Carry on Questing

Fire_Fox

Five no spend days out of eight is brilliant, especially when you have family and pets to consider! :T And being offered full-time work in a recession when you were worried you were a bit rusty is :j

I know what you mean about being squeasmish about charity shop stuff, I won't usually buy tops but OK with trousers as long as they look brand new. You might find something with the shop label still on tho.

Lula-Hula

Aaaaah sadly , it turns out that I'm only on Day 4, this is where my superb although slightly OCD record keeping comes in handy - a NSD is duly marked in The Big Pink Book & accompanied by a smilie face. This bizarre habit is apparently hereditary ... while nosing through DD1s diary ( it's a game we play called "who has the most random objects in their handbag" & yes, she usually wins :rolleyes:) I found that all her night shifts had been marked by sad faces.

Finally got around to opening my post & discovered a £3 voucher from a survey company & a new batch of Boots Points vouchers, very handy as I need some more skin care products & have been ekeing in the hope that more vouchers were imminent .

I've been investigating the Top CashBack site & am now signed up. It turns out that the waiting time for the co op car insurance is exactly the same as on Quidco & about 7 % of those claims havent gone through either. I've also read up on the Quidco thread on MSE & was amused that the main plaintiff is not actually employed & yet planning to take Quidco to court - which he wont have to pay any legal expenses for - , in order to recover his missed 'earnings'. Thank goodness for legal aid to help those in need.

Earlier on we decided to let the cat get some fresh air; DD went to the garden closely followed by the black fluffy one. He promptly ran up the tree & sat there for 10 minutes, then jumped down & came back indoors & made full use of the litter tray :rolleyes:. It's so true that dogs' have owners & cats have staff :rotfl:

Have to pay a visit to Tatco tomorrow to finish off the houshold shopping so need to get to bed now in order to prepare myself for the horror

Lexxi

Night Lula, I must have just missed you while I was catching up. Congratulations on the new job, sounds like you're having a great time there. :T
I'm having an easy night tonight and all the talk of elephants has made me want wine to help the chilling but it's my first actual night off for ages I'm not budging for anything. Except to switch channels, the people who lived here before have fitted light switches that seem to work on a remote control, something we didn't find out until we put the tv on the wall, point up and press a button and the lights go off, but only sometimes :rotfl:

Lula-Hula

Hi Lexxi, welcome back & hope you had a great holiday, Thanks for the congrats, I remember ages a go you saying you could help out with cv type stuff so am convinced I only go this job due to all the fabby positive vibes on this thread, my lovelies you are all :A.

Anyway, on with the money stuff :rolleyes:

First stop was M & S to buy DD some new school trousers - £10, also found a gorgeous bag but more about that later. Then into the hellmouth itself ...

Got DD 2 new pairs of pyjamas for £8, really cant make her wear her age 7 ones that are now knee & 3/4 sleeve length any longer . She has to have pjs' as I loathe nighties, they are always made of polyester for some unknown reason & highly flammable whereas as pjs/ are usually cotton & not quite so flammable. Not that I tend to set her alight very often, it just makes me shudder when I read the label.

I got the rest of the houshold items & most at bargainous prices too. shampoo was reduced to £1 - can someone please explain why the hell most shampoo now seems to be priced at about £3+ a bottle :eek:. hair dye reduced to £2.45, deodorant reduced to £1, toothpaste on a bogof, bleach was 2 for £1 & fairy non bio was reduced to £4. Clover light was 2 for £1.50 & apple juice was 3 for £2. Amazingly, I have now spent £256 on household items which I believe is the same as last month, althought the content has varied a bit. In total I saved £7.38 on my shopping :D

At the till I handed over my clubcard & was told I could do it myself now, then when I handed over my £3 worth of LVs towards payment, the checkout woman said "Urh, you're not one of those are you". I was a bit taken aback but explained that I had received them as payment for completing a survey. She then said "I think they should be banned as no one ever uses them for lunch". I reiterated that they were a payment & she just looked at me & said I could help myself to my receipt . I dont know whether I am being overly sensitive here but I was absolutely seething when I left the shop :mad:.

I am not a princess who thinks I'm better than anyone, far from that, i am always polite & courteous to everyone I have any dealings with. I think she was very rude & I cant imagine keeping my job for long if I were to speak to customers like that. I'm quite tempted to send my clubcard to the manager of the store & tell him to stick it where its dark as I wont be using it in any Tatco store again thanks to the rudeness of Glenda :rolleyes:.

And breathe ...

Came home for fortifying coffee, then whizzed over to Pets at Home to stock up on kitty bits. As usual, guys on the till say hello as you come in :T . Was delighted to see that kitty food on a bogof so saved £14.70 :j which is equivalent to a months supply. Also decided to try out new huge bag of litter which is biodegradable as made of wood & will smell nice too.

Whizzed into the co op on the way back & got some bananas & Pink Elephant juice for a total of £ 5.43.

Have had CC statements through & seeing the interest go on always makes me feel very despondent. I need to feel like I'm getting somewhere with all of this & think I may switch to using Shoe Gals brilliant idea of only dealing/thinking/declaring one of them at a time. After all, if I'm only paying the minimum on the others then they're not going to reduce at all are they :rolleyes: ... in fact CC2 statement says that if I dont clear the balance in full then next month I will pay more interest than this month . That hasnt happened before so I'm going to have to pay more than the minimum even if just by £10.

