two frugal years to freedom: a fritterer's tale

liltdiddylilt

Hey you... don't beat yourself up on the thinking side of things. I too had one good month and then seem to have gone totally off the rails this month because 'well I am not in a challenge and the money is there'. We ALL fight these urges. The GOOD thing is that you fought and won! Well done you! And I am uber impressed on the cutting up :j


That is a LOT of electricity. I wish they would just automatically reject these things immediately. Used to work for an energy company and the processes internally are SO SLOW!! There is literally a team for everything and no one on any team knows anything about the other teams job. So stupid. Creates a backlog and also millions of errors!

Glad kids are good. Hugs!!

lobbyludd

accelerator fell off the car on the way home.....so very glad I got that green flag thingummy, they couldn't fix it - needs a weld, but they got the car to the garage and me home - just have to get to the garage first thing tomorrow as it was dumped in their car park. Brother was once a car mechanic (one of a number of very useful jobs he's had) so has talked me through on the phone what it should cost. fingers crossed tomorrow that I can get the garage to agree.

spent all day in a very big grump before this happened, but was surprisingly lifted by the car experience! pay day on friday....

mum2one

Good luck with the car, just had mine MOt and service, and thats £359.... (help) as needed brake discs and other stuff, but at least know I'm safe...

Then tonight.... just left home off to Asda in dads car, got DD with me, got to the end of the road, and realsied the brakes had gone....... managed to get across the road, turn around and come back up our road safely.... thou i was shaking for England, - so be a phone call to the AA 2mor, (got home start) - already booked it into the garage as the handbrake light stayed on, the original plan was drop dads car off and pick mine up,,,, luckly wont have the bill for that! xx

liltdiddylilt

Cripes all these car issues! Glad both of you are safe and sound! That is number 1. Number 2 is well done both for being so prepared! And having nerves of steel!!

Hugs to you, and glad it has sent your mood up (you crazy thing LL!)

lobbyludd

oh M21 so glad you are OK - that was one of the reasons my mood lifted - at least it was the accelerator not the breaks, and It came off as I went past work (so could let myself in to make phone calls) and actually outside a pub (nonalcoholic ginger beer ), so I had 20 mins to myself supping ginger beer in the sun, chatting with my brother whilst waiting for a lift home from a lovely driver who told me his entire life story!

cost a lot of cash but if it had been three months ago I would have had to phone my dad for financial help, as I wouldn't have had a bean available and no car rescue service. so all good, has delayed my debt busting for the rest of the month, but that can't be avoided as all are safe.

amazing thunderstorm here tonight. I had to pretend to go to bed at 8.30 as the monsters were both in my bedroom arguing about nonsense and refusing to sleep. This weekend is operation back into own rooms for bedtime. They fell asleep very quickly but it's very muggy and I am unable to drop off now. ho hum.

I will be very glad to see the back of work this week. had a very crappy government meeting this week, I ended up crying in the loos for an hour after it - it's too involved to say why but we've been repeatedly reviewed over the last 5 or so years with each review lasting at least a year: full on evidence gathering and public consultations on our function. In the past this has always in the end validated our work, but it's been exhausting, and stopped us doing our day job effectively.

the predetermined outcome of the latest one was made known in a snide way by a key decision maker "only joking". Was very inappropriate and unprofessionally done. we won't be made redundant imminently, the reviews are primarily vested interests arguing over who controls what we do. but I can see where we'll be absorbed into. Losing our independence will be very difficult but once the decision is made we'll work through it I wish they'd just f.ecking have the balls to make a decision so that we can get on and do a good job, rather than repeated, costly reviews every time a new high flier gets the top job.

has anyone seen the eddi izzard sketch about invading Russia?

anyway I was very embarrassed being 40-odd, in a proper grown up job and having to go back to newly open-plan office with puffy eyes and barely holding back tears. At least when I had my own office I could recover my composure before talking to colleagues.

so the weekend will hopefully consist of picking of sloes with a friend, gardening, painting walls and and cuddling the monsters as we cosy in for autumn. With maybe a new huge wall chart crossing off the days until I am debt free and can tell them all to f.eck their stoopid job and I can start on career number three (potter).

edited to tell the swear-monitor to get a grip F E C K is not a swear word - it's at worst a euphemism for a word that is simply a germanic description of the means by which many species survive. get over it.

mum2one

I cheated slightly over the car - called out the AA, we pay for home start, the gentleman was so lovely, he went and got a part, - it was the brake cylinder - all done for under £10.

