Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

No news on the annual leave though I've clocked up a few extra hours on a course today. I'm trying to change some hours round so I can attend a meeting with DFiL - he is trying to get funding to have nursing care so DH is assembling lots of evidence but unfortunately can't get to the meeting.

I should have mentioned on Sunday that we've called off a big family get together over the other side of the country that was supposed to be happening on Easter Monday. I'm not sure that's a good idea and had been quite looking forward to seeing people but I got out-voted on the grounds that we should be seeing most of the people at some point over spring and summer.

Well, it's been another NSD so not much to report apart from... I have a day off tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that. Two hours more training on Wednesday so that's half a day off, then something I'd forgotten - a day's annual leave on Thursday! I am pretty tired so those will be great.

Nothing else financial. I wish I had time and brains to look into a new bank account before the end of the financial year but I doubt that's going to happen.

And I'm grateful for the smell of cut grass on crisp night air with the stars shining above/

Cherryfudge

I need to be accountable today so here's a list:
attend appointment and book bloods test DONE
sort out things for tonight
prep soup
put washing on line
take bag to charity
get security tags removed from item I bought last week - they obviously weren't very effective, LOL. However I can prove I paid for the item so that's okay.
Make some progress on tidying / decluttering.

Today so far I've spent £3.85 on food.

Cherryfudge

It's been an odd sort of day: I felt very 'down' and struggled to get things done but I reckoned I was owed some R&R so played computer games for a while, which helped. I'm not at a stage where I can't do anything to help myself so I then put some Bon Jovi on loud - quite a good way to get moving!

I'd been to the shops in the morning and despite lots of purposeless mooching, didn't buy anything I didn't need: I couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm for anything when I thought about all the decluttering I've still to do! Back at home I made myself some lunch but spent most of the afternoon eating popcorn. Two loads of laundry have been done, though, and I tidied the dining room for my friends coming round this evening. When J got home I had a chat with her - I usually try to protect her from issues around health but she's a tough cookie and had some constructive ideas of how I could help myself, so the talk was useful. It helps to have someone to talk to but she's insightful so doubly useful and from that point on I definitely felt better. I know one of the main things behind it is worrying about DS2 going away but he's now given me the dates and destinations and now it's quantified I can deal with it more easily. Oh, and J picked up biscuits for me to share with my friends, so more spending but I'm classifying those as 'entertaining'.

I made some inroads into the papers so my decluttering total in my signature has improved.

The day's list now looks like this:
attend appointment and book bloods test DONE
sort out things for tonight DONE
prep soup DONE
put washing on line DONE
take bag to charity not done
get security tags removed from item I bought last week - they obviously weren't very effective, LOL. However I can prove I paid for the item so that's okay. not done
Make some progress on tidying / decluttering. DONE

Spending:
Housekeeping £3.85
Entertaining £2.00
MS:
Only bought what I went for.
10th coin savings 5p
Decluttering:
24 assorted bits of paperwork and an old bag of chocolate chips!
And I'm thankful for... family and friends.

WannabeFree

Hope you're okay

x

Cherryfudge

Feeling much better today - possibly sleeping till about ten thirty had something to do with it.

I found chicken pies in the freezer - not brilliant ones but okay and that made tea for us without spending anything. I did buy a small pie dish for use when visiting the old house as there's nothing there (or here) to cook single portions in.

I went to a meeting at church this evening and noticed a role that I'd quite like to be considered for. I really don't know what's best to do: I used to be very involved and I miss it so much - the little bits I can do bring me a lot of joy. Now this possible role is something I think I could do but I don't know if I'd be overcommitting myself and it might not be a perfect match for my skills. Add to that the fact I've been asked if I'd consider something else which I'd dearly love to do but don't feel ready, and also I've asked work if I could take on a (small, paid) role there... and I'm already permanently tired! However I think my tiredness could be medical: the blood tests I've booked next week will show if there's a clear pattern there and if so it should be treatable.

So I'm in a bit of a quandary! However I don't need to make a decision tonight.

