My Debt-Free Plan...HOOS and the Case of the Incredible Exploding Oven!! :-o

jamtart6

cant you get rid of him and get a new lodger in??

Head-Out-Of-Sand

I think I'm going to have to, he's just so irritating. I need to find a way to approach it though, as I'll feel bad saying "I'm kicking you out because if I have to listen to you eat one more time I may actually kill you."

essexgal

Head-Out-Of-Sand wrote: »

I think I'm going to have to, he's just so irritating.

:rotfl: :rotfl:

and lazy, and a slob, and a leech, and a whinger.............can't believe you've put up with it for so long.......you must be an :A .

His sorry butt would have hit the kerb long before now if he'd been my lodger - not sure I'd be happy about taking a holiday if I had a lodger prone to leaving the house unlocked, oven on, etc.........I'd be worrying every day that I was away that I'd come back to an empty shell......

You need to get someone like BadgerLady's new lodger -

essexgal

Head-Out-Of-Sand

essexgal wrote: »

You need to get someone like BadgerLady's new lodger -

My thoughts exactly - I've actually been looking at the possibility of getting a weekday lodger TBH, I think that would be better. I do need the rent money, but I don't need the hassle from this particular guy. Hmmm.

Head-Out-Of-Sand

My oven blew up!!! :eek:

I was on the phone in my room last night when I heard a massive bang from downstairs. I just thought it was housemates being heavy handed and slamming cupboard doors (no wonder they're starting to come off the hinges!) but I then went downstairs and could smell a really weird smell.

Went into kitchen and nice lodger was in there looking a bit pale! He said he'd put his tea in the oven then gone over to sort the telly out and it made a huge bang and then smoke came out of the side!

I've had a look at it and the element is now dead. It also smells REALLY bad! (it's elecy rather than Gas so have just switched it off at the fuse)

Ho hum! So that'll be a nice little unexpected expenditure! It's only a little built-in one and have seen some for around £130. I don't want to get a really pricey one as if I'm still in this house in a couple of years I want a new kitchen anyway, and will be getting a proper cooker. The real stinger seems to be the installation, £88 from Currys, ouch.

BF is calling round his mates today to see if anyone knows anyone who is qualified to fit cookers - his brother fits kitchens so he's going to ask if he's qualified to do the appliances as well. Hopefully will get someone to do it a bit cheaper that £88, that way we can just go and pick it up ourselves.

Bit annoying, but at least it didn't catch fire or anything!! And I'll be glad to get a new one in to be honest, the seal was a bit knackered on the old one and it needed replacing anyway. What fun!!!

On the plus side, I've stuck to my healthy eating plan (we will not call it a diet....that way failure and me eating my way through a 500g bar of Dairy Milk lies!!) since Saturday with no probs, off out for a run now and going to street dance class tonight

Head-Out-Of-Sand

Well, after a fairly frustrating day, I've paid for a new oven! Not too bad, got one from Comet for £149. Got the warranty for 3 years as well - worth it I think as it was their cheapest oven so chances of something breaking probably quite high. And knowing my luck, it'll be the day after the Manufacturer's guarantee expires! Plus, BF has offered to accidentally smash the door in the last week of the warrantly...he's joking...of course...

Tried to buy two different models from Currys using their reserve & collect service. Well, what an utter scam. Tried to reserve the £129 model, got in the car ready to pick it up and had a phonecall saying that one was out of stock and would I like to come and have a look for another (no doubt considerably more expensive) model...declined this offer!

Then tried again, got a slightly more expensive one (only by £30) in a different Currys store, SAME THING! I phone their customer services to ask what was going on, and he made the excuse that the stock things are only updated hourly. Yeh, like I'm unlucky enough that someone just beats me to the last built-in oven TWICE IN ONE HOUR in two stores? I don't think so somehow.

BF reckons it's a ploy to get ppl into the store, and when they're there they're more likely to be persuaded to buy a more expensive model because they've already gone to the effort of going to the store. But it backfired cause now Comet have the money I was going to give them!!!

