The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

archersluck

Eee Zig, have an amazing time! Hope you can pop on occasionally to update us

Also decluttering here, sending a box of books off to Amazon to get a voucher so thanks to whoever suggested that! Just playing book jenga now trying to get them all in the box...

I'm not good with homely suggestions but sounds like you've made the right decision with the stove Dinah, looking forward to the 1st December update

omg at the bridesmaids dress tete, hope she gets something sorted there.

Pretty quiet weekend here, had my groupon haircut though let them flog me some heat treatment thing which means it wasn't such a bargain, I'm too bloody soft. Anyway I hate how short it is, but at least it's got rid of my layers so it can grow out as all one length.

Good luck with your paper Lara. I don't have any christmas parties to go to! Work aren't doing anything, which suits me. Do have my birthday next week though

Dinah93

MSing rarely ends up with us paying any real amount of tax tbh, last years return came in at a couple of quid owed back! It's because fees are so low now and all have required spends and often you pay to park etc etc, and we use the percentage method on tax so say 10% of the car use in a year is MSing 10% of ALL car expenses are taken off the tax bill as we use this method in the business (which this tax year currently stands to have made a huge loss in tax terms given the start up costs of software, dies, stock, website etc is coming to nearly £3000 and we're not even ready to trade yet, let alone launch the site). I certainly won't pay MS tax as I've done very few jobs, and the business tax loss will more than counteract it. If NIM has a MS tax bill it'll probably be under the £100 mark, but certainly no more than £200. As we now have around £500 a month from wages which we overpay the debts by (and hopefully that'll be higher by the time the bill is due), that month we'll just divert a bit there and make lower overpayments. In the business it's different, the policy there is to divert 1/3 of all our income into a savings account to cover the tax bill, and anything left over is a bonus.

Archers, do you pay to send the books to amazon, or do they send a freepost sticker?

shrimpy_80

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

PS- Shrimpy I share a birthday with Billy Kennedy from Neighbours! And Abraham Lincoln!

Ahhh Billy Kennedy! My friend had school had a huge crush on him, although she also had a crush on David Jason circa Touch of Frost!

Am feeling sorry for myself tonight as I have toothache, stupid wisdom tooth! If I'm not wise now I never will be! Had a lovely birthday lunch and choc fudge cake at the folks earlier though, want to open my pressies!

Good luck for tomorrow Zig, very excited for you, you're going to have such an amazing time!

Dinah, hope you don't mind me asking but is it Reynaulds you have? OH was diagnosed with it last year but I'm not convinced that's what he has, his knuckles swell up in the cold and he can't straighten his fingers out but to me (with my years of medical training, obviously!) it looks more like arthritis of some kind? Feel free to tell me to mind my own business of course!

Dinah93

Yes it's Reynaulds. I don't have an issue with my knuckles swelling, apparently my symptoms are very classic in that my fingers go white with sort of a purple band (like a ring) between the white and the normal pink part, it's very painful when the circulation comes back and they do tend to swell a bit when the circulation comes back, but it's all over not the joints. Circulation will very rarely come back on its own, even in a warm room, I need them wrapped in a hot warm cloth, slightly warm (not hot) bowl of water, or on a warmish hot water bottle.

ruby_eskimo

I have similar symptoms Dinah, but I also have severe pins and needles and numbness in my legs and they are debating whether I have Reynaulds or trapped nerves behind my knees as well. Got scared when my GP said it could be early signs of MS! Thankfully it's not, but just have to put up with the hot water bottles everywhere.

shrimpy_80

Thank you for the info, I had a friend with Reynaulds too and her symptoms were exactly as you describe. OH's knuckles swell up hugely and his fingers are bent over like claw hands (not to sound flippant, just can't think how else to describe it!) Think I will send him back to Docs.

Hope you and Ruby aren't suffering with it too much x

archersluck

Dinah93 wrote: »

Archers, do you pay to send the books to amazon, or do they send a freepost sticker?

