*sigh* this may take a while 20 December 2018 at 11:56PM edited 19 September at 9:55PM in Debt Free Diaries 850 replies 78K views

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Very quiet few days here, I've been signed off work for another 2 weeks. Much as that's great as my knee is still painful. I've found in the past, the longer I'm off, the harder it is to go back! I enjoy being at home.

Finances are going ok, pretty much on track. Have been eating healthier, still room for improvement though!

mark55man

After 4 weeks off, there should be some return to work process.

If you stress how sore it is to be doing your normal job, could you get a few weeks of admin duty (every place I ever knew has some jobs that need doing). Now they would be really mean (possibly illegal) to pay you less. At best - you find a niche (eg review, ...) and get some experience or you realise you really really hate admin more than your actual job.

be careful though HR really don't like being played

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Looking at the rota for when I go back and they've put me in areas where I can take rest breaks and do admin easier, think that's the best I'll get. When I told the consultant what I did for a living he said that usually he'd sign me off for 2-3 weeks, but would add 1 for luck as radiology are notoriously hard on their staff. Harsh, but fair! I actually love admin, would merrily do it all day.

Had a pretty unspendy weekend; littlest was a bit poorly, so we hibernated. I let the other 4 invite a friend over each on Saturday, kept them all out of mischief and it was calmer with 9 kids in the house than it would have been with 5 bored ones! Today was a bit of a chore/homework day.

Will be weird tomorrow, I would usually be at work, so will have 8-6 child free... last week I didn't send them to their wrap round care as it seemed daft me being at home and not having them here, but actually it made them a bit 'it's so lovely coming straight home, why do you have to work....' etc. So, we've decided keeping them to their usual routine will be less disruptive or them until I get back to work :-(

ohdearhowdidthathappen

2lbs lost this last week, so 3 in total this year. 11lb to go..... must admit, I haven't really tried that hard as yet, I did have 2 alcohol free nights last week and have tried to snack less.
I've been baking more, making banana bread, pizza dough etc.... the children have enjoyed this and have been getting involved too.
I should be able to do a bit more exercise after Wednesday as that's 2 weeks since my injury and the knee is feeling a bit easier and less swollen. I think I'll start taking short walks and build up, we have got an elliptical trainer, so that might be good too.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Argh, teenagers. My eldest is struggling with her part of the budget.... when I was going through banks statements, I noticed about £100-150 a month was going in her direction; phone, bus pass, snacks for school, social stuff etc etc. I said to her that it was going to stop and put her and my (much more sensible) second eldest child on a £50 a month budget.
This was to cover phone (£10), bus pass (£12, but not necessary, they could walk or bike), snacks at school (we give them each a big lunchbox, so not necessary either) and spending money. We buy all the clothes they need, but designer gear, they have to contribute!
Child no.2 has embraced the whole thing and apart from his phone, has been saving or spending the rest, but staying within his new means.
Child no.1 is constantly whining about being skint 'my friends get this, my friends get that'. Today's argument was she didn't want to walk to school, but didn't want to waste her money on the bus and that I should pay for it as it was my fault for buying a house so far from school. Yawn.
The constant battles are draining, I told her this morning, that every time she moaned and was ungrateful, I'd deduct £5 off the next month's amount. I suggested she get a paper round like both me and my husband did at her age, the look on her face was hilarious. Not quite sure why she's so entitled, our others aren't. Maybe it's a teenage girl thing?

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Money wise, it's a bit painful. I lobbed £1k into the credit card that had the Christmas hangover on it. That was wishful thinking and now our current account is looking very lean, will be tight to keep in the black until pay day. We have a £2k overdraft facility, but we never really use it, might creep into it this month though.
I've just completed my tax return for 2017/2018 and I now owe £600. Doh. Usually I just use savings or a month's surplus money to cover it. This year, all our savings went on the build, so I'll have to pay it out of my January pay back, so we won't be paying anything much above minimum payments next month. Sad times

enthusiasticsaver

ohshithowdidthathappen wrote: »

Child no.1 is constantly whining about being skint 'my friends get this, my friends get that'. Today's argument was she didn't want to walk to school, but didn't want to waste her money on the bus and that I should pay for it as it was my fault for buying a house so far from school. Yawn.
The constant battles are draining, I told her this morning, that every time she moaned and was ungrateful, I'd deduct £5 off the next month's amount. I suggested she get a paper round like both me and my husband did at her age, the look on her face was hilarious. Not quite sure why she's so entitled, our others aren't. Maybe it's a teenage girl thing?

Nope it is not a teenage girl thing. Not sure how old your daughter is but my two girls were out working at 16, waitressing, cleaning, shopwork. The elder one did a paper round for a while too. We made it very clear that if they wanted extra money for going out, clothes etc etc then they needed to earn it. They had allowances from 13 though and the only thing we bought for them was school uniform and school shoes. Clothes, entertainment and 50% of school trips had to come from their money and it really focused their minds on the difference between wants and needs especially as we were strict on not lending them money if they ran out half way through the month. Good life lesson for teenagers I think.


If this is something new for your daughter I daresay it will take a few months for her to adjust but I had to laugh when you said you will deduct £5 for moaning. That is a good idea actually. If she is the type of child who does feel entitled (could be the kids she mixes with are very rich?) then you are really doing her a favour by making her realise that money does not grow on trees.

Igamogam

I have an eldest that cant hang to money or work out where is goes and a second that has managed to saved almost 7K whilst being a student!! I paid the student rent for the first one and am still bailing her out 7 years later....a parents love is unconditional and all that. Second one pays her own rent because university is only 6 miles away and she wanted to live there rather than at home so that was the deal. She also runs a car which first one didn't and both of them had holiday jobs doing the same job and neither of them have expensive tastes............chalk and cheese when it come to money an budgets!!

ohdearhowdidthathappen

She's 14, so too young to get a proper part time job. My husband and I have said once they're 16, we expect them all to get little jobs; teaches them a work ethic, good for CV and pocket money will stop, so provides them an income too!

I have a sneaking suspicion we've spoilt her a bit and now we're paying the price in having to reeducate her expectations... the younger ones will hopefully learn at the same time!

I resisted the urge to meet a friend for lunch today, instead she's coming round here :-)

enthusiasticsaver

I wonder if it is an eldest child thing? My elder daughter is now brilliant with money and budgets and everything but when she was a teenager money seemed to disappear but mainly because she was so generous with presents she bought for everyone not because she craved the latest designer stuff or whatever. She still is very generous and buys ethically so that is more expensive. She was and is a hard worker though and thankfully now a high earner so does not worry as much. My youngest was very careful with money and now paying childcare costs for her children plus only working part time is still pretty careful. I think because we live in Cornwall the peer pressure is not as bad down here for designer and expensive stuff as it is a low income county.