Illness, no work and so its well and truly grinding today

Hello All,

Well after a few years of living comfortably in a lifestyle where I managed to have a few luxuries – by luxuries I mean the off treat of a box of maltesers, the odd looksie in a charity shop without having to worry too much about the odd few quid I was spending in my purse – it looks like the purse strings are about to be tightened, super-glued and welded shut for a while

I have been suffering from labyrinthitis for the last 9 weeks….its one on the nastiest bugs I have ever experienced…. dizziness, nausea, sickness, major increased anxiety, tinnitis, ear pain, deafness, sore throat, lost 2 stone in weight through lack of appetite, agoraphobia, and an intolerance of strip lighting, computer screens and crowds which all sent me spinning in a minutes notice. I couldn’t walk my son to school at the beginning of it and now I can actually wait in the yard to collect him and put my daughter in and our of nursery without feeling bad. Only downside is that any virus / cold that I contract – it can reoccur – what fun!

So since then my work basically said they had hired more staff and given them my shifts, this means I will be given new shifts as they gave them my contract so I will be put onto whatever they need covering which is impossible with a 9 year old, a 3 year old and a partner who works from 8 – 5.30 and works away occassionally. Therefore I either accept the new shifts I am given or can hand in my notice. just how you expect to be treated after 8 years old very rarely being off ill. I was bringing in £260 (after my loan was taken out)

I tried to claim employment allowance support or whatever its called – but they keep rewriting asking for more sick notes so I feel like Im flogging a dead horse if Im honest.

Tax Credits changed my working status to unemployed since Sugust when I got taken ill – so my tax credits went up from £202 to £375 which was a bit of good news.

We are in a battle with HSBC over reclaiming bank charges, and have just written to the financial ombudsman for the complaint for after getting the letter a few days ago from the bank saying they wont pay despite us having good reasons and suitable ‘financial hardship’ grounds……fingers crossed on that one

 

We had to take out a ‘loan’ from a well known site ( W***a ) as I couldn’t afford to buy food and the cupboards were empty and by empty I don’t mean a load of I cant be bothered to cook that and there’s no easy meals empty, I mean a bag of pasta, flour, golden syrup, tin of sweetcorn, smash and rice empty, and very little in the freezer to the point I can see most the bottom……this has never happened before. I took out £200 with the idea of paying £112 council tax and £80 shopping with a few pennies left……..didn’t turn out like that – I spent £48 on a dentist fee, £87 on shopping and had to give Owen £50 for his car petrol for the week and the last £15 – Ben needed £6 for a school trip, Holly needs £1 snack money for the week in school so I have literally about £5 left.

I have asked for a council tax/housing benefit form, hoping to get that filled in and sent back ASAP

My partner Owen like I said works and brings in £260 a week after tax etc.

So between us we get (with benefits at present) £1545 every 4 weeks.

Our outgoings of 
Rent  ~ 370.00
Water ~ 66.39 
Council Tax ~ 112.00 
TV ~ 20.40
NTL ~ 90.00
Gas ~ 49.00 
Electric ~ 40.00
Loan (Wo**a) ~ 234.00
Loan 2 ~ 40.00 
Dentist ~ 16.68 
Bank ~ 10.00 (28th each month)
Holly Nursery ~ 4.00
Ben – Cubs ~ 8.00
Owen Petrol ~ 160.00
Owen Loan  ~ 70.00
Food ~ 200.00 
Josh Maintenance ~ 100.00

————————————-
£1590.47

so we are over…..and thanks to Owen’s bank taking charges when they shouldn’t have , it meant our car didn’t get taxed last year, subsequently got clamped, fined and had to pay nearly £400 so I had to take out a loan with a credit union to the tune of £850 to get our car un-clamped, mended and taxed which I’m paying off at £40 a month from my wages – which I probably wont have much longer. Also because the tax wasn’t paid he has been given a court order which he is pleading guilty too obviously so he will end up with a fine/charges of some sort for that  :(:(

I have no savings. I am trying my best to take up Avon but I am in a relatively poor area with lots of working class families but it is bringing me in about £20-£30 a time but it is better than my shop work job as I don’t have crowds, strip lighting or computer screens to trigger dizzy spells and can do it at my leisure to a degree

I asked my dad his opinion (my dad is a round, hard working , ex RAF man) and he said if my tax credits have increased by £170 – I would literally be £90 short of my wages that I could use. So he said if I can save 22.50 a week – then that would cover the £90 a month

Besides Avon I am crafting with items to hopefully sell at a craft fayre coming up in November, I cook from scratch. I will list kitchen items soon but bare in mind I literally did my shopping yesterday so have to make this stretch until the 22nd.

