22 Foxhole East

greenbee

f0xh0les said:

 I need to give myself a bl00dy good shake, and now DH is back in the office 4 days a week (on non- strike weeks anyway) there is no reason not to get the work done while nobody else is going to be disturbed by it (except DS1 who is proving to be just about as lazy as they come). 

Maybe you can offer him as labour to the builders? Or would they charge you extra?

f0xh0les

I don't think he would turn up to work @greenbee

greenbee

You are being very patient ... hopefully he'll get his act together soon. 

f0xh0les

Just checked my g0v.uk account, and it knows I have left The Max and it tells me I am getting paid just under £1k from them tomorrow - about £200 more than  I expected, which I assume  is o/t and holiday pay p/r.  Will expect my P45 by post this week, if the Department of Stealth and Total Obscurity (as were) know about it.  Also means I might get a tax rebate in April, woo hoo!

The child benefit came in, and went straight back out again as a dd for the kids regular savings accounts.  I was left with a £2.08 profit. Not even enough for a cup of (nice) coffee!  DS3 asked this morning if he got 'his interest' in March or April, so it is already on his radar .  It will be another £2k to add to my ill-gotten-gains in April.  Rinse and repeat for 2023.

£82.61 still left in the kitty this month.  DS3 is 15 this week, and he wants to go clothes shopping (he does not trust me to dress him anymore), so he has asked for money, so that £80 quqid could make a big chunk of his present - I am going with him, to 'supervise' - aka veto his sportswear choices - too much polyester is a fire hazard, no matter what kind of cat is on the label .

Still no mouse caught. But we think we know where he is getting down under the floorboards. The old duffers I volunteer with were busy telling me which items they had the most success with in their mouse traps over the years, apparently  LeShire mouses are quite partial to raisins.  They do make me laugh - the old chaps, not the flippin' stupid mice.

Supper tonight is going to be potato, sweetcorn, and butter bean chowder, the butter beans have to be blitzed or DS4 won't eat them. Going to knock up a quick focaccia if I have time. Volunteering again tonight, but should be home 20 minutes after DH who is having a full day in the Lecture Theatre.  He seems to be in pretty good spirits.

The washing is on the line!!  I have high hopes it will actually get dry today. I told DS3 at supper time last night to hang his white school shirts over the landing bannister, and they would be dry by the morning - they were dry before bedtime.  He was properly impressed. £0 extra spent.  Small savings.

f0xh0les

All payslips from T'max downloaded and printed out, so I have proof!  Last night at 9.30pm I found out that DH did not earn enough to have to make a Higher Earners Child Benefit (due to strike deductions ) in the tax year that does not end this year, so I did not have to do that. All very last minute, but that's the kinda guy he is .  - really, really annoying!

This  morning, to celebrate the shortest month, I have contacted 2 building companies to come and look at my house and hopefully quote. I have sent emails. That way they have the address, and all contact details.  Now, I wait. ... ... ... ... but at least I have done something.  One was a place that is working up the road and I have been internet stalking and looking at their work since lock-down, and the other was recommended to me by a previous happy customer.  As the roof work alone is being quoted at around £12-£13k, a full loft conversion would only be around £6-8k more, and would solve all my problems in a build time of 8 weeks.   Big-Girl-Pants firmly pulled up.

Still no flippin' mouse.

Walked down to Herr Ron, picked up J&Bs ice cream at 2 for £3.  2 different flavours, £6 of ice cream - did I mention I am back on the slim-shakes? Peak idiocy.  I do not want to put the weight back on that I lost when I was working, so I have hit the shakes this week (bought on discount for £2.00 a bag), and - another non-scales victory - this morning I got to ditch the bra-extender -I was between sizes, but no longer, the 34" fits. I am going to be 11 stone something by the end of this month. It is less than 7lbs.... and so she bought ice cream. Idiot! Honestly I make no sense sometimes.

 I also bought salad (27p) and Pure non-dairy cheese blocks (£1) and slices (£1) some greek style not-yogurt (50p) and lunchbox tat  for the rest of the week for kids.  Lunch is pitta, salad, and pickles, and supper will be pizza.  The shakes must be working as I am flippin' freezing, and my underwear fits .  Oh what fun! There you go, a little look into my life.

Off to set budgets for the month (surprise sofabed is still on the cards) now that the bills have gone out.   I have taken out cash for DS3's birthday tomorrow, and I am giving myself a weekly budget of £100 - which includes £35 in bus passes - so £65 to feed and clothe everyone, and Operation Pantry Use Up is going really well - today's hummus is from home-soaked chickpeas, and they are lush.

f0xh0les

The mouse is officially a rat, a big hairy rat, currently under the bath in the downstairs bathroom.  Humane Rat trap ordered to be delivered today - explains why the mouse traps did not work - poor love could not possibly fit into them.  He must have been stood outside, smelling peanut butter,  like a kid looking in the window of the bakers!

I came downstairs an hour early to bake the kids' sausage rolls, and while lighting the oven wondered why that sock was moving, it was not a sock, it was Dave.  He fled into the back of the house, so I made a barricade at the  kitchen door, baked the sausage rolls, got the kids off to school and had a cup of coffee, and then climbed  back over the barricade and made sure Dave was not behind the cooker, the sink, the tumble dryer, or the washing machine - Dave was not at home, although he seems to have a penchant for empty miso cup soup packets  (weirdo!!), so I knew he had to be in the bathroom, there was nowhere else - sent DH with a torch and the advice Dave would be under the bath void, DH came back 15 seconds later with a 'Yep, that's a rat, and it is under the bath', so, bathroom door barricaded, Dave can stay in there until Humane Trap is baited and shoved in there.  Dave can go and live on the railway embankment, or down at Saffron Brook.  Freeloader.

So, after this morning's impromptu rodent safari,  I used my free Amz0n vouchers for the metal holiday chalet - so no actual cost to me, and I still have a minimum of £11 more vouchers coming in this month. Ta Dah! No Spends will be spent today.

Need to do my Spy-Posting this morning,

DS2s passport arrived back yesterday (so he can vote!).

Posted off Step-Gran's gold rings and chains yesterday, hopefully will be a few more ££s in the coffers. Will expect a phone call today. 

No noise from the 2 builders I contacted.  If I have not heard anything back by lunchtime, I will ring them, instead off just filling out  their contact forms on their websites.  

The rest of the day will be cleaning and clearing stuff.  

I have a budget of £60 for next week, £35 of which is for bus fares for kids. The fridge is packed full of DS3's birthday cannoli, £1 cheese, and veg. I have not yet made a meal plan, so that needs doing

My total wealth-fund seems to have grown to £107k

f0xh0les

£5.52 from Cashback site for Xmas presents bought 27 MONTHS ago.  Finally!! Well, better late than never I suppose Just checked my PBs and I did not win anything in the draw this month - oh well, it is the first month I have owned them, after all.

f0xh0les

£50 for step gran's rings and chain. Not much, but still, better than nothing. I was never going to wear them, and I buried her with her wedding ring, like she would have wanted.

f0xh0les

Just opened a current account with Ant&Der  for the £200 switching bonus - switching a secondary current account I set up as a probate account. Should have the dosh in 60 days (in time for Easter) and I can switch again, maybe to the Tee Ess Bee.

trix-a-belle

sending positive thoughts that Dave the hairy undesirable lodger can be contained and evicted swiftly & doesn't have a family or friends lodging with him