£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Suffolk_lass

Pear and ginger? - I use the Mary Berry Gingerbread traybake recipe and chop up a few peeled conference pears in it - we like it and it can easily be served warm (without the same amount of icing!) and with chopped pears on top. Delish! Seasonal fruit, no packaging, and all that ;-)

A link to the recipe in the Telegraph is here (of course I have the paper version, err, covered in batter splash from using a hand mixer) on page 89 of the "Merry Berry's Ultimate Cake Book" - now there is a brilliant book to look for in charity shops or online...

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 86: Day 7

Thanks for all the cake recommendations. I ended up going for a lemon pudding recipe, thanks to Honeysucklelou's suggestion of magic lemon pudding. I didn't want something I had to reheat so went a little more 'cooked', but it was a similar lemony spongey sort of affair.

I've got a horrendously long working day today with clients, am just about to get washed and dressed and get going. I really get so blue about being client facing these days, just want to stop it. I have always been terrible at just 'doing it for the money', which is really where I am with it at the moment. Unfortunately no word from the place I do my contract work about upping my hours, so I guess that was a bit of a non starter, which is a real shame. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose.

DH is going away for work tonight and not back until next weekend, so it's going to be a looonnng week, especially as I'll be knackered from today. I've abandoned any plans to work tomorrow and will be prepping plenty of food and cleaning the house to try to make the rest of the week as easy as possible.

To do this week
1. Menu plan for this week and next, using freezer contents where possible.
2. Process the last of the fruit from my mum (a few apples and some pears).
3. Make a double batch of granola
4. Make sourdough.
5. Make oatcakes.
6. Check and amend food shopping delivery.
7. Clean and prep the house for clients on Tuesday.
8. Contract work for next week.
9. Plan any handmade Christmas gifts.
10. Renew car insurance.
11. Plant bulbs for Christmas.
12. Make candles for us and for Christmas gifts.

October money goals:
- £6.02/31 October rounding down pot.
- £4,029.92/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £95/775 income for November.

Gemsy81

You have my sympathy on the busy-ness front....I've just written in my diary about feeling like I am going non-stop. For me, it is the cooking that has to go - I try and do us around 3 or 4 meals from scratch a week, but they would be ones like Shepherds Pie or Lasagna that can roll over onto a lunch, or another meal. Other times we will have something really simple like a pasta bake, or a bought in pie. I think as long as everyone is getting their veggies then its fine, and your health in terms of down time is just as important - your family need you to be fit and healthy, and that starts with looking after yourself.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 87: Day 1

A new week again. Goodness, they just tick away at the moment.

I had an epically long work day yesterday, and didn't get home till 8pm. Well paid, but absolutely exhausting. Could not do that on a regular basis. My stress levels running up to it reminded me that actually that for all I do everything and am constantly busy, I'm really not much of a coper at having my busyness 'dictated' to me, when I need to be in one place for a set amount of time. I'm not sure if it's just being a princess or genuine anxiety, but my stress levels were through the roof knowing that I had to be working for such a long, difficult day (I become closer to a life coach/therapist than my actual job when I work so closely with clients for 12 hours or so nonstop and it's incredibly draining). I was so relieved to get home, although it was a perfectly nice working day.

Anyway, I have a very quiet work week ahead, which is good as DH left yesterday as soon as I got home and won't be back until Saturday, so I have a looong week of DC management without any help. Things like having to pick up the older two from cubs when the youngest is knackered and really should be in bed are no fun when DH is away, but other than that it's really just a case of being fearsomely organised so everything gets done, and we all know I'm not half bad at that :rotfl: .

I haven't really planned out my week yet, but I know the only real time commitments I've got are endless parent information sessions for each of the three DCs (new management at the school, so information sessions for each class. Strongly suspect i will get more or less the same spiel three times). Might pop back and edit my list later on when I've planned things out a little more. Oh, that reminds me, I never double checked my mortgage total on the 1st, must do that later on today too.

To do this week
1. Process the last few remaining pears and apples.
2. Pick and process some more apples.
3. Update mortgage total from the 1st of the month.
4. Contract work for the next two weeks, as I am madly busy next week and won't have time.
5. Plan handmade Christmas gifts.
6. Sort car insurance. Must actually do this instead of just adding to a new list each week.
7. Plant bulbs for Christmas. Ditto.
8. Send thank you card to relative for lovely lunch on Saturday.
9. Finish writing this list

October money goals:
- £17.02/31 October rounding down pot.
- £4,029.92/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £95/775 income for November.

Cherryfudge

Wow, you do sound extraordinarily busy! I hope the quiet week helps you catch up. Could you perhaps ask the cub leaders if there's another parent who could collect and deliver the older children and perhaps you could take their children at the start of the session, or take it in turns?

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I had an epically long work day yesterday, and didn't get home till 8pm. Well paid, but absolutely exhausting. Could not do that on a regular basis. My stress levels running up to it reminded me that actually that for all I do everything and am constantly busy, I'm really not much of a coper at having my busyness 'dictated' to me, when I need to be in one place for a set amount of time. I'm not sure if it's just being a princess or genuine anxiety, but my stress levels were through the roof knowing that I had to be working for such a long, difficult day (I become closer to a life coach/therapist than my actual job when I work so closely with clients for 12 hours or so nonstop and it's incredibly draining). I was so relieved to get home, although it was a perfectly nice working day.

