Tales from a country cottage

ani*fan

On the debt front...

• the garage bill arrived today and is only £110. I'm pleased cos this is manageable and much less scary than the debt-increasing £500 I was dreading. It all could have been so much worse.
• I have a dentist appt on Monday and am almost as scared of the bill as I am of the sore gob I'll have after a filling. Note to self: cheaper and more MSE to keep my teeth ok. Must try harder.
• Still no sign of the credit card and that's been a week since the agreement was posted. I may take your advice Knitting Nora and get the card number and start transferring via purchases before the actual card arrives.
• I haven't updated my debt total for a while and am a little scared of doing it in case it looks bad. I'll maybe wait until this months' card payments have gone through.
• I'm pondering getting back into matched betting. Because I did it a lot before, I don't have many 'new member' offers to take up but I've been getting a few offers in my email. Mostly £10 free bets but it all adds up. Trouble is the cash for the lay bet...will need to think about it a little.
• Otherwise...I'm not having many money saving ideas right now. Will need to scour the diaries and boards for inspiration.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

ani*fan

Just updated my sig and have to admit...I've cheated a bit. I've not included my overdraft since I'm not using it right now. But I will be by the end of the month so that's my challenge for the rest of the month. To use as little of the overdraft I possibly can and reduce it a bit the day before payday this month.

It looks like I've paid off £758.77 but it's actually
£458.77 paid off the debt

Which is actually not bad so I don't know why I'm cheating myself. Doh!

Ok. I'm going to change it to it's proper amount and stop being so silly.

ani*fan

There is frost on the grass this morning and a nip in the air. Winter is coming. I haven't seen any young deer for a few days. Hope they are ok and finding cosy places to sleep. The purrballs are becoming seriously reluctant to head outside now and all 3 cuddled up in a big bundle together last night. Pretty unusual, given they hate each other usually.

I can't wait 'til Christmas! :xmastree:I know this makes me a complete freak in MSE land when it costs so much but honestly, I just love it. I want to hang our stockings and open some presents and cook nice food and know that the entire country and a lot of the world are having a day off from everything. I want to get snowed in, ski round the estate and dig the sledge out of the shed. I want to drink hot chocolate while wandering through knee deep snow wrapped up in 15 layers of clothing. I want to put my tree up!

Lots of things to do before that happens though. OH has a birthday, for one, just before Christmas. I'd been thinking of arranging a party but OH wants us to go out for dinner instead, just the two of us. Which sounds good to me. I'll get looking for vouchers now.

Also haven't made much more progress with the Christmas shopping but did change to a different supermarket for last week's food shop and it came in significantly cheaper. We have £60 a week budgeted for food and are only spending around £35-£40. The rest is being put aside for Christmas presents but its interesting to know for sure how much we spend on food.

I'm off to visit a friend today and stay overnight. I have a bottle of wine left over from our last party and bought a chocolate cake yesterday that was reduced by 50p. So overall, not too bad cost-wise. I can't wait to see her and catch up on all the gossip.

I'm trying to think about whether or not to go to my work's christmas do. I go free, but we would have to pay £35 for OH to go. And that's a lot of money. Usually we have a lunch, so partners don't come, but there's a change this year for some reason. Will need to give it some thought. I would feel mean to go without OH, IYKWIM.

I'm still waiting for this credit card to come and getting a bit annoyed at the delay. I'm sure this will be the single biggest factor in hurrying the debt down at the moment, just want it to arrive!

