greent's mfw journey

greent

Aha!! It would seem that men are universally useless at claiming expenses!

When DH was a contractor I claimed his expenses for him. He's got a salaried contract for a year (as opposed to a day rate) so is now 'in the system' for the same company and expenses are claimed via intranet (which I obviously cannot access) His PA has offered to help him (she is uber efficient), but I think he's a bit embarrassed at how much he has outstanding! Maybe if he ever gets them up straight she can then take over....

Re company credit cards, I'm inclined to agree for some things - DH has had to pay out for flights, hotels and the like - either that or they should have a centralised booking system where they pay direct, so the employee just turns up This is a HUGE multinational power company that he works for, so not some little place, which would be a different scenario.

Monies still not returned by C&G. I phoned them yesterday and they sad it would take about a week, so may not arrive until next week sometime. They then went on to say that it hadn't (officially) redeemed until the 1st Aug - so I pointed put that it had already been a week, and waiting until next week would be nearer 2. The poor lad couldn't come up with a response as to why it is possible for any money I pay them online to get there within minutes but a refund (partially down to their error) would take 10 days or so! I knew he wouldn't be able to, I was just being awkward, poor thing!

We're away camping in North Devon for just over a week from Saturday, so it *should* be sorted out by when we get back (I can check online but where we are staying the 3G signal is dire so will need to venture towards some form of civilisation where there is a McD or similar..! ) DH has promised (yet again) to get some expenses in this month, ready for paying in Sept. Actually, as I'm ordering doors costing almost £1000 today, I shall point out that I need it for the CC bill for those, so he'd best actually do it this time! (I do actually have a dividend due of about £5k this month, so don't need it, but shall neglect to inform him of that fact!!)

Without paying anything extra than our standard OP, we shall be below £54K come Xmas DH is still wanting a new kitchen (bespoke handmade effort, so ££££) which in turn means new kitchen floor (underheating required) and hall floor and new doors to the hall from all rooms (fire doors, inc some which will need to be a custom order, as I don't want white ones and these are an unusual size) and a new dining room carpet (hall flooring and doors being changed will allow us to get rid of a lip which we hate) - which will of course(!) mean redecorating the dining room.... (and the lounge...) I'm hoping we can do all of this and not impact on our MF plans to be MF by 12/2015 (current date = 01/2016) IN fact, I'd actually like to bring that date forward if at all possible - but will see how we are after all the stupid amount of money work has been done...!

Hmmmm.... what can I selll.......??

newgirly

Hi greent hope you have a good camping trip, we are in devon too next week so I will give you a wave

greent

Well, we got back from camping Sunday afternoon. Weather was fair with some spitty showers for the first few days then pants at the end of the week. We took down a wet tent but thankfully it wasn't raining when we took it down. Need to put it up in the back garden to clean and dry it, so looking for a sunny day this Saturday or next Monday (Sunday is no good - our wedding anniversary and I'm not cleaning muddy tents and groundsheets then! ) Was a fun week overall, though. My aunt was in the caravan next to us and my cousin came down for most of the week with her two boys (very similar ages to my youngest 2) - so the kids all played wonderfully (95% of the time!) Aunt's husband was down for a few days, too. My mum was then in her caravan on teh pitch next to that and my uncle (mum's little brother) came down for a few days as well - although you could see he was a bit stressed by the noise from the kids! (he has one grown up and very well behaved as a child daughter - 4 boys aged 7 -3 make a LOT of noise!!)

We didn't spend masses out and about whilst away. Went to a NT house and took a picnic (would have had ice creams outside after but it started hammering it down as we were finishing our sarnies, so bought some from the shop back at camp instead) Went to beach (well, DH and boys did) - more ice creams. Went to an outlet shopping centre (me, DH and DD - we had lots of babysitters for the boys at camp!!) and bought some Xmas pressies, some stuff for DH which others can give him for his bday, bargainacious M&S underwear for DD (£2.50 for an Autograph bra!!), lots of birthday cards (half price ina shop, so bought lots for the year (individual type ones, not just any old birthday ones). Also went swimming a couple of times, played crazy golf (well, the others did - my hip was too sore to walk anywhere let alone around a CG course that day ) and just took it easy doing not a lot - which I really liked, although DH went a bit stir crazy.

Cam back to confirmation from HMRC that we owe £1800 for DH's tax from 2009-10 - to be paid by 16th Sept! Also got updated tax credits notice - apparently they've overpaid us £3800 I HATE tax credits!!! Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the hassle They haven't asked for repayment yet, so am awaiting that - I'll probably stagger that over 6 months, I think.

So.... with taht and still being squeaky in the c/ac from lack of DH's expenses, OPs are going to be limited. Am determined not to stop regular OP in monthly DD if I can (although may reduce it by £250/ month until we repay tax credits if I have to) and would also like to continue to OP extra monies (cashback, ebay etc) Must take ebay seriously again - have been rubbish at it recently and now have an increased incentive!! Have claimed some cashback for both myself and DH this morning and will make a (rounded up) OP of £50 in a mo. Brings balance to approx £58750 - am sooo pleased with progress this year!

greent

Well, it's been a couple of weeks sice I last posted. We went to Legoland (Tesco vouchers) and West Midland Safari Park in the last couple of weeks of the hols. We're off to Cadbury World this weekend (I failed to book it on time in the hols) (more Tesco vouchers!)

