Drawing a line under the debt. Take two.

Drawingaline

On the train back from London. Jamie was amazing. Seats were not. If we go again I will go up a band and book the other side of the theatre. Always a risk with the cheap seats. Anyway the girl and boy loved it so worth it.

Came in on budget, but not a lot of money left for the rest of Easter. Have one job tomorrow and then a quick trip into town to get the boys eyes tested, then I have a job at 3.30.

Shopping was delivered this morning. Put the frozen away before work then left the girl the job of emptying the fridge and washing it all out. That went down well :rotfl: put everything else away when I got in. Not a lot left for food for the next four weeks, but I have two cash jobs this week and next so will use that for top ups.

Back on the diet tomorrow, definitely not lost weight this week.

Drawingaline

Won the ticket lottery for aladdin next week :eek: so taking the smallest one. Also booked a campsite for the first may bank holiday. the smallest has his birthday thst week and is desperate to go camping so going up near the in laws do hubby can stay with them (and the girl) while I camp with the three boys :rotfl: found a very cheap campsite about 10miles away from the in laws but don't need many facilities if we are up near them.

Looking foward to the weekend. Fridays are always hard, but at least it is slightly less time pressured tomorrow as no school run. can't wait for four days off at Easter. and am going to take off the Tuesday after too. one client is on holiday, another will give me paid leave so only need to cancel one.

Anyway best get going, need to pick hubby up.

Drawingaline

Going to have a step away from the phone this weekend I think. Been browsing and losing so much time this week just scrolling.

So have a bit of a list to do today.

Set up new lawn mower
Mow grass
Sort library books out
Town, library, barbers with smallest
Help the girl gut her bedroom. She has lost her purse (no concern, it must be in her room as she had it on Thursday!) she also wants to redecorate and get rid of furniture, but I won't let her until she has sorted out all her stuff
Clean upstairs bathroom and downstairs shower.

Hopefully get paid on Monday, I have a list of what needs to be paid/saved etc. Won't have a lot of money, wil be glad once I have saved for the few things that are costing quite a bit every month.

Anyway, off to get dressed and sort the mower out.

Drawingaline

Didn't get through all my list. Set mower and did the back lawn but not the front. Will get that done this week. I did go through the girls bedroom with her and found her purse, surprisingly where I told her it would be and she told me it wasn't as she had already looked :rotfl:

Busy day today, three jobs with the boy, then dropping him for the night at my mums, then off to a big one off job on my own. We'll, if the boss ever sends me the address that is! She is rubbish at Admin, and sometimes infuriating with it!

Sjould be payday today, but boss is away. Nothing needed desperately as I am nearly fully buffered, but I want to give those pounds jobs in ynab. She is normally pretty good with the money side of things though,and will text or call if there is going to be a slight delay.

Anyway off to sort my kit out for work. I normally do it on Friday when I get it, but didn't this time!

Drawingaline

Pay hit the account. All budgeted out in ynab. I have £750 set aside in the higher interest savings account which is my emergency fund, holiday all funded, camping trip funded and finally have some money for clothes! I need new socks and the small two definitely need a few bits.

Long day today. Did my normal jobs with the boy, then a big job (boss finally gave me the address lol) but I enjoyed it.

Tomorrow I will get an early start as first job is a village hall so will go at 7am when I take hubby to the station. Come home, breakfast then onto next two jobs. Have a doctors appointment for the girl (non urgent issue) so the small two will have to get dressed and leave the house. Which is no very fun. Wednesday is my half day and have an oven clean booked in, then free time.

Overall money is tight for the rest of the month. But it's doable.

Had a tutor around today to help the forl with her maths. She has been struggling, but is way better than she thinks. She liked the tutor so hopefully will be an ongoing arrangement. It's an expense, but this tutor was pretty resonable and they seemed to work well together which is the important thing.

Drawingaline

Finished work for the day at 11.30, last time the boy was helping me this holiday. Atm I have a lovely man in the kitchen cleaning my oven. Stupidly excited about how pristine it will be afterwards :rotfl:

Am having to revisit my trip to London this evening with the smallest. Was planning leaving at the last minute, but all this protesting (which I am totally behind) is making me think besttet to get there a bit earlier. But that will make it so much harder for the smallest..... And then I buy stuff anyway going to try and get in for 5.30/6 rather than 6.30, walk over the river to the west end, go to my favourite cake shop in China Town and maybe get a pot of chips in five guys. Keep it cheap. Already bought a bag of sweets from @sda to take with me, and will take water too. Am hopeful he loves it, but am glad I haven't paid full price. We also have the friends and family railcard so loads of savings on rail fares. It runs out in August, but I have a line in ynab set as a goal, so will be able to get another one straight away.