Also in the £200 food spend – this includes 2 dogs (JRT and a mongrel of the same size – they eat what they are given), 2 terrapins, and I am currently looking after my neighbours 3 ferrets as she has had a few personal issues and cant care for them but will be having them back when she is fit. She has provided food/bedding etc so these do not need any of that expense. Oh and 3 gold fish.

I have been through old DVDs and plan to put them onto a various site to see if I can cash them in as they are no longer needed, I also have books that I’m sure I’ve seen a site to sell them on which I might try.

I am hopefully picking up a sewing machine on free-cycle today once Owen finishes work (the owner took it apart as it was dodgy and catching, and then reassembled it wrong) so I’m hoping to try and fix it so I can make a few crafts and Christmas presents for family.

I am looking for tips, advice and will keep this up to date with what I’m going to be doing over the next few weeks to try and get us back on track.

My mission for today is to list what I have in my fridge/freezer/cupboards and go from there.

*** On a side note I had a message from Swalec that we are £136 in credit with our Gas bill, and I owe £27 on the electric but Im thinking rather than claim it back that it will be worth keeping myself in credit for the upcoming winter months ***

Hope your all well and any input most gratefully appreciated.

Sammy

x x x x x

Money trees anyone?

I wonder if there is likely to be a money tree invented/bred or created soon because I may be in need of one soon if all our bills keep going up?

Its not even normal bills - the gas and electric is fairly low - it could be lower but we are minimising it every year so its getting there - in a new house but the building itself is fairly old so we are still in the process of doing it up despite us being here two years - for example - only half the stairs are carpeted and we have no curtains in our bedroom yet (we have net curtains but no thick curtains), even that said the heating is rarely on and we don't have a bath only a shower so the gas usage is very low.

Had a letter from the council tax section today and our monthly payments are going up - from £107 up to  £112. OK so that's only £5 a month but that's still £55 a year extra payments (we get 1 council tax free month being in a council property) but our rent is going up to £89 a week from £86  (Owen pays this) but we were paying £420 a month as we were behind with rent so it will go down to somewhere around £360 and instead of paying water to the council we are now paying it to Welsh Water and I haven't yet had their monthly amount through although apparently I should know by the 22nd March according to their site.

Anyway one thing I can keep an eye on is the food budget. I went shopping late night in Tesco the other night and had 2 green peppers that should have been 80p each, or 2 for £1......instead the two I had were in the reduced stand for 25p......... I've since come home. de-seeded and chopped them up and put them in a tub in the fridge for Owen to use in his sandwiches. I've also done the same with a few less than perfect looking red onions which were 3 small for 25p in the fridge as well......needless to say they will be used now.

I did also get a packet of 6 chicken drumsticks that were reduced down to 50p which I put in the fridge and intended to use for last nights dinner, I came home from town yesterday though to find that the dog had been in the fridge and snaffled two of them and in the process tore the packet completely open and had taken two more to his bed - so chicken was off the menu last night and I have now been monitoring the dog constantly. At 12 years old.....he's hardly a spring chicken - pardon the pun - so need to make sure he's OK but I have read plenty about the RAW and BARF diet and apparently it is better that they were raw and not cooked.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into the garden and planting though but we woke up with a ground covered in frost and still minus temperatures so I think I will have to wait a week longer. I have made a start to clear the garden a little bit though and will be getting rid of some rubbish and clutter from upstairs in the form of an exercise bike, an old cot bad, and junk from the gardens - front and back. Its due to be collected on the 25th so I need to put it all out on the Sunday before hand.

I have just realised too that Owen has some builders merchants sacks - like the big ones that gravel/sand come in (see picture)

I'm wondering if I found a way to support them if I could use those to line a raised bed with instead of lining if I can make a few drainage holes in the bottom.....?

