Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

Horace

I have been doing a bit of poking about re this company - I looked them up on Companies House and they are about to be struck off because they haven't filed any accounts:eek: I definitely remember them from 2008 but Companies House says that the company was started in 2010. I feel very wary. They claim to pay an hourly rate plus commission.

Managed to get to speak to someone about the Sales Exec job and was told that it was obvious I wasnt good at sales if I was looking to move from self employment. I am a little freelancer not a huge flippin' conglomerate! I am not sure if I will bother because I didnt feel that I got the answers that I wanted and I didnt ring up to be told I was a failure...stuff 'em I am too good for them anyway.

Dinner tonight was some left over ragu sauce with some boiled potatoes, the remainder of the sauce has been boxed and has gone in the freezer. Lunch today was a hardboiled egg sandwich - I used the out of date bread that has been residing in my freezer for over a week - I pull out a couple of slices at a time and defrost them in the microwave.

Even though the lightbulb hasn't gone in the table lamp that I am using, I changed it for a longlife bulb (I have about 8 of these that I received free when I was on the dole the last time). I wonder what freebies I can get now?:D

If Barclays is open tomorrow then I may just walk up to the village (northfield) and pop in to see about opening a basic account - I am getting more fed up of FD by the day. I am sick of being in the overdraft..I thought that as I had banked with them for years they would be a bit more understanding but it seems not and I am charged within an inch of my life.:mad:

I shall go to the credit union on Monday and open an account with them too that way I can pay in a little each week or each month. Corrr.just had a brilliant idea (ping goes the lightbulb) if I open a credit union account, I could ask that my paypal money goes into that account - especially as Lonesome Pine are no longer paying me in LVs and paying into my paypal account instead..that way it keeps money away from the high street banks.

Tomorrow, I shall grate the remaining cheese in the fridge and look at freezing it so I can pull a bit out at a time. Tomorrow's dinner will be chicken casserole - defrosted from freezer or I may cook a piece of belly draft and have that with the remainder of my tin of spuds (a little tin of baby new potatoes has an awful lot of spuds in it).

Just had another thought and have changed the lightbulb in my bedside lamp from an ordinary one to a longlife energy saving one, hopefully my electricity usage will decrease now. I have given up with the halogens in the living room (more than half of them are out anyway, as they are in my office) and light that using an old bedside lamp (shade has ripped so I have removed it) and my architectural lamp which as 12v halogen bulbs in it (one needs replacing). I am lighting my desk with my daylight lamp that the UoB got me when I worked there as part of Access to Work (when I was told to clear my desk I do so literally and took everything :rofl

Horace

Missed the Wales v Ireland match but watched most of the England v France match - England got what they deserved..a ticket home, they played abominably methinks they should have stayed in more and drunk less. The Welsh team have had a fairly dry 5 months, they allow themselves a sup of beer after a winning match and they stop at 1 for the remainder of the time they stick to soft drinks and have early nights - hence they are playing better. Mind you the Welsh have to fight to get into the team whereas the England team don't seem to be that competitive and it shows across all areas of their game.

Pork is out of the freezer for dinner tonight, will eat the last of the strawberry jelly today.

Monday will be bank day where I sort out a basic account and join the credit union.

I have stuff finishing on Ebay over the next day or so too - admittedly, I have amended some of the prices today because they were just too cheap (these are items where there are no bids). Seems madness to let a new digital photo frame go for £20 when it cost me £99, same goes for the Clarins items, prices have been increased on them too.

Aesop

well done on lightbulb moments horace, no pun intended!

you are doing so well!

Horace

Last night I ate like a King (or it seemed that way to me). I cooked up two strips of pork belly draft (bought a pack ages ago from butcher which was cheap - have 2 slices left in freezer) and served them with frozen sprouts (I have had a bag lurking in the freezer for 3 years:eek: so finished them off), the rest of the tinned spuds, gravy and a dollop of cranberry sauce (admittedly did look up on the internet to see if pork goes with cranberry sauce and it seems the Americans use it with pork so deemed it ok). I followed this with the last rice pud which I nuked in the microwave from frozen and the last of my strawberry jelly - hot rice does not go with cold jelly as you end up with hot rice and sauce.:eek:

May have sold some fleabay items although one has been queried because the length of chain will be too short for her so I can see that being a charge back from paypal as a 16inch chain will choke her:( I may or may not have netted £64.57 so far today. This will help with my debt - I want to use it against by business overdraft but may well split it between my two banks because I will have to withdraw into one and pay out with a cheque to the other, unless i take it out as cash and put cash into the post office. Excuse me thinking aloud - cash it will be.

GreyhoundAngel

Hello Mrs H ....