I don't think you're being a princess at all, this is ringing alerts in my head as something that you should reconsider. If it would be easier (or possible) to make two six-hour sessions out of 12, then do that. The clients are probably finding it very tiring too. If it would stress you whatever the length of session, then for your own sake you need to let it go as it will do you more harm than good. Of course I don't know if it's the clients or the work that's the issue, but it sounds as though it may be the clients (but if you had different clients, would you end up in the same position?)
Hope you have a productive day today and get some things ticked off the list!

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 87: Day 3

Morning! I treated myself to a lie in until 5am today. Rock 'n' roll :rotfl: .

Cherryfudge thankfully it's not often that I get those very long days - usually I work with clients for 2-6 hours, which I still don't love, but is very manageable. Sometimes I get a client who wants to get through a lot more though, and only has one day available (usually city types down in the SW for holiday or whatever) and then it's a bit more mad. I am completely out of love with the work. Not so much the clients, who are on the whole lovely, but a third party company I need to buy stock/supplies from, who are very negative and difficult have made the entire thing a complete misery over the past couple of years (I don't know if I wrote much about it on here, but I had a big falling out with them late last year over strategies to try to scale the business up to earn some extra money, and it became apparent they didn't want me to earn more, but to stay small and unthreatening and easy for them to manage). It's completely killed my love of what I do with clients, which is why I'm looking to leave entirely rather than just move to another company for my supplies/stock.

Only the eldest DC went to cubs yesterday, and the road outside the scout hut flooded while they were in there (full moon, extra high tide on the river - the hut is next to the river) and I had to wade through calf deep water to pick him up (literally - I piggy backed him out)! He thought it was the most exciting thing ever, all three of the DC were in hysterics watching my paddling, which rather alleviated the hassle of dragging the smaller ones out at 8pm.

I finally checked the mortgage total and updated my post from the 1st. It's standing at £191,059.90, which means our hypothetical 'net worth' (house price minus all debts and mortgage) is over the £2k barrier, at £2,044.40. I know it's a meaningless sum really, but it feels really positive watching that number grow rather than constantly focusing on the huge terrifying negative debt number. Whatever it takes to keep me motivated, right?

Not too much on today, just ploughing through the list. I've added a couple of bits onto the bottom, but I'm making good progress through the stuff I need to do. We're away this weekend seeing friends, so need to crack on. It might look quite a lot, but I am still trying to keep my daily lists manageable, and it is making such a huge difference to my overall mindset and mental health.

I'm beginning to feel a bit annoyed about Christmas and our inability to save much towards it this year. It's the first time since beginning this journey when I've felt 'actually, I don't want to just shove that on a CC' about Christmas, which has always been my plan before. Obviously I don't have much choice this year, as we have a whopping £86 in the Christmas fund at the moment, but I'm resolved to stick to the savings plan next year and hold on to this irritation at having to add to a CC to get through this year. The pot will get £100 in November and again in December, which will lessen the CC impact slightly. Someone remind me of this every month or so next year please!

Right, I'm off to go roast a pumpkin for soup tonight. Because that's a totally logical thing to do at 6am, right?

To do this week
1. Process the last few remaining pears and apples.
2. Pick and process some more apples.
3. Update mortgage total from the 1st of the month.
4. Contract work for the next two weeks, as I am madly busy next week and won't have time. Have made a start, but not got far.
5. Plan handmade Christmas gifts.
6. Sort car insurance. Must actually do this instead of just adding to a new list each week.
7. Plant bulbs for Christmas. Ditto. Have done almost all of them, a handful more to do today.
8. Send thank you card to relative for lovely lunch on Saturday.
9. Finish writing this list
10. Pack and post orders for smaller business. Packed, but need to pop to the post office later.
11. Work on my website 'work list' for the week and complete.
12. Sew the curtain I promised to alter for a friend.
13. Make a batch of sourdough.

October money goals:
- £29.39/31 October rounding down pot. (DH is away and I'm throwing extra at this pot from the diesel he isn't using, to claw back the extra minimum payment made by mistake)
- £4,029.92/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £95/775 income for November.

WelshKitty85

Your thoughts on putting Christmas spending on the cc have changed drastically since you started this journey. Have you got a list of what you actually 'need' to buy this year? Once you start paying on a cc it's so easy to start adding more, so I think having a list and sticking to it is vital.

ellen_vannin

I agree with Welshkitty , make a list for Xmas , have a total budget in mind.

Then try hard to pare the list down to only essentials.
Sometimes there are better offers on early present buying - and last minute gifts can be a lot more expensive as less time to shop around.

I see you got one or two bargains recently from Charity shops, so might be worth pencilling in a visit each week, you never know what you will find.

All going in the right direction , and I agree about the positive effects of the overall figure.

