EH - Keeping on track. (AKA focus Woman! FOCUS!)

starnac

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Back in on the 4th...and will be walking through the door as an employee!

Ooh thats exciting! I was going to ask the same as Cheery but again feel free to tell us to butt out :rotfl::eek:

EssexHebridean

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Ooh, that's exciting! :j :j :j Are there any practical implications (other than not having to do a tax return??) Feel free to ignore if you'd rather not answer!

starnac wrote: »

Ooh thats exciting! I was going to ask the same as Cheery but again feel free to tell us to butt out :rotfl::eek:

Butt out, the pair of you....Nope, just kidding! :rotfl:

Yep - bit less flexibility, obviously - having to remember that I need to ask to take holiday, not simply announce that I'm doing it, will be novel! Money will be a bit more - we worked it out based on my current day rate, plus the increase that should have been put in place in January gone but wasn't for various reasons, and factoring in the increase that would have been put on in January 2016 had they not been employing me, so that means a bit more coming in. Major pluses other than that are yes, no more tax returns (although I'll obviously have one to do in April and they MAY ask me to do one the year after, but we'll see on that) and paid holiday of course - knowing exactly what I have coming in each month will be ace!

Mahoosive listage is now under control I think...I've edited above again to avoid filling my entire diary thread with copied versions of it! :rotfl:

Lovely morning of cooking here so far - the flat smells gloriously of mince pies and sausage rolls! I've also realised that lunch will have to be mince pies and sausage rolls as I have nothing much else in!

Cheery_Daff

Mince pies and sausage rolls sounds like a great lunch In fact I was planning to have just mince pies myself :rotfl:

Sounds like it's worked out pretty well being employed then! j :j But yes, best remember to ASK for holidays (although I'm sure they won't mind if you forget at the start! :rotfl: )

EssexHebridean

Ta Da!!!!!

Wednesday: [STRIKE]Working but not certain until what sort of time - best assume 5pm though.
Fry up for tea.[/STRIKE]
Need to do:
- [STRIKE]Collect parcel from sorting office[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Any remaining wrapping[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]write tags on MrEH's presents[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]15 minute tidy-up *somewhere* - bedroom maybe? Probably that remaining hotspot in the front room[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Make sweet pastry for mince pies[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]make savoury pastry for sausage rolls[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Bread sauce[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]load presents into bag/crate to take to Mum's[/STRIKE]
- get MrEH take some bits round to Mum's to lessen stuff to go tomorrow No - ran out of time for this
- list all stuff to go to Mum's tomorrow Food is on a list on the fridge

Thursday: Mr EH working, probably until lunchtime.
- [STRIKE]Any remaining wrapping that didn't get finished last night[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Make mince pies[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]Make sausage rolls[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]make pigs in Blankets[/STRIKE]
- remaining items to Mum's Ready to take over later on.
- [STRIKE]Rubbish out throughout flat[/STRIKE]
- [STRIKE]quick S&S of kitchen & bathroom to leave them sparkly [/STRIKE]
- Pub with Dad PM? Nope - skipping that this year
[STRIKE]- Once I can be sure MrEH is away from his emails - order his last present.[/STRIKE]

:T:j:T:j

Let Christmas commence!

Cheery_Daff

Woo hoo! :j :j :j

Can't believe you got through it all, well done!! :j

EssexHebridean

I was quite surprised myself, to be honest! :rotfl:

So - here we are then, all done for another year. Christmas was lovely - very quiet and mostly just the pair of us and my parents - Great Aunt was around for a few hours on Christmas day but she's mot up top the full day these days so MrEH ran her home late afternoon. She did manage to eat a HUGE plate of Christmas dinner that I served out for her though - every year I think "she'll never eat all that!" and she does! New Year was....well, let's just say I'm not the biggest fan of New Year anyway, and this one didn't disappoint. Moving on...


Semi-Flylady continues apace - used some time while we were at home over the holibobs to get some more clearing and tidying done - mainly just working in 15 minute bursts still. Our bedroom is the latest target and I'll be concentrating on that through this week. Walking back in when we got home from Devon to a sparkly clean tidy kitchen was reminder enough of why it's worth keeping up with it, though!

