Hoarding - Springing Ahead

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Had to smile last night when my Mum was on the phone accusing me of losing the invite to a family wedding when I was decluttering at her's on Easter Weekend (decluttering with her direction and consent).

I've mentioned before my family's habit of opening post, glancing at it, stuffing it back in its envelope and putting it on the side to deal with Later. This was what had happened to the wedding invitiation, which I found behind the mantle clock on Easter Friday when I cleared the mantlepiece off to dust, remove extraneous carp and replace the items.

Mum was stressed because she couldn't find the invite and this was, of course, My Fault, as I must have thrown it away. Now, bearing in mind that I was dealing with paperwork and not my own paperwork, I had been extremely careful in what I'd done and was sure I hadn't thrown the invite away. Asked her if she'd looked behind the clock and she said she couldn't see it, it was a big envelope, it'd be visible if it was behind there.

My recollection was a regular sized envelope and I'd put it back where I'd found it (behind the clock) and the clock had hidden it, so persuaded her to put the phone down and check.

Yup, it was there all right and she'd been stewing for a couple of hours for nothing. Could hear Dad chirping in the background that it was overdue to be posted back anyway, they should have RSVP'd before now, to which my thought was you can both write perfectly well, why is this the wife's responsibility? :rotfl:

The moral of the story is that IF the invite had been RSVP'd when it arrived, not stashed, none of this anxiety would have happened. Or even, if it had been put somewhere like the letter rack. Which is invariably empty. And that you should trust your grown daughter not to do something daft like bin the invite to her cousin's wedding.

In a round of papery decluttering last year, we found an invite to a family wedding which took place in the 1960s in London. No one from our branch of the family attended it at the time, these were distant rellies and we're not in touch for 50 years, but Mum insisted this be kept.........aarrgghhhh!

silvasava

Total meltdown yesterday. Needed to call A**a to get the PAC number for DH's phone. I was on the phone from 11am to 8pm last night. I know all the words to their three 'holding songs'. Only good thing was I thought to check how much an 0845 number would cost EEEK!!! did a googly & came up with a site that gives you alternative lower cost or free numbers. Managed to get an 0800 number instead. I think I have probably paid out in calls what DH had left in credit on his phone!!
Tried again first thing this morning & managed to get through. I do feel sorry for the operators 'cos is must be absolutely manic for them at the moment. Still ONE thing of my list - haha

anirtak191

Had a slight surprise this morning. A while ago I decided to try my hand at oil painting. And my husband asked on local fb selling page if he sold one on my behalf how much should he ask for. I said to him when he mentioned it. To go ahead. Probably get told a fiver. And I know its not one of the better knes I done.
only one suggestion so far but they suggest £30.0
So im quite surprised at that.maybe I ought to get in the mood to paint again lol.

silvasava

:T:TWell done anirtak - you've obviously got a talent so go for it.

whitewing

You are doing really well with your decluttering/selling

anirtak191

hi greyqueen, i do a similar thing to your mum, i put things there safe so i know where they are as i know i will need to do something about it and then i cant find it. happene with the gifts tho so i started keeping them in a box box in a cupboard, so theywere all in one place with a list of what was for who.
paper work is the worst, i got a small draw filing cabinet thing we picked up cheap, and most of the paper work goes on top of it , until i get fed up of looking at it, maybe 3 times ayear and then they go in their proper draws lol. the number of times i have put stuff up there then when i have come to need it it has disapeared.
well either that or it arrived on one of my bad days gone straight ona table, witch periodically i think no important paperwork there or it wouldnt be there and just swipe it int he recycle bin lol.
this morning is a good example,
hubby was off work sick for a few months, and we asked for help with the rent. as he was only entitled to half pay while off. bills totalling around 650 a month and wages being around 550 a month if we were lucky.
looked everywhere this morning for the letter we had about help with the bedroom tax so i can cancel it as hes just had his first full pay since being back in work, and i cannot find it any where, but lucky enough i rang the council and they are able to do all that for me. they have suspended the claim now until i take in a letter with dates and info etc. hate writing letters, never know how to word them or what to put in them.

