From debt to freedom...

magicgal

Sorry it’s been such a frustrating week. But massive well done on the savings. 

I love the hedgerow draft reappearing and what a lovely project to be sharing with your dd1
ams great she has such a wonderful distraction for the month ahead..

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Cherryfudge, Janb5 and Magicgal.

I haven’t shared a Christmas with the ex since 2015, Jan. I did invite him, for the children’s sake, for the first couple of years which was met with a grunt and not even a yes please or no thank you, so I tend to plan for Christmas and get on with it. I’m quite happy to share arrangements regarding the children but no adult discussion is ever forthcoming.

It has been a funny half term week between the wet weather and continued taxiing - I can see why you can  buy car stickers saying “Mum’s taxi” now! I did pick up an extra shift at job no 2 due to it being half term, so had 1 day of split shifts and spent 1 day getting things prepared for job 1 for next week. 

Yesterday (Sat) we had a break in the rain, so I made the most of the opportunity and took the youngest DCs to the beach. We have a big main beach near us which is very popular with the tourists, then a secondary beach that at low tide means you can walk from one to the other. They are separated by a natural rock “wall”. The cliffs then form a headland, that is a favourite walk. Nestled between the headland and the secondary beach is a tiny  inlet, I suppose it could be called. At high tide you would never know anything was there but at low tide the sea recedes to leave a long narrow beach.  The beach is framed, at each side, by high rocks. There is a small rocky set of steps from the cliff path so we  scrambled down to this beach yesterday. DD4 really likes this one and it is lovely.  The way it is situated means that you are almost side on to the waves, so you can watch the waves rolling in to the main beach but they don’t come into the inlet until the tide really starts coming in. The brisk breeze yesterday, meant that the waves were huge, rolling into the main beach, leaving a frothy white expanse of water. Several brave surfers were on their boards waiting to catch one of the waves. The sun came out and was glinting on the waves at that point, just before they break. It was beautiful...I could have happily stayed and watched the sea all afternoon but the DCs were starting to get chilly as the wind was brisk. I think that lungfuls of sea air are wonderful at any time so after some running around the narrow beach, we reluctantly made our way back up the public footpath to the car.  
Along the path were a few stunted cow parsley blooms. Ever since I showed DS3 a seed-head of a campion plant, he likes to check each one to see if any seeds remain. The wind had obviously done a good job of seed dispersal!  As we walked up the path from the beach we noticed the cows, the red colour of their fur  contrasting with the green of the grass. These are beef cattle but must have some Highland blood in them as we saw some with quite thick fur and enormous horns! We were much refreshed when we got home.

Friday was payday from Job no 1, so all has been allocated. The bank balance will look healthy for the weekend before the direct debits come out. Unfortunately I can’t make a £50 overpayment to the window loan as I’ve had to divert that to paying a phone engineer bill, from when our broadband went down last month.

I’ve been able to bank £11.50 in tips this week, but looks like there won’t be anymore to save for while as Wednesday will be my last shift for a month 😔. I can see why the rising figures have caused another lockdown but it’s the small businesses that I feel sorry for, those who have worked long hours to build a business up and in some cases invested life savings to enable their business to survive.  DD2 will be off work for all of November and waiting to hear about DS1’s job. I sincerely hope he is able to work as he is the type of person that needs the discipline of work. He enjoys what he does, he doesn’t really come into contact with other people and ( based on the last lockdown) finds it hard to motivate himself in his spare time. DD1’s job finishes today anyway as the main season finishes at the end of half term. If her contract hadn’t come to an end, her place of work would be shut for lockdown anyway. Apart from not having job 2’s shifts to go to, life will be quite normal for me as I’ll have main job’s hours to work and the  school runs.

The Christmas cake is now baked 😌. It smelled delicious when it was in the oven, filling the whole kitchen with a spicy fragrance. I made a boiled fruit cake too, which was nice for a change.

