Two Pennies Left

Fortune_Smiles

After the disruptions of Christmas and the snow, I finally feel like I'm back to some sort of routine - my house may even be clean by the weekend :rotfl:

MS today:

• went to Zumba and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I know the routines well enough now to have fun with it
• £2.64 refund from Waitr0$£ for returned substitutions, which meant...
• a 64p Tillytidy OP'd
• did the weekly shop and used my last £5 voucher. Think I'll be around £7 under budget
• a cupboard lunch
• Haddock and Leek Risotto from the meal plan for supper tonight
• an NSD

DSS1 is visiting on Friday. He has just started a new job and is attending some training in London this week so spending the night with us rather than face the 5 hour drive home on a Friday night. We are planning to pay our traditional visit to the pub for Sausage & Mash and a pint of Kentish Ale (that's a pint for the boys - not me) :rotfl:

Pay day tomorrow :T and curtain ordering day too :j

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mr F got paid today so I did the monthly money shuffle (always makes me sing the Hustle) :rotfl:



So lots of MS type stuff today:

• ordered the landing curtains - 50% deposit :j
• transferred personal spends to the appropriate accounts
• paid the credit card bill in full (only a small one this time)
• 3 Tillytidys OP'd at various stages in the day - 90p, 75p and 27p
• made the (now) regular £50 OP
• £180 to the savings account (should have been more - curse you HMRC and your multiple tax codes)
• man came to repair the chips to the bath today - amazing! I can highly recommend them if you have sanitary ware that needs rejuvenating. They can even change an avocado coloured bath to white!
• ordered some bulbs for the lamps in our bedroom (you remember them?). Mr F was mucking around the other night flapping a blanket at me and knocked one over breaking the bulb. Used my Amaz0n gift balance to pay for those - £3.24
• the remains of last night's Haddock Risotto for lunch
• received yet another tax code from HMRC through the post - this one is a scarily high K code :eek: It looks like they have charged us for 3 company cards and 3 lots of fuel allowance :mad:
• an hour or so on admin work this afternoon
• Meatballs in a Garlic Mushroom Sauce with Tagliatelle from the meal plan for supper

You may remember from the beginning of my diary that Mr F had a possible PPI claim. After the initial response from the building society and a little more research I'd sort of lost hope with it. But today I thought "What have we got to lose?". So, I've completed the FOS form and will be posting it tomorrow. Just in time as the 6 month response deadline is up soon. I really feel that the claim is valid as Mr F was in the Army at the time. If he had been sick or suffered an accident he would have received full pay. Nati0nwid£ are saying that the policy would have paid out benefits in addition to that but why would you insure your mortgage repayments if there was no chance that you wouldn't be able to meet them?

Wish me luck with that

Fortune x

megela

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

• received yet another tax code from HMRC through the post - this one is a scarily high K code :eek: It looks like they have charged us for 3 company cards and 3 lots of

They've done the same thing to my BIL before now. He spent the whole weekend worrying how he was going to afford to live before bringing it to me on the Monday (I do the wages). I'm sure the HMRC just have people tapping away and don't check anything. How could he possibly be driving 3 cars and using 3 lots of fuel at the same time. I dread to think how many people just accept what they are given and don't ever question it.

Good luck with the PPI claim. It's definitely worth trying.

Fortune_Smiles

I live for those lie-ins (I am so old).

Today's MS:

• went to Step this morning. Our instructer is very keen on doing a 'Boot Camp' session before the cool down - all I can say is "Ouch". However, it is all paying off - another 1lb lost today! I am so pleased with this as it takes me ages to lose weight
• popped into the market town after to post the PPI complaint and pick up some kitchen roll (missing from my Waitr0$£ delivery). Annoyed because I had to pay £1.93 instead of the usual £1.52 and I like to buy recycled which the local shop doesn't stock - so much for not stressing the small stuff :rotfl:

Waiting now for Mr F and DSS1 to arrive so that we can go to the pub for supper. I love cooking but it's nice to have a day off once in a while. I suspect that we'll end up footing the bill as usual but it's only the 1st of the month so the entertainment budget is ready and waiting.

Have a great weekend everybody

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I have spent the whole morning sorting out Mr F's tax - and he was no help at all. He gets so angry about the tax stuff that he morphs from his usual mild mannered self into a snarling ball of fury - often directed at me! Trying to get the information out of him is like pulling teeth and despite me asking him to "be nice" to whoever answers the 'phone he was very rude He has to talk to them first each time we call to authorise them to speak to me. I found out today that we can send in a letter to authorise them to speak to me about his tax at any time so I will definately be arranging that. Anyway, it's all sorted out now - he has a T code for the rest of the year and a small K code for next year. He'll also owe £144 at year end but we'll carry that forward and pay over the course of next year. Despite Mr F's extravagant company car choice we stand to gain £250 per month from the new job so all good.

DSS1 arrived last night and we went to the pub for our traditional sausage and mash supper. The landlord advised us that the puddings were all calorie free so jam sponges and sticky toffee puddings were duly ordered £58 ish (Mr F is grumpily refusing to find the receipt) for the three of us. DSS1 is starting a new job next week and apparently his employer has membership at the Savoy - so I live in hope of a free Savoy lunch at some point :rotfl:

DSS1 has decided to stay for another night. He and Mr F are downstairs watching the rugby at the moment. I have retired to the quiet sanctuary of the bedroom away from all that testosterone :rotfl:A band we know are playing at one of the market town pubs tonight so that's our plan for this evening. Just drinks to buy so hopefully it won't blow all of this month's entertainment budget in one go!

