Financial faux pas and other disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Its fabulously sunny out already. Unfortunately its so not the weather to be stuck in a tin can on a motorway for the next 2 hours of my life. Running late as usual. Was planning to be in Yorkshire by 8am but overslept, DD2 wet her bed and so we're now waiting for the washing machine to finish before we leave.

I was inundated with cheques again yesterday. £29.98 for something I purchased for school and £8.02 from Music Magpie. Also got collared for two cakes at the school cake sale and made the mistake of going to the Co-op for a bottle of wine for my dads birthday. £15 later the freezer is groaning under the strain of the whoopsies.

Nothing else to report. Won't be allowed near a PC until Monday. I certainly didn't aquire my money skills from my Father who is tighter than the proverbial ducks derriere and still only has dial up internet. Suggesting I use it would be akin to offering to poke him through the eye with a red hot poker.

Intergalactic_Floozie

You will be relieved to hear that it's grey and overcast down here in Yorkshire so it shouldn't be too unbearable in the car!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Thanks for today, had a right laugh! You are exactly how I imagined you to be (a good thing) and I very much enjoyed meeting you. (even if you did go to the wrong place LOL)

moo2moo

The OH has been unsupervised for a little over 36 hours. Not good. Still of all the scams I imagined he'd fall for electronic cigarettes were not one of them however since my paypal account is £33 lighter he obvioulsy did. Oh joy. Next on my e-bay hit list will be nicotine replacement gum, nicorette inhalers and a variety of patches. Wish he'd realise that quiting smoking isn't going to happen over night and giving into cravings after 20 minutes just isn't going to cut it. I don't smoke. I don't have any idea how hard quitting is but I'm bright enough to know that you can't go from 60 a day (especially when you've convinced yourself that its only 30) to zilch in an afternoon.

Rant over. Had a fabulous time in sunny Yorkshire. *Waves to Floozie* who was reassuringly normal. Seems not everyone you meet via the internet is a total fruitcake after all. Spent far too much but it was nice to let my hair down. I now have 35 new novels to read thanks to cheap charity books and a very generous Daddy who not only forked out for them but has also offered to have the DDs to stay for an entire week over the school hols. Needless to say I have already penned the relevant dates in his diary.

OH put his free time to most excellent use and worked a double shift on Saturday. He knackered but happy. We've been under the impression, for several months, that the slowly depleting workload is an indication that his company are going to start muttering about downsizing but apparently not. The boffin in the ivory tower running things is clearly out of touch with global econiomics as not only did he get a bonus but apparently this has been the companys most proffitable year ever - clearly they haven't looked at their share price recently as thats dropped like a brick. They're sharing the wealth amongst the plebs with the biggest cash hand out ever. Have to say I'm a bit shell shocked. It means we're definately sub-25K *whoop whoop* and well on the way to being sub-24K.

Postie brought £6 in gift vouchers from the postie lot and I've been given a £20 cheque from holiday club for cleaing up after them.

House looks like a bomb has hit, the price one pays for abandoning t'other half. Off to do some cleaing before being mutilated by the dentist. Toodle pip all.

moo2moo

House still looks like a tip but I can highly recommend The Farm by Richard Benson. I think that says it all really. Yesterday was spent having an extra extra long coffee break and reading the very engrosing book. Also managed to pop into Dunelm Mill for bean bag filling to fill a sandwich bag and a small ruck sack. They had a choice of huge or gargantuin so I have tons and tons and tons left over. Still at £5.99 (huge rip off!) it was way cheaper than a £25 Logun bean bag chair / field support (aka 20p charity back pack full of beans) and an £18 bench rest (aka knackered sandwich bag full of beans) not content with ziptieing the zips together I've also superglued the entire zip shut. No doubt the demonic daughters will still find a way to fill the house with beans. Whilst at Dunelm mill I blew some of schools cash on a telescopic imitation feather duster and got one for myself. I still can't reach the ceiling in the extension with it even when I stand on a chair. Further confessions include a pack of 4 microfibre cloths for £1.24. Will see if they're as good as the peeps on the OldStyle board claim.

Lots of cheques written to pay for summer childcare and wot not. I'm officially skint again and its only the day after payday. I get the feeling its going to be one of those months. A quick clean up of my e-mails turned up £10 of Amazon gift vouchers which were about to expire. Have credited them to my Amazon account but still need to figure out what to do with them. It appears I can't turn them into more Amazon vouchers to extend the expiry date which means unfortunately I'll have to spend them. Aw schucks. Not a clue what on though.

lucielle

Books??????
L

moo2moo

Oh go on then, books it is. Any recommendations?