Soooo my new oven should be ready to pick up next monday & I have someone cheap & reliable (and qualified!) lined up to fit it. On the subject of electricians knowing what they're doing, yet more evidence that this house was done up by a blind, one-armed monkey...pulled the oven out to check the casing, and turns out that some joker (before I bought the place) attempted to hardwire the oven into a standard socket. And to make things worse, the socket in question is hanging off the wall. The only surprise is that it hasn't blown up earlier!! :eek:

So, that'll make a bit of a dent in what I can afford to pay off the debts next month, but I should still be able to pay off at least £300 so that's still really good going, nothing to get disheartened by! And I'm going to do my best to "offset" the cost of this little mini-drama with ebaying.

It's all part of the challenge I suppose!!!

Head-Out-Of-Sand

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!! FINALLY lost some weight!! I have lost 1.4kg...I have decided to count in kgs this time as my theory is that they carry less emotional baggage for me than stones and lbs. Maybe I have watched too much Oprah and Ricky in my life he he.

Really chuffed as I've been struggling with my weight recently - I was tested last year for thyroid probs (due to me having trouble not falling asleep at my desk) and I am borderline underactive, which means I'm under the radar for treatment but still enough of a problem for me to be more sleepy and chubby than is normal for me. So really, really pleased about this as it's been hard work! Have been doing lots of running, dancing etc and been really strict with my food. So glad it's finally starting to pay off as it's motivation to keep going.

Went to the street dance class last night, it was sooooo much fun! REALLY hard work, both cardio-wise and learning the moves, and there were a lot of people there who *clearly* were not beginners, but I forced myself to get stuck in despite the "out of my comfort zone" panic & I didn't do too badly at all! :j

Off out to meet some friends now, have a nice day everyone!

Head-Out-Of-Sand

Yey just proving my worth as a blagger - Mum & Dad have paid for a hotel for us for my birthday this weekend, and when we booked it there was an offer on for the first 100 people who booked to get a free bottle of champagne.

I didn't hear whether I got the free bottle (I guessed not) but thought I'd pop an email across to try anyway. Wrote a very charming email just asking as to whether I'd been lucky, dropped in that it was my birthday and can't blame a girl for trying etc the manager emailed back to say I hadn't booked in time for the bubbly, but seeing as "you don't ask you don't get" he'd have the staff put a bottle of wine in the room for me to celebrate my birthday!! How lovely!!

ExNicotineQueen

Heya Head,

It’s uncanny how similar you sound to me in certain respects lol. I wanted to do the street dance class last week but it was all booked up, and it’s your birthday this weekend and mine in a fortnight, spooky. :shocked:

Glad to hear that you are ok because your oven exploding could have been a lot worse. This morning the dodgy laminate floor in the kitchen almost claimed my life (I stepped on it and slid on one loose piece from one end of the kitchen to the other, all the while with a bowl of hot porridge in my hands. If someone had recorded it, I reckon I would have been a Youtube superstar lol:rotfl: ) Dodgy electrics, yep, been there, done that, if we switch on all the upstairs lights at any one time, the whole house blows (not blows up lol but it blows the fuse on everything and shuts down).

Happy birthday, have a lovely day :bdaycake:

Head-Out-Of-Sand

Thank you!! Having a lovely weekend, hotel was lovely, and thoroughly enjoyed my free wine!

Yep I think the downstairs socket fuse is overloaded - spark said he's gonna get a higher fuse for it, see if that helps. It went off the other day as I was trying to put my contacts in...to set the scene, I should explain that as I am neurotic about getting fluff under the lenses, I put them in before I get dressed. So the lights, of course, go off when I have *just* got the first of the lenses on the end of my finger...so, in the dark, I have to find the towel, wrap it round me, get down the stairs and reset the fuse box, with one contact-lens holding finger in the air!! This needs sorting out, I think!!