Lina's Life Improvement Diary

Lina_T

Domayne wrote: »

Do you share a phone with your OH? What plan do you have?
When I started my diary, I was with t-mob and paying £40ish a month, but got some advice to switch to giffgaff on a rolling contract...Now I pay £12 a month and get unlimited text/internet and 250 minutes which is perfect for me as I barely use 50 of those minutes....but for £20 a month, you can get unlimited text/internet and 2000 minutes a month! There network is really good as well, I'm just over a month in and have had no problems so far...except that I have a voicemail message I can't listen too because I have no 'credit' and the icon is annoying me

Hi Domayne, no we don't share a phone we have a contract each. I'm going to have a look at Giffgaff contracts when mine runs out though because you're about the fourth person to recommend them to me! :j


Sorry I haven't updated for a while, life has been hectic and I didn't know if I was coming or going half the time. No longer on track for overdraft free month as more expensive car repairs reared their ugly head

However me and the OH went into Nationwide to have a chat about applying for a mortgage in 6 months time (after we pay OHs car loan off). All seems optimistic. I've switched my current account for a better interest rate and better perks when we do eventually apply for a mortgage.

Bought a Morphy Richards pan set, £52 delivered down from £175 from BHS, I know I shouldn't be buying things like this when it takes me into an overdraft but I don't think I'll find a better bargain than that and, well, we'll need to cook in something! *slap on the wrist anyway*

Unhappy at my job situation. I'm basically doing 2 peoples work for half the money I should be on and no appreciation. It's probably getting to me more than normal because it's been our busiest time of year. Looking for another job in a totally different career path but the field I want to get into is hard to get into without any experience, so I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what to do on that one.

Oh and my room is an absolute heap because it's being re-painted, just after I'd gotten all organised. I can't deal with mess, like, at all...

Lina_T

Got my new online banking set up this morning, I hate not being able to track exactly what I spend so this has been super helpful. Not only can I see my current account but I can see our savings pots as well, and I set up a monthly DD to go into the savings for OHs car. Getting him to do the same later.

Withdrawn some topcashback funds as Amazon Vouchers. I normally just withdraw as a BACS payment into my bank so it gets frittered away. I'm hoping this way I can put it towards Christmas. Just have to stop myself buying lovely Amazon things with it now!

Entered 22 competitions on the comps board and noted them down.

To-Do List for the rest of the day

Iron 10 items of clothing
Half an hour tidying and organising room
Get OH to set up DD into savings

Domayne

Hi Lina! :hello:
I need to have a pop over to the comps board as I only ever really do the puzzles in take a break magazine and haven't been very consistent
they also have a 'click and win' section on their website where all you have to do is click and enter your email addy so I've been doing that since last week because you can enter everyday to boost your chance of winning!
I haven't played my game for over a week now! My routine at work has been - make a cup of coffee, check emails, check valued opinions for any new surveys, do all my click to wins and then get my swagbucks on and aim for 150-200 points per day!
My life is getting more and more exciting by the minute.....:rotfl:

Lina_T

Domayne wrote: »

Hi Lina! :hello:
I need to have a pop over to the comps board as I only ever really do the puzzles in take a break magazine and haven't been very consistent
they also have a 'click and win' section on their website where all you have to do is click and enter your email addy so I've been doing that since last week because you can enter everyday to boost your chance of winning!
I haven't played my game for over a week now! My routine at work has been - make a cup of coffee, check emails, check valued opinions for any new surveys, do all my click to wins and then get my swagbucks on and aim for 150-200 points per day!
My life is getting more and more exciting by the minute.....:rotfl:

Add me to the saddo list please. I must've entered over 200 competitions between yesterday and now. I'm completely new to comping so am having fun and hoping for some beginners luck!

I wonder if I can win all my presents for Christmas 2014? :rotfl:

Domayne

:rotfl: That's what I was aiming for as well - to not spend anything in December!! Even if I have to do it all purely by swagbucks and their amazon vouchers I'm trying to get enough points for £5 a week there plus I'm doing valued opinions but I don't know if I'll be able to do it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY....It does get quite boring and repetitive

Lina_T

I swagged last year and managed to get £120 throughout the year. It was SO-BORING eventually though so I've decided to take a break from that.

I don't know if you have a smart phone but I downloaded the Nielsen mobile app and they track your phone activity (app downloads etc). I don't even know it's there and it sends me a £5-£10 Amazon voucher every month so that's quite good depends if your bothered about them tracking you activity which I'm not really.

In other news I won a Yumi dress and a push up bra from a Facebook competition i found on the comps board haha! :j

Lina_T

Sorry I've been AWOL - I'm back to give my neglected little diary some tlc.

Me and the bf have had an offer accepted on buying our first house, so just trying to figure out all the legal and financial juggling we have to do to get it sorted and move in as quickly as possible! No chain so it shouldn't take too long.

I have a feeling I'll be spending quite a lot of time on here trying to save money on bills/food/cleaning etc and am just off to look at all the useful threads I can subscribe too.

Any advice at all welcome on running a house, solicitors, or you know...life in general :rotfl:

I've also become addicted to comping - started in Feb and have won loads - the biggies being £500 Little Mistress vouchers, a £380 weekend break in the Lakes and some designer earrings. Don't mind if I do! We wouldn't otherwise have afforded a holiday this year, definitely not clothes and designer earrings so pretty chuffed with myself

Lina_T

I've had an email this morning from a job I applied for, they're interested and going to contact me soon for an interview.

It's basically my ideal job and a substantial salary increase, so excited is an understatement. Better get preparing! :j

Domayne

Good luck with the job interview Lina!!!! *crosses fingers for you*
Congrats on the comp wins as well! That's fantastic - Your making me want to get back into it!! I lasted just for January - then got bored if I'm honest so gave up but designer jewelry?! A holiday?! yes please

Lina_T

Thanks Domayne, I really hope I get the job! :beer:

Feeling a bit down and stressy today but I think I just woke up like that tbh. Trying to get anything sorted with the house re. estate agents, solicitors and banks is proving impossible - we're in a great position as first time buyers with a deposit, neither of us have a bad credit score and we're ready to move things along asap - It's like nobody wants our money!

The bank with the best rates have a waiting list of 3 weeks to even speak to a mortgage adviser, either on the phone or any branch within a 20 mile radius. We'd have lost the house by then because it's an absolute bargain and they won't take it off the market until we get a decision in principle. We also got the house at the price we did because we are ready to move quickly and vendor is in a rush to sell.

Building society option 2: Got passed along to about 5 different people on the phone, on hold for about 20 minutes, and then finanally got through to the right department and their systems were down and they told us to phone back later. This is after waiting 2 days for a call back. Struck that one off the list.

So we've gone with bank option 3, not the best rates but they have sent a DIP out straight away and we have an appointment to apply for the full mortgage on Monday. We can always change it 6 months down the line to one with better rates.

Emailed 4 different solicitors for a quote yesterday. Not one of them has got back to me.

I need a prozac and a lie-down in a dark room. :rotfl: