Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Pippilongstocking

Well done 7week wonder!

Ah pieces - that's what we say.

Off to catch up on the fine lands here.

Waves hello.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Lovely to of had visitors to the thread during the day. Thank you for stopping by. I must admit, I do so find it interesting on what folk 'pick up on' in my posts We call 'snap' erm, 'snap' out of affection for a dear Uncle, who always refers to 'snappin' or 'snap' (and sometimes 'bait' - which is always 'bait tin' - dunno why). He hails from the outer fringes of Dudley, so whether it is a Dudley, or indeed 'Black Country' term, I'm not sure. We're lucky to have him in our family by marriage. It's a snap box or bag in this house, or a snap 'bucket' if there is lots of leftovers [STRIKE]to get rid of [/STRIKE] available for lunch. I'd heard of 'piece' before, and being a greedy soul, I hope I never get given a 'wee piece' :eek: :rotfl:

Well, dearest DP managed to get to the washing machine repairers today, during the miniscule time slot that they deign to allow members of the general public onto their premises. The additional 'furtul' with the machine last night did indeed pay dividends, in that DP had correctly diagnosed that the fault is 'terminal', in as much as it requires a new circuit board, at £100 a pop and in addition, this then has to be 'coded' (for want of a better phrase) to your machine by a h*tpoint engineer - upshot £100+ fee payable. So for £200 we could get a lousy 7yr old machine working for........ how many months until something else went wrong? So the decision is made. Repair is not an option.

Dinner this evening is going to be mixed bean chilli and rice. Funnily enough my appetite has gone, so there is no point slaving over lavish meals and then not wanting to eat the end result. I'm just letting the rice cook by the absorption method and the chilli cool down a bit and the flavours meld.

Oh, good news, the email has come through from T*sco with the breakdown membership. We've now got to contact the company by email etc etc to make the membership valid. We'll attempt to do that later. But so far, the online cashing in of ccard vouchers is proving quicker than the old method.

Right, I'll going to disappear off and get our dinner dished up. I'll be back later, and will need to start formulating a plan. The key fund thinking isn't necessarily going to work for the rabbit I've got to pull out of the hat this time.

Thank you for continuing to support this diary. It is greatly appreciated.

See y'all in a while.

Greying

boredofbeingathome

Congratulations on the job SWW

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening :hello:

Good grief...........half an hour plus waiting on the phone to get through to member services at the breakdown company............It would appear that we have (possibly) successfully 'bought' breakdown cover with our vouchers, except it is showing that we have bought it for 2012/13 and not 2013/14......eeep! Apparently there is an IT issue and it will all be resolved in the wash........

My brain is now mush. I am beyond plan formulating this evening I will need to develop a list though, and I'm starting to know what needs to be on it, so all is not lost. Actually getting this pesky breakdown cover sorted was part of it, as that is something that is of value to us, but with no cash outlay if you see what I mean. Next biggy is to hit the comparison sites ref the household bill that is in and needs to be sorted by the end of the month. Anything shaved off that will be a bonus. Then I need to totally rake through expenditure for this month and double check that we will have enough to meet all committed expenditure and to be able to pay this bill on top.

Mmm, maybe not so mushy afterall :rotfl:

Dinner has been eaten. That Justin & Bea Rowlett documentary about living as Germans do has been watched and was quite interesting.

I don't think I mentioned, today did turn out to be a NSD :j

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

DP - to of been able to strip down a washing machine (and rebuild it again), pin point the problem and armed with that knowledge, gain a straight Yes/No verdict from an expert - has 'saved' us £200.

Store cupboard ingredients - for days when you just can't be a**ed

lists - they can bring clarity to a situation, and help you to move forward, rather than sitting stewing and stressing about things.

Thank you so much for popping in, reading and commenting. I greatly appreciate visitors.

See y'all later

Greying

boredofbeingathome

Sneaks in a post about Turnip growing

http://marksvegplot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/turnips-out-psb-in.html

Pippilongstocking

Well done to Sir Greying of GP towers for coming to the rescue and finding out what the problem was.

Clever chap.

Hope the appetite returns. I can't imagine much worse than no appetite.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:

Sorry for my absence. The weekend got a bit long and wearing to be honest. DP, who is normally mild-mannered and kindness itself, has reacted to all the 'stuff' going on by being ratty and niggly about everything. This as you can imagine, gets incredibly wearing. I was grateful that I had a little project that I could immerse myself in, and by thinking about who and what it was for, I managed to keep on an even keel. Although my appetite has definitely disappeared for the time being :rotfl:

We have applied for a 0% CC. I have no high hopes of getting this as a household that does not routinely use credit, I think we are as attractive as fungal foot disease to lenders. We are currently have 'refer' status, which apparently means we have neither been declined nor accepted....... however, I am so glad that the particular bank established, before finding out about income levels, age, length of occupancy at current abode etc - what colour/design of card we wanted...................:huh: Gives you great faith, doesn't it.

And no, the irony of applying for credit is not lost on me, as one of my first posts on this diary, stated that I wanted to avoid getting into debt by really getting a grip of our finances.......

Of course, it has also put the kybosh on doing comparison searches online, as these leave a credit check trail don't they? Unless this bank manage to work out whether they'll have us or not quickly, then we may just have to renew and pay up the full amount on the bill that is in.

I have therefore raked through all the expenditure for this month and put (already) £35 into the key fund. You may recall I need to save at least £33 this month to be on target. I have £20 left now for all fresh food spend and unexpected expenses for the rest of August. I have also set aside the correct amount for the 'known' expenditure for the rest of the month (eg 38p per TV guide etc)

Oh. It is also time for us to put in an order to the food co-operative we belong to. I had some money set aside for this, so that is 'cost neutral', but will be paid/ordered this week. If we keep car use to a minimum, we'll have the fuel to go and fetch the stuff too :rotfl:

So, a little bit of a downbeat post I'm afraid, but that is us just right now.




Thank you for continuing to pop by, read and comment on my diary (especially if you have got this far, today

Greying_Pilgrim

.....) It is greatly appreciated by me.

See y'all later.

Greying

Anyone else having problems posting?????

Pippilongstocking

Lobs a few smiles along to GP and says hello.

You're both clearly feeling the strain.

Lobs a few sweetpeas at you too. The scent is highly smile contagious.

Hugs.

7_week_wonder

Oh Greying - have a big hug from me too.

I'm sorry the week is getting off to such a p@nts start. I've been wracking my brains for ways to help. Have you got anything at all you could put on flea bay, or your local facebook selling page?

I was trying to think if anyone else could do a search on a comparison site for you, but then figured that wouldn't work as we'd need to put your address and stuff in anyway. Hmmm - will get my thinking cap on.

I am currently sharing my desk at work with a string of a dozen french garlic. One of my friends has just come back from her holidays and couldn't resist getting it for me. That's going to make me popular on the bus going home tonight!!!

Well I really hope your week improves, remember you've got virtual friends here who are rooting for you all the way.