The Ultimate Incentive to get debt free… again. Dinah & NIM go head to head!

Dinah93

hi Zig - supplier has covered a LOT of my costs for me so far, saved me around £3000 and he's also my mentor. Issue is once he makes a sale he prides himself on always delivering on time, so if he has a busy week with orders my stuff gets forgotten about because I have no orders to fulfill (because I have no product!). He's said he'll bring me things on Thursday, so fingers crossed.

Been filling in the spending diary. I have to say its a bit of an eye opener. Not horrifying but all the bits and pieces add up. We've spent nearly £100 on food in a week! Now I know a lot of this is longer lasting, but we need milk twice a week throughout the month so its not like we can just knock it on the head and say 'well thats food finished then'.

No other money news here, I fell asleep AGAIN when I got home last night so not much done, both my ebay items ending in 2 days have bids on (£4 and £4.99) and I'm ever hopeful I can stay awake tonight long enough to get some more listed. NIM finished all his weekend reports last night too, so I really hope he can make a few phone calls this evening - one of them to our previous home insurers as they overcharged us by £50 and I want it back!

I also need to book the tickets to get to London for the flight to New York. I'm thinking we go over on the Saturday morning and get there 10am-ish, so we have half a day to do touristy things as NIM hasn't been to London, meet with my cousins on the evening for dinner and drinks, then see our other London friend on the Sunday. Speaking of, would any of you London based girlies/Poolies/individuals I may not have realised have Jack-Ralph parts like to meet up while we're down? 27th or 28th August, be great to meet you.

Birdie85

Morning!

Dinah, totally empathise with the little food spends adding up, we're terrible for it! We really need to sort it out, our account is always a lot healthier looking when we do one massive shop at the start of the month so all we have to pick up is bread, milk, bananas etc during the week, rather than the constant little top-up shops we do all week!

I can see where the supplier's coming from in that your product isn't as important to him since you've got no orders to fulfil, but you can't get orders until he comes through for you! I'd be less than impressed, hope he does actually deliver on Thursday!

I was talking to my SIL last night who told me about a Wedding Dress Ball that's on this October... what a fab idea! I doubt we'll be able to go this year, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it in future... and I'll just have to hope that I still fit into my dress!

Cinny91

Dinah93 wrote: »

Been filling in the spending diary. I have to say its a bit of an eye opener. Not horrifying but all the bits and pieces add up. We've spent nearly £100 on food in a week! Now I know a lot of this is longer lasting, but we need milk twice a week throughout the month so its not like we can just knock it on the head and say 'well thats food finished then'.

It's crazy isn't it? It does get a little loopy if you're not paying full attention. I have what I call 'Grandma Head' I know the prices of just about everything in the top three. And it's kind of worrying how everything is jumping up recently. Hence our little stockpile! I feel a little too frugal this week. I spent £25 on food and classed it as a lot. But we eat well enough. Last night we had seasoned toad in the hole for the first time in months and it was bloody lovely. Tonight is bacon, new potatoes and garden peas (although I'd bet anything OH has straight up bacon sandwiches)

Hope your supplier man comes through this week. I'd get so piddled off by that! Fair enough he needs to get orders done, but it doesn't mean your company is any less important.

And I think that's when we're going to London, actually! (Not that I'm picking for an invite ) It'll be my Nan's first time in London too. We're taking her to Buckingham Palace to hopefully see Kate's dress, she's all excited!

wendz86

Morning all,

Archersluck - yay for the tax refund, make sure you show us a pic of the shoes you get.

Dinah - it is amazing how all the little bits of food add up isn't it. I would love to meet you guys but not sure i can handle the pushchair in london on my own but will let you know!

Hi tink!

Birdie - wedding dress ball sounds great, a brilliant exscuse to get the dress out again.

Cinny91

Woah woah, 'ang about. Something just clicked. (My excuse is I haven't had a coffee today)

Dinah93 wrote: »

London based girlies/Poolies/individuals I may not have realised have Jack-Ralph parts like to meet up while we're down?

I resent my future lovely children's names being used in such a manner! Isn't it bad enough that all of my OH's names can be linked to either his super secret parts or the loo?

And ETA:

wendz86 wrote: »

Archersluck - yay for the tax refund, make sure you show us a pic of the shoes you get.

I second that!

clearmydebts

Good morning all. Am so tired. Max was up all night and hasn't stopped whinging since he got up at 7.30am. It definitely must be his teeth. He is so cranky and the flat looks like we have squatters living here. I actually don't know where to start

I was looking at OH's work policies and he is actually entitled to apply to work from home full-time, as well as applying for compressed hours. He says his boss doesn't like people working from home and will say no, but under legislation he can't just say no, he has to give a good reason.

I think OH should put a clear argument forward outlining that he would be willing to fly over to the office as and when is required (he can stay with friends) and then it will be hard to refuse. The only issue is that you can only put one flexible working request in every 12 months so if he were to be refused then he would be stuck working 5 days a week over here. I think it is worth a chance though. He can also appeal.

Anyone any suggestions/advice?

Dinah93

I was going to say combine the two, ask for either option. But then I guess they'd pick compressed hours. Could he do a work log for a few weeks, detailing which tasks he actually has to be in the office for, if those could be accomodated 1 day a fortnight for example?

clearmydebts

Dinah93 wrote: »

I was going to say combine the two, ask for either option. But then I guess they'd pick compressed hours. Could he do a work log for a few weeks, detailing which tasks he actually has to be in the office for, if those could be accomodated 1 day a fortnight for example?

I think under the legislation he can only apply for one of them, so it doesn't confuse things. He works at a computer all day so I don't think he has any office based things that he needs to be in there for. Any meetings could be done through Skype and BT Meet Me.

Or if it was the start or end of a project then he could fly over and attend them.

Birdie - that wedding dress ball sounds amazing. Myself and my friends want to have a wedding dress night where we all dress up in our dresses and drink champagne!

wendz86

CMD - you poor thing, not looking forward to the teething stage. Is definately worth a try for your OH about the working from home. If he puts a good case forward they will have to give good reasons why not.

Birdie85

That sounds fun CMD! Things like that always remind me of Friends when they're sat around drinking beer in wedding dresses!

Dinah's suggestion of the work log is a good one, even if everyone knows already that your OH doesn't need to be in the office every day, having it written down is a good way of proving it.

With regards to the messy flat... go to the park and ignore it!