Giving every £ a job

EssexHebridean

Good work on checking your christmas stash before going out and buying more - I know we are a little low on wrapping this year but will scrabble around and see if I think we have sufficient. We buy far fewer presents now than we used to, and I think I have a fair number of gift bags anyway (those get recycled round the family - including the "family heirloom" joke one that's being doing the rounds back and forth between me and Mum for somewhere around 20+ years now!)

We also made use of the NT free pass - visited a property near somewhere we were out of our local area earlier in the month and it was a thoroughly lovely day out - also involving a £12 cafe spend! we were members for a while years ago but there just aren't the properties near us to make it good value now unfortunately. 

Blackcats

Thanks @savingholmes - luckily I was organised enough to put the Christmas paraphernalia into a suitably labelled storage crate because I had completely forgotten about the very nice wrapping paper I got from olio.

@PennysIntoPounds - there definitely won't be any Christmas cards sent to the folks in Europe although I did like your signature suggestion.  A few weeks after the visit and  I'm still seething about their behaviour.  By about February they will be in touch pleading poverty and asking for help with their electricity bill or water bill or telephone bill etc etc.   they have run a seasonal business for at least 20 years but have never grasped the concept of earning as much as possible in the summer and dividing that up over a 12 month period.  Neither has it ever crossed their minds to get a temporary winter job to earn money.  I'm a very soft hearted person but a line has been crossed and there will be no more money sent their way.  At last count they still owe the so-called d**k €800 from last year.
@EssexHebridean - I like the idea of a family heirloom gift bag.  I find it interesting that we now wrap our gifts and then put them into a gift bag.  Sensible if there is more than 1 gift but i don't really understand why 1 gift goes into a bag.  I suspect the purveyors of gift bags are very happy though.

I started the week with a dancercise class at the leisure centre and really enjoyed it so I shall do that on Mondays when possible.  I then had to go to Asda to get cat food for the moggy - so much money being spent by families on Halloween stuff! 🎃

MrBC and I are listening to the latest Strike book and he is just making a cuppa before this afternoon's instalment.  He rarely reads Fiction books so I'm pleasantly surprised that he has just requested another chapter because he thinks it's such a good listen.

PennysIntoPounds

Ooh I get crosser every time you mention them, EIGHT HUNDRED EUROS?!! You should get in touch and say now you're retired you need that money back!

Sun_Addict

€800 😱🤬 Thank goodness you’ve put a stop to it now. 

I’ve got a stash of gift bags that do the rounds over the years. If anything is awkward to wrap it goes in a gift bag with a bit of tissue paper on top 😆

Cheery_Daff

I've made some simple fabric bags over the last few years, I love using them, but everyone wants to keep them so I have to keep making more, as they then pass them on to other people 😂 I tell them they can keep them IF they're going to use them - if they're going to forget them in a cupboard I want them back! 

Made them from festive charity shop table cloths last year - must keep a look out for some more.

Blackcats

@PennysIntoPounds and @Sun_Addict - yes indeed €800, although believe it or not the individual bought us a coffee 2 visits ago and instructed us to knock €10 off their debt to us.  We are definitely going elsewhere for our holidays next year.  A month in the Bahamas would probably work out cheaper than a week in the Med subsidising that bunch 😬

@Cheery_Daff - handmade gift bags sound very nice - are they simple drawstring bags or something a bit fancier?  I would like to have a go but I'm not a very competent seamstress. 

I made the most of the sunshine today to get out into the front garden and plant up 2 tubs of daffs (hopefully they will be cheery daffs 🥳) and 2 tubs of tulips.  We bought 2 trays of violas for £1.99 each at lidls and they look very pretty in 2 blue ceramic pots either side of the front door.  I also did some weeding of the drive but that feels a bit like painting the Forth Bridge as the little weedy blighters keep coming back.

savingholmes

Well done on the gardening. I'm sure they will be very cheerful when they all flower.

Definitely voting for the trip to the Bahamas instead.

Hope you have fun with your creative projects.

PennysIntoPounds

PennysIntoPounds said:

Ooh I get crosser every time you mention them, EIGHT HUNDRED EUROS?!! You should get in touch and say now you're retired you need that money back!

Just this post ⬆️ every single time. I am consistently fuming on your behalf

They bought you a coffee and said take it off their debt?! Aye, a month in the Bahamas would be cheaper, as would instructing a solicitor to get the debt plus interest. What an absolute cheek 

Glad you enjoyed some sunshine and gardening though 😁

enthusiasticsaver

Congratulations on your retirement and slightly aghast at your cheeky spongers of relatives. Glad you stood your ground on not paying for their meal and next time they ask for money remind them you are pensioners and there is no spare money for them. 

EssexHebridean

Spongers is about the kindest thing I would call them - honestly, words just fail that there are folk like this in the world - I very much hope that they don't have other relatives who they live off in this way, and so your withdrawal of funding will leave them thoroughly in the do-do!