The Road to Financial Security

Pushkin

Goldiegirl wrote: »

It probably wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of the above from time to time, but as we all know, it's impossible to just have a couple of Pringles



How's the surveys going? I either have a glut of them that takes hours or get screened out of every survey I'm offered!

Goldiegirl - yes Pringles are the devils food- I can't have them in the house - that advert one pop you can't stop is so true!

Surveys - hm given up one one site as I have earned about £5.10 in about 6 weeks and noticed it doesn't pay out until you have £40 which I reckon would take me about a year.

Another site I can't access - keep resetting p/w but it still won't recognise me.

So I am carrying on with a couple but will cash in at end of month and probably give them up. Can always go back to them but maybe they just aren't for me - after 9 hours of being irritated at work I am finding myself irritated by survey questions!

And yes I have had several where I get told I'm not suitable, target audience whatever after about 10 minutes of effort.

Pushkin

gallygirl wrote: »

A few months ago I decided to treat myself to a new bottle of hand wash as the bottle I'd been refilling (with hotel freebies ) was looking tatty. A few minutes later a friend rang to say she'd just treated herself to a £180 handbag :eek: Ah well, guess which one of us is retiring early :rotfl:

Hi Gallygirl

Ooh its good to be amongst sacred spirits - I have started recycling DH's old tshirts for use as dishcloths - saves buying new huh

Pushkin

I have just created a spreadsheet to track gas and electricity usage - the BG website is pretty good and you can see a graphical depiction of both utilities month by month, both cost and kwh used. It's incredibly geeky to do but I am interested in looking at the whole year and doing analysis. Particularly as the direct debit for both gas and electric seems more than the monthly cost incurred. Once I have a full years data will have a better view. I know coming up to winter gas will be used much more but we are quite highly in credit on that side.

DH will do a lot of eye rolling if I discuss this with him so this is my outlet - maybe there are even other like minded folks who do similar??

Really annoyed today as I had to throw away half a loaf of bread which had gone mouldy. This also happened last week (only that time I had taken 3 bites of a sandwich before I noticed :mad:). Don't think we are keeping the bread longer so wonder if it's the mild weather of late that has caused this. Might need to consider storing it in the freezer although thats a pain as then have to remember to get slices out each day. More first world problems I think :rotfl:

Quite proud that I am thus far managing not to put the heating on during the day although I was a bit chilly yesterday. From reading other diaries I think other people use their heating a more sparingly but I'm a cold person and to be honest won't sit and shiver. So leaving it off all day is an achievement and I suspect won't last much longer.

I'm also going to book to get my oven cleaned - not very MSE huh but you know life is too short and they certainly do a much better job than I have when I've done it myself.

Pay day tomorrow for me

niftythrifty33

Hi Pushkin, sorry to butt into your thread. I find Oven Pride, the orange box which cost around £3-£4 is excellent. I've never found a good oven cleaner until I used this one. You wipe the cream on the surfaces including the glass front. Put kitchen roll or tea towel underneath to stop drips. You then put the shelves in a bag with the stuff in. Next morning it all wipes off so easily.
I'm saying all this and you might have already tried it but if not, it's certainly the best stuff I've ever used.

Pushkin

Hello NiftyThrifty (not forgetting the 33) - hmm I am due a trip to S@insburys Monday so I'll add that to my list and look out for it. Thanks for the tip. :money:

Pushkin

I am writing this while sitting on one of the new sofas which arrived this morning :j

Very pleased with them and have been developing new rules of behaviour for them:

The dog can only lie on them if that area is covered in a blanket
Eating while sitting on them is now the exception not the rule - we are terrible with our tv dinners :eek:

All went very well with the delivery except for the small matter of there being a tear in the covering on the underneath of one of them - pointed this out to the delivery man and was told I could have either a replacement or 15% refund.

I'm sure like all good mfwers the money back is the preferred option :T need to get DH to have a look tonight before we decide, I don't think the cover really serves an important purpose for the sofa and my mum reckons we can patch it - plus a replacement is likely to take another 8 or so weeks as they are made to measure.

Supermarket Indian takeaway for dinner this evening (never feel like cooking on a Friday) which we will of course be eating at the dining room table

Lovely feeling that I now have a week off work, tonight I enjoy the feeling and be lazy, tomorrow I make plans and do job lists.....

Pushkin

Oh I do love a Saturday morning.

Popping over to Oxfordshire this morning, while DS is at drama, to have a look at some garden offices. Actually see some in the flesh rather than on the internet or brochures.

Also need to do some rejigging with the furniture in the lounge to fit side tables in best places by new sofas etc.

Other bits:
Order ds's wardrobe from 1kea - long overdue
Shopping list for tomorrow

Ooh I also had a box of P£rsil washing tablets delivered yesterday - must have signed up for a product survey at some point. This is a first for me - but hey 28 free washes isn't bad. Assuming they don't damage any clothing

Usual domestic chores on the list but with much less urgency given it's half term next week & I'm off - did I mention that ??!!

Right best get dressed dog is pawing at me wanting her walk - she's doing very well with only lying on the new sofas wherever the blanket is :T She's 9 - who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!!

shala_moo

Pushkin wrote: »

I have just created a spreadsheet to track gas and electricity usage - the BG website is pretty good and you can see a graphical depiction of both utilities month by month, both cost and kwh used. It's incredibly geeky to do but I am interested in looking at the whole year and doing analysis. Particularly as the direct debit for both gas and electric seems more than the monthly cost incurred. Once I have a full years data will have a better view. I know coming up to winter gas will be used much more but we are quite highly in credit on that side.

DH will do a lot of eye rolling if I discuss this with him so this is my outlet - maybe there are even other like minded folks who do similar??

I have a fuel spreadsheet too.. i'm not sure our new energy company have the usual graphs etc but with np0wer I could rarely find what I needed so kept all the info myself.

It's nice to know what you're expecting your bill to be so it's not such a shock when it comes through.. I always have a sense of smugness when I've guesstimated it about right

Happy new sofas :T did you decide on the refund?

Pushkin

Hello Shala-moo - thought I might find a kindred spirit on here wrt a spreadsheet for gas/electric usage :T

I am thinking it's good to keep an eye on utilities usage - not to make us sit in the cold and dark but I am keen on not wasting it - have been telling DS off a lot lately for leaving lights on when he leaves room.

Sofas are good maybe a little too big or that might just be perspective as they are bigger than old ones. DH has agreed to go for the money off so I'll be contacting the shop in the morning.

Just as well really we bought cushions today and spent quite a lot more than anticipated - mainly because we both found our shopping trip very tedious and didn't shop around. DH reckons decent ones will last longer - I'm not convinced but they look good and add a splash of colour.

Also bought DS some new shoes and was staggered by them costing £46 :eek: Wanted him to have sturdy, comfy ones for the winter but really - he'll have outgrown them within a year! My only defence is if anyone has been shopping with a 12 year old boy they will understand what a painful experience it is - this was the third shop we tried and had come down in price from the first shop where the pair he wanted were £60. By that point I was losing the will to live - and not even slowly!

I then suggested, very much out of character, that we go out for lunch so that was another £40 spent - totally unplanned so didn't even have vouchers.

However having spent very little on these kind of inconsequential spends (i.e when you have nothing to show for it) maybe we all deserved a treat.

In other spending news we have finally ordered DS's wardrobe from 1kea - will be delivered Mon 3 November so we really need to pull our finger out and start sorting out the room re-decoration.

Pushkin

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