The End May Actually Be in Sight...

gallygirl

Another Henry-hater here. He reels you in with his friendly little face then does your back in. And as for emptying him :mad::eek::(.

When he goes it's back to an upright :T

Crumpets

I'm with you GG, sadly I think he will go on for ever:( I may have to try sabotage:cool: RT, dh even does a little voice for Henry, which makes me feel even worse:rotfl::eek:

Sorry to here about you father being poorly, fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. I'm looking forward to reading your musings, I always feel inspired when I read peoples plans. In fact I need a new diary to read, I've just read fortune smiles' diary which I enjoyed, now who shall I go for next?

Good news on the car deal...you showed that patronising salesman <joins RT in Charlie's angels style karate kick>

Crumpets x

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Well done on the £2k :j. Some of these car salesmen have a lot to learn - it's 2014 not the 70s

Tilly x x

RoaringTwenties

Hello all,

Well it seems like an age since I've been on here! There's been an awful lot going on for us; my father is still very ill though improving & no longer paralysed which is a nice step forward - literally & metaphorically! Ongoing problems with tenants next to my flat which are too depressing to go into (might post on the relevant section of the site for a bit of advice actually), plus DS struggling with school, combo of Autism & knackeredness at end of school year. And my 20 month old has kept me busy! But now finally time to post...

Well it's been an expensive time - a certain energy provider who I'm given to understand has been royally reprimanded by the relevant watchdog took £230 out of our account :mad:. We signed up with them over 2 years ago, paid a set amount each month & haven't had a single statement/bill. In fact we haven't been with them for over 6 months now, & still no final statement/bill. Now they've finally stopped sending us letters saying "we're sorry we haven't managed to get a bill to you since 1802, we know this isn't good enough" and actually worked out what we finally owe. To say I am dischuffed is an understatement :mad:. Don't know if there's anything I can do by way of complaint, might head to the relevant part of the site for that too!

Then our gym/pool closed for refurb & have now decided on their re-opening to charge existing members £100 to re-join :eek: :mad:. I fired off a stinking complaint email (utilising words like 'extraneous' ) to which I received a pathetic response offering to 'clarify' matters by essentially saying that they'd decided to fleece us all and that was that. I sent off another stinking reply (utilising words like 'you swines' ) but they are refusing to budge. I've spoken to other customers who are equally livid, esp the woman who was there when I turned up with the kids for a first swim and had to pay the £100 to be let in, she's been [STRIKE]spreading the gossip [/STRIKE]telling everyone what an invidious position I was put in with the little ones desperate to go in the pool (well her words were a little more choice than "invidious position" to be truthful ) We've also spoken to the staff who say they have a new manager, and they've lost stacks of custom. The lovely young chaps who work there have apparently decided amongst themselves to let kids in for free if there's no manager on (you normally pay an add-on per session for kids with an adult member.) So we're basically planning our swims around Matt & Andy's shift patterns :rotfl:

So overnight we were suddenly £330 down, and since then there's been lots of other expenditure; kids have needed new wardrobes as we've had some glorious weather, needed to valet the car to trade it in which was another £50, and a load of other bits I can't even recall. It's been a 5 week month too which has felt looooong. It's felt a bit depressing at times as its almost been like going back to before the money when really we weren't able to have much in the way of treats . But hey ho. I took our last bit of spare wonger to bridge the gap between our savings & purchase price of car which was slightly more then we'd imagined (though a bargain in itself) so now we are brassic lint. No OP this month, or at least not our usual £209, it just can't be done. I'd like to find £85 by the end of the month to take us down to £18,999 but if it doesn't happen then so be it.

Anyway enough of all that whingeing! Hope everyone is well in MSE-land & getting some sunshine - that's one thing we've finally had here, yay!
:T

Beckyy

I'd be quite annoyed about the swimming pool too. They could at least wait until your current membership runs out. Is there another one you can go to?

RoaringTwenties

Beckyy wrote: »

I'd be quite annoyed about the swimming pool too. They could at least wait until your current membership runs out. Is there another one you can go to?

