NST: October: Letting go of the love of stuff.

Fmess

Morning all,

Yesterday turned out to be very spendy but very enjoyable - watched a 3D film st the cinema, had dinner out and paid for expensive car parking. However it was definitely worth it for a stress free evening with good company

Today will be a SFD. The heating kicked in yesterday morning and has done the same again today. I have it on for about an hour to warm/dry the towel from my shower and to take the chill off.

Not much else to report expect that my dd for my ccard payment came out so I need to knock that off my signature

Have a good day all

littleskintdragon

Morning all, just a quick check in. Will post again later.

Yesterday was a spendy day. Sorted the kids pj's and they both needed some warmer ones for winter so went to mr.t and got some. I checked the shops in town first but they were more expensive and looked cheaper :-/
Dh got some extra pay this week as he worked an extra couple of hours last week. Doesnt seem to have made much difference mind, but at least we wont be buying food this week, only petrol as i need it for work.

Bank account switches over tomorrow, hoping its going to be smooth!

thriftylass

Good morning,

finally making some progress. SFD number 4 and smoke free day number 3 behind me :j. Also not had chocolate for 3 days (unless you count DS' choc shell cereal that he doesn't like and I "have to" eat ). Lovely sunny day here so will drag my butt out for run as yesterday was such a meh day that I need to make an effort today. Will later look up another nice fish dish and try to aim for two meat free days this week. Still have fish pie left overs in the freezers for Thu. Tomorrow will prob be chilli or similar of when BIL stays over again. See you later....

BTW Bobarella our two were so different too. DS never slept through till he was 8 months old and DD did it from 6 weeks. They don't now though . But what I mean it's astonishing how different two kids can be in so many aspects.

dolly84

Bob - I think second children have to fit in more with an existing routine whereas your first child rules the roost usually.

Fmess - glad you had a nice night out. What did you go to see?

Thrifty - well done with the smoking/chocolate.

As you know DD was away on a residential last week and DS has one in April, well yesterday DD brought home a letter about a trip to France or Spain in June. France is £380 and Spain is £489 but may be more!!! DD has no passport so that is a further £46, food isn't included on the two ferry/eurotunnel crossings and she would need spending money. If she wants to go we have to pay a £100 deposit by Wednesday this week - 2 days notice. I'm not happy with itinerary for the France trip - she would leave school at 10.30 p.m on a Sunday, ferry/tunnel 6.30 am Monday and then a full day of activities so no sleep until Monday night from Saturday night as there is no way they will sleep before then.

So the itinerary, cost and also all the trouble at the France end of the tunnel (who knows whether it will be better or worse by next summer) is really putting me off and I only have one more day to decide.

apple_muncher

Dolly - how old is DD? Sorry if you've already said. I went on a trip that travelled overnight and it was dire! Ruined the whole trip really.

Also, will the trip run again another year? Two days' notice for such a lot of money is not acceptable. If it runs annually, then you can save for next year. Is dd doing both languages at GCSE?


Oop - gotta run. Bell's gone and darling y7s will appear at teh door at any moment...

dolly84

apple_muncher wrote: »

Dolly - how old is DD? Sorry if you've already said. I went on a trip that travelled overnight and it was dire! Ruined the whole trip really.

Also, will the trip run again another year? Two days' notice for such a lot of money is not acceptable. If it runs annually, then you can save for next year. Is dd doing both languages at GCSE?


Oop - gotta run. Bell's gone and darling y7s will appear at teh door at any moment...

She will be 12 by the time of the trip. She is doing French and Spanish this year (Year 7) and then Spanish gets changed for German in either year 8 or 9 so we are quite a way from GCSE subjects.

Calling14

Dolly that sounds unreasonable I have done trip with kids travelling overnight wasn't great to Paris/ Germany. Expensive as well if it was me would say No.

Spent today desperate for hair dye got roots showing and my birthday next week so need to try and look my age at least. Got 2 packets this time as I always lose a SFD as leave it till last minute so should last few months now.