Fed up with this today.

Lexxi

I don't understand how that works, have they changed your interest or the way they allocate payments?
Sounds like you've had a right day with the happy chap you got to deal with at the store, I've managed to mostly avoid the big supermarket since being here, found a fantastic butcher and a small chain of discount foods where they are more than happy to take your money AND give you the time of day, it's quite astounding as where I'm from originally all the independent stores are pretty much gone.

I'd forgotten about the offer of CV help, I love reading them when we advertise and want to say 'no, you're not what we're looking for, but have you thought about including this' :rotfl: We had two CVs last month from these 2 that lived together and they sent the exact same CV in, it's a big pub but there are still only 2 of us to read the CVs :rolleyes: I'm so pleased that the positive vibes are helping, I'll keep sending them to you and tatco might pilot a new scheme to include customer service in their training and use your store to pilot it.

Hope you're feeling a little better now. Think of me when you're curled up with the elephants I've got to get all the batch cooking done tonight but first I've got to clean the kitchen :eek:

Horace

Lula - well done on the possible full time job thingy and that you are enjoying it:j

As for Grumpy Glenda at Tatco - write to the manager to complain anyway but keep your clubcard..points mean prizes:D I use my LVs for Starbucks treats that I then eat and drink whilst lounging in their comfy chairs (they have nice comfy armchairs in Selfridges).

I braved Merry Hell today (really its called Merry Hill) - I wanted to get a new bra from M&S and as I am no longer sure of my size (all bras seem to be tight these days and they are bloomin' uncomfortable:mad:), I thought that I would ask and get measured...well it seems that you can no longer roll up and ask to be measured you have to make a flippin' appointment - trouble is they hadn't got any appointments and so I played my face a bit and asked them where in the store and on their website does it say that you have to make an appointment? It seems they have had the policy for 3 years - I tried on some which I thought were around my size (the ones from Primark fit) but they were all too small and I was made to feel like a fat pig:mad: I am a size 14 and therefore an averaged sized british woman - I am not a stick with pimples for boobies:mad: I did end up buying 2 fleece gilets (one a size 14 and the other a 16 - so that I can wear a thick jumper underneath), a pair of gym trousers (£10.50 off in the sale), a box of tights and then I ventured into the food hall...big mistake..my freezer is now full of M&S delectable delights:eek: I came home after that..I couldnt even be bothered to go into Debenhams where I understand you can turn up and be fitted for a bra without having to make an appointment first.

Guess Horace shall just have to let her boobs hang low:eek:

Have looked up the weather forecast for Alicante next week - it is expected to be warm around 25/26 degrees and sunny so I shall at least be able to get a little sun on my otherwise pasty legs:eek: I am off to the airport on Sunday evening and will doze there overnight as my flight leaves at 6.30am:eek:

makeup

Wow, Lula, can't believe I managed to miss subscribing to your thread.

I've caught up though, sounds like your new job is fantastic!

I worked for a small company once and I was expecting it to be really good and it was really really awful. I think your small company sounds just like how I was expecting it to be ..... :j

Horace - I didn't know you had to get an appt at M&S for bra fitting either - in fact I'm sure I've been measured there without an appt before....

Lula-Hula

ooooh Horace, hope you have a very happy holibob & manage to keep your chest under control .

Lexxi - am very impressed at your batch cooking & kitchen cleaning, that's my plan for tomorrow. Actually, the only thing I batch cook is hobnobs, does that count . I'm being trampled over by a herd of elephants at the moment but coping admirably so far .

I have scoured the CC statement & as I dont use it at all, never make late payments, so have no charges & have the interest rate fixed until the balance is cleared I can only assume that it's because they are basing that figure on my only making a minimum payment. Having checked my last statement I realised that the actual interest amount I paid this month was less than they had estimated it would be as I round payments up to the nearest £5.

I need to start making payments weekly.

Lexxi

I had my first bra fitting in M&S, the woman seemed to think I had no shame and wanted to measure me in the middle of the store, I can still feel the fear :rotfl: If you're above a D, I think, then Bravissimo give advice over the phone, I'm not sure what number they have, don't think it's a premium rate. Or if you have a store nearby call in, they do ask you to make an appointment but if there is no que then they will see you, or say come back in 30 mins or so and they are really really good, and you're not under any obligation to buy, I don't think, I've waited for the sales or googled my size.

I didn't get very far with the batch cooking, I half washed the pots and cooked tea but we were invited to the pub we're taking on and I felt I should go. It will be done tomorrow, including hobnobs, of course they count Lula.

Maybe the credit card thing is a general bit that they just include? And they mean that if you only pay the minimum payment for ever then it will cost more to pay it off, I think my barclays statement had something like that on it.

Someone has just put our ladies toilet window through, just what you need on Saturday morning at this time!!!

Shoe_Gal

Hi Lula

Sounds like you've had another busy week :rolleyes:

And as for focussing on one debt at a time I really do think it works in terms of motivation. Paying off little bits here and there always makes me feel I'm not getting anywhere overall IYSWIM So I just let the overall total decrease slowly in the background and throw any extra at just one at a time