PigginSkint's DFW Diary

PigginSkint

Just a quick update for now as I have got to go out in a minute.

I have got to go into town to pay some Avon money into my bank account. I also need to go to Holland and Barratt to buy some echinacea and zinc to try and repair my battered immune system. I shall also buy some lemons so I can have honey and lemon for the vitamin C.

I also need to go and have some passport photos done so I can get my passport renewal form done and in the post. I have been trying to look as much like my old photo as possible so that I don't need to have my photo and form countersigned! I don't look that different actually - a bit fuller in the face and longer hair. I shall wear my hair down for the photos (I normally wear it up) and have brushed my fringe down so I don't look too different. I have put some make up on so I don't look too pale and have even fished out a lipstick that is a similar colour to the one in the old photo. I have even put the same t-shirt on. How sad is that?!! All to save the hassle and possible expense of having to have the photo and form countersigned!!

Back to work tomorrow - not looking forward to it!

PigginSkint

Woohoo! I'm up to 300 posts!

PigginSkint

I am now back from town and OMG I'm tired! Goodness knows how I am going to manage at work tomorrow! I even went on the bus and I am worn out.

I've got to go to physio in the morning as well so I don't know how I'm going to manage that.

Had some fun (???) when having my photos done in the post office - the fire alarm went off while I was in the booth and the whole building was evacuated. :mad: I had to leave without my photos. When we went back in after about 10 mins I just had hope they were still there - luckily they were. They are horrendous but passport photos always are, aren't they?:eek:

PigginSkint

Well I am not back at work after all. I went to Physio this morning (lower limb rehab clinic - 2nd of 6 sessions, I missed the 1st one last week) and the Physiotherapist took one look at me and told me to go away! She told me to go home and get well and then think about going back.

Anyway as I was feeling decidedly rough I decided to go straight to the doctors to see if I could get in to see my GP today (I was supposed to be going to see him tomorrow anyway). Luckily I managed to get an appointment this morning. He said the infection had gone but as my asthma is having a major flare up I am not quite recovered yet. He asked me about work and I said that I was supposed to be going back today. His immediate reply was 'oh no you're not!'. That told me! He gave me a sick note to take me up until Monday but if I am not feeling much better by Friday I have got to back. This is a relief actually because I really don't feel well enough to go back yet.

Anyway this has meant that I had to do quite a lot of emailing and phoning to sort things out because there was a fair bit I was supposed to be doing by the end of the week that I can't do - I have had to delegate!

Oh well, I can relax now and concentrate on getting well and not worrying about work - well apart from putting my Avon books back out but that won't take long and at least I can sleep afterwards!!

PigginSkint

I forgot two other bits of news from today - one good, one bad.

I got the gas and electric bills today - gas payments will be the same but the electric payments are going up to £37 a month instead of £31.:eek: Time to (a) read the meters - both the bills are based on estimated readings, and (b) research changing suppliers (something that needs doing anyway)

The good news is that I have sold a book on Amazon - hooray!! :j

PigginSkint

Heaven preserve me from disorganised men!!:mad: OH asked me last night if I would phone up today and organise his digs for next week. And, get this, he decided to tell me the details after I had gone to bed last night - he woke me up to tell me! :mad: Men!

Took DS to the doctors this morning as he was due a review of his asthma medication and also he has eczema on one of his hands .

Feel a bit better today - I think. Just feel tired.

Nothing much else to report today. Oh, apart from the fact that I have sent an email to the buyer of the book that I have sold through Amazon telling them that because of the postal strike today I am going to wait until Monday before I post it.

PigginSkint

Well a new month is upon us so time to update the signature – see below. The total credit card debt is steadily dropping – thanks to the fact that even though OH is spending on the Halifax credit card, he is matching that by paying big chunks off it every month. Also the big spending weeks also tend to be the big earning weeks (because of travel expenses to rehearsals) so they even out, more or less!

