Money, money, money
Have I mentioned that we are seriously skint? We are, to put it politely, well & truly up the proverbial creek without a paddle financially at the moment! Of course it doesn't help that I have to pay all the childcare up front, but get paid in arrears -at some point - I hope!
We have got a couple of plans in the pipeline that will hopefully solve the long term problem - but that's long term! And we have managed to save ourselves from complete bailiff/court action in the immediate term, but the short term or "right now", and medium term are still looking pretty iffy:-(
So it was with a little trepidation we went shopping today. Unfortunately, there were things that we really needed. You can put off certain stuff for so long, but eventually, you need to spend money, and freecycle hasn't come up with everything yet! It's the kids that are the real problem! Today, our shopping list included shoes for LMB, boots for Mstr A, a coat for Mstr A and some sheets for our bed.
i was a bit annoyed that LMB was already complaining that her shoes hurt as we'd only spent £100 on shoes a few weeks ago, but she was definitely complaining, so off we trotted to get her checked. Now, we always find the money to buy the kids clarks shoes because as they advertise, they have trained fitters, always measure length & width & never sell you shoes you don't need or are not good for your kids foot health. So when we sat LMB down & said we thought she'd grown out of her shoes, it was perfectly normal for the assistant to check them first. It wasn't perfectly normal for her to then start pulling them around, ask LMB to run, check again & ask us where we got them. "Clarks @ cribbs" I replied. She made a face, and did a few more checks before announcing that LMB was quite right, they definitely don't fit - they are too big! Her toes hurt because her feet are sliding around inside of them.
So we re-measure her, and find a lovely pair of boots that will do her beautifully through the winter. She is much more stable in them and happily puts them on. I am resigned to paying another £30, and writing a letter to Clarks head office in the hope that one day I'll get a voucher or two in recompsense, when low and behold, the assistant asks if we'd like her to deduct the cost of her old, ill-fitting shoes? Duh! would we? Apparently Clarks have a policy that refunds bad fitting. cool! LMB's boots only cost £2!!
sadly the other stuff wasn't as lucky. I found Mstr A a coat in the sale, but he refused to wear green wellies and they didn't have any others in his size. add in a couple of sheets, a belt & a new rucksack for Mstr A (he didn't see a problem taking his old Bob the Builder one to school, but I don't think it's the best idea at his age), and we're £50 down. Oh well.
student loans have been phoning me as well. Apparently they didreceiveieve my referrment papers. Again. This will be the third time they havereceivedeved defferment papers from me! i'm sure the post isn't really that bad. It's amazing how they never tell you until after they have charged you for being in arrears! I'm particularly pissed off this year as I don't think I'll be able to get another set of deferement papers, as they needed to be signed to by the DSS, which was hard enough to make them do when I was claiming carers allowance. Now I'm not any more, I can't imagine how I will get them to say I was! Grrrrr!
Of course, i am still seething on discovering that at this time in our lives Not only is Aggie paying to play Eve every month (which i have grudgingly accepted) , but that he went and spent real money to buy himself some game money a couple of weeks ago! Yes, you read that right. He plays a COMPUTER GAME, pretending to fly spaceships, and he spent three days real life food money buying himself some f***ing fantasy bombs!
Talk about priorities!
Still, on the plus side, now I'm working he has remembered how to help round the house again. And he has to cook as I get home too late most days:-) although I did make a nice roast dinner today: Chicken, roast new potatoes, veg, stuffing & gravy (no yorkshire's - we used up all the eggs at breakfast time - Sunday's are gooooood!), followed by a yummy apple pie. Not as good as my homemade ones, but I never have the time now:-( And, while down in town, I banked the payments from the last couple of courses so we'll have money to go on holiday with:-)
We have got a couple of plans in the pipeline that will hopefully solve the long term problem - but that's long term! And we have managed to save ourselves from complete bailiff/court action in the immediate term, but the short term or "right now", and medium term are still looking pretty iffy:-(
So it was with a little trepidation we went shopping today. Unfortunately, there were things that we really needed. You can put off certain stuff for so long, but eventually, you need to spend money, and freecycle hasn't come up with everything yet! It's the kids that are the real problem! Today, our shopping list included shoes for LMB, boots for Mstr A, a coat for Mstr A and some sheets for our bed.
