PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

In other news.....

The internet connection has been playing up again - I only seem to be able to get on in the evenings at the moment. Hope it sorts itself out soon! Oh well, once I am back at work next week I will only be going on in the evenings anyway.

Took DS to the doctors this morning - hayfever tablets and eyedrops, 2 lots of eczema cream, and checked out why he is been getting pains in his ankles. As I suspected, just growing pains - he is growing like a weed!

While I was there I asked him very nicely for a prescription for more migraine tablets - had to take one last night which meant I only had one left. Also asked him to refer me to the podiatrist again because my insole is starting to fall apart.

Had to go back again to the doctors this afternoon but I am not going to go into detail about what that was for (that really would be TMI) - let's just say it was a ladies appointment, one we have every 3 years!

OH is coming home for the weekend! :j He arrives tomorrow lunchtime and will be going back Sunday afternoon. So I don't know how much time I will spend on here over the weekend!

I think that is all the news for now - bye all!

rachelkate

Hi Pigginskint, it's taken me about a week to read through your diary and i must say i've really enjoyed reading it - most nights until my eyes seem to cross in tiredness actually.

I'm in a similar situation as you with your OH - head in the sand syndrome but i think he now realises how messy things could get - his mother is moving in with us in just under a month as she is voluntarily being reposessed. She has managed to go from no debt, no mortgage to taking a loan out in 2002 for 20k to pay for his sisters wedding and then paying for this and that and now (in just 7 years) has managed to run up debt (mortgage included) of 130k. Once she gives the house back and it sells - even if it is for what she owes(which i doubt very much) she will still owe on unsecured of approx 32k.

Oh well, at least we'll be having rent from her....

PigginSkint

rachelkate wrote: »

Hi Pigginskint, it's taken me about a week to read through your diary and i must say i've really enjoyed reading it - most nights until my eyes seem to cross in tiredness actually.

I'm in a similar situation as you with your OH - head in the sand syndrome but i think he now realises how messy things could get - his mother is moving in with us in just under a month as she is voluntarily being reposessed. She has managed to go from no debt, no mortgage to taking a loan out in 2002 for 20k to pay for his sisters wedding and then paying for this and that and now (in just 7 years) has managed to run up debt (mortgage included) of 130k. Once she gives the house back and it sells - even if it is for what she owes(which i doubt very much) she will still owe on unsecured of approx 32k.

Oh well, at least we'll be having rent from her....

Hello and welcome to my diary! I have to say I am impressed that you managed to read it all!

Hopefully now OH is working away, the head should get removed from the sand a little - especially as he is now responsible for his own food shopping! The other good thing, of course, is that he is earning a lot more now - actually earning more than me at the moment! Should all help with the debt busting!

Thanks for reading! (Can you tell I like exclamation marks??!!!!)

PigginSkint

Hi All

Onto update proper:

Back at work today – groan! At least it is only just over a week until payday! Woohoo! :j

I have had a nightmare with the internet connection over the weekend (over the week, if truth be known!) – managed to get on briefly yesterday morning to check OH’s trains but couldn’t get on at all yesterday evening, so no updates, no free scratch cards etc etc etc!! :mad::eek:

Hopefully by the end of next week, my new broadband should be ‘live’ so with any luck we won’t get so many problems. Should also save quite a lot of money. :T

OH came home on Saturday, went back Sunday and we had a really lovely weekend – the weather certainly helped! He has decided that he is going to come home every weekend while he can – at least for the time being. Because he is doing lots of physical stuff he has been advised to have a bath every day – he only has a shower in his flat (which is actually only really a bedsit). Also he feels the need to be at home while he can – London is a bit of a culture shock and he just feels he can relax better at home. So this means that between now and the end of May at least, the absences shouldn’t be too long. He is still feeling very stressed and a bit starstruck – working with so many high-profile people. He was talking to an old tutor of his the other day and he said that the cast were excellent and his tutor said to him ‘yes, but so are you’ – I think it did OH good to hear that.

