Scuba's Spending and Life in the South Diary

scubaangel

I think half the problem for him is that he won't actually be living in it for very long as I'll be on my own for most of next year, so while we don't want to have too much of an overlap in when we move because we can't really afford to the fact that we moved in here in mid January means we'll have to be mucking around over Christmas and New Year and he's meant to be leaving the same week as the lease runs out so if we leave it until that week I have to do it all alone.

But he does agree that moving might make sense which is a step in the right direction (nearer to his work and better transport links for me job hunting).

scubaangel

Thinking about money has prompted me to check where I'm at with the survey panels.

One Poll £25/£40
Toluna 732/80000 = £15 amazon or l2s voucher
SurveyHead $24/$25 - cash to paypal
Globaltestmarket 520/1000 = $50
OpinionWorld 775/1000 = £10 cash to paypal (usually)
mingle
mysurveypanel 300/575 =£5 paypal or 550 = £5 amazon
myvoice 1856/2000 = £20 gift voucher
valued opinions £1.15/£10 = gift voucher
yougov 0/5000 = £50 cheque
Panelbase £8.75/£10 = payment by BACS
springboard £17/£30
mindmover 845/2000 = £20 bacs
crowdology 0.64/£4 = cash to paypal
rewarded opinions 1600/2000 = £20 cheque
opinon bar £4.80/£10 = cash by BACS
myview 250/11000 = £5 amazon

scubaangel

Spent most of yesterday out with friends, which was great don't see most of them as often as I should despite how close together we all live!

Arranged to view one of the two houses I like the look of, and still keeping an eye out for others in the price range but have a few weeks before we even have to give notice on this place so expecting more to start popping up over the next few weeks as other people who don't need to move until Dec/January start giving notice.

scubaangel

Still looking at houses, have details registered with two local agents, and am going to view one on my next day off which I don't like as much as a couple of others I've asked to see but would be better for the boy in terms of being near his work and may or may not have off road parking - the property details dont specify, the photos look like it might have a drive but streetmap doesnt show the property very clearly.

scubaangel

Feeling quite 'hopeless' at the moment.

* Mr S maintains that he can't afford to move, can't possibly save money while buying at least 2 books a week on the latest topic of interest, eating out every lunchtime at work and buying 'nice steaks' for dinner two nights a week when he has to cook for himself because he's incapable of eating left overs or making a meal from frozen meat already in the freezer. Mean while he fails to 'get' that while I know my utter dislike of the flat is quite irrational there is logic in my wanting to move to make my life easier/nicer/more pleasant while he !!!!!!s off for most of next year.

* NMW is increasing, but my hourly pay will not be increasing pro rata, meaning a person doing a 40 hour week without my responsibilities will earn more than me while I remain their Supervisor and reporting person for the site staff.

* Despite having spoken to the payroll dept yet again my payslip shows that lovely BR code meaning I'm still stuck on sodding emergency tax, that makes 11 months I've worked where now and still it hasn't been sorted. Think I need to call HMRC to see if they can sort it out for me since it appears that not only my previous employers but these are also incompetent when it comes to paperwork.

* There is no realistic prospect of overtime until November when the Christmas Party season kicks off, and the dept who provide staff for those took on two new part timers over the break making it less likely they'll need outside help any more.

*Until I earn more (regardless of sorting the tax issue) I can't see how I'm going to be able to afford the continual outlay on my OU courses, I only have one more L1 to complete at which point I can't use Tesco rewards to help part fund anymore.

Naturally the solution to most of this is get a new job, but that is still depressingly impossible to achieve.

scubaangel

The place we viewed today was awful, much smaller than it looked on the details, and the current tenants stuff is much less than the rubbish we cart around and it looked cluttered so theres no way we could cope with it.

Spent the evening at a friends house helping her to choose paint to redecorate, had a really nice evening, and a wander around the area we're looking at moving to while we looked for a pub and a takeaway for dinner.

scubaangel

This week is a trial run for the boy being gone next year, on my two days off I have 9 different mystery shops booked, lunch in one town with a friend, and spending some of the weekend in London with my sister - so am now looking for mystery shops I can do in her area....so far nothing but can't hurt to look as we're looking at dinner and then going to the cinema or if she can find some uber cheap tickets going in to 'town' for a show. Had a look at the cost of getting the train to her, would be £30 return if I book tomorrow, so think I'll just put the equivalent in to the car in fuel as she thinks her flatmate who drives is away for the weekend so I can use the offroad spot.

chevalier

Hope you have a great time with you sister. Did you find any more nice rentals?

scubaangel

So far nothing that's available when we want to move but there have been a couple in the area we want within our budget - and from talking to my mate who just moved to that rough area even if we add a bit to the cost of the rent other bills will be considerably lower, their council tax on a 3 bed house is actually almost 25% cheaper than ours in this two bed flat!

So it's a case of keep checking the websites and jump if I see anything suitable, as Mr S is having his plans brought forward and then put back again on pretty much a daily basis the only thing not changing is the period of time he'll be away for, so we really can't afford to leave it until the last minute nor move for the sake of it so ideally I want to have paid a holding deposit before we have to give notice here next month.

That also means although visiting sister dearest will be good I probably can't really afford to spend whatever I'm going to on a night out but I def need to get out and enjoy myself for a while so will make sure I have the money from somewhere.

scubaangel

It appears that my laptop has completely given up the ghost so am currently browsing manufacturers specs in hope of making sense of some of them and trying to go buy a new one while I'm out and about tomorrow. On the other hand I'm tempted to go look if any of the phone networks are offering mobile broadband with free laptop deals, if they are it might be easier (and def cheaper in the short term) to take out a contract and use it for the m.s work so I can write it off against tax.

In the mean time my poor netbook is getting hammered while I download a large pile of paper work for ms jobs tomorrow, two needing to be done in a tight time frame before I have a dentist appointment, and five in another town, in addition to one in my home town. Of those all but one are food related jobs!