Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

Today at school we were given a new timetable so I felt a bit flustered for the first forty minutes of the day as I did some things I hadn't done before and the timings were very tight. So I didn't feel happy with the way I organised things .

However I've had a chance to think about it and plan it in my mind now so I'm determined that tomorrow it will run more smoothly. My theory is that you make 80% of your mistakes the first time you do something so the second attempt is always a lot better, as long as you're given a second chance to do it. I've brought my timetable and some other information home to study so I'll hopefully feel more like I know what I'm doing tomorrow :rotfl:. Except tomorrow it will be with a different group of children and in a different room :eek:.

Anyway the rest of the day went quite smoothly and we had lovely sunshine all day which was good .

I skipped Pilates as I feel tired after the weekend and a busy day today but I don't want to stop going so I must try and have a more restful weekend next time. Also, although I've done a full week of cover this will be the first week that I've followed the new timetable and doing new things is always tiring, so hopefully next Monday I'll feel less tired and more up to going to Pilates. I'm going to make sure I have a restful evening tonight.

I'm enjoying having a tidier bedroom anyway as mess makes me feel stressed. We have two chests of drawers sat in the living room at the moment but they're not really in the way, which makes me realise that we're lucky enough to have a large living room . Hopefully we can make room for them in our bedroom next weekend where they will come in very useful.

I boughts some frozen berries, antihistamines and ibuprofen on the way home. We seem to have run out of something every single day :mad:. I'm looking forward to payday on Saturday, but it's still a whole week away practically!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday .

Sun_Addict

Could you chip away at your assignment, perhaps spend 15 minutes a day on it so it's not so daunting at the weekend. . That way you'll already have some of it done.

foxgloves

It's good you were able to collect some family things, HHoD. The items I chose from when we were clearing my parents' house do feel special - I've got Mum's clock ticking away right here on my bookcase, a lovely green glass jug on the kitchen windowsill & her settle in the conservatory. I wasn't sure how I'd get on with that, but the seat lifts up & there's quite a big storage space inside, so it's actually really useful.
Those chests of drawers will be really useful to you, I expect. I like things to be tidy too. I find it quite hard to relax if I'm surrounded by stuff which needs putting away.
Good luck with your new timetable tomorrow!
F x

[Deleted User]

Are you doing permanent cover now, HHOD? With your lunchtime job does it mean you are working 100% full days EVERY day? Or is the cover part-time (whether temp or permanent) and what with your lunch-time job and volunteering you are still there the whole of every day? Sorry if I've made it sound confusing but I hope you know what I mean:o. If the TA work and the lunchtime job are taking up so much of your week couldn't you step back a bit from doing so much unpaid volunteering? I know you won't want to let anyone down but you're already a member of staff and have shown them what you're capable of:j. Lots of us work/worked very full-on hours our whole working lives plus long commutes to even get there and home:( but over the years it becomes 'normal' if not ever easy. You're new to the workplace at an age when a lot of people, me included, were already counting down the months to retirement.


As for your worries about the course, why not have a word with your tutor?. You've more than proved yourself in the way you tackled and succeeded in the first part of the course last year. Your tutor knows how good you are and you said yourself that some of the students were a lot slower than you in finishing it. Life happens, you've had a few bouts of illness recently, plus been committed to paid work. Your tutor will understand if you are a bit behind submitting assignments. She'll be very impressed that the paid work that is taking up your time is completely relevant and is actually real work experience:j


I hope all goes well for you today and the weather is good to you over lunchtime:beer:

HairyHandofDartmoor

foxgloves wrote: »

It's good you were able to collect some family things, HHoD. The items I chose from when we were clearing my parents' house do feel special - I've got Mum's clock ticking away right here on my bookcase, a lovely green glass jug on the kitchen windowsill & her settle in the conservatory. I wasn't sure how I'd get on with that, but the seat lifts up & there's quite a big storage space inside, so it's actually really useful.
Those chests of drawers will be really useful to you, I expect. I like things to be tidy too. I find it quite hard to relax if I'm surrounded by stuff which needs putting away.
Good luck with your new timetable tomorrow!
F x

Thanks Foxgloves . I do like having some of my Mum's belongings around and I know that she would be delighted that I've got them and they haven't got given to strangers.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Could you chip away at your assignment, perhaps spend 15 minutes a day on it so it's not so daunting at the weekend. . That way you'll already have some of it done.

Thanks SA . Unfortunately the assignments are quite complicated and by the time I've switched on my computer, found the right section in the book and got my head in the right place, the fifteen minutes would have passed and I wouldn't have actually done anything. I need a good two hour window to make any real headway on it.