Work is going to be a nightmare for the next few weeks – we are getting into my busiest time now. To add insult to injury our line manager, in her wisdom, has decided we can’t have another temp – she reckons we are ‘coping’. Would she like to have a look at how many hours flexi we have both got banked?! Would she like to come in here and tell us that and see how frazzled we are looking?! It’s a joke!

DS is back at school today. He is going to have to be a good boy and remember to lock up in a morning – he is now going to have to do it on a regular basis, instead of just occasionally. I stuck a note on the front door this morning to remind him! I don’t like leaving him on his own in a morning, but I haven’t got a lot of choice now with OH away. I shall just have to delay leaving until he is at least out of bed!

I am feeling very tired today as our cat decided to attempt to get in the airing cupboard at 2:00am – the clothes horse was against the door, but it was empty and so not very heavy. Darling kitty was making one hell of a racket trying to get in. I had to get up, remove cat from bathroom and shut the bathroom door very firmly so he couldn’t get in (we don’t normally close it all the way to, partly because there is usually no need and partly because it sticks). Yawn! I shan’t stay late today!

This evening’s to do list is as follows:

· Go to Aldi on the way home
· Collect Avon books from the most far-flung bit of my territory and hopefully do delivery up there (they weren’t in the other day)
· Put Avon books back out – should hopefully finish rest of territory
· Do battle with computer again – wonder how long it will take me to connect tonight (if I manage it at all)
· Do small amount of housework
· Have long soak in bath
· Have early night

I think that will do to be getting on with!

Right, better do some work! Bye all!

PigginSkint

Oops! Just noticed that I have put one of the mad smilies :mad: next to the wrong paragraph - should have been by the one about work, not the one about DS!

Can't edit from here so will have to try when I get home!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I am sooooo tired! I was going to stay at work late tonight but it just isn’t going to happen!

Last night was the first night that I was all on my own – well apart from the cat! This is OH’s 2nd week away but DS was at home all last week. This week DS is back at school so the normal routine is in place where he goes to his Dad’s from Tuesday until Thursday – he goes straight to his Dad’s after school on Tuesday and comes back to us after school on Thursday. Very odd being all alone!

I am on my own again at work today. My colleague was out all day on a course on Monday, in and out yesterday and today has gone to a funeral with several other people from here. She was here until late morning but won’t be back until late afternoon as she has to go and see someone afterwards. At least there is no one here to catch me yawning!

My colleague has managed to persuade our line manager that we do need a temp, so a new one is due to start next week – hoorah!

I have paid all of OH’s spare change from his Betterware money bag into my bank account today – that will form an extra payment off the Halifax card tomorrow. £8 worth in 1ps, 2ps and 5ps!

Still no internet at home – I think this is it now until my new broadband contract goes live. That should be early next week at the latest – can’t wait. My new phone bill which I received yesterday includes the connection charge (a small price to pay for such a good deal!) so it must be imminent.

Right, I think that is all the news for now. Better get some more work done I think – if I can get motivated, that is!

Bye all!

rachelkate

Hi Pigginskint,

I was so annoyed today in work - long story short is i'm on a fixed contract which is finishing soon and they won't make me permanent so i have to apply at the place for another job...to do my own work, but there we go...red tape and that... So i get an email yesterday saying i've got to go on a course on Monday - when i'm officially finshing in about 2 and a half weeks, told my boss i couldnt go because i'm off that day - going away for the weekend and travelling back on the Monday and she said 'Oh, well, prioritising a concert.... I was seething. They're the ones who haven't made me permanent after assuring me that i was going to be made permanent after 6 months and instead i've got to finish at 51weeks.... Blasted people!

Anyway, rant over.

PigginSkint

Hi All

I haven’t posted for a while for 2 main reasons: (1) Work has been nightmarishly busy (2) I had no internet connection at home for a while – I think this was a combination of Orange being carp and the transition from Orange to Talk Talk. TalkTalk broadband went live on Thursday so we now have lift off! And we are now wireless – woohoo!!