Anyway, tomorrow after school the kids will be planting up their hedgehogs and I will be spending the day putting together the cloche that will go outside for the veggies to get started in. I do have a window in the kitchen that I can start some seedlings off with - it gets plenty fo sunshine so should be a good growing starter point. Also the dining table is pretty clear so I should be able to get a fair bit going on there too if I can clear it and put a cover over it for the soil.

Im hoping I can use an old shed we have dismantled in the garden too to make a raised bed with - I quite fancy a deep bed so I can grow some carrots in it as well. I do have several of these potato growing bags in the garden as well that I could really do with emptying - I lost interest last year and the drop was growing well so I was gutted to lose them all but I think I will try with them again this year. That way between peas, carrots, potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, cress and spring onions we have most of our veg covered. I havent been outside to check on my blueberry bush though so I will have to see how that is fairing.

I think I also need to wait until the wet weather comes back and get outside and find a few worms to put in the compost bin - it has had a bit of a refill lately with me cleaning out the rabbits so I think a few more worms might be needed to hurry it along.

Apart from that I am in work tonight so I will have an easy night, not quite sure what else I will get done today - I may research raised beds :-)

Hope your all havign a productive day and Im looking forward to the weekend for the Wales Vs England match - Cymru Am Byth!

Love
Sammy
x x x x x

What a Day........and its only 12.49!

Well

I decided this morning to give growing my own another go.
Sadly last year my greenhouse took a battering with the delightful Welsh weather and all the fun that living on top of a mountain near the coast brings so I have had to spend on a smaller new growing space.

£11 for a cloche set in Wilkinson's but it should do the job nicely.

I did try last year but went a bit 'gun ho' and tried to grow everything , which ultimately wasnt great because I quite frankly lost interest when the bad weather hit and then it all went to pot fairly quickly.

This year I have decided to be sensible and focus on a few things well rather than lots of things badly.

So I have brought myself
Cloche ~ £11
Seed trays ~ £1.25 for 3
Seed Tray Trays ~ £1.50 for 3
A window tray propergator with lid ~ £2.50
A kitchen garden pot (sweet bell peppers) ~ £1.25
Cucumber seeds ~ £1.60
Tumbling Toms ~ £1.60
Lettuce leaves ~ 98p
Spring Onions ~ 80p
Peas ~ £1
Cress seeds ~ £1.59

All in all costing £25.07

I already have a giant bag of compost though out the back that Owen got me from CountryWide and he works down the road from it so hopefully I will manage to get over there at some point to check out what they have got in there.

I brought the cress for the kids - Ben is fascinated by nature and wants to grow something so him and Holly cna both grow Cress - I also found these little hedgehog growing kits in B&M for 89p so have brought them one each as well

A fair bit of the veg we have brought we will eat and use. In the summer months too my mother in law tends to invite us over for BBQs quite a bit so at least this year I should be able to provide the salad for them and she is also a keen salad eater - but she has wild rhubarb and an abundance of strawberries that we can exchange between us which is nice.

In other news - Mabel is in heat so her and Bruno are in separate rooms at the minute. I hate the idea of dogs being intentionally bred for a profit and am a big supporter of rescue centres. I just don't understand why people would willingly add to the dog population when there are so many lovely dogs needing homes already. I just cant understand it. She is still a bit grumpy with Bruno (understandable at the minute though) but we have realised its only when he is near her seat, when he is on the other sofa with me, and she comes over to see him they are fine, and they will touch noses, he will sit on the sofa and she sits on the floor nicely with about a foot space between them but still no attacks or anything which is very good news for us........still going slow and steady. (should reiterate that we do allow Bruno in the living room in the evening but only when Owen and Me are both home, he sits on one sofa with one dog and I sit on the other sofa with the other dog)

