Second Time Lucky

amycool

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

I think about fostering and keep thinking about it.. wonder whether I'd be any good.

Glad you had a nice break Amy.

We used to think we might foster but we've learned that we just wouldn't be tough enough. I think what's so hard about fostering is that you have little control over the decisions made about the children, plus you have to keep doing contact visits and social worker visits and it really takes over everything. Having said all of that, maybe once your kids are grown up it would be worth looking into it. You certainly sound like an excellent parent and there is always a demand for foster carers.

amycool

It's been a spendy few days. I have a severe chest infection (never good when the doctor listens to your chest and gasps is it?), which means I am bored, which means I have been on-line shopping.

Nothing too reckless though.

I have been stocking up on rat-related paraphernalia. According to the breeder, the female is due to give birth in the next week or two. We then have to wait 6 weeks to find out if we will be allocated any kittens. Far too much patience required but I feel it's wiser than buying a shop-bought rat and getting bitten or it dying within a week. There are lots of on-line sellers but many look quite dodgy. In photos you can see the substrate is sawdust, which is terrible for rats, or they're offering one rat at a time.

So I've bought some corrugated plastic sheets to make a safe area for them to play out of the cage (if any leftover it might work as a cheap blackout blind). A cat carrier to transport them home and when I need to clean the cage, a wheel, a bowl, a tunnel, a toy and maybe other stuff I have forgotten. I'm hoping to buy some cheap fleece and make some of the hammocks and things.

Then this morning I was buying art stuff. My Mum suffers with stress and I thought something calming like colouring or painting might help so I've ordered a huge array of options! OH also wanted to try his hand at paper cutting so I've bought some stuff for that (might need a new knife) and then lots of coloured paper and a notebook ready for the summer holidays.

I'm an idiot because I forgot to get cashback for the pet stuff. Darn.

I have just withdrawn £68 from TCB though, which is good. Mostly tiny amounts plus £60 from the car insurance.

Annoyingly, the car insurance that we got repaid due to switching has been paid into an old credit card I no longer use. Grrr. I will try phoning the bank and seeing if they can transfer it.

I'm going to attempt the get the spreadsheet to add up now.

Wish me luck.

amycool

Forgot to mention I got £201 interest from the ISA.

I also won another prize (waiting for them both to arrive) - some hair tints, which should be fun for me and DD to use in the holidays.

in_need_of_direction

I might be better to just use the balance on the old credit card. I had a similar situation and was charged a cash withdrawal fee on a positive balance to put the money into a different account. I was raging!

amycool

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I might be better to just use the balance on the old credit card. I had a similar situation and was charged a cash withdrawal fee on a positive balance to put the money into a different account. I was raging!

That's useful to know. I'm sure I have the details for it somewhere.

Then I MUST cancel it!!

amycool

I'm on fire today - it must be the steroids. I've barely slept.

So, tried to make my spreadsheet add up and failed so just put misc!

Our 2 year fix was about to run out so I have switched it online. It all looks quite easy and straightforward as I stuck to the same bank and I'm paying 2.44% now instead of 2.64%. No fees, which is nice.

Amazingly, whereas we were paying £500 a month before, due to my overpayments we will now be paying £395!!! I've gone for another 2 year fix so the plan is to keep overpaying up to the 10% limit (about £5000 a year so I doubt we'll go over) and then if we've done well and have managed to save too, I'll wait for the 2 year fix to finish and pay a big chunk before switching product again.

£395 is lovely. According to my calculations we should have an average of £300 to overpay each month now, but we'll obviously add the £105 we're not paying, so actually we might come close to the 10%. We will see. And in a few weeks the total will start with a 4!

debtfreeoneday

At least the CC was open, I had a a refund to a closed one once and it was a total pain to sort!

Where do you look for your comps?

amycool

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

At least the CC was open, I had a a refund to a closed one once and it was a total pain to sort!

Where do you look for your comps?

I get all of my comps on here! Just go to the competition forum and work your way through! I don't tend to have time for the daily ones but I'll spend an hour or so a day on the ones I want to win.

Talking of which, the clothes came today. A neighbour found the parcel in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!!!! The postman must have dropped it. Imagine how gutted I would have been to have £105 of destroyed clothes. Anyway, they're lovely and feel very good quality. I'm looking forward to seeing my OH in non-stained clothes.

amycool

Still waiting for OH to complete the mortgage update.

Bought DD some sensible trainers from a sports shop for £8 at the weekend and got myself some £13 running shoes. Even if I never get round to running, they last for ages as normal shoes. Also got a picnic blanket for the summer (when it comes).

Still very much ill so not done any housework or gardening, which is stressing me out a bit.

Received 5 newsletters from school yesterday - all asking for stuff for this Friday. The answer will be no. They have no chance. We did manage to sell all 10 of the raffle tickets to the in-laws.

Looking at one of the newsletters, I can see about 4 potentially expensive events coming up over the next few weeks. Drat.

Felt very proud of DD this morning as she has been looking after the new girl and has been doing a really good job. I was getting all teary-eyed as she's working through some really horrible memories at the moment. It amazes me that she copes with life at all but she still smiles and laughs and gets up every morning hopeful that she'll have a good day.

We've had 9 good days in a row. :j

Muser1

9 days is amazing! What a fabulous team you are xx