You print a free postage thingy off, then just get proof of posting at the post office. Seems straightforward enough
They didn't have all of the books I wanted to send back, about half I'd say. And some of them were the right book but different ISBN code, artwork etc - but I've put them in anyway. They return them for free if they don't want them for whatever reason so no harm trying.

Birdie85

I've never heard of this Amazon book sending thingy, is it like Music Magpie for books?!

Eeek Reynaulds does not sound nice! I'm always cold but at least things don't turn white/blue/purple! :eek: Think you made a good call cancelling the stove Dinah, if you find yourself in a better position in a few months time you can always re-order it, just make sure that you do keep warm and don't worry too much about the heating bill, health comes first!

Another eek about the Bridesmaid Tete! Luckily when it happened to my fellow Bridesmaid she was already a fairly big girl so she went on a crash diet and managed to squeeze into the dress on the day, think most of what went on (then off) was water weight. Hope she does manage to fit into the dress though, it is amazing how much difference sucky-in-undies can do though!

Well done on doing some decluttering too Tete! I'm convinced we have mess monsters living in the cupboard; I always seem to be thowing out/donating bin bags full of stuff yet the clutter remains, how can we have so many things?! Ah well, if I keep at it it has to disappear eventually!

OH and I look a right pair today, he has a black eye from Rugby and I burnt my lip on some errant piping-hot pizza cheese so I've got a scabby mouth! Just in time for the wedding on Thursday! Really hope we both heal quickly! :eek:

Well done on getting the interview Ruby, hope it goes well!

I got my snow-girl outfit sorted yesterday! :snow_grin Found a creamy shift dress in Dorothy Perkins sale (and despite the fact that it's a shift so should look terrible on me it actually fits nicely, even OH was surprised!), got some black buttons and stuck safety pins on then attached to the front of the dress and found a red and white striped silky scarf in a charity shop. I've already got a little cream fur shrug and tiny top-hat so I'm ready to go! Very excited and pleased with myself, I love DIYing costumes!

Oh and speaking of charity shops I found my work Christmas party dress in Scope for £10! :money:Someone has clearly had a good clearout as it was full of pretty frocks, although they were asking for £15-£20 for some of them, think that's a bit steep for a charity shop! I was even a little annoyed at spending £10 TBH, but it was a Warehouse dress that would have cost me £60 new so I can't really moan too much and I don't have to buy anything else to go with it as I have a bag and shoes to match. :T

Tete_en_l'Air

Morning! Gosh I've never heard of Reynaulds but it seems pretty prevalent (on here at least!)!

Can anyone give me more info on the Amazon voucher-for-books thing? I tried googling but couldn't find anything. Is it a good deal?

Lara I don't know whether sucky in undies would make enough difference. My Aunty was on about having her sewn into the dress (:eek:) as we're waering fur shrug things on top anyway, but that's not going to look good is it?! The dress is still available but I think the size up is sold out...

Best of luck with the rest of your paper this week, you'll feel great when it's done!

Morning everyone else, I'm off now to get some work done!

ETA - hi Birdie - costume sounds ace, can't wait to see pics! I had a good day in the ch shops on Sat did I already mention that? Two blokes' cardies, a bird print blouse and When God Was a Rabbit (I KNOW I'm not meant to be buying books but 70p for a 2011 book couldn't be passed up!)

Also re bridesmaid, she's not THAT big, she's a tall 16-18, don't know whether it would fall off that quickly. Oh well. No one really likes her except the bride so I'm sort of looking on in amused interest

ETA (again sorry) - I've been putting those Extra chewing gum codes in for about six weeks and have had two come good in a row! Woo for a free tenner!

Dinah93

Search by a fiction book title, only about half of them are on there, but under the buy this new or used box is an option to trade it in for 25p. It's not loads, but it adds up, and there isn't really anything to loose if they're paying the postage.