I've been awake for the last hour, my brain is in mathematica mode which isn't great at this time of day. I've been playing with the snowball calculator. Yes again I'm afraid. I started this palava with a very depressing debt free date of February 2028, when DD1 would be 29 and DD2 26, we're currently looking at October 2021 which is still dire. I really can't face another decade of this. Mind you thats based on paying a sensible amount each month. If I continue in my current frame of mind August 2012 isn't entirely out of the question, well thats assuming nothing breaks in the next 3 years (or OH isn't made redundant) which quite frankly isn't going to happen. But 1185 days is far more enticing than 19 years (incidently thats 6935 days).

After yesterdays cheques clear I'm left with £101until payday. £40 of that will cover the DDs riding lessons, £12 DD1s pocket money and £3.50 for the school trip letter unearthed from her school bag this morning. Which leaves me the princely sum of £45.50 for the month. Of course its also the school summer fayre on Friday so I'll be guilt tripped into £20 to cover that. Fortunately OH will be bringing them home to get changed and will feed them too which in theory will save forking out £2 per hot dog and hopefully by the time they return the fair will be half way through and there will be less carp for them to persuade him to buy. Unfortunately the fairground rides, bouncy castle, chocolate fountain and wot not will still be going. Aw well tis only twice a year. Oh is driving so his activities at the beer tent will be seroiusly curtailed too.

Reading back that all sounds rather wacky doesn't it. Two days ago OH got a bonus and yet I'm still skint. Well there is some logic to it, really there is. We weren't expecting his bonus so we've paid it all off the debt almost as if we've never had it and we're continuing as usual. Skinter than normal because of the added cost of childcarethis month but its nothing that I can't cope with. Do I sound convinced yet?

So question of the day is how do you make £45.50 last a month? The simple answer is you don't. Completed mystery shops pay out on the 20th of the month so even if I do a ton of them I won't see that cash until the middle of July. E-bay it is. I've already listed another 50 books on Green Metropolis but I won't hold my breath there. Its very hit and miss. Actually more miss than hit but I've sold a book a month with them which is more than I'd have sold without them. Might investigate selling them on Amazon too.

OHs electronic cigarette turned up yesterday. I'm even more convinced its a scam than i was before it arrived. The instuction manual is written in pigeon English, lacks any specific instructions - like how do you assemble the thing - and carrys the helpful warning that the amount of nicotine is a single cartridge is sufficient to kill a child. Fabulous and they supply 5 (although it could be 6, we're still not convinced if the one attached to it is a cartridge, or a cover or an adapter or....). Add to this a glowing tip which really glows as you puff and it looks convincingly enough like a childs toy, although no sane parent would give one to a kid. OH is out of baccy and is converting to this today apparently in another attempt to quit, even though it says in big letters "this is not a nicotine replacement product and should not be used as an aid to stop smoking" perhaps he overlooked that? It could get quite interesting though as although you're not technically smoking and so can use it in public places it comes under the heading of drug using paraphanalia and so is a prosecutable offence under current UK laws. I'm hoping to god hes not daft enough to try using it in the house. Its one thing to inflict whatever side effects it has on himself but another completely to risk it near me or the DDs. Helpfully its not been tested by any major health authority anywhere in the world as its simply "too new". The yanks are currently trying to ban it. Can you tell I'm just ooozing enthusiuam over this thing?

Enough waffle I'm off to stuff my face before waking the living dead for school.

mooomin

moo2moo wrote: »

Oh go on then, books it is. Any recommendations?

It depends on what you like to read. I'm a crime junkie, the grizzlier the better so Chelsea Cain books, Tess Gerritson or Karin Slaughter always go down well with me.

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is one of the best I have read in a while - worth a buy.

If you're not so into crime I'm not too helpful, but "The Book Thief" is one of my all-time favourites. Warning though - I have read it four/five times now and each time I am sobbing by the end.

"The Time Travellers Wife" is another one which is simply a gorgeous book. Sort of like a time-travelling love story.

"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold is an amazing book, but is about a murdered child, so it's not too popular with the parents I know

Hope this helps!

lucielle

I quite like Jodi Picoult, Martina Cole and then there are books which are chewing gum for the eyes......Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper etc. I'm sure you'll find something.
L

scubaangel

Found this the other day and finally managed to read it all!

Re selling books on amazon, its really not worth listing all of them check which ones are still selling for above a minimum price, and make sure you know how much they cost to post, amazon add their standard postage cost and then seem to take it all away again in fees, I've been caught out a couple of times selling books and actually making a loss after postage.

Someone earlier on in the thread mentioned readitswop it - might be worth looking in to, costs you postage but as its a book exchange you get a book in return (and I've found that a few of those I've exchanged have sold quickly compared to the one's I sent which I couldnt sell!).