Single, six kids and going to be debt free!

camz2017

Mumoffourkids wrote: »

Well that is smart Camz to not get caught!

Eldest is stropping up in her room. I think I might change the WiFi code and stop paying her phone bill if her attitude carries on!

I knew not to do one thing as a kid, not to p*ss off my mum. My parents never made empty threats mind, if they said "stop else your playstation is gone" it was gone if I didn't stop right away. Not necessarily even suggesting it was a good thing, I just learnt ways not to get caught which probably made me more sneaky as an adult, which in a way I wish was not part of my personality but it now literally comes naturally to me to an extent I can do stuff and not even consider it until later & then think damn lol.

We got WiFi really young, I know we had it around 2004 as we had it during a family holiday then. Back in that day we didn't even have a WiFi password and my parents did not seem the slightest bit concerned that next door might use our WiFi. I guess I was lucky but I used to browse to my hearts content on Windows XP whenever I got in trouble, and moan to my friends how awful my parents were on AOL instant messenger and MSN. We had 512Kbps which is like 0.5Meg, vs the 40 and 80 meg common today.

We had one of these bad boys, it used to kick you offline daily at midnight like clockwork for about 60 seconds.


4G/3G was unheard of, Network 3 didn't exist and I used to top up £5 to get free weekend texts on T-Mobile (that's gone now as well). That's my life as a kid I used to sit outside so I could get service or sit on the window ledge upstairs.

You seem like a tech savvy parent, I'm glad I didn't have one of those Mum sometimes gave up removing my playstation when she realised she didn't know what wires to disconnect. I remember when she realised what an ethernet cable did, so she used to punish me by removing the ethernet cable from my PS3 in like 2006/2007, not realising it used WiFi. I used to plug the ethernet back in and say sorry, pretending I was super glad to be back online. She never questioned why one end was not connected to anything, maybe she thought it was like an FM/AM radio antenna cable picking up internet lol.

Chrystal

Happy Birthday!... bit late but I reckon that Birthdays are the start of a 'new year' so I'm sending very best wishes that the coming year brings everything you wish for ..... as long as it's not killing OH or one of the kids! :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Seriously, have a lovely year. XX

CoffeeCakeYarn

Morning Lovely! Sorry to hear about the bickering, hope it sorted itself out in the end and you managed to enjoy the evening.

Camz - are you me? My parents were the same! And also completely not tech savvy, they had no idea. I had internet in my room from a really young age, and whilst it didn't do me any harm in the long run, I certainly shouldn't have been looking at the stuff I was. I also had super strict parents, but mine would fly off the handle at the most silly things, for instance, we lived in a rural area and they got me a mobile for 'safety' reasons when I was about 14 (I suspect I'm a little older than you ). Mobile reception was rubbish back then, and frequently calls would go straight to voicemail because of poor reception. My parents didn't understand this, and would ground me if I the phone went to voicemail and didn't ring because they thought I was ignoring them and up to no good! I started working when I was 15 and had to get a bus home from my job, if the bus was late I was grounded. It's so weird because things like TV, Internet, Films etc was unregulated, but they flipped out over the most stupid stuff! It's also made me very sneaky and I've had to really work hard as an adult to be more transparent.


Sorry to hijack the thread Mumof4, did you manage to find the bracelet? x

Mumoffourkids

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Unfortunately my evening got worse yesterday and I ended up in tears. Then was in tears this morning at work again. I just can't see what to do with the kids. Their dad is no help at all.

My mates at work gave me chocolate cake though so that helped slightly but didn't help my diet! This evening was a bit better with the kids but i still need to get them to help a bit more.

On a money saving point, today was a no spend day which is amazing and probably only about the third one this month! I must try harder but at least I am sticking to my budget.

Right I am off to do no idea what but I think I need to do something for myself and not housework!

Mumoffourkids

Oh and thanks for saying I am tech savvy, I am to a point! I had a computer at home from about teenage of 5 and that is going back a few years now! I also had a mobile phone at the age of 17 as I was driving and we lived in a village. Needless to say whenever I needed to call anyone, I had either run out of battery or had no signal!

joeyjimbles

Oh I'm sorry you're having a rough time. So hard when you're on your own, even a superwoman like you.
Would family meetings help? Talking about what you want to achieve as a family ie. rugby games and tours, you working extra hours, part time jobs, revision etc and then drawing up a little list of things for everyone to contribute. So you would have more time to help with homework and revision if eldests peel the vegetables and middles put the washing on. You can all go rugby tour if you can do extra surveys/part time work so eldests bath smalls and middles read them stories.
I don't want to speak out of turn but I'm just trying to think of something that would help. I'd come round but suspect I'm a bit too far away.

CoffeeCakeYarn

Aww that sucks! Hope you managed to find something nice to do for you. Yay for good workmates and cake. No advice on the little from me I'm afraid, I have none. I'd end up drinking way too much if I had six I think! Just remember, you're doing amazing xx

Mumoffourkids

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Oh I'm sorry you're having a rough time. So hard when you're on your own, even a superwoman like you.
Would family meetings help? Talking about what you want to achieve as a family ie. rugby games and tours, you working extra hours, part time jobs, revision etc and then drawing up a little list of things for everyone to contribute. So you would have more time to help with homework and revision if eldests peel the vegetables and middles put the washing on. You can all go rugby tour if you can do extra surveys/part time work so eldests bath smalls and middles read them stories.
I don't want to speak out of turn but I'm just trying to think of something that would help. I'd come round but suspect I'm a bit too far away.

Thanks Joey, I thinks its just been a bit of a rough week with the kids. We try family meetings but nobody speaks apart from me! I even went through with the kids about money if I were to give up work. Yes I would have more time and I wouldn't have the horrendous nursery fees but also I would come under the benefit cap so would lose about £2000 a month! I explained to the kids that we wouldn't be able to have treats, holidays, presents would be minimal if I gave up work and they all agreed to help a bit more round the house. It lasts about two to three weeks and then they all go back to doing nothing oh apart from my son who is helpful as long as I can tell him in very clear words what to do!

I personally think someone apart from me needs to speak to them and explain or someone else needs to be in on the family meeting as I know I am far from perfect and I probably shout far too much, but at the moment they don't seem to listen and its wearing me down a bit.

Don't worry about speaking out of turn, I am open to fresh ideas as nothing I do seems to make a long term difference!

Mumoffourkids

CoffeeCakeYarn wrote: »

Aww that sucks! Hope you managed to find something nice to do for you. Yay for good workmates and cake. No advice on the little from me I'm afraid, I have none. I'd end up drinking way too much if I had six I think! Just remember, you're doing amazing xx

Hey not to worry, just the fact that people are here reading my ramblings is good enough for me. I don't actually drink that much. I'm not one for drinking at home on my own, my weakness is chocolate, hence the being two stone overweight!

Today is work day and my friend has just phoned in sick, so I'm on my own in the office and not got much to do so will be surveying, updating my spreadsheet and working out if I can buy myself a laptop or whether I really need a laptop when I have a small tablet at home!

CoffeeCakeYarn

What about looking on ebay for a refurbished netbook/notebook? (I can't remember what they are actually called) I think I got mine about 4 years ago for £80 and it's still going strong. I only use it for internet browsing really so didn't need bells and whistles, just a big screen to see craft patterns x