From debt to freedom...

savingholmes

I've had your kind of month too - with the drains on EF. Birthday celebrations and the coastal walk sound fun though. Hope trip to see DD1 goes well. My DS is at uni and is under the weather too and awaiting a blood test to try and find a cause... So know what that feels like.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Magicgirl, Cherryfudge & SH.

The trip went well thank you. The picnic lasted us well, in fact the last of the Chelsea buns were eaten for breakfast today ! It was very much a flying visit but good to see DD1 and she thanked us profusely for going to see her, it meant a lot to her. We were able to sort out a clothes airer for her and help her to get a tricky task completed. I do need to be able to make the most of every penny in my budget as I think I do need to try and send money to her as much as I can. The course that she is doing is expensive in terms of materials that she has to buy to do the work. She has also discovered that 3rd year students receive less in their student loans in the final year so is trying to stretch her money to make up the shortfall if that makes sense.

Today has been surreal. I've had the Form D or maybe it's E? Forms arrive from the solicitor to sort out the financial side of it all. That was ok...today is my wedding anniversary which I managed not to think about too much until the doorbell rang at 4.30. I opened it to find the local florist on the doorstep with a bouquet of flowers...from the ex. :wall: I feel l it's very much a gesture for the children because his actions certainly do not indicate love.

Lots of work tasks done today but still quite a lot to go in order to be ready for next week. A positive task I did get done today was to pop to a local glazier and get 2 panes of glass to repair my greenhouse. I don't know why I had procrastinated about it, imagining it would cost a lot. It was much more reasonable than I had anticipated and I can mend my greenhouse .

Another positive for today...I found my old kitchen garden book written by Delia Smith & Gay Search. It's a very practical book based on what Delia has done in her own garden. I was so glad to find and am looking forward to reading it over the weekend .

Cherryfudge

Chelsea buns for breakfast - sounds good to me! And lovely that you were able to spend time with DD1.

Very strange about the flowers. Better about the greenhouse, though.

I haven't come across Delia's garden book but I imagine it's interesting to read, and useful. All her recipes are so well tested that I imagine her gardening tips are, too. I have couple of garden books in the queue: James Wong's 'Grow for Flavour' and Vita Sackville-West's 'Garden Book'. Looking forward to both, though the queue grows faster than I can catch up.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Cherryfudge...Delia's book is split into months so easy to read in terms of when to sow / plant out / harvest. Is James Wong the gardener who grows lots of herbs?

Yesterday was somewhat frustrating...I had plans for the day, I went out to the car, jumped in and it would not start :mad:. I tried a few times, not sure if it's the battery or an electronic problem. Unfortunately the battery is in a not easily accessed space and my car is parked in such a way that other vehicles can't get close enough to try and jump start. It's bizarre, it had been fine on the trip to see DD1 and I was able to take DS3 to his swimming lesson on Thursday.

I'm going to have to upgrade my breakdown membership and hope that I can get someone out to look at it soon. I really don't want anything else to break or not work. October seems to have been a breakdown month:mad::(.

Cherryfudge

Oh no! to the car... could the damp weather have affected it? I'm not mechanical but I remember we had a car that didn't like the rain. Even more of a nuisance that the battery isn't easily accessible. Had someone perhaps been out to collect something left in the car and left a light on, draining the battery? I think you would have noticed that, though.

I think James Wong probably does grow a lot of herbs: I haven't seen the TV programme but I gather he grows medicinal plants. I am fascinated by his advice on how to cook plants so as to be able to get maximum access to nutrients. For instance raw tomatoes are good for you, but if cooked for 30 minutes, massively increased amounts of lycopene are released. (Something to do with thickness of cell walls if I remember rightly).

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Cherryfudge

Well I rang up The breakdown service and £167 later had upgraded to include a Home start option. To their credit they did have a mechanic next to my car within 30 minutes which I did think was impressive. It was the battery and since the battery is the original one and the car is 11 years old, the breakdown chap offered to replace it. Silly me, I thought that the cost of the battery was included in the breakdown cover :doh::doh:. So I've had to borrow another £135 from my lovely dad in order to pay for the new battery.

On the plus side the car now starts and will hopefully go. The battery is also guaranteed for 5 years. I feel physically sick about the amount of money spent today and this week on maintaining the car and how much I need to pay back . Public transport is not an option due to the rural nature of where I live and work. I do feel like I can't get on an even keel at the moment.

Honeysucklelou2

After the breakdown service had gone, I did manage to get to work and get quite a bit done in preparation for this week. I picked up one child on the way home and got a few bits at MrT's as DD4 had remembered she had a cookery lesson this week. Got back to find the ex had used stuff out of the freezer to cook for half of the children but half hadn't been catered for :huh:. I just found it frustrating because I am menu planning and have cut back on food spending to balance the budget so everything is planned for. I busied myself calming down by making a nice apple and blackberry crumble and lemon drizzle cake .

After this week, I'm thinking again about bank accounts and savings. At the moment is have the EF in a postal NS & I account which I'm happy with. I can access money but the whole process takes about 3 days . What this week has taught me is that I need to have a second EF that has enough in to access such events as suddenly having to pay for a battery ( The cost went above and beyond the car maintenance pot) or if DD1 is taken I'll again, it has enough in to be able to pay for a trip to uni. To that end I have opened up a second current account but will keep the card out of sight and therefore out of mind.

I do need to find something else to go with my current hours. My new hours are definitely better in health terms and reduction of stress but I am keeping a look out for a small job that I could fit around the childre and current job.

Cherryfudge

It's been a tough few weeks for you. Boo to the ex sabotaging the food planning.

I noticed my local Council is advertising for things like admin to school Governors and invigilating for exams. Those, along with assisting with elections, are all the sort of irregular commitment that might help an EF but wouldn't tell on your health.

Glad the car is up and running again.

Drawingaline

Cars are such money pits, it's such a pain being so reliant on them. But not being able to drive atm is so annoying even with decent public transport.

Pollie

Do you know when ex is likely to be in house. If so, would he use food you specifically put out for feeding the family that day?