NST: October Turtle Triathlon

Samiszel

Yesterday was a NSD for me. Today certainly won't be... off to London in a few mins for the day (and eve). All budgeted for, though!

Caeraugirl - when I went into teaching somebody told me that it will get easier after 3 years (I know that sounds long). But here I am in my 4th year and they were totally right- I have so many of my lessons planned, have my own routine of marking and giving feedback and am able to "switch-off" when I need to. The first few years were tough and I felt I was working every minute I could, but I can see it was all worth it now. Best of luck

traveller

Morning everyone Sorry I didn't come on yesterday, felt a bit tired and fed up for some reason! But I'm very glad it's the weekend :T and I had a SFD yesterday!

Sorry to hear about the plate and cut Thrifty and Ilovetea -we both want the same dream, slim and rich

For now I'd be happy to be debt free on my due date. Past that, I want to be emotionally and financially sound. I'll find it very strange to be £550.00 per month better off this time next year. I have accepted this may have to be postponed though, if life throws a spanner in the works, but am sincerely glad that just over a year ago, I started the fight and found a lovely gang to help with it here :T Take care everyone and keep going

apple_muncher

Took dd to tap and ballet this morning - but had to bring her home early as she burst into tears in the tap class! Most unlike her . Dh confessed that when he took her last week, he didn't pay the fees. Gee, thanks! Plus the extra fees for her exams next month were due. So I have shelled out £55...

But coming back home sorted out my quandry as to whether to go to liddle to use Lilt's voucher! So, money saved there. The loo roll situation will need resolving soon, but I reckon (or am I just blindly hoping?!) we can last til weds...

We are now, once again, in the process of emptying everything out of dd's 'play shed', in the hope of finding her little monkey that she lost yonks ago. If I'm lucky, we'll also get some stuff for the c s.

Enjoy the weekend!

mothernerd

Well we are obviously on the hilly part of the bike race (please don't bother to correct me if it's all flat, if I tell you my favourite tennis players are Illie Nastase and Arthur Ashe it will give you some idea how long it is since I was a regular sports watcher).

Had a panic when I awoke at 9.15am as DS3 wanted to be in Manchester for noon which gave me an hour and a half to make use of his ticket. Wrote a list of things to do last night and it filled a page and I was down to jotting things in margins and any odd bits of space.

However the friend DS3 was meeting had his wallet stolen last night so didn't have any money (no trip but no need to scrub the kitchen and bathroom to visitor level, so my list was more doable), DS3 has been paid for the mini commission he did this week so has transferred enough to me so all this week's so's are covered and renewed library books on-line so don't have to go to town on Wednesday either. Which left shopping, more diy and possible cleaning. DS3 wouldn't do shopping but would still give me the bus fare each way.

So panic over, breathe and take time to eat slowly (trying to rush out without food was probably what caused the panic). Nice relaxing morning then at 1pm meet up with friend is back on and I had 40mins to bus hop to town and back and do essentials.

Forgot the rucksack (with library book and batteries for recycling) which was going to cause shopping problems - only a few items but all bulky/ heavy. Swapped the bins at old house, left plastic for covering couches to be collected (DS2 doesn't appear to have done anything more) and a note with suggestions for who will take what, collected the spices I gave him, sandwich bags and a end of a jar of garlic mayo, then shopping.

Struggled in little Arseda. Stuck to the list rigidly - even went down the chocolate aisle till I was near enough to read the labels and turned and walked away again (doing well with 'blu* rib*nd' type own brand bars 40p for 5, tiny bit of choc), Realised I was going to need a taxi to get home and then I lost control (4kg of pasta instead of 2, crispbread back down to £1 a pack, 1kg porridge oats which I'd earlier thought would do till weekend, several packs of dried pulses). Nothing really extravagant but spent £36.48 instead of the estimated £10. Four heavy bags to justify taking a taxi.

Pulled out phone and it needed charging. Third person I asked used their phone to call me a taxi and refused to take payment, but knew I was going to miss DS3's deadline and expected him to shout. However he was quite calm and then dashed across the road to catch an alternative bus. So I am going to sit here (on the naughty chaise longue) until I am calm and in control. May watch an hour length episode (or two) of one of my favourite dramas.

Think I need a proper rest day. At least some of the problems this week are due to doing too much on a particular day then doing more the next day. I do need to keep chipping away at the jobs that need to be done and it's frustrating when it takes all day to do something that would have been a half hour task until recently but I also need to keep a sense of perspective and rest properly. Nothing I bought will be wasted and a lot of it can be re-directed to next month's spending but for now I have added it all to this month's total and my food budget is blown.

Will find something to smile about before the end of the day - DS3 was a combination of comical and amazing running across the road in front of the bus (it was stopped at the pedestrian crossing) with his maroon coat floating behind him, using his silver topped cane to indicate and wearing his top hat.

Fmess

Evening all


Mothernerd - DS3 wears a cane and top hat? How distinguished.


Today has been a spend day as did the food shopping, I now have approximately £16 to last us until the 25th and £12 for the animals. Hoping to come in on budget. We have a lot of nice meals for this week so I'm sure I can persuade OH to have a few frugal meals/odd combinations in the last week.


