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

teafor2

Hi HHD Really glad DH's x-ray hasn't shown anything serious up. I can understand after your BIL how worried you must both have been waiting for the results. DS isn't allowed to wear a coat in class, whether that will change or not as it gets colder I don't know. Maybe thermals will become trendy again.  xx

Seasidegal58

I finally caught up with your goings on earlier Hairy. Positive news on OH's x-ray in that it could have worse, but I do hope he can get some decent treatment for the painful burstitis.  

Fingers crossed for DS's trip home and I'm pleased to hear that your FIL has offered to pay for the work on the outside of your house - that will be such a help. 

And I hope you have a successful Primani trip!  😀 Xxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

milann said:

Hope you managed to get everything you needed to keep you warm and cosy.

Sun_Addict said:

Hope you’ve had a nice day today. Have you restarted your Saturday saunter?

Onebrokelady said:

I can also vouch for primani gloves and cardigans, I have a navy short cardi from there that I've had for years and it's washed and washed and still looks good. Love the idea of getting your photos printed,this is one of the things I was kept awake by last night as I have loads of photos on my phone but it's breaking so I need a new one,I'm worried I will lose my photos so need to store them somewhere and I would also like to print some out. I will have to go and have a look 

Thanks all .
I haven't restarted my Saturday saunter SA as I'm trying to avoid shops due to the virus, plus I don't want to spend any money.

You could store your photos in the cloud OBL to keep them safe. For about £2.50 a month you can get a ton of storage on G00gl3 Photos for all your photos and then you don't have to worry about losing them. You get a tiny amount of storage for free but my photos weren't being backed up any more as I had too many, so rather than delete a thousand photos to make room for new ones 😳 I decided to invest a small amount of money to get them all backed up in the cloud. Then I've printed my favourites at Ph0t0b0x for albums and photo frames.

milann

I think that’s a bonus of these strange times - there’s been a lot of habits broken which save us money. I can’t remember the last time I went shopping for pleasure - just cos -  I used to regularly just go for a wander around town, have lunch and make a day of it. I’ve saved a fortune.....

HairyHandofDartmoor

teafor2 said:

Hi HHD Really glad DH's x-ray hasn't shown anything serious up. I can understand after your BIL how worried you must both have been waiting for the results. DS isn't allowed to wear a coat in class, whether that will change or not as it gets colder I don't know. Maybe thermals will become trendy again.  xx

Thanks TF2 . Blimey DS may have to start wearing thermals when the winter really kicks in  .

Seasidegal58 said:

I finally caught up with your goings on earlier Hairy. Positive news on OH's x-ray in that it could have worse, but I do hope he can get some decent treatment for the painful burstitis.  

Fingers crossed for DS's trip home and I'm pleased to hear that your FIL has offered to pay for the work on the outside of your house - that will be such a help. 

And I hope you have a successful Primani trip!  😀 Xxx

Thanks SSG . It is a relief about the x-ray. DS3 is coming home for Christmas even if I have to kidnap him 😳.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a successful trip to Primani at the weekend and bought four pairs of fingerless gloves, four pairs of normal gloves and two vest tops for under £10 🧤. Unbelievably cheap! I have enough to wear a clean pair of gloves every day now. I couldn't find the perfect cardigan so got another one in M&S. I dropped my winter coat off at the dry cleaners on the way home. I feel much more kitted out for the cold weather now.  After that I just came home and did housework and washing.

On Sunday I spent most of the day on the phone. I spoke to stepdad in the morning and then spoke to my sister for three hours in the afternoon. I felt like my day went quickly and I didn't get much done ,but my sister was having a bad weekend so I needed to support her.

Yesterday was busy at school but I felt like it went well. It rained lightly on and off but wasn't too bad, it was windy though which made the children a bit exciteable. I wore one of my new cardigans and felt warm indoors but still a bit cold in the playground so I'll be glad when my winter coat is dry cleaned. I can collect it tomorrow.Today was actually sunny off and on 🌤, although it was cold and even more windy 🌬.

DH had to go for his diabetes review at the surgery today and had an odd experience. He had to go around the back and knock on the door. While he was waiting a woman arrived behind him and then a man arrived who wasn't wearing a mask and who tried to push in the queue. He then started ranting that he needed his meds and he'd been released from a psychiatric unit and was going to knife people 😱. The woman started calming him down and it turned out that she works with people like him. Then the staff let DH in and he said that they needed to let the woman in too as an unstable man was out there. So they let her in too and then the surgery called the police! Not what you expect when you go for a medical check up 😳.

I rang the surgery this morning for an asthma review and have a telephone appointment with the asthma nurse, but I can't remember if it's this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon 🙄. As it's a telephone appointment it doesn't really matter I suppose as long as I keep my phone handy with the ringtone turned up.

I've been thinking about money recently and how we don't have enough off it 🤔, so I want to update my CV this week and start applying for full time jobs at other schools. I did wonder too whether I could get some sort of holiday job next summer, perhaps working with children in some sort of holiday provision so that I can earn extra money. I'm fed up with being poor, worrying about the bills and not being able to improve the house.

I hope everyone is having a good Tuesday 🙂.

Sun_Addict

What a scary experience at the surgery for DH. Why do they let these people wander about on their own when they are so unstable - no doubt the answer to that is funding. I think you can class the 3 hours on the phone to your sister as an achievement, she must've felt a lot better after speaking to you. It's a shame you live so far from each other.

teafor2

Hi HHD I'm sure your sister is very appreciative of the time you spent with her and it's lovely she knows you're there to talk to. It's really hard when family don't live near you though isn't it. Crikey, that sounds a bit scary at the surgery doesn't it. Hope DH's review was OK.

Have you considered joining an agency while you look for long term work. I'm not sure how many hours you work though so maybe that's too big a gamble giving up the hours you definitely have. DS already has some agency teachers in to cover staff that have had to self isolate so it might be something that's really needed at the moment - not wishing covid on self isolation on anybody obviously. I've no idea if you have to pay to be on their books but I can remember we had a couple of teachers who were with us for months covering long term staff sickness and we also had TA's but from memory I they were more on a daily basis. xx 

elizabethhull

Your Sunday phone call sounds like a very valuable use of your time. You were there for your sister, and if it takes 3 hours to give her the support she needs, it's lovely to be able to provide it.

My nephew, back on cannabis, jobless, homeless and much more, phoned me the other week and for the hour he spoke about how his (long-suffering) parents didn't understand or support him (they've spent thousands on multiple bail-outs), all I could think was that while he was talking to me he was at least safe. He's taken to supplying drugs to fund himself.

Wow, that was unusual for a doctor's visit, I'd more expect it at a pharmacy than a surgery.

Your Primani purchases are amazing. I've only been once and found that their sizes seemed way smaller than, say M&S, so nothing fitted ! On the other hand, I did find a leopard-print plush dressing gown for DD1 for £5. You couldn't buy things at a charity shop for those prices.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

What a scary experience at the surgery for DH. Why do they let these people wander about on their own when they are so unstable - no doubt the answer to that is funding. I think you can class the 3 hours on the phone to your sister as an achievement, she must've felt a lot better after speaking to you. It's a shame you live so far from each other.

Thanks SA . Yes it must have been scary for DH and very unexpected. I'm not sure it's safe to send patients to the back door of the surgery as it's down a back alley and very secluded. Imagine if DH hadn't been there and the woman had been there on her own with the disturbed man!