Journey to happy skinflintedness

saraih

The DCA that made the offer have sent a satisfactory letter this time, so I just need to scrape together £487 by the end of the month :eek: but that includes payday so with some serious juggling it might get done.

The DLA wrote to say it will take 11 weeks for a decision, which is a lot shorter than I thought. It's possible that this might depend on how quickly the MS Nurse takes to reply to them, which we've dealt with before with work's private health insurance and because she's so stretched it can take her three months or so.

That's fine, I just won't make any plans.

Also HMRC wrote with an updated schedule and we're about £12 a week better off. No idea why, it might be the 30hr element or things just settling down at last. Whatever it is, it's most welcome! :j

There's a lot of pound bakeries in town where you can get quite a lot for lunch for £1.50 including a drink. If son & heir takes extra drinks from home it might be cheap enough to manage. If he gets lazy he'll have to go back on packed lunches. He's only in four days a week so that would be £6, cheaper than when he was on school dinners. Because his bus pass is yearly I'm saving half that money as well.

OH isn't taking lunches at the mo because of his stomach issues, he just has a fibre powder that his other nurse gave him.

I've put £30 in son & heir's normal bank account, told him the score and that he has to manage his money correctly and that I'm not just topping it up at random. But if he needs a taxi or to stay late at college then he can get enough out to manage so he isn't stuck.

Right! time to put on my happy skinflint face and not spend anything for a month or two. Challenge accepted

in_need_of_direction

I love your determination to make things work.

saraih

In a past life I must have been a circus juggler :rotfl:

saraih

Orientation sessions went well so I ordered the right kind of lab coat and doodads for the course, there was already that money saved and it was under by quite a bit.

With that and the extra £12/w from the tax credits that will be something already towards the annoying bill and I haven't done anything yet :j

I'm not going shopping this week so minus whatever milk and bread gets bought that can go towards it as well.

Did shuffle son & heir's £100 savings off to his account so there isn't a temptation to use that. His savings are very important to me and it'd be upsetting to break a good run.

Not a bad start anyway as long as there aren't any surprises.

saraih

Sorted out all the food cupboards, trying to sort all the best before dates and putting them to the front so I can work out some recipes for this month that don't need extras buying.

The garden really needs a good weeding so I'm going to get that done while the weather is okay. The fuchsia plant that looked like it had had it last month is taking over the place! healthy as anything. I'll have to move a couple of pots to give it more room.

Asparagus omelettes for lunch to use up some stuff.

saraih

Up at a ridiculous hour again, absolutely desperate for a long walk or something but promised OH I'd wait for him to get up and go out somewhere. Not a penny on me so it will have to be local and free. Times like this I wish there was a dog to need walking.

OH has been pricing up tablets. I suggested waiting for post Christmas sales but he didn't seem too happy about it. I think he was hoping that could be his birthday present, unfortunately his birthday is at the end of this month. It will use up all the Amazon vouchers as it is and we're adults now and haven't done birthdays expensively for years.

It's possible I could manage it for our 21st anniversary in November but the thought of having a big blowout on a tablet (of all things) before an emergency fund is not a good one.

Anyway we can't even consider it for this month and am slightly miffed that he doesn't know enough about the finances to be more realistic. On the other hand he isn't a big spender overall and is usually easily distracted

As many surveys as possible between now and then to get vouchers and make it as least sucky as possible without being a tablet, I think.

Hey at least I'm getting better. Not refusing anyone anything really contributed to this situation in the first place.

saraih

Picked up some cleaning hours this morning and tomorrow, which is a big relief, I was starting to worry about cashflow for this bill.

Took a good long walk with OH yesterday and mentioned that we need more notice for big purchases. He seemed fine with that so there isn't going to be a big fuss about his birthday or a tablet.

The cleaning money went straight into the bank, the way things are going I might need to use the nectar points this month so best to keep as much cash available as possible.

No other news, companies keep sending credit offers, I keep recycling them before OH finds them

It's getting closer to the time we have to start putting the heating on, and the hall stairs and landing are a huge drain. Need to start looking at free/cheap ways to cut that down, last year was an extra £80 a month just for heating and we didn't have it on high at all. It was mild weather too.

There's a massive condensation issue to consider as well so this needs to be looked into in detail before the temperature turns. Don't want to be spending money repairing that damage again. Better to prepare for it.

Stew and dumplings for dinner, must confess to using packet dumpling mix and hoping nobody will tell the difference

saraih

Well I spent a long time researching the winter thing and it looks like thick curtains and draught excluders at the least, although mixed advice on the condensation/damp.

Someone gave us a good quality carpet for the stairs and landing this year and I fitted it quite well myself, so that should help a lot.

If I got a superlong thermal curtain for the front door and one each for the hall and landing window, I'd have to macgyver some home made draught excluders for the gaps in the hall floor. One of the joists is going in the corner so there's a huge gap and the laminate leaves a largish gap in front of the doorstep.

There is a lot of spare carpet in the shed so it shouldn't be a difficult job.

Last winter I had to use a super absorbent cloth and wipe every window in the mornings before the condensation could cause too much harm. No idea yet how to deal with that except to try and keep on top of it. Mould can appear almost overnight in this house.

There aren't any curtain rails either as the current thin curtains are on internal tension rods. Probably looking at £120 altogether unless I spend my skint months looking for dirt cheapies. If I want to get a wheelchair for OH that's a month's money almost accounted for after all this.

No news aside from spreadsheets and bank accounts ticking along. Haven't needed any money as I got a lift to the cleaning job and back, and I was back in time for lunch anyway :T

saraih

Petplan didn't take their DD and I didn't get a reminder of renewal so gave them a quick ring to check the cat is still insured, he is thank goodness. It hasn't gone up too much either which is great, just a few pence.

The cat is far too accident prone to not have him insured, it'd be a waste of money.

Aside from that, I think I'll be babysitting this weekend for fruit & veg, whoohoo :j that'll see us through the no-shop weeks no problem.

Will need milk & cereal but that shouldn't be a problem.

saraih

Plodding along, seriously bored as both lads are out all day now and my house has never been so clean. Taken to sorting out drawers and looking for bits to throw out

I did look into renting this wheelchair for another few weeks but it's just not going to happen so we'll have to manage until I can squeeze one out of the budget. It won't be too long and we can get this weekend out of it before it gets returned.

Son & heir managed his first full week at college so I'll give it another week or so and order his books and study guides. I kept the money back but didn't get them in case he changed his mind. He's been managing his cash well so I'm less bothered about how that will go.

No news from the agency since I turned those bad hours down but I did hear that the cleaning might pick up next week so that's good.

I did order OH's birthday present from the Amazon vouchers, superduper expensive slippers! I swear we aren't even that old :rotfl: but he complains about his current pair and this pair are very nice. Son & heir will pay for a cake from his earnings as his usual contribution.