make do and mend for tougher times

Pooky

Evening toughies

Poorly house of Pooky today, DH and DD2 are both coming down with my bug, DD1 has escaped to work (but is nursing a major hangover - I don't sympathise). I was so glad to just be able to pull out a bag of prebaked jacket potatoes and a block of veggi chilli from the freezer. No fuss, home cooked food to make everyone feel better (although I couldn't taste a ruddy thing)

Haven't had the heating on today as everyone has been under duvets/lap quilts, I managed to shove a load of washing going but lacked the energy to hang it on the airer so it got shoved in the tumble drier (I figured that as it was sunny and the solar panels were generating more than we were using, it was wise to get the stuff dry and out of the way)

Pulled a stuffed turkey joint out for tomorrows dinner, it might just get shoved in the halogen and sliced for sarnies though.

mama67

I am on taxi duty tonight, DH has already taken DS2 to his party and I'm soon dropping off DS1 plus a couple of friends at theirs. Then later I'll be fetching DS2 home. DS1 is either crashing at a friends or walking home, (next village), and if crashing I'll pick him up in the morning.
The joys of teenagers and their social lives.

kidcat

Mardatha - they are supposed to however dont rely on it, mine didnt update until 5am last year, so its highly possible it will be late.
My OH has to be in work for 4.30am and we usually set a normal alarm clock just in case as well. The clock change always causes us major difficulties for us with his early start.

Pooky - ((hugs)) nothing worse than a poorly household. Hope you all feel better soon.

JKJ

mama67 wrote: »

Fuddle you need to ask the school office for a P46 form, which will be then sent to the pay office and then HMRC who will issue you with a code.
Unless you have had a P45 since 6 Apr 2012 then you should take that in.

hth

HMRC told me today that an employer can only use a P46 BEFORE you have received your first pay. Otherwise you will need to speak to HMRC as a
P46 cannot be used.

fuddle

I rang HMRC today. They said to get the p46 from my employer. It's annoying when call centre staff don't all sing from the same hymn sheet. I suspect you're correct JKJ and that my advisor is incorrect.

I'll see what the council say on Monday but I bet I end up contacting HMRC myself too.

Byatt

TBH, even in my day, you could get told different things depending on who you talked to. I have not heard of the P46 not being sent in after an employee has been paid, but of course it's a long time since I did it.

Fuddle, are they working on a Saturday?! The training was very long once upon a time and eveb then you didn't know everything, so I suspect the call centre staff don't know everything either and wing it. It's probably worth contacting HMRC direct, it never hurts to have two irons in the fire and if you get a helpful one they may sort your code out right away. When do the council do their payroll? Hopefully get it sorted before the next pay roll, if not it will be December.

savingqueen

Evening all (said the policeman )

Thanks everyone for the porridge receipes and advice. Didn't get a chance to try this morning but will do tomorrow and report back if I remember.

Kidcat - hope you got your car door fixed (haven't yet read all posts) ...

here's a car window story.... skip if you're skim reading...

We ran our last car down til it wasn't economical to fix and for last few months the driver's door window wouldn't open (well it would but then you couldn't close it so we left it shut too.) We had air con for the summer so that was fine - only prob was at car parks when you had to grab a ticket or feed one back in ther machine whilst in the car. I had to physically get out of the car and once I misjudged the distance (being scatty) and sonehow managed to wedge the edge of car door in the metal sign on the ticket machine. Oh that was fun with a big queue of impatient cars behind me - people do like checking to see if their horns still work in such situations don't they? :rotfl: I did manage (with no b*gger offering any help, just giving encouraging hoots) to free it myself with a combo of brute force and sheer luck.

Our current car has no air con (well we do have it but needs topping up or whatever they do and we decided not to bother and save our tenners) but luckily our window works! :rotfl:

Sitting here in a T-shirt as so warm. Decided to have heating on low only 16/17 degrees all day (not night) and see what difference it might make to our condensation problem. I've been doing lots of research and general gist is you need heat, insulation (guess those two go together) and ventilation. So leaving windows open a teensy eensy bit and heating on low -seems mad and DH is giving me grief complaining about giraffes or some such nonsense. I abhor having windows open with heating but am so concerned about the mould we have. I am making an action plan of anything and everything I can try to help reduce the condensation.

What do you sensible folk think? Should I insulate more eg fleeces at windows, bubblewrap and all usual tricks to increase insulation/heat and still let fresh air or leave draughty bits as they are so we have some 'natural' ventilation?

We have had 4 baths today (one each), used steamer for veg, washing machine and dishwasher and I've wiped the windows down several times from first thing in morning to about half an hour ago (and I know when I look the windows will be wet again as DH is currently having his mammoth bath)

oops here his lordship comes, better surrender the PC and hotfoot to my working (:j) laptop

laters
SQ:)

Pooky

SQ - ventilation is the key, the air needs to flow to whip the moisture away and out of the house. Do you have air bricks? The problem nowadays is that houses are so well insulated that no air can flow between the walls/floors. I keep at least one window upstairs and down on the safety catch/nighttime catch that's on most double glazing now, this ensures a flow of air through the entire house. Bathroom window is always open on the catch too as we have no extractor fan. If I'm steaming/cooking then kitchen window gets opened a crack. We rarely use our central heating and don't suffer with condensation.

It may work out more cost effective to run a dehumidifier than the heating too.

CRANKY40

Instead of asking about forms Fuddle it may just be easier to ring HMRC and tell them you need the correct tax code sending to your employer. You will probably need to give them an estimate of your income up to April 2013 and the employer info from your payslip. This is the way I do it.

I don't have an employer (well I do, but I'm on a career break so I don't receive a salary). I get a pension from the MOD which is taxable at source and widowed parents allowance, which is also taxable but not at source. At the start of every tax year I call HMRC and tell them how much WPA and how much pension I will be getting and ask them to send a code to pay tax on the lot to the MOD pension people. The first time I did it the bloke was a bit disconcerted that I wanted to pay through the year rather than get a tax bill after I'd used the money, but he did it and it's worked fine ever since. I would try telling them what you want them to do rather than asking advice. It seems to work better.

missrlr

I think a dehumidifier would be better and possibly cheaper than heating all time and letting the warm air out. I follow the open windows as much as possible for as long as possible every day, close when cooling down. Then shut thick lined curtains. Crack open bathroom pretty much all time more or at least 30 mins following bathroom use.
So maybe leave a few draughts but consider the dehumidifier ...