I am somewhat upset with Bruno at the minute as well. I brought a nice pack of chicken drumsticks today which I intended to herb/spice up and cook for tea and owen was going to take the leftovers to work wel I cma home from shopping to find Bruno had been in the fridge, ripped open the new packet and helped himself to 2 possibly 3 (cant remember for the life of me how many were in the pack) que much frantic-ness from me - especially since I cancelled Bruno's insurance policy the other day to add Mabel so both dogs were covered and it has another 5 days before it starts. but after some research I have read about the BARF and the RAW food diet dogs can eat which includes chicken bones and apparently that they were raw is a good thing as they are softer and easier to chew, most that may happen (touch wood) is that he may have an upset belly for a day or two.........lets keep fingers crossed that this is the case.
Also suggested to Owen that when we brought Mabel home my boss gave me a box of Bakers Meaty Meals ball things, which we tried her on and she wouldn't eat them so we gave them to Bruno to try just to use them up as I didn't want to waste them and they have a laxative effect on him since he is an older doggy - so we finished the box last night but I'm wondering whether to go and buy another box and feed him a few to help things pass through smoothly if that makes sense.
Should also add I now have a baby lock on the fridge as well.

Right so on that note Im off now to find something else for dinner and let him out for a bit.

Talk soon and I'll be back later with an update.

Sammy
x x x x

Right, come on February

OK, so Owen paying me back never strictly came but he did give me £20 to go out with girlfriends and enjoy the Wales Vs Ireland match - being that I'm Welsh it was a good day out if nothing else.

I was reminded exactly why I don't eat MacDonald's.

And managed to still somehow come home with £15 in my pocket - and since Id had drinks, food and travel is somehow miraculous and I would love to know how that happened!


Anyway,
on the news front.
Owen has a new job. He is now a sprayer/painter for a gym (hes refurbishing exercise/spin bikes) which means each week on a Friday he should bring home £260 plus this week he will have an extra £150 hes hoping from his training he did last week. So this week he should get about £400 which is nice. Plus we have no rent now as his payment was taken on the 1st so we should be OK. Also he only works from Monday to Friday from 8.30 until 5 so he is home to have the kids on a Sunday and I have enquired about the after school club for Holly and am waiting to hear back now from Sue the childminder.

Not so good news - My father in law just paid out £300 for wood to finish Owen's shed with (it was his Xmas present) but its complicated. Owen had a quote for £200 which I agreed to pay half of a) to help lessen the cost for them and b)it was going to be my main gift to him and c) the shed can finally be finished which in turn means I get my dining room back! He wanted ship lap panels, his dad got him tongue and groove planks, hence the price difference. They ordered it on Friday and told me that day it needed paying the day after (Saturday) and could they have my £100 contribution? No notice and I have no money after giving Owen everything I had, and I'm not paid until the 12th February. Told them Id try my best.

Phone call Sunday morning from my mother in law. My father in law lost his job.
So I had to take out a Wonga loan for the £120 and then on the 14th (I gave myself a day or two to make sure for definite money is in my account) I have to pay back £135.

Needless to say it has curbed my spending. I have not been to town or shopping in almost two weeks now and I don't miss it. I have been living off the freezer - which is now really in need of a refill! but that will happen when I'm paid next. I have been baking and have finally perfected a chocolate cake recipe that the whole family love. I think I will be making some flapjacks etc though as they are obviously more filling than cake.

I did today look into selling a few old DVDs on Music Magpie and have been pointed in the direction of a few other sites so I will see what the best offer is and maybe offload a few there - trying to do a car boot sale is pointless because I have no way to get it to and from a car boot sale and with two children would be torture.

Other positive things ~ I joined the library today. I have decided too that I think I will take out one book for me, One for Holly and One for Ben. Mainly so it keeps all our brains active, but we can all have reading time which means the TV will be off for a bit as well as helping them both in the long run as far as development skills etc are concerned. Also it keeps local places open and used because I think with the discovery of kindles etc that libraries may be the next dying breed along with fruit and veg men etc. Plus if I have more than one book for myself then I tend to get lost in one and forget about the other which isn't going to be productive.
**On a side note I mentioned fruit and veg men above - have discovered a fruit and veg man has opened in town so I will be using him from now on - he also does fruit/veg box delivery's which is always handy to know but I'm hoping this year will be my year of growing my own. I was a bit gun ho last year and tried everything rather than one or two simple things that I could give my full attention too so I think this year I will try again but with only a few things. I'm thinking carrots, potatoes, lettuce and peas. These seem fairly basic but they make up the most of our diet at the minute......plus anything that is left over as far as pods, peels, etc  can be given to the rabbits or put in the compost bin, and lettuce I can barter somewhat with my mother in law with as she is also a large salad eater and Owen and the boys tend to go to hers for BBQ in the summer so if I provide the fresh veg then she can provide the meat :-)

Wins - I won a family garden book. It has simple how to guides as well as plant information and ways to encourage wildlife in the garden so I will be browsing through that at some point.
- Ive also won a flashing dog light which clips to his collar for night time walks and outings in the garden. Handy with a Jack Russell Terrier.

