Second Time Lucky

amycool

Wages in, mortgage paid. Definitely mortgage neutral now.

Started stripping the woodchip in the 3rd bedroom - it's horrendous! Hopefully getting a curtain pole tomorrow and maybe the toy storage, but still got a lot to do. Going to get someone to re-wallpaper it, new carpet, painting, new curtains etc.

DD massively regressed this week and had quite a traumatic day yesterday so staying in today. Not looking good for the trip next week.

OH's wrist is a bit better.

Still 5 months until I can make an overpayment!

debtfreeoneday

Hope you're having a nicer day in and DD is better. Hope DH's wrist is on the mend as well x

amycool

Week three. OH is back to normal but had to pay for a physio. We made it to the seaside last week but will never again book a family room!!! Not worth the lack of sleep.

Just been buying some bargain xmas/bday presents. DD will be getting my old kindle once I've got a new one so I've ordered a new cover and will totally reset it so it's like new. I've also ordered a bundle of Barbie clothes for £7. If I can get some nice boxes and tissue paper, they should look pretty good.

DD due home any minute. Today was my second 3 hour bout of alone time since the holidays started and I had to clean out the rats! One has a recurring abscess but won't let me clean it for her so at least trying to keep the cage clean.

Nothing planned for tomorrow so hopefully get some more wallpaper stripping done (only one wall so far!) and maybe treat DD to the caf!.

DD home - better go!

Thriftmaster1973

That's not bad £40 a week for two adults seems quite a sensible amount.

Try shopping around, Aldi & Lidl are great for cutting your shopping bill.

Home bargains / B&M for cleaning / toiletries.

Main supermarkets for the stuff you carnt get from the above and for discounted items that don't go off or are freezable. (Bulk buy when it's a bargain), you'll be surprised how much you save.

debtfreeoneday

Glad you're ok and the holidays are ticking along for you!

amycool

Thriftmaster1973 wrote: »

That's not bad £40 a week for two adults seems quite a sensible amount.

Try shopping around, Aldi & Lidl are great for cutting your shopping bill.

Home bargains / B&M for cleaning / toiletries.

Main supermarkets for the stuff you carnt get from the above and for discounted items that don't go off or are freezable. (Bulk buy when it's a bargain), you'll be surprised how much you save.

We used to do 90% of the shopping at Aldi and it was very cheap, but since becoming vegan we have to go to Morrisons for anything nice and it all adds up! :-) I do love a big pack of Nicky toilet rolls from Home Bargains too.

debtfreeoneday

I so want to change the way we do our food shopping, but time is a massive factor for me now. I haven't the time to go to numerous different places each week.

amycool

DD is at sports camp. It's 9.30-3, although it's a good 30 minute walk there and back so I get 10-2.30 each day, in theory, to relax and get stuff done. Of course, this is the first time DD has been away from me other than school and close family so instead I spend the whole day feeling anxious and waiting by the phone in case somebody rings.

I don't think we'd do this scheme again next year as I'm not happy with the amount of staff per child and they haven't taken DD's anxiety into account AT ALL, mostly just leaving her yesterday not joining in and looking sad.

On the plus side, by lunchtime she had made a friend and she came out quite relaxed and happy. My thinking is that the transition to year two should be a piece of cake compared to this, and it's all helping with her anxiety and robustness. I was such a shy anxious kid and I really want DD to have the opportunities to overcome her anxiety. She's much better than me at socialising (not saying much) and is more confident.

I've been thinking once DD is settled back into school I might start volunteering. Some part-time paid work would be nice, but really we don't need the money and the stress of having to find childcare wouldn't be worth it. I do however miss that sense of worth that comes through work. I have one idea. I used to do IT taster sessions in my old job and I really enjoyed them (and I think was quite good at them). There's an internet caf! nearby who do IT support, mostly getting older people online through PCs and tablets. So I'm thinking I'll email about possibly volunteering for a few hours a week. My Mum misheard me and thought I was volunteering to run the caf!.

Today I was looking at stuff I can do from home and wondered about transcribing. The main companies require at least a 2 day a week commitment though, which wouldn't work in the holidays, and when I tried the practice test I only did 38 words a minute!!! You need at least 65. I know I'm a bit rusty but didn't realise quite how rusty!