Regular OP of £905 went into mtge on Monday. Have made a further OP of £45 today from the coin tin Balance appx £57310. Have got 29 items on ebay and would like to get it to the 150 allowed in this week's Free listings, but doubt I'll get the time/ inclination to list that many!!

Children all back at school and youngest at preschool each morning 9-12 - so I had my first (regular) child free time today! I walked into the kitchen at one point and the silence was deafening - no pcs/ tv/ music/ chat/ arguing, nor even the dishwasher or washing machine!!

DH still hasn't claimed any expenses

Started back at Slimming world last night - have put on 16lb since I stopped going 18 months ago (and I never even got anywhere close to target back then!) Oh well - back on the healthy wagon Must get some exercise in to help

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

greent wrote: »

Children all back at school and youngest at preschool each morning 9-12 - so I had my first (regular) child free time today! I walked into the kitchen at one point and the silence was deafening - no pcs/ tv/ music/ chat/ arguing, nor even the dishwasher or washing machine!!

The silence is golden! Our neighbour was round helping us decorate and commented how peaceful our house is compared to his with three kids and various pets!

newgirly

Hi greent, I must admit I look forward to going back to school day in sept , but have to have the tv or radio on all the time as its too quiet.

megela

Hi greent, we'd considered going to WM Safai Park - would you recommend it?

We don't like theme parks with big rides so are always trying to find somewhere new for a day out.

My girls loved Cadbury world, but then we are all chocoholics. No good for your new diet though!

Have a nice time

Megela

ammonite

Good luck with eBay, I HATE listing but it is all worth it when you get paid I've got a big box of treasure to sell around late September/early October.

Good luck with slimming world also - you'll have to share some of your recipes, I'm trying to get into the mindset to start and understand extra easy by the new year (will begin cooking for the freezer soon!).

greent

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

The silence is golden! Our neighbour was round helping us decorate and commented how peaceful our house is compared to his with three kids and various pets!

newgirly wrote: »

Hi greent, I must admit I look forward to going back to school day in sept , but have to have the tv or radio on all the time as its too quiet.

I love the peace when there's no-one around I like getting u before everyone else and relaxing with a couple of cups of tea before the rest get up - usually, though, it's not like that because a small person wakes up. When it goes just right, thouh, it's lovely... Because there's always a lot of background noise in our house it's so nice when it's peaceful - a rare event up until now!!:rotfl: Not that I'm wishing their lives away, I just like some quiet 'me' time!

megela wrote: »

Hi greent, we'd considered going to WM Safai Park - would you recommend it?

We don't like theme parks with big rides so are always trying to find somewhere new for a day out.

My girls loved Cadbury world, but then we are all chocoholics. No good for your new diet though!

Have a nice time

Megela

I hadn't been to WMSP since I was a child. They have an offer on at the mo that you get a free return ticket (might have stopped giving them out now, but return ticket is valid until 2nd Nov) (There are lots for sale at cheap prices on ebay!!) The safari part is good. The rest of the park is a bit dated and tacky overall - and there is a theme park section with rides - which cost quite a lot extra You can also use Tesco vouchers to exchange for entrance tickets. Not sure how old your DC are (mine are 14, 12, 6 & 3) It was ok imo and the younger two loved the safari. It's only about an hour from here - I wouldn't want to travel for longer than that, I don;t think. Overall it's passable, depending on journey lengths and age of children. Glad we went, but not sure I'd go again for quite some years (at least)

Cadbury World - we've been twice before (last time DS2 was about 4 months old - he'll be 7 in January!) Bad timing, though - aside from my SW plan, DH has been told this week that he's managing his diabetes badly and DS1 had fixed braces applied to his teeth on Monday!! Looks like DD and DS2 are goingt o get lots of goodies!!:D

ammonite wrote: »

Good luck with eBay, I HATE listing but it is all worth it when you get paid I've got a big box of treasure to sell around late September/early October.

Good luck with slimming world also - you'll have to share some of your recipes, I'm trying to get into the mindset to start and understand extra easy by the new year (will begin cooking for the freezer soon!).

I've listed a few more things on ebay this morning (some bulky items, but not big money) and will carry on over the next few days. Listing is boring, but at least re-listing unsold things on a FLW is dead easy!!:p

I couldn't get my head around extra easy last time. Am sticking to Green for a few weeks until I get it all a bit more sorted and will then try extra easy Will post progress and interesting recipes on here

Finally, made an OP today of £5 from cashback - yesterday I chased cashback from last Dec and had an email from today saying it was payable, so I claimed it and OP'd!:D

ammonite

Re-listing is indeed easy! I reckon I could do green days forever but I don't lose as much weight on them I did well on red/green years ago. I used to have 5 red, 2 green days but red days get expensive and I get more hungry on them. Good luck with it