hi lucy, i know what you mean about clearing in someone elses place. is it just me or does other people find it easier doing other peoples places more than their own.
there is probably one person i would class as a friend in cardiff. and she absolutely hates clutter. she always used to be tidying up and getting rid of things etc.
but since she met her husband, and they moved in together, her place looks as bad as mine. actually on the odd occasion ive popped in when down that way, seats have needed to be cleared of laundry. so when i looked after the house and the dog for her when she went on her honeymoon, i tidied up for her, didnt throw anything as i didnt know what was imprortant or not, especially paper work and receipts as she needs to keep most of hers as she runs her own business. so i done 3 piles. rubbish leaflets that come throught he door, mainly menus, as i didnt know if they were recycling or ones they keep, stuff that looked like business paperwork, and stuff that looked like household paperwork. did all her ironing (10 black bags full) + cought up on her dirty laundry, after ironing was another 4 b bags full. and then just did a quick general tidy round, put things away where i knew they went and others put in the spare box room as i didnt know where their homes were.
but she was at least thankful and greatful for what i had done.
i partly done it due to the fact at the time it was actually worse than my place and i dont think i could have been there and left everythign as it was especially knowing she didnt like it being like that. and all the work is left down to her, running the business, looking after the kids, looking after the house, everything. i never see her husband doing a thing, even coming down to taking a knife off the baby when hes only 3ft away. hed just sit here and scream at the top of his lungs shouting for his wife to come and take the knife off the baby cos he wouldnt give it to daddy it was his. even whent he baby was first born, they were trying to get ready to go away for a couple of days, as usualy she was doing everythign and he was just sitting there, and he may have cought a look off me, and asked to be given somehtign easy to do, she suggested he bath the baby so one less thing for her to do, and he went no i said give me something easy to do :eek:. id like to be gutsy enough to be able to say something. but i think i keep my mouth shut more to not couse problems for her, i dont think hes violent, or abusive towards her, hes just lazy, and speaks his mind. if i thought he was abusive towards her in any way id like to think i would say something.

any way, plan of action for today as i didnt get round to it yesterday is turn my music up, i work better with music. and try and empty the 2 wardrobes in the spare room. maybe take apic of them and try and get rid so i have 2 more less things to work around, will see how long that takes me before i decide on anything else.

and not sure if i had a good idea or not. couple of days after i started i decided to take before, and hopefully if i ever feel i get finished take after photos.

and ive rambled so much after re readin some posts to reply, i nearly forgot what i came back on for in the first place :rotfl:
would any one know any websites that give instructions on makeing your own curtains, i was looking at some, just in case i ever get round to being finished and manage to decorate the room, and cant see any i like, but i have material here that i prefer to what ive seen, and at some of the prices for curtains, buying other material would be cheaper and have more or less what i want rather than as usual doofering with something or cos its all we can afford. if im gonna do it i may aswell do it properly.
altho some people wouldnt agree as apparently my decor is unusal, i odnt do plain colours lol. planning on burgundy and cream for living room, yellow and blue in spare room, even tho the dining room is blue and yellow, but im not going to change that just yet. maybe later, its not exactly right for dinning room decor, but i can alwasy brighten up one wall. and for some reason i always tend to go for blues in the bathroom.

ive even had some people pulling a face when i describe what i wanna do.
thing is then theyve eaten their words once ive finshed :rotfl:

GreyQueen

silvasava wrote: »

Total meltdown yesterday. Needed to call A**a to get the PAC number for DH's phone. I was on the phone from 11am to 8pm last night. I know all the words to their three 'holding songs'. Only good thing was I thought to check how much an 0845 number would cost EEEK!!! did a googly & came up with a site that gives you alternative lower cost or free numbers. Managed to get an 0800 number instead. I think I have probably paid out in calls what DH had left in credit on his phone!!
Tried again first thing this morning & managed to get through. I do feel sorry for the operators 'cos is must be absolutely manic for them at the moment. Still ONE thing of my list - haha

I feel you pain; I spent 1.5 hours doing this last Saturday. At least I was calling from the phone in question which meant it only cost 25p.

When I finally got my PAC I said sympathically to the call agent that I bet they'd be glad when 30th was passed. As a call centre worker, I feel their pain.

You can claim refund for unused Old Asda credit via their website, but they do send the verification code to the mobile in question. I did mine about half an hour ago: https://mobile.asda.com/end

I put the link up as it can be a bit awkward to find among the rest of the stuff on the website. HTH.

Just opened a letter and it's Co Op Energy telling me my leccy is going up for 01/04/14. That's cute; I left them effective 02/03/14. Surely some mistake there, Shirley? I need to go 'round with their call centre about them not finalising my account due to not having my final gas reading (they have the leccy one, apparently) from the new supplier. It was sent in Feb. And again in March. I shall have to devote some time to hanging on their line but not this afternoon as will be going out again soon to archery class. If they tell me they still don't have it, I shall politely ask to start a complaint process as this isn't good service and I can't keep wasting my time queuing to talk to my new supplier to keep getting them to repeat-send back to Co Op, only for them to be telling me they don't have it.

