Amazing April Austerity.

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
Taking the liberty of starting a new thread, as I went to post spends on the old one and it's full.

We had a lovely day out at the seaside and visited an old lighthouse as part of it. As we rely on public transport, that's always a big part of our days out spend.
£9.60 bus fares.
£9.60 train fares (with the family railcard).
£6 lunch from Sainsburys ( £3 meal deal each).
£4.50 entrance to the lighthouse.
£7.10 coffee, hot chocolate and cookies in a café afterwards.

Oh and DS needed a haircut, which I think was £6.50.

Of course now I've said that I expect it'll arrive in the next few minutes! Worked the other day with the bus anyway... :o

Well I seem to have totally overdone it this week and now I'm in the spare bed feeling rubbish and clutching a hot water bottle. How do I not see this coming?

I did my end-of-month numbers and I am overspent again this month, but all capital expenditure from savings on house improvements, which did actually improve the house a lot, so that's a start.

Now if only I didn't feel quite so rubbish...

That sounds great creme, thank you.
Get well soon Em.

Lunch sounds lovely Creme.

Hope you feel better soon Em.

Not a good meal experience babs, worth an email if you can muster the energy.

I wouldn't be buying the house girlie, if it didn't have a dishwasher space!!

I did do the Aldi shop, spent £80!! Loads of extras for the season for the horsebox though, and wine. Tried some of their tiger bread but that wasn't so nice, I had made leek and potato soup and carrot and orange soup, which was better.

Been at a rally with the pony tonight, who was a complete dickhead on his toes rather this evening with the wide open spaces, loads of other horses and the prospect of charging around in the countryside jumping ditches and hedges etc. Good job DD is a good rider and not easily scared, although she did come back calling him all the names under the sun

Girlie I know what you mean about finding space for a dishwasher. We had to get rid of the boiler to get our dishwasher in and we have the tumbledryer and the fridge freezer in the dining room which is next door to the kitchen. It makes the dining room look a bit crazy but it's much better than not having them.

Good Evening!

That recipe sounds delicious creme, will definately be trying that!
I had a NSD (haha my phone just tried to autocorrect that to MAD!) And I suppose it was a bit of a mad day really, decided to pull out old boxes of stuff. Went through dvds and box sets and have enough we don't want to keep to get around £60 at CEX. That means I can pay the £40 balance off on my credit card (clear wahoooo) and get a few bits of shopping. Perhaps I'll even bake a cake.
I've just signed up to eBay too to sell some books. A few bits are being bid on so hopefully will get some pennies there too.
Does anyone here eBay? What type of items do you find sell the best?

Girlie Can you take a cupboard out?. YouTube will have a video on that.

I wondered if I might ask a question of those of you who have paid jobs?

I've managed to get myself this writing job on upwork which pays £34 and hour, which seems like a king's ransom to me. However, the job is just burning me out totally, in spite of the fact that I'm only writing for half an hour a day. I do the work from home, alone so there is no company and no breaks and none of the usual fun of a job.

Do the rest of you find that taking on work really just adds a whole lot of stress? I thought half an hour would be nothing, but it's often the straw that breaks the camels back in my case. However, I don't like to let it go as it's the only foot on the ladder back to work that I have.

I tried to get a cleaner but people keep saying that I need to get one on recommendation and I can't find anyone who can recommend one at all. Also I feel quite stressed at the thought of managing a person.

It's a bit of a conundrum. Any tips gratefully received. :-)

Daffodil I sell stuff on ebay and I akways get rubbish prices for everything. I find ebay is better for bargain buys than for turning a profit, but I know others on here have had more success than me. These people are great if you want to sell books. They gave me £100 once for two boxes of books. www.webuybooks.co.uk/

Thanks guys. Am feeling a bit better. Shouted st the cold/bug/whatever to eff off. And have drunk vitamin c drink. Eaten kale. Taken a multi vitamin and loads of tea and water. I'm determined not to get sick. But there's just so much of it about.

It was fairly recently I was not well. Which is annoying. Gah.

I wish I was a blonde sometimes although the I think I get taken more seriously as a brunette. My boobs are huge. If I were blond I'd look like Barbie.

ipsos I'm dying to get a cleaner. but mines pure laziness I hate cleaning. But you need to find a good one. And if someone has a good one they won't recommend them. They want to keep them to themselves. But having to come home and then do all the "house admin" is sometimes like another job. Eugh. It's exhausting being an adult.

Hi Ipsos.

That's a difficult one to answer, as I suspect we are very different people!!

For me, work does add an additional layer of stress to my life. Life would be easier if I didn't work. But, it wouldn't be better iyswim? Work adds to 'me', and the years I worked when the DC were your DS's age were worth it now my DC are teens. Teenagers need you more, but less, which is hard to explain until you have them. So it's easier in terms of logistics, but I'm still around a lot for them too.

For me, I feel work gives me a focus that isn't my family, a whole set of skills etc, and shows the DC a different side to me. Also, they have had to be a touch more independent, no bad thing, at 14 and 16 they are pretty proficient domestically, I never had to lift a finger. There were times during the holidays when they had to go to a sport club/holiday club that I felt crap, but they did actually love that kind of thing. To be fair, they had no choice, I had to work, so they had to go. Simpler in a way.

Re the cleaner, I don't ever feel I have to manage mine. They come in and clean the house and leave. Both of mine have been lovely. I occasionally ask for something specific, which gets done, usually not. I think that's a worry only if you let it be so. You alternative is a professional cleaning company, which might be more expensive but less stressful.

You rate of pay is good too.

I find the more time I have available, the more I worry and think, I'm better just doing, I often get through more on a working day than non working 'cos I have to!!

Good luck.

