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

Quiet for a while.........

Apologies for the lack of blogging, but its been a bit mental here.

The kids have both been poorly,
Ive been run down,
My sisters PND got much worse and she has been put forward for mental health assessments because she was having suicidal thoughts,
So there's been a councillor sticking their nose in our business, trying to get us to undertake a joint counselling session together which has brought up some horrid memories that I don't care to relive.
Owen hates his job and that situation has gotten worse,
His dad lost his job,
We had our NTL cut off in the cold weather so we had no TV, phone or Internet for about 5 days.
Wow its been cold

and amongst all that I have been just carrying on, as I always do.

I really should look into whoever it was who suggested freezing cheese - I have found this an amazing money saver - in work we reduced down cheese but it hardly ever sells so I brought home last week two blocks of mature welsh cheddar, which I divided each block into 3 and so had 6 mini blocks of that, and I brought home 4 large blocks of red Leicester cheese which again I divided into 3 each so I now have 12 small blocks of that as well frozen in the freezer. I tend to take it out, defrost it then chuck it in the food processor and grate it up as and when its needed because I find it went clumpy when I froze it pre grated.

Still a very good tip and I promise to give credit where its due when I find out who it was!

Aside from that we are struggling this month with Owen being paid December 16th and then nothing until the 31st January. It is a long month for us so I have had to lend him money £160 to be precise because it was Josh's birthday (his eldest son) and the £60 for fuel but he has assured me I will get this back on the 31st which is his pay day.
Also March cant come quick enough - we are in a council property which means March for us is a rent free month and also a council tax free month - so altogether we will have £537 which would normally cover these two bills. Owen pays the £430 rent and with his he is going to pay off a small debt he has and one of his credit cards (£200) so he will have about £40 left I think but he will be almost debt free. My £107 I'm not entirely sure what to do with yet but I think I will pay it into my credit union account and let it fester in there for a rainy day or towards the summer holidays so I can get out and do things with the kids.

I'm also considering in September when Holly starts school - putting her into an after school club - she may be mornings 9-12 or afternoons 12 - 3 but if she is in the mornings I may ask for her to go to an afternoon club and then I can pick up a few extra morning shifts from 9.15 until say 2.15 then I can pick her up on the way to collect Ben which may help our financial situation a fair bit again.

Anyway I will now be about a fair bit more again now that everything seems to be sorting itself out.

Hope your all well

Sammy x x x