EH is Back - and going Onwards, and Upwards!

youareallhelpingme

ZTD wrote: »

The reason they do that is the people on the tills in Aldi will then rush off to clean the floors once there are no people wanting to be served. No sitting around for those people.

You could always just tell yourself in Tesco "I made it through the till in 4 minutes instead of 3 and only paid £5 extra (or whatever) for the privilege..."

Sense as always Z . Last time I was in Aldi I only had a few bits, had my bag ready and the manager glared at me when I tried to be careful with the eggs, that would have left them something to clean up :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

Lemon_Tree

i often put stardrops in the washing machine, i had considered washing up liquid on the grounds that it does greasy things but was worried about bubble overload. Haven't tried shampoo though and i've got some rather large bottles that i've discovered i'm not that keen on.

EssexHebridean

When we were on holiday last year we had to do a wash with the Nikwax detergent free stuff - our walking trousers always go through with that. Without thinking we used to same amount we would at home.....there were bubbles everywhere! It was like one of those foam parties in the kitchen - the poor washing machine had foam coming from every orifice! *note to self: water is very much softer in the Hebrides*! :rotfl:

Just getting stuff packing into the boot of the car now ready to head off later. Feel free to have the party in here while I'm gone, just make sure you hoover up the twiglets from under the virtual sofa before I get back. Industrial size pack of jaffa cakes is on the side for you, and the kettle is over there - you'll have to bring your own milk!

Might pop back in later on, but in case not....BYYEEEEEEE!

Lemon_Tree

Hope you have a wonderful holibob EH and take lots of lovely photo's. Catch up with you when you're back.

youareallhelpingme

PARTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh and have a great holibob

EssexHebridean

Thanks Ladies! My photo-blog (my homepage that is linked to in my profile on here) will be being regularly updated while we are there.....!

EssexHebridean

Right - I'm back! Been back for a week actually but not got around to dragging this thread out of the basement and posting on it! Holiday was fab - the weather was incredibly good which wasn't entirely what we expect, but I ended up being glad I'd taken sun cream as it was well and truly needed!

Si - back down to earth now - part of the reluctance to post here is that nothing much actually seems to be happening at the moment - still - I'll do a quick financial updatey-thing I think to refresh my memory:

Holiday fund still has enough in it to clear the stuff that went on the CC while we were away for diesel, food etc, and leave a little in place to cover my shortfall of earnings last month. Pleased with that as that was indeed the plan!

Household fund is ticking along - hopefully by the time the home contents insurance is due later in the year there will be enough in there to - if not cover it entirely - pay the bulk of it.

Car Account - teensy bit concerned about this one, but until I can get a clearer idea of how our insurance premiums are likely to change this year there isn't a lot I can do about it. In theory we'll not be too far short, but if the insurance goes up as much as some folk are reporting then it might be a problem. My car has also developed a problem with the headlamp stalk too - at the moment putting main beam on doesn't always work, and if it does, you can't always turn them off again! I'm ignoring that for the time being though.

Tax Account - quite surprisingly healthy, thanks very much! I've decided for certain that I am going to continue to try to put away my 25% of earnings each month as it will give a nice little savings buffer in that account over a year. Always useful to have - it also means in the event of something going wrong, or me needing clothes etc, I have some spare cash to fall back on.

Other Stuff: Cat insurance is due for renewal - More Th>n's price hasn't gone up that much but I believe Tesco are currently offering 2500 CC points when you take out their policy so I'm going to take a look at that as an option, even if just for one year.
I have the application pack to port my ISA out to a Nationwide one which pays more interest than we are getting at the moment, so need to sort that out too.
I plan to ask my Avon sales manager for some additional territory in the next couple of weeks - then I can hopefully increase my earnings a bit on that front. The aim will be to have both the areas of territory running smoothly enough that in the worst of the winter weather I can do book drops to existing customers only and not have to do all the slogging around I was doing last winter. I don;t mind the wet, and I don;t mind the snow, but the ice was downright lethal, and having soaking wet AND freezing cold hands from picking books off doorsteps wasn't a lot of fun!
Bank accounts: Checked this morning and looking OK - my April invoice has been paid (tiny though it was!) and should be cleared funds on Thursday so I'll have some juggling to do then. I'm continuing with the Virtual Sealed pot too - although only a relatively small balance it's mounting up slowly. CC bill should arrive early next week - I'll know then how far short I was on earnings last month and be able to work out money-shifting to cover it.

Possibly a further post coming in a while with an update on my targets and aims.....

taxi73

Great to hear you had a wonderful holiday...
All your pots seem to working well ..so all looking good

EssexHebridean

Cheers Taxi!

