From debt to freedom...

XSpender

Your ex’s behaviour made uncomfortable reading. I agree with crazy cat lady suggestion to speak to your solicitor as surely there has to be a point in anyones’s separation/divorce where the other person can not just wander in to the home even if they still have a financial interest in the property.

It’s great to hear DS1 is enjoying his course. I can recommend stanly flasks, although they are a bit pricey, everything is still piping hot hours later.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you CCL and Xspender...my parents are of the same opinion. I did pull the items out and laid them out on the drive and photographed everything so I can show the solicitor what had been binned. DD1's clothes have the insignia of her company written in big letters across the front and back so very obvious it's not rubbish.

Thank you for the flask tip, I'll go and google!

Spendless

Glad DS1 is enjoying the course. It's so different from Secondary school when they go to doing something they enjoy at college instead. I agree about the Stanley brand of flasks. My Dad goes clay pigeon shooting and swears by them for keeping liquid hot many hours later. What my Dad does is just keep boiling hot water in the flask and then on him he has teabags, sachets of coffee (from hotel rooms ) hot choc and also the Heinz soup in a tube, all kept in a container in his rucksack, he can then choose what he fancies by adding his hot water to it.

Your ex takes the biscuit to the next level.(as mildly as I could think of wording it!) I think informing the solicitor is good advice.

Hope your DD1 sorts out her flat situation. Even those wanting to move from halls, might find they've tied themselves to committing to paying the rent there. I think that was the situation I read on here (student board) a while back. Getting word out is def key, and fingers crossed they'll find someone.

Food shopping is def different when kids are away at school/college/Uni. My food shop last week, 1st one without DS was £17 cheaper and we have so much left over, my freezer is bursting at the seams! I think I'll be doing my cheapest grocery shop ever today!

Honeysucklelou2

We've managed a lovely longish walk today. DD3 wanted to show me a new walk that she had discovered during her D of E training so all but 2 of us went. It was really lovely, a mixture of various public footpaths and lanes taking us through local parts I didn't know existed!

Dinner was lasagne that I cooked yesterday so only had to reheat and serve. I've lit the first fire of the Autumn tonight, more in a mid to finish drying a couple of pieces of uniform. Just got to get a few bits ready for the new week ahead, then an earlyish night.

Honeysucklelou2

Had a busy couple of days at work. Spending wise, I seem to have spent a fair amount on a D of E trip. £25 payable to the school for running the expedition, then spending on food! DD's group have organised it so that they are pooling the food so one person is responsible for the evening meal, someone else doing lunches and another on breakfast and snacks. DD got the last one but just the cost of the recommended food was high for what it was. Still, it's colder now than the practice run in June, so they'll need to eat well to keep warm as well as walk, so a necessary spend.

I've been recording spending carefully and have paid off £70 off a debt on Monday which is a small but positive step.

Honeysucklelou2

I've been laid low with a bug for a couple of days this week. Yesterday (Fri) was the first day I've had any energy. I caught up with washing yesterday and was glad to have got a load or 2 line dried, always a bonus at this time of year.

Yesterday was a little spendy as DS1 needed a fleece for college. He has quite a few field trips and needed something warm and robust. Thankfully he went straight to the cheaper option in the agricultural shop rather than the truly eye watering expensive option!

One if the DDs had a birthday this week, so we are out for a birthday meal tonight (Sat). I had ordered her a present online and paid a little extra on postage to have it delivered yesterday. The courier gave a window for delivery between 8am and 6 pm. Not sure how they expect any parent of school age children to be able to be around all day:huh:. Typically the 30 mins I had to nip out to collect a DS was the very time they tried to deliver. Apparently it has to have a signature and I don't have a full day off now until the 16th, so I've had to ask them to redeliver at work. One more birthday to go in a couple of weeks time. I never think about Christmas presents until the last birthday is sorted out!

I made the £25 overpayment to the window account yesterday. I had planned for it but not got round to ringing up, so that's now done. It should bring one of the double glazing loans under the £1300 mark.:) I've done a menu plan for the week and hoping that the food budget will hold this week. I seem to have had to pop to Mr T's for lots of bits this week, partly due to DD's trip but nonetheless I want to be resourceful with what we have this week and not spend anymore.

Honeysucklelou2

It's so good to have energy again after that bug wiped me out! I got a load of washing sorted out, I was a little hampered by the rain but got some washing dried in front of the fire. I made an apple and blackberry crumble using blackberries we had picked and apples harvested from the garden:) and a batch of mini muffins for the freezer. I need to make a couple of batches of soup today and freeze those so that I have them ready for lunch.

I wasn't looking forward to last night's meal after the binning episode of last week but it was ok. I concentrated on the toddler. Bless him, the only time we go out for meals is for birthdays or if we are doing a university trip with DD1. I was explaining to him that we were eating in a restaurant. He looked puzzled and then said "Is it the juice and bed shop?" It took me a couple of seconds to realise he thought we were going to the Premier Inn place that we stay at when we visit DD1!:rotfl:

I took my elderly lurcher out for a walk before going to the meal and walking is definitely one of the best stress relievers for me. I had been feeling quite panicky but the lurcher and I walked through a couple of fields that gave us a view over the whole village and a fair few miles beyond which is always a lovely sight. I was much calmer by the time we got back .

The meal wasn't as much as I had anticipated. We usually give the birthday child the choice of where we go and this child chose a place that had reasonably priced food:).

I have a couple of DDs coming out tomorrow but hoping for a few NSDs this week.

crazy_cat_lady

Pleased you're feeling better HSL - and good news that the meal came in under budget (bless your littlest one).
You have inspired me to get off my bum and go walking today. I am going to make some time to do that even though it's miserable outside. I needed to do it yesterday and didn't so I'd best get on today.

Cherryfudge

'Juice and bed shop' - bless!

Apple and blackberry crumble and the first fire of autumn... idyllic.

I'm glad the meal went okay and that you're feeling better .

Honeysucklelou2

I've made the most of the dry weather today and got washing on the line. I'm thankful for every bit I can dry outside! This morning I had half an hour spare so made a batch of leek and potato soup. 2 portions are now in the freezer and one ready to take to work tomorrow. I made a batch of flapjack but that has disappeared throughout the day!

The DDs, the toddler and I went for a walk this afternoon, just a circular walk that is local to us. It's good to go for a walk with the toddler because his sense of wonder at everything is contagious. He spent most of the walk picking up acorns and trying to fit them into the "cups" that had fallen on the floor. No about of hurrying would move him, til in the end I thought no, we all need to see the world with wondrous eyes, so we slowed down and noticed so much - the last few blackberries and elderberries in the hedgerows and the bright red of the rosehips. We noticed the seed heads of the campion flowers and the odd last dandelion. So uplifting to get out and simply be.

Happily all that walking meant no spending, so a NSD bagged at last!