Right , anyway Im off for the night now, I will set an alarm to remind me to sit and write this blog every night! I will remember, I will remember! Anyway I best get the baby to bed as she has been a complete little madam today and I think someone is past tired. Also I need to catch up on other blogs that Ive missed reading.

Lots of Love

Sammy x x x

Food Banks are struggling.....

So I have had a busy few days de-cluttering the house in preparation for Benjie going back to school. In fairness as much as I love and adore my son - my poor house needs to find its floors again.....its amazing how large a tornado a 2 year old and an 8 year old can make if left alone for 2 seconds!

Although I did wake up to this posting this morning

( if anyone would like to read the article I read its here )

It does really make you wonder what is going to happen in the future but I think it has made me more determined than ever to make sure my food stores are stocked and in order.......having learned the hard way as well this month....Owen was paid early in December to cover him for Christmas. He currently has £30 to last him until the 31st and I have £28 in my bank to last until the 15th....which is only a week away and to me that is completely do able but I was thinking about it - what if I needed money? what if there was an emergency? If Owen needs money for fuel for work then what will we do? well we would be stuck is the only answer because we have no savings at all.

Another scheme I saw that was linked to from this story was that local food banks are struggling to feed people now because the demand is so high, that deeply saddens me and makes me all the more aware that the world is changing and so has many peoples mentalities towards food storage/preparation and sensible buying.

My parents divorced in 1999, me and my sister stayed with my dad whilst my mum left. She found a place with her friend but was later abandoned by her friend to take on all the bills herself. After 6 months I was told by a family friend that my mum was literally living on hand outs from neighbours - she was living on biscuits basically - and had been for months. I hadn't spoken to my mother since she left but bit the bullet and decided to leave my dad to move in with her. Knowing full well my mum would get child benefit for me and that she would at least have a little bit more money coming in that she could claim and therefore feed herself. I had many cheap/make do/ leftovers from the pub meals (my mums second job was in a pub) and they never did me any harm.....in fact they probably toughened me and my sister up a bit.

Now my mum is back in the same position. She is relying on my sister to feed her (my sister has 3 kids to support) because my mum simply cant afford to feed herself.

This has given me something to think about and ponder for the day.

Playing with my processor

So today I have been experimenting with my new food processor.

I did before hand however decided that cleaning the new blades would be a good idea because they'd been in a box and almost amputated the top of my middle finger - ouch (or a more deserving expletive)

I decided I usually use the basic recipe for a sponge of 225g flour, 225g butter, 225g sugar and 3 eggs. So today I decided I would try a new recipe as I find this usually ends up a bit flat and pathetic looking. So today I turned to my trusty Maw Broons Cookbook that my Mother In Law Sandy brought me for my birthday a few years back. Its fab.

This is Maw Broon;s Cookbook. Inside as you can see it looks like a well used family cookbook and the way it is written makes me laugh if you can decypher it well enough but having a half scottish family I think its the best thing Ive read with old style scottish recipes. Id definitely recommend it. Anyway I went for the basic recipe in this book. 100g butter, 125g sugar, 4 eggs and 200g flour. 

Below is the finished split cake. I need to work on my halving skills but the recipe made a very dense dry Old Style cake. It was tasty but proper old style! 

This is whats left after I added the cream! 

Should also say the British Double Cream I had from work, I again did the waste last night and my boss let me bring a whole carrier bag of mini Gem lettuces home for my rabbits. 3 tubs of 600ml double cream and 2 French sticks.....all for free. So today I have put them to good use.

Right off to meal plan a bit

x Sammy x

Putting plans into action.........

I figured today I need to start making my way towards my new years resolutions otherwise I'm not likely to stick to them.