Have a lovely Saturday everyone.

amber03

If it snows this year(me thinks it will) i'm coming upto yours it sounds like you will have fun up there and i want some of that:D . As for xmas i love it, but i have changed my way of spending, i do ask myself if i really need it, but every year i buy one special decoration to add to my collection so over the years i have aquired a nice display. Since my summer hols i have been buying three food items a week and putting them away for xmas, so much of my food shopping for that week will be done,(just got to remember where i have put it). Well done on reducing your debt remember your debt is going down and not up and hopefully you will never have this much debt again, have a great weekend.xx

ani*fan

Hi Amber03 :wave:

Good to meet you and thanks for dropping by. That's a great idea about buying food every week in preparation. I bought a quorn roast with stuffing a couple of weeks ago but then forgot to buy anything last week. Need to remember for tomorrow's shopping. There's loads could be bought early. Desserts for the freezer, nuts and crisps and treats, I've also bought 3 boxes of chocs for OH's many aunties so making more progress than I thought.

Decorations-wise I'm a creature of habit. We have the same stockings we hang every year, a small tree, some tinsel and last year we scoured the estate for the prettiest holly and hung it all round the sitting room. This year I'd like to have a go at making a wreath but all that bending could get a bit jaggy on the hands. We'll see.

When the snow comes (and I agree, I think it will) you are more than welcome to join us. Bring all the snow toys you can find and prepare to not be able to leave for a while. Under a foot of snow is probably the tidiest our garden ever looks, until we get out there and mess it up.

Knitting_Nora

Oooo, can I come along as well - I want to try making snow angels!

I'll bring hot chocolate (seem to be overrun with it here).....

As for Christmas - a couple of friends and I love all the preparing for it...making prezzies, buying stuff, making plans to see friends and family...bliss.

As I'm not going to in the county, let alone this house (which is designed to be dressed up for Christmas - right down to the open bannisters for winding holly etc around), I've decided to pull it forward a little....so expect excited squawking from me on 1st December as I decorate. It's entirely possible the poor removal men will have to work around the tree!

Ooo, you've got me humming jingle bells....:rudolf:

Nora.

ani*fan

Ooh Nora, I love the sound of your staircase with holly wound round the bannister. Photos please when it happens!

Well today I've got loads to do. I have a half day at work which should help but still very busy. I need to:

• collect train tickets
• phone insurance re. final payment
• phone mystery shop people who've been trying to ring me
• send off a cheque to my superviser
• post old pension plan to new pension company
• phone orange re. my phone contract
• find old sim card
• pay grarage bill
• put cheque and cash into the bank
• get a filling at the dentist
• do some ironing
• walk for 30 mins
• finish prep for my course tomorrow
• pick up some extra bits at Mr T I forgot yesterday
• get eye brows waxed

This list is making me tired just looking at it. Better get started.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone. It's a whole, fresh, brand new week. So much potential!

ani*fan

I'm a bit hassled...can't think where I'm at with my list.

• collect train tickets - done
• phone insurance re. final payment - done
• phone mystery shop people who've been trying to ring me - done
• send off a cheque to my superviser - done
• post old pension plan to new pension company - done
• phone orange re. my phone contract
• find old sim card
• pay grarage bill
• put cheque and cash into the bank - done
• get a filling at the dentist - done
• do some ironing
• walk for 30 mins
• finish prep for my course tomorrow - done
• pick up some extra bits at Mr T I forgot yesterday - done
• get eye brows waxed - done

I'm doing better than I thought. Great

ani*fan

My credit card finally arrived. Yey! :j
They've given me a £4k credit limit. :eek: The fools! Do they not realise I'm the word's worst with money? :rotfl:

However, that means both the cap 1 cards can now be moved to 0% and maybe even some of another card. Brilliant.

It would also be good if I could use it to buy train tickets well in advance. That would mean I'd get the best possible deal on them, cheaper than I do now cos I have to wait until payday. I need to think about this a bit cos it would also mean the debt would go up for a bit if I did this.

I've had a very tiring day and am off to bed. My mouth is absolutely killing me. Evidently I was a whisker away from needing root canal treatment but have just avoided it. But my mouth is very, very sore.

Night night everyone. Hope you're all cosied up on this very chilly night.

ani*fan

Quick reminder of what still needs doing...

phone orange re. my phone contract
find old sim card
pay grarage bill
ironing

That'll do. The walking can wait.