Resisted spending any of my personal spends budget, helped by the fact I am already over budget.


Finally got some exercise done - 15 minutes on the bike at the gym, 45 minute exercise class and 40 minutes of dog walking Also decluttered my car and found a few items that really needed to be thrown (two bags with broken handles) and then OH decluttered his whole wardrobe (!) without any nagging (!!!), so decluttering total has increased


Not much else to report, rather tired after all the exercise and quite a few chores accomplished in between


Forgot to say, I have a dilemma. My car tax is up for renewal this month, and you can now pay by direct debit monthly instalments. It is 5% more than paying a one off payment, but it would mean that I wouldn't have to pay all the car tax in the same month as my MOT is due, which always seems like a double whammy. Is the 5% worth it? It also seems more convenient for if I sold my car as I would not have to reclaim the tax paid upfront from the DVLA.

Caeraugirl

Spendy day today but in a good cause - had a 13 mile bike ride with a friend this morning and stopped for coffee and toast half way, my turn to pay. Then this afternoon went to a fundraiser BBQ (yes I know, but with a patio heater, and rain held off literally til we just got back in the doo)r. Took lemon drizzle cake made by DS1 with ingredients we already had at home, but as it was a fundraiser put £20 in the pot. Lovely afternoon with friends and kids, and great food including aforementioned drizzle cake.

Luckystarr and Samiszel, thanks for comments about teaching - still in mulling over phase but am talking myself into it slowly. Fact that I can transfer pension a definite bonus. Samiszel, really need a challenge as well as a change, have been coasting for a while in current job so although will be a drop in income think it'll be worth it for rise in job satisfaction - have at least another 14 years to retirement now, as too young to avoid the phase out of nursing "special classes" retirement at 55..... The three years sounds like good advice, thank you.

Hope you're all having a good weekend.

moohound

DH and the short man have cleared off to the fun fair (money pit) and left me with just the sleepy/windy old dog for company.

Chest is getting better but not up to going out in the cold/damp yet.

Used up a children's shampoo today, bought zero toiletries this month.:cool:

Put 5 things in the local free ads to help with the de-cluttering.

Chucked a whole heap of stuff in the recycling today from the study, you can almost see the floor now

nannygladys

Hi everyone

Sfd today but been at work and very tired, nearly slept in this morning, as I didn't sleep too well last night, so ready for bed already and will go up in about an hour.

Hope everyone is OK, keep dreaming big, I have a list some realistic and some not but fun!!

Nannyg

liltdiddylilt

Evening all,

Dropping in to confirm, yesterday was defo a SFD, today defo not. Did my shopping, also avoided the Lidl conundrum (with my own voucher!!) as I only needed chorizo by the time I had done the other 3 shops, so I didn't bother. Got some extra bits that weren't on the list but nothing that won't be used lickity split.

Have caved today and got my one and only take away of the month. MSE if you can call it that, as it is for one, so half the price, and got enough to cover tomorrow's lunch too :rotfl: £7.50 for 2 meals? Not bad...

Also Jellytot had a bed disaster this morning which meant the heating being on drying out mattress, and all heavily washed bedclothes etc. All needed to be dry before bedtime (6pm) tonight so had to do it on the radiators. She could have slept in with me and it would have dried overnight eventually, but she is such a wriggler, and she snores... :rotfl:

For those people discussing where they went wrong when friends have bought huge houses etc. It isn't all it is cracked up to be. I have discovered that the people who seem to have it all, are usually one pay packet away from disaster. Growing up, my best friend had everything she wanted for Xmas and birthdays. They had 5 kids, and the spend on Christmas between them was thousands. We got to 17 and her mum declared bankruptcy, lost the house to foreclosure and they moved into rented accommodation. Still the same even now. They have nothing. Another friend was gifted £250,000 towards a house. Got one for £315k which isn't even that nice to be honest. Promptly started borrowing from this offset mortgage, paying for a £50k wedding, bits and pieces. SO now they have a huge mortgage, finance on two cars, 2 kids with a £100+ spend on clothes a month, huge credit card debts and if the husband is off sick for more than a few days they would lose it all. Looking from the outside I would say they had the perfect life. I try not to judge on what people have any more. Or be jealous. You never know what is going on behind closed doors.

Off to eat my naughty take away xx

Calling14

Evening folks:j

Well had a good day, spent just a fiver, couple of heathers, cake and some fish. As I forgot to defrost the meat for my casserole.

Worked hard in the garden, made a lovely rockery, stones and gravel, paid through work for money owed me for a cleaning job. Most of plants outgrown tubs they were in, look so much better spread out.

Diet gone,ate so much crumble with cream, cakes, tomorrow will do better.

Can't believe I watched Titanic tonight. :eek:

Beats the Sony Walkman anyway Caeraugirl :rotfl:

Mothernerd son sounds well posh with Tophat and cane.

Not sure tomorrow will be Sfd my daughter is child and hubby free so see what happens.


Mothernerd rest!!!!!

Off to bed been a long day due to wake up bark at 6.30 from my dog she was excited weekend.:)