Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Karmacat

Woah, you've got ice up there? I haven't even looked at the weather news for today!

Great to hear YNAB and John Lewis co-operating for you I love JL, I can't wait for the new Waitrose to open near me so that when I buy something, I can click and collect right there, rather than go to the town next door to get it.

Cheery_Daff

We've had a few days of ice up here KC! We're on the top of a hill too which doesn't help - it wasn't icy in town at all, but it was at home! Brrr.

Had ANOTHER several phone calls from the bank about my 'fraudulent' activity today Apparently the electronic questions I answered yesterday (plus the security details on my online account, and my use of my card reader, debit card and pin) weren't enough to identify me, and I've now had to answer MORE security questions including date of birth, what accounts I have with them, what other transactions I've made recently from that account blah blah blah.

I did ask if I was going to have to go through this every time I transferred something to my own ISA! :eek: but she thought it was just because I'd not transferred to them before, it was a large amount of money, and I've not been using that account recently. Hopefully that's it!

Cheery_Daff

Yet again I illustrate why Mr Cheery is in charge of food shopping in my house...



'Popped' to the supermarket to pick up 'a few bits' for tomorrow's Christmassy do - wine for mulling, peanuts, mincemeat etc...

... and somehow managed to spend £55 :eek:

In my defence (kind of) £10 of that was for me (new diary, shampoo, other toiltetries), £20 was booze (couple of really cheap tetra packs of red wine for mulling, cheapo bottle of gin (I do like gin, and Mr Cheery does like me to be a bit tipsy now and then :rotfl: ))

So really that's just £25 on food

And actually most of that wasn't just for tomorrow - I've actually got a load of fresh fruit, cheese, porridge, yogurt, and multi buys of tonic water and pop (to go with the gin...),

And I did use a load of coupons, so I got £5 off, and more points in one trip than I've earned in the entire rest of the year... :rotfl:

Not entirely sure why I'm trying to justify myself to you lot :rotfl: but I feel like I've had some kind of major blowout, even though the most 'extravagant' thing I bought (other than the booze) was a packet of meat-free rashers, which I only bought because I got 45p off :rotfl: :rotfl:



Going to curl up on the sofa now and see if I can stop myself spending anything else! :eek: :eek: :rotfl:

Karmacat

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I'm sure when we say "pop" we're thinking of spending a fiver, or a tenner or something. And I've got news for you, you're not justifying it to us, you're justifying it to yourself When you broke it down, its entirely reasonable, especially Mr Cheery liking you to be a bit tipsy now and again :T

Have a lovely Christmassy do :T

Cheery_Daff

You're quite right, i'm justifying it to myself :rotfl: and yes, it's entirely reasonable

And anyway, we had an ace breakfast of staffordshire oatcakes, poached eggs, mushrooms and rasher things, and plenty of tea :j bloomin gorgeous

Just braved the weather at the local shops - went out for a present for someone at work and ended up buying a couple of cardigans for myself in the charity shop :rotfl: Toasty though - a plain black cosy one and a lovely lacy purple one, less than £10 for the two :j

Off to zumba now (got to use that gym membership, and zumba is daft and fun!), then a couple of hours loafing with Harry Potter I think before making the house smell of mulled wine and mince pies :j :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Couldn't find Harry Potter in the end :eek: had to make do with Kojak (I love Kojak )

LOVELY evening last night with cheery pals and cheery festive mulled wine and mulled squash :rotfl:

And not been out of the house today so not spent a single penny! :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Well well well.

Funny how things can sneak through when you're not paying attention! :eek:

I bought my sister a magazine subscription for her birthday a couple of years ago... and yesterday she informed me they were still arriving! :eek:

Tried to check online with the company, and then realised I can see a list of direct debits that go out of the bank...

Last taken £7.97 in October - and I didn't even notice! :eek: Cancelled it now

And while I was at it, cancelled my own magazine subscription too - I do like reading it when it arrives, but to be honest it's not really worth it - especially as I've realised they're taking £18 twice a year - currently it seems a new subscription is only £23 for the whole year, so if they get in touch with a special offer I might just take them up on it :rotfl:

So that's nearly £70 a year saved just there! :j :j

Also contemplating whether to not renew our membership to local natural history society - we've only been to one event in the last 4 years and do nothing other than get mildly amused at the photocopied paper newsletter that drops through the door once a month... Will decide that in the next few weeks... Only £15 a year so hardly bank-breaking and it's a good organisation to support so might keep it on (and make an effort to go to an event or two!)

Karmacat

Oh my word! I think magazines are the ones that are most liable to slip through, you know? Thank heavens your sister mentioned it :rotfl: £15 isn't a huge amount for the natural history thing, as you say, but £70 is starting to be an appreciable amount!

Thats YNAB proving its worth yet again :T

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, and while I'm on a mission... some other things to be thinking about...

* house insurance (joint buildings and contents) due 12th Jan - last year was £268, can I get it any cheaper??

* Car insurance due 16th Feb (not thinking about this just yet!)

* Energy company just sent an email telling me my fixed price deal was coming to an end on 31st Jan, and that I could log in to my online account to change it. Except as we all know I *can't* log into my online account, because they've installed a smart meter which means I aparently can never log into my online account again! :mad: Which reminded me that I still haven't heard back from them after my 'complaint' which was 8 days ago now - nice man said he'd be checking every couple of days and he may well be but I STILL haven't had the information booklet that I was meant to get BEFORE they installed the smart meter and which I've now been promised 3 times!

Apparently if we don't switch plans we'll automatically be put on a non-fixed one, which is a slightly higher rate... Already had an email from Martin's cheap energy club saying I can get cheaper elsewhere... so if I don't hear from them by Friday I can feel another 'non-complaint' coming on :rotfl: I'm pretty loyal and don't switch about lightly, so it'll be their own fault if they lose a customer over something this stupid! I'm quite willing to pay a bit more for a green tarrif and good customer service - but at the minute they're not winning on the customer service front...

Cheery_Daff

Oh! And the water bill - I think we only pay 8 months of the year, and I think December was the last one, which means £52.10 a month from Jan-April can go into a savings account :j :j