22 Foxhole East

apple_muncher

Sounds promising 😀

mark55man

it takes years to get the kids there and then it all happens in weeks, and then you carry on proud but a little bit more not being relied on

kerri_gt

Must be a full moon - take full advantage f0xh0les.  Perhaps DS1 has been listening more than you thought (or maybe there's someone on the scene he wants to wine and dine?)

f0xh0les

So far halfway through the month of March I have 'earned' over £16 on p/a and over £16 of Big River vouchers. Not too shoddy.

In limbo this month. Not working for money, so I am obsessing about savings and not spending money (which is ridiculous). 

Aim in April  is to have £50k PB's / £20k ISA / £40k Renovations Budget / £0 credit card.  After that, savings are fun money. 

There was nothing in the latest budget for me.  I barely drive unless it is for work (and so on expenses), so even the fuel duty bit will not make a difference.  I was disappointed.

There appears to be a bit of movement on The Strike front. I have got nothing done since having DH home for 3 days this week.  Too aware of being quiet and keeping out of his way - he is working with his publisher on his book revisions - publication set for October.

DS3 cooked us dinner last night! Took him two and a half hours, and at the end of it, he looked at me and said ' I cant believe you do this for us every night!' well, to be fair I am faster at it than he was, and his chosen meal was ambitious, but it was nice for someone to realise that food does not just magically appear on't table, and halfway through, sometimes you wonder why on earth you ever started!

10 school days left until the Easter Hols (unless more strike days appear). 

f0xh0les

This morning I swapped my and DS3s phone contracts to Le- Bara - mine is £2 a month and his is 99p a month for 5 months, better than the £5 something each we have been paying for less data.  Going to get DS1 and DS2 to swap to their 1.99 a month tariff and to do it on their own phones from their own accounts with their own money.  They both spend more than that on snacks a day. 

Made some pastry and boiled up a whole pan of potatoes, and made a fabulous smoked cheese and onion pie. I have made a batch of scones to celebrate M-Day, and 3 apple and pear and hazelnut crumbles. 

I have not folded any laundry so far this week. Not one bit, so I have masses in the kitchen needing attention. That is the job for this afternoon. boring laundry folding. 

f0xh0les

Just swapped DS4 to a 1p a month 3GB SIM for the first 6 months with like-a-mobile, instead of the £5.90 that his last 1p a month for the first 6 months package with Le-Bara went up to.  I am a serial phone juggler!!

Went and did the volunteery thing this morning, gave someone a lift, came home, cleaned kitchen, fed DH his lunch, had a scone in celebration of waking up this morning and not dying in my sleep (low bar, but hey, I'm a low bar kinda gal),

Confirmed my attendance at a work event on Wednesday (paid!), seen the attendance list and there are only lovely people going! So pleased! It is going to be a small amount of work, and a lot of catching up with people.  Not got any more work til July on the cards, which is not great, but I have a lot of work in July (swings and roundabouts).

Took money out this morning, so bus passes purchased (I hope!) and I need to buy lunchbox tat, and fill my car with petrol.  Limbo still.....

f0xh0les

Limbo continues... 

Kids'  5% regular savers account matured, so I have another £2k in available funds and the kids have their  £30 interest to give to Mr Pringlesman and Dr Pepper. 

Target of £40k in the renovations fund is on track - currently at £38,900 so hopefully on 1st April I will be at my goal. No joke!!

DS4 has the last £130 payment of his 5 day school camping holiday to go into school in April as well.

All bills will go up so expenditure in April will be more than usual, but I should get an extra £5 a week on the child benefit ( well be still my beating heart!) , although this year we should have to pay some back in tax due to DH's earnings (unless strike pay hits again, again, again) - sounds odd, but without the strikes, we should have had to pay some/ possibly all,  back for the last 3 years, but  we snunk under the bar, literally by pence,  due to nearly £7k of strike deductions.

And now to confession time.... I have managed to save £7k since Xmas.  That is absolutely soddin' ridiculous. It is more than I earned in the last 12 months. I am not used to having my own money, and so I do not spend money on myself. I can cope quite happily on what DH gives for housekeeping, and save  a bit at the same time, but I am now earning as well, and that is just such an odd feeling.... and so, as a result...  I am going to start spending from May.

At the grand old age of 48, I think I have a big enough emergency fund built up, no mortgage, and a renovations fund that will get most of the house finished - I have revised my plans for infill on the side extension, as it will give me less than 1m extra space, but if i square off what I have already at the back, and knock down all the internal walls my kitchen will be bigger, and there is no mucking about with water pipes and waste water pipes, blah blah, blah.  

I am going to concentrate on fixing my house, and having pretty things - that does not mean that I am going to stop buying second hand, junk shop, or fixing community recycling freebies, but it does mean that I will maintain a stable level of savings and start living, because honestly I feel like I have put my life on hold to get to this point.  It has not felt like it at the time, because I have had goals to aim for. Challenges I set myself, whether it was to knock 10p a day off the mortgage interest, or get to £30k in savings (which I just about managed before s/gran died).

We survived lockdown in a broken house but with our sanity mostly intact,  if there is ever going to be another one, I want to do it with a working shower, a nicely tiled patio, a  fitted kitchen and a family sized fridge freezer. 

The next worry is DH's parents, who are now in their 70's and are getting upset that they and their kids live in different countries  and they do not get to see them enough... and what will become of them if one of them gets ill.....  (my step-gran all over again, again comes to mind) so I really have to make sure I do not get sucked into that nonsense, and that my kids do not get guilted into promising to care for them.

slm6002

It is very strange having money all of a sudden after years and years of accounting for every penny.  Enjoy

f0xh0les

I have a strange man in my house.  A man who is the man who measures up for the architect who does roof extensions, but who does ground floor extensions.  He is here for an hour and a half measuring the rooms.

It all just got quite exciting again.   Things are moving forward.  What is not so good, is that the company I was looking at to do the job, just posted on Fakeb00k that they are now booking for 2024 as they are fully booked until then. Boo! 

Mind you, I contacted them in January, and I am only being measured up in the last few days of March.  Either way, I will have plans drawn up, that I can take to anyone.

f0xh0les

Yesterday my useless parents' marriage certificate came in the post.  My birth cert  naming said useless parents came on Saturday - I have never seen it before, the full birth cert or the marriage cert.  My aunt and her then husband were indeed the witnesses.   So that clears that up.  Now I have all I need to purchase the magical Irish passports.  Thank goodness. 

I have options.