Anyway, tomorrow will be fun, three jobs and I doubt we will be back before midnight!

I also went out last night (hubby not best pleased with me :rotfl:) to our local theatre. This was booked back in Jan. A comedian from my youth was doing a stand up and myself and my old friend used to be rather big fans of him back in the nineties. (he was a bit of a heart throb amongst our friends when we were 15!) it was wonderful to go and see him, and a very interesting show, apparently he does a show on radio 4, so a mix of 40yr old women with teenagers and the grey haired radio 4 brigade :rotfl: but it was very good. Unfortunately it wasn't sold out, and if I had known more about it would have dragged my dad along, totally his thing.

Anyway looking forward to a quiet Easter weekend. Maybe one day out at a local country park with a picnic. Bit of gardening and a couple of local walks I think.

Drawingaline

Back from aladdin. The smallest was a super star. Ear defenders went on at waterloo, but he walked to the west end with minimum complaint, ate chips in five guys even though they were skin on fries and he was a bit suspicious of them and was so good even though it was incredibly stressful for him.

He wasn't keen on aladdin to start with, so much complaining I decided we would leave at the interval (while being glad we had lottery win tickets) then the genie came on 20mins before the interval and he was transfixed. Al the actors were fantastic and it was certainly a feast for the eyes, but everyone bar the genie were playing very two dimensional characters, the genie pulled it all together. The magic carpet was amazing too. Anyway he was then enjoying himself so much we stayed. It finished bang on 10, so managed to get an earlier train home (after negotiating the underground which he hates), just tucked him in, think there may be a tired boy tomorrow. I have the Lion King booked for May, but it is a matinee, and I won't do any other West ends with him until he is bigger unless we all go, but will definitely look out for stuff in our two local theatres I think.

Anyway best be off to bed need to be up in six hours to take hubby to the station!

Drawingaline

Well, Easter has been and gone. Did write a post one of the days but it disappeared, so frustrating when that happens!

Had a very quiet one. Popped to town on good Friday, chilled out sat, then I was up early to do the early service at church, then went back for the 10am service with all the kids. Followed by an egg hunt.

Monday we went to a country park. Was warm! Hubby took the boys on a little train ride that runs there, and fun was had by all. Total nightmare driving back up the m27/m3 though 30mph along most of it.

So back to work/school. The weird one really struggled and got himself into such a state, went in sobbing but has been absolutely fine since! It's the anticipation I think. The smallest has been fine, he is prepping for ks1 sats, they always keep them low key, but he is rather resistant to the reading/writing ones. Not convinced they will get him to do it tbh.

Anyway best get on with work.

Drawingaline

So I had a rare day off on Tuesday. I had a huge list planned, first off getting a new light bulb for the bathroom as it went over the weekend and the little two were freaking out. I have got one before (there are two bulbs in it, but if one goes it won't work at all) only a couple of months ago from bandq. So thought, school run, nip in, grab bulb, pop to @sda, stock up fridge, back by 9.15, get painting bedroom ceiling.

Well, FIVE shops later still no bloody bulb! Ended up going to an actual electrical wholesalers as no DIY shop had it. Apparently they are shifting all their ranges to led ones. I was a bit short in one of them 'so I have to replace my whole light fitting then?' :eek: anyway after doing @sda it was half ten when I got back. And I was in a right bad mood. So baked two cakes and cleaned the whole of downstairs instead :rotfl: painting can wait.

I also went to browse a new sofa. Ours is nine years old and not been treated that well. One side has completely collapsed and the springs have come out of the bottom. Am annoyed as was hoping to go another year, so will have to do an interest free credit option. But on the pus side, hubby has agreed no point getting one until we have done the carpet and he is hating the collapsed bit more than me :rotfl: won't be a rush, will go and look at the weekend together and see what we both like. Hoping for a corner one. Last time we couldn't fit one in due to having old pipes in the front room boxed in, but had them removed five years ago so now it would work.

So my day off was OK, but annoyed I didn't get as much done as I hoped.

Drawingaline

Omg today was hard! Had last Fri off and Fri before was one job down so easy. Back to 8hrs work until half term. It's always a really hard day, but the weekend has now begun.

Diet going well so far. Hoping to lose half a stone before our holiday at the end of May. I am hopeful anyway :rotfl:

Tomorrow I have three hours work with the boss and then getting a haircut. Need to o to town to the library too. Daughter is off on a DofE weekend, so have to be up early to get her to school. Hubby and the boy will go and see avengers on Sunday, was planing on them going and then me and the girl after so don't need to get childcare for the little two, forgot she was away. Can't do Monday eve as she has a tutoring session and Tuesday is a bit awkward so may be Wednesday. Hope I can stay away from any spoilers.

Anyway off to sort my hours out for my boss.