Got a letter in the post from MBNA on Saturday – I had applied for a new credit card with them with a 0% APR for 12 months deal. Got declined for it, surprise, surprise (i.e. NOT!!!). Think another few phone calls are in order to see if I can move some of the balance from the LTSB card elsewhere otherwise I shall have to move it to the Egg card and move it back again – I shall have to hurry up because I think there are only 3 weeks left to take advantage of the 0% deal on the LTSB card.

Back at work today, after 2.5 weeks off sick. It hasn’t caused much of a ripple because it turns out I am not the only one who has been ill – they are dropping like flies here! I’ve got loads to do, which is not what you want to come back to. I shan’t be putting in very long hours this week because although I feel reasonably O.K. now I still get tired easily.

PigginSkint

Hi All

Just a quickie because I’ve got looooooads to do! I have got a stinking headache today and I really don’t want to stay longer that I have to – I will be on that 4pm train today!

My balance transfer from LTSB to Amazon card has gone through – hooray!:j Now I know exactly how much more I need to move – I will check everything when I get home and make a few phone calls. I also need to check the date on the LTSB 0% deal to make sure I have got enough time to move it off and then move it back again – if that is what I decide to do.

Well the past 24 hours have been pretty crappy for me. Yesterday I spent the day photocopying (yawn!) – a really boring but necessary job (copying exam scripts before they went out to be marked). I left later than I planned, and got absolutely soaked on the way home because the heavens just opened. :mad:

DS has managed to lose his PE kit (at school) – really good timing as he is supposed to be having sports day today. Had words with OH again – because I asked him to do something! I had asked him to get some stuff out of the loft for me, because he didn’t get round to doing it on Sunday (but he did mow the lawn for me on Sunday – a first!), which was fine, but then I had the temerity to ask him to do something else! I asked him to frontline the cats (long overdue) and he said (or rather moaned) ‘can’t I do that tomorrow?’ because ‘I’ve still got lines to learn’. I mean, how long does it take to pin down 2 cats to dose them with frontline?! Anyway I had a go at him because I had had a long day as well, I was also tired, I also had things to do, but certain things need to be done. This is an almost exact rerun of the conversation we had on Sunday – I reminded him that if I decided to go on strike from other chores on the days when I am working all day (5 days a week every week) he wouldn’t eat because there would be no meals cooked etc etc etc. :mad: :mad: Anyway rant over!!

Today I woke up with an absolutely stinking headache. I got up a 6am so that I could make OH a cup of coffee and put his sandwiches (that I had made) on top of his bag so that he wouldn’t forget them. I took some paracetamol and went back to bed for an hour. Got up again at 7am, still with the headache, but I couldn’t justify staying in bed any longer. Got ready for work and then DS decided to hog the bathroom at a most inopportune moment which meant I left the house late which I knew would mean I would miss my train and have to get the next one (which is what happened). On the way to station it started to tip it down again, so I got wet, again! Luckily I had my waterproof on but I could have done with my waterproof trousers as well!!

That’s a lot for what was supposed to be a quick update. Oh well! Anyway, really must get on and do stuff now – I want to go home today!

PigginSkint

Hi All

Well it’s been a mixed day so far. I was supposed to be going to physio this morning but felt rather shaky and bit short of breath so I decided that I probably wasn’t well enough to go – I have not been yet but I understand it involves some quite strenuous exercises. I phoned them up to tell them and they agreed. So I had another cup of tea, some honey and lemon and finished my library book that was due back today. Then I caught the bus into town, went to the library and then went and caught the train to work.

I felt a bit queasy as well this morning so I hope that doesn’t turn into anything – there is a stomach bug doing the rounds at work.

OH was slightly more pleasant to be around last night – he does have a tendency to bite my head off when he is stressed! Anyway as he is going away today for a few days for the first performances of the play, he decided to treat us to an Indian takeaway – the last time we had a takeaway was about 2 weeks and the last time we had an Indian was over a month ago (perhaps 2 months or more), so I suppose this is allowed!!

