Butti's Journey: A matter of loaf and death

[Butti]

Well...no signs of life from;

• the woman who wanted the mattress
• the man who wanted the motorbike panniers
• the one woman and her dog who was interested in the house.

I seem to spend a lot of time waiting followed by not a lot happening

Quiet life tonight. Not going up home till tomorrow. Will do some tidying and find some things (allen keys...allen keys...allen keys 'Imprint on brain Butti'*)

Going to see what else I can sell this weekend, assuming theoretically something will actually sell. My life is on hold, it is very annoying.

Did go and see a finished house today. Insisted the builder paint every room magnolia, even the one that had a 'not too bad' (his words not mine) in blue. It looks about 3000% better (yes I know you can't get 3000%)...so the job's still going well.

Going to go and see the agent tomorrow and see if there is anything I can do about the house other than properly clear the garage which I will be doing.

I'm tired....
and I'm sick and tired too.

Am going with a friend to see Jason Cook tomorrow so hopefully that will be good.

[elantan]

Really hope things change for the better soon Butti, you've had a really righ ride for the longest time now

Enjoy Jason Cook

[Butti]

The curious incident of the woman with the dog *

*not necessarily at night time!

Well...there was alledgedly a woman with a dog interested in the house (the woman not the dog!). Neither me nor the agent know whether this is the woman he has rang and left messages for 6 times or not (I don't know whether this last statement is also an act of fiction). House is still very clean, very tidy and waiting for someone to show an interest in it.

This afternoon I have cut the grass just before it started to rain. The rhubarb in the back garden has gone mad - very big and I have NO IDEA what to do with it. Do I;

• cut it
• leave it
• hang some glittery balls on it and redefine it as an art installation

Do any experts on Rhubarb read this diary?


Am pondering the further option of selling but think I will give it to the end of the month. Does anyone have any idea of what the selling market is doing at the moment? I know George Osborne is trying to set up a new sub-prime disaster all on his own, but apart from that?


Have been into my wonderful bank today, who it turns out I have been with for 22 years. Way way way too much loyalty in my book.


Went off into previous circular conversation which I think even a letter to the Guardian won't be able to sort.

Catch 22 - or the mistake of getting an HSBC credit card.

• Start new job with pay day three days after credit card payment of around £110 per month
• Seek to move credit card payment date
• Informed can't move date as it's not an HSBC card, it's a Morrison's card with HSBC written on it taken out in an HSBC branch in Morrisons
• Point out the irony of this situation for 'the world's local bank'
• Have a discussion about moving it to one of their other credit cards
• Think while I am sitting there 'lets investigate this 0% balance transfer offer from Mr Branson that was sitting on the mat at home when I arrived. We may be able to do something with that'.

I've been waiting for Mr Branson to be nice to me and make me another 0% offer - this could be it. Maybe we should move a large chunk of my HSBC nightmare from it's 18% APR resting place to a new shiny 0% resting place with Dickie. Will HAVE to make sure I set up a direct debit for payment and make sure large chunks are paid off before April 2014 when it will leap to the rather reasonable 32% but surely I will have let my house by then?






Right, well, this isn't getting a garage cleared.

[Butti]

Sorry, I appear to have written the last missive for people with failing eyesight!

Normal service will resume with the next posting!

[RosiePuddingPaws]

Hi
Usually I only lurk (not much helpful to say), but you can pick your rhubarb if you wish or just leave it. When I say pick, you just pull the stem off, chop off the leaf and end of the stem. Leaves are poisonous so throw in compost bin.

Personally I'm not that keen on rhubarb so just leave it. At the end of the autumn it dies off and I just throw the dead bits in the compost bin (or dustbin depending on where there is more room).

I know, this is not very MSE as I shouldn't waste it but ...

RPP

[elantan]

the good thing with mr branson is .... just when the 0% bit ends you get a nother offer of 0% into your current account so can transfer it there ( 4% charge) then pay off the offending 32% keep doing this till you kick the bill into the dirt... ok not a brilliant way to fix your finances ... but 4% is surely better than 32%

i used to use mr branson alot ... i found him very helpful in times of nee

[beanielou]

My one word of wisdom is move to the 0%~yesterday if possible.

