2018 Benbenandme's Next Battle

benbenandme

A good night at the football last night - a very frustrating game but a great penalty shootout to end it, which we won

Today I have been to Ikea to return a couple of light fittings, also returned a couple of bits to M&S that I'd ordered online, and then made the fatal mistake of looking at their sale But I did do well - I got:

Navy shorts, a heavy cotton short skirt, a pair of white linen trousers, a pair of khaki chinos, a burnt orange t-shirt and a black short-sleeve knitted top. The whole lot came to £28 :eek: :T :T Luckily it all fits, so I don't need to take anything else back and do the whole process again The chinos I was particularly chuffed with; I nearly bought them last week, they were £19.50 reduced to £5.75 :money: I will use some of my birthday money for this lot. The black top will be for work but the rest is all stuff I can see me taking on the cruise next year, along with a couple of other bits I've picked up recently, so hopefully I won't need to do much clothes shopping next summer

In other news I have bitten the bullet and given up on my Shark hoover :eek: It has got to the point where I am avoiding using the damn thing as it makes me so cross. I even go to Mums and borrow her Dyson, just so I don't need to use mine. We have a Dyson centre near us where they refurb / service them. They also sell second-hand ones, so I went and picked up one there. It cost me £95 but they give you a 2 year guarantee and they have a really good name locally. The money will come out of the household budget, I have saved money on decorating the lounge as Mr S has done it for me, so it will cover it. I know I should have kept chasing Shark but I just want rid of the thing, never again!!

benbenandme

Hadn't realised I hadn't posted for so long, sorry! It's been a long first week back at work, relatively calm but it has dragged. Still, it's done now. This weekend will be mainly spent chilling - I went out for dinner last night with Mr S which was lovely, he has gone out with some mates today and ds has gone to his Dads (first time in 2 months), so I am just chilling and catching up with housework etc.

Beanie - welcome to my Flamingo family, if anyone else is interested in joining us please pm me or visit my FP page (https://www.flamingopaperie.co.uk/web/joharding), this month there is a great joining offer - you get a voucher to the value of your starter pack (£45, £95 or £200). You need to order £200 of stock during Oct/Nov, but at this time of the year that is very very easy to do

benbenandme

Morning all, another weekend is here

Last night was a chilled one, today I need to do the food shopping order, about 3 loads of washing, watch the footie and then general pottering about around the house. Mr S is coming over tomorrow, but overall it will be a very chilled weekend

I need to have a look at the banking a bit today too, I have no idea where that is at so far this month, I've also not yet had any maintenance money again this month :cool:

benbenandme

Currently suffering with an ear infection, so money spent on all sorts of drops and prescriptions. It does seem to be on the mend finally, the pain has gone but the ear is still blocked.

Finally reached £50 payout on a survey site yesterday :j and also made £9 from a couple of bets, all added to the holiday fund.

Ds has bought himself a moped this week, last night we sat and taxed and insured it, now he just needs to do his CBT test and then he can get on the road :eek:

benbenandme

Ear infection has just about gone now but I've got a streaming cold instead :cool:

A few bets have trickled in, added to the holiday total. another load of calls from the csa with yet more calculations, and still no sign of any payments ...

Dinner is bubbling away nicely in the slow cooker (sausage and bean casserole) and homemade rhubarb crumble for pudding

benbenandme

Gosh, nearly 3 weeks since I last posted

So whats happened since then? Well, I have inherited a dog ... my Mums dog that stays with us at weekends is now a permanent fixture. She decided he was too much for her So he now lives here, I drop him at hers when I go to work and pick him up after work, so its company for her and him during the day, but then I can make sure he has a proper walk in the evening.

Mr S is also pretty much a permanent fixture here now too :rotfl: All is going well there

Other than that its pretty much the same old ... csa still being utterly useless, ex has admitted to ds he's back in debt :cool: so ds is now paying for his own phone contract (that was the only bit ex was contributing towards ds).

It's half-term week here now so I'm enjoying the quiet time, shame it's only a week though.

Tomorrow I'm having my haircut, wednesday I'm having an open house for my cards, other than that it's just the usual merry go round of housework and playing catch up with life admin really

benbenandme

Wow, not sure where the last 6 weeks have gone to ... life's been ticking along nicely here - 2 weeks til we break up for Christmas :j

I sold a couple of bits on ebay today, a nice £60 into the holiday fund :beer: Not much else to report on the money front other than I have now stopped my child benefit and tax credits as ds is now working full-time (didn't like the home education route). He is paying me some rent and Mr S is too, so that is covering the shortfall from there.

benbenandme

And a cheeky £1 on this afternoons football has just won me £100 :beer:

earthgirl

Yey! Great news on all fronts!

benbenandme

Happy new year one and all ... yet again I've been rubbish at updating on here. But here I am, recovered from a great Christmas and a lovely New Year in London.

Plans are underway for the finances for the year ahead, this is my first year where I won't be getting child benefit, tax credits etc. I have, however, had an email today to tell me that the CSA have issued a deduction from earnings order on my ex, so, in theory, I should be getting some of my arrears this year. Fingers crossed, but I won't believe it until I actually see it. He owes me £2,500 in total :eek:

The plan for it is as follows:

I need just under £500 to pay off the holiday fund, the remaining £2000 will go into my brothers fund, which would then mean I've saved £20k of the £30k he lent me. He is not waiting for it and is happy to wait for the rest of it.

So, any additional money I make this year (surveys, betting etc), will go into savings or may even be spent :eek::rotfl:

My savings are currently at £5,000 which is a decent amount, but I'd like it to be higher. Let's see