NSK; The August Fairwell

TiptoesDB

SFD: 6/12
EXERCISE: 14/25

Hi all

Post work run tonight in the tipping rain. Muscles feel good after an hour’s yoga yesterday (I never made it out for a run in the wind yesterday). Today was a nice day – met up with an old friend for work purposes and had a good hour’s gossip and catch up, which did my soul good. I have also realised that I have to do a work visit of about 600 miles round trip soon, and if I can arrange it for this weekend – when I am halfway there already attending a wedding – we will not have to pay petrol to the wedding as I can claim it for the work visit! Woo hoo! Let’s hope it’s possible to do the visit…

Hope you are feeling ok today mothernerd, chin up and stay in your shell till you are ready to come out… hugs

Aw Lilt- how cute is jellytot! She’s a beautiful girl…

Stewby – I think that is a good spend and you shouldn’t feel bad about it. It will bring you nice times with OH, education and exercise and I bet you won’t regret it if you use it. We have talked about national trust and / or English Heritage membership next year as we go to a lot of the places then don't pay to go in, but would dearly love to. I think we would make it worthwhile and get a lot from it. Well done you.

Right, off to chill for a bit then early night
x

Caeraugirl

Phew, I miss a day and there's so much to catch up on!

MagicCat, hope the funeral was okay. And Mothernerd, I hope you're over the worst of the lurgy.

Happy belated birthday, Siouxie32.

Lilt, thanks so much for PM - replied so hopefully you got it (possibly twice lol!), was my first ever PM! Jellytot is soooo cute, and that beautiful hair!! Well done to you and NSK on all that decluttering activity too.

Tiptoes, my mum is very comfortably off and was even before we lost my dad, yet behaves like she's living below the poverty line - drives me to despair, but not as brave as you in tackling it, well done and good luck with that difficult conversation to come. Any tips gratefully received if you manage to resolve the issue....

Loveadove, yes it was V, had a fab time thanks and as we took our own drinks only spent £20 all day, on all food and cab back to my mate's afterwards, was quite MSE too! And walked my socks off on top of the 20min walk each way from and to our lifts so am counting it as another exercise stint.

Stewby, I agree with Tiptoes that the National Trust membership was a good spend - you've got to have some pleasure in life to balance out the sacrifices you make day to day to become debt-free.

Am off to bed now, had to get up early for work this morning despite late - and slightly drunken - evening so need to catch up on some sleep.......

MagicCat

Hello everyone,

Hope you're all well. Thanks Caerau Girl, Funeral went well, feeling a bit...down and just flat today, and really tired.

speakingofart - hope dissertation is still going well, it sounds a very interesting subject! I can see it must be hard to do it alongside CIPD though!

Loveadove - hope interviews are going well - fingers crossed for the one you really want!

Lilt - jellytot is just beautiful, she has cheered up my morning!

Stewby - I have been v tempted by national trust memebership but haven't done it yet, hope you get lots of fab days out with it. Excellent news on CC payment!


SFD – 5/12
Groceries 190/£190 (9.50/£20 buffer)
Petrol/parking 89.73/£90
Personal (prescription/toiletries etc) 12.68/£12
House 24.46/£25
Birthdays 71.00/£130
Car (MOT/insurance/breakdown) 510/£550
Social 30.50/£40
Dentist 15/£20
Exercise 14/25 Steps 105832/186000
Unbudgeted spend - B&B £68/meal 14.98

TiptoesDB

Tiptoes, my mum is very comfortably off and was even before we lost my dad, yet behaves like she's living below the poverty line - drives me to despair, but not as brave as you in tackling it, well done and good luck with that difficult conversation to come. Any tips gratefully received if you manage to resolve the issue....

.........................................................

I am sorry you are in the same situation Caeraugirl... it's really hard isn't it? My dad really understood what it was like for me and my siblings in the 'real world' and paid for things such as dinner out etc when we went as a family, and used to slip my sister a bit of extra money quite regularly I think (she is harder off than we are in reality as she has a child and her husband doesn't work due to ill health, and dad didn't know about our debts) but my mum really has no clue about money or anything, but is judgemental when you are wearing something not brand new, or don't have perfect hair, or won't buy the third coffee and cake out that day.

