Reach for the stars...

miggy

Baby steps (as Flylady would say). The meter is fun if you like special effects, perhaps less so if your Maths is good. Filing is satisfying, IMO, but only when complete. I've never been there.

Alternatively - a bottle of something and some chocolate sounds good.

niccatw

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Maths? What's that then? It's much more likely that I will have people rolling their eyes at me as I ask them if they have any idea of their carbon footprint in the home!

And to prove how bad my maths is (if the original figures in the signature below weren't enough to sway you ), have you tried the poll this week?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/vote/22-11-2011/how-good-is-your-money-maths-nov2011

Needless to say, I got it wrong. Yet it makes perfect sense when you read the explanation! I just go into meltdown. My brain screams, Nooooooooooooooooooooo. It's a mathematical question. Step away. It will trick and bamboozle you and you will panic and pick a number at random. Probably one you like better than other numbers.

And invariably that's exactly what happens unless I happen to have enough fingers!

MrsMoo2U

Nic are we twins seperated at birth. If I am asked to do something and it involves numbers I am fine as long as the word maths is not used. As soon as anybody says maths I turn into a quivering wreck literally. I am going no where near that poll because you said maths and i know I will get it wrong.

Butti

I like the number 4 and the colour purple. A couple of years ago I found out that my 'imaginary friend Elliot' was not imaginary and was actually a baby my mum was childminding when I was a toddler.

I have no logical explanation for the above. Much like Martin's poll this week.

Tomorrow I will be presented with a scenario around a social housing issue. I will have 10 minutes to prepare for a discussion with the person mentioned in the scenario. The discussion with the individual will take place immediatly after the preparation time and will last up to 10 minutes.

How cruel is that. So far I have mentally prepared for getting the site approved / dealing with angry neighbours / explaining 'affordable' rents/ racist neighbours / Discussions over plans. Aaaaaaaaarrgh

MatyMoo

Butti wrote: »

I like the number 4 and the colour purple. A couple of years ago I found out that my 'imaginary friend Elliot' was not imaginary and was actually a baby my mum was childminding when I was a toddler.

I have no logical explanation for the above. Much like Martin's poll this week.

Tomorrow I will be presented with a scenario around a social housing issue. I will have 10 minutes to prepare for a discussion with the person mentioned in the scenario. The discussion with the individual will take place immediatly after the preparation time and will last up to 10 minutes.

How cruel is that. So far I have mentally prepared for getting the site approved / dealing with angry neighbours / explaining 'affordable' rents/ racist neighbours / Discussions over plans. Aaaaaaaaarrgh

Tomorrow sounds like an interesting day, well 20 minutes of it!

Fingers crossed it goes well

Maths - You no longer need fingers, you just need a spreadsheet!

niccatw

MrsMoo, I think we may well be! Although I suspect you inherited rather more organisational skills that I did!

Butti, I too like the number 4 and the colour purple. But I did not have a real imaginary friend called Elliot. Instead however, I did hallucinate and three little strawberry men wouldn't let me out of my bedroom door at night!

Again, spread... what's? I can get them to look pretty but I can't even get them to add up! Back when I was obsessing about my debts (now I'm just focused ), I would manually fill out the spreadsheet as it ought to look each time I made a payment because I couldn't work out (and still haven't) how to get the spreadsheet to do it for me. Even with a web full of instructions. Luckily some-one pointed me in the direction of the snowball calculator.

Which is the good thing about the age of information overload. Inevitably you won't need to re-invent the wheel because some-where out there in the ether the thing you never know you needed already exists!

"Don't reinvent the wheel, just realign it."

ETA Butti - break a leg. Not the individual's, or your own. But perhaps your tutor's. *Did I just type that out loud?

miggy

I got it wrong too! Just about to try it on DS2 who is supposed to be able to do Maths.

I have more failed O levels in Maths than anyone in the house - but no certificate to prove it.

Butti - what if your social housing client might show antisocial behaviour? Or have a dependent who does? Or says 'yes' to everything so you can't tell if they've understood? Or... or... (tries to think of scenarios she's been given in role play and fails).

Hope you get one you're happy with!

niccatw

Butti, just take a "common sense" approach and give them a £100 voucher for an orange DIY store and they'll be putti in your hands.

I wonder what one would buy if one had such a voucher to spend...?

Karmacat

Oh dear, I thought I had that maths thing sussed .... maths is a bit foreign to me, too, which is why I'm having such trouble with my accounts right now - and I used to be able to use spreadsheets, I took the ECDL course and passed, but not having used the information in about ten years does tend to cramp my style!

But I **love** that quote of yours about the wheel! Fabulous :j:j:j don't care about maths after reading that :rotfl:

niccatw

Oooh, Karmacat, I have just noticed your signature says French mortgage! Where are you just now, England? France? Some-where in between? How exciting!

Makes me realise just how much I need to let go of the fear of the unknown and just try those things I've always wanted to but have just thought of as dreams! Might as well live up to my diary name - whilst also proving to Butti that it's not an S Club 7 thing!

I was thinknig we should start a wee rebel against maths club thing, but I suspect the mere alignment of those words may have red lights a flashing at MSE towers. The next thing we know MSE Martin will be giving us detention with "basic but not straightforward" maths sums to do until we learn to love the wicked subject. :eek: :rotfl: (Don't tell him I work out percentages by pressing the percentage button on my claculator, whatever you do!)

Got my mortgage statement through today. The percentage interest on those things is so depressing! Nevermind, it's going in the right direction! Though because I am with NRAM, that's the last quarterly statement I will get and they will now be annual. That's quite scary. If you have ever had a look at the NRAM thread on here (I haven't checked other threads not having a vested interest in them), there are so many people who don't seem to understand what their mortgage terms and conditions are or have any idea what they owe or what the APR or SVR is. I'm not going to pretend I understand the maths behind those things , but I do at least roughly know what I owe, what that means in terms of equity (not a lot!!!) and what I need think about when I want to/can remortgage. It worries me that people don't even know how they owe or think that it is the fault of the mortgage company if the SVR goes up. No wonder Martin is campaigning for financial education. It's not just needed in schools though.

Ooops! I'll clamber down off my high horse before it takes off into a gallop! Chocolate hob nobs might help, mmmmmm!