Money-wise, I'm sure I'm going to have to continue my over-spend or run out of bread soon! At least I'm still in-budget tonight and I have the funds if I need to use them.

Spending:
Household £3.00
MS:
A free short-dated 4 pints of milk (rice pudding anyone?!)
10th coin savings 2p
Decluttering:
Loads! 2 bags of things from Mum's old house and a couple of flasks that were too big for my use. Lugged them down to the charity shop and felt a lot lighter once they were re-homed.
Today I'm thankful for... feeling much more cheerful. New prospects to aim for. Two bags' worth more space.

Cherryfudge

Today is a day off to help use up my annual leave. My manager has agreed to me carrying the remaining few hours forward to next financial year and also to moving one of my training days (I explained I was losing a lot of days off to training) - so I'm in work tomorrow, off for the weekend, in for half a day on Monday, and off Tuesday and Wednesday!

I'm still trying not to get any more money out for housekeeping in order to set the overall spend right. Here's where we stand: DH has his usual amount, I have £4.39 left to take out of the bank if I'm not to go over my allowance, and 32p in my purse. Then I decided to be a bit 'creative' as DH is a terror for leaving change lying around and it will most likely all be from the housekeeping budget as we use cash for that. So I found 30p down the sofa (and a squashed After 8 mint, how gross is that?!), 8p on the bedroom floor and £1.04 on the bedroom window sill, all in small coins. There is also a change saucer in the hall but that has 'real' pounds in, so I'm leaving that as he may be expecting to have it to use. There is also a little jar of change in the kitchen but there are 'real' pounds in there too (£2.32)... we used to put leftover change there to go towards the milk bill but I now pay online so I might just avail myself of that. Total £8.45, and all I need today is pesto and bread.

I have spent 99p on a classic book I wanted which came up on Kindle discounted books. I've also chased up an order I made at Christmas (!) which never arrived - doesn't look as though it went on to their system but the money was deducted and I have the receipt so I've emailed it to the company following a phone call. There's a load of laundry in the washer and I have some clothing to take to the shop to get the security tag removed, as I mentioned the other day. I also feel I practically have the bit between my teeth on decluttering (sorry for the mixed metaphor, as the idea of this diary was to show myself I'm taking the reins), so perhaps I ought to get ready to go into town and use any extra time before the laundry is ready to hunt de-clutterables.

Cherryfudge

:eek::eek::eek:

Well, I have to share this!

First, and not surprisingly, I found 5p hanging around in the bathroom so my new total is £8.50.

Then I went looking for stuff to declutter and saw the bin needed emptying. However I think we have missed bin collection day and the wheelie bin is nearly full so I decided all paper could go in the logburner rather than landfill. There was plastic in the bin too so I didn't just empty it in, I sorted it and found (a) assorted batteries, which is a very good reason never ever to throw things on the fire without checking and (b) £4.84 in change!

So now my total is £13.34! :T:T:T

Cherryfudge

Well.

I remain not quite motivated enough, but I've run an errand, refilled the washing machine, got the groceries plus a couple of bits extra seeing as I was rich after my discoveries earlier today , bought a cheapie travel pillow for DS2 (who insists he doesn't need it, but has never flown long haul so doesn't know what he's letting himself in for), and forgotten to take the batteries to recycle. I also went back for a top I'd seen the other day, and got the tag taken off from last week's purchase.

So not a huge amount spent, but some.

spending:
Clothing £3.50
Medical £1
Housekeeping £3.78
Gifts £2.49
ebook £0.99
MS:
Wombled £4.84 plus all the bits and pieces DH had intentionally left lying about :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: (still shaking my head over how much change had fallen in the bin.).
10th coins savings 25p

Decluttered... some packaging and a huge handful of small change
.
And my thankfulness list for today is all about sunshine, warm air, things flowering, general spring weather.

Honeysucklelou2

Amen to your thankfulness list!!

How amazing to have found that much change around the house. I find the washing machine a good source of change, as it falls out of pockets! I do usually check pockets but sometimes the odd coin or two gets missed.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I find DS2's rubbish bags a good source of coins, he chucks away pound coins sometimes .