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 87: Day 5

Morning! Disgusting weather here today, proper torrential rain and wind. And forecast to go on today and tomorrow. We have rearranged tomorrow's planned National Trust trip for Sunday! Luckily I have no outdoor things that need doing today.

Have spent remarkably little on food this week - we had a big online food shop delivered last Thursday, and it's lasted incredibly well. Planning to grab some fruit and veg on Sunday and avoid getting a proper shop delivered until maybe Wednesday next week. Must do a bit of a menu plan today and see what we've got left. The cupboards are still fairly full so there must be some meals-worth in there. And the freezer is heaving, although mostly with frozen fruit from my mum's! Stewed apples for dinner, anyone?

Revelation of the day: I have started planning our garden out - it is in a bit of a state, but we have never spent any time on it beyond mowing the lawn as we knew it would get utterly trashed when the extension work is done. The back garden is long and thin, about 7m x 18m, and the front is another 7m x 5m, so not masses of space but a little bit to work with. We always knew we needed to build a new shed as part of the extension work, as we'll need somewhere to store some of our stuff while they're building (alternative is paying for storage, which will get £££ and is just money down the pan), and we're losing our utility room so we'll need to have things like the chest freezer and Christmas decorations out there afterwards, so it needs to be a proper dry space. Anyway, I was sat contemplating how expensive it's all going to be, and how much more expensive it will be to pay someone else to do it than for DH to, but he's not here because he works full time and can't take that much time off, and it suddenly occurred to me that actually I am around and could do it. Sure, it will be slow and I'll need to learn most of it from YouTube, but I'm very practical and reasonably fit, so I reckon I could manage almost all of it with a bit of help here and there. And the builders can do things like lay an electricity cable, so it makes sense to do it while they're in doing the work on the house.

Having spoken to two friends about getting gardens landscaped I also know that by the time I've worked, paid tax and then paid a landscaper, it's cheaper to DIY it, particularly because we can all work on it together on weekends etc. My builder friend has promised to lend me anything I need that he has (including something serious to break up the horrible concrete path running up our front and back garden). I'm feeling quite inspired! I reckon I can do the 'gross' work (landscaping, shed base and shed, fencing) next year, and the prettifying (flower beds and things like that) the following year. I am super excited to have a project to work on, and I think I will be massively smug once it's done. My first mission is going to be to prep for the shed and work out how that's going to go in (I imagine I will buy some sort of kit. Can you tell I am starting from a place of zero knowledge?!). I am going to keep a record of how much it costs and how much time I spend and see how much we can save compared to paying someone to do it.

All that's a little way hence, but I might make a start fairly soon as it will be hard to get anything done over the winter and we'll need the shed built by the starting date of mid-April.

Grand garden plans aside, this week has mostly been about muddling through - DH has been away since Sunday and isn't back until tomorrow. We're off to friends' this evening for the weekend and he is meeting us there. I usually rely on DH being home in the evenings so I can work until the wire then clear up the debris from my working time in the evenings while he has the DC, and it's been a bit of a shock to the system having to either clear up and manage DC (total non-starter), or lose an hour's work each day to keep on top of the house/cooking/tidying/laundry etc. Terribly dull being a grown up sometimes.

No financial surprises so far this month, we are in that middle of the month drudgery where nothing really happens, it's just a case of sticking to the budgets and ploughing on. My SE income for November is still terrifyingly low. I know I'll cover 80% of the shortfall with my contract work income, but I had really hoped to be saving that for Dec - I hate being so hand to mouth, find it very stressful. This autumn is proving very quiet with clients, probably because I've been 'hiding' a bit and not promoting myself, because I really want to stop seeing clients, so subconsciously I'm avoiding situations where I might end up with a booking from it. Which is all very well, but I need to earn some money elsewhere! Fingers crossed the website starts to earn something (anything!) next month.

To do this week
1. Process the last few remaining pears and apples.
2. Pick and process some more apples. This will have to be next week now, I'm not going out in the rainstorm!
3. Update mortgage total from the 1st of the month.
4. Contract work for the next two weeks, as I am madly busy next week and won't have time. Next week's done.
5. Plan handmade Christmas gifts.
6. Sort car insurance. Must actually do this instead of just adding to a new list each week.
COLOR="teal"]7. Plant bulbs for Christmas. Ditto.
8. Send thank you card to relative for lovely lunch on Saturday.[/COLOR]
9. Finish writing this list
10. Pack and post orders for smaller business.
11. Work on my website 'work list' for the week and complete. Progress is ongoing!
12. Sew the curtain I promised to alter for a friend.
13. Make a batch of sourdough. Ooh, I'd forgotten that was in the fridge proving overnight, must go and cook it!

October money goals:
- £36.05/31 October rounding down pot.
- £4,029.92/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £95/775 income for November.

Honeysucklelou2

Well done, I'm impressed by the garden plan. Break each part into stages so you don't feel overwhelmed. We've used sleepers on top of a layer of chipping s as the base for sheds which has worked well. If I remember correctly, the hardest part was just making sure that the ground was level to start with. Have fun...