The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

shrimpy_80

Cinny91 wrote: »

Okay.. so there's every chance I order a giant Lotso But I got a free delivery code! And I ordered OH an Aladdin mug for Christmas to justify buying myself something :whistle:

Yay! :T He is very very amazing. I'm not doing anything for Halloween this year (after throwing a rather awesome party for it last year). We didn't even get trick or treaters last year, I waiting in with my sweets all night in vain! I bet we get loads this year and I have nothing to give them!

I have a Nan, who my further away cousins call Grandma, so you may be right about that. I always find it hard to get 'Nan' cards though, there are loads for 'Grandma' and 'Nanna' (both of which she says make her feel old... She's 92)

Hope you aren't too bruised and battered today Archers, was your bike ok? Wishing you and Birdie speedy SIMs as well!

wendz86

Hope the trip goes Ok Ruby , even if it does give you a better idea of what you want.

I had a Nanna and Grandad and Grandma but i was just as close to all of them although my Nanna and Grandad were up North. My Mum and Dad are Nanny and Grandad as are OH's Mum and Dad so i am sure Poppy will come up with some other names for them at some point.

Poppy has a halloween party at nursery this afternoon. She has a pumpkin dress and they are painting her face. My work are doing a party for charity tomorrow but i have no babysitter.

Dinah93

Morning all, how are we today. I had a nice day out yesterday, my friend and I were going to go for a massage as she had a 2 for 1 deal, but they cancelled on us, so we had a toddle up Roseberry Topping (the hill where NIM proposed) instead. She let me pick the route up, which is the only one I know, and apparently at EVERY point where there is a hard way and a more comfortable way I picked the hard way, she picked the coming down route and it was much less devastating to my thighs. Really enjoyed it though, and NIM has suggested we can do more walking as a family since I liked it so much if we get a sling for Grace, which is brill as it's something outdoors so we can do it with her between now and April if it's warm enough.

Today we're at home waiting for the delivery of a replacement car seat base, as ours is dodgy, and then a speech and language therapist is coming out to see if he can advise on why Grace chokes on her teat sometimes. We were hoping to go get a new buggy today, as the icandy is still waiting on a part and the mothercare my4 is miserable, but it'll have to be tomorrow we do that.

Need to look at our money for the month, I haven't done the dance yet with moving it to other pots. I am chuffed we were approved for the cashback american express card in martin's newsletter last week, so 2x free northern europe flights after we've spent £2000 in 3 months (not hard with 2 lots of car insurance coming up, shove our petrol on there too and we're well away). It's £125 a year for the card, but free for the first year with points on everything we spend, so I figure it's worth using it for the year then cancelling it. It's a charge card not a credit card too, so it's not like we're getting into debt using it.

archersluck

Thanks guys, I'm feeling okay. Everyone seems to find it quite funny which it clearly is not! Bike lights are on my to-buy list! The bike itself is indestructible, think it will outlive me... And my sim has arrived. Hooray! Has yours Birdie? I just got a basic Galaxy phone, is yours a swanky one?

I've gone all out for halloween, been to 2 fancy dress parties, decorated our front window with pumpkin lights and 'Keep out, haunted house' tape, made treacle & cinnamon cake, carved pumpkins and rearranged my hair appointment so I could be in for trick or treaters! Had 6 so far, including the politest little vampire and robber. Then when OH gets home we'll be eating severed finger sausages with ghostly mash and skeleton biscuits for pudding. Have I gone overboard!? Bet Poppy looks adorable Wendz!

Sounds like you had a nice day Dinah, good news about the card. I was tempted but don't spend enough sadly, where do you fancy going with the flights? And good that it's not a credit card as well. How did the speech therepist visit go?

I've finally managed to open a first direct account so can access their 8% regualar saver, no excuse not to save for a house deposit now..

Birdie85

I can't wait to live in a proper house in a nice residential area again so we get trick or treaters! Didn't do anything special last night, just went on a wild goose chase for a Smarties pumpkin for OH since I'd forgotten to buy him one but there were none to be had in my town. Fortunately Mum found one in her town so I'm getting it off her tonight!

Poppy looked so flippin cute in her costume Wendz!

Oh my word, just realised that you can dress Gracie up as a Christmas Pudding next month Dinah! :J Please do it for me!!

My SIM has not arrived thus far Archers, boo! Hoping it'll come today. I've remembered that there's a Vodafone shop in my Mum's town where I'll be tonight so if there's still no SIM I can pop in and get one from there. Frustrating though, why do they have to mess with things like this?! It's not like standard SIM cards are massive?! My phone is pretty swanky, it's Jame Bond's phone (Sony Experia T) and makes my Nokia N8 look really small but feel fat and heavy at the same time! Nokia knows it's on the way out, battery hasn't lasted a full day all week and keeps losing my contacts, must be in a major sulk with me!