She does act like she is on the poverty line and will never really understand what we have to live on compared to her, but as she has no real clue about money - I have even had to do the whole 'this is your incomings every month, these will be your outgoings every month.. this is what you are left with...' when dad died and I sorted out the finances. I try to slip in little things like 'to put that in context mum, we get less than half that per month for two of us, and have to pay rent etc etc'... (never mind how much petrol every time we come and see you!!) I really don't know how much goes in to be honest!

I am going on holiday with her in a few weeks, as she wanted to go away and has no one to go with now. She is kindly paying my ticket as a thank you to me, but I don't think she gets that I won't be able to afford to do all the things she wants to when we are there, she was already reeling off all the coffee and cake stops she has each day on holiday and the activities she does etc. It's going to be hard, but I am going to have to be honest with her about what I can and cannot afford. If it were just my money I would probably give in, pay for things, and be more in debt, but as its DH's money too and he has quite a strong (and fair) view about it, I can't just pretend to her that I can pay for things.

Sorry, bit of a rant! But it is a major issue for us atm as you can tell!

I hope you manage to make some headway too on it. I know I need to deal with now if I can, otherwise it will fester forever with her and with us :mad:

hugs MagicCat take care of yourself and be kind to yourself at this hard and sad time xxx

stewby

Hi.

I am glad other people think it was an okay spend. I was so worried about admitting it on here as I thought it would be viewed as an unnecessary spend and would be frowned upon.
:embarasse

We are heading on holiday together on Saturday. (a very MSE holiday where we are heading down south to see OH's parents and staying with them). My parents are coming down too so they are in charge of the fuel costs.


I love the fact that our parents get on so well together. It makes me very happy that we are just like an extended family. We are very lucky as my brother has the opposite situation where his wife's family doesn't really mix with our family.
:undecided

Moneywise... holiday spending is happening... but it is budgeted for. My latest spend is on bakery foods for an afternoon tea at home as my mum isn't feeling very well. And the new Captain America dvd. I always feel bad when my mum doesn't feel very well and like to spoil her a bit.


Exercise has been obtained for the day. Took the dog out walking round the town.


Hope everyone is doing okay.
Hugs.

Fmess

Evening all

SFD number 9 today and went to the gym Also OH has sold another item and I have got a bag of clothes for the charity shop, so the house is slowly decluttering.

I have an issue for September. On payday I will have enough money to pay off my credit card (garden renovations) and some leftover for misc spends, but I won't have enough to cover all the expenses. So I'm going to pay off the credit card to avoid incurring interest but will then have to spend on the credit card towards the end of the month I don't like knowing this

speakingofart

More dissertation, less checking in. <sigh> Anyone have any spare motivation going? Spend day today as needed milk and veg, plus took some money out of my grocery budget to get the car washed. Hopefully now will be ok until I do a big shop to batch cook sometime at the weekend.

SFD 11/12
Exercise 11/16
Food £31.81/ £150 (till 15th September)
Petrol £0/60

mothernerd

Spend day today, but on the whole I think I have come out ahead. Just being able to move helps a lot - keep telling myself the clean sink and bathroom floor look lovely, but 2 days of barely being able to move is a high price. One of the 'managing arthritis' tips is to colour code your household chores and spread the 'red' ones through the week - think I might have to start spreading them through the month.:rotfl:

Mum phoned (luckily had taken the bin bag downstairs so not far to hobble), I am getting a lift to her house on Friday (as well as coming home) and she has 2 free mobile phones for me - so more pennies saved.

DS3 wanted to come shopping - one of his friends had mentioned an offer, buy 2 of a particular product and have a plate made with a picture of your children. The friend had submitted a picture of his waifu (think that's an idealised romantised super cute version of 'the one') so DS3 wanted one.

