The final countdown... and a newbie in the DFSD house!

Chocforever

Well done on Ebay! It's better to get the cash in quickly than risk charging too much so things can hang around unsold. It sounds like you got a fair price in any case. I reckon 2/3rds of the retail price is the best you normally get unless there is something unique about the item or it is sold out in the shops etc.

I have three things on Ebay which end tomorrow night. None are worth a great deal and two were things I had to buy on bizarre MSs and were reimbursed so it is a case of anything is better than putting them in the bin.

So did you resist the temptation of one born every minute last night? I must admit, I watched it. It was nicer this week so would be a better one to watch! I have always fancied experiencing pregnancy, but don't want the looking after a child bit afterwards :rotfl:. I seem to be missing the maternal gene! Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing all about your baby. I am the person that is interested in other people's children because I know I'll never have any and most of my friends and family of a similar age to me don't have any kids either so it is quite a novelty.

I need to try and get a few things done tomorrow rather than waste the day lazing around. I think it is time to tackle the paperwork mountain for the charity which I have neglected and is cluttering my living room. I'm sure the place will look better once it is done and I will feel less guilty about it all .

dreamdreamer

Actually last night's One Born was quite moving - the water birth lady whose sister threw up (haha!) almost made me shed a tear. It must be amazing to be the first person to hold your child, and she made it look positively easy!

Congrats on the ebay sales - I do NOT have the patience for ebay, too many timewasters!

debtfreesomeday

I did watch 'OBEM' on Monday, but still don't know why I put myself through it! It makes me more nervous to be honest...

Had a lovely day today - car sailed through the MOT so only cost us £45. The money has been transferred from the tax & insurance e-saver to cover this Hubby then treated us to a cheap lunch and I managed to pick up some extremely reasonable gifts for Christmas, or rather some kits to make some gifts for Christmas. I bought 4 beautiful scrapbook photo album kits which I shall fill with pics of the little one to give to various family members. They were only £3 each, reduced from £20.

We also went to visit a potential nursery for when I have to return to work. We were both very impressed and came away very happy and reassured - plus - it's about £80 cheaper a month than I'd budgeted for so that's a plus too.

More good news - the item I listed on Amazon sold today for £8.90 after fees, postage should only be around £1 so a tidy profit considering it only cost me £4 in the first place. That £8.90 will go in the birthday pot too.

Annoyingly, the second buyer still hasn't paid for the Buy it Now item purchased last night. Grrrrrr.

Have a good evening all

DFSD

Chocforever

OK, no more OBEM. I think I have seen enough too.

Fab news with the car. It's a great feeling when the car is returned with a small bill and you know that it should be OK for a while. Bit like coming out of the dentist and thinking, phew, that should be it for another 6 months!

Well I had a busy day yesterday, but not doing paperwork. I decided to go back to pilates because I need to get my strength back up after lying around doing not much for weeks. I booked a mortgage appointment for next week so I can check how much they will lend me. I also ran a few errands in the shops, got a few DIY bits and did my petrol MS. It wasn't so busy really, but compared with what I have been doing recently, it felt very productive .

I sold two of my Ebay things so made another £10 and got rid of another two things out of the flat. I'll maybe see if I can find some more things to put on - I prefer just listing a couple of things at a time, then it doesn't take too long to deal with any questions, postage and packing etc.

Hope you have had a nice day today x

debtfreesomeday

Well done on ebay and the pilates too Chocs - I expect the pilates may help you feel better as soon as 'plan A' kicks in too.

I've had a prettu exhausting morning - the house needed a good clean so tackled the bathrooms and have hoovered through upstairs and down. Three loads of washing have been done and are now drying. I actually contemplated hanging some of it outside to dry as it's so sunny here today, but it's still freezing and there's ice on the ground so I guess I'd just freeze the washing! Some of it's in the dryer and some is on the airer in front of a nice sunny window. I've had most of the windows open in the house today whilst cleaning so it feels nice and airy in here, almost as if spring is coming.

The last ebayer finally paid up two days after 'buying it NOW'. Obviously he missed the meaning of that phrase... I even offered free postage with that item as it was quite light so he didn't even have to pay for that! I've got a horrible feeling I'm going to have trouble with that one, I can see him saying he never received it or something like that... we'll wait and see.

Yesterday I had to pick some more shopping up as we have guests coming for dinner tonight. I was a little annoyed yesterday as we originally asked three friends, one confirmed, two said they weren't coming so I went out and shopped for ingredients, only to get a phone call last night saying they were coming after all, but would need to bring a foreign student they have staying with them that we've never met before. I don't mind, but it would have been nice to have some notice and meant I had to go out late last night and get further shopping for 3 more people as hubby needed the car today. I was shattered yesterday and really could've done without it! This afternoon I need to prep the meal for tonight, but first I'm going to sit for an hour or two as I'm knackered!