I have somewhat changed mine though.
Mine are now

1. Enjoy my children. - Holly starts preschool this year in September and I plan to spend as much time with
    her as possible because babies don't keep (and yes i regularly wish I could keep her this little!). With
    Benjie because hes in school our days together when hes off school I want to enjoy and make more
    memories with him
2. Exercise more  
3. Plan - whether its money, food, days out etc - planning in advance saves time, money and effort.
4. Be myself - enjoy what I like and don't let others opinions bother me as long as me and mine are happy
5. .Eat properly (I rarely eat at the minute - living on whatever is easiest and pretty much toast) this is not
     healthy and is affecting me health wise now so three meals a day is my aim.
6. Craft and Hobbies ~ get some and enjoy them (this includes me competitions!)

So today I decided to put number 3 and 5 into action and planned my tea for tomorrow already. This is my beloved Stovies. Its easy. It pretty much consists of onion, mince, gravy and potatoes. All bunged in a pot and left to cook

Sweat some onions in a pan with a little bit of butter

 Then add in the mince (this mince was actually free, it was in the reduced trolley and when it came time to waste it my supervisor let me have it for free)

Then add enough gravy to cover. At this point you can peel and cut up potatoes and put them in this pan as well then leave it all to simmer for 30 minutes (making sure it doesn't burn) so you basically cook the potatoes in the Gravy, then serve it up with a side of veg.

I however have changed this, I made this stovies mixture up earlier. Then put it into a ceramic dish and covered it and put it in the oven to store it, then peeled potatoes, prepared sprouts and carrot and have them in the steamer ready for tomorrows lunch. So happy that's minimal cooking needed now.

Haven't done much else today really, my evening tonight involves cwtching on the sofa and chilling out watching TV, I'm not doing anything majorly exciting and I may just see in the new year before heading to my bed.

Good night all and Happy New Year. I look forward to learning and talking to you all more in 2013

Love

Sammy x x x x

Windy in Wales.....and some thoughts for the day.

Wow its windy here in Wales tonight.....

Apparently its 6 degrees C and 24 mph winds..........which ordinarily I wouldn't mind but I live on top of the mountains so it sounds like its easily 50 and my full wheelie bin is walking itself round the garden.

I am hoping my poor bunnies are OK and not too cold. Just happy they all have plenty of bedding in their beds to keep them warm - I think I over compensated with it being Christmas but I have made sure they all have nice full tummies to see them through and I'm sure the coop will provide them with plenty of veggies tomorrow.

Kids are finally in bed, I did manage to get the dishes done and clear and rearrange Minnie's bedroom so she should be much snugglier now and happy all her Mi-Mi's (that's dolls to me and you) are now in her bedroom for her to play with. Now just to take the side off her cot,.....but I'm not that brave yet!

I do now however have a bag of DVDs, a bag of videos and a video player, 3 bags of toys from Benjie, 3 bags of toys from Minnie and a bag of old bedding etc that I can freecycle etc although I have realised that Ben has nearly every complete set of power rangers figures etc so I may be able to sell them as a small bundle on EBay to make a few pennies.

On more home based notes, I've decided to tackle my kitchen cupboards tomorrow. I have seven in total. That is it. Only two are wall mounted so my glasses/plates etc live in there. The one under it has all my tins, it is a double sized cupboard but only has one door and almost bends round the other cabinet if that makes sense. See the diagram below for a better explanation

 I need to try and work out some sort of storage technique for this cupboard. I'm only using about half of it because its all I can see! The double cupboard next to it is under the sink stuff. This again could do with a good restocking and getting a few bits and pieces in it. I don't tend to use many cleaners - only dettol spray, bicarb of soda, washing up liquid, comfort, and Flash multi purpose.
I then have two single cupboards which have two shelves, one has extra plates and a few Christmas bits in it, the other has pans, casserole dishes, ceramic bowls etc in it and a few bathroom extras I've picked up like girls products.
I'm thinking if I moved a few bits round or had a clear out I would be able to make one of these an extra storage cupboard - OK so not quite a pantry but it will help.


I'm also thinking I will join the local library. I do actually think I belong to the library but I had an overdue fee so I never went back, I think that needs rectifying. I quite like reading autobiographies, true stories, life stories etc but I will admit I don't think I have read some of the better known classics.....other than being in school.