i was a bit annoyed that LMB was already complaining that her shoes hurt as we'd only spent £100 on shoes a few weeks ago, but she was definitely complaining, so off we trotted to get her checked. Now, we always find the money to buy the kids clarks shoes because as they advertise, they have trained fitters, always measure length & width & never sell you shoes you don't need or are not good for your kids foot health. So when we sat LMB down & said we thought she'd grown out of her shoes, it was perfectly normal for the assistant to check them first. It wasn't perfectly normal for her to then start pulling them around, ask LMB to run, check again & ask us where we got them. "Clarks @ cribbs" I replied. She made a face, and did a few more checks before announcing that LMB was quite right, they definitely don't fit - they are too big! Her toes hurt because her feet are sliding around inside of them.
So we re-measure her, and find a lovely pair of boots that will do her beautifully through the winter. She is much more stable in them and happily puts them on. I am resigned to paying another £30, and writing a letter to Clarks head office in the hope that one day I'll get a voucher or two in recompsense, when low and behold, the assistant asks if we'd like her to deduct the cost of her old, ill-fitting shoes? Duh! would we? Apparently Clarks have a policy that refunds bad fitting. cool! LMB's boots only cost £2!!
sadly the other stuff wasn't as lucky. I found Mstr A a coat in the sale, but he refused to wear green wellies and they didn't have any others in his size. add in a couple of sheets, a belt & a new rucksack for Mstr A (he didn't see a problem taking his old Bob the Builder one to school, but I don't think it's the best idea at his age), and we're £50 down. Oh well.
student loans have been phoning me as well. Apparently they didreceiveieve my referrment papers. Again. This will be the third time they havereceivedeved defferment papers from me! i'm sure the post isn't really that bad. It's amazing how they never tell you until after they have charged you for being in arrears! I'm particularly pissed off this year as I don't think I'll be able to get another set of deferement papers, as they needed to be signed to by the DSS, which was hard enough to make them do when I was claiming carers allowance. Now I'm not any more, I can't imagine how I will get them to say I was! Grrrrr!
Of course, i am still seething on discovering that at this time in our lives Not only is Aggie paying to play Eve every month (which i have grudgingly accepted) , but that he went and spent real money to buy himself some game money a couple of weeks ago! Yes, you read that right. He plays a COMPUTER GAME, pretending to fly spaceships, and he spent three days real life food money buying himself some f***ing fantasy bombs!
Talk about priorities!
Still, on the plus side, now I'm working he has remembered how to help round the house again. And he has to cook as I get home too late most days:-) although I did make a nice roast dinner today: Chicken, roast new potatoes, veg, stuffing & gravy (no yorkshire's - we used up all the eggs at breakfast time - Sunday's are gooooood!), followed by a yummy apple pie. Not as good as my homemade ones, but I never have the time now:-( And, while down in town, I banked the payments from the last couple of courses so we'll have money to go on holiday with:-)
posted by Juggling Mother @ 5:46 pm
2 Comments:
At Sunday, October 15, 2006 9:49:00 pm,
craziequeen said…
I still remember my mum telling me about cutting up a 'jumble' tweed suit and making four little coats for four little children...
Hopefully everything can go on the back burner for a week while we're in Cornwall, allowing everyone to relax a bit.....
cq
At Monday, October 16, 2006 10:06:00 pm,
JR said…
Boy can I empathize with you on the money issues! Student loans as well! I like to tell the student lenders, you can't get what I don't have. Be happy with 20% of my income or I'll cut you back to 10% which is all the courts would allow you if you sued me. They just can't believe how little a new attorney in this area earns. They have my tax returns and paystubs, I have no white rabbit up my sleeve. I've encouraged them to speak to my boss about a raise for me, but they declined. As for kids costing you money, got that as well. Just keep treading water until the tide changes.
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