Lovely Lichfield

Not much going on this week due to illness. As it was a lovely day today we decided to blow the cobwebs away and go for a walk around Lichfield. It is about 8 miles from where we live but we really like it there. They have a nice park, with beautiful grounds and an excellent play park for the children. We spent around two hours at the play park, took our drinks and snacks then afterwards a walk around the cathedral city. It is an old city and there are lots of quirky buildings around the town. We would really like to move here but it is a long way off, property prices are expensive here. 




















Feeling Yuk

No posts this week as have been feeling unwell. Hope to be fighting fit very soon.

Another Rainy Day

This week I have felt somewhat low at times regarding my long term goal of moving house. Our neighbours, as nice as they are, have been doing work on their house since New Year and every day since then, we have had banging, drilling and numerous other noises. This week when I was home it was really intense, every room I went into I could not escape the noise. Each night I have had a banging headache. On Thursday I decided to do something constructive and draw up a list of things to do before we sell. We want to put the house up after Christmas so I want to get as much done as possible. My plan is to start at the top of the house and work down, decluttering as we go. Today was very wet where we live so I gave hubby a nudge and off we went into the loft and made a start looking through the stuff. It seems that the suitcases have been reproducing up there , we seem to have more than before. It could just be that the clutter was obscuring the view !  I have made a pile of stuff to keep and another pile to give away. We are going to take some rubbish to the tip tomorrow and numerous card board boxes that we have been hogging for years. We also bought down a huge bag of clothes that we had been storing. My husband rediscovered some jeans and a few work shirts. I found some old joggers which I will wear around the house. Some clothes I will try to sell as they are still decent, other clothes I am going to recycle at the clothes bank tomorrow. We had a funny moment where my husband tried on a shirt and he looked like the Hulk. He was protesting that it used to fit when I realised that it was in fact a woman's shirt and when I checked the label it was one of mine! That was funny especially when I tried it on and my daughter said he looked better in it than me, I am sure she was only joking. We also found up there my daughters baby box which still had stuff inside. When we opened it up, we were reminded of her as a baby as the baby smell just hit us. We are going to keep the baby box but we have found lots of other stuff to get rid off. We are going to have a car boot sale one weekend and try and get rid of the junk and earn money at the same time. We also unearthed some home brew equipment that my husband bought when we moved in in 1996. It has been in the loft ever since, that is going to the car boot as well. The loft still looks cluttered but we have made a start and when we do have a car boot that should get rid of even more.

Asda Bargains

This evening we ventured into our local Asda. My daughter had been given a £5 voucher and it was burning a hole in her pocket. She managed to get a bargain. She chose a hardback copy of one of the Wimpy Kids books which was RRP at £12.99, Asda had it on offer at £6 so less the voucher she paid £1 for it. Then it was my turn for bargains. If you have read my blog for a while you will know that I can't refuse a meat bargain. When I see reduced meat I just cannot walk past it especially nowadays with the rising cost of everything, if I see a bargain it goes straight in the freezer. The lady was printing off those little yellow stickers so I surveyed the shelf as she was marking down. In total I had nine meat items that should have totalled £41.54, which actually came to £6.18. Here's what I bought; Leg of Lamb £8.79 to £2.18, Fillet steak £6.28 to 50p, 4 Scotch beef burgers £3.00 to 50p, Chicken Breast stir fry £4.50 to 50p, 2 Chicken Breasts £3.29 to 50p and lastly 4 packs of diced Chicken Breast which should have been £3.92 each down to 50p each. Now there was more but my poor freezer is fit to burst. I did have to make room to squeeze it all in, I confess that I threw away some ice cream that had been in there quite a while.

School Holiday Childcare

I had a scary moment earlier when I looked online at the bank statements. Its the middle of the month and the balance seemed rather low. Then it occurred to me where the money had gone. The children break up next week for the school holidays and 6 weeks of child care begins. My provider had to be pre booked and pre paid in advance of the childcare. Since last year the childcare fee's went up by almost 50%, its a Catch 22 because you have no alternative to pay it as you can't get six weeks off work. Luckily for us we don't require the full six weeks. I work part time and we have both taken a fortnights holiday off work. Then my husband has some odd days off so we have scattered them through the holiday so we only need two days a week for four weeks. You might think that doesn't seem much but during the school holidays, most of my wages go on childcare so I don't have much leftover. I try and save some money in the preceding months to soften the blow. Although it is costly my daughter really enjoys it there, they have lots of fun activities and she gets to meet up with her friends. It will be her last year there as after age 10 they can't go anymore.

A tale of two families

There is an interesting article in today's Daily Mail which I read this morning  ( free, online ! ) which tells the story of two families both earning the same income but one family is in the North and the other family is in the South. The income in question is a household income of £50,000 per year. The story makes an interesting read. The family in the South  live in a £600k detached house, they have two cars and Mom tells how she has dropped the Tesco shopping from £250 to £150 ( you assume this is per week as it's not confirmed). The article goes on to state that they have virtually nothing for life's luxuries. They have stopped having their three holidays each year, given up their £75 monthly gym membership, can't get the children their favourite brand of clothing and recently their horse died, which they are not going to replace. From the photographs they look well clothed and have a beautiful home, the car on the driveway looks decent too.
   The family from the North have a lower value home , due to regional price differences but the article describes them as having an affluent lifestyle. They belong to the sailing club, a private health club, having annual holidays; fortnight's skiing and also a fortnight's summer holiday abroad,regular meals and activities out and the article says they don't have to worry about bills or shopping.

     Our family income is a little over half of theirs and please don't think that I am jealous. I find it interesting how people live, I suppose you could say I am nosey! But there are people countrywide who are struggling financially who aren't able to relinquish the horse, the gym and the holidays , as these people have never been in a position to have these things in the first place. When I read the blogs, I see people making serious adjustments to survive. The article does offer an insight into how other people live but I don't honestly feel any sympathy for these people. Perhaps they should do an article on how families are struggling living on £20k per annum ? What do you think?

Father Christmas has bagged a bargain

My daughter has wanted a TV in her room for years and we have always said 'no', but this year we thought that if she asked Father Christmas he might get one for her. A few months ago I saw a TV/DVD combi for £99 in a local store. We picked it up and it is safely hidden away until Father Christmas delivers the presents. Today we went back in the store and the same TV is now £129. I know prices have gone up but that seems a huge increase, I'm just glad we bought it in advance. Do you buy in advance ?