So I suppose I have two musings for any followers who happen to read tonight..........Does anyone have any ideas on how I can maximise usage of the funny cupboard? and can they recommend me a book to add to my reading list?

Until then I will make sure to talk to you all tomorrow morning before I start with tackling the kitchen, Ow is off so he can watch the kiddiwinks and then I have a lovely 7 hour shift starting at 3pm which I'm hoping will be fairly peaceful and full of bargains.

I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Sammy x x x

Rain, rain, go away.................or not apparently

Apparently someone has ordered 40 days and 40 nights of rain................and gales.

I made the very wrong mistake of putting the boxes from the kids Christmas toys outside next to the bin so now they are scattered and soggy across the little front yard/garden that we have which will make for a delightful job when the weather dries up for a bit, or at very best stops raining.

Found out yesterday that the second hand rabbit hutch we got apparently is not rabbit proof. There is a brief back story here so I will try and shorten it into a manageable chunk.

Last May Ben asked me for a pet of his own that he could cwtch and handle etc. (note we already had a dog and 2 terrapins), I told him he could get one if he kept his room tidy to which he agreed. I figured this would last maybe a few days at best, well 6 months later its now Christmas and his room is still immaculate. So I managed to talk him into a small pet, so we go to a well known pet store to pick up dog food for Bruno

 (Here is Bruno, after a long wet walk. He is our rescue dog, he is 11 at present and we adopted him when he was 4 years old. He has a few psychological issues especially with cold weather thanks to previous owners neglect and abuse. He loses a lot of weight with stress in the cold so we put him on IAMS senior to keep him stable otherwise his weight literally drops off him and he looks like skin and bones. He also has problems with chronic licking despite me or Ow always being home with him, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise and cuddles) 

Anyway my boyfriend Ow decides to point out the rabbits to Ben whilst we are in PAH. Now Ben gets his heart set on a rabbit, so we go to RSPCA and there are none there that he likes, but they tell us of a man desperate to sell his rabbits as he can no longer afford them and they are unwanted animals his daughter dumped on him. So we contact him. He has two Old English rabbits left which Ben has looked on Google and likes the look of. He wants £10 each or they are destined for the pot. So we drive 40 minutes to pick them up and I take £30 in case he has spare hay/food etc. We meet the guy with our cardboard box, Ow goes in and collects them and comes out with a suspicious smirk on his face, only for me to loo in the box and find 3 rabbits. 2 Old English and One Black Rex. He said the black one he just couldn't sell, no one wanted it so Ow took pity on it and re-homed it. Welcome to our home Splodge, Stripe and Bungle.

This is Stripe with the black stripe (Old English)

 Ben with his bunny Stripe.

This is Bungle (Black Rex) named by Owen and who is now Owen's Bunny. He seems to have taken to sitting on the back of the chair for hours on end.

This is Splodge with the um.......splodge. (Old English) and he is now Holly's Bunny.

Anyway get them home to discover they are all boys and within a week they are all fighting and since they are only 11 weeks old no vet will touch them for another 13 weeks. So we had one big hutch, which we had to divide for the 2 Old English's (although one side is considerably smaller, but they are all safe) and the Rex is in the old portable play pen. Then we brought a second hutch, now all bunnies have a hutch space, lastly we got a second hand hutch and all bunnies have a nice spacious home of their own.

Which leads us to now............

Yesterday I looked out the window to my horror to see Stripe who was in the second hand hutch sitting on top of Bungles hutch with a huge hole he had chewed in the old ones wall where it had obviously rotten.

Thankfully my friend had a barely used hutch in his garage though which I have swapped with him. In return for the hutch (which looks practically brand new) I gave him a bag of veg from the freezer, a bag of ready to roast potatoes, and two packs of Cumberland sausages - all of which were either brought with coupons or were brought home as waste from work.

So now all bunnies are safe and accounted for again.