I know how you feel but sadly I now love that feeling ... it does seem to make all the dowdy / frugal meals feel almost worth it

Well done on the fleabay stuff, but not so good on the chargeback. I've still not managed to brave selling on there yet (and now I've got to "verify" a bank account with paypal to unfreeze it ... I've only ever used it to pay for stuff via my card fer heavens sake and had one smallish survey payment paid in ... and yup ... it's now locked in there) :mad:

I read posts quite often where people bid n win .. then say its not suitable or similar ... do they not think to check before bidding or read the descriptions ? I dont think it's right to allow winning buyers to chargeback just because they've changed their minds.

Hope you hear something good soon on the job front too Mrs H :A

Angel xxx

Horace

Hooray - lady does not want a chargeback she wants the necklace and will try and get an extender for it, failing that she says she has 3 daughters so one of them will get it. I sold 3 items altogether and netted myself £84.64:cool:

I have decided that I will put this money into my business account seeing as I went over my overdraft limit and the bank kindly added mroe debt by paying out something that they had previously cancelled:mad: At least if I have less of an overdraft on that account then I can start working again and earning..need to sell more stuff though and need to relist items. I had listed some Clarins stuff that was brand new, unused but none of it sold and I am not selling it for pence either:mad: My overdraft with business bank is £226.84 but the amount I am actually allowed is £150 so you can see my predicament - at least the money will bring me down to £142.20 over drawn but that is more manageable as I have some work on the horizon (a workshop which should net me about £60). If I am not allowed to use my business account then I have no business and this is a priority at the moment. You might think this odd when I have other priority debts to clear but self employment is a long term thing.

I have decided to have a full revamp of my prices too - breakfast can no longer be done for £10 but it can be done for £12 although ideally I would like to charge £15 a head (more profit for me) and an annual membership fee will be introduced. Clubs that have membership fees are doing better than those without. Now I am starting to feel excited again...:cool:

Wordsmith

Glad you're getting your mojo back Horace, and doing really well on bringing in funds. Onwards, m'dear ...

Horace

Didnt manage to get to the credit union today - it was too windy and my boots pinch (I have been living in sandals and my feet have spread:eek:). I did post the three items that I sold on fleabay yesterday though.

Drove to the other village - needed to pick up prescription (now I have 3 boxes of eye drops in the fridge), got some Veet cream too as I really need to banish Hairy Mary:eek: - the cream with the essential oils was 10p cheaper than the normal stuff...they offered me the dreaded wax so explained why I would consider cold waxing ever again.

Paid in HB cheque, with drew money as I needed some bits and had to pay postage on the fleabay items. Went to the co-op and headed straight for the whoopsie shelf (I discovered they have two one at the bottom of a fridge and the other is just normal).

I came out with:

Blackberry & Apple Pie 89p
6 Harvester Petit Pains 89p
4 Cheese Topped Baps 69p
1 Quiche Lorraine £1.35
4 Cornish Pasties £1.39
1 pk (boxed as two) Kleenex Mansized £1.78

Non whoopsie items:
2 pks Aberdeen Angus Burgers - 2 for £4
1 box PG Tips Fresh £2.79 (but had a 50p coupon)
2 x Covent Garden Winter Veg Soups on Bogof so £2.15

I only went into the Co-op to see what bread they had going cheap and was tempted by other offers but I have got food that I will eat, most of it is in the freezer now anyway to be defrosted and eaten at will.

I ventured into Tatco for Domestos (dumbo forgot that the coupon had expired:mad: - would have bought it in Wilko for less), pack of padded envelopes and some brown parcel paper.

Managed to speak to someone about that job too - I am extremely angry because they are not paying £6.08-£8 an hour plus commission, as advertised they are actually paying £3.50 per hour plus commission:mad: I have since spoken to JCP and reported them for a misleading advertisement. The company want me to work a day's trial for nowt for them..erm I don't think so - I may be skint but I am not stupid!

The hunt for work continues...

Horace

Looked at Paypal and discovered that I had £85.80 sitting in there so slightly more than I thought:D I have paid £17.27 to my personal bank and will stupidly need to get my co-op account verified (dumbo here removed it from paypal) and then I can pay the rest into my co-op account to help clear my overdraft there. Never realised that I could have more than one account attached to Paypal either:D At least I have paid some money back into personal account after withdrawing £40 today.

More jobs have been spotted that I shall be applying for. Must put the heater on in the bathroom, I fancy a wallow in the bath and I can deal with Hairy Mary by using my new cream:eek: - I have started to scratch like a baboon which means that the armpits are getting rather long:eek:

Dinner tonight was one of my cheapy pasties 35p, gravy from granules, about 5p worth of peas too.

GreyhoundAngel

Hi Mrs H ...

Looks like you've had a fruitful day today (except for misleading job advert :wall:) and a fab bonus from paypal too! :T

Well done on the coop whoopsie goodies - I love my local one, they almost always have a good range reduced

Onwards n upwards eh Mrs

Angel xxx