As for bike lights, get them straight away missy! It's not safe without them, people need to see you, never mind you being able to see where you're going! Hope you wear hi-vis gear too!

You haven't had much luck with baby equipment have you Dinah?! Hope everything gets fixed/replaced quickly and you can get back out and about! Great idea about getting a sling so you can go walking too!

Dinah93

Your Halloween night sounds fantastic Archers! We live in a proper residential house Birdie, and we didn't get a single trick or treater Mum and dad came over and we had stew and roasted winter fruits for pudding, was nice and relaxed.

Grace seems to be getting into a nice sleeping pattern, she went down at 8.30 last night, and for the first time we didn't wake her when we went to bed to try to get another bottle into her, and she slept through until her usual time of 7ish this morning. Nice treat.

Speech therapist didn't turn up, a colleague called and said he'd gone home that morning as he wasn't feeling well...fair enough but this was 40 mins after he was supposed to arrive and I'd had a hungry baby screaming for an hour as he told me she needed to eat while he was there. She apologised for the short notice and I was a bit irked to be honest as it wasn't short notice, it was late notice! Cruel trick.

Think we need to try for a first direct account again, haven't in over a year and we obviously have a lot less debt now.

We'll only guarantee to spend £2k in 3 months because we have 2 lots of car insurance which will come to about £1.4k. The card doesn't have a limit, but I wonder if car garages charge a percentage to buy a car on a credit card? If not then I think dad was hinting they'd give us the cash and buy mums new car on the card, give us a mega number of points.

I need to do the maths, but if I think it's likely to be possible to get enough points I'm going to get the points put on our virgin airmiles account (as much as we hated virgin atlantic, we already have some points with them and free trumps all now we're on a tight budget) and use them towards our return trip to New York.... now to find out if I can stack virgin atlantic points with a virgin holiday which I can pay for using tesco points..... (Evil grin)

Hopefully finally going to get the new buggy this afternoon, depends on how much work mum has on. I can't decide on the colour I want though, big decisions I can make, tiny ones, not a hope.

Already have a little santa outfit I got in last years Christmas sale Birdie, and the cutest little knitted reindeer boots ever. And some pram shoes with penguins on. Today I'm all excited because we actually have to get our tree the 1st December this year otherwise it will be the 16th I think (when my brother might not be able to come as he'll be working), and given how much Grace loves twinkly lights that's far too late anyway. So 1 month till tree day!

Just realised now in November, this gives me 3 weeks I think until the craft fair. I REALLY need to find some time to make some bits. It's hard now Grace has quit daytime sleeping.

Dinah93

For the first time in a long time, a to do list. If I don't cross at least 5 things off this today please yell at me. Or Grace, because I was playing with her instead of getting on with things.

3 blog posts
5 ebay listings
send mum £44
call respiratory clinic check appointment is with right consultant
new insurance quotes for truck
find mot certificate
do November budget and money shuffle
Activate Amex card
FB Rye photos
Text Sarah, Adam, Lynn, Abbie
Reply to 2 FB emails
GR report
tesco collection order for tomorrow to use up vouchers
Complete first craft fair item (and post photo to prove I completed it!)
Sort out all the Grace photos - week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4 to start with
Make pumpkin soup
Load through washer/on radiators/get stuff off line

roomontheend

Shrimpy I managed to get in yesterday and it flippin hurt. I know we don't go because we enjoy it, but holie molie. So hopefully that's me done for another three years.
I have the little blue persons beside me talking and smiling away at his hand, how cute.

wendz86

That is brilliant with Grace's sleeping. We didn't get the whole night till about 11 months.

How rude of the speech therapy people, you would have thought if they are working with children they would be more considerate!

The santa outfit and reindeer slippers sound so cute!

I'm all excited its one month till tree day too! Hopefully she won't pull it over this year....

I exchanged my tesco points this morning for vouchers for toys but one of tge one i want to buy isnt in stock so going to wait to see if it does.

Sorted my car insurance today. Saved £400 on what they quoted us and the excess is less as well.

Archers - sounds like you were very halloweeny last night! The dinner sounds fab.

shrimpy_80

Glad you got it over and done with ROTE (but sorry it was ouchie)

We had a few trick or treaters last night, including a very tiny and cute Dracula. I was so taken with helping him put his sweets in his pumpkin bucket that my cat escaped, so I then spent 15 mins on my hands and knees in the rain trying to coax him out from under my car (we don't let them out the front because of the road, particularly this one who is deaf).

Dinah I agree that is very poor of the Speech and Therapy people. Hope it gets rescheduled soon.

Archers, I'm really jealous of your Halloween feast! Will have to make up for it at Christmas. I made severed fingers and eyeball cake pops last year, so this year I was quite dull by comparison! I'm going shopping tonight so may treat myself to a festive jumper

Great deal on the car insurance Wendz!