The Ultimate Incentive Threadies go all out!

starnac

quick catch up post

yay to CMD on baby Evie.

Flower it's your turn next. Not long now.

Glad the funeral was okay NIM

jealous of all those going on holiday.

have I missed anyone out???

DD will be 4 so we are just hiring a hall for her party. DH wanted a bouncy castle but they are quite expensive here and I personally think they are dangerous so we decided against it. I need to sort out invitations today so she can take them to school tomorrow.

ruby_eskimo

Aww congratulations, CMD! I have a friend called Evie, the name seems to be having a revival at the moment!

N.I.M

Congrats CMD * he said staggering toward the mancave with a cask of beer under each arm and another on his back *

Genuinely delighted for you though :j

Poolie

N.I.M wrote: »

Congrats CMD * he said staggering toward the mancave with a cask of beer under each arm and another on his back *

Genuinely delighted for you though :j

Nicely done with the beer. Do we need glasses as these last ones in here look a bit past it. Will try and sneak some past Mrs Poolie although her eagle eyes may spot me.

Lara44

That's fantastic news CMD, so pleased for you all

Dinah93

Managed to forget the cash to put in the bank today which would have brought us (just) back into the black.

Applied for a 0% CC for NIM last night, probable refusal but worth a go. I'd just feel better to have it all in one place and at 0% obviously. Very stressed about it all atm as we couldn't clear it within a year if we wanted to, which is a bit of a milestone for me. Going to try to list some bulky stuff (such as the old washer) on ebay tonight to try to make some room and get the conservatory cleared, and also get a few quick wins in terms of £20-£50 ammounts in to make a dent.

Work are looking at sending me on the masters course again, doing it in a modular way over 2 or 3 years. Not going to complain if they're paying, but I'd rather do it over the 3 years so it doesn't impact on my real life too much.

Swapped from Scottish Power to EDF (or Eon, cant remember) and they just took teh first payment of £55. I hope thats for both elec and gas (they havent got the gas meter reading yet) as otherwise it's looking very expensive. Scottish Power billed us for both seperately. Speaking of which we need to call them as I'm sure we were owed some money back.

Not sure if NIM will be able to MS this weekend as he has my cold, really hope he kicks it quicker than I did as we're going to struggle with another month with very little MS money coming in.

Lying to myfitnesspal and not telling it I seem to have gained 0.8lbs, as I view AF weigh ins as a stab in the dark at best.

Going to read some Christmas threads tonight too, get an idea of some low/no cost present ideas, as we're really going to cut back this year (which I say every year, but I don't think I've got a choice this time!).

Tonight:
Call Scottish Power
Give new provider gas meter reading
Do MS reports
Apply for 0% CC

9 days till payday. Can't come soon enough!

Lara44

Just got my hands on an old iphone which will net me £87. Have you two got any old handsets about? I find them one of the best quick wins. Alternatively are you due upgrades which you could get and then sell on ebay?

I am planning to go back on Dooyoo (groan!) and do the lovefilm trial for £20 Amazon. So that's £127 for pressies already.

Dinah, did you hear of Approved Food? it's a short date clearance place. I never seem to find anything good on there, but I know others swear by it. You might be able to build up a storecupboard and keep your costs down for food over the next few months

Dinah93

Aye I've used it before, mostly to get my brother food. Its obviously mostly packet food which I try to avoid, but sometimes they get bulk lots of egg noodles or dried pasta or tins of custard and things in. We actually have plenty of food to be honest, just need to get fruit and veg and milk as we go along.

Being good, have swapped my bottled flavoured water for a bobble I picked up in NY. Also have an apple for afternoon munchies (although I wish I had chocolate but thats neither cheap nor healthy).

Have a phone around somewhere but we checked it and only worth about £12. My upgrade is due now, but I think I'm going to hold out and cancel in December instead to get a better deal elsewhere. Going to look into that in the next few days.

So bored back at work with nothing to look forward to.

Birdie85

Fingers crossed that NIM gets the 0% card. Also hope that the 'power' bill is for both or that is expensive! Our gas bill is about £28 a quarter! Not for much longer with the mental price hikes mind.

I am with you on the whole 'hurry up payday' feeling! For some reason we're both totally skint, our personal accounts and the joint are more or less empty and we don't get paid until Tuesday! This is going to be a very quiet weekend! I just hope that we don't find out that we need to buy 'stuff' over the weekend for holiday as we've no way of buying it!

If you get any fab ideas for christmas presents please share them! One of my Day Zero things is to make at least half of my christmas presents but I've made no progress so far! A few ideas floating about, but I really need to get a move on!

Flower08

Birdie85 wrote: »

If you get any fab ideas for christmas presents please share them! One of my Day Zero things is to make at least half of my christmas presents but I've made no progress so far! A few ideas floating about, but I really need to get a move on!

Ooh yes if you do have any ideas please do share as this Christmas needs to be a very frugal one for us!

And Birdie very jealous of your £28 gas bills!! :eek: Ours are terrible and we hardly use it at all, just the house is so badly insulated. Is going to be so much worse this winter as well as we cant scrimp on heating with a newborn baby in the house.