Compromised on going to little Arseda as I needed to pay DS2's rent money from last week into the P.O. So then sent DS3 back on the bus loaded like a pack animal, have gone over-budget but he has paid for his own cakes and chocolate (I bought food stuffs as I am trying to get him off evil takeaways). He also decided he had enough to pay me an extra week's rent in advance (and has nearly done enough work to claim the second third of his £600 commission).

I continued to library and old house (DS2 at work but which work?). Rested and drank some water then did the P.O. (£160 paid in, kept extra cash for bus/ taxi fares). Left my bank card at the house and have asked DS2 to use it to pay my rent money direct into my bank for the next few weeks (so I can take advantage of free lifts - much less stressful).

Went to pound emporium for more cheap ibruprofen and went to B**ts for a meal deal - counting it as a medical emergency as didn't think I would be able to stand up by the time I got home and would have ended up eating chocolate. DS3 reimbursed me for his shopping (£16.51) and gave me £20, so cost of meal deal covered (and it was healthier than the salami that I resisted earlier).

Today I am grateful for new books (library was promoting a competition on new women crime fiction writers), the man on the bus who called me beautiful (not true but made me smile) and also made me look good by taking my arm and helping me when I was struggling to get off and good friends (had a long chat/ update with a man who also has health issues - may not need to be formally disabled to get a bus pass, need to pursue).

So tired now but feel I have got somewhere. I am not depressed, it's more a mixture of frustration and uncertainty. I love all your running and fitness stories but not sure about taking up column inches telling you it took nearly 3 hours today to run a bath, get in and out, wash my hair and get dressed. Probably could have done it faster but would probably not been able to stand/ walk as long as I did. Did spend some time today thinking through a list of jobs, including lollipop lady, which I couldn't physically do.

Ah well just keep plodding.

LoveaDove

Hi all!

Speedy check-in!

Lilt Jelly Tot is beautiful!!

Hugs to all that need them, or don't- you're getting a virtual hug whether you like it or not!

Had my first interview today...I do wonder where my mouth goes sometimes, because it sure does not always seem to match my thoughts! I am a serial waffler at interviews, I put it down to nerves. I'll hear back tomorrow about whether I was successful or not. Cripes!

I have acquired 7 SFDs so far, which is pretty slow going for me, although the monthly target still seems achievable! Exercise is still non-existent, so I have decided to walk to and from my other half's this eve as I really do not need to drive whilst the weather is so lovely!

Catch up with you all soon! x

MagicCat

Hello all,

Apologies in advance, this post is just one mass of self pity...feeling really stressed.

Some of you may remember the ongoing saga of our building works, that have been dragging on since march. We have been trying to get contractors back to the house to finish off, so that we can get buildings certification for the work. One of the outstanding thing was the electrician providing Part P certificates for the (fairly substantial, over £2000 worth) of electrical work that has been done - these certificates are essential, as they prove the electrics are safe and let us get the overall building regulations certificate.

Yesterday, we were told they will not issue this certificate as the wiring is so unsafe the house needs a complete rewire before the Part Ps can be issued, at a cost of over £4000 + VAT. I don't really know what to do. It is a complete shock - at no time while doing the work did they say there were problems or anything unsafe, and we had an electrics inspection report done last September by a different electrician - he identified work that needed to be done (which he did), but never said that a rewiring was necessary and issued Part P certificates quite happily.

The only option we have is to use the remainder of the 0% credit card we had been paying off, and to try to get another 0% deal for the rest, if not it will have to be at usual credit card rates. I just feel like we're back so far, square one is far in the distance.

Happy Birthday MagicCat.:(

SFD – 5/12
Groceries 190/£190 (9.50/£20 buffer)
Petrol/parking 89.73/£90
Personal (prescription/toiletries etc) 12.68/£12
House 24.46/£25
Birthdays 71.00/£130
Car (MOT/insurance/breakdown) 510/£550
Social 30.50/£40
Dentist 15/£20
Exercise 14/25 Steps 104822/186000
Unbudgeted spend - B&B £68/meal 14.98