OK - general "Targets and Aims" Updated

Financial:
1) [STRIKE]Register for online self-assessment [/STRIKE] Done 11/3/11
1a) [STRIKE]Activate HMRC online services when activation code arrives.[/STRIKE] Done!
2) [STRIKE]Fill in SE form online as soon as possible[/STRIKE]
3) [STRIKE]Once notification of tax owing comes back set reminder to pay that in 1st week of January 2012[/STRIKE] I hadn't realised they tell you straight away, so that's excellent!
4) Restart cashback site clicks Yes, really need to get back to this one! I think my better approach (and more lucrative) may be to concentrate on surveys, just using TCB/Quidco for purchases etc.
5)[STRIKE] Start refining current Avon territory in terms of houses that throw their books straight out, with a view to reducing number of books needed, and considering more territory once we are back from holiday.[/STRIKE] Need to email my Area Sales Manager to ask for more territory.
OK - additional territory will be there and waiting for me when I'm ready for it - so the next aim on this front is to re-canvass my current area.

**note - recanvass current territory in May before taking on new, using back-order books**

Household:
1) [STRIKE]Transfer stuff from freezer 2 to freezer 1 as and when there is space to do so [/STRIKE]
2) [STRIKE]Defrost freezer 2, turn off and leave door propped open slightly[/STRIKE] DONE! And, what is better, it remains switched off even now we're back! :T
3) [STRIKE]Defrost freezer 1 [/STRIKE]done!
4) Set aside a Sunday to do a complete deep-clean of the kitchen Hmmmm......yes, still Hmmmmmm!
5) [STRIKE]Continue with decluttering / tidying even if just 5 items a day[/STRIKE] Am now focusing on doing 15 minute blitzes on particular areas


Health / Personal:
1) Continue with trying to get out walking as much as possible. Must keep this up
2) [STRIKE]Use stepper for short bursts running up to holiday so help build legs up for climbing hills![/STRIKE]
3) Continue with "No buying Toiletries" challenge - planned "need to buys" are a couple of Clinique bits next week (will use Boots points and buy at Bonus Time for the freebies too) and some sun cream while it is cheap in the Avon book. (Will cost me £3 for a 150ml bottle of SPF50, and the same for a 50ml tube of the SPF30 face cream so no-brainer there!) other than a tube of toothpaste at some point, nothing else needed at all. Done not badly on this - only unplanned spend has been two little bags at the market on saturday - each with 10 sachets body lotion, 10 multi-part sachets face scrub, eye cream and moisturiser, 2 single use samples of Nivea Soft, and a mini deodorant - only £1 each so utter bargain and ideal for camping, short trips away.
4) Really start focusing on healthy eating - the onset of warmer weather should help with this! Commit to one "salad night" per week from now on. Got to keep this up - and must stop snacking too!
5) Make the effort to get out and about with my camera more as the weather improves. Revisit old projects and post on my blog regularly Have installed the BlogPress app on my phone which will hopefully help with this as I won't be tied to only posting when I'm near a computer - already used it once, and quite impressed so far.

Fun Stuff!:
1) We have £20 of Days out vouchers expiring at the end of May, and £40 expiring at the end of June, all bought at the higher (4x) conversion rate, so must keep my eye on the ball to make sure these get used. the May ones will probably get used when we go to Cornwall if not before
2) Continue with "Do at least one fun thing per month" plan :

1. [STRIKE]March : Trip to Chester for Friend's birthday[/STRIKE]
2. [STRIKE]April : HOLIBOBS![/STRIKE]
3. [STRIKE]May: Meal at "Smiths of Smithfield" Courtesy of lovely friends! (it was fabulous!)[/STRIKE]
4. May: Camping trip to Cornwall!
5. June: a half day hawk-flying experience courtesy of my Mum and Dad for mine/OH's birthdays! Will combine with camping trip (and hope OH doesn't read this as he doesn't know yet!)
6. June: British Speedway GP in Cardiff
7. July: North Norfolk Railway Beer Festival (getting a group of friends together for this as well)

Other things in the pipeline but not specifically planned yet include:

1. Various trips around the place following the wonderful Ipswich Witches Speedway team!
2. Camping weekends in Norfolk
3. Take the camera and visit the Raptor Foundation in Cambridgeshire
4. Trip into Central London with the camera, meet MrEH for the afternoon and visit Middle Temple & Hall
5. Plot how to go back to Smiths of Smithfield for another meal before the end of the year!

Need to do a proper effort at updating this now.

youareallhelpingme

Your pics on tw!tter were fab, it looks an amazing place.

i havent been on my diary either, i've just been so busy, which is great so i can't complain