time period, and then it must be dismantled and returned to the lego box. Otherwise I'll be up to my ears in lego displays. I can imagine the dusting that will entail!!

I have a few meetings in my home this week, including one for my carer's assessment. I am interested to see how this goes, as it's my first ever. I am hoping it will lead to some reliable appropriate childcare as I cannot even go get my tooth removed as I do not have the childcare available and I cannot keep relying on my friends to step in (they have their own families and commitments).

I'm going to wander out to the kitchen and inhale a great big coffee (or two) as the ds1 woke up before 4am this morning (even after waking 2 times during the night) and I am absolutely wiped out!

Pennydropped

I am slowly working my way through the house, getting rid of things I no longer need or use. Some of it I've had for years and it's just sitting there taking up space. I have 4 bags ready to go to the charity shop - just trying to figure out when I can take it there!

I've been ill again, which means stepping down the activity level slightly to make sure I don't overdo it and end up worse. Taming the paper tiger is an important part of what I'm doing, so that's a good thing for me to work on without the need to lug things upstairs or downstairs and wear myself out.

Children at home 24/7 now, which also tends to limit what I can do. That's another reason why I'm focusing on decluttering at the moment. I have that list of DIY projects to get moving on in September, and the less "stuff" I have to work around, the better! :rotfl:

My Christmas savings account has finally been opened and money transferred into it from my regular savings that I had "earmarked" for Christmas. I've been meaning to do that for ages, but kept putting it off as I thought I would need to go into the branch to open it. Turns out that I could open it either by phone or online. So happily, that is all done now. I'm going to set up a transfer for a regular amount of money both for my regular savings and my Christmas savings - it's a matter of "if I don't see it, I won't miss it!"

This time of year I have to do online shopping for groceries, as the dcs don't cope well with the supermarket. Therefore, I have a list of "winter prep" items that I will add to each shop to make sure the shop is just over the amount that gives me free delivery. :cool: Just another tick off the "winter prep" list.

Pennydropped

Grocery order is being delivered today. I'm also going to be fine tuning the budget for the next 6 months, including my "DIY budget" to make sure I match the finances to what I want to get done, including a few jobs that I cannot do myself and need to pay someone to take care of (electrical work).

I've had a long think about my fireplace. As much as I would love to have a working fire, I've no place to keep the logs (which means they'd be more expensive due to smaller amounts purchased at a time), the fireplace needs repair (costly), and the dcs have asthma. Overall, I'd say the idea of having a wood burning stove or working fireplace is foolhardy. Oh yes, it was a lovely dream. I'll be the first to admit that I love a good roaring fire in the fireplace in the winter. But both dcs have special needs and cannot be relied upon to leave a fire alone (or soot/fireplace mess for that matter!), and it wouldn't be safe. I've finally resigned myself to the idea that it's not going to happen. Reading a recent thread on MSE about fireplaces brought home to me that they really are a lot of work - it's not JUST about the lovely fire. There's maintenance, cleaning, storage. A lovely dream to have it, but I must be realistic. So I'll stick with my electric wood burner. Much cleaner, no logs, and no soot.

Pennydropped

I went through my last stack of magazines today. I think it's telling that I pulled/cut out very little. Admittedly, some of the recipes were ignored due to dietary restrictions alone - what's the point of saving a recipe that I can't make or eat? It's a blatant reminder that I don't really NEED these magazines. They are a such a waste of my money. I still do enjoy paging through magazines, but I stick to free supermarket publications instead. I can then enjoy a coffee at home with my feet up, paging slowly through and browsing, but without the expense. In this day and age, with the internet and all the online blogs and articles, there's no reason to shell out money on magazines. And now my recycling bin is full. :cool:

My piano has been on my mind lately. I love it, don't get me wrong. It's a big old upright that I've had for years. It needs tuning, but that hasn't really bothered me too much. The issue is the space it takes up in the living room. A LOT of space. And I'm always hesitant to play it at certain times - I try to keep it to the middle of the day so I'm not bothering the neighbours, even though it's not on a common wall. I've seriously considered selling it and getting an electronic piano that is smaller and has a volume control (and doesn't need to be tuned regularly!).

There are definite positives to having my upright piano - but are they justified? First of all, I like playing classical music on the piano. I've never felt a keyboard could do it justice, however, the times they are changing and some electronic pianos are not only very good, but very affordable as well (and any money I earn from selling the piano would be put towards the electric piano). It's got framed pictures and some decoration on it - which might be a bit difficult on a smaller electric piano. But I hardly think keeping an upright piano as a picture shelf makes sense. :rotfl:

An electric piano saves money in the long run just from the viewpoint of tuning. I am guilty of not doing the calculations, but I would think the electricity it uses would be relatively negligible. There's also the matter of volume control and headphones - something that cannot be used for my upright piano. A definite plus!! Hopefully it would take up less room in the living room as well (and be of a size that I could move it if needed, which is definitely not an easy option with the upright!!)

I need to take some time to do a little research and see what I come up with.