Mortgage Reduction Beginner to Novice - The Show Begins

ammonite

I fancy being a mystery diner or shopper or hotelier - which site are you with MRN?

Well done for your savings and the nail varnish sounds excellent - what colours?! I treated myself to a MAC lipstick today - was £5 instead of £13.50 so it was basically begging to be purchased

elantan

can you maybe burn your shredding pile until you get a new shredder?

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

We had such a great time at the party. So good to let our hair down - we've both been working really hard on our careers this year so a deserved break. Nice to catch up with friends and have a real good dance. I was retrieved from the dance floor at 03:30 for home time!!!

ammonite wrote: »

I fancy being a mystery diner or shopper or hotelier - which site are you with MRN?

Well done for your savings and the nail varnish sounds excellent - what colours?! I treated myself to a MAC lipstick today - was £5 instead of £13.50 so it was basically begging to be purchased

Hi Ammonite,

I work for a whole list of companies most are on the list at the start of the MSE mystery shopping thread here - although I was mystery shopping long before I found MSE!!! It takes a while to build up your reputation so at first it'll be mostly fast food. Reliability and good report writing is the best way to open up better opportunities.

I bought a Christmassy Red - looked great for the party and with Boots 17 Double Gloss Top Coat it's lasted well and looks like the more expensive polishes even though it wasn't. I also got a navy blue with blue sparkles (not my usual style but I like to try new things) and a mushroom/taupe to replace a run out favourite. Only £1 each and on 3 for 2. I still felt guilty for spending though.

elantan wrote: »

can you maybe burn your shredding pile until you get a new shredder?

Funny you should say that... we've gone through 2 shredders in 4 years so I was looking at outdoor firebaskets for a cheaper and more long term option! Is burning stuff in your back garden legal/environmentally friendly (versus dead shredders in landfill?!).

Radish72

I take my shredding to work

elantan

We use the shredder when it's not much, but if we have a lot to get rid of we burn it, we have a fire that we use on the verandah anyway in the summer ( its great sitting out with a wee glass or two of wine, and slowly burn what we need, in winter we just use the brazier out the back ... It doesn't take long maybe half an hour or so but it's good for peace of mind

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

I broached the subject of a firebasket with OH... he thinks I still might be able to get Costc0 to exchange it even though it's nearly 2 years old and I can't find the receipt (same brand is sold in other shops). I guess he'll make the decision when the shreddies pile threatens to landslide across the office!

£21.53 withdrawn from Paypal - all ebay buyers gave positive feedback so I thought it safe to withdraw now. Will all be going into the kitchen fund so I haven't bothered to work out actual profit after fees/postage.

No other money news.

ammonite

Thanks for the link to mystery shopping MRN Your nail varnishes sound lovely and a total bargain, don't feel guilty - they could have been OPI at £15 a pop

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

ammonite wrote: »

Thanks for the link to mystery shopping MRN Your nail varnishes sound lovely and a total bargain, don't feel guilty - they could have been OPI at £15 a pop

No probs - if you want any more specific guidance just ask. The first few posts in that thread are very comprehensive and have evolved over the last few years to be a good starter guide.

I'd like to think I would have abstained from £15 OPI - not least because I prefer to support British-born Nails Inc. over American brands any day!

________________________________________________

A very shifty looking man collected the rusty towel radiator for £20 yesterday. He just wanted a quick turn around but I kept saying "sold as seen" and "it's rusty here, as you can see" and "all the fittings are in this box, see?" ... and I held the £20 note up to the light to check the water mark. Maybe it's just bad genes that he looked that shifty! Keeping it as cash - should cover all fruit, veg and eggs from the market till the Christmas hols.

A refund I was waiting for (£99) finally got credited - just in time before the monthly credit card statement. Initial estimation that I'll have about £101 to cream off my personal account the end of Dec. Joint account not looking so healthy and we desperately need a non-meat Costc0 shop - I hand washed the dishes last night because we've only 5 d'washer tabs left, clothes washing liquid, box tissues, pasatta, pasta and a few other items we bulk buy are also empty or very low. Although immense amounts of toilet roll in our store cupboard - anyone in the opposite situation want to trade?!

Things have reached new levels of 'low' at work. So much so that I applied for a job during work time yesterday - possibly one of the best cover letters I've ever written! I spent the evening moaning about work to MrMRN, and for once he just listened without chipping in about his work or with advice - just listening was exactly what I needed. Although, this morning when I left the house he said "Drive carefully, and only focus on the positives today" :rotfl:

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Our mortgage direct debit went out today... along with our automatic £11.05 OP!

The Autumn Statement was welcome news in our house - cancelling 3p fuel rise is good news for my commute and our food shopping bill. Plus the personal allowance rise to £9440 will also help too.

QB_Wolf

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

Our mortgage direct debit went out today... along with our automatic £11.05 OP!

The Autumn Statement was welcome news in our house - cancelling 3p fuel rise is good news for my commute and our food shopping bill. Plus the personal allowance rise to £9440 will also help too.

I wish I could work out the impact of the Autumn Statement to my family feels like it will make little difference somehow.