Planning for Christmas

I am always quite organised buying gifts in advance for Christmas but this year I thought I would make up a food hamper in advance to cut down on the expense and running around nearer the time. It started last week when I went into a local shop and saw the shelf of reductions. Amongst other things was jars of cranberry sauce and cartons of Birds brandy sauce. The cranberry was 69p dated 2013 and the brandy sauce was 50p dated Dec 2012. This prompted me to start buying. I plan to buy something each week with the weekly shop. Last week I bought some breadsticks and tonight I got some non alcoholic beer for one of my guests which was on offer. I hope to get some of the offers ahead of December. I already had my Christmas pud in stock, a luxury one with brandy which should have been  £7 before Christmas reduced in January to £1.50. Its dated BBE Sept 2012 but I have no doubt it will be OK. It will be our first Christmas in our new home so I have invited a few family members over for lunch. Are you thinking about Christmas yet ?

New School

Good Morning and firstly apologies for the delay in welcoming new follower Halfrida, thanks for joining. Also a big thank you to fellow blogger SFT for awarding me the ' Lovely Blog award' a few weeks ago. Thank you so much and sorry for the delay in accepting.

This last week has been another milestone for our family, we have moved into our new house and my daughter has started at senior school. We are hoping that this stress of the last eighteen months is now behind us and a new period of calm will follow, time will tell !

I am sat at home all alone feeling strangely redundant. Daughter has gone off by herself to catch the school bus. Its weird, completely different from the more hands on approach that you had to have at primary school. She has stayed school dinners so I have no idea what she will eat until she gets home and tries to recall what shes bought. At least with packed lunch I could police the meal but now my control has been taken away a little. First day she ate pizza and a brownie. I have tried to advise that she needs to make healthy choices or she will have to take a packed lunch.

She looks smart in her new uniform, but that has also been a costly exercise. I have managed to save some money as her school shoes and trainers still fit her from before but inevitably they will need replacing in a month or two, it is only a temporary saving. The uniform I had to get from one of two suppliers as it is has school emblem sewn on and not plain. The suppliers had sold out of everything so it was a bit close getting everything in time, will make a note to self next summer to get anything I need before July so I don't have the same problem again . Here's what she had to have ;

School coat ; £52 Next, managed to find black decently made duffel style coat for winter with a hood. Lots of the coats are fashion style and poorly made.

School blazer ; £32

School trousers; £17 one pair ,managed to get these from M&S. Again had to be straight leg which was hard to find as they are all boot leg fashion style trousers which are not allowed.

School skirts ; £18.50 each bought two.

School Jumpers ;£17 each bought two.

School cardigan; £18 each bought one.

Black tracksuit ; £24.50,  Had to be plain black with no slogans/brand. Got this from M&S, bought hoodie style jacket £15 and black joggers £9.50. Some parents said they don't wear this much, luckily as its plain she could wear it at home for casual clothing so not too worried about that.

School PE top; £9

School shorts ; £5

School ties ; £7 each, bought two

School blouses; £12 for a three pack from M&S, got two packs.

That little lot does not include new socks, tights, stationery etc that she had to have as well.

I'm not moaning it was inevitable, its just come at a time when we had a lot of expense with the house move and all we have done for the last two months is stand at tills paying for stuff !

Enjoy your day, TTFN xx

Just a quick hello............

Hello and welcome to my new followers Mrs M and Betty, thank you both for joining.

I have been a bad blogger and its been ages since my last post. I have been sooooo busy . I am moving into my new house in a fortnight and its been really chaotic. I am still having work done but am hopeful that it should be finished shortly. Its been a long and exhausting journey but the end is in sight !

I hope you are enjoying your summer and will I be back in September. TTFN xx

Gold Cash In

I have cashed some old jewellery in today. I have had these items in my jewellery box for years and could not possibly tell you the last time I got them out let alone wore them. I decided to cash them in as they were not sentimental pieces. I cashed in a necklace, bracelet and a few old rings. I got back £270 cash which I am going to put towards some stuff I need for the new house. I saw some items at Ikea that I wanted, a new bed for my daughter and a cabinet which came to coincidentally £269. I am going to use my cash bonus to buy the items. I may even treat myself to a lucky dip with the leftover £1.... TTFN x

One room finished, only eight to go !

Finally I have one room finished ! I have redecorated the box room and the nice carpet fitter man came today to lay the carpet. I can now start to use that room for storage whilst the other rooms are being finished. I was like Queen Bee today with my workers all busy around me. I had one workman doing the loft insulation, one doing the cavity wall and another fitting the carpet. The loft is like a room of clouds with all the new thick insulation lay down. I can't wait to be inside my new house all toasty !!

Neverending Decorating

Things seem to be moving forward now with the house. This week I have the loft people coming over to insulate the loft. Once this job is done I can start storing things away again. I have also had some quotes for a new boiler and fire to be fitted. I had a budget for the fire and managed to get it on offer with 20% off, the saving has almost paid for the fitting so I have some money to go back in the pot. This week I have been decorating. Most of the house is now undercoated ready to be glossed but I think I will have this done after the jobs have been completed so it doesn't get knocked about. I have painted the lounge ceiling, after the fire is fitted I just need to paint the walls and get the carpet fitted , then I will have one room ready and finished ! I can't afford to get the hall and stairs redecorated . It was papered but aged and a bit dingy ! I have given it a few coats of white paint and it looks so much fresher and bright. I have some other paint for the top coat but again I will do that once the  jobs have been finished. This afternoon I painted the ceilings in my daughters room and the box room, I also gave the box room its first coat of wall paint and that is looking a lot fresher too. I'm finding that even if I can spare an hour or two in the evenings it seems to be getting so much done. 

Freebie for a homeowner

I am still here, my time just lately is spent at work, working overtime, doing favours for others (more on that another time) and trying to get my new place sorted. I am tired , aching and fed up but trying to keep my chin up and keep motivated. I recently enquired about the energy saving schemes and our local council is advertising free loft and cavity wall insulation for homeowners. So a lovely surveyor came round, and confirmed we meet the criteria and can have it done for free. Yes FREE !! Saving around £500 on the upfront insulation costs and then future savings on our energy bills. Its a refreshing change not to be knocked back for something. We are looking forward to having a toasty house in the winter. The lovely people are coming next week to complete the job.