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

Willowtree222

Hope today went well. x

Sun_Addict

Another vote for the cloth bag, although I’m sure a good wipe down is sufficient. It must be so hard for the kids to remember to social distance. Mr SA wears crocs and I got his from Lidl or Aldi for less than £5 but they’re not exactly elegant 🤣 Glad you chatted with DS 😁

Willowtree222

I keep forgetting that it now doesn't take you to the last page, just where you last read so glad you did have a good day and got to talk to DS. Take it easy tonight and make sure you rest and relax x

elizabethhull

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I do worry about bringing the virus home though ☹. I changed as soon as I got home and will wear different clothes every day. One of the teachers said she uses a cloth bag instead of a handbag for school so that she can wash it in the washing machine every evening and that she wipes down all the contents of her bag when she gets home. She also wears crocs so she can wash them every evening. I wiped my handbag and contents over with an antibac wipe and sprayed my shoes with antibac spray. I can't wash my coat every day so I put it into a carrier bag as soon as I got in the door
I had a video chat with DS3 at 3pm for an hour 😀. It was really nice to see his face and to hear his voice, but I wish I could see him in real life. I feel really tired now so I'm going to cook something easy tonight, unless I can persuade DH to cook 😉.
I 

I was looking at what front-line workers do when they get home, bearing in mind they have a hugely greater potential viral load than you. One thing - they tie hair back or use hairbands to minimise touching the face. 
Apart from that, they do similar things to you, with spraying shoes and changing clothes. Who'd have thought crocs would make a come-back !!

I bet it was lovely to talk to DS3, especially with a video link. I don't mind just talking to friends, but I really want to SEE my family.
My girls and I are part of a group of 6 called Bored Gamers, who are playing games Sat evenings. This last week we played an online version of Cards Against Humanity. It is so popular a huge website has set it up to use free, when, being a card-game, you'd think you'd need to be actually together. Some very clever programmers out there !

HairyHandofDartmoor

teafor2 said:

Good to read your first day back went well. Have school upped their staffing levels to cover more children? It sounds busy and a hard job to control social distancing if you're on your own.  I think the cloth bag and crocs are a brilliant idea. I suppose it's all about minimising the risk so every tip helps. Glad you got to chat with DS. xx

milann said:

The exercise dvds sound good. I bought a couple from the charity shop a while ago - put them on the shelf and have dusted them down a couple of times.....I couldn’t even tell you exactly what dvds they are - but it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

I’m glad you got to chat to ds. Like you say it’s not the same as seeing them in real life.
How many children did you have in - are they all together or in year groups. We’ve had a KS1 and then mixed years 3&4 and 5&6. We’ve had mainly teachers in though with an occasional TA if there’s been the numbers to warrant it. No dinner time staff other than the cook. The teachers have covered dinner times on a rota system. I’m available now but haven’t been asked to go in....we are doing work at home. Which is quite enjoyable actually - as long as the technology behaves itself 🤞🤔🤪

Thanks both of you . We had nine children in today and there will be eleven tomorrow. So not very many, but I need to keep a close eye on them as they get excited and then get too close to each other. In the classroom they're divided into two separate rooms with a teacher and a TA in each class, but the TAs are sorting out resources, etc, too. But at lunchtime it's just me to look after them. It makes a change from my usual class of thirty anyway, but it's a lot harder when you have to keep them apart from each other.

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil said:

Glad you've had a good day back.

beanielou said:

Good idea on the cloth bag.
I have a spare one I can pop in the post?

Thanks Jwil

Thanks Beanie that's very kind of you but I've managed to find a couple I can use .

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

Another vote for the cloth bag, although I’m sure a good wipe down is sufficient. It must be so hard for the kids to remember to social distance. Mr SA wears crocs and I got his from Lidl or Aldi for less than £5 but they’re not exactly elegant 🤣 Glad you chatted with DS 😁

Nicnak said:

I keep forgetting that it now doesn't take you to the last page, just where you last read so glad you did have a good day and got to talk to DS. Take it easy tonight and make sure you rest and relax x

Thanks both of you .

HairyHandofDartmoor

elizabethhull said:

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I do worry about bringing the virus home though ☹. I changed as soon as I got home and will wear different clothes every day. One of the teachers said she uses a cloth bag instead of a handbag for school so that she can wash it in the washing machine every evening and that she wipes down all the contents of her bag when she gets home. She also wears crocs so she can wash them every evening. I wiped my handbag and contents over with an antibac wipe and sprayed my shoes with antibac spray. I can't wash my coat every day so I put it into a carrier bag as soon as I got in the door
I had a video chat with DS3 at 3pm for an hour 😀. It was really nice to see his face and to hear his voice, but I wish I could see him in real life. I feel really tired now so I'm going to cook something easy tonight, unless I can persuade DH to cook 😉.
I 

I was looking at what front-line workers do when they get home, bearing in mind they have a hugely greater potential viral load than you. One thing - they tie hair back or use hairbands to minimise touching the face. 
Apart from that, they do similar things to you, with spraying shoes and changing clothes. Who'd have thought crocs would make a come-back !!

I bet it was lovely to talk to DS3, especially with a video link. I don't mind just talking to friends, but I really want to SEE my family.
My girls and I are part of a group of 6 called Bored Gamers, who are playing games Sat evenings. This last week we played an online version of Cards Against Humanity. It is so popular a huge website has set it up to use free, when, being a card-game, you'd think you'd need to be actually together. Some very clever programmers out there !

Thanks Elizabeth . Thanks for the info on front line workers.
 It was lovely to see DS's face and hear his voice .

mummytogirls

Glad you enjoyed a bit of a change yesterday HHOD and had a good chat with DS.

My school are keeping the children outside as much as possible. I think its helping that the weather has been so good! xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a good time at school yesterday  and today 🙂. I divided the playground up into three sections to help keep the children separate and that worked well. I enjoyed having a brief chat with the staff too 🙂.

I felt exhausted when I got home though. I think it's the social distancing that's tiring as I have to keep the children separate, apart from siblings, and clean the handlebars of the trikes, etc, with antibac spray every time they want to swop 🚴‍♂️ and I'm all on my own with them so I have to get all the equipment out of the shed and put it back, as well as supervise the children. The walk there and back is tiring too as I obviously got very unfit during my two weeks off 🚶‍♀️. Also before I go to school I get all my clean clothes ready and put them in a bag in the bathroom so I can straight in the shower when I get home and de-contaminate. I also wipe over my bag and the door handles with antibac spray when I get home and put my coat in a plastic bag that I keep in the vestibule. So all the extra things to think about are a bit tiring. Anyway I know it's nothing compared to what doctors and nurses are going through so I'm being a total wimp to find it so tiring and at least I'm burning off the easter egg calories 😁

I had trouble sleeping on Monday night because I was worried about money as we've been mainly living off my wages since January and I've lost two thirds of my pay since lockdown 😒. So DH and I discussed it and yesterday evening we decided to ask for a three month mortgage holiday. We won't get any government help until June at the earliest, so the mortgage holiday will help us to cope until then. It was dead easy and just involved filling in an online form on our mortgage providers' website, ticking the box that said it's due to coronavirus and it was job done. We got an email a few seconds later to say the payment holiday was approved 😃. So I think that was the right decision to make and I feel relieved 🙂.