My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Your story about Eric is sweet and hilarious all at the same time :rotfl:. I hope he settles in well to his new home and doesn't keep waking you up. Eric is a very lucky hamster to have such a lovely new owner .

I hope you enjoy painting your dolls house furniture today (and the ironing :eek:).

Thanks Hairy,he is very cute,he sort of resembles a cotton wool ball with eyes:rotfl:

Onebrokelady

Well that was rather unpleasant,just got back from taking the dog out for her walk so I decided I might as well go to the pet shop anyway seeing as I was out
I managed to buy Eric a more suitable water bottle and also a chewy alligator,these chews are for dogs but are actually made from vegetables so are really good for hamsters,it helps to stop their teeth overgrowing,you can get a small alligator which is actually the same size as Eric but they love them, DD has a Roborovski hamster which is the smallest you can get and he will devour one of these alligators in a couple of weeks,I bought him one too so he doesn't feel left out🙄😂

I also bought the dog some glucosamine tablets to try because she is getting a bit stiff now and I'm hoping it will help her joints,she has to go to the vet for her injections again soon so I'm going to get them to check her over, I think it's just that she's getting older that she is stiffening up but I don't want her to be in pain, my last dog had arthritis so I'm hoping it's not that

In all my ramblings about my about my plans this morning I forgot the chickens,they need cleaning out and their food probably needs topping up,so that's my next job,they are going to be grumpy because it's raining so I can't let them out

I've also realised I haven't done my banking yet,I completely forgot so that needs doing at some point today
My SC payment comes out on the 1st of every month so I can update that in a minute :j

Willowtree222

Sounds busy. I need to do the ironing too.

I am glad Eric has found a loving home. I will love to hear all about his adventures, hopefully, he is as funny as your chickens. xx

Onebrokelady

Yay,it stopped raining earlier for a it so I was able to let the chickens out,they had been clucking in a dissatisfied way all morning and despite me assuring them I can't control the weather were still obviously blaming me for the rain,I managed to get them cleaned out while they had a jolly round the garden

I also did my banking and I must say the finances are looking ok,I've set my budget for the month and just have to draw the food money out now,I've might have some money for savings but I haven't transferred it yet because I have DDs birthday meal to sort out and the dogs vaccinations and check up,I'm not sure how much that is going to be so I will wait until after it's done and then any money left in the bank can be transferred over to the Christmas fund,there won't be enough to put any in the emergency fund at the same time but I'm happy with the level this is at for now
Last year I started saving for Christmas around now so I'm actually ahead of the game because I already have £300 in that account,it's nice to know I'm ahead so that if I have a tight month it won't be a disaster if I can't put anything away
I did notice today that EDF have taken their monthly payment but it's gone down from £134 to £105,I'm not sure why because I haven't had a letter telling me it was going back down
I also don't know what my council tax will be yet because I haven't had the bill yet and I'm also waiting for my water bill to come through to find out what next years payment will be,there's one less of us now so it should go down in theory

I'm hoping to keep to my normal £100 a month food budget from now on,I have been very lax with this last month and just spent will nilly,I didn't keep a proper check on things and the food money was gone halfway through the month,we did go out for quite a few coffees and although we take it in turns to pay it still adds up, we also had takeaway pizza a couple of times which is very naughty and very spendy

I think I was so busy last month doing other things I slipped back into some bad habits of spending and not accounting for it,so from this month I'm putting my foot down with myself and keeping track of my spending,it's certainly a slippery slope that's for sure

I think that's why I was putting off doing my banking because in the back of my mind I felt like I had spent too much last month and would be in trouble this month,but having sat down and worked it out I was pleasantly surprised by this months budget,I just have to be mindful now of how and why I am spending any money,I can still have the occasional treat but it's going to have to be something that isn't going to clutter up the house or something nice to do like going riding

Drawingaline

Omg laughing away at you buying Eric. Who is also my favourite vampire from tru blood :rotfl: we did something similar years ago and ended up with an unneeded house rabbit because he was the last in the shop and was so timid. Like you we had the stuff as we previously had a house rabbit, but still cost money. But Batfink became part of the family pretty quickly

Cherryfudge

You have done well! Nice that you fitted in a few treats, that does help ease things along.

When I come to think of it, we've had 'last hamster syndrome' a couple of times in this house (at least) so I do understand you had to get Eric. One of my hamsters was actually given me by the pet shop owner as she was the last of a litter and getting older - she was a sweetie but she cost me £25 when she developed a tumour and had to have an op (and then lived on quite a while).

Onebrokelady

Drawingaline wrote: »

Omg laughing away at you buying Eric. Who is also my favourite vampire from tru blood :rotfl: we did something similar years ago and ended up with an unneeded house rabbit because he was the last in the shop and was so timid. Like you we had the stuff as we previously had a house rabbit, but still cost money. But Batfink became part of the family pretty quickly

:rotfl: I'm glad it's not just me then,love the name Batfink:rotfl:
I cant stop thinking about those guinea pigs though :eek:

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

You have done well! Nice that you fitted in a few treats, that does help ease things along.

When I come to think of it, we've had 'last hamster syndrome' a couple of times in this house (at least) so I do understand you had to get Eric. One of my hamsters was actually given me by the pet shop owner as she was the last of a litter and getting older - she was a sweetie but she cost me £25 when she developed a tumour and had to have an op (and then lived on quite a while).

Oh god I hadn't even considered that he might get ill and cost me money :eek: hopefully I won't live to regret my purchase

Onebrokelady

Forgot to add in my previous post that I also managed to paint the furniture this afternoon,so the dining room in the dolls house is finished furniture wise
It has a dining table and four chairs,the top is pale wood that has been waxed with clear wax,I have painted the legs an off white colour and then painted the chairs to match,there is also a dresser that is painted off white and a consol table also pianted off white,I wanted it all to be neutral and I'm really pleased with how it looks,I just need decorative things now,I have quite a few things on my wish list for Xmas and birthdays so will not have to buy any bit for a while
I'm currently collecting toothpaste lids to make into lampshades for all the rooms,they are ideal being white plastic,you just make a hole in the top and stick a cocktail stick cut to the desired length through the hole,this is then used as a look a like wire painted white to hang from the ceiling or I'm going to make a base from fimo and stand the stick in until it sets then put the toothpaste lid on top to make a table lamp,just put a blob of white tac on the underside of the lid to hold it onto the stick and stop it sliding down
I'm attaching the lights to the ceiling with fimo made to look like a ceiling rose

Cherryfudge

The dolls' house sounds great. I haven't made any real progress with mine... can see I'll have to change brand of toothpaste though! Is yours 1/12th scale? Mine 1/16th which limits me a bit (but it takes up less space).