Right off to collect grandson from school and got a day off work tomorrow so wine night tonight ;-)

Hope everyone is happier this week and Bob your doing well to post on here I can't remember having any free time with a baby

Mothernerd where are you - very quiet?

Fmess

Dolly - two days notice?! That is awful! I'm running a one day trip costing less than £40 and have given over a month's notice and making sure it covers two ends of the month, so hopefully parents will have been paid twice and can factor it into their budgets. In my opinion, I would not send my child on a foreign trip at that age, and as you say the itinerary sounds odd. She is much more likely to remember trips like this if she does a similar thing in Year 10 or 11, and if the school is as keen on trips as it sounds, there will probably be plenty more opportunities.

I went to see Martian, and was really impressed.

Today was a SFD. Not such a hectic day at school and managed to leave most of my work there this evening The house is freezing and the heating has kicked in, and I can't wait to have my bactn cooked dinner of lasagne and apple crumble What temperature do you set your heating to? I've got mine on for 17 degrees at the moment.

apple_muncher

17° here too. Though dh edges the thermostat up; and I edge it back down again!

Will be getting the long draught excludrrs and fleece blanket down v soon. The lounge windows are floor-to-ceiling and although double-glazed, there's a whopping great big draught! I don't sit downstairs much now - still got our 'visitors' - but may do once they go... In the meantime, I sit on/in bed with dd, doing craft or reading.

mothernerd

I'm still reading along and doing what I can. At weekend I contacted Stepchange - think I am going to go an a TPP, Token Payment Plan. I have started the past few months without any money for food, sometimes with not enough to cover the bills and the minimum payments on credit cards. Cumulative effect of paying Council tax (and standing charge + for energy at the other house). Did a cash flow and can't see any way I can carry on this way all through Winter and the housing market will probably soon go quiet until Easter.

I have had a few minor health problems (cough, cold, sore throat, tight chest etc) which really knocked the stuffing out of me culminating in me being refused my flu jab as I was too ill, had to take antibiotics for a week.

Have been reading a book (don't know if it was one of the ones apple muncher mentioned as one of her quotes sounded familiar) called Little Goals, Big Results. It is very keen on considering all aspects of your life, health and family as much as career and finances. On consideration, I think for the past two years (and actually probably most of the past 8 years) trying to throw as much as I can at the debt on a tiny income and coping with the multiple disasters that have befallen various family members has meant missing out on an awful lot.

I have missed family weddings because I couldn't afford travel, my social life has dwindled to nothing, I have cut out haircuts, reduced clothes and other spending to the the bone. For the first time ever, I haven't upgraded my spectacles in line with my prescription (it was only a minor change but just didn't have any money and wouldn't put it on a card).

If I go on this plan (each cc would get £1 a month, paid through Stepchange) I would actually be starting with some actual real money (cash) to use for food, which would give me more choices and let me build up an emergency fund. The plan lasts for a year (they may/ may not be able to get interest frozen) and obviously when the house sells I will be able to pay everything off.

Hopefully knowing all my bills were covered (spending more on cc repayments than bills atm) would give me the breathing space to build my business back up (can't afford insurance or anything to take photos of products with), take more time over health issues and reduce my stress. Think the stress is disrupting my creative flow and I need it back asap.

The Stepchange site asked me to fill in a mental health survey and I scored fairly high on depression and anxiety and over the top on social anxiety (the less I see people the harder it gets to re-engage with them), Not sure that things are as bad as they said, maybe the struggle to stay on my feet is dragging me down a little but may be time to seek a counsellor again (they recommended seeing the doctor).

So if it goes ahead (waiting for paperwork as I didn't have access to a printer - could have used the library one but they didn't say how many pages it was so didn't know if I would have enough at 10p a sheet) I will rejoin you next month with a budget that actually has real money.

You are all doing really well (special cuddle to baby bob).

Edit - what is this discussion on having the heating on - it's October, the coldest months are December, January and February. How are you going to cope with our 'worst winter for years' if you are already throwing in the towel. I've added a fake fur cover (single) to the summer cover (DS3 had a sleepover 2 weeks ago and that was what I ended up with).