I started this switching process in January and will be getting my first quarterly bill in May and Co Op still can't twig that they're not my supplier - doh! Perhaps they've been catching something from Co Op Banking?! It's a case of give me my money, honey.

Well, ADSA mobile number on its way over to '3'. It's a loose and immoral number, originally came from Voda

---

. Takes me ages to memorise an 11 digit number and I CBA to learn a new one.

silvasava

Thanks GQ - I did claim my refund but as you say its quite roundabout to find out how to do it. The reason I stuck it out so long was 'cos DH wanted to keep his number too. I've made up a bit for yesterday though. Two little parcels posted. 1 bag gone to CS AND I didn't stop to have a look round (polishes halo ) Did a troll round the local shops for bits and pieces & came home & defrosted two scones for DH & I to have in the garden with a cuppa. I've still got 'stuff' on my to do list but I'm getting it down facter than I thought - probably 'cos the sun is out for five minutes.

anirtak191

Just opened a letter and it's Co Op Energy telling me my leccy is going up for 01/04/14. That's cute; I left them effective 02/03/14. Surely some mistake there, Shirley? I need to go 'round with their call centre about them not finalising my account due to not having my final gas reading (they have the leccy one, apparently) from the new supplier. It was sent in Feb. And again in March. I shall have to devote some time to hanging on their line but not this afternoon as will be going out again soon to archery class. If they tell me they still don't have it, I shall politely ask to start a complaint process as this isn't good service and I can't keep wasting my time queuing to talk to my new supplier to keep getting them to repeat-send back to Co Op, only for them to be telling me they don't have it.

not sure if i done the quote properly.

but i think your best bet if you have to ring again, is weather you are or not tell them that as they have the right to record your calls, you are also recording this call.
and i always find when i need to complain about something, i ask for the call reference number and their name and take note of it before i start talking about anything else. some will say they dont take call ref numbers but more often than not if the calls are being recorded there will be a ref number. ive even taken extension numbers aswell before now. not sure of the ins and outs of swapping electric/gas etc, but it might be a good idea to hunt up information, cos if you start spouting of a load of legal jargen at them when your on the phone, half the time they end up putty in your hands.

the other thing i do after asking for ref number etc, is say and now id like to speak to a supervisor, especially if ive allready made a few calls about the same issue.

i did this with my internet provider, i was constantly having problems and the only way they could fix my problems was if i sgned on to a new contract. so i agreed to the new contract, and their terms and what was offered, inc 3 months at half price, i would get a refund for half the last 3 months of problems.(even tho i had been having problems for over a year) with also a reduced payment for a further 6 months to go back up to the normal price for a further 9 months. this included a new router that shoudl have fixed all my problems. 3 months in i hadnt had a reduced price, i still had the same problems, and i didnt get any of the refunds that had been offered. they also told me no one had had the right to offer me what they did as it wasnt part of their offers for existing customers. so when i said i wanted their name and ref number, they tried to tell me they didnt have ref numbers and refused to give me her name. and hung up on us. so we rang back, got a different person, i asked for all the details then asked to speak to a supervisor, and had them agreeing to cancle my contract, at no charge as they were the ones in breach of the contract, we were promised a b c d etc, and we hadnt had any of it. on top of that they were not supplying us with a working product that we were paying for, and to throw it over the top we found most of their reps on the phone rude and un co-operative.
i ended up with 6 months refund and a canceled contract with no charges for breaking the contract plan early.

i find if you start sounding like you know what your on about they back down and get everything sorted. especially if they know what your saying is the truth.

lostinrates

A side benefit of de cluttering.


On Sunday, because the weather was bad DH and I spent time doing housework and some Dericharding. Some biggish steps forward ( three boxes of miscellaneous chargers etc agreed for the tip) and some smaller ones, ( a chair we've been hanging onto for ages in the kitchen is going to the barn.....a smaller step )

The loss of clutter and increase in space feels amazing. But what I didn't expect? More light in the rooms!

And the best thing? Today DH said, you know...its almost addictive, this Dericharding.....let's get rid of some more stuff this weekend.

I'm so excited. I feel this might be a real Change in the way things work here, and that we're BOTH seeing the BENEFITS not just the reluctant necessity of a clearer house.