Starting again with debt....again!

sashybo

Hi DFOD :hello: nice to see you. One day I might get over to the MFW board but it probably won't be any time soon.

So tired with the shift work lately, have been in the same job for 5 years now & thinking it might be time to look for something else.(still in the same company/industry though). But not a great deal going on the job front and no real idea of what I'd like to do anyway.

I mostly like my job but I do get bored and I know I'm capable of more. However I don't want to be in the position I was previously in where I had a job I hated and cried every day in the toilets. :eek: Plus I'm rubbish at interviews and don't think I come across well. :cool:

Did an hour of yoga yesterday and feeling it in my arms a bit today. Did 40 mins of deep stretching yoga today as my back, neck & shoulders feel sore & tight.

Might be heading to a friends for dinner tomorrow as DH is working late shift but will see how it goes.

Was looking at the tulip & daffodil bulbs in the £ shop today. Think I'll get some of the dwarf tulips as well as the daffs, also looking at the crocus & snowdrops. We're going to put a raised bed (L shaped I think) at the front of the house where there's just a bit of grass next to the driveway. I'd like to have plants there throughout the year so will need to look into what flowers would be good. Will start with the tulips, daffs etc though as they're easy and bright & cheery.

debtfreeoneday

Hope all is OK, you are quiet!

sashybo

All ok DFOD, have been lurking around but not posting much. Need to get back into the habit as it keeps me on the straight & narrow(ish) spending wise.

sashybo

Have been MIA again but need to start posting again regularly as I said above. Keeps me thinking more about what I'm spending on if I have to account for it & confess on my diary. Not been too bad to be honest but could be a lot better as well.

We went down to stay with the outlaws for a long weekend about a month ago & wasn't too bad. I think I'm finally learning to keep my mouth shut & try to make an effort to get along with them, especially my FIL. He says (& believes) a lot of things that I don't agree with and thinks he's always right but it's not worth arguing about tbh. At the end of the day they are DH's parents & they helped us out big time with the deposit for our house which I am grateful for. I don't need to be their best friend. My new tactic is to nod and agree and then do what I want anyway.

When we were away my mum & brother were taking turns to feed the cats and I left a note with the instructions. My brother brought his friend with him one evening & got her to read the note out to him while he got their food sorted. :eek: It was a proper crazy cat lady note with info about which bowl each cat likes best and where they like to eat their dinner. :rotfl: I was a bit mortified that my brother let his friend read it. :rotfl:

Had a bit of a nightmare getting back from outlaw territory as our flight was delayed by 3 hours. :eek: We just wandered round & round the departures lounge getting more & more fed up. At least the flight wasn't cancelled though.

My mum is in hospital atm as she has had a partial knee replacement. She should be getting out tomorrow so we will be picking her up & getting her settled at home. Hopefully my brother has got some food in the house and kept it reasonably tidy for her. Her wee dog will be so excited to see her & I'm sure she'll be glad to get out.

Have been trying to cut down on cat expenses by trying different cat foods as the frozen one we buy is very pricey. Have been buying tinned stuff from zoo plus - lot of it is German so can't read the labels :rotfl: but it's very reasonably priced and fairly good quality (I.e. high meat content etc). The cats seem to like it too which is a bonus. :j

My chilli plants are coming on well and even have a few habanero chillies growing too. :T

sashybo

Had our nieces & nephew up at the weekend and they were running riot. The kitten didn't know what to do, she was intrigued but a bit scared. Our middle cat was traumatised. :rotfl: The oldest cat was really great though, totally chilled out and even let the kids cuddle & kiss him. :eek::rotfl: We did recommend that they didn't try to kiss him on the lips though. :eek:

I ordered some calf length boots for winter - they are Doc Martens but don't look like the traditional lace up ones. They have a good grip on the sole and should last a good while. Got them a bit cheaper online as well. :j I ordered them not really expecting to be able to zip them up (chunky calves) but they actually do. :j Admittedly I still need help with the right boot for the last wee bit but as they're leather I'm hoping that it will stretch a bit so I don't need DH to zip that side up whilst I pull the sides together. :rotfl:

Still trying to work out what to do with our front patch of grass, a raised bed might be too big but we can't just put a normal flower bed in as not much topsoil. Thinking of some small shrubs that won't grow too high (as they will be partly under the living room window) and then some flowers. Daffodils/tulips etc for spring and others for summer. Not very good at gardening & not much experience with these things. Oh well, we'll get there eventually.

