Floozie banishes the evil elves in eleven.........

moo2moo

We don't want excuses .... and so to banish all thoughts of delaying tactics ........ having allowed my clicky finger to do what it does best and come up with this lot with two collection points near you .... the items that can be sold to them are listed on the website but appear to be any sort of clothing, shoe, bag (but not suitcase) and hat as well as sheets but not towels.

Rather than simply taking a trip to the shop to see take as much stuff as you can cram in your car thats most definately either clothes or shoes and then ask about whats left. No point wasting time and effort to ask questions. Especially when you can e-mail the shop direct and ask in your lunch break!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Yes Moo - that IS the place I spoke about above!!!! (am excited now). It said in the window £3 for 10kg. I'm going to be tactical and see exactly how many clothes make up 10kg but I do have belts, handbags, odd socks, old bedding etc, loads of fabric.

Also got sent home from work with a huge slab of corned beef pie which has nicely been divvied into two and given to DS1 and DH. I'm stuffed from lunch (which cost me £1) so don't need any tea. That's a day's less I'll have to buy for next week,

EssexHebridean

Hi IF - only just caught up with your thread. Sorry to hear you've had such a shock, but agree with others that perhaps it's the final kick up the !!! you need to get your lightbulb firmly switched on. I hope the shock is receding a bit now - it sounds like it is as you've moved into "now to deal with it" mode - well done!

I also agree with FF about cutting the cards up. Failing that, the other favourite method of course - stick them in a bowl of water and freeze them. I reckon scissors are the safer option myself, but only you know if you're honestly likely to leave them alone or not. If it were me, and I had even the faintest doubt, I would cut them up.

One of the girls on the No More Toiletries thread tells us that even part used perfumes sell well on eBay so that might be worth considering.

I was interested to see that we have one of those recycling shops near to one of my clients. Might have to have a root around and see what I can find!

moo2moo

You can run but you can't hide!!!!!!

Hows the new job going????

Intergalactic_Floozie

Hello, I was just coming on to post an update, honest!

I'm veering between loving the job and hating it. Thursday I had a brilliant day and couldn't wait to get back in on Friday. Friday was crap and now I don't want to go back in on Monday. I guess it's normal though. There are pros such as my other colleagues being nice to me and the fact I can get a two-course meal for £1 per day. However the holidays and the flexibility, which are mucho important to me, are rubbish. I don't know, I just can't see myself staying long term. I think I will feel more comfortable back in the public sector so I think as soon as thinks stabilise, I will be off to the NHS. Even the advertised 'annual bonus' I feel I have been conned about. According to the boss, if we get one in December 2011, I would be entitled to it as I have to have worked there for a full 12 months (I started on 6th Jan!) and apparently there hasn't been one for the last two years! The best one has been £1000 (before a hospital in the same chain opened nearby) and the last one was £239.

Back to finances. For the time being I have decided to try and concentrate on budgeting and leave the credit cards to run alongside the loan. I have 4years and 2m left on the loan, so if I pay £243 onto the credit cards they should be paid off at the same time of the loan leaving me debt free in time for my 40th birthday. The minimums at the moment are £162, so it means finding an extra £80 from my spends account which is definitely do-able. I'm still budgeting £400 for groceries but should definitely be able to shave at least £100 off that there.

This way hopefully I can build up some savings for the important things such as emergencies and car insurance.

I've got myself into a routine of doing my main grocery shop at Farmfoods. I went yesterday and spent £52 (after a £5 voucher came off), then £5 in Aldi next door, and £3.50 at the corner shop as I forgot cat food. I don't need to go to Morrisons and get anything else either so that's £60 for a weekly shop.

DH is even trying, bless him, he's started smoking roll ups! This wont make any great difference to my monthly budget but hopefully it should mean he can stick to his £200 per month but he should get more from his money. He's also stopped drinking Monday to Thursday.

I've told new employers to pay me into HSBC (spends account) and DH's wage, Child Benefit, and Child Tax Credits will get paid into the bills account which will hopefully break even at the end of the year.

Got more money than I was expecting from old employer, I was expecting £100-£150 for two days work depending on tax, but I got £252. That's gone into the bills account, and I will get paid from new employer on 25th Jan (10 days) but will only get 3/4 of a month as I started a week in.

Oh, and I havent been to the recycle shop as they dont seem to be open when I drive past (before 9) and are closed when I drive home (after 5:30) so I am gonna try them today but go in and see if I need to separate stuff, and if they do pay out in increments of 1kg

Intergalactic_Floozie

I've been to the recycle shop with a test-bag. It was only a small bag and I could have fit plenty more in it, but even so it was still worth £1.80 (6kg).

Basically, you take your bags along, they weigh them all together and give you at the end whatever the combined weight is in kgs x 30p. They take everything as long as it's fabric, even handbags and paired shoes. I asked about the curtains used as dust sheets and clothes with paints on them and they said they accepted anything! They didn't even look to see what was in the bags so I wonder if I can get away with putting in the three carrier bags of odd socks I have accumulated (pahahahah). But they're only open 0930-1700, so there's only Monday and Saturday that I can go.

Have also started doing the surveys again, My £23 of paypal is winging its way to my bank account as we speak.

Am going to start entering competitions / draws in the hope that I can win something that I can sell

EssexHebridean

Good to hear that about the recycle shops - I might have to start a bag to run alongside the Charity shop one then for stuff for there! I guess they just sell the stuff on for use for packing as bags of rags for cleaning etc, in which case the condition doesn't make much odds.

Shame that you're not settled in the job yet - in fairness though it may well be just that you are going to take a little time to settle - hopefully once you've been there for a few weeks longer you'll stop swinging between loving and hating it, and at worst settle for something in between the two. Nothing worse than suffering from "Sunday eveningitus" so try to come up with some sort of distraction for tomorrow night so you don't spend the evening dwelling on things.

Intergalactic_Floozie

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Good to hear that about the recycle shops - I might have to start a bag to run alongside the Charity shop one then for stuff for there! I guess they just sell the stuff on for use for packing as bags of rags for cleaning etc, in which case the condition doesn't make much odds.

Shame that you're not settled in the job yet - in fairness though it may well be just that you are going to take a little time to settle - hopefully once you've been there for a few weeks longer you'll stop swinging between loving and hating it, and at worst settle for something in between the two. Nothing worse than suffering from "Sunday eveningitus" so try to come up with some sort of distraction for tomorrow night so you don't spend the evening dwelling on things.

I think I am blaming my current job, for not being my old job (if you know what I mean because I loved it). I'm definitely going to give it 12 months, and then reassess the situation.

I've just been looking at the bottom of the stairs, I bet I could fill another bin-liner without even trying!! It's a right mess there.

Just won £5 on a scratchcard :-)

EssexHebridean

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

I think I am blaming my current job, for not being my old job (if you know what I mean because I loved it). I'm definitely going to give it 12 months, and then reassess the situation.

I've just been looking at the bottom of the stairs, I bet I could fill another bin-liner without even trying!! It's a right mess there.

Just won £5 on a scratchcard :-)

Yes, I know exactly what you mean, and the 12 month thing sounds very sensible. Long enough that it looks OK on a CV if you do decide to move on, but not longer than you can stand if you decide it's not for you.

Woop to the scratchcard win - is that going to a PAD then as it's money you didn't have in the first place?

Intergalactic_Floozie

I'd love to be able to PAD but at the moment it's looking like I am going to finish the month around £300 overdrawn (don't get paid for another 9 days).

I'm going to give PADing to debts a miss at the moment, but maybe I will PAD it to my car insurance budget as I think that's due at the end of March and will probably be over the £750 mark,...