What to do when you are broke & what not to do

In these days of easy credit many people find themselves in the financial mire, obviously it's best not to use credit in the first place but some people are easily tempted and they seem to feel they are entitled to have the best of everything.

When hubby & I bought our house it coincided with a sudden downturn in the building industry & hubby was out of work. Our mortgage payment was £500 a month & my takehome pay was £750, we weren't eligible for any benefits so we just had to manage.
It was 18 months before hubby got regular employment again though he did get some odd temp jobs.
The council tax and utilities & my travel costs came to £160 a month.
I had to feed 3 of us, me, hubby & a teenage boy on what was left.
It was a struggle but we managed  we ate a lot of carbs & lots of veg, very little fruit or meat as they were both too expensive.

We didn't apply for credit cards or loans for a quick fix.

What we did do was to cut all our spending completely, we cut our coat to suit our cloth. We barely had the heating on, we went to bed early to keep warm, we didn't go out, we didn't buy any clothes or anything that wasn't absolutely essential. In fact when our kettle stopped working we boiled water in a saucepan for 3 months until we could afford a new one. 

The other thing we did was to look for ways to increase our income, hubby started to prep the garden to grow veg, we took in lodgers, dog sat, sold things on ebay, I took any overtime that was offered, hubby took any temp work he could get. We didn't buy furniture for the house, apart from 3 beds. We used a garden table & chairs to eat off in the kitchen, all the other furniture was given to us. We managed without most things as we didn't want to get into debt!

Success, failure & confusion

Success
I have sold 3 more items on ebay and made £19.

Failure 
DD took me for afternoon tea this afternoon, we went to The Space at the local Hilton Hotel. I wouldn't recommend it. It took best part of an hour for the food to arrive & we weren't given any plates, the food was good, little finger sandwiches with three or four different fillings, three different sorts of cake & a scone each, the scone were nice and soft. Whilst we were waiting to be served our tea came out of the kitchen three times & went back in, the staff seemed unable to find us despite us waving at them. The lack of plates also seemed very strange, we did mention it, but were just treated to some very confused looks from the staff who didn't seem to understand why we should need plates.

Confusion 1
I was at work on Monday after 4pm as DGD was at gym club.
A colleague saw me and said 'What are you doing here so late?'
'I'm waiting for gym to finish' I replied
'He's gone' said my colleague
'Who's gone?' I asked, confused.
'Jim Turner, he's left for the day' I then explained I'd meant gym club & not Mr Turner.

Confusion 2
I receive a paper delivery every Thursday but due to the amount of work I'm doing currently I have run out of paper by Tuesday so extra paper has to be ordered.
I explained the situation to someone in charge only to be told that I can't keep ordering extra paper, so from now on the paper delivery will be moved to Wednesday!
Doesn't this mean I will now run out of paper on Monday?

The joys of predictive text

I've just managed to send my daughter a text recommending FGM (female genital mutilation) for DGD's. I was trying to send her details of the dance class we've signed them up for!

Is it still the 1950's?

I have just finished reading Perfect Wives in Ideal homes, the story of women in the 1950's.

I was born in 1951, I remember sticky out skirts with lots of net petticoats under them, I remember teddy boys, skiffle and I also remember the cold houses and drab clothes, most women wore wrap over pinnies, mothers wore them with nappy pins attached. Most women took great pains to be a good housewife, my mother didn't lol.

In the 1970's I worked in the offices of a large insurance company, even then we were not allowed to wear trousers  we had to wear a skirt or dress.

You'd think by now that things would have changed, but I'm not so sure, in the last week alone I've come across  a woman who is giving up the job she loves for one she hates 'Because my husband likes his tea on the table when he gets it'! I've also had to deal with a colleague who has suffered from a week long migraine as her husband has returned from a 3 month trip abroad and is bitching non-stop as her housewifely standards aren't up to what he's been used to whilst living in a hotel!

To be fair many people don't behave this way and I'd like to shake some sense into both these women and give both the husbands a kick.

My own L&M could appear to be a male chauvinist, but is really just an old fashioned gentlemen, he opens doors and doesn't like to see a lady carrying anything heavy. Having said that when a neighbour asked to borrow his drainage rods to clear a blockage he willingly loaned her hi rods and mucked in and helped her.

Spring

My own little piece of Spring.

Snow drops, crocus, tete a tete.
These early signs make me so happy.

.

Finally

2 achievements this week, I've managed to finish some of my paid for sewing jobs & I've started writing again 
http://pollythepirate.blogspot.co.uk/

Child free weekend

Today is 'Steak and Blowjob Day' it's easy to remember as it's a month after Valentines Day.

We were discussing this at work on Friday when one person said she'd never given her husband a blowjob, when asked why not she replied that she wasn't really sure what to do as she was worried she'd not make a very good job of it. 

We were able to reassure her, we told her that as long as she didn't bite him, her husband was unlikely to complain.

I checked with my L&M when I got home and he agreed that there is no such thing as a bad blowjob.

Anyway, what with the date and the fact that we have a childfree weekend it was set fair to be a fun weekend.

I'm not very good at initiating sex, I tend to rely on subtle hints such as dressing up in my corset & holdups, or collecting my beloved from work wearing nothing under my coat.

Determined not to miss out on any fun this weekend I reminded hubby on Thursday that we had a child free weekend ahead.

'Do you want to do anything in particular?' he asked

'Yes please' I replied 'I'd like to have lots of sex'

Hubby agreed that it sounded like a good idea.

