Debt Reset....

CRANKY40

@WinterWarrior he was a dog fox as I saw him raise his leg on the sweet peas but best friend says the one that he saw was smaller so I'm assuming that there is a Mrs Fox somewhere close by too. Apparently there was a nasty screaming noise like something being killed the other night so I explained about vixens calling - I wonder if we'll have fox cubs soon? I'm not sure we want a deer but we'd happily part with a couple of squirrels. There's talk of a sterilisation plan for grey squirrels in the hopes that the reds will breed and spread. Best friend would like a hedgehog or two if you have any of those knocking around. He feels a bit cheated that in spite of everything else eating it's way around and through his garden that he hasn't seen a hedgehog yet. 

redofromstart

Hello, read your comments on @WinterWarrior diary and popped over.  Love the fox photo, we do have hedgehog(s) and put out non fish cat food nightly.  He who doesn't sleep says that a huge hedgehog rolls up nightly between 3/4am.

EssexHebridean

For anyone wanting squirrels I have many that I would very cheerfully indeed swap for either hedgehogs or toads should anyone have spares they don't require! (And yes, I fully appreciate that the first dibs on surplus hedgehogs have already been  claimed by best friend Cranky!)  Such a shame we can't really share our our resident wildlife like this isn't it! 

CRANKY40

The squirrels are both annoying and hilarious. The one that was trying to carry an apple along the fence last week was funny but only because it wasn't our apple tree that it was ransacking. On the plus side the resident robin has reappeared and is making himself at home again. 

We've started digging at the back of the garden and it looks like someone has demolished a building and then covered it with soil. I said that we could put it out the front as a do it youself building kit. There's bricks, lumps of concrete, paving stones and 3 buckets of glass so far. The squirrels are loving all the soil that we've dug up - they're burying things and rummaging through it all as if they're looking through a stall at a jumble sale. 

As I'm writing, the debt update so far is £2600. I'm still working and still paying more than the minimum payments as long as I can. I'm tempted to pay it off with my EF but I know that as soon as I do things will start breaking down around me. 

Take care all of you 😊

CRANKY40

Hello all, 

I'm still working as Looked after Person hasn't been found any suitable residential accomodation yet (think 6ft tall man with mental age of a toddler so must be supervised at all times, even at night). This is helping tremendously with the debt payments which is just as well because once the House Troll finishes college money will be in short supply if I'm not working. 

I have been officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia which explains some of my more "interesting" life experiences like being allergic to my baby when I was pregnant. The doctors opinion is that I've definitely had it since my teens and my consultant pal says that it often runs alongside Hypermobile Joint Syndrome which I've known about for a long time. Having a diagnosis doesn't really change much as it seems to be something that is coped with rather than cured.

The doctor has switched my medication to something that is similar to what I was already taking but which also helps to control ADHD and anxiety. It's definitely working on the anxiety and that is extremely welcome. It means my poor son can set foot out of the door without me worrying about him the whole time. 

Best friend and I are still digging lumps up out of his garden. Last week we (mostly he to be fair) pulled up the paving stones from under the big apple tree. There was at least 2 inches of earth on top of each stone so that was removed relatively easily. My job was to shove a piece of stone under each paving slab once he'd levered it up a bit so he could get a better angle to lift it upright. We are definitely too old (and incapable/unfit) for moving them any further and a man and a skip have been ordered to come and remove them from the premises before the end of the month.  We have also discovered that squirrels will leave baby cabbage plants and baby onion plants alone. They didn't touch the tomato plants during the summer but they dug up the beans and ate the baby sweetcorn.

Final debt figure for this month is £2200.00 so that's £6977.32 paid (roughly 76%) paid off. If I can pay as much for the next three months as I usually do then I may pay off the balance from my emergency fund. That depends on me still working though. 

Take care all of you 😊

Sun_Addict

Well done on paying so much off your debt 👏

Good to get an official diagnosis even if it doesn’t change anything particularly. Great news about the new medication helping with your anxiety. 

I had to move some large concrete slabs in the summer and they were so heavy. I managed to lever them up and get them on a sack truck , there were only a few of them but it was very hard work. I don’t blame you getting someone in. 

WinterWarrior

Fabulous progress on the debt payments. Well done. 

I’m sure your looked after person would rather have you, although it must be terrible for his parents. 

Gardening is a killer, this is why mine is wild 😁

jwil

Well done on the debt repayments, and good that the new meds are making a difference.

CRANKY40

Good morning all. I'm just waiting for the shopping delivery so I thought that I'd update. Total debt as of todays date is £1999.99 (I paid an extra penny to bring it into the "ones"). 

I'm still working so I'm still overpaying the debt. I may manage some more between now and the month end - I'll see how it goes. The House Troll was 18 last week so it's been an expensive week. I'm happy to say that all money spent was in my savings account ready for the occasion. He had some friends round to the house instead of a party and I paid for takeaway food for them. They chose the big red M so it cost just under £40. They were delighted and I was happy too because I thought they'd want pizzas so I'd budgeted £100. I did put some snack food for them too and that all went as well. They played games and one of them even helped the HT bag all of the rubbish at the end of the night. 

One of my friends died back in May and best friend and I have been helping to clear her house on the days that it's been too wet to garden. Her will said that I could have anything that I wanted from the house. So far I've acquired some books, some lovely serving dishes, a new lamp for the HT's room (his fell off his bookcase and broke) and 25 bars of soap.  It'll be a while before I need to buy soap I think. 

Take care all of you 

Sun_Addict

Good to hear from you again. Well done on getting the debt down to under £2k. Sorry to hear about your friend, it's lovely that some of her things are being put to good use.