I’ve sold another book through Amazon today – hooray! Not a small sale either - I sold it for £5.95 so that will help the family finances.

I have realised that with all the credit card shuffling I will be doing this month some minimum payments won’t need to be made. This is good in one way as it takes the pressure off the cashflow a little. Not so good in another way because it means I won’t have paid so much off this month so the total won’t drop as much. I think I will make some payments anyway just to keep things going in the right direction.

I think I might move my balance from my LTSB card to my Egg card and back again after all. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I got an email from Egg yesterday saying that there are no fees on balance transfers at the moment – this is good! I will still have to pay a fee to transfer a balance back to my LTSB card but at least it will only be 1 lot of balance transfer fees instead of 2. Secondly, I had a quick look at how much credit I have got available on the other cards that I was considering moving some of the balance to (those that I haven’t already tried) – it’s not a lot so it’s probably not worth it. I just need to check that I’ve got enough time to do it – I think I have – and then just get on with it. Must get onto that tonight I think.

Tonight I must put my Avon order online so this evening is going to be a busy one. I haven’t even checked the individual orders yet – something I normally do as I go along – so I will have to do that first. I shall then give some thought as to whether to go for the latest offer of a bumper bargain box – it costs £50 but you pay £25 in one campaign and then the other £25 in the next. The thing about these is you don’t know exactly what is in them until they arrive – but you can return it if you don’t like it. However, they usually contain quite a lot stuff that is suitable for presents so they tend to be a good buy. I think I have talked myself into it, I will order one and I can always send it back if it’s rubbish!

PigginSkint

Hi All

I managed to get my Avon order done last night…eventually! I was interrupted by a phone call, I spent a long time searching for some missing orders (still can’t find one – I will have to have another search tonight and phone it through) and I spent ages deciphering another – one of my customers has very poor health so her handwriting is difficult to read, to say the least, and she doesn’t tend to write much in the description part of the order form making it very difficult to work out what it is she actually wants! I didn’t finish until about 9pm. Then I had to make some dinner for myself – luckily it was just a case of reheating in the microwave the rest of the previous night’s takeaway.

As a result of this I got precious little else done! One job I did do was check when the 0% APR deal for balance transfers to my LTSB card expires – 13th July. So I went straight back on the laptop and transferred my balance from my LTSB to my Egg card (no fee – yippee!) which will take no more than 7 working days to go through. This means I will have just enough time to transfer it back again. Hope it doesn’t bounce! Yikes! :eek: That really would mess things up! But I have done it before so it shouldn’t happen. What I shall do is not transfer the same amount so hopefully they won’t spot it!

I have got one more trick up my sleeve if that does happen. Currently we use just the one credit card for spending (as necessary) – Halifax. If I change this so that it is the Egg card instead, transferring whatever balance is left on the Halifax card to the Egg so that I have a £0 balance on the Halifax card, then ask Halifax for a deal on balance transfers. This is quite possible because (a) they offered me one not so long ago, and (b) I have just been given another deal on another card run by Halifax. Hopefully it won’t come to that but it is definitely a possibility.

I had an appointment with the podiatrist this morning. This was because I need a new insole and the doctor wanted me to be reassessed because he wondered whether the difference in my leg lengths was contributing to the problems that I am having with my knee. It turns out that my right leg is actually shorter than was originally thought – we thought it was about ½ inch shorter than the left, but it appears to be about double that! So I have got to have a new insole that is twice as high as the old one! That’ll take a bit of getting used to!
Really, really must get some other stuff done tonight. What I must do is as follows:

• Complete passport application form and send it off
• Complete European health card form
• Parcel up book that I have sold ready for posting
• Look for missing Avon order
• Load dishwasher and tidy kitchen
• Tidy living room
• Put clean washing away

I think that’s all for now