Unfortunately my beloved was on the late shift last week, but my words must have struck home as he woke me up at 1:20 in the morning to offer me an aperitif!

Flowers

There was a knock on the door earlier, I answered it to find a firefighter on my doorstep, he was carrying flowers and a box of chocolates.
My next door neighbour nearly wet herself, 'Oooh my favourite fantasy' she gushed.
My poor son just looked embarrassed. 
'Happy mothers day for tomorrow' he said.

Lost my rag

AAARGH. When I answered the home phone this morning, a chirpy young lady informed me that she had information about a car accident I, or someone driving my car had been involved in within the last 3 years. I was polite to start with and assured her that I had been involved in no such accident, usually these people accept such a reply, but not this time.

She assured me that her information could not be wrong and that my car had definitely been involved in a no fault accident and that probably a family member had borrowed my car and hadn't told me about said accident.
Again I was polite and explained that as my husband is partially sighted he definitely hadn't borrowed my car.
At this point Miss Chirpy started to get stroppy, insisting that there had been an accident.
At this I lost my rag, told her she was being a pain in the arse, that she had interrupted my weekend, called into question her antecedents and slammed the phone down.
I have now ordered a caller ID, I am looking forward to weeding out the bulk of these calls once it arrives.

Romance is all well & good, but!

An ex-colleague has been bewailing her lot in life, she can't find Mr Right, she feels time is running out, she is 35 & wants to start a family. She has had some lovely boyfriends & even got engaged a couple of times, but unfortunately none of these men have actually been perfect. Her ideal man is Mr Darcy, preferably wet from stepping out of the lake!
Now gorgeous as Mr Darcy may have looked wet through, would he really have been easy to live with? I doubt it.
Also as she herself isn't perfect, is anyone? Why does she expect perfection in her partner.

3 weeks of chaos

My L&M has just signed one of the DGD's up for a local dance class, it's 4 o'clock on a Friday, it starts next week.
So for the next 3 weeks it means collecting a DGC from school on Monday (DGD age 7 Gym club), Wednesday (DGS age 10 Pottery) and Friday (DGD age 4 Dance class). 
Fortunately the pottery class is only on for 3 more weeks & Gym club finishes in July, so by September I will just be doing the lifts for one activity.
DGD who is 7 is starting swimming lessons when gym finishes & DD will be doing the bulk of the ferrying around for that.
The reason I do the lifts for the other activities is that my L&M arranged & paid for them & not always at a time that is convenient for DD.

Achieved a lot

I have achieved quite a lot this weekend, but most of it not what I was aiming to achieve.

I have packed up all the items I sold on ebay & they will all be posted tomorrow.
I've seen all my kids, an early Mothers Day, they all have other plans for the actual day.

I've managed to dry most of the washing outside, made a batch of leek & potato soup and a banana loaf.

My oldest son & his GF are moving again, this time to Whitechapel, my youngest is buying a house with his GF, they will only be a 5 minute walk from me if they get the house they want.

I've done a lot of sewing, but it is all paid for sewing or repairs on clothes for the DGC. I've still not got any of my own sewing done.

I've done some housework, but nowhere near as much as I'd hoped and I haven't made any more inroads on my sewing room.

However my L&M is on lates next week so I will have a few long evenings on my own so maybe I'll get some more stuff done next week.

On Monday I need to get the car topped up with fuel & buy some dishwasher tablets, then I have to collect DGD & take her to gym club.

Tuesday I have to take some forms into town to get some paperwork completed and then I'm babysitting.

Wednesday I am booking one of the DGD into some dance lessons & I'm taking DGS to his after school pottery class.

Hmm, maybe I won't get much done after all!

I'm in the money

Well, £50 anyway, made on Ebay today, hooray

To paraphrase my friend, You Tube in my friend

My friend Sybil often says 'Ebay is my friend' when she is hunting for something obscure. 
This evening You Tube has been my friend, DGD Eileen is staying & she loves dance of all sorts. So tonight we used You Tube to watch ballet some Coppelia & Swan Lake. We also watched, line dancing, belly dancing, some Riverdance & the Cancan.
Eileen watched what the dancers were doing & then copied them in great detail, we will try & get her signed up for dance classes as soon as we can, she will really enjoy it I'm sure.

Fabric for baby/toddler clothes

This was a pair of my daughters pajamas when she was a teen, I shall get a couple of pairs of jogging bottoms from these.

A remnant of  needlecord, just enough to make a pinafore dress

Adding to my stash

Blue hummingbird on a blue background, this is just a border print, the rest of the fabric is plain blue.

This one is cream with brown & gold all over print

A very bright & cheerful print

More subdued, purple & black

Finally a black & white spot.

Is that a gun in your pocket

or are you just pleased to see me.

I walked back into the bedroom as my L&M got up and dressed this morning.

He yanked up his boxers and gave me the opportunity to say this immortal line.

When I dried the washing I hadn't realised that there was a stray sock tangled up in my L&M's boxers, hence the impressive bulge I was commenting on.

My L&M isn't at his best today, he was awake during the night with a high temperature & joint pains, he just looked at me blankly as I pointed to his codpiece.
Eventually I walked over, put my hand in & dragged out the offending sock, he barely flinched, I told you he wasn't feeling well.

Indoor gardening

Tomato plants

More tomato plants

Leeks

Cucumber

More tomato plants

Potatoes chitting