I also yesterday listed Ben's old bike on Gum Tree. It is sat not doing much now as it was too small and he got a new bike for Christmas as his main present so we don't need it. I got it for £119 a few years ago and we lived in a flat so there was no where really for him to ride it, he only just learnt to ride it and therefore has really used it for a week before the weather turned nasty and he has outgrown it. So I'm asking £30 for it but open to offers - any money will be helpful but Id like to see it go to a home that it will be used

Plans for today though are,

• get the baby down for a nap. 
• Make a batch of stovies.
• Get some competitions done.
• Dishes
• and move Bens toys upstairs

That about sums it up for my jobs today. Thinking I might even use some of the left over sprouts up and put them as a side to the stovies to mop up some of the gravy.

Also does anyone have a good pizza base recipe? I want to get using my food processor and my two boys love pizza so I'm hoping to save a few quid by being able to make a base myself. 

Many Thanks all

x Sammy x 

Thank crumbs thats over..........

Well Ive had an eventful few days

First the baby (she's 2 years old) had the Norovirus

Second, Benjie came down with some horrid flu bug which meant 3am wake up calls with him absolutely boiling and hallucinating. Not sure what was scarier though the fact he was so hot or the hallucinations he was coming out with!

So now I am getting five to sit and go over my income for January in preperation for my new year and new start.
I really must find a spreadsheet making app or something so I can display them better rather than list form

(quick snoop round the Internet and computer and I have managed it)

Now the above picture is just my basic outgoings for the household bills and does not include any of my debt repayment, no birthdays/Christmas/clothing/school trips/pets etc. The only things I am in receipt of are tax credits and child benefit. We don't receive any housing or council tax benefit, no free school dinners etc.......

I work part time - 12 hrs is currently all I can do because my partner works full time, and the hours I have means that I work around his shifts so I am home to have our two children, which then saves us on childcare. 

Our other outgoings in the house look like this

So I have about £100.00 that is left over each month - which is basically our top up shop money, money that my partner may need to borrow to get himself to his next pay day, if the kids need new clothes/shoes etc and any birthday/anniversary spending etc also comes from this money.........

So I have decided to be very strict with myself this coming month.

As you can see I already have set myself a basic food budget of £100 - I'm not entirely sure if I will shop monthly or weekly with the food shop but I'm determined to stick to this budget as I really cant afford to be going over it so a fair bit of our shop will be downgraded to value items and I will start shopping about a bit more. 

We do have access to a Tesco and Iceland in our town, there is a Lidls and an Aldi outside of town which would mean an extra few pennies on my bus ticket but I'm wondering if it would be worth it for the cheaper products. Failing that we buy a fair bit as store own brands as it is, with a few value things added in but I'm thinking its time to downgrade again.

The baby is currently potty training so only really has nappies now if we are going out and for bedtime which is saving us money and she is a good eater.

We don't have a bath, only an electric shower so that saves on heating water etc. We aren't on a water meter either, we pay a basic rate to the council and that is it. 

So for today I am off to sit and have a look over my shopping list, see where I can cut corners and look into what the correct portions sizes are and work out what a servings costs.

Then I might make an inventory of whats in the cupboards and a meal plan between rehoming some of the kids toys from christmas to their bedrooms! 

Wish me luck, its about to be a busy day!

Sammy x x x

"It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark."

Unknown

I figured the above quote made a good point. With the climate as it is, none of us can ever be too prepared and I realise lately that I have fallen off the money saving/ Old style/ planning ahead band wagon and I desperately need to get back on it.

The future will hopefully see us getting a house and with that obviously we will have rent increases as I have mentioned in a previous entry and I don't simply mean it will increase by £10 , I mean it will increase by upwards of £60 a month and another £10 a month on our water rates and as me and my partner currently work we are not entitled to extra help with benefits.

Therefore I need to get our food spend under control and back in order. Some readers may remember back in January 2008 I wrote a post on MSE (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=697339&highlight=100) about feeding my family for £100 a month. At that time my family consisted of myself, my partner, our son Benjamin was 3 and we had Bruno our Jack Russell.

Now my family consists of myself, my partner, Benjamin is now an active (almost) 7 year old, Our baby girl Holly is (almost 10 months), Our Jack Russell Bruno is now 8 years old and 2 terrapins called Randy and Toby.

So needless to say I have to look at increasing our food budget somewhat but I'm hoping I will be able to keep to £150 a month.

So I will take stock of fridge/freezer/cupboard contents etc and repost my plan of action.

x