What tomorrow bought!!

With both Little Lady and her Daddy in bed with gastroenteritis, I wasn't expecting anything else...but you know what its like....it never rains, it becomes monsoon season!

So on top of the almost empty house that needed cleaning and 2 sicklies in bed...yep...we now have headlice.

2 souvenirs from France.....gastroenteritis and headlice....not the sorts of souvenirs you want!

Little Lady was so poorly that I just couldn't ply her with lotions and potions.  She did rally later in the day and managed a couple of crackers.  Luckily hubby is challenged in the hair department, so no worries there!  Haha!

So another day cleaning and packing....and hoping that tomorrow would be better.

AND...it was......

Tuesday morning had them both up and back in the land of the living, in fact so much so that despite deciding that we would travel overnight when it was quieter that we would slowly pack the car and leave as soon as we could that day with the aim of being off of the M25 by 4pm.

We did it.

We left after lunch, popping into friends and family along the way to say goodbye and eventually made it to our new, temporary home at 8.45pm....phew.

We agreed that we wouldn't make any special effort to get up in the morning as we all needed time to recover.

So there we are, all of a sudden somewhere we weren't this morning and....

...our new life has begun!

See you very soon,
Nora xxx

New Life on Hold!

Today was the day....or maybe that should say THE day....

...to move the last few bits to our temporary home 400 miles north....

I've had images of our car looking like this......

We've planned, waited and worked so hard towards today.

Today we should have started our new life in the wilderness....BUT.....sadly our Little Lady has contracted gastroenteritis and after a visit to the hospital this morning to check her hydration, we have been told she mustn't eat for 48 hours.  Bless her heart.

She has been so good, no complaints, no tears, no moaning....when that starts, we'll know she is well again!

This afternoon Daddy joined her in our airbed....he's feeling coldy and has a dicky tum...he's dosed up and cuddling the hot water bottle.

So our escape to a better life is on hold a few more days.

A few more days on airbeds camping out in our house in the South of England.  A few more days until we take the l-o-n-g drive north.  A few more days until Little Lady can start her new school.

But what's a few more days.....

More days to enjoy the sun here, more days to spend time with friends, more days to relax and recharge, more days to leave the house looking lovely for the new owners.

Time for a cup of tea before bed and we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Nite nite....
Nora xxx

Moving update...

Gosh!  It's been a while......and it's all been happening!

We are progressing with the same house as last time, I don't want to say too much as these things are never straight forward.  So until the key is in our hands....watch this space!

We do have one key in our hands though and that is the key to our rental.

Yes, we have a rental home until January 2019, it was the only way to guarantee being where we wanted to be and to have somewhere secure to move to so the Little Lady could start school.  We have 'digs' above a shop in the main town near to where we are looking to buy. 

It's nothing great, but it is warm, dry, plenty big enough and perfectly serviceable (apart from a dysfunctional shower, an intermittent boiler and no TV signal!)  After a long drive, loading and unloading, we used what we could to create a makeshift table and chairs for our meal!!

It is 3 bedrooms and 2 reception rooms so rather than pay storage, we have used two of the rooms for storage, we won't be unpacking much.  We also decided that when we travelled up to picked up the keys we would rent a van and take some stuff up with us....we took half the house.  On a second journey early in August, we took the rest.   We have managed to set up a decent bedroom for Little Lady, she'll be so excited when she sees this!

The van hire and fuel cost us around £800, but that was cheaper than the cheapest removal quote at £2400!

We have sorted all the bills and stuff you do when moving and are officially resident in Cumbria.

This weekend we are off to France for 2 weeks....boy do we need that!  We are exhausted and so looking forward to a braindead holiday by the pool - not usually our style, we are the cultural sort, but right now we need nothingness........

We'll be back early September and I think our next post is likely to be Little Lady starting school!

Enjoy the rest of your holidays if you have children.

Until then, bye.
Nora xxx

Moving...in the right direction!

Hello again...it's been a while!