[Butti]

Originally Posted by beanielou

My one word of wisdom is move to the 0%~yesterday if possible.

That's not one word Beanie...but thanks :-)

[Butti]

Cooking Earthy red wine and mushroom risotto from 'A girl called Jack'. This woman deserves an honour for services to skint people!

[beanielou]

'A Girl Called Jack' Butti?
I just love courgette risotto

[Butti]

Yes Beanie

www.agirlcalledjack.com

[Butti]

I know I'm called Butti but seriously...two chips in one month.!!!! The blokes at Autoglass are going to think I fancy them.

[scaredy_cat]

are they cute?

[Butti]

Nice blokes but in my case instantly forgettable!

[Buffythedebtslayer]

Hello Butti,

Just dropping into say Barclaycard are doing 0% at the moment?

Might be helpful
xx

[Butti]

Thanks Buffy but taking the virgin one means I don't need to do a credit reference check. I'm keen to limit them until I have a tenant or I win the lottery or a large bag of money drops on me from a high building.

Culinary delights for this week.

Tonight - Bruschetta - cost, half of my 36p reduced ciabatta loaf. All the other ingrediants I have!

Thursday - nettle soup - prepared very carefully

B x

[Butti]

Hello All,

How are we?

My week has been okay. Miraculously First Utility didn't take their money out early (why can't they do this every month?) so I have ended the month £60 under my O/D limit. Minor miracle for the moment.

Work has been interesting... I ate three biscuits on Friday morning * before deciding I really couldn't take any more and to save the custard creams (double pack) from being devoured in one sitting I really needed to get out of the office.

Let me ask you as you seem an intelligent lot?
Lets say you are moving the head office function to a new location. Lets say as part of this restructure you are offering a lot of people the 'opportunity' to work in a new location at least 40 miles from their current base, or alternatively they can take redundancy.
Lets say a significant number of these people work in IT.
Do you just send these people redundancy letters like everyone else? What do you see as the risk of this approach?

Have a guess which approach has been taken? As a result IT is dire as a lot of IT staff take their highly marketable skills out to the market place and get snapped up. Things are not set to improve any time soon. At the same time we are trying to bid for funding and I am trying to keep the wheels on my project. When complaining to a manager she said 'Hindsight is a wonderful thing'. (This isn't hindsight, it's simply good business planning and a good assessment of risks. Have these people not heard of golden handcuff deals?)

What did I do to sort out my misdirected anger?
Some filing...some claim forms...some shopping.
I thought I'm so !!!!ed off I'm going shopping
Dangerous you would think. Not if you have vouchers from the return that lovely dress that was snagged to death on my desk.
Have gone and bought a less gorgeous but eminantly practical dress in navy blue (£35 off my voucher) which will go with my red jacket/cream shrug/green cardigan/yellow jacket/orange cardigan/burnt orange jacket. It's going to get a LOT of wear.

Agent has sent me a note today suggesting link up with a new estate agent. 'Somebody rent my house PLEEEASE'. I've told him I just want a decent tenant soon. Honestly if we get someone in my financial situation shifts from barely breaking even to someone knocking £800 off their debts and Having a social life
Dear God, I've almost forgotten what one is.

Have checked direct debit date and current level of borrowing and on Monday I am going to shift £1400 from HSBC to Mr Branson's 0%. That should help a bit.

Haven't made the nettle soup yet. Hugh FW's suggestion that you do this early in the year when the nettles are small and fresh doesn't quite fit with the monsters in the garden. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Feeling quite tired today and a bit intimidated (by a nettle!)
Am doing some 'A girl called Jack's' recipes this week.
Have meal planned to make;
Mushroom risotto
Bubble & squeak

also,
Ricotta pasta bake
Salmon risotto.

Have just picked up a rosemary plant from the market for £1. It's big but looks a bit sad. I think I'm up to the job of resurrecting it.

Butti x

* Four eaten in total so I was definately a bit calmer after shopping