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

HairyHandofDartmoor

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Based on work I do with the homeless, I doubt it esp as he’s a student. Maybe a hardship fund linked to his uni

teapot2 wrote: »

If he's at Uni he will be able to get advice from there and possibly some financial support depending on his situation. He should definitely make a start there though.

Noella wrote: »

Probably not a 'goer' but in your area I would have thought there'd be plenty of scope for live-in holiday jobs in camps, hotels etc during the summer season. The accommodation is usually dire (says she from experience of a long summer vac working at a privately -owned holiday camp where our accommodation was just like the Hi-De-Hi chalets:eek:.). That's if he wants to come back to his home area for the summer. I understand his unii isn't near home.

Would it be possible, in the short-term, to put up a camp bed/airbed in the room of the son of yours that he's friends with?. It would save him monopolising the lounge and sofa. Does he have NO family members who could take him in}

There's still the problem of where he'll store all his belongings that I assume his parents are wanting rid of. Maybe one of your de-cluttered voids for the time being until he gets something permanent sorted;)

Wishing him the best of luck finding a solution. It's nice that he has your family to be so concerned about him:T

Thanks all . His uni term is about to end so he has to move out of uni accommodation. His parents said he can store his stuff at their house but they don't want him to live there over the summer. Maybe his parents will give him the money for a deposit and month's rent until he can find a summer job. Surely they'll want him to have some kind of roof over his head!

We've advised him to speak to his uni and ask the CAB for advice.

princesspennies

Following along after a mammoth catch up!

Well done with the decluttering! I have been on a mission since 11 Am this morning and I haven't made it upstairs yet, I am going to head to the Carboot-Tip-Charity shop tomorrow so its all gone for good and hopefully donate a lot, but make a few pennies. Theres too much sorted to turn back now LOL x

HairyHandofDartmoor

More de-cluttering has been done . I dropped some bags off at the charity shop this morning, had a quick coffee, bought grapes and tomatoes in Mr T and then came straight home because I was so keen to get on with the de-cluttering.

I had to rearrange some boxes in the big void before I started so I could put in two boxes of photo albums and a box of electronic cables. But it all looks tidy and organised in the big void now.

Then I tackled the toy void. I got out loads of boxes to sort through. It was packed to the rafters :eek:. I put all the Brio train set in one plastic box, the Duplo in a second box, the Playmobil in a third box, and Lego and toy cars in a fourth box.

I'm beginning to see how we got into debt when the DC were small because we have magnificent sets of all the above toys that would have cost hundreds of pounds back then . I dread to think what they'd cost now. We bought DS2 a fabulous Playmobil castle when he was little and it cost over £100 even back then . However I think it was worth it because all three of the DC loved it and spent many hours playing with it. And our Brio set is fabulous too with lots of Thomas the Tank Engine Brio engines, bridges, tunnels, viaducts, etc, etc . All of these very expensive toys will be kept and if we ever have DGC then they will have some lovely toys to play with.

So those are all boxed up in transparent plastic boxes with lids and are placed at the back of the toy void, instead of in open crates getting dusty :T. I filled up two bin liners with total carp to be dumped and a bin liner for the charity shop :T. I found some lovely drawings and writing that the DC did when they were little and that is being kept of course.

I have about four cardboard boxes left to look through with assorted toys and papers in, but my back is killing me so I've decided to stop now. If only I hadn't been ill I would have easily finished the job :mad:. Maybe I'll do a bit more tomorrow, but I mainly want to wash and iron my work clothes tomorrow and I don't want to be worn out for Monday, so I'll see how I feel.

I still feel like we're keeping too much stuff. After all if we didn't have the four voids then we wouldn't be able to keep all this stuff . But this is just a first round of de-cluttering, so maybe I can reduce it all down a bit if I have another go at it another time. I am getting rid of a lot of stuff anyway, so it's a big improvement .

Money spent today by me was £2 for two metal straws and £2.20 in Mr T. I got my coffee with my gift voucher. DH spent £8.75 on some batteries and a small plastic box.

I hope everyone is having a good Saturday .

HairyHandofDartmoor

princesspennies wrote: »

Following along after a mammoth catch up!

Well done with the decluttering! I have been on a mission since 11 Am this morning and I haven't made it upstairs yet, I am going to head to the Carboot-Tip-Charity shop tomorrow so its all gone for good and hopefully donate a lot, but make a few pennies. Theres too much sorted to turn back now LOL x

Hi Princesspennies, welcome to my diary, thanks for reading all my blatherings .

Well done on all your de-cluttering, it's such a great feeling to get rid of so much carp and free up space :T.

elizabethhull

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I'm beginning to see how we got into debt when the DC were small because we have magnificent sets of all the above toys that would have cost hundreds of pounds back then . I dread to think what they'd cost now. We bought DS2 a fabulous Playmobil castle when he was little and it cost over £100 even back then . However I think it was worth it because all three of the DC loved it and spent many hours playing with it. And our Brio set is fabulous too with lots of Thomas the Tank Engine Brio engines, bridges, tunnels, viaducts, etc, etc . All of these very expensive toys will be kept and if we ever have DGC then they will have some lovely toys to play with.

