My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

Looks like it's going to be a hazy sunny day today which suits me,I had a terrible night trying to get to sleep last night,I was still up at 1.50 am so I read a bit of the Mrs Hinch book my mum got me a couple of weeks ago,her personal story is really interesting and she has had a bit of a tough time with anxiety but I couldn't follow her cleaning methods because she uses far too many chemicals for me,she comes across as a lovel person though and the things she comes out with in her book are funny I can see why so many people follow her instagram account

Anyway I fell asleep in the end only to dream I was at work in a really stressful clinic:eek: I was relieved to get out of bed this morning

So today's first job is going to be washing my living room curtains so after I've walked the dog I'm going to crack on with that
I'm also doing some more in the garden today as I want to make the most of this weather,the forecast said it's going to change this week so we might get some rain,I know we need it but I wish the sun could stay all week,why can't it be sunny all day and rain all night:rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

I hope you got your curtains washed and dried and your gardening done OBL. It felt a tad cooler today but will cool down a lot more on Wednesday according to the weather forecast.

I wish it would rain at night and be sunny in the day too . My garden needs a lot of work but I'm concentrating on de-cluttering indoors first as I can only cope with one thing at a time!

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I hope you got your curtains washed and dried and your gardening done OBL. It felt a tad cooler today but will cool down a lot more on Wednesday according to the weather forecast.

I wish it would rain at night and be sunny in the day too . My garden needs a lot of work but I'm concentrating on de-cluttering indoors first as I can only cope with one thing at a time!

I'm terrible at starting lots of jobs but not finishing them,so I've although I started doing things inside I've now,got distracted by the weather and moved onto my outside jobs,I will get back to the inside when the weather cools down or if it rains but I can't be indoors when the sun is out:rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

I've got a one track mind and become obsessed with things, so the weather didn't lure me outside when there was de-cluttering indoors to be done :rotfl:. But luckily we were out enjoying the sunshine of Friday.

Cherryfudge

I'm sorry to hear about the racket from next door. I expect they'll be back to school soon and things will quieten down but it must be miserable for you.

The walks sound super though. I've been trying to get in some walking too - the weather is glorious and the countryside is so beautiful.

Onebrokelady

Phew that was a busy day but very enjoyable. I got my curtains washed and dried but I haven't hung them back up yet because I brought them in late and I want to polish the curtain rail before they go back up

I polished downstairs and then hoovered everywhere,I also washed all the throws I use for the dog then put some Dylon washing machine cleaner through a cycle on my washing machine so that's clean

I then turned my attention to the garden,I have now cut the grass on the front garden,I didn't want to do it yet really because there were still lots of primroses flowering but it was looking too messy and I didn't want the grass to get too long for the mower to cope,I did have to strim the top before I mowed it ,it looks lovely now.

I've also done some work to the pallet,I lined it with the absolutely huge plastic bag I brought home from work,it was a bag used to deliver air mattresses in ,so I cut it down one side and it was big enough to line the whole thing,I've then covered that with black weed membrane this is all held in place with unshaped fencing tacs

I've now started filling it up,so the bottom layer is a layer of used sawdust and poop that's been rotting in a bag in the garden,I topped this with all my grass cuttings from today and then transferred the pile of leaf mould the chickens have been scratching around in for weeks,
I'm going to investigate my compost bin as I think the bottom half of that should be ready to go now,the pallet is about 3/4 full already which I'm quite pleased about
I'm going to buy some compost as well to mix in with my stuff as I'm worried it will be too strong with the amount of chicken poop in there,I'm just going to keep adding to it as and when I can until it's full and I can plant something
I would also like to get some topsoil if possible but will have to see as it's quite heavy to transport,so I will need DD 1 and her car for that,spent mushroom compost is also good so I'm keeping an eye out for that too

I then came in and cooked my tea,ate that and took the dog out for a walk down the river, then it was back to sweep and tidy a bit of the back garden,I have my patio umbrella in the corner of the patio waiting for me to sort it out, I moved it tonight to see what state it's in and there was the biggest toad ever hiding underneath so I've put it back until tomorrow,the chickens were out and would have attacked him so if he is still there tomorrow I will relocate him to the top of the garden where they can't go

The very top of my garden is left wild and there is all sorts living up there so he should be ok up there rather than on the patio,there are log piles and I've half buried broken terracotta plant pots in amongst to undergrowth for things to shelter in,the whole area is densely surrounded by sycamore trees so it's shady and cool too