Ipsos I guess it's a totally individual thing. I'm already seeing how adding more pupils could get stressful in the sense that it takes extra organising etc. That's a fab wage though, and is a great way of keeping your hand in the world of work.

I totally understand re: having to 'manage a person' if you got a cleaner. In all honesty the thought of having a cleaner brings me out in a cold sweat, I am a total introvert and freak out at the thought of having somebody going through my house to clean it!

You sound very similar to your DS in that you maybe need a lot of down time and just to 'be'. It's ok to step back and let yourself chill out, IME. I wish we lived nearer, I have a feeling we would get on very well in person. :)

Today:
£74.72 Tesco delivery
£18.98 couple of little extra birthday presents for DSDs, including delivery for tomorrow
£29.99 astoundingly bargainous Christmas present for DCs (have been waiting for a price drop, mwahaha)
£14 French DVDs for the DCs
£1 ice cream van
96p postage
£1.25 chocolate for cinema tomorrow

Spendy McSpendyPants

Thanks for the thoughts need. I agree with most of that, except that I just can't seem to find the time to actually do the work.

Cag you've hit the nail on the head as usual. I think you're right and that we are very similar. I also come out in a cold sweat at the idea of having someone going round my house like that too. I keep wondering if I could use the money to buy myself time in a different way. I recently bought a new cleaning robot called an iRobot Braava and it's making short work of all the non-carpeted floors, which is great.

I think it doesn't help that our house is full of stuff which is makes it hard to clean. It's because we're very practical people and always doing projects. Ds has so much lego that's getting ridiculous, but he always saves his money for new lego, and it's hard to argue with that. It's not the kind of stuff that can be thrown away either so Kondoing doesn't really help. Hum....

Em I understand you wanting a cleaner too. I found full time work exhausting too before ds was born and we didn't keep the house anything like as clean as we might have. For what it's worth, I think it would be great if you found one before dcs come along so you can get into the swing of it. Dcs are like an entropy bomb hitting the house.

Yup, ditto with the clutter too! Thing is, when it comes to decluttering there's only so far we can go. DCs have plenty of toys, but they play with all of them. Ditto with the board games etc!

With the finding the time to do the work. I totally get that. I am an expert procrastinator. I'll tell you more about it. Later. :o

Seriously though when it comes to anything like that, like the editing - I enjoyed it but I still put it off!

Sore throat getting worse again. Sulk.

We're the same with clutter Cag. I never have time to procrastinate either, I just seem to fly round the house all the time sorting things out constantly. It's definitely partly to do with ds coming home for lunch as that takes two hours our of the school day for me but it helps him so much that I wouldn't give it up.

I'm really frustrated - I had several good days out planned for the end of the holiday and now I've gone and caught a stomach bug. Phooey. What a nuisance. I wonder if ds has a secret longing to spend days and days watching road runner?

I too would love a cleaner not surecwe can afford one or be happy they were in my house when I am not.

Glad it's not just me east. I keep trying to think how I can automate the cleaning of our house and I'm getting quite well with various robots (Roomba and Braava and a self-cleaning oven and a tumble dryer) but I feel as if there must be more scope. Maybe a hand-held vacuum for the stairs or something? It's definitely the tidying that takes the time for me though. There is just so much stuff that needs moved around before I can even start cleaning.

ipsos that's part of the reason I've been decluttering. In my mind less stuff = less mess. But I didn't realise until recently how much "stuff" babies bring with them!!!

I hope you feel better soon!!

Our place isn't huge. Only a 2 bed flat. So in theory we should be able to manage. But like last night - I felt awful so didn't Hoover/clean bathroom. So that's fallen on tonight's list.

might give the shower a quick scrub while I'm in there in a bit though

Dh sometime thinks I'm being ridiculous re chores after work. By the time I sit down some evenings it's gone 830. But I'd rather do that than spend weekends cleaning.

Today will be nsd. Driving to work (bought parking cards on Monday). And have lunch all ready. Still not feeling right but don't feel ill enough to stay home iykwim.

Don't talk to me about clutter! I bought the Kondo book last year and had been doing really well until I told my mum about it. She has now started decluttering too but she passes it all on to me! She turns up most weeks with a bag of crap that she thought I might like. This week she bought round a top of hers that I once complimented her on and said she never wears it so I can have it. It is 4 sizes too big for me!
Anyway, yesterday was NSD, DD is having a desperately needed haircut today, that'll be £5. Might go to Aldi for moisturizer if I can be bothered.

Pointless I love the idea of your Mum Kondoing all her stuff into your house. That's going to complicate things.

Em I know just what you mean about having no time to clean after a long day at work. Glad to know it's not just children that complicate these things.

I have a cleaner and she's a godsend. She does 4 h and a lot of that is ironing but she does the toilets bathroom, bedrooms, Hoover, kitchen, living and dining room. She straightens. I should declutter but I've given up most weeks so she does what she can. I know when I declutter it makes it easier. But that's on my list of things to do when I've got a moment.

Currently we have suitcases open from attending a wedding on the weekend and most things put away but still. I fly in a week and a half so I might as well get packing again.

Work helps make me I think. I'd love to not work for a few weeks (like take a break!!) but I'd be itching to get back into the action. I think my issue is I don't take enough holiday. The only time I'd taken all my leave entitled were during maternity leaves when hr calculated the actual date of leaving and actual date of return. I should.

Maybe I should Kondo some stuff back the other way!
Bees you should def take all your holiday entitlement, we all need a break.

pointless I know I should!! It's ridiculous. But anyway I'm leaving this place now so I'll be taking the leave and also will be rewarding myself with days off in lieu for when I travel. It's so rubbish.

You should kondo the other way! I've embarked on the kondoing and dropped off 2 bags of clothes to a friend who is a size smaller than me and it fits her perfectly!! I'm so pleased.

I need to get back onto it again. Soon.