Journey to happy skinflintedness

saraih

The quantities I make it in you might need more than one bottle

saraih

This morning son & heir phoned the college because none of the timetables they sent match up. Turns out he isn't starting till the 15th! You'd think they'd tell you the right date.

That's an extra week of packed lunch making saved anyway.

No money spent, none made today either. I admit to lolling around looking pathetic and flu-like. Did manage to cook a nice thick soup and everyone can have that and toast for dinner, too much hassle making a whole new meal.

Today the stray cat we take care of in the back garden came within a couple of feet of me - I don't know if he's starting to trust us or just saw me looking ill and decided I wasn't worth the bother of running away :rotfl:

in_need_of_direction

Hope you feel better soon.

saraih

Got my first phone call from my postcards! clearing out a back garden full of rubbish. I had to ask a friend to help because he has a work van so we split the money down the middle, but it still wasn't bad.

Also picked up some cleaning, which I didn't really want because of the end of flu but I'm only last resort for the owner and don't want to turn anything down from her.

Tax credits are being readjusted this week so it came in handy as a lot disappeared from the usual amount. I've been reading that some people are getting tiny weekly increases instead of a backdated payment, so that isn't great. Have to make up for it somehow.

Not spent any money though. Need to do a huge shop tomorrow, stock up on dried basics and spices and stuff.

Nothing through the door at least. This has to be a record for us

ruby_eskimo

Glad to hear that things are slowly getting better and hope you feel better soon.

saraih

Thank you! I'm such a whiner about the flu, best to work through it but not without complaining

saraih

Did quite well on the shopping, lots of dried stuff and cartons of tomatoes, didn't spend £25 on the 'real' shop.

Looks like we might miss two weeks of CTC and the only place I can really squeeze is the groceries, good job nobody really notices when I do a cupboard week

No other money spent, son & heir's lab coat and stuff hasn't been bought yet but I've got the cash saved for it. Waiting to see if they recommend a specific make of calculator etc. on the orientation day next week.

No gardening today, it's peeing down! parts of both gardens are very swampy anyway, next year when we finally have money I'm going to really enjoy looking up what plants to put where.

Now I have to catch up on beer money sites. They've been ignored completely for nearly two weeks and now I feel bad about all the vouchers lost. Time to have a Denzel Washington marathon and wave my opinions in the air like I just don't care :rotfl:

saraih

Still raining so I gave the house a good scrubbing instead. Had to use the dryer for all the bedding which is a shame but it feels better when everything is washed and done.

Went to the Sunday market and just window shopped. I forgot my purse at home and couldn't be bothered going back for it, score!

We've been all veg all the time for a few days so I've got a little roast in with parsnips and swede, yum. Son & heir can keep his meat free alternative.

No other news, the spreadsheets are working fine and I've got a pretty clear idea of incomings and outgoings now to plan for them. I'd love some life insurance but it likely won't happen this year, aside from that all is going to plan. It's just a rubbish plan with about three pence in it :rotfl:

ruby_eskimo

At least you have a plan, that's more than most people I've found!

saraih

My plans are magnificent, by 2016 I'll be able to afford a whole haircut

No work available today and the house is clean so I'm tidying up some spreadsheets and forecasts. There's a little blip due to the CTC being recalculated but we'll manage.

New problem: one of OH's old statute barred debts has offered a 5% deal. Now I know it's SB'd and there's no legal recourse for them but this would turn a nearly £10k debt into under £500, which would leave us poor as church mice for a month but is sort of doable if I try super hard.

The only reason I'm considering this is that OH has a job that requires security clearance, not top secret stuff but a fair bit more thorough than a credit check. Last year it took 7 months to get sorted and we had to tell them about all the outstanding debt, even if it wasn't on the credit record. They gave it to him for a year and said they expect an improvement this year.

Everything got SB'd this year and I was going to say that's an improvement :rotfl: but it is a little bit dodgy. If he failed the security he'd be moved to another department and his adaptations would be moved, he'd have an unknown manager etc. He doesn't like the idea.

So... the situation is that this £500 would reduce his SB'd debt by half and vastly improve his chances of getting a multi-year clearance instead of filling it in every year.

On the other hand, £500 is a lot of money and would mean nothing, not a penny put towards the emergency fund. It might mean more juggling than usual but I could squeeze it. We haven't had an emergency fund in seven years but if I do this it would be total disaster if anything happened this month.

My other thought is that if I've worked out that I can squeeze £500 this month, it means I could squeeze £500 for an emergency fund if I really tried, which would be brilliant.

So, emergency fund £500 goal or halve the SB'd debt and guarantee OH his clearance?

1. halve the debt, plan to be super poor for two months and get a £500 emergency fund together by end October.

2. get an emergency fund, plan to be super poor for two months and see if the DCA will accept the same 5% offer at end October

3. ignore the debt, hope OH gets clearance based on everything being SB'd and have money to start on the bigger plans.

Either way I'm determined to get that emergency fund up and running. It looks like I'll be poor a bit longer after all. Best start looking up those old school recipes again!