From debt to freedom...

Hi Loopybecs, thanks for dropping by. I find I have to concentrate very carefully whenever I ring HMRC because not all advice is necessarily the same or follows on from the previour advisor. Hey ho!

I've been trying to get to grips with tidying up, doing the jobs that I don't have chance to get to in term time. So far it seems to have taken me most of the day to collect 2 bin liners worth of rubbish.

I had a bundle of forms come from the new solicitor today, which will take some working through. The main one is a form for the financial order. While I'm glad it's finally moving forward, it does worry me how long this could take and the end result. The ex came in the door today, opened the fridge and swigged out of the milk carton, a habit I really dislike, then wandered out, leaving his dog behind for the day, while he took some of the children out. I'd just like a mutually respectful existence between us for the sake of the children. We seem to be able to manage it on birthdays, it's the rest of the time it's more strained.

Today has been very quiet with just DD3 and the toddler at home. Everyone else was either with the ex or at work or at a friend's. I've been quite anxious about these forms that I now need to fill in. I guess I need to come to some sort of decision about the future and where we live, whether to see if it is possible to buy the ex out or whether it's better to look elsewhere but larger houses on a single income are not going to be easy to find. For a long time I've felt a fresh start would be best as I think boundaries would be / might be respected more.

While mulling all this over, I've got on with clearing more washing, changing beds, hoovering through and chopping down brambles that seem to be growing over the hedge. The toddler helped me to harvest some blackcurrants, so we'll use those in a meringue pie. I've noticed that the blackberries are ripening at the allotment already, so we'll need to get picking those next week.

A busy week so far but mainly at home. I've concentrated on getting beds changed and laundry done and keeping the cake tins topped up!

The ex got a copy of the finance forms on Monday and came round to demand to know what they were about. He has known about the application for the legal separation since February so it shouldn't be a surprise. He then proceeded to suggest getting back together so I've been on somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster for most of the week. Until the issues that separated us are well and truly dealt with, I don't think getting back together is a prospect. I can't put myself and the children through a repeat or even a risk of a repeat of what we've been through already. It's taken quite a lot of thinking time and a total rollercoaster of emotions:(:(:(

In MSE terms, I have spent about £15 buying a bucket, gloves and lots of cleaning stuff including sugar soap so that I can tackle some of the decorating jobs that needdoing before term starts.

DD2 needs to have new clothing to denote her being a second year student so I've spent £58 on chefs trousers, aprons and new front of house wear. Just need to get her bus pass sorted now.

I've taken out £100 from the emergency fund to pay for the first instalment of legal fees for the new solicitor. There should be a small amount to come back from the old solicitor but it would be good if I could use that to repay family and go forward paying a monthly amount to the new solicitor.

DS1 has, to my disappointment, quit his job. He said he didn't like it. I told him there were plenty of worse jobs so now the hunt begins again.

The blackberries are ripening all around so we've picked a few at the allotment but need to go back and really harvest carefully! I have been given a bucket of apples so hoping to get some puddings and cakes made.:)

I had quite a reality check when walking through Jews0ns and realised the cost of paint! I think I will have to budget for a room a fortnight or month, so my decorating to do list might not be as completed as I would hope. Still I'll make a start and see how far I get. Happily the fence preservative was much cheaper than I thought, so when it stops raining, I can see if I can get started on that.

Good news and bad news in the post yesterday. The good news is my car insurance has gone down and will now cost £8 a month less . The bad news is a letter from the electricity company telling me that my direct debit is changing from £112 a month to £167:eek::eek::eek:. Apparently the electricity consumption has gone up by 28% compared to this time last year. I don't quite understand why that should be. The only difference is that I had the immersion heater replaced as we were struggling to get any hot water and the old one kept tripping out to the point that it would not reset. The new immersion heater works beautifully, so perhaps that is the reason? Even so a 28% rise is huge, especially as last year I was in the position of being in credit and having some money refunded.