From debt to freedom...

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SA. I mix and match between Thompson and Morgan who have sent me their 10 for £10 deal this morning, Sarah Raven and Chiltern seeds. Chiltern have quite an extensive catalogue but unless you buy online and see the pictures, you need a fairly good horticultural knowledge as everything in the printed catalogue  is listed more in formal plant names eg digitalis rather than foxglove, although the common name is there too but not as easy to navigate in paper form. Sarah Raven’s seeds are quite economical and her sweet pea range is beautiful!

Honeysucklelou2

£150 paid off the window loan and £40 off the credit card. I’ve signed up to the pay your debt off by Christmas 21 challenge and am so pleased by how much has been able to be paid off, helped of course by the PPI payment and the refund of tax paid on union subscriptions.

janb5

So inspiring about your reducing all your bills- well done!
Th book selling on Ebay is an uphill battle I`m afraid. Very much a niche market- Nikolaus Pevsner, Bells Cathedral series etc. I`m making a small dent in the stash - listed 4 boxes...5 to go * sigh*

Cherryfudge

More than trebling the amount you are adding to savings is very impressive!

I hope your DD's work goes well.

Spendless

Fantastic news. I was correct about money attracting money - even if you were anticipating some of it . Does joining the challenge mean you're anticipating all debt to be gone this year?  

I'm not sure if the phrase 'it comes in 3's' is a regional saying  or not. Used to slightly unnerve me as a teen when I'd broken or lost a couple of things and my superstitious Grandmother would just tell me matter of fact that 'there'd be a third' -lol, but it works for nice things too.  

mumtoomany

Hi lou, if you are still looking for seeds, have you looked at premium seeds? Don't know about their flower seeds, but the veg seeds are very cheap. Mostly 99p Huge number in a pack, but no instructions, you need to check the website for those, unless you know what to do. HTH, mumtoomany.

savingholmes

Glad your pay was more than expected. You do a great juggling act. Will be nice to boost your savings.
I grew sweet peas last year for the first time in years. They were stunning.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Janb5, Cherryfudge, Spendless, mumtomany & SH.

Spendless - I am certainly hoping I can clear a good chunk of the remaining debt this year. I so want to be debt- free. I am also acutely aware that, whatever the result of the consent order,  whether I can take over the mortgage here or whether the house is sold and I try to buy elsewhere, a mortgage in my own name is going to be needed. Therefore I need my finances to be in as good a shape as possible because I’m concerned that being in my 40s,  my age will be seen as a negative along with the number of dependents.

mumtomany - Thank you for the seeds tip. I will go and have a look. I usually start sowing around the beginning of Feb for certain varieties, so hoping to get cracking tomorrow!

Cherryfudge - Thank you for your kind words for DD1. She has enjoyed her first 2 shifts and we are both getting more used to the 5am start!

I’ve let my money from job 2 build up for a couple of weeks, so had enough to make a payment to the Help to Save account. If I can pay £50 in February, I will have replaced the £100 I had to use for the big garage bill in December.

Unfortunately the weather has hampered any long walks, so we have contented ourselves with doing a figure of 8 walk for the last 3 days. It’s a walk that is one of my favourites, only a couple of miles but one without stiles so the elderly lurcher can manage it too. He really does seem more sprightly, the more we do this walk!  I saw some new leaves today, some on a holly bush and some in the hedgerow, that looked like honeysuckle leaves. I also saw a tree stump with this amazing fungi growing on it. The fungi looked like horizontal layers and at first glance the layers looked like some kind of textured bark, had to look twice to realise it was the fungi.

Quite a bit of time this weekend has been spent on prep for work, so not had chance to do anything in the house to further decorate it.

I had an interesting conversation with DS1 yesterday. Some may remember his resistance to contributing anything towards bills and it has been quite a battle.  In the end I said if he wasn’t willing to contribute a fair amount ( ie to contribute towards the electricity, water, council tax) he would need to pay a portion towards the council tax and do one meal a week. This he has done most weeks but he has now come  to the conclusion that he is spending more doing one meal than if he had accepted my first proposal.  I asked how he was spending so much ( only buying ready meal type food) and pointed out to him that if he bought the basic ingredients and cooked himself it would be so much cheaper. I’ve repeatedly offered to cook our way together through the Hairy Bikers cookbook so that he would at least pick up a rudimentary understanding of how to cook but have been turned down on that idea.  Anyway the upshot is that he has now accepted my original proposal and I will cook the extra night.

Cherryfudge

I'm glad he's finally come round! It sounds as though you will both benefit form the new arrangement, he may spend less and doesn't have to meal plan/shop/cook, and you get a contribution towards the bills and will have control over that element of the food budget.

Spendless

ahhh that's good news re DS1. Forgive me for having the slight chuckle over the idealism and laziness that you can find in the teenager/young adult. offspring

 Yours has discovered he has to put more effort in or pay more, so as decided your original plan wasn't so unreasonable after all. At Christmas-time we talked to my 20yo DS (Y2 of degree) about finding a job when he graduates. He reckoned he could live off the part time online work he'd recently found. Had to point out that might be ok as a side line but currently we help him with his rent plus he has a student loan to live on. He didn't believe us, though his housemates had said the same thing!