The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Aw, thank you! Advanced search it is, then, later on tomorow afternoon. I'll let you know how the research goes - after that glass of wine, I'm *definitely* falling asleep

Goldiegirl

Hi KC, how's the research going?


I've got a couple of things that'll sell later today, and have prepped a couple of things for listing. But some of the things I got out of the loft are 'too far gone' for selling, so I've decided they'll be going out with the rubbish this evening.


I've also had a rummage in the airing cupboard and some old linen will be going to fabric recycling. It made me realise that don't have many table clothes at all. Of the useable ones, we have two - one on the table and one in the wash, plus a posh one for when we have anybody round for a meal. All of these cloths are old. I've finally thrown out another table cloth, which was a wedding present, nearly 34 years ago. We haven't used it for a while, and no wonder, it was very faded. When we are out and about, I'll be looking at table clothes in the shops, particularly in the sales or if there are any offers.


Fired up with de-cluttering enthusiasm, I've finally tackled the book cases. We have one large book case and two smaller ones. All our books were contained in the cases, but they were stuffed in at all angles. It was frankly a mess. I've pulled out the ones what I don't want to keep, and they'll go to a charity bookshop, which raises money for the parish church and the church's 'Millennium' fund. The remaining books are now neatly stored. If we buy another book, one of the existing books will have to go, to make room.


After about 6 years I've logged into my Share Dealing Account. Lloyds are supposed to be paying a dividend soon, so I thought I had better make sure I could access the funds.


To my surprise, I logged in with no trouble. The good news is, my shares have doubled in value since the last time I looked. The bad news is they are still worth much less than what I paid for them. My ambition is to live long enough to make up the loss I'm currently running at :rotfl:

Karmacat

Sounds good to me

I confess, I haven't done the ebay research ... I put up the photos of Kew in the Country that I went to on Saturday, and that took ages, plus I had to finish off a piece of writing for a work blog. I couldn't stand to do anything else on the computer so I did some weeding and mulching as I still wanted to be productive.

One thing that helps me in starting to sell again is what you and others have said about putting something up for sale again and again - I don't think I've been very patient

Okay, next time I need to faff about on the computer, I'll gather the pix in one place - I started to do that, and abandoned it I'm a bad person. Or at least, I'm a bad seller

Thanks for the check-up, Goldie

Goldiegirl

:rotfl:I think most of us get to the 'bad seller' point where they think eBay is more trouble than it's worth..... then you get an unexpected sale and it's all worthwhile again:rotfl:


I used to be much more patient - I'd put things up for auction for months (sometimes even years) until somebody bought it! But nowadays, especially as I want to finish the de-cluttering, it's two auctions, then a month on buy it now. If it's not gone at the end of that, then it's goes to charity.


Although I will be more patient with my nautical collectables, that I'm auctioning at the moment. It just needs the right person to notice the right thing, and that can take a while.


We've been taking advantage of the sunny weather, and have been working in the garden and I've got all my washing dry. The weather forecast is not promising, so we thought we'd get everything done while we could.


We've arranged for our fence to be replaced at the bottom of the garden, for £476:( I don't really want to be spending this money, but it's a job that really needs to be done. Our chap is calling in this evening so we can give him £240 to get the materials.


The present fence lasted 26 years, so once it's done, we won't have to think about it for some time, if ever !

Goldiegirl

Things achieved / resolved today


Two bags of books delivered to charity book shop
Tesco bank accounts - online banking set up and accounts fully funded.
Reply from cruise company about my special diet (I'd forgotten that I'd emailed them). They've apologised and agreed that the service wasn't as it should have been, and have given me £100 to spend when I'm on my next cruise! Really happy with this, as I wasn't expecting anything - I only wanted to give them feedback. Good result.


Things still pending.


Reply to my complaint letter to Halifax about the registration of my accounts for gross interest. Allowing a bit longer, but I know they have strict turnaround times for complaints


Mr Goldie's pension - No P60 received - will start chasing when the Halifax issue is resolved, in the interests of not getting bogged down with admin!


New on the pending radar - My pension forecast. Requested mid March. People have been saying that it's been taking up to 6 weeks, so thing should arrive 'soon'.


Things that make me scratch my head.


I said yesterday that our man was calling round yesterday evening to pick up the money to get the materials for our fence.


Well, he didn't turn up. We've had no phone call from him, so we don't know what's going on at all. I can't really understand why he'd say he'd do a job, and then apparently duck out of it.


He's done other jobs for us, and has done them well and his charges are reasonable. But, for each job, there's usually a bit of drama about changing the days booked, usually at short notice, so there have been slight issues in the past.


But, whatever happens, this will be the last job he does for us. All the slight issues start to add up in the end.


We'll give him a couple more days and then start looking for someone else to do the work

Goldiegirl

Much progress made.

Halifax complaint - I had a phone call on Wednesday, letter on it's way to confirm everything, but they gave me £30 as a goodwill gesture. I'm beginning to understand why people are serial complainers, it's a lucrative business:rotfl:

Mr Goldie's P60's turned up. I checked his tax, no refund after all.

My pension forecast turned up today. I'm forecast to get £126.17 per month, which is about right as I was contracted out for many years. From next April I'll have 10 years to make additional NI contributions to make my pension up to the new flat rate. My future self will thank me for those NI payments.

Our man phoned this morning about the fence, very, very apologetic. He said he forgot to put us in the diary, so it slipped his mind to come round and collect our money. Anyway, we have a date set for 14th May for the fence to done.

I feel like I've climbed a life admin mountain, but most things are now done:j

My friend has given me about 15 of her husbands shirts for eBaying, all worn once or not at all. Fortunately I've got a free listing weekend, so I know what I'll be doing over the next few days

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Goldie, how many years short are you? I can't remember whether it's 34 or 35 we need to contribute for.

Your future self will definitely appreciate IT.

Have you found that shirts sell well? As we are clearing Mr Ts wardrobe you've made me stop and consider whether the bay of e should be used.

Thanks Tilly x

Goldiegirl

Hi Tilly:)

According to the statement I've got 39 years. I think it's 35 years needed for a full pension, but I was contracted out of SERPS for around 31 years, so, as it stands at the moment I won't get the new flat rate pension.

But after April 2016, when the new system starts, I can make voluntary NI contributions, to bring my pension up to the new flat rate pension. I think it'd take 6 years worth of NI contributions to bring me up to that level. A bargain, if I live to a ripe old age!

On he eBay front, I've found men's clothes sell ok, but not quite as well as women's clothes. I'm hopeful that these shirts I've been given will sell. Most of them are from premium brands, and cost about £40 new. I've got about 15 of them, hardly worn. :eek: it still shocks me how much they spend on things they barely use!

Alchemilla

Sounds like it is getting very organised around Goldiesville.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Thanks Goldie, I think I'll contact DWP again and have a chat with them.

Many thanks

Tilly x x