Meals are planned through this week - although they *may* still be subject to change as I want to work in a couple of bits I still have to use up in the fridge. January is going to be "use it up!" month - so we're targetting the fridge, freezer and cupboards and looking to get rid of any half used odds and ends, or things that have been lurking around longer than is good for them (or possibly for us!).

What should be my final ever invoice has been handed over this morning - hopefully that will be paid at some stage today. Finances are looking sound-ish - I counted last year's £2 coins yesterday - £112 which considering how rarely I use cash is a decent enough result. MrEH is going to pay in £100 of those to the bank for me, and he's given me a £10 note in exchange for some more - that's gone straight to the airshow savings tin. The odd one has gone back in the pig.

The cheque has gone off for the Mortgage overpayment for this year too - we can only pay 10% in a year so as soon as 31st December hit we calculated the figure and dealt with that. That means ISA 1 will be a bit lighter than it was, but all in a good cause.

starnac

Well done for getting the mortgage overpayment in so promptly. It's definitely worth your savings taking a hit for that

£112 is pretty good savings. I rarely see £2 coins around. Think everyone must be saving them :rotfl:

Well done on flylady. We had a similar clean kitchen experience over new year

A use up month sounds like a really good idea. Good luck x

EssexHebridean

Cheers Starnac - and yes, it is, with the best will in the world the mortgage interest rate is a LOT more than the savings rate!

Rather impressed with myself last night. Got home, turned on oven to heat ready for dinner.
Got changed from work clothes into PJ trousers & hoody.
Sorted today's work clothes into a tidy pile ready for this morning.
Put away cardi I wore yesterday as it doesn't need a wash yet.
Sorted my dinner to go into the oven.
Did the bits of washing up that needed sorting, and swiped round the kitchen surfaces/tidied the front room/emptied the dishwasher while dinner was cooking.
After I'd eaten mine sorted MrEH's food ready for him to get home from rugby training - then emptied the remainder of the stew from the slow cooker immediately into a plastic tub to cool and go in the fridge...
Slow cooker crockpot straight into the sink with hot water in it - MrEH will wash that and the wok which I also used this evening.
:T

Rest of the week's meals look like this:
Tonight: Pizza, (Posh pizza express one from the reduced counter!) Garlic bread & salad.
Wed: Gnocchi with mushrooms and bacon - the bacon is left from the Christmas Bacon joint that Mum gave us some slices from and is currently in the freezer - the sauce will be the remainder of a tub of cream and the remainder of a tub of soft cheese from the fridge.
Thurs: Stewed beef - probably with mash & veggies.
Fri: Hotdogs - sausages & rolls from the freezer.

Tonight's mission: Get in, oven on. Leave MrEH to sort putting dinner in oven once it's hot while I shower & hairwash. Washing my hair takes too long to easily do in the morning and tends to make us late getting out of home which means we catch all the traffic.
Sort work clothes ready for the morning.
Put mixed-colour load into the washing machine ready to go on tomorrow unless MREH needs rugby kit done - in which case he can put that through tonight with the last of our freebie Ariel capsules - they smell gorgeous but make me itch, sadly!

Need to think about food for the weekend with a further eye to using things up...
Also need to start planning next week's meals.

Money situation good - invoice paid yesterday! Money shuffling all dealt with last night and I'm now just keeping an eye for the ISA transfer to hit my account so I can fire it across into our joint account which is where the mortgage cheque is from! Need to get online to HMRC today or tomorrow to official un-register as self employed as lord knows how long it will take to get a tax reference - I'm fully expecting one month at least on emergency coding but I'd rather it was no more than the one!

starnac

You were very organised last night. Well done.

Meals sound nice. Do you make your own gnocchi?

EssexHebridean

Thank you!

I've tried making my own gnocchi once. The resulting pan of potato flavoured wallpaper paste was not consumed, and the experiment has never been repeated. As I've now discovered that the ever-helpful Mr T's will provide a pack suitable for 2 people for the princely sum of 70p, it's now unlikely that it will be, either! :rotfl: