NSK;The Tortoise and The Mad MARCH Hare!!!

traveller

Morning everyone.

Sorry to hear your bad news Tea Lover.

Dolly well done on your weight loss.

Mrs GSR- do what you can. We cannot always do everything our little ones would like, but your children know they are loved and that's all what really matters I remember I did ballet when I was 6. I hated it, but begged my parents to let me go

Well I feel like a right hypocrite now I got DS a pair of Airport lounge tickets for himself and girlfriend and I am paying for their hire car. All in, that's £150.00 approx all in, maybe slightly lower as the car hire is in euro. That is a lot less than what I would have done for his 21st, but ironically he's as happy as Larry. I did however give him a good talking to about people, feelings and respect. Hopefully he will take something from it

Well I have received my february bill today for gas and electricity £709.00 ouch But as the last one was just over £600 it's not a surprise. This is estimated though, as far as i'm aware, so need to do a meter reading.

Well I too am looking forward to pay day

Good luck everyone and keep going :T

MrsGSR

Afternoon,

SFD here today, hurrah!

£3.44 paid off the CC, hurrah!

Email from energy company to say thanks to my meter reading they have got our bill completely wrong and will be amending it. They predicted it to be high but I'm guessing it will now be lower?! I hope so anyway, we have been so so careful with our usage and I can't go through the trauma of what NPower did to us again

Not much to report other than I have a HUGE load of soup in the slow cooker, Mexican bean and sweetcorn with chipotle, YUM!

It's the start of my working week today so I'll be shattered tomorrow.

NinjaSavingKat

Got so much to catch up on with all your goings-on. Travellor how is the leccy/gas so high? I take it that's a quarter and not per month right? Or am I being thick?.....

Tea Lover.... the issue of needless spending is interesting. It's not a poke at you by the way because I used to do it. Couldn't go out without buying anything, food was a MASSIVE waste in my house with veggies going in the bin at the slightest tinge of discolour and stock piling despite being just one. I guess you need to think about what underlying issues are there making you want to buy more food in general.

Were you poor growing up? Maybe (not being harsh) a lack of ingenuity as to how to use what you have to create something different? I am just playing devils advocate here and suggesting anything... only you can be able to put your finger on it.

What else do you spend money on though?

NinjaSavingKat

By the way my flight from London - Bangkok has been booked. £380 one-way bargain!!!

traveller

Hi Kat, well done on the flight :T

Yes, It's per quarter. I need to do some comparisons as it is way too high. But then there are 5 of us, so that may explain the leccy. The gas, the heating is on a lot gas central heating and cooker. When eldest is not at uni, he is at home, with the heating full blast :mad: My daughter apparently goes out leaving everything switched on, well that's what I was told by middle Ds. He always switches off after her. Tonight there will be a family meeting as if things carry on like this, I may well get a meter as people will be more aware of what's being used and how much it's actually costing.

I've applied to work from home two days a week, but made need to wonder if the reduction in travel and childcare costs is more than the price of fuel,lol.

Re Spending, my ex was and is the type of spender you described Kat.He wasn't poor, but his parents only spent money on the house. He was seen as a lessor in his peer group then basically, grew up making sure this was not the case. He always has to be the fisrst with everything he loved boasting about it bargain tv 5k reduced from 8k :eek: but he interestingly enough, is happy for his kids to be how he was as a child. He has actually said it does them no harm to want. I agree, but deprive for a fancier doily-not on my watch

CrazyCatLady1_3

Hi everyone,


Great news about your flight Kat, when are you going?


Today was a spend day, got shopping in for the week, have had quite a few SFDs now and so this month only spent about £40 on food. Been trying out new recipes and last night I made Butternut squash and chickpea tagine, it was very nice. Got my money back from gas/lecy company, so have put some aside to pay off my smallest debt of £158 this week and also treated myself with trip to hairdressers

apple_muncher

Another NSD in the bag - hooray!

