Hypno's kick up the backside debt diary....

se999

Pleased to hear your OH is getting an idea of what you do. It's not only OH's who can have that problem. I've had times when I've been 'at home all day' and people think that I just sat there and did nothing!

Things like Orange Wednesday tickets and the £1 Football tickets wouldn't happen if you didn't spend the time to find out about them. The 'free' Pigsback vouchers don't just appear miraculously either!

Anyway, it can't be easy with your neck problems, things like that can wear you down, so do take care.

hypno06

thanks Se999, a few weeks ago I made a list of all the things that I have done and their cash value, just so I could see exactly what all this achieves. By the time I had added in the bank reclaims that we have already had (damn you barclays), matched betting, quidco, clicks, mystery shops etc etc, there was thousands, without adding in the money saved by reduced grocery challenges etc.

I know he appreciates it "sort of" but doesn't do any harm to experience some of this first hand occasionally as a reminder!!

We have a very OS dinner going on in the slow cooker, which is producing lovely smells through the house - a joint of Moose that one of our Norwegian Student's father caught and gave to us as a gift (!) is slow cooking and producing a lovely gravy - we are all really looking forward to eating it tonight. Lunch was home made plum jam that I made yesterday on toast (sadly I didn't make the bread myself) followed by muffins. I am getting quite good at this!!!

se999

Moose is really nice, and mega expensive !! That was an extremely nice present.

Hope it turns out well. I think they tend to use berries in the sauce to give the sauce a fruity flavour.

se999

Just remember when you're doing your sums on what your 'savings' are worth, remember saving a pound is saving a pound of your 'net income after tax', so you should uplift with the tax to see the equivalent it would have added to your 'gross income' as a family. Hope you see what I mean

hypno06

Hi Se999, do you think I should add some of the blackberries that I picked at the weekend? I have those and blackcurrants available so could add them quite easily.

I do the grossing up for tax thing - need to put a true value on it. When I grossed up the latte I had every day (lovely term of phrase) when I was working I was horrified at the "real" cost!!

se999

I've only had the sauces in restaurants, so not got the recipes. I think the blackcurrants would probably be the closest. But it took us a while to get used to these very rich gamey sauces, so it might not go down well. It might be safer to stick with something you know your family will like.

Grossing up spends is a real shock!

Latte's, it's not just the pocket they hit, the number of calories they've got hidden in them :eek:

Seaxwyn

Hello Hypno. That sounds very positive - I completely understand your pleasure at OH having to deal with bank hassles.

And it's good to take stock of the value of all the things we do. Though I don't like to think about grossing up the cost of all the time I spend on this site!

hope your stay at home holiday is going very well. I'm jealous as I've had to ship my DS over to my mum's for a couple of days so I can work, and the girls are all keeping out of my way. Not a very wholesome family summer holiday at all.

Still, I'm looking forward to our week in Cornwall later on, though I think I'll be taking my laptop now I'm doing the short story challenge.

hypno06

I think I will stick with the sauce as it is - I have just done a typical "casserole" type sauce - carrots, tinned toms, herbs etc and just let it do its thing! It smells fab, and we haven't had Moose for ages!

Hi Seaxwyn!! The holiday is fab, but we are not doing a lot!! But then I suppose that is what we need! Cornwall will be excellent surroundings for writing stories - get those creative juices flowing!

LookingAhead

Just checking in......and catching up on the wildlife too!

How annoying re: paying Egg instead of MBNA. That's the sort of thing that really winds me up if I do it, so my sympathies! But hooray for the DH getting a taster of this ongoing debt battle......on your behalf I hope he gets a bit more too so he can *really* see what you go through.

Funnily enough I was having an e-conversation with a friend recently and we were saying how it's always us (the women in the household) that organise everything. :rolleyes:

hypno06

Hi LA, how's you?

the "boys" have had a good afternoon at Transformers, and we have just had the Moose - I did put a handful of blackcurrants in the sauce when it was cooking and it was delish. Went down a treat, and didn't cost a penny! Just the sort of meal I like

This evening the children are race training so I will finally get off the sofa and out of the house! I have quite enjoyed being here today!

OH admitted that it was :mad: having to deal with the phone today etc, especially as MBNA automated message calls every hour and they say they can't cancel it until payment has cleared! So he gets to have the frustrating dropped calls and automated voice stuff over the next couple of days too!