I intend to stay here for at least another hour watching old films and browsing the net. I've bumped the Vegetable Lasagne up for tonight's supper as I know the recipe will make enough for 3 but I won't have to start making that for a while yet.

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Oh that'll be the rugby then :rotfl:I am thinking about making my escape to the bedroom again soon.

We had a fabulous evening at the pub last night. Met up with lots of friends and the band were on good form. Mr F and DSS1 had been drinking since the rugby started so I had a fine old time trying to get them home and to bed. Only cost us £10 as DSS1 chippped in with the bar bill and I was driving. Oh - that and the dry cleaning bill. DSS1 managed to tip a pint of Guinn£$$ all over me :eek: No damage done except my cardigan will have to be dry cleaned. I was wearing my lovely suede and sheepskin M£rr£ll boots too. They were my last extravagant purchase before I left work so thankfully I was able to clean them up - although they do smell slightly of beer :rotfl:

Tonight's supper will be the leftover Vegetable Lasagane with some roasted vegetables to pad it out a bit. There is a small glassfull of red wine left over from dinner yesterday and I have my eye on that too - don't think there's any danger of Mr F pilching that today :rotfl:

I've some minutes to finish so will be taking those upstairs with me in a moment. My only other chores for today are a few Fleabay items, which I will list later, and some washing. However, we seem to have lost our water supply for some unknown reason so that may have to wait. Good job I had a shower earlier :rotfl:

Enjoy what's left of the weekend everybody

Fortune x

shala_moo

Sounds like a fun-filled packed weekend Fortune.. glad you enjoyed your calorie free puddings - you must steal the recipes, you could make your millions

Fortune_Smiles

shala_moo wrote: »

Sounds like a fun-filled packed weekend Fortune.. glad you enjoyed your calorie free puddings - you must steal the recipes, you could make your millions

Might have back-tracked on my 1lb weight loss this week Shala. However, we still haven't got any water so I might not be able to eat or drink anything for a while. I'll be Kate Moss by the next time you see me :rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Water was restored on Sunday at about 11 pm. It was a burst water main apparently. I'm quite impressed with S0uth £a$t Wat£r. It only took them a couple of hours to sort out the problem and I got a courtesy call yesterday morning just to check that everything was ok.


MS since then:

• finished the minutes and sent them off to the Committee. I have a further meeting on Saturday night (bleurgh) and have just been invited to another so my admin work will definately cover the rest of the curtain costs this month
• listed another 4 Fleabay items. Only small ones but I've got a couple of higher value things to go on this week.
• went to Step class. Really hard as there were a couple of new routines. When I got home I'd crept under the next lb (just) - but I may have sabotaged my progress...
• popped into the Market Town after to post a Fleabay item. 2 little items sold so about £4 to come
• Went to the C0-Op as DSS1's impromptu longer stay meant we'd run out of a couple of things. Whilst I was there a large bar of Green & Blacks Butterscotch chocolate leapt off the shelf and hid itself in my basket. I'd paid for it before I'd even noticed so it would have been wasteful not to eat it (surely?)
• OP'd a 4p Tillytidy
• Gnocchi & Tomato Bake from the meal plan for supper last night
• 45p for Mr Marmite - 20p raided from Mr F's change when he wasn't looking :rotfl:

I am having a day out with a girlfriend today. We are going shopping for clothes as I'm feeling quite shabby at the moment (I've been putting some of my personal spends by so I can have a splurge). We'll also have a nice lunch out as both Mr F and her husband are working late tonight. I've sent Mr F off this morning with supplies so won't have to worry about him later.

Hope you all have a good day

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I've had a lovely day out with my girl friend shopping today. I haven't updated my accounts yet so don't know the full horror but I am now the proud owner of:

• a 3 pack of sports socks, a 5 pack of knickers and two pairs of pyjama bottoms (buy 1 get 1 1/2 price) - all in the category of 'Keeping Running Out Of'
• one pair of jeans which I am soooooo pleased with. I really struggle to find jeans that fit and these are more comfy than my current favourite pair
• all the above from Y0urM&S so reasonably priced and my friend is a shareholder so had two £5 off vouchers one of which she donated to me for driving
• some shampoo, emery boards and a replacement garlic press - all in the category of 'Must Pick Up When I'm Next Passing'

Other MS or not:

• friend arranged for us to park at her friend's company so no parking fees
• lunch at Pr£zz0 - £20 each with a 25% off food voucher. Full fat Quattro Fromaggi Pizza with extra lard (might just as well have been), Honeycomb Cheesecake, a glass of Prosecco and a coffee. Abandon all dieting hope ye who enter there :rotfl:
• a free salted almond chocolate from H0t£l Ch0c0lat£
• no supper as I am still too full of wonderful, delicious, so so bad for you food
• replacement doorbell arrived today (can't remember if I mentioned it had broken). Did the research, found the best price, ordered through Amazon so I could use the remainder of my gift certificate balance - all for nought as it has a 2 pin plug and a 3 pin adapter which makes it stand out too proud of the wall. Fortunately their returns policy states you can return for whatever reason if you are not happy and they will refund the postage so it's just the return postage I'll lose. Note to self - always read the additional technical information.

I'm exhausted now so will take myself off to bed soon - I'm just not shopping fit anymore!

Happy Tuesday all

Fortune x