My other wonder is maybe to make more stuff and sell on folksy. I can knit, do basic crochet, and basic sewing. The main issue would be finding the motivation to put in the hours, and coming up with the designs for things. I can only knit from a pattern so it would mean getting permission from the author. I have made a lot of Christmas tree decorations, mostly from felt and knitted, but they're quite laborious. Then it would be whether to just sell them for fun so I wouldn't have to set up a company, or try to make lots and sell for a profit. I quite like the idea, but I'm quite easily distracted...:rotfl: My reasoning is that even if I'm not making any money, I'm doing something productive with my spare time, and if I apply for jobs in the future there won't be a massive blank space on my CV. Maybe I could sell for charity? I need to look into it.

My first challenge is to finish some of the craft jobs that I have started over the past 5 years! I began a crochet granny square blanket 4.5 years ago!!!! I've been doing at least a square a day to try to finally finish it, although I'm close to running out of one colour so may have to make it slightly smaller than planned. Then there's a mini-blanket for a baby or doll that just needs sewing together. Then I need to make a partner for a sock, that DD is dying to wear! Finally (I think - there might be more) there's the lace shawl that I started before DD came home. I may have to do some practice before restarting or I might ruin what I've already done. Oh, no I just remembered there's also a vintage tanktop that I'm about 25% of the way through...this could take some time.

Wallpaper scraping is currently on hold as it's too difficult. It really is truly horrible so I need a day when my resolve is firm.

In true me fashion, despite being nowhere near finished, or even really started, on the third bedroom redecoration, I've been thinking about next year's project. The options are bathroom, or new front door and front windows. I'm not keen to do the bathroom yet as we still sometimes need it for the rats to play in and they will wreck it. On the window front, I am edging towards some very expensive aluminium art deco style windows. I know my house isn't art deco but it was built in 1960 and the original gate posts on the estate are very deco. I just love these windows and am hoping I can get them from a normal company and don't have to use The Heritage Window Company. http://www.theheritagewindowcompany.co.uk/gallery/art-deco/
I'm thinking seeing as we're never moving house we may as well splash out on something that will make us happy every time we come home. Or am I being greedy? No idea yet on the door. I keep changing my mind.

I should probably stop typing now. This is the problem when DD isn't here - my mind races and I don't get any actual things done!

amycool

Grandma has taken DD swimming so I have cleaned out the rat cage, put on some washing and sent some emails. Really looking forward to having some time to actually relax soon.

A very annoying thing happened yesterday! So, we're with Sky for phone and internet and it's just gone up to £37 a month so I looked around and found a good deal with EE. I checked TCB and it was £50 or £100 through MSE. So I went through with it, and about 30 minutes later got an email from TCB saying it was now £150 cashback!!!

This is in the same week that I got 20% off photo prints and the next day it was 40%, and the same week that we went to a museum and then I realised I could have got 2 of the tickets for free.

I shouldn't moan too much as I still got some good deals, but so annoying to miss out on better ones!

Anyway, I now know we're entitled to a Max Card, which could save us a bit on days out, so I shall get that sorted as soon as possible.

Got my mortgage statement and I thought my 2 yr fix was up in June or July but it's not until Oct 18! In a way it's not too bad as we should have a better idea of the job security situation and will have more saved by then, in theory. We've barely saved anything the last 2 months.

Sports camp was awful so I pulled her out after 2 days and have sent a complaint. She was left unattended a lot and came out in tears the second day. Very disappointing. No response yet.

I have bought some birthday and Christmas presents and managed to get a new kindle for £35! The plan was for DD to have mine for xmas but I may as well give her it for her birthday (with new cover and totally cleared).

A part of DD's presents was going to be gymnastics lessons, but I have heard from a few people that their children became very body conscious and lost weight, which I really don't want for DD. Instead, I'm looking at a kids club at a local climbing centre. £10 for 2 hours and no obligation to turn up every week. We're going climbing on the day of her birthday with one of her friends so we'll see if she likes it.

Uniform has been name tagged (mostly, I'm not tagging everything - just stuff she takes off and PE kit), and I've asked grandma to pick up some trainers as DD's feet have suddenly grown. Back to school on the 5th so a few more days of lie-ins and then I'll have to face the boring walk to school twice a day (usually more for me!).

debtfreeoneday

Look at Blue Peter badges, you can apply for different ones and they get you in free to a lot of places, my two just waiting to hear if they've been awarded one!

At least you cut the phone bill and got some cashback! x