Carry on Questing

makeup

I guess the operative word here is 'need'.

If you do, truly, need the laptop / pc then I presume option 2 is the best one as the balance transfer fee is less than the interest?

Glad things at work are picking up a bit.

I'm off on hols on Saturday and I can't wait although the amount of work I've got to do between now and then is huge and I'm worried it won't all get done....:( oh well, I'll just have to make sure the essential stuff is sorted and take it from there!

Karmacat

The size of the interest compared to the transfer fee is what I was wondering about too. And the word "need", Lula!

I do need a laptop, I confess - if I'm going to be running my trading business properly, I just have to have a new one, this one is creaking and groaning, and can take 15 minutes to get started, plus stopping at odd times of the day, just because.

What's the need? You mentioned both having one last splurge, and spitting in Barclaycard's eye .... um, not good reasons to spend out hundreds of pounds!

Sorry about this - I wish I could say, go for it, because I'm going for it next month (I was going to get one on 0%, and then looked at the id proof they want - I don't have anything on their list that gives the address I live at now yet, and I just don't want to fiddle around with it any more).

Lula-Hula

Hello sensible money saving lovelies.

I'm a bad, bad, bad Lula but in a good ish kind of way

I really appreciate all your thoughts & opinions & although I could just wait until this old pc dies & then buy a new one ... my reasons for getting it now are twofold.

1) The 0% balance transfer deal only lasts until the end of the month.

2) This pc is having pink fits & talking Italian again ... which is what happened a year ago when it died & the techie guy at work managed to resurrect it but he did warn me that it could die permanently at any moment . I prayed that it would last until the end of the year & it nearly has.

Anyway, my cunning 'buy it on Barclaycard & then balance transfer plan didnt quite come together as hoped.

I've been scouring the computing retailers on Quidco for a few weeks now & found a £60 off code at pc world for the lappie I want. got to the checkout & it wouldnt accept the code :mad:. Logged out & tried again, twice. No dice :mad:.

Carried on scouring & thank goodness as I came across a dixons code which was offering 5% off all purchases + 3.5% cashback :T. Got to the checkout & for some completely unknown reason my Barclaycard got declined :mad:. Tried it again 3 times. No dice. Was really getting annoyed now as I could see my cunning master plan being foiled so thought I'd give Barclaycard one final chance by ringing them to ask why the hell they were refusing a transaction that is less than a 10th of my limit ??? ( vague paranoia crept in that perhaps some nark was reading my thread & reporting my devious intentions ) I was on hold for over 7 minutes & still no one was available to talk. Really, so half eleven on a thursday night is peak time ? Idiots.

Eventually all semblance of patience seeped out of me, I retrieved dear Uncle Richard the Red from his secure place, went back to the checkout, clicked a few numbers in & hey presto a shiny new lappie is on its way :j.

The best part of all this is that I've got over £100 off the price & should also get another £25 Quidco cashback.

Unfortuantely the not so good part of all this is that although I do still have 0% on all new purchases via Uncle Richard the Red until end of March ... I now have to clear £3640 in 23 weeks :eek:. That's almost £160 a week & I think I need to lie down now.

Good thing is though, that I was so incensed with Barclaycard that as the ink was drying on my new lappie receipt, I was paying the untidy £67.22 off Barclaycard & requesting that the £700 be transferred to Uncle Richard the Red. Yes, it will cost about £20 in transfer fees, but I will then only have one card to care for.

One child, one car, one cat, one home, one garden, one parent & one credit card to care for & 2 jobs to fund it all .

Let battle commence ...

Souk08

That all sounds sensible lovey. And glad you're getting your laptop sorted X

Karmacat

I can't believe you were able to be that coherent at 2am in the morning :eek::rotfl:

You thought about it and went for it - good for you. Can I ask what laptop you decided to go for? I'm also desperate for a new one, and I **must** buy it in the most mse way instead of being impatient and going into Currys or something :eek:

Pm me if that feels better, please - but I'd really love to know the specs.

Lula-Hula

PM sent to KC about the new lappie

- didnt want to bore everyone, although no doubt I will when I actually get it. It will be my first brand new piece of hardware & I could be a bit precious about it . Well, until I have to ask DD how to do something anyway :rotfl:.

As DD had an inset day & her mother was ranting on about Barclaycard in the early hours, we had a lie in this morning. We had eye tests booked for 11.30 which were both fine although the optician said I could think about moving to daily disposable lenses ... at a cost of £34 per month :eek:. I currently pay £8 per month + £6 for cleaning solution. I'm not even considering changing at the moment.

I have a large amount of Credit Card Cake Crumbs to clear up in the next few months.

I've had phone calls all day long from Barclaycard, requesting that I verify my last 5 transactions :mad: I would take it more seriously if there was a real person on the phone, rather than some very badly edited, recorded comedy voice.

I am absolutely disgusted at their lack of customer service, particularly considering that the system apparently flagged up a potential identity theft. I had a similar situation with Capital One a few years back & they at least had the courtesy of ensuring a real person called me to verify I had attempted a transaction.