Took some time to harvest the remaining apples from the tree. There were quite a few , all fairly high up but DS1 was able to help me get them down. I’m very conscious that food spending has crept up again. I’ve started going to the local butcher which I think is good value and excellent quality, so will aim to keep going. Popping into Mr T’s for or with one of the older DCs hasn’t been good as invariably I’ve picked up bits and pieces which has to stop.

Hoping to meet up with my parents today as we won’t be able to meet up then until December. Hope the weather holds to allow a brisk walk somewhere.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Honeysucklelou2

Forgot - Good news, paid  £70 off a debt this week . Bad news, serious problems with the exhaust on the car, likely to need a new exhaust 😨.

Finally heard back from the PPI claim, I submitted back in Aug 2019. I sent off a statement from 20 years ago with the PPI payment highlighted so they can see all the relevant details needed. I’m hoping to hear soon...just a refund of the PPI paid would be good.

I’ve also responded to an email that keeps coming into my work email inbox. Apparently tax can be claimed back on any union fees paid and this can be backdated for 4 years. I figured I had nothing to lose and hopefully a cheque to gain, so have completed the online forms to sort this out.

lucielle

Your description of the beach walk makes me want to scoop my hounds and give them a run.  We have some fantastic beaches up here
L

magicgal

Sorry about the lockdown affecting your job. I’m glad you managed to put some pennies away but I know how tight things are. Keeping everything crossed for you re PPI and rebate etc x

Cherryfudge

Well done on the Christmas cake and the debt repayment! Also your walk sounds wonderful.
It sounds like a lot of changes over the next month for your children, and you too as you won't be working or ferrying so much. Can you set the teenagers to plant any overwintering crops on the allotment? I imagine your climate might be mild enough for something but I'm not knowledgeable enough to make suggestions.

janb5

So glad ex wont savour your home made delights!  I did the same as you and invited mine over one Christmas...never again...!  There is a reason why they are an ex.
I bet your parents were glad to see you and I am sure they  are seriously impressed by how well you are steering everything so confidently. It is no mean feat at all. x

Drawingaline

Lovely reading about your beach walk. I went down to the south coast with the boy and my sister to do his geography fieldwork. School couldn't take them, and asked if parents could. My sister is a geography teacher so she tagged along as she is missing fieldwork 😂 it was busy (south coast!) But loved watching all the kite surfers out, and it was perfect weather for throwing oranges into the sea for longshore drift testing. Unfortunately although we are about 40mins from the coast, to get to any actual beaches you have to travel further. The coastline closest is situated in two cities, so are ports rather than beaches. 

savingholmes

Hedgerow project sounds fab. Hope exhaust bill not too high

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Lucielle,  Cherryfudge , Janb5, Magicgal, DAL and SH.

Thankfully the exhaust repair was much better than I’d thought, so almost £100 went out. It was a specific section of the exhaust rather than the whole thing that had gone, so feeling very thankful about that.

I’ve had a letter from the PPI people saying that they will not uphold my PPI complaint ☹️. I don’t understand it...the letter says they they can’t find any trace of me on their system despite me sending a statement to them ( by recorded delivery) with the PPI payment clearly highlighted. I also filled in a substantial questionnaire so I really can’t understand why they can’t sort it out 😪. I now have the option to go to the Financial Ombudsman within a specific time frame.

I did work Wednesday night at my second job. It was such a busy night, it felt more like a busy Saturday night than a midweek evening. I think many were making the most of the last opportunity to eat out before lockdown. I have £5 tips to bank but that is it for the time being. I’m very thankful to have been able to save an extra £50 in tips alone!  Thankfully DS1’s job looks to be continuing. His line of work would count as more essential in winter than summer, so I’m glad he will be kept busy. DD2 is off for a month but I think she’ s more able to cope with that.

Its been so lovely to see the sunshine today even it t has been through the window as I’ve been doing online training. Lifts the heart somehow. I still have tulip bulbs to get in so may busy myself doing that before the school run.