We picked my mum up from the hospital yesterday and took her home. DH and I had to clean the floors and kitchen as my brother had left the dog in too long and he'd peed everywhere. :mad: Also had to sort out the flowers he'd bought but just dumped in the sink instead of putting in a vase & buy milk and bread for her. :mad: There was another horrible smell once we'd cleaned the floors but couldn't find what was causing it. My mum text when we got home to say it was rotten eggs - she found one that had cracked in the egg box and was bubbling and all sorts. _pale_

sashybo

Hi all, proper MIA this time.

Haven't been too bad on the debt front but could have been much better. Have been spending on "stuff" instead of paying off debt.

We finally sorted out our front garden - we had more topsoil than we thought so just dug down and made a bed with the help of MIL. The soil is almost pure clay though, so we mixed a whole load of compost through it.

We now have a very small rose bush, a hydrangea (which just looks like some sticks at the moment), some hebes, a blackbeard plant and some primroses for colour. Hopefully they will turn out ok - the rose bush is looking good though as they like clay.

We stuck some honeysuckle and a climbing rose in the back garden against the fence (both reduced from B & Q to £2 each!) and bought some raspberry and tayberry canes, hope they survive.

Doing a leadership course through work just now and the assignments are killing me. They're not too long, usually 1000 - 2000 words (although I always go over the word count) but they are hurting my brain and I don't get many weekends off so sitting trying to make myself do the third (and final yay :beer: ) assignment today.

I spent yesterday avoiding it and only wrote a couple of paragraphs but managed to clean my whole kitchen, do a whole load of ironing and watch multiple episodes of Sons of Anarchy.

Should really get back to it now...:cool:

sashybo

So mostly finished the assignment but still a bit of tidying up to do. Have passed the first two assignments though which is a relief.

Went over to see our friends yesterday evening as their little girl was turning 4. Took her a wee present & played out the back (until it got dark) with her & her wee sister (age 2) on their scooters, I hasten to add I was not on a scooter. :eek:

Today we bought some seat cushions for our patio set in B&M, £3.99 for two which isn't bad as needed 6 & got 2 reclining sun lounger type seats as well from dunelm for £50. Also got some solar powered fairy lights to put along our fence as I think they'll look pretty.

Bought myself a small oregano plant as well as I love the smell, re-potted it when we got home.

On the money front I cancelled the automatic renewal of my car insurance (they wanted £252 for the year, think last years was only about £200!) & got a new policy for £192 plus £50 cashback through Quidco. :j DH helped me out with that which was good of him. :T

I've been so lazy recently & still need to lose a stone in weight. Back to the exercise bike & yoga it is.

sashybo

Have had a very lazy start to the day today - back to work tomorrow for 7 days so might as well chill out a bit.

Have a pile of ironing to do, bathrooms to clean and hoping to make some soup as well. Should really do some yoga & jump in the shower before I start too. Hoping to tidy up assignment & email it off later.

So of course I'm sitting at the table in the kitchen with my iPad reading diaries on MSE.

DH is busy clearing his garage out & stuck a washing on for me which is one less thing to worry about.

sashybo

Have done my ironing and sent my final assignment away. :j

Just did 40 mins of yoga and feel a lot better for it. Don't know why I give up on it when I'm feeling a bit rubbish as it makes me feel better but I just get lazy and want to hide in my bed with a book instead of doing something.

Going to go and have a hot shower as feel like a cold is lurking - woke up with a sore throat and feel a bit bleurgh. Will clean the bathrooms afterwards and hopefully get some soup on. Also have another couple of washings to put on and put towels from previous washing away.

DH banked £9 worth of coins (1ps, 2ps & 5ps) for me when he was at the bank so I'll log on later and pay that off my higher interest loan. :beer: Still have to empty out my 10p jar and see how much is in there so I can bank that as well.

Our kitten is being very naughty, she keeps jumping on my back and clinging on for dear life when I'm doing things in the house. :eek: Just as well she's a small cat really as she'll be one next month. If my big cats did that I'd be in trouble! :rotfl:

sashybo

Hi all, have started a new diary for 2017 HERE if any of you are still lurking around like me!

Decided it's time to get back to debt busting properly again & having a diary helps me to do that.