I've had the worst of times - now for the BEST of times!

peaceandfreedom

DedicatedDFW wrote: »

Hi p&f,

Your original budget sounds a little like mine is I don't budget for gas, electric (paid quarterly when bill received) car tax, insurance, mot, repairs, house insurance etc. :eek: Simply because my income doesn't allow me to budget for these things ike you though, i hope to move into a better paid job this year *fingers crossed* for both of us

Sorry to hear you're not sleeping well - i am the same at the mo. and i don't know why It does ratherly sap the energy x

Sorry to hear the food budget isn't working out - just this last 2 weeks i have more or less got mine to where i want it to be - there are lots of things i don't buy that i would buy if i had the budget though... it is a battle and struggle every week though.

I can't remember if you said or not if Mr p&f is working now?

Have a good weekend xx

Hi DDFW,

Yes Mr P&F is working - we'd be in the debtors' prison or divorced by now if he wasn't. :eek: He needs to have a job because he does absolutely nothing else and I don't earn enough for both of us. Between the two of us we get by but at the moment, it's just getting by.

Thing is, I will do all the budgeting and planning and trying to economise, he doesn't trouble himself with all that. However, we have separate bank accounts and he pays his fair share out of his, so that's all good. He is living off a small budget like me. It's just that I am actively trying to budget and improve the way I deal with money, he is happy to live erratically from month to month. It is fruitless trying to change him so I will just concentrate on what I can achieve.

I just wish he would contribute more, not in money but in time and in just helping out around the house and garden and showing an interest in improving things. .... I just launched into a full-scale moan about the whole thing but deleted it - I promised myself that this diary would be positive as far as possible and not concentrate on things that make me miserable.

As I said, it's a waste of time trying to change someone else, I can only change me, and I'm no saint I can tell you.

The food budget is very much a work-in-progress but I'm keeping a closer eye on it now so hopefully it'll get under control gradually. I need to plan our meals more, that is half the problem.

peaceandfreedom

Enjoying_life_more wrote: »

Well done on the weight loss!

I don't spend a lot on clothes in fact most things are bought in the sales.

Being single does have it advantages for holidays as I go with friends and only have to pay for myself - we usually go all inclusive somewhere hot for a week and I'm good at finding bargain hols. I cant imagine the cost of a family holiday now it must run into thousands!

Not sure if i'll be able to afford a hol next year as my pay will be reducing at the end of this year (i'm on protected pay at the moment) I have already worked out that I will only be able to afford 320 a month for the yearly bill pot next year so a lot of things have got to reduce - mainly xmas and hol funds.

Oh yes, a family holiday is eye-wateringly expensive and then just feeding everyone while there is an arm and a leg as well. We haven't been on many holidays lately but I'm hoping for one maybe next year if I get that better job. We'll see.

Truth is, most of the holidays we've been on in the past we couldn't properly afford either.

That's interesting about protected pay - I thought that protected pay meant your pay would always at least stay the same and not go down?

peaceandfreedom

Hi everyone

Another lovely sunny day here, so lots of washing out drying nicely on the line.

I gave the summer-house it's first coat of paint yesterday. :T Delighted to get that job out of the way but it needs another coat as the first coat largely just seemed to get absorbed. It looks better than it did but more work needed.

Had another bad night's sleep last night, kept waking up. I ended up reading a book for a while to try to get myself back to sleep. Ah well. Don't feel too bad today though.

I got a few other little jobs out of the way this morning, the sort of jobs I really don't enjoy, so I can go out now and get on with the painting without those other things on my mind.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone. I'll pop around everyone's diary later.

supersaver1000

Hello Peace and Freedom, it is a really lovely day and you sound like you have got yourself up and motivated and achieving things. Sounds really satisfying.

I've just clicked on the link to Shabby Chic and have subscribed - hopefully it will motivate me to paint some of these 'projects' in my house - usually £5 or less at the local junk shop that I keep meaning to paint.

I've just had my LBM today, although I'm usually dipping in and out of this site, but never brave enough until today but put up the whole extent of our debt. (I do have £6900 saved that OH is reluctant to pay off our CCs, but I need to think about that - although have to work out how much of a safety fund I need).

Anyhow, just wanted to thank you for inspiring me, and have a great rest of the weekend to all!:D

peaceandfreedom

supersaver1000 wrote: »

Hello Peace and Freedom, it is a really lovely day and you sound like you have got yourself up and motivated and achieving things. Sounds really satisfying.

