My journey to a debt free life

foxgloves

Good luck with the tap, OBL. Wish I could lend you mr f, as despite being built like a brick privy (in a nice way), he is getting quite good at getting under our kitchen sink & spannering our pesky mixer tap. If there were any local courses teaching people how to do the safer more basic household maintenance tasks, I'd be very tempted to go along. Years ago, at my old house, I called a plumber out for a badly blocked loo. I'd tried the usual remedies such as kettles of boiling water, bleach, but no use so phoned for professional assistance. Plumber arrived. Took one look, went out to his van, came in with a big toilet plunger, stuck it down the loo & did two plunges. Blockage gone. Cost to myself? A £40 call-out charge plus the 'first hour' of his labour (which was 4 minutes). I have a little sink plunger, but had no idea that big ones for blocked loos were even a thing.
I went along to our local old-fashioned hardware shop the next day & asked if the had one. They did. It cost £3. I still have it. I shan't make that mistake again!
F x

System

Hope you got out today for the dog bed and the spanner for your DIY. I walked in the rain today and got rather wet. Or maybe you didn't feel quite up to it. Enjoy your few days off when they arrive. Have a good weekend.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I hope you can find a dog bed you like.

I know what you mean about a rusted tap. Our builder couldn't get a nut off our toilet because it was so rusted through . I wonder if there is such a thing as a power spanner for people who aren't very strong? DH says a long handled spanner will be easier to us as you can get your body weight behind it.

I think the weather's going to improve next week, thank goodness .

Lifeisforliving19

Good luck with fixing the tap. I am not good with anything like that. I really should learn as I always rely on Oh and who know what the future may bring. Don't know what I'd do without him for jobs like that.

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I hope you can find a dog bed you like.

I know what you mean about a rusted tap. Our builder couldn't get a nut off our toilet because it was so rusted through . I wonder if there is such a thing as a power spanner for people who aren't very strong? DH says a long handled spanner will be easier to us as you can get your body weight behind it.

I think the weather's going to improve next week, thank goodness .

There is a tool called a tap splitter,it's amazing but costs nearly £50 so I'm not buying one of those,however I found a video where the man used a wrench to undo the nut but also braced the tap by cover g it in the loo roll tube then putting a box spanner over the the top,you pull the wrench and the box spanner towards each other and that is supposed to stop you breaking the sink,I need to buy and adjustable spanner though as the one I an is on the front door being used as a hands at the moment :rotfl:and it's too small

Onebrokelady

I still haven't fixed the tap because I couldn't find the spanner I needed in the shop I was in,we did get a lovely dog bed though which didn't look that big in the shop but once we got it home it looked enormous:rotfl: the cat loves it and plonks himself down right in the middle and the dog has taken to sleeping downstairs because she won't squeeze in with the cat:D I think she has put her foot down now though because she has slept in it today

I did the usual house work on Sunday and then spent the rest of the evening reading my latest book,it's called Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabbat-Zinn and is about mindfulness meditation
I've been researching this lately as a way to manage my chronic pain and it's shows very promising results,last week I read a book callled Cure which is a book basically investigating mind body medicine and how our brain can cause chronic pain but also help to cure it,it talked about the placebo effect which I find fascinating ,so I thought I would give it a try,it's a long book and it includes an 8 week mindfulness training schedule which he uses in his pain management clinics in the USA,I also watched a few YouTube videos on it and it's really interesting
The app I was trialling called Curable uses mindfulness as part of its treatment programme and I am thinking of subscribing to that but I thought I would give it a go on my own first

I'm off now off for three days so no work for me:jive got DGS tomorrow ( can't believe it's Tuesday again already)so that's tomorrow taken care of,I'm determined to finish the spare room on Wednesday,I've been waiting on DD to give me a hand but she has been ill so hasn't been able to,I'm feeling better today as I have dosed myself up with Echinacea while telling my brain it was really strong antibiotics ( good old placebo effect:rotfl:) and that I would be better by today,miraculously it seems to have worked:eek:
Thursday morning I'm meeting my sister for breakfast,she lives about a fifteen walk away but we haven't seen each other for months due to being too busy,so we are meeting in town for a catch up

Now I'm feeling normal again I'm going to back into the decluttering and sorting out of the house :j

Things are bumbling along quite nicely on the financial side,I got my new council tax bill today and it's £123 a month which is better than £156:eek: I'm just waiting for the water bill now so I can sort out my new yearly financial plan

This March has certainly been more relaxed than last March when I was soooo stressed out all the time,I'm not rich but I have enough to see me through on a day to day basis which is definitely smelting to be thankful for

MrsLottie

I’ve just caught up with reading your diary OBL and I think you are one strong lady and marvel at how far you have come in a year! You just keep getting stronger and so independent and often against great odds .I am inspired .

Onebrokelady

MrsLottie wrote: »

I’ve just caught up with reading your diary OBL and I think you are one strong lady and marvel at how far you have come in a year! You just keep getting stronger and so independent and often against great odds .I am inspired .

Awww thanks for that Mrs Lottie,I'm always surprised that people read and enjoy my ramblings,I don't really think my diary is that interesting to be honest

Onebrokelady

I had an enjoyable day with DGS today although he has started having a few tantrums here and there, I actually found it quite funny which didn't help,he's like a little grumpy old man chuntering away to himself:rotfl:

I managed to do some washing and the ironing in the morning while he played with his toys, then I had to go into town.It was a lovely day today so I walked part of the way which gave me chance to take the bottles to the bottle bank and some old shoes to the shoe bank ( the decluttering has recommenced :j)

I looked for the spanner I need in town but couldn't find one so Im going to order it online,it's annoying me now so I need to crack on with fixing that tap,I also bought my mum a pressy and card for Mother's Day because I'm seeing her this weekend so will have to give it to her then

I also had to buy some food bits but not much so it only came to £7.84 ,I made pitta bread pizzas for tea as I like them and they are low in calories plus they are cheap and quick,we are having a roast tomorrow because DD really fancies one,I will try to make enough for the next day too then it will save me cooking again:D

Earlier on I was spurred into re reading my diary after reading Mrs Lotties comments,sometimes I think it's good to look back over things to see how things have progressed or changed,or indeed how things might have slipped a bit, when I read back over my old posts I got up to page 10 and I was a lot more proactive with my money then I am at the moment,I have a sense of letting things slide a bit,I'm not in any way shape or from as bad as I was was when I first joined here but I'm not being as organised or vigilant as I was back then,so I think I need to tighten things up and be a bit more vigilant about where I'm spending and what I'm spending on
I have been keeping all my receipts this month as I had gotten out of that habit but I think I might restart using a spending diary just to keep a check on things

I also noticed another area where I'm still falling short and this is reading my meters,I'm still forgetting to do it despite vowing to keep on top of it ,so that's something I need to focus on,I think I need to pick a time to do it so it becomes a habit I do at the same time every time, then hopefully I won't forget

Tomorrow I am doing some more work to clear the spare room,there is a single bed in there at the moment which I don't need so I'm dismantling it and putting it in the loft until I need it again,I will then have room to put the travel cot up for DGS,I might be having him overnight near the end of May so I need to get this done,seeing as I have these few days off I thought I would get it done now,it also needs doing so I don't pile any more stuff on the bed
I have a chest of drawers on the landing that I keep my bath towels in and I'm hoping that it will also fit in the spare room as then I can put the dog bed in the space currently occupied by the chest of drawers which will mean it's not in the way

That's my day planned for tomorrow and now I am off to bed

HairyHandofDartmoor

Good luck with sorting out your spare room today OBL .