If they refused to allow a transaction of a few hundred pounds even though I had actually used the verifying service, it makes me wonder what on earth would have happened if I had tried to say, buy a car for a few thousand :rotfl:

Amusingly, I received a letter from them today; reminding me that my card runs out next month, but not to worry as they were sending me a new one very soon. Great, then I can snip up two of them & post back in one envelope along with scathing letter thereby saving me the cost of 2 stamps .

Already the reality of only having one card has hit. I had to buy DD a new coat & a few other bits & it occurred to me that I didnt actually have much cash so had to raid the secret Quidco drip fund account which now only has £20 left in it . I ended up spending over £45 in waitrose but it's my own fault as I misread a sign which offered a free bottle of wine with one of their 'menu' meals. I chose the cheapest meal at £3.99 & felt a bit smug that I'd got a free bottle of wine until I got the receipt & realsied that I actually had to have spent £10 on the meals to quaify for free booze & had in fact just paid £6.49 for a bottle of rose :eek:It's very nice but I just wouldnt have bought the meal or the wine had I read the dispaly sign properly so would have saved myself a tenner.

Never mind, we have some lovely leeks, so I think we'll be making soup this weekend. We'll be baking too as I'm now rather conscious of the need to stick to a budget for the next 6 months, or I just wont achieve my target.

Fell asleep on the sofa earlier, hence it being silly o clock now, will have to go to bed now

night night
xx

makeup

Hey Lula

Happy new laptop!

Hope it comes soon and I'm sure it will help with money saving by being super fast!!!!

Anyway I'm off on my hols today so not going to be around for a while so I'll 'see' you when I get back and hope you have a brilliant next few weeks!

xx

Lula-Hula

HAPPY HOLIBOB makeup -

hope you have a wonderful time & I promise to have good things to report when you return - I now feel obliged

Lula-Hula

Good afternoon to all,

I had a lovely lie in with a book & cup of coffee made by DD this morning .

I've done 3 loads of washing but the weather & nearby nurseryman are conspiring against me . It's been raining on & off & there is a definited whiff of 'Eau de Bonfire' wafting about.

There are airers & rails of clothes airing all over the place which I hate but I've finally got around to putting the first coat of paint on the ebay cabinet & mirror. They are going to look great & will be good places for hiding all those girlie bits like hairdryers, straighteners & bracelets etc.

I am planning another assault on my clothes stash & am adding in unused jewellery & books too. DD has done such a great job on clearing out her room that I have been shamed into practising what I preach.

I love autumn & the approach of the end of the year, I feel all bubbly with excitement & the new years' potential .

No spending at all today :j & one planned for tomorrow either.

Right, that's my peppermint tea break over, best get on with painting ...

bye for now

Lula-Hula

Hmmm

had a great day yesterday; went for walk in Windsor Park in glorious sunshine, while the top coat was drying on the mirror & cabinet & the laundry was out on the line.

Bought some lovely bread on the way home & buttery spread stuff as on a bogof then came in & made delicous leek & potato soup.

The cabinet & mirror look fab & I have less clutter on view .

I woke up today all excited about getting my new lappie & dropped DD off at childminders then headed in to work.

It all went a bit downhill after that; one hassle after another, Gropey off but ringing in every 10 minutes giving me extra tasks to do, which I would progress & then find out that they'd already been done - by him, last week :mad:. The man is a liability.

Grumpy is out for the rest of the week which leaves me with Goblin & her random mood swings . seh mentioned that she was off on friday but was being nice so hadnt asked me to cover her. Cheeky mare, I dont work fridays & am not going to come in every time she swans off on another jolly - she doesnt come in til 1 on a monday as it is.

Came home & completed home-job work, DD1 came over for supper & then I checked my emails. Strange one from Dixons saying they had cancelled my order :huh:. Rang them up & it turns out that due to the failed attempts to pay on the Barclaycard, & the fact that I asked for it to be delivered to work ( yeh, 'cos I'm really going to ask for a laptop to be left on the doorstep idiots !)they decided that it was a fraudulent order so they're not going to process it :eek:.

They made this decision after taking the payment which I told the sales person I consider to be pretty damn fraudulent itself, as they already knew they had no intention of delivering the goods :mad:. I tried every damn thing to get them to process it but he wouldnt & then tried to placate me by saying I could order it again. What, now that the 5% off + 3.5% cashback deal has expired ? I think not, they can stick it.

So, thanks to Barclaycards refusal of the original payment, I have now lost out on over £120 worth of discount. So hacked off I just might go on a smash n grab ramraid later ... not really but I am very very very p!ssed off .

I had a large portion of supper left over & was just putting it in the fridge when the bowl slipped out of my hands & landed upside down on the kitchen floor. Broken china & bolognese sauce everywhere . The only saving grace is that I was so busy painting that I had got around to washing the floor over the weekend .

Nothing but a long bubble bath with a glass of unfree wine & a book could cheer me up. Cant even be bothered to make a payment to the CC ... so many debits due out & I dont know what's going on.

Hope to be back on track at the end of the month & intend on starting a new diary to celebrate the final chapter of the quest.

bye for now
xx