Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

Mumoffourkids · 30 June 2020 at 11:57AM

Thanks for commenting Welshspendthrift. The decluttering is not on MSE I’m afraid. I found it on a website I subscribe to called organise my house. I think there is a declutter list for each month of the year. I’m going to try July and see how it goes. I know by looking at the list that some of things I don’t have, but some I really do need to declutter.

I love sewing, though I think anyone reading my diary can tell that, and I find it relaxing. I definitely have to make time sometimes to do it. Although I am getting into the habit of cutting out one day, then sewing the next. That way I only have to find half an hour maximum to sew each day. It’s definitely easier to find time now my kids are back at school.

Do you have a diary that I can have a nosey at?

welshspendthrift · 30 June 2020 at 12:35PM

Not yet, plucking up the courage to do that and SOA after lockdown lightbulb moment! Got a weeks leave soon so that’s one of my things to do! 😊

Mumoffourkids · 30 June 2020 at 1:07PM

Good luck with that. I’ve just set up a budget on YNAB for my sewing business. It’s was one of my goals for July but I can’t face doing housework today!

Mumoffourkids · 7 July 2020 at 1:03PM

So I’ve not been on for a few days. Well I have but only had time to read other diaries and not post on my own. But today I have found a few minutes to update and to be honest it is good to let it out.

In money saving news, not much is happening. I am just funding my monthly savings pots and the final nursery fees I will ever have to pay and then the rest of the income for this month will be put into savings ready for August. I am hoping to be able to put some money aside to buy myself a new phone and give my oldest boy my old phone before he starts secondary school.

In caravan news, I have the fabric and foam bits to make new seat cushions and I have started painting the cupboard doors in the caravan. I have ordered the paint for the outside and hopefully that will arrive soon. I am trying to spend an hour a day on it so I keep it moving along but don’t spend all day on it as I have so much else I need to do.

I have loads of orders for school uniform cushions to make. I currently have five lots of uniform here ready to cut up and some more being dropped off this week and next week. I also have some baby clothes ones to pick up this week and make cushions out of. So that should keep me busy this week.

I am trying a new tactic of time blocking in hours this week so try and make sure I do a bit of housework, a bit of sewing and a bit of the caravan each day. Otherwise I tend to get stuck doing just one thing and then say the housework gets left, or I don’t get any sewing done. Yesterday it worked really well as I got loads done, today I have not done much as I had to go and pick up my two eldest from my dad’s this morning. They spent the weekend with him and it’s all gone a bit pear shaped. Basically when I picked them up, me and my dad agreed on something that had happened over the weekend and he said he didn’t want it to happen again. I agreed with him and said I would speak to the girls. I spoke to the girls and they didn’t understand (probably didn’t word it right), and the eldest isn’t speaking to me again. Then I got home and my step mother had left a voicemail on my phone saying I wasn’t to upset my dad and My kids can’t stay with them anymore as I treat everybody so badly. Basically blaming the whole situation on me. I phoned and tried to speak to my dad to have a word with her and explain that both me and agreed and that it’s not just me. But she won’t let me speak to him. So now I have to wait to catch him on his mobile when she isn’t there. I am made out to be the bad person but it’s just that I’m the only one who says things, and my dad doesn’t say anything to anyone. So he needs to speak up and say it wasn’t just me. Aaaarrrrggggghhhh. This is so unfair, but even though I could let it ruin my day, I’m not going to let and I’m going to check my diary and see what I had planned in for 1pm and get on with that. There is nothing I can do until I speak to my dad so I’m not going to let it bother me.

Drawingaline · 7 July 2020 at 7:29PM

How frustrating, especially as you and your dad had actually spoken about it and agreed a course of action!

missymoo81 · 7 July 2020 at 9:37PM

Oh no mumoffourkids that sounds like a very annoying and trying day! Bless you! Parents can be awful sometimes! I think you’re doing an amazing job. I’m wondering whether blocking out times in my diary would help me do more hmmmm..

Mumoffourkids · 8 July 2020 at 7:17AM

Drawingaline said:

How frustrating, especially as you and your dad had actually spoken about it and agreed a course of action!

I know, but it seems he hasn’t told anyone else.

missymoo81 said:

Oh no mumoffourkids that sounds like a very annoying and trying day! Bless you! Parents can be awful sometimes! I think you’re doing an amazing job. I’m wondering whether blocking out times in my diary would help me do more hmmmm..

I know very frustrating and I didn’t manage to speak to my dad yesterday either. I have been trying to process it all day yesterday as that is one of the things that I need to do more of, and I am struggling to work out what to do. I need to speak to my dad but then apart from that I’m not sure what to do next.

Try time blocking and see how it works for you. I have don3 it again for today. I always do it in blocks of one hour and I tend to take a 5-10 minute break in between blocks. So in reality I don’t spend an hour on each block but just under and it doesn’t feel like I don’t have a break. I also find that I don’t spend half the day on here or FB just browsing.

missymoo81 · 8 July 2020 at 8:44AM

See that’s my problem, I seem to lose time reading diaries! I should be more proactive with stuff, I have so much that needs doing!

Mumoffourkids · 8 July 2020 at 10:33PM

So today ended up being a busy day. I decided for some unknown reason to completely change around the downstairs. This included taking down a table and getting a new to us table (for free) and putting it up. Also moved furniture, the fridge freezer and was going to move the two sofas around but decided not to in the end. So the conservatory now has the new table in and I’m going to turn some kallax units into bench seating which can slide underneath the table when we aren’t using them. This did mean that the fridge freezer had to move and that is now in the kitchen/living room. The conservatory looks better and it’s better having the fridge near the kitchen. The conservatory becomes a useable room rather than a dumping ground and we have a massive table which is now big enough for us all to sit round. Our old table will be repurposed into either shelving for the caravan or a shelf unit above the washing machine and tumble dryer in the garage.

In addition I did some more work in the caravan today, more painting and also filling in some bits in the ceiling. Tomorrow I will do one last coat on the cupboards and then I should be able to fix the cupboard doors back on.

I also managed a tip run but didn’t manage any sewing so that is top of the list for tomorrow along with finishing sorting out the living room and starting to sort out some of the toy boxes. I also cleaned all three bathrooms today along with doing various school runs and nursery runs!