I wont get any outside bits done tomorrow because I have DGS all day and the gardens not safe enough yet for him to go out,once the chickens have gone from the patio and I can give it a good clean he will be able to go outside and play

Now that I've got the pallet sorted I am going to get the slabs for the chicken run laid,if it's not chucking it down on Thursday I am going to try and do it then,if I can get it finished it's entirely feasible that I could move the chickens on Friday if I get up really early,it will probably take all day but I'm not going anywhere so I can take my time

Of course if the weather isn't good I will be indoors doing the bathroom,it's ground to a halt at the moment but I'm itching to get back on it as soon as possible,I just need to make the most of this good weather to get outside done

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I've got a one track mind and become obsessed with things, so the weather didn't lure me outside when there was de-cluttering indoors to be done :rotfl:. But luckily we were out enjoying the sunshine of Friday.

I wish I had a one track mind but I'm so easily distracted it's annoying,I will literally start off one job and then half way through I end up being lured into doing something else,I have to be strict with myself to make me concentrate on the job in hand or I end up with half a dozen unfinished things on the go

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear about the racket from next door. I expect they'll be back to school soon and things will quieten down but it must be miserable for you.

The walks sound super though. I've been trying to get in some walking too - the weather is glorious and the countryside is so beautiful.

Thanks Cherry,it was better today, it's definitely the parents who are causing most of the problem
Today I was in the front garden and the boys were playing out in their front garden, the older one who makes all the noise said hello and asked me my name,we then had a conversation for a few minutes and he told me my garden looked lovely:) his brother was riding up and down the path on his scooter and everything was calm,then their dad cam home and immediately was moaning at them and telling them they had to go in the back garden to play
I get that they might not be allowed to play out the front but they weren't doing anything wrong and were actually having fun
Within minutes of him coming home the bigger boy was kicking off and crying and shouting
He ( the dad) doesnt pay them any attention until they do something wrong then he whines at them or shouts

Tonight when we were coming back with the dog we bumped into the whole family and the bigger boy was asking about the dog,he is apparently scared of dogs,I said he could stroke her if he wanted to do so he hesitantly stroked her back for a second,his mum said well done and he was obviously excited that he'd touched her and was going on about it but his dad was telling him to shut up and got quite agitated with him

It's quite sad really because with better parenting these boys would be so much better behaved

Onebrokelady

I've just come from NikNacs diary and want to quickly post something here about what I was talking about over there,I haven't talked about it here mainly because I've been distracted by other things but I want to make a note of it to remind me of what I said I'm going to do

It has come to my attention lately that I'm not paying enough attention to my budget,I've not been on any mad spending spree or anything but I'm frittering money on small things such as lunch here and there or costalot here and there and as we all know the little things add up

Even though this diary is meant to be partly about my journey to debt freedom I don't actually post much about my finances and I think I need to add that in to the posts that I do do

It will help me to be more accountable as to where my money is going every month
I am going to start being more proactive with recording my budget and spends on here starting from my next pay date
I'm also going to start using a small notebook to record my spends everyime I buy anything, at the moment I save my receipts with the intention of going through them every month to see where the money has gone and where I can make savings,but in reality they just sit in the tin and never get looked at,I like writing things down so think the note book system will work better for me

Lastly I have got into the nasty habit of paying for things with my debit card instead of using cash,I forget to draw the cash out and then use my card so the carry on doing it,I don't go over my allowed budget for food but I don't have any spare money and I know it's because I'm using my card

I want to start going riding again next month as I haven't been for months,this is mainly because I haven't had any spare money,it's got to be being wasted somewhere so I need to be more mindful of where it's going

Hopefully putting these measures into place will get me back to being more organised with my money, I am still operating within my budget and haven't used my tiny overdraft or anything but I know things could be better

Onebrokelady

Yay,DGS has gone for a nap without crying :j
I'm now having a well earned coffee and a sit down it's not so warm here today but quite pleasant in the sun

I haven't achieved much this morning because I've been kept busy but I have just made some biscuit dough,it's ginger biscuits from a really old but gold baking book I bought about 30 years ago when the kids were small,it's my go to book when baking and never lets me down:)
I've just put the dough in the fridge to chill for a bit to make it easier to roll out

Ive got to go out after lunch because I need food for me and the dog so I'm going to put DGS in his buggy and stroll along the river to The Range for the dog food then I can nip to the Co op on the way back