But my car.... £369... said quickly it doesn't sound to bad.... that full service, half price MOT and new brake discs and all that saga...... we now have both cars on the road.

Got dad at the hospital for 9am, then DD for her allergy clinic at 11am, - then I'm escaping with DD, 2 ngts in a hotel... sounds posh when say hotel, def not posh!! cheapie groupon break, up in North wales, - know the area - go after the hospital and back for Sunday tea.

Can't balme you re the debt busting, I've had to take this month out... couple little payments gone but not biggies... xx

lobbyludd

ooh I hope you have a lovely time M21:)

hello weekend I luvs ya. just a wee bit of child shuffling to do and then we're free to just be.

Ammeretto

Hi Lobbyludd.

Ive just read through your diary and will subscribe if you don't mind

If you live where i think you live its not too far away from me.
Luckily we weren't affected at all with the mayhem at the start of the month. Just had traffic issues near work.


I too have a DS who started comp this year. OMG to the cost :eek:
I also have a DS2 who will be 6 next month.

Boo to the car issues. They always seem to go wrong at the worst possible moment and cost a fortune to fix.

liltdiddylilt

Oh Lobbyludd... I am so sorry to hear of job issues and having to walk an open plan office with a tear stained face. You shouldn't have to work under such pressure. To do it continually for 5 years must have been exhausting.

As for the 'key person' - they should be sacked. Horrible people. I work with a lot of horrible people like that. People who so enjoy getting one over on others they don't actually mind or realise the way it makes them look. Lots of hugs, and on the plus side, you are still in a job role. Apparently it is far easier to get a job whilst in a job, so maybe you could find something to tide you out.

When you say 'potter' do you mean an actual maker of pots?! That is what you want to do?

Both you and M21 have had it rough with cars this month eh! Sometimes (mainly when I don't have to go anywhere further than the local shop) I am very glad I don't have one.

Hugs:) hope your weekend is lovely and enjoyable!

lobbyludd

hello amaretto! do you sew? I love sewing (although finishing a project is a challenge - I'm more of a starter than a finisher, nothing is ever hemmed )

you are lovely lilt - was hormonal, doesn't help, although I am very fed up of work situation, but am very well paid currently, I need to get the debts shifted and then I can have a different job.

to be a potter would be my dream job - I've no idea if I could do it - but a friend's mum was a potter and I helped out one week when staying at their house and loved it. My first career was a scientist and loved that too, but it didn't work with my personal home situation (hardly anything "works" with small children and an alcoholic husband <wry smile>, but I needed something way more 9-5 than that was). I never intended to stay in my current job this long - it has frustrated me from the beginning but it's taught me new skills and more than kept the wolf from the door. If I can get rid of this debt I could take a large pay cut and not notice any difference.

had a nice weekend - went berry picking with a friend and all the kids - got sloes, blackberries and rosehips, may go back for elderberries and hawthorns (although as the rosehips are still in a bowl looking pretty but not actually processed in any way - I should probably do something with them first).

ds violently sick yesterday morning (not berry related, he refused to be a part of it!) so a day off today, I sorted through my too-tatty-to-wear clothes and realised I have not a thing that fits and is fit for work so I've splurged really massively. all in sales online, and good value, but feels very naughty when I still have the debt mountain to attack and the yule festivities to finance on the horizon.

When I walked into work last week (and the exercise is very much needed I am ballooning horribly) my clothes were too tight to do that comfortably and I split my last good pair of trousers on friday evening in a way that cannot be salvaged. so sod it. It's tricky because i can only wear a tiny amount of synthetic fibres, so it all tends to be more expensive.

Once I am smaller I can take these clothes in, and make things (I can't sew for my current shape, I know that sounds odd), but until then this lot will see me through (and yes - it's me I am trying to convince, but it is OK to prioritise myself sometimes).

i have no idea where I am with debt busting:( - I was paid friday (hurrah!!), I've done 2 transfers to 0% cards and about to do a third (again all hurrah!), but until all that settles down I literally have no idea it's a peculiar feeling LOL- it is all going in the right direction still, but I've no idea how much.

thank you lovely people, hope you are having a great week
I am tire despite an afternoon nap, and think my bed may be calling...