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

apple_muncher

Good to hear from you mothernerd. Am glad you have contacted Stepchange - well done you. Hugs.

Fmess

Glad to hear from you mothernerd - that step change plan sounds like a good plan. Hugs about feeling down, you're doing so well and have kept going far longer than I would have managed in your situation.

andrar

mothernerd thanks for taking the time to post, sounds like you've had a pretty rough time of it. Good luck with Stepchange, sounds like you're doing the right thing.

fmess I blimming loved The Martian!

I've had another NSD so on a wee roll now, should be another NSD tomorrow too. Anyway I'm cream crackered so off to bed, night all!

Bobarella

Hi Turtles

Mothernerd - I am so sorry to hear how hard life is for you. Your house sounds lovely, I wonder why it is just not selling? I can recognise in myself echoes of your sentiments on missing things to get the debt paid off. I think its a very hard line to walk. If we dont keep kicking it down it will not go, but at times is it worth it to miss out on special occasions? I really hope for you StepChange is the catalyst for some real postivity & space to breathe. Good luck And thanks for the good wishes too.

Dolly - How awful! I've never heard of such a thing. The timescales to expect you to decide and part with that amount of cash are so wrong. I would similarly say that the itinerary is a bit bonkers too, & I'd be concerned about the kids well being. What will you decide?

LittleSkintDragon - Theres always something needed isnt there. I have to buy new school shoes for my son as his are absolutely on their last legs. I didnt mean to leave it so long, thank goodness half term is nearly here.

Thrifty - Well its an interesting one, had a bit of a mothers meeting today with a few ladies & the talk was all about how poor 2nd babies have to fit in, so they just do! Lots of lols to be had, I feel bad going along with these sterotypes but it is funny hearing peoples various tales

Calling - Oh its easy, just chain them to the bedpost & voila lots of time out for Mum Please dont call Child services I am of course joking (maybe)

Fmess - Drooling now at your evening menu. I love lasagne....yum food..

Andrar - Well done on your NSD.

Logging a NSD myself, but not much else to tell of. Night!

Bob

misstara

mothernerd sending lots of hugs, well done for contacting stepchange, hopefully life will become a little less stressful for you

Bob glad to hear the wee one is behaving herself.

dolly it seems ridiculous that the school expect you to fork out money on such short notice. Have you decided what to do?

Nothing much to report from yesterday, managed another NSD. Today won't be as we need milk and tatties. Right better get a move on and get organised for work. Hope everyone has a good day

thriftylass

Good morning,

good to see you mothernerd. Good luck with the Stepchange plan, hopefully things will improve soon and the house will sell.

Little set back last night, had a rollie. However, had a lovely fish meal, meat free day one done. Also took stock of what we have in the freezer etc and will make a revised meal plan for the next two weeks. Really need to watch money the next weekends. Had a wee chat with DH, the treat money for drinks and special weekend food has to stop. Weekends are what ruin by monthly budgets. And as he is changing jobs in the middle of November I'm not sure when he'll be getting paid how much so we need to be more careful.

Also wrote down all the seed I have and want to grow next year and will make a list of what to seed when. I only got a wee slope to grow things on so will better really level/step it for next year and plan what will have to go into pots.

SFD number 5 today.

dolly84

mothernerd - the Stepchange plan sounds like the best idea, you have tried to sort it out yourself and now need a bit of help. Couldn't you rent out your other house, an agent will do all the work for a fee of course but it would still be money coming in?

Bob - My son had to fit in with DD who was 2 when he was born and he is a more settled and easy child, DD is a nightmare really but I do think she would have been whether she was first or tenth.

Thanks for all the comments about the trip - we have made a decision and she isn't going. We could scrape by financially but other things would have to be sacrificed and as she has already been away with school and she goes on loads of trips with Scouts and Guides she isn't missing out. Plus if she goes it sets a precedent regarding DS's trips, I can't let her go and then not him.

I need to do a full grocery shop today so will be going to Lidl for that after tea. Next weeks grocery shop will be the last from this months budget but we should come in under what I had allowed.

We are hoping to go away at half term, just for a few nights to the Yorkshire Dales so not far from home really, we have a caravan so our holidays are pretty economical. We are waiting until the death to decide to see what the weather will be like.

I am taking no notice about the predictions for winter, people are always predicting fantastic summers which never happen, the weather forecasters can't get the weather right a day or so in advance unless it is raining so how can they predict months in advance.

Our thermostat is set at 17 degrees for the morning and evening, 16 during the day (I work from home) and 7.5 degrees during the night although it has never come on so is essentially off at night. I don't really enter into the competition of how long can I go without turning it on, I don't want the house to get damp so I am happy to put it on for a couple of hours just to air things out a bit, we live in an old yorkshire stone house and the stone seems to really hold moisture compared to brick. This morning the thermostat read 15 degrees but it feels OK so I haven't bothered turning it on and the windows are open a bit upstairs to let some air in.

thriftylass

Well, not that busy at work today so got side tracked from xmas and halloween for a change and started planning next years gardening. I would like to be a bit more organised and do more. DS is old enough anyway but DD (then over 2) will finally be ok not be watched like a hawk all the time (concrete steps, wall etc). She is pretty good already but you can't turn your back. Anyway, I hope next year it'll be easier to go out in the garden more and actually get stuff done. So I listed all the seeds I want to grow, found you can get cheap ex scaffolding boards on ebay (for terracing my slope), made labels (had a few mystery seedlings last year) and looked into planting plans. Only have to wait another three months and shortly after new year I can start with onions for instance. Exciting....

academiablues

Evening all. Dolly, well done on making a decision about the trip - I'd definitely be saying no. They don't have to go on everything, and two days is ridiculously short notice really. Thrifty, I love my garden! You can start with garlic right now, if that's something you might like to grow
The course I'm on this week is going well, and they're providing lunches which have been awesome so far! Think I might try to take some tupperware in tomorrow, as there's always quite a lot left over, but I don't want to look too strange. I know it's just going in the bin though, which is really sad. Other than that, the 3mile round walk to and from the station is doing me good but my legs ache today! Happy hump day turtles

Bobarella

Morning All

Good for you Dolly. I think it is so easy to cave on things for our children half from the peer pressure from other parents and part from wanting to please the child. Too many people are so permissive it just doesn't do their kids good in the long run.

Thrifty -I'm not looking forward to that eyes in the back of the head needed again stage. When DS as 4 months old i.e supposedly immobile I had him on the middle of a huge bed, ours, I was about to change him and realised I'd not brought a nappy into the bedroom. So went to the bathroom which was literally next door popped back and he'd managed to roll off! At the time we were renovating and he fell straight onto an uncarpeted floor from about 12 inches up. I was distraught to say the least. Little monkey was fine as A and E trip showed. And he kept us on our toes the whole time after that. We had a walker by 9.5 months! I'm hoping she might be like her dad and prefer a nice sit down

So Turtles how is it going? I am finding this month endless really as I am only keeping on an even keel and not making progress. That said I am now in a position where I haven't put anything new on credit in as long as I can remember. We live within our means each month so that's good. We have savings and are slowly paying off debt. None of those things will get us a medal but when I'm feeling flat I remind myself that the 'big picture' is improving.

Keep going everyone middle of the month today!

Bob