.

Well done dealing with so much toy clutter.

When our two were little, I can't claim we were actually hard up, because we did have holidays and a car, but the housekeeping money I was allocated didn't seem to stretch far enough. Toys and clothes often came from car boot sales, jumble sales, charity shops and hand-me-ons from other parents. Some clothing, for example, was bought new by a friend for her DD1, then went to my DD1, then to her DD2 and finally my DD2, after which (if fit) it went to a charity shop.
I also have the Dinky toys I had as a child myself, the set of Melaware tableware my brother took to uni in 1968 (I think), and many many other second-hand items. If they're still usable, I have great difficulty in getting rid of them. We only have the one grandchild - there is a limit to the use he can make of his mother and Aunt's old toys !!
I except Brio from any restrictions on keeping - it is wonderful, imaginative and everlasting !

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thank you Elizabeth . I may never have grandchildren but I live in hope . I know that children get bored with the toys at their own house, so I would keep the toys here for them to play with some different ones when they visit .

I agree that Brio is amazing. The Playmobil medieval castle we have is also a toy that appeals to the imagination, as is the Duplo and Lego. All lovely classic toys that will last generations if well looked after. Our Lego collection includes some that I had as a child. It's definitely worth keeping.

Onebrokelady

Caught up on your diary and want to say congrats on your job being made permanent, you so deserve it, and wow re the decluttering, I've decided I'm not doing anymore I'm just going to get in the queue and wait for you to come to my house:D:D

My DD and SIL have just bought some brio trains for DGS after SILs mum got all of his brio bits out of their loft, Im getting him a starter pack of track for his birthday because he loves it, someone at work has a big collection that she bought for her son when he was little and she is going to sort it out for me to borrow for DGS to play with at my house,when I was younger I always wanted a Hornby model railway but never did get one I think that's one of the reasons I ended up with a dolls house because I love miniature things,I keep telling my DD that I'm going to build a model village in my front garden :rotfl:
When I was young I used to make model stables out of shoe boxes to keep my toy ponies in,I would spend hours making them I also had a favourite toy farm that I turned into a riding school

It's a really good idea to have toys at your house that the DGS haven't got at theirs because then they don't get bored too easily

teafor2

Evening HHD I see even more de-cluttering has been going in my absence :T

DD had lots of My Little Pony sets, a ferris wheel and a teapot house etc. plus loads of the actual ponies and none of that was cheap either. It was put away years ago but has recently been brought out again and is being used, so the good stuff is definitely worth keeping.

It makes me sad to read about your DS's friend. Unless he was bringing trouble to the home which it doesn't sound like, I can't understand why his parents want him to permanently move out. I just hope he finds somewhere and stays safe. xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Onebrokelady wrote: »

Caught up on your diary and want to say congrats on your job being made permanent, you so deserve it, and wow re the decluttering, I've decided I'm not doing anymore I'm just going to get in the queue and wait for you to come to my house:D:D

My DD and SIL have just bought some brio trains for DGS after SILs mum got all of his brio bits out of their loft, Im getting him a starter pack of track for his birthday because he loves it, someone at work has a big collection that she bought for her son when he was little and she is going to sort it out for me to borrow for DGS to play with at my house,when I was younger I always wanted a Hornby model railway but never did get one I think that's one of the reasons I ended up with a dolls house because I love miniature things,I keep telling my DD that I'm going to build a model village in my front garden :rotfl:
When I was young I used to make model stables out of shoe boxes to keep my toy ponies in,I would spend hours making them I also had a favourite toy farm that I turned into a riding school

It's a really good idea to have toys at your house that the DGS haven't got at theirs because then they don't get bored too easily

Thank you OBL . I'm going to be very de-cluttering everyone on the forum after I've finished my own de-cluttering :rotfl: :rotfl:.

You've always liked horsed then?

Brio is expensive isn't it? :eek:. I reckon we've got £200 worth of Brio, DS2's Playmobil castle is going for 187 dollars on ebay, and the Duplos sets we've got are probably equally valuable as we have the farm set, zoo set and safari set :eek:. You can see where some of our debts came from .

I used to love making schools and houses out of lego and had family sets of miniature china animals who lived in them :rotfl:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

teafor2 wrote: »

Evening HHD I see even more de-cluttering has been going in my absence :T

DD had lots of My Little Pony sets, a ferris wheel and a teapot house etc. plus loads of the actual ponies and none of that was cheap either. It was put away years ago but has recently been brought out again and is being used, so the good stuff is definitely worth keeping.

It makes me sad to read about your DS's friend. Unless he was bringing trouble to the home which it doesn't sound like, I can't understand why his parents want him to permanently move out. I just hope he finds somewhere and stays safe. xx

Thanks TF2 . It must be lovely to see the toys being played with again.

I do feel sorry for DS1's friend. DS1 doesn't make friends with horrible people and we trust his judgement. I'm sure his friend isn't perfect, what 20 year old is? But the friend is not the way his parents want him to be and so his parents can't seem to cope with that and they row all the time. He must very sad at being told he can't live there any more . But maybe not living together will improve their relationship in time.