And the high chair given to lovely neighbour, so another item removed from the house.

Dd is doing so well with her arm and sling, early mornings and a different end-of-school routine almost every day. Since she did her collar-bone, the neighbour's dd has had awful ear infections, so I've been childcare-less. Coupling working 4 days with dd's needs has been a tad stressful! I think I had a migraine today and have realised how blessed I am to teach such lovely pupils who were happy to watch Asterix as 'cultural background' for the Roman invasion of Britain! Tenuous, I know, but it gave time for the tablets to start working. Neighbour's dd should be ba k at school next week, so I hope stuff should settle down.

I'm so glad to have had this challenge going on, for a nice focus. It helps me feel in control of one part of life! And I have a good life!

Today I'm grateful for the apple trees starting to bud, for lovely y9s watching a cartoon, for dd being so good, for finding 1p on the floor at work, for the spare nana in the staff room.

tea-lover, sending you lots of hugs :grouphug:.

traveller

Just a thought, how do people think they do, regarding the work life balance thing? I really don't think i've nailed it yet, so interested what others do

My day typically starts at 6am get myself ready, fed and watered at 6.50 wake little one and at 7.40am we leave for breakfast club. I then travel to work for 8.30, leave at 4.30pm get the little one and am in by 5.45. I then do dinner, homework, bed time routine and a proper sit down around 8.30pm. Weekends housework most of saturday then on Sunday from 4.30pm -9pm me time as ex usually picks up kids. Although in reality, it's catching up with stuff I couldn't focus on when little one was around.

Now looking at the above, nothing stressful-apart from work (but am VERY glad I have a job), yet I feel knackered and I never have enough time for everything, despite feeling I'm on a timer for everything, if that makes sense? So how does everyone balance it all

PheoniX

Hullo folks :wave:

Im back again and a feeling a lot more human after some shut eye..

Traveller as a childless singleton I dont really have anyone to think of other than myself. My career shapes the biggest part of my life and although I work long hours and do shift work, it means I have decent chunks of time off, although I also need to do work related stuff on those days off as well.. So to answer your question, apart from having to write off whole days due to long hours, I am ok-ish with my work life balance.. I lead a quiet and simple life anyway and do the things that I enjoy when I have the time

I am declaring another SFD today which takes me up to a grand total of 12 :j Not long got back from the shops having had my free Waitro$e latte, a £5 home $en$e voucher and £4 Boot$ voucher from market research :T All these freebie vouchers have eased the pain of losing a tenner last week!

I will need to spend tomorrow as I spotted that stocks of my favourite (normally £3 a tube) toothpaste have disappeared in the £££ shops and only a few now remain in the 99p shop. Silly trying to preserve a SFD and miss a bargain so I will make the most of a spend day. Bargain hunting has turned into a time consuming hobby of late and I can honestly say that I have admirably adhered to my NYs resolution and have shopped around for the cheapest options and looked for voucher codes on every purchase. Better that my bank account profits from the savings than the stores!

I think I will have an early night tonight and tune into The big cant pay debate to see what that was about! I hope you all have restful evenings.. take care

Bye for now Torties :wave:

clippy_girl

evening all

sfd have been very bad def not going to meet target

got some bad news as my lodger will be moving out as she is moving away really dont want to have to have a stranger move in as been there, done that with feeling awkward not sure what to do :think:

i can cope without the money and have £300 left over per month if i carry on mystery shopping. by the end of the year i should have enough to clear the final bit of debt and have nearly paid for holiday. however i will not be able to get my new window and decorate or get my emergency fund up

if i got a lodger in until i go on holiday then that would be about £2000 which would nearly be enough to get window and clear holiday plus start emergency fund.

its a no brainer really but will have to have a think as i really would like my own space :think: suppose i could place some adverts and see if anyone suitable is out there for mon-fri.

wont really save much on bills by not having lodger as already get reduced council tax (as lodger pays elsewhere) so only small amount in gas, elec and water.