I managed to update my spreadsheets on Monday and it is looking really good! A major contribution to this was OH paying me the £400 he owed me and a lovely refund of £455.25 from Southern Electric. Woohoo! So here are the scores on the doors:

Total Catalogues
1/5/09 £0 Woohoo!
1/4/09 £22.82
Highest: £1060.92

LTSB Loan
1/5/09 £5233.80
1/4/09 £5391.80
Highest: £12175.11

Total Credit Cards
1/5/09 £20544.36 Woohoo!
1/4/09 £21807.59
Highest: £25104.07

Total Non-Mortgage Debt
1/5/09 £30778.16 Woohoo!
1/4/09 £32222.21
Highest: £41680.59

Achievements
· Total non-mortgage debt has reduced to below £31K
· Total non-mortgage debt has reduced by over £10K
· Total non-mortgage debt has reduced by over 25%
· Total credit card debt has reduced to below £21K
· Total credit card debt has reduced by over 15%
· Balance on remaining catalogue is now £0
· Balance on Tesco credit card is now £0
· Balance on LTSB credit card is now £0
· Balance on Virgin credit card is now £0
·
The following targets are now within reach:
· To reduce total credit card debt to below £20K
· To reduce total non-mortgage debt to below £30K
· To reduce total credit card debt by 20%
· To reduce total non-mortgage debt by 30%

So I am feeling really quite pleased with myself at the moment!
I will update more in separate posts.

PigginSkint

rachelkate wrote: »

Hi Pigginskint,

I was so annoyed today in work - long story short is i'm on a fixed contract which is finishing soon and they won't make me permanent so i have to apply at the place for another job...to do my own work, but there we go...red tape and that... So i get an email yesterday saying i've got to go on a course on Monday - when i'm officially finshing in about 2 and a half weeks, told my boss i couldnt go because i'm off that day - going away for the weekend and travelling back on the Monday and she said 'Oh, well, prioritising a concert.... I was seething. They're the ones who haven't made me permanent after assuring me that i was going to be made permanent after 6 months and instead i've got to finish at 51weeks.... Blasted people!

Anyway, rant over.

Hi rachelkate - sorry I didn't reply earlier (see today's post!). You boss sounds like a right git - bet you would be glad to get out of there!

Hope things are going better for you!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Just a quick update as I really ought to be working!

OH has now been in London for just over 3 weeks, but he has managed to get home nearly every weekend. Last weekend there were engineering works on the railway and on the underground, which would have made it very difficult (and expensive!) for him to get back, so I advised him to stay put. It was a bit weird being home alone at the weekend but at least the weather was nice! He is due home this weekend but will be late arriving on Saturday as they are doing a full run through of the show in the morning.

I had my Avon delivery on Tuesday morning so I have been busy getting everything bagged up and doing deliveries. I had bit of mishap yesterday when I tripped up going up the stairs with my cup of tea – tea went flying…… all over my Avon deliveries. Doh! So I had to do quite a lot of rebagging when I got home yesterday.

Tonight I must try to get rid of the deliveries that I couldn’t get rid of last night. Also I need to finish getting my books ready to go out and then put them out.

Last week at work was nightmarishly busy with exams and this week I am trying to catch up. I have still got lots to do, with revision placements to organise, timetabling to do, etc etc etc! I have now got 24 hours of flexi banked – more than I have ever had. The prospects of actually using any of it are slim at the moment!

I have decided to pay off the balance transfer fee I incurred when I transferred a balance to my Sainsburys card a few weeks ago. That will be an extra payment of £48 going out tomorrow.

My brain has gone to mush at the moment so I can’t think what else I meant to update on! So perhaps I had better stick to doing a to-do list for this evening:

· Do more Avon deliveries
· Finish getting Avon books ready to go out
· Put Avon books out
· Unload and reload dishwasher
· Put a load in the washing machine
· Play free bingo
· Do daily scratchcard
· Do daily clicks
· Look at trains for OH for Saturday

I think that will do to be going along with!

Bye all!!