Finally_Solvent wrote: »

Are you doing permanent cover now, HHOD? With your lunchtime job does it mean you are working 100% full days EVERY day? Or is the cover part-time (whether temp or permanent) and what with your lunch-time job and volunteering you are still there the whole of every day? Sorry if I've made it sound confusing but I hope you know what I mean:o. If the TA work and the lunchtime job are taking up so much of your week couldn't you step back a bit from doing so much unpaid volunteering? I know you won't want to let anyone down but you're already a member of staff and have shown them what you're capable of:j. Lots of us work/worked very full-on hours our whole working lives plus long commutes to even get there and home:( but over the years it becomes 'normal' if not ever easy. You're new to the workplace at an age when a lot of people, me included, were already counting down the months to retirement.


As for your worries about the course, why not have a word with your tutor?. You've more than proved yourself in the way you tackled and succeeded in the first part of the course last year. Your tutor knows how good you are and you said yourself that some of the students were a lot slower than you in finishing it. Life happens, you've had a few bouts of illness recently, plus been committed to paid work. Your tutor will understand if you are a bit behind submitting assignments. She'll be very impressed that the paid work that is taking up your time is completely relevant and is actually real work experience:j


I hope all goes well for you today and the weather is good to you over lunchtime:beer:

Thanks FS . I'm not volunteering at all at the moment. I'm doing three full days and two half days of TA cover plus my lunchtime job, so I'm the equivalent of full time at the moment.

I've emailed my tutor and explained that I was ill for four weeks and how much overtime I'm doing at school, so she knows why I'm behind.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I feel like I've got my head around the thing that was bothering me yesterday. I asked a TA about it first thing this morning and after talking to her I have a much clearer idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. Also my planning paid off as my timings were much better today and everything went much more smoothly.

It was a beautiful sunny day again so I enjoyed being out in the playground with the children at lunchtime. It was cold though so I had to wrap up warm and part of the playground was still frosty from first thing this morning.

I did a half day of cover today and was planning on starting my assignment this afternoon. I didn't make as much headway as I would have liked though because I felt really tired and couldn't think clearly. But at least I've made a start on it which is often the hardest thing. I'm planning to have a fun day on Saturday and then spent ALL of Sunday finishing this assignment. It's not how I want to spend Sunday but I don't think I'll be able to finish it any other way.

Then I'll do as much as I can on my next assignment at the weekends, until February half term (which is in about three and a half weeks time) when I'll have a week I can spend fully catching up on my course work.

I've emailed my tutor to explain that I was ill for four weeks and then I've been doing all this extra cover at school since then, which is why I'm behind with my assignments, so hopefully she will understand.

I hope everyone is having a good Tuesday .

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Thanks FS . I'm not volunteering at all at the moment. I'm doing three full days and two half days of TA cover plus my lunchtime job, so I'm the equivalent of full time at the moment.

I've emailed my tutor and explained that I was ill for four weeks and how much overtime I'm doing at school, so she knows why I'm behind.

They sound like tiring days. How long is the TA cover likely to last?

I'm so glad that you explained the situation to your tutor:T. I'm sure she understood and was perfectly happy to give you some leeway. Do you still have to attend courses/tutorials with her?


I hope you manage to relax a bit this evening. Is DH completely better now? How's he doing on getting new orders?

HairyHandofDartmoor

Finally_Solvent wrote: »

They sound like tiring days. How long is the TA cover likely to last?

I'm so glad that you explained the situation to your tutor:T. I'm sure she understood and was perfectly happy to give you some leeway. Do you still have to attend courses/tutorials with her?


I hope you manage to relax a bit this evening. Is DH completely better now? How's he doing on getting new orders?

My tutor hasn't replied yet but I'm sure she will be understanding as she is very nice. I have a tutorial this Friday, but I've explained that I can't go as I'll be working so I've asked her to email me the brief. NVQs are based around people working so they are usually reasonably flexible.

DH is completely better, although still tired. He's got one order in, but needs to get more in ideally.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

DH is completely better, although still tired. He's got one order in, but needs to get more in ideally.

I think whatever illness you both had, and several other people I know too, takes quite a lot of getting over:(. Now you're earning he must have been grateful that the pressure was off him a bit whilst he was ill. My Dad ran his own business and I know how worried he was if ever he couldn't work if ill. I know he pushed himself when he should really have taken some time off. Not good. At least most jobs allow a few days off through illness without loss of pay but the self-employed don't have that 'luxury'.