Debts, Diets and DIY.

f0nz

Glad to hear things are gaining momentum and quotes lower than anticipated are always a good thing! Hubby and I have had our eye on a house here since before Christmas and it has just dropped from offers over £260k to offers over £230k. It is everything we have ever wanted but we'll never get a mortgage right now or be able to afford something in that price bracket, booooo!!

I think my diet has been going as well as yours by the sounds of it. I've decided that March is the time I'm getting serious. Too many things happening in the next week and a bit for me to be serious and if I go off plan I'll get annoyed at myself and grumpy! I'll be happy to give you a poke up the derrière in March

Scottishmummy

Well it's been a busy week here. Have done some plastering and some sanding and moved ourselves out of the bedroom so we can use the bigger bedroom to store a lot of stuff out of the other bedrooms so we can get them rewired - downstairs had been rewired before we bought the place but upstairs still had the old Bakelite fittings so finally getting round to getting new fittings and wiring up there. He should be here next week.

Door man has been and made a start. Looking good so far. It will take him another day to finish but we are not here tomorrow and he can't do Thur or Fri so might turn up Sat.

Money saving wise, well the change we made to the electrician's work has knocked £24 off the bill - every little helps. I volunteered to work an extra Sunday last month which has shown in this weeks pay so that can be thrown to the debts.

I managed to save my parents thousands of pounds by recommending someone to fit solar instead of the cowboys that would have been bothering them, instead they are bothering me. They had filled out an online solar request which had three companies get in touch with them. I had told them to use my mobile so I could question them. I had made an appointment with the first company to go see them, explained it would only be my dad there which they were ok about. 2nd and third company would not come out unless both of my parents were there so I told them we would not bother making an appointment then - if they request both home owners then they are in for the hard sell and won't leave until they have a signature. The guy from the third company then started shouting the odds and I told him that if the company employed people like him then I definitely would not be making an appointment and put the phone down. That afternoon I ignored 7 missed calls, he then tried another tactic and used his mobile which I answered as I was expecting someone else to call. I gave him what for. The guy for the first company turned up at the time he was supposed to but my dad said it was obvious if mum had been there he would have given the hard sell too. He left his quote on a two by three inch piece of cardboard and only gave dad a glimpse of the paperwork that he had filled out himself. The next time I had access to the internet I checked the three companies out and lets just say reading the reviews I can't see how they ever get custom. One company had quoted someone nearly £10k for a £5k system which they then put on finance which took it to over £27k:eek: The company I recommended have done a lot of work in our area and have great reviews and the quotes they have given mum and dad look good so they are going ahead with that. I am still receiving at least six calls a day from the cowboys :mad:

Haven't had a chance to read any diaries all week and still don't have time. Once we have upstairs clear I will hopefully be able to sit down for a bit to catch up with everyone.

Don't ask about the diet!:o

SM

Scottishmummy

Wow, I thought I maybe hadn't posted at all in April but never thought I didn't post in March either. Just been so busy.

Well the various trades have all done their various bits and all of their bills have been paid and we have a little left of that budget :j Think we will use that as a treat to go somewhere for a couple of nights in July. Have applied for the free friends and family railcard so will combine it with that. Would love to go back to York so will see what the DH says.

He has been getting more work this last fortnight and that looks like it is set to continue so that will help with the debtbusting and with what we still need to do in the house ourselves. Next task is more decorating :eek:

Diet wise I lost 4lbs but put one back on so currently 3lb down on my heaviest weight. So much more to go.

Scottishmummy

Ooh and mum and dad got their solar panels and have offered to pay for us to get them too. What we receive back in FIT payments I'll give to them. They haven't asked to be repaid but that is probably all of their savings spent so although the FIT could go towards the debt I would rather it went to them. It's money we would not have had in any case. Our electric bills will be less anyway so that extra will go on the dmp payments when I do my annual update.

missymoo81

found you, just going to have a good read and catch up x

missymoo81

Wow sounds like you have a job and a half on your hands with all the work with the house and 3 children and working, crikey!! I'll keep you company on your journey

Scottishmummy

:mad: came home from work and the rain has leaked through the kitchen ceiling right under where the repair was done. Straight on the phone to them!! They are coming back tomorrow.

Haven't managed any diy today as had a report to complete and it took much longer than planned. Have not managed any NSD's this month yet but tomorrow should be one hopefully.

On the good news side I have now lost a total of 7lbs.:j

Scottishmummy

Grr. Roofers must have turned up during the 15 mins DH was out dropping youngest off at childminders. They put a note through the door but he didn't see it until lunchtime because he came in the back door. They can't come now until Friday.

Saving wise quidco paid out with an amazon voucher - enough to buy a light shade I have been wanting for the bathroom - bonus - while I was waiting on the voucher the price dropped

Scottishmummy

Very quick post just to say that I am so pleased with the election results in Scotland. Cameron can no longer ignore the wishes of the Scottish people.

Scottishmummy

Did lots of paperwork today which involved filing and chucking out. Must have filled the paperbin up by a third at least which another smaller pile for burning. Will let eldest set fire to it outside on the next dry evening.

DH made stew for tea tonight filled with carrot, parsnip and neep and there is lots left over so will chuck a tattie in the microwave and take it to work for lunch. Healthy and moneysaving.

Quidco paid out DH's amazon voucher so added that to what was left of mine and have bought a minion for littlest's 3rd birthday next month. Will need to spend quite a bit of time over the rest of this month on the computer. June is a very busy month regarding policies coming to an end. Need to shop around for both car and house insurance and both gas and electric supplies come to an end. with what little comparison I have done so far it looks like sticking with ovo (electric) and zog for gas are still our best deals. I need to double check our annual usage though because we have definitely used less gas and when the solar panels are fitted we'll use less electric too.