We have been busy house hunting, packing, decorating and having fun with our 9 year old.  Our mental health continues to have good and bad days and we have strategies to cope which are often overtaken by events that are in pursuit of the better life.

The biggest change since that last time we spoke is that the house is not only ready to market , it has been on the market with Tepilo and HAS SOLD!  Woohoo!  And we are so proud of the achievements we have made in making it ready for sale.

We have decorated the master bedroom......

We had some paint left over from another room to refresh the white and some wallpaper bought 7 years ago.....we needed to replace some plastic trim above the window reveal which cost about £4 with mastic, some holes needed filling and that was it, elbow grease, furniture relocation and redecoration played the biggest part....all free!

Same for the second bedroom......

...except the paint was fine so all we did was fill some holes, wash the walls and wallpaper one wall at a cost of £20.

We had some cracked tiles on the bathroom floor so being very careful, we chipped out the old tiles and replaced them with some spares we had, this cost us elbow grease and a tub of adhesive grout.

The wallpaper in the lounge was lifting at the seams, so we pasted it back down!

We also filled a few holes and painted a wall.

In the kitchen we rubbed down and treated the worktop and had a good clean.....

And the same in the conservatory.....

...with the addition of one wall of wallpaper at a cost of £10.

Everything else was cleaning, packing and decluttering, mowing and trimming in the garden.  In fact we logged our spending (yep, in the faithful old spreadsheet) and to get it up to saleability cost us lots of graft but only just over £300.

In addition we packed as we cleaned.  Loads of stuff went to charity, recycling and the tip (most of which was also recyclable!).  For our packed stuff we waited until the last minute before the photos were taken and put it all in a Lok n Store where the rate was half price for the first 8 weeks.

Can I say, if you struggle with decluttering but have a good imagination, just imagine you are moving, you'll be amazed what you decide to let go!  We have thoroughly enjoyed living in a pared down house and having space to enjoy each room (especially the conservatory which used to be our business office!)  Who wouldn't with this view.....

So, we have an offer and things are moving ahead.  It isn't straightforward which is causing additional stress and anguish, but we are moving forward and that is the important bit.

When we know what is happening with our purchase, I'll update this, but I don't want to get ahead of myself as this is the third house we've tried for, and the second progressing offer on our house out of 4, it's not been plain sailing!

Hope not to leave it so long next time but who knows what life will throw at us in the next days and weeks!

Until then, take care.
Nora xxx

Fun for Free

Back in the 'how' of tightening our belts post, I promised to share some ideas on free fun....yes....fun doesn't have to be expensive!

OK, you can buy Merlin cards, Sky and Netflix, go on expensive holidays, buy designer brands.....but you can also do other stuff and have experiences that your children and you will still enjoy and have lasting memories from.

One of my daughters favourite things is a jar full of lolly sticks! Not just any old lolly sticks. Oh no!  But we have something like this one.....

Ours are pretty colours.....  And each one has on it an activity that she loves.

Cooking, games, foraging and walks, bike ride, time on Wii or PS, books, board game, bake cookies, DVDs.....the choices are endless, you know what your children like....go with that!

The ground rules are that the jar comes out in those dull moments and the activity has to suit the time available.  If we only have 20 mins, it's not likely to be cooking or Monopoly!  But we can fit in a quick game on the Wii, some TV, read a story or a chapter of a book or walk to the park for a quick play.

We love the lucky dip element of this....you never know what you're going to end up doing!

Hubby and I plan Date Night on a Friday Night, we cook a meal, try wine or cocktails and either watch a film or play a game, Canasta is one of our favourites....well, my favourite...haha!  Since my husband reminded me how it goes, I've beaten him every time!

We also do free advent calendars.

Little Lady may get a chocolate calendar from grandparents, so we like to do an alternative activity one.  It usually includes a trip to buy our Christmas tree, a nativity service, visits to Christmas lights, making gingerbread biscuits.

This year I have been putting aside Christmas stories & DVDs, and I'll be adding craft kits and cooking items for weekends when we have more time.  She'll get a numbered parcel to open each day with something to do, mostly these are gift bags that we save year on year and a free printable for a label, I like the ones with Bible verses on them that over the days tell the story of Christmas.

