New job, new beginnings.

patman99

Since my last posting I have sold yet another cartridge. I will post this tomorrow and at the same time, enquire about the letter waiting for me at the P.O. because the stamp fell off leaving me with £1.50 to pay.
I was thinking about not collecting it, but as I'm expecting both a birthday card and my new photo-license I need to see the envelope before deciding whether or not to collect it or let it go back.

On the down-side, my line manager told me today that effective of 1st July I was being transferred from Goods-in back to Quality Management. Now, bearing in mind his manager was only told on the 9th July, this just goes to show how carp a major blue-chip company can be when it comes down to such a simple thing as communication.
Although I don't much care who I work under, I do care that the senior QM manager treats requests for o/t like a threat to his personal finances. This will effect my future income, so I am rightly hacked-off.

patman99

Well, since my last update I am back under the QM dept at work. This means no overtime without justification (I'm not one to grovel). On the up-side I get a new sidekick on Monday, this will, over time, help reduce the stress level.

Have had to put the van through it's MOT and it failed. It needed new brake pipes and rear wheel cylinders. This is going to cost me £350+.
I need to put the van to work but having registered with Anyvan, the stumbling block is going to be the 'Goods in transit' insurance. I have had a quote of £265. This I don't have and I am reluctant to take-on yet more credit.

My task for this week is to find a legal way to sell some of my debts on ebay in order to finance a project.

EDIT
I can't believe my son. I work my ar5e off just to stand-still whilst he is on benefits and is planning to spend-out nearly £100 to go and see a band play in another town. Add to this, a full weekend at Lattitude and (if he can't sell the ticket) a full weekend at Reading (both with coach travel) and a holiday abroad booked for next year, it really makes me wonder why I bother working at all. I might as well give-up, sign on for ESA (I'm sure depression counts as a qualifying illness) and live the life of Rielly.

I have come to the conclusion that both he and his lazy mother are nothing more than a pair of dead-weights just put on this planet to hold me back.

patman99

Well, looks like the van is going to cost a total of £500 to get back. Trouble is, I only have £350 (the original quote) set aside.
Tried Zopa for a loan and they took 2 days to turn me down.
Tried my Bank and despite being a loyal customer for over 40 years, they took less than 30 seconds to decide not to loan me £500 measly quid.

Looks like I'm going to have to ask my dad to loan me some money. I really do not want to do this, but have no choice. If, when I phone for the final bill tomorrow, they mention they have 'had more problems, so need to order more parts', I will tell them to stop work and I will com down and empty the van of all my bits and bobs then arrange for the local scrap man to take it away.

patman99

After over 25 years fixing computers, I have finally been beaten by one. The victor in the battle was an aging HP NC4010 laptop which would not run a '3' mobile dongle. All it would do is to install the drivers, install and run '3connect' then install drivers etc, etc.

Total bill for van = £575 all-in. Managed to juggle my finances in order to have enough cleared funds to pay for it.

My new right-hand-man at work is turning-out to be a good find. Due to his previous work, he is very familiar with how things need to be done. He has already shown me a website where I can get info on components and their suitability if needed.

Jobs for this week -

1. Pay for van
2. move trailer
3. list some stuff on eBid.

patman99

Found a good (and more importantly, free) site for checking my credit history.

https://www.noddle.co.uk

Many thanks to a fellow MSEer for that.

Using the above site, I now know my real debts and they are much lower than I previously thought. I have added them to my sig.

Have also discovered a cheap way to refill those Dettol automatic soap dispensor bottles. Using a syringe, it is possible refill the bottle through the hole in the top with cheaper liquid soap.
We bought 2 soaps for £1 at Aldi and there is enough in each bottle to refill the Dettol bottle at least twice.

Van is back. Made £10 delivering a trailer and another £5 delivering a tree.

Still not listed anything on eBid yet.

patman99

Watched the mountain biking on the TV today. A French woman won it by a country mile. mind you, she was being chased by a German.

patman99

Thought it was time I re-started my thread.

A lot has happened since August. Have shifted a CC debt to another CC with 22 months interest-free on BTs. Got it done just in time as the interest-free period on the CC I'd transferred from was about to expire. Monthly payments have dropped from £25 to £15 p/m so I am going to carry-on paying at £25 p/m as it will reduce the debt by an extra £220 over the 22 month period. This should reduce the debt overall by £550.

patman99

My son just phoned. He said there were a lot of Police around the Highwoods area of Colchester as he came back from Town, including the Air Support Unit.
Further enquiries have revealed that there is a gunman running around Highwoods trying his best to avoid the Police.

patman99

Been a while since I last visited my diary.
Christmas is over (and we managed to last until 12:15 this afternoon before my son started with his attitude.

Still no permanent contract on the table, so am back on the job-hunting trail again. One fly in the ointment is that I am due a bonus from my current 'employers' but this will not be paid-out until the permanent staff get their January pay packets, so I will get the bonus at the end of Jan. This means f I get a job offer before then, I will have to make sure to tell them I can't start until February (most jobs are montly paid and I need the bonus or I won't make it to the first pay day).

Typiccally, the hoover has packed-up, so have had to spend £30 on bits to get it working again. Still, cheaper than a new hoover.

Car needs a minor repair + service ready for MOT in Feb., but this won't happen as I have no funds in place to do it.

Jobs for the new year -

1. Get a new job
2. Convince the HMRC that I am NOT self-employed
3. Fix hoover

patman99

Jobs for the new year -

1. Get a new job
2. [STRIKE]Convince the HMRC that I am NOT self-employed[/STRIKE] - Done
3.[STRIKE] Fix hoover[/STRIKE] - Done

Since my last posting, I have been interviewed for my role on a permanent basis, but the job went to someone else. Still got my temp. role though. As a bonus, my permanent colleague gets a fixed salary and NO o/t. Whereas as a temp, I DO get o/t. In your face pal.
Had a phonecall from another Agency with an offer of an interview for a higher-paying job, so got that to look forward too next week.

Works bonus turned-out to be 2.8% of my salary, but they got that wrong so could be chasing them for the outstanding amount when I leave.

Have switched to buying my fuel from my local Co-Op store as they have a Texaco filling station on site. This gives me Co-Op Divi points (normally 2p per £ spent) AND 1 Texaco Star point per £1 spent on top.
On a £50 fill-up, that equates to £1 from the Co-Op + 50 Star points.
The Star points can be exchanged for vouchers, so once I reached 500 points, I cashed them in for a £5 Texaco voucher which I then spent on more fuel. Just need to find a fee-free money-back credit card & I will have completed the trick of scrimping on my fuel expenses.

Money-saving tip :-

When eating-out at an Indian restruant, by slicing the top off the nann or pitta bread you can double the amount of bread without ordering any extra.