From debt to freedom...

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Alicia1804.

Busy week at work. Yesterday was a NSD which I was pleased about, especially as we didn't get back home until 7. The next few days look to be very busy as DD1 packs up to go back to university. I will miss her but I think she's looking forward to getting back to a place where buses run every 10 minutes and don't stop at 5.30 in the evening!! I'm trying to lack up a box of edible treats, as my grandmother used to do for me at the start of each term.

Honeysucklelou2

Spendless, you are a star...I found the parent/student card at Mr T's and took it to the till to put some money on. The checkout person did a double take and wasn't sure what to do with it but hadn't realised that such a card existed and was going to get one for her student daughter at the end of her shift. Great tip, many thanks.

Today has been a busy day. DD1 wanted to take me out for a coffee this morning which was kind of her. I confess I did savour the latte! We both had a few jobs to do in town before heading home. This afternoon was spent doing lots of cooking...sausage and cider casserole for this evening and lasagne made in foil trays for DD1 to take back to uni with her. We had a couple of spare foil trays so I made an apple crumble, using apples from the garden and a few late blackberries from the allotment . Got an apple amber made for dessert tonight...always a favourite!

It has been a beautiful day here, so lots of washing out on the line . DD1 has been busy packing but still quite a lot to go. I will have to dip into the EF to pay for some of the costs of this weekend /taking DD1 back to uni. Next week looks to be costly too as DD3 has a D of E expedition and her walking boots have well and truly worn out .

BalanceBy50

Hi HSL I have been meaning to visit your diary after you got me on track with my savings (huge thank you for that!). I have read all of your diary and I love your style of writing - ever thought of writing a book :rotfl:. I am going to be here cheering you on and I really hope you get your legal stuff sorted with your DH don't want to use the D bit though as he sounds anything but these days. I have huge respect for working mums especially in your profession as there is so little flexibility and you do with 8 children - I struggle with only 2.

Hope you have a fab weekend and that it feels like a mini break from all the usual mum jobs xx

Honeysucklelou2

:hello:Hi Balance by 50! Thank you for your kind words and amazed at your reading all the diary!

Honeysucklelou2

We finally got the car packed by 12...amazing how much packing there was and I think there's still lots we'll be posting to het. I did get organised this morning and made sure we left with a coolbox full of picnic items and that everyone had their water bottle filled. Definitely saved money by taking time to plan ahead.

This is really the only time we ever get to go away, so the nearest we get to a holiday. The youngest 2 are so excited at sleeping away from home .

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

The youngest 2 are so excited at sleeping away from home .

Aw bless! Safe journey/adventure all of you.

Drawingaline

I love how excited younger ones get over the simplist things. My smallest has requested we stay in a hotel again because its fun. (premier inn is all we do occasionally)

BalanceBy50

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

:hello:Hi Balance by 50! Thank you for your kind words and amazed at your reading all the diary!

You write in such an entertaining style it was a gripping read!

Hope you had a good weekend and dear DD1 is safely delivered xx

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Balance by 50, Cherryfudge & Drawing a line.

It's been a busy weekend. DD1 is now safely delivered to her university town. She is in Halls for this year, so the moving in was to a given time slot for exactly half an hour and then the cars had to be moved. My lovely parents came with us to give a hand. My mum was stationed in the kitchen, putting things away and my dad carrying umpteen boxes. My dad had his pedometer thing working which calculated that we had covered 5 miles on Saturday ! One advantage of a large family is that many hands make light work . Even DS3 was corralled into action and was carrying anything we could find that was unbreakable and light!! Thankfully about a third of her things had been put into storage over the summer, so we just had to collect it.



It did work out to being quite a spendy weekend. I've had to use some of the EF to pay for the accommodation and although I was organised with a picnic for the journey up, I had no means of cooking so meals were eaten out. It was McD0*alds one night and we tried a local pub the second night...not my usual behaviour but we needed to eat!! We saved on breakfast by taking porridge pots and I discovered the cereal boxes that can be eaten from the box. Unfortunately I discovered this as I was putting the boxes in the bin, having tipped them out into camping bowls!! I'll know for next time.

We got back yesterday afternoon. I decided to do a meal from what I had in the house, so knew I had some fish pieces, some rice and eggs so thought I'd do a kedgeree. I started to poach the fish in some milk, when to my horror, smoke started coming out from the hob ( Its an electric inbuilt hob that is separate from the cooker). I switched, what I thought was the main switch off but turned out to be for something else. I switched everything off on the hob and opened the windows. In the end I had to adapt the meal by cooking the rice in the microwave, transfer the fish to the oven and when it was cooked, flake it into the rice. I put it altogether then scooped holes in the rice and dropped in an egg so that when it cooked it was like kedgeree with baked eggs. A bit different but by that time, I was glad to have got a meal together at all. Looks like I'll be needing to save to get a new hob. I don't think it's the electrics as the oven is working ok and from what I can see they are wired into the same box ( possibly junction box??!!). Time to consult an electrician though. Could have done without the expense after such a spendy weekend. The frustrating thing was it was all working fine before we left!!

crazy_cat_lady

Ah no - I'm really going to hope that it's something little and you don't need a big spend at the moment. What a shame...