These are fun for the kids to do, but also fun to put together.  If you fancy giving it a go, there are loads of ideas over on Pinterest, like these.....

Activity Advent from All Things Simple

Book Advent by Here Come the Girls

Baked Advent by Butter Hearts Sugar

How about getting into the spirit of Christmas by giving to your local food bank with a Reverse Advent like this one......

...from The Mad House.

For any time of year there are lots of free things to do with children, these are advertised locally and there is this page too.... https://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/blog/free-fun-fun-family-days-out-that-don-t-cost-a-thing.  You can enter your area and find out what's happening.  And why not look out for craft events, they are quite often free as they are paid for by the sellers.

Don't forget that walks are free as are bike rides.  We have lots of lovely parks and countryside in the UK and also many of the Beeching rail closures have been made into beautiful flat trails for walks or bike rides.  Keep it cheap by taking your packed lunch and drinks.  You could also pick up a disposable BBQ as many parks will allow these.  Go to your local play park and take Swingball or frisbees, balls, hoops....you'll be amazed how many new friends your children will make with a few toys to share....we used to take a beach tent with us for shade and storage of our stuff out of the sun.

My daughter likes nothing more than being given some pennies and let loose in the charity shop!  She has found some nice clothes, games and books.  Or do the reverse, have a play day at home where you make all the puzzles you can find and the ones you no longer want can be donated to a charity shop in order to make room for buying new ones...or purging the toy shelves before Christmas or Birthdays.

We have so much in our homes and so much free stuff available in our communities, take a look and remember....do you want to buy that THING more than you want to buy time to LIVE!  The more you save, the sooner you can give up work and spend quality time at home.

Any ideas for free things to do  would be great, please leave a comment with your ideas, until the next time, toodle-oooo!
Nora xxx

Stretching your pennies and finding deals

This is a very personal post in terms of saving money as you may already do lots of this, some of this or none of it!  And I'm sure that there are more things out there than I am going to talk about here....but here we go on a few financial money saving ideas!

One of the first things you should do is set yourself up on a Cashback website like Quidco, every purchase you make will give you money back, you can get quite a lot back over the year just by renewing insurances, switching utility providers and buying new appliances through a cashback website.

If you have a credit card, this is good for you credit rating.  You should look for one with extras like cashback or points, again money saving expert is good here.  You should pay it off in full every month, NEVER leave a balance to accrue interest....this is the slippery slope!  If you have a card that's to the limit, look to swap it to a card offering better rates of interest or even a period of zero interest on balance transfers and then use the savings you going to start to make to pay off this balance as quickly as possible!

Let's start big and get smaller (although saving money mounts up no matter how small the changes - translate your savings to a yearly figure and you may be pleasantly surprised!)

Mortgage - sounds obvious, but shop around and get the best deal you can.  If you are on a fixed rate that is coming to an end, be sure to start before it ends, you need time to think and fully research the deals out there.  Try to do this yourself, look on sites like Martin Lewis's Money Saving Expert.  The subjects he covers are amazing.

Rental - don't rent bigger than you need and make sure you know what is included or excluded (all bills excluding phone, does your rent include council tax?) And make sure that  you are claiming any housing benefit you are entitled to.  Contact your local council for this.

Council Tax - ensure you are being charged the correct amount and receiving any discounts for single person or disability etc.  Most councils charge council tax over 10 months, but you are entitled to have this spread over 12 months.  You can also do this yourself by calculating the annual cost divided by 12 and setting up a Standing Order.  This also makes it easier to budget monthly.

Utilities - ensure you are on a good tariff and where possible switch to new providers using a cashback website.  Make sure you keep your usage down.  You don't need an app or a SmartMeter to tell  you when to turn the lights off or put on a jumper rather than turn up the heating!

