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

Baileys_Babe

Thank you @elizabethhull for the suggestions. She will be 12, one minute she is an adult the next a child. We will do what we can to make it special but we know what she really would like to do, spend time playing with her friends 😢 

redofromstart

That dwarf cherry sounds lovely HHOD.  Hope it settle sin well and you have a good birthday.

I do miss your Saturday saunters.  I will know we are back to normal when they resume.  Always made me smile, especially if you bought something I would want to read. 

doingitanyway

Your garden plans are lovely, especially the dwarf cherry tree. The blossom alone will make it worthwhile.
Whatever I end up with will have a small garden. I have booked for a plant sale in April ignoring the fact that I don't have a garden. Complete denial! I will have to ask someone to care for my purchases until I move

I hope you allow your family to take care of you until you are 100%

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nicnak said:

Payday on your birthday always makes it feel a bit special! That will be a lovely feeling waking up and having the money in your account. x

Thanks Nicnak . Yes payday and birthday is a good combination.

Baileys_Babe said:

It is dd birthday this coming week and like you the 2nd one in lockdown. I have no idea what we can do to make it special for her. She won't be with her friends on the day as, unlike schools, most home education groups have not yet resumed, so yet another day at home with her brother and parents.

I hope DD enjoyed her lockdown birthday.

Sun_Addict said:

I felt absolutely rubbish the day after my vaccine but worth it for the protection and it was only for 24 hours. Garden plans sound lovely 😊 

Thanks SA . I felt tired all week after mine but it's worth it to feel safer.

HairyHandofDartmoor

redofromstart said:

That dwarf cherry sounds lovely HHOD.  Hope it settle sin well and you have a good birthday.

I do miss your Saturday saunters.  I will know we are back to normal when they resume.  Always made me smile, especially if you bought something I would want to read. 

Thanks Redo . I'm looking forward to some gardening time at easter. I'm also looking forward to resuming Saturday saunters at some point .

doingitanyway said:

Your garden plans are lovely, especially the dwarf cherry tree. The blossom alone will make it worthwhile.
Whatever I end up with will have a small garden. I have booked for a plant sale in April ignoring the fact that I don't have a garden. Complete denial! I will have to ask someone to care for my purchases until I move

I hope you allow your family to take care of you until you are 100%

Thanks DIA . I love cherry blossom too. You're obviously looking forward to having a garden again .

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a good week at school overall, but felt tired all week, especially on Monday. It didn't help that I was on playground duty at morning break on Monday and Tuesday. However it's worth a bit of tiredness to be protected from the virus. I'm still being very careful as I won't have my full protection for another two weeks, so I'm still sitting with children in a windy corridor, wearing a mask, with sticky hands from all the hand gel 😏.

I feel very tired generally and ready for the weekend. I think it's partly the vaccine and partly because it's near the end of term. Having all the children back is very full on as some of them are a bit emotional, some have got a bit undisciplined with regard to their behaviour and respecting adults, and some have catching up to do with their learning. I've been given a busy timetable from the teacher doing one to one maths and reading sessions with a long list of children. It's nice to help them catch up though 🙂.

I enjoyed my birthday. I took a load of cakes in to school for the staffroom and the teacher asked the class to sing happy birthday to me 😂. When I got home I opened my presents, had birthday cake and then an Indian takeaway 🎉🎂🍰. I had some lovely presents too. I got the two nesting boxes🕊🦅  I wanted from DH plus a book, a book from DS1, a book from DS3 📚 and a dvd box set from DS2. So I felt thoroughly spoilt . I've also got money to spend on the garden 💷.

 I ordered the dwarf cherry tree so I hope it comes in time for me to plant it in the Easter holidays 🌳🌺. My only worry about it is that it said it likes full sun and it's going to be planted in partial sun, so I hope it will grow all right. There's only one place in the garden where there's room to plant it so it has to go in that spot.

I got an email from my favourite clothes shop offering me 10% off as it was my birthday. This was a cunning ploy and I ended up ordering two breton tops ☺😂. I have lots of breton tops but I wear them to death and these two were in really useful colours (red and green) that will go with my black jeans.

I'm looking forward to the Easter holidays when I can catch up with all the housework, do some gardening and hopefully meet some relatives outdoors. Plus I really need a break from school. The only fly in the ointment will be that DS3 will want to go back to uni and I like having him at home 😥, but I know we have to do what's best for him 🤔.

We've paid £15 to the council for a garden waste bin which we thought was worth it to avoid trips to the tip. Although I wonder whether DH should have ordered the large one as we may not need it with such a small garden 🤔. I got paid on my birthday 🎉😁 and I've bought more premium bonds for DH and I, put some money in the holiday fund and some in the EF. I also put £200 in my SEF. 

Today so far I've put two washes on (I couldn't close the lid of the washing basket despite doing one wash mid week 🙄), emptied all the bins in the house, cleaned the bath and got rid of boxes and packaging that's been lying around. Now I'm going to relax and catch up with diaries. 

I hope everyone in Diaryland is having a lovely Saturday . 🙂

HairyHandofDartmoor

My new nesting boxes 🙂

HairyHandofDartmoor

My tulips are looking lovely 🌷⚘🥀

Sun_Addict

Happy belated birthday 🎂🥳 

I love the nesting boxes 😍 The tulips are beautiful and in such a nice planter. We have to pay £38 a year for our garden waste bin, it’s the size of a wheelie bin and we usually manage to fill it quite quickly.

badmemory

We are so lucky our garden waste bin collection is free.  Maybe that is because it takes kitchen waste too & they provide compostable bags to put the kitchen waste in.  They say that bin & the other 2 are much cheaper to dispose of than general waste so that is why they do it.  Thank goodness we get email reminders about which bin/bins have to go out as it is a six week cycle.