I've just clicked on the link to Shabby Chic and have subscribed - hopefully it will motivate me to paint some of these 'projects' in my house - usually £5 or less at the local junk shop that I keep meaning to paint.

I've just had my LBM today, although I'm usually dipping in and out of this site, but never brave enough until today but put up the whole extent of our debt. (I do have £6900 saved that OH is reluctant to pay off our CCs, but I need to think about that - although have to work out how much of a safety fund I need).

Anyhow, just wanted to thank you for inspiring me, and have a great rest of the weekend to all!:D

Hi Supersaver - I'm delighted you've popped into my diary, you're very welcome here. :beer:

It's also nice that I've inspired you. The Shabby Chic thread is excellent and I'm sure there must be other DIY threads that are worth visiting, it's just shabby chic is my favourite.

After doing the summer house (and the fences next weekend) I think painting a piece of furniture should seem fairly easy, so I'm quite looking forward to tackling some of my abandoned projects.

My LBM has flickered on and off for years but a series of unfortunate events hasn't helped either. However, I finally feel I'm getting somewhere.

As for your £6900, I think I would sit down and work out how much of an emergency fund you need, hang on to that and throw the rest at the most expensive debt you have. Some say it's best to use all savings to pay off debt but I think it's nice to have the reassurance of actual cash in the bank.

peaceandfreedom

Well, the weather abandoned me in the afternoon and it turned darned chilly I can tell you. However, I didn't do too badly today and got the following jobs done:

• A lot of ironing while watching Inspector Morse in the morning
• Lots of washing done and stuff put out on the line. Didn't dry fully due to everything clouding over.
• Second coat of paint on the summer house but ran out of paint so not all of it got a second coat
• Sowed some more sweet peas, some sugar snap peas, some mangetout and some beetroot
• A few usual housekeeping jobs
• Some minor weeding in the garden
• Arranged to swap seedlings with my neighbour later on in Spring :T

I thought that large container of fence paint would go a lot further so I now realise I need several more of them to finish the summer house and do the two long fences. :eek: (DDFW, this is one of those extra expenses I've added to my 'irregular-spending' budget.)


Still, I'm making progress, happy enough. Have a few more things to do before the day is out.

tattycath

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Well, the weather abandoned me in the afternoon and it turned darned chilly I can tell you. However, I didn't do too badly today and got the following jobs done:

• A lot of ironing while watching Inspector Morse in the morning
• Lots of washing done and stuff put out on the line. Didn't dry fully due to everything clouding over.
• Second coat of paint on the summer house but ran out of paint so not all of it got a second coat
• Sowed some more sweet peas, some sugar snap peas, some mangetout and some beetroot
• A few usual housekeeping jobs
• Some minor weeding in the garden
• Arranged to swap seedlings with my neighbour later on in Spring :T

I thought that large container of fence paint would go a lot further so I now realise I need several more of them to finish the summer house and do the two long fences. :eek: (DDFW, this is one of those extra expenses I've added to my 'irregular-spending' budget.)


Still, I'm making progress, happy enough. Have a few more things to do before the day is out.

Well done, on your jobs peaceandfreedom freedom.
I should work out all my none direct debit expenses really and make an annual budget for it-or even monthly.
I went over to the shabby chic thread on your recommendation. now I have been advised I am trying to just touch up the paintwork on my mirror. I have a smaller artist brush and I did some today and I will do some more tomorrow -and hopefully, by the end of the week it will be ready to hang ...I hope.

Enjoying_life_more

well done on your painting and gardening!! you will soon be able to sit back in the sunshine and view all your hard work :T:)

peaceandfreedom

Enjoying_life_more wrote: »

well done on your painting and gardening!! you will soon be able to sit back in the sunshine and view all your hard work :T:)

Yes, I'm looking forward to having many breakfasts outside, admiring my pristine fences and sheds.

Still so much to do but I've learned not to stress, to just do stuff bit by bit and not get distracted or distressed by all that's still left to do.

Enjoying_life_more

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Yes, I'm looking forward to having many breakfasts outside, admiring my pristine fences and sheds.

Still so much to do but I've learned not to stress, to just do stuff bit by bit and not get distracted or distressed by all that's still left to do.

it's my favourite time to sit in my garden in the morning - tea and toast outside it's lovely