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

tunathe_cat

HH hope you are back at work. I have just read through your whole thread. Been reading since pre Christmas. Sending cyber hugs to all. Wishing you and family a healthier 2022. It will not belong before your builder is working on the outside of your house. Spring bulbs popping up. Take care look forward to seeing more posts and thank you for sharing your family on here. You should be supper proud of your boys. You are a strong lady please be gentle kind to yourself. Chocolate has to be eaten, its not been made to look at! Andrea aka Tuna 

Sunshine_girl2

How you getting on HH ? Hope all is well . 

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil said:

Happy Freedom Day, it's been a long time coming!

Verbatim said:

Very belated congratulations on your new job and imminent release from isolation. Your husband's weight loss of 2 stone is incredibly impressive too. Is he following a particular regime?

Thanks Verbatim. Not really. His portion sizes are smaller, he's cut out snacks almost entirely and is avoiding cakes, chocolate, anything with sugar and avoiding high fat foods as much as possible. Plus trying to be more active.

milann said:

Hooray…..so pleased you have been released. I bet your house seems very big to you now. 

It’s good that you are ahead with the college work and that you have eaten frogs. 🤞for the isolation fund coming up trumps for you. 🤞

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Glad to hear you are free , I am sure your family are pleased as well. 

pennywisepoundstupid said:

Glad to hear you are free and well done on getting your assignments done. 

Fidelia said:

Happy Return To Work, Hairy

EssexHebridean said:

Hopefully you're now back at work and all is well - that must have felt like a very long 11 days though! 

beanielou said:

Hope yesterday went well.

Fidelia said:

I hope your first week back at work went smoothly, Hairy.  Enjoy your weekend.

milann said:

Hope you’re not too tired after your 1st full week back. I’m guessing you’re working longer hours than when you did full time at school?

Thanks all of you .

I'm working similar hours weirdly Milann but paid a bit less.

HairyHandofDartmoor

tunathe_cat said:

HH hope you are back at work. I have just read through your whole thread. Been reading since pre Christmas. Sending cyber hugs to all. Wishing you and family a healthier 2022. It will not belong before your builder is working on the outside of your house. Spring bulbs popping up. Take care look forward to seeing more posts and thank you for sharing your family on here. You should be supper proud of your boys. You are a strong lady please be gentle kind to yourself. Chocolate has to be eaten, its not been made to look at! Andrea aka Tuna 

Hi Tuna . Thanks for reading my thread, what a marathon effort! And thank you for your kind words.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sunshine_girl2 said:

How you getting on HH ? Hope all is well . 

Thanks Sunshine

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi everyone, thanks for posting 😊.

My first week back at work was exhausting both physically and mentally. Sitting in my room for 12 days was no preparation for being on the move for six hours a day, five days in a row. Constantly getting up and down from the floor and sitting on tiny chairs took a toll on my muscles the first week back. It felt like my first week all over again as I'd forgotten the children's names I'd been learning and the routine, so I had to be constantly alert. On the plus side I learnt an awful lot and I love interacting with the children, despite their unpredictable nature and the fact that's it's like herding cats 🤣. 

My first weekend I just collapsed and sat in an armchair for two days because my feet, legs and back were sore and I was generally exhausted. The second week was much better; my muscles felt stronger, I knew the childen better (even when they sneak new ones in) and I felt more confident. I still have a lot to learn but felt more on top of things the second week. The staff seem nice and supportive to work with on the whole too.

This weekend I've got a head cold though can you believe 🤧. A child sneezed in my face on Wednesday and half the children have runny noses so I'm not surprised I've got a cold. I feel much worse today than when I had Covid and yet I'm allowed out of my room. It's a strange world we live in 🤔. Anyway I should be well enough to go in on Monday.

With so many staff and children off with Covid we've all been testing daily, but we're back to twice weekly LFTs now. I should have super immunity now hopefully ☺ . 

I only got SSP for my time self isolating but DH is still in the process of claiming my self isolation payment, which I'll hopefully get.

So nothing much to report for this weekend as I'm resting again to get over my head cold. But it's only two weeks until half term so I can get out and about a bit more then.

Have a good Saturday everyone  😊.

elizabethhull

Lovely to hear from you - I guess it was always going to be extra difficult returning after a 'rest' ! But so much nicer than being cooped up indoors, and for far longer than you ever imagined. Hooray for freedom and herding cats !!!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Is anyone else worried about price rises and bills going up?

We have £500 credit at the moment with our gas and electricity company (E*n N*xt), but we haven't given a meter reading since early December. We've just submitted meter readings so we'll see how much that credit gets cut by! We haven't had the heating on much at all and after the 1 April price hike I suspect we won't put it on at all! DH and DS1 have heated throws and the rest of us don't feel the cold much. I'm wearing two tee shirts, a hoody and a fleece jacket, plus I'm sitting under a blanket, which is normal winter wear for me and keeps me reasonably warm.

Our mortgage payments will go up as we're on SVR but we are paying more capital than interest as we have less than six years to run on the mortgage, so I'm hoping our monthly payment won't go up by too much.

We feel like we're spending a fortune on food at the moment, but prices have gone up a lot. I know our council tax and water bills will go up in April, but I don't know by how much. I also don't know how much I'm going to earn in my new job as I got SSP for nine days which was much less than I would have got even on minimum wage.

We're only spending on bills and essentials at the moment so no discretionary spending at all is going on, as we feel worried about the all the price rises. However as long as I make it through my three month trial period at work then at least we'll have steady money coming in.

amber03

Just received our water rates and they have gone up by 50p a month, don’t think we will be so lucky with our council tax.xx

elizabethhull

Fortunately DH negotiated a 2 years fixed price energy rate that goes on until Summer 2023, as I think getting a decent price now would be impossible.
I have also noticed food prices going up, and Asda keeps stopping selling the things we've got used to having.. For example, DH, on his enforced low-fat diet, likes to have Wheaties (own brand Shreddies) and they used to do several flavours, all now gone, just the basic one