From debt to freedom...

Drawingaline

I have sourced my new bedroom furniture from FB marketplace. Previously bought fridges and freezers from eBay too. 

janb5

I bought my double gas oven from Ebay for a fraction of the cost

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Suffolksue, DAL & Janb5.

Janb5 - Can’t find the originals despite searching the garden and the allotment 😞. 

Suffolksue - after a couple of weeks of DS2 moving to his dads, the lifts stopped. To my knowledge the ex doesn’t do lifts for him, so DS is reliant on the buses that stop at 7pm for the night, me or a willing sibling. Given that 2 of the siblings able to drive, work in the evenings, it tends to fall to me.

Thank you for the reassurances of things bought  via EBay or FBmarket. DD1’s bf did have a good look for me. Unfortunately a couple had sold already and one that looked good was only available at the end of the month. Since we have been without a fridge for 5 days and had had to bin quite a bit of food that had gone off, I ended up buying the cheapest I could get from Ar***. I’ve used some of the EF and some birthday money I had saved, for the purchase.  Ended up driving to the nearest big city on Monday to collect said fridge. It turned into quite a trip as all the DDs bar DD1 came along with DS3. DD3 treated me to a Co**a drink which was a welcome treat.

The first couple of days of the holidays have been spent sourcing and setting up the fridge, then getting some replacements foods for those that had to be binned. I‘ve  done 3 shifts at Job 2 so far this week. I’ve had to ask them to only put me on 3 shifts a week max. I have done a couple of 4 shift weeks alongside Job 1 but it’s exhausting and not something I can sustain in term-time.

Happily I have got a couple of decent length walks done in the last couple of days. DD2  came with me on Monday morning, which was lovely and gave me chance to catch up with her.

Later today am hoping to get caught up on some housework and start prepping for the new term. 

Cherryfudge

Good that you had some EF/birthday money to put towards the fridge - check your insurance just in case loss of food is covered though of course there's always an excess to pay. But worth checking just in case. Also factor in any extra costs such as buying takeaways (though I think you avoided this one). When our cooker died, years ago, I wished I'd held off claiming for a week or so as there were extra costs in terms of food we couldn't use, which I' d not accounted for (well, a cupboard fell down and smashed the cooker so it was about costs of cooker, cupboard and damage to other things and I didn't think about the freezer across the room!)

I think you could 'bank' some little treat somewhere even if it's just reading on a day off, to make up for the birthday money?

savingholmes

Ouch to the fridge bill. Hope you find a birthday treat 🎂🎁 that's low cost. So sorry about the missing garden tools too.

janb5

Hi HSL- so glad you have your family supporting you and that you got your frig- well done.

Is it possible to prevent further items going `missing` in the future by having bolts on the sheds etc?

Spendless

I was also wondering if you could make secure your new garden tools. Is there anywhere in your newly reclaimed space?

Glad you got sorted with a new fridge. What a pain though it breaking. 

Can't say I'm overly surprised to hear that ex having tempted several of the kids away last summer, then left it to you to do the parenting bits that he didn't fancy. Maybe get some clarification in advance of where they want taking and collecting from. It must be costing you in petrol. 

savingholmes

I personally wouldn't be giving lifts to those who move out. They have made a choice... there are always consequences. Protecting them from those isn't always a good long term plan.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you SH, Spendless, Janb5 and Cherryfudge.

I could bring the tools into the newly acquired space, that is a good idea, thank you Spendless.

Have just completed 4 shifts for this week for Job 2. Unfortunately I’ve had a run of late finishes at night coupled with 5 am get ups to be able to take DD1 to work. She is unable to drive and the buses don’t start that early, so I don’t mind taking her to work at all. It did mean today though I just hit a tiredness barrier and had to sleep. I think it was a 2 hr nap in the end 😵☺️.

Earnings from this week will pay the water bill with some left over, which I think I’ll put towards the cost of going away next week. Hoping I can get time to get in the garden this weekend.

janb5

Hi HSl- is it worth you getting a water meter- would that reduce your monthly bill?  I don`t have the large number of people at home but it may be possible to do a calculation online.