Food - don't always choose the brand your mother bought, try out something else, switching to own brand products makes a huge difference to your food shop, ask friends what they eat or use and get personal recommendations.  The other big thing here is cook from scratch.  The more the supermarket has to fiddle with your food for you the more expensive it will be.  It's also usually more processed and therefore not as good for you as the fresh stuff.  Use your butcher or fishmonger, you can shop plastic free and they do great deals.  It's better to eat 1 good piece of meat a week and 2 or 3 inferior cuts.  And look at your portion size, our protein and carb intakes are too high, these should be less than half the plate, the other half should be fibre rich veggies and salad!

Fuel - when needing to top up your tank, go to one of the fuel comparison sites, these will tell you the cheapest place to buy fuel, this might be your supermarket, or some place just off the beaten track on your way home from work.  Look out for vouchers too!

I think that's most big, regular things we spend money on.  Remember, when you buy something with a designer label or a brand, all you are doing is lining the pockets of already wealthy people with your hard earned cash.  Be sensible.   Why not try local producers and suppliers, refill shiops and farmers markets.  It might seem expensive, but when you can buy exactly what you need and it tasted better or is more filling because it has less interference than big brand food. 

Use you charity shops and why not learn a skill to make your own gifts for friends and family, make your own greetings cards, use a generic wrapping paper or brown paper rather than a themed one...save those gift bags and recycle.

You can also make money by selling things you no longer want or use.  Try eBay for selling items and more specialist things like old DVDs and phones or books can be sold via Momox, Ziffit or Music Magpie.  Or have a fund day out at the car boot by hiring a pitch or take a table at your local church hall or school and have a fun morning selling your stuff and meeting new people!

We saw this as fun, we competed with ourselves to see how much we could save.  We had a book to write down all cash purchases, it's amazing how I suddenly didn't want the coffee or the magazine when I knew I would have to write it in that book and part with my hard earned money!

Good luck...and happt retirement!

Chat soon, 

Nora xxx

Hello friends...long time, no see!

As you gathered, my mental health wasn't great....I was really struggling.

Shortly after my last post in October 2017, I took a weeks holiday to spend with my daughter over October school holidays.  This became my first week of self certified sickness.  Eventually my GP signed me off until January.

Throughout this time I really didn't improve much, I couldn't even use the email or telephone to speak to our local mental health services about accessing support let alone leaving the house to attend counselling.

My employer was less than supportive, in fact began to pick holes in my work....I gathered from this that he was searching for reasons to sack me (especially as he had said as much and it had got back to me!). His attitude was one that I felt I could no longer work with and with the support of my fabulous husband, resigned on 11th January!

Throughout this time, my husband had also been signed off, his employer was also incredibly unsupportive of his health issues.  He eventually couldn't be bothered to fight for support and also resigned in late January!

So here we were...both 51....both without employment...both unfit to work!  We have been positive and have chosen to call ourselves retired!

Thankfully, having worked extra hours last year, received a redundancy payment from my previous job and a tax refund a couple of weeks ago, we have the equivalent of our income until the end of April.

In addition we no longer have a huge petrol bill.  We also cook every meal from scratch and save on our grocery bill.

We haven't been wasting our time and we haven't been pushing ourselves and forgetting our recovery.

We have started packing ready to sell our home and as we pack each room, we clean and if required decorate....and then photograph ready for our sales details.

I've not got those photos to hand so instead I have these photos which aren't too good as they were for personal use, but you get the idea....

...wish I'd done a before photo (not that I'd have shared that with you!).  Our bedroom looked like an episode from a hoarding programme on TV!!

We've also taken the opportunity to visit Cumbria twice to house-hunt, not successfully....except to hone our understanding of what we like and need and what won't do.  We've had great fun sledging and snowballing, riding the local railway at Alston and making friends!  Yes, already!

So....I am still here, things have changed at an incredible pace, I am so sorry to have deserted you for so long.... And I can't promise to post weekly, but I will now do my best to keep a regular flow going!  And see if I can get back on track with sharing ideas on budgeting, free or cheap things to do, recipes and other types of making and of course progress towards our move.

Take care until we meet again,
Bye!