We've stayed with it Beckyy as its a really lovely pool, it's a private members club, a gorgeous drive through the countryside to get there, it's in a wood that has a play park & ducks roaming around, it's a warm pool, great changing facilities for the kids etc. The only other ones locally are pretty municipal to be honest and one of them is at my OH's work & she won't go near in case she ends up getting changed next to one of her students, like Capt. Mainwaring in Dad's Army she says that would be bad for discipline :rotfl:. I worked out that by the time we've had a couple of months of getting the kids in free we'll have made the £100 back so that's making me feel better in a "ha - fleeced you back" stylie:D

Thanks for dropping by

Crumpets

Hi Rt, I'm sorry to hear that your dad has been so poorly, but I'm glad that he's improving. It certainly sounds like you've had a lot on your plate recently :grouphug:

Your gym sounds lovely but bl00dy hell that's really cheeky to charge you an extra £100 to re-join when you are already members ! Glad to hear that you are manage to get your own back though I hope it comes back to bite them and they lose custom.

How's the new car? I hope you and yours have been enjoying the sun, not long til the summer hols now! Have you got anything planned?

C x

RoaringTwenties

Hi Crumpets, yes it has been busy with Dad but he's back home now, linked to IV drip & with nurse coming in every day. My sister organised an iPad Air for him & a book called 'iPad For Seniors' :rotfl: & he's discovered the joys of Internet shopping & bought a load of Airfix kits so that should keep him occupied whilst he's recuperating

The pool have apparently lost loads of custom quelle surprise, the only benefit to us is that the place is dead so when we go its like having our own private health club :T

Just about to post some plans for summer

RoaringTwenties

Hello thread, sorry I've been ignoring you. Lots to report financially!

Booked DS's birthday party at local Italian for mid Sept, it's a pizza factory party so the kids make their own pizzas and watch them being cooked, which is great fun. The restaurant provides decorations, snacks & drinks, amazing Italian puddings & the cake, & all for £5.95 per child which is pretty good I think.

The bad news is that the guys who staff the pool have said they can't let the kids in free anymore . It's actually going to cost £17 for two of them to splash in the pool for an hour & for me to join them. Ridic, but it's so gorgeous a space, there's nothing remotely as nice for miles & miles & DS copes so well with it we've decided to cough up :mad:. I'm trying not to think of the fleecing aspect or I'd not enjoy my swim!

Cancelled the mortgage protection which was a bit :eek: but was the right thing to do. OH's work have such a generous policy in place, it would pay out more than our remaining mortgage in the event of a claim. In a couple of months time we're going to start increasing our OPs but we've decided not to over the summer as we have a few expenses coming up, most notably OH's sister coming from Australia for the first time in 5 years with her 3 year old who we've never met :j. We want cash spare to have a great time & just not be thinking of a budget at all in the fortnight she's here. Hoping to throw a family party to celebrate the lives of the wonderful people who gave use all the life-changing inheritance

I complained to the company we bought the car from about the state of cleanliness when we collected it, I forgot to mention it here but it was filthy - cigarette leavings & dog hairs everywhere & the back seats were wet suggesting they'd tried (and failed) a quick clean before we arrived. I said to OH we gave them a clean car & in exchange they gave us a dirty one! I'd had no response in nearly a fortnight & escalated it twice, at 8pm last night I got a call from the regional retailer, not head office, who was actually very professional & lovely, it was the first he's heard of it. He apologised profusely & immediately credited me with £50 :money:

I've been trying recently to use cash more as I was just going under keeping track of a zillion receipts from Wilkinson's & Home Bargains . It feels weird as I've never been a cash shopper but does make things easier on the money management front so I'll keep going with it I think

Off this morning to collect a Little Tikes slide for DD (although no doubt DS will chuck himself down it too!) It's £30 but a good investment for my sanity as anywhere we go with a slide DD just will not get off it - she spent a total of 3.5 hrs on Thursday sliding at baby group then a friends house. We have a big ELC one in the garden but this is a little one that I can bring in the house, dry off & stick on a towel & she can slide all day when it's raining & let me get on with some housework

Later DS & I have a free & very touching treat planned - we are going to a wedding of people we've never met! DS has been desperate to go to "a real wedding with a real bride in a big white dress" so our vicar suggested we go to the one at church this afternoon. We are armed with confetti & the Kindle in case DS needs distracting. Goodness knows what this poor couple starting their life together are going to think of these two random mad people skulking at the back :rotfl:

Think that'll do for now

RoaringTwenties

Oh em gee look at the size of that post! It's like War & Peace MSE-style :money:. Well done to anyone who got through it. I *must* try to post more regularly...