I managed to get all but £3's worth of the shopping with the supermarket gift cards we were given for Christmas, plus £10 thrown in from darling hubby. That's the cards used up now, but we get paid on Tuesday and should need nothing else until the shopping is delivered then.

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

We received a water bill today and they need to up our direct debits every month - from £23 to £39.50! :eek: It seems we were in a large amount of credit last year and now we're not. I'll have to re-do all the flippin budgets now for the year and take this into account.

Also had to purchase a new sterilising unit yesterday as the one we were given (2nd hand) wasn't working properly when I tried it. The cheapest I could find online was just under £20.

Why is it that money always seems to pour out of the account like water in the last few days before payday???

Chocforever

What a pain with the water DD. I must admit, I pay all my utilities every quarter (or 6 months with the water) when the bill comes because I hear all these stories about the companies not being very good at calculating the DDs. It does not take a genius to work out that people like certainty and a stable DD amount, rather than suddenly nearly doubling them.

My water bill has always been low. And I do get washed :rotfl:. I had a letter to say the water company can tell there is a fault with the meter and could they come and fix it. Oh no, I thought, they have caught up with me and I'm going to end up with a bill for hundreds of pounds. But when I called to arrange the appointment, they said it was just that the battery needs replacing some time over the next few months. So hopefully there is no big bill to come after all.

I had to work today. When I left the house, I thought I would wear a different pair of shoes and saw some I haven't worn in ages. They looked nice on and were more comfortable than I remembered, so I was feeling pleased with myself for digging them out. Later on, I noticed there was a trail of black where I had walked. Oh no, must have trodden in some mud, I thought. Then I looked and discovered the shoes were literally disintegrating as I walked! There was quite a thick sole on them and it must have got damp and rotted right through :eek:. So I took my shoes off at work and wandered around in my socks. I noticed they were full of holes at the back. So they have all gone in the bin. Good grief, must raise my standards at work!

debtfreesomeday

Oh my goodness, disintegrating shoes?! Good job you noticed when you did or you may have been barefoot before you knew it!

I didn't realise water meters have batteries in them to be honest. I checked this water bill against the last one we had and it seems we haven't used a lot more, it's just seems we were paying too much the year before last so had a lot of credit. It's a shame they didn't adjust our DD to something more realistic. I still haven't looked at the revised budget but it's a job I'll do tomorrow.

We had to put more petrol in the car yesterday unfortunately but didn't fill it up as we haven't been paid yet and don't want to be overdrawn.


Tomorrow I need to cance the 'gadget helpline' and phone insurance that came with the new mobile. They're being very sneaky and not sending the paperwork out until the month is nearly up, so I shall phone the company I bought it from and get the relevant phone numbers tomorrow. There's no way I'm paying for something that is such a waste of money.

I also need to start looking around for car insurance deals. We haven't had our renewal yet but I may phone up and see how much it is going to cost. It expires mid Feb and I think we may have enough to do soon without worrying about that last minute!

debtfreesomeday

I received a car insurance renewal quote today and, after shopping around, managed to find a quote that was £36 cheaper with £70 cashback through Quidco, so have changed insurers and cancelled our existing policy. The relevant money from the tax and insurance pot has been transferred; this now leaves that pot empty, but we don't need to use it for anything else until the road tax is due in July and there will be £500 in there again by then after saving £100 a month.

One load of washing is done, just off to put that in the dryer now and put the second wash on. This afternoon I'm planning on making some meals for the freezer for the first few weeks when baby is here. I took some meat out of the freezer last night, so will crack on with that when I find the will to do so.

The next job is to phone up the mobile company and cancel the insurance/technical helpine rubbish they automatically enrolled me in. :mad:

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

The washing is all done and dry now except for a few little bits, but there's not enough to economically put another load on. I've made some meals for the freezer which will be put in there once cool enough and I've sorted and shredded a load of old paperwork in our files.
The phone insurance and gadget helpline thing have been cancelled, it really bug me that I have to phone an 0870 number to cancel these policies when I didn't want them in the first place!

I've also dug out our AA membership details - when we bought our current new in 2008 it came with 3 years free breakdown cover. At the time, I phoned to cancel our AA cover - they wouldn't cancel and refund it, but offered to 'put it on hold' as such. Now the free cover is running out I want to reactivate the AA cover as we have 6.5 months left on it. I just hope they honour their promise and will reactivate our account without charge. I've tried phoning them three times today but each time get a message saying they are too busy right now and to try again later - then I get cut off. How rude! :mad:

This afternoon, I have also changed our landline package slightly to include free daytime calls. Now that I am at home most of the day the phone will be used during the daytime more, and this is what drives our phone bill up. It costs an extra £4.99 a month, but should demonstrate a saving compared to the daytime call cost without this 'add on'. I will see how it goes for a month or two, if it works out more expensive I shall be looking to change providers.

I've more or less run out of things to do now, apart from unstacking the dishwasher and thinking of what to cook for dinner tonight... I might bake some cookies later as fancy something sweet!

DFSD
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