Wednesday 8th July - What small DFW things will you do today?

Bobarella

twiggy86 wrote: »

Morning all!

Eeek - I have a second interview later so I'm very nervous today! Came into work at 8 so I can leave at 12.30 and take half day holiday so I get changed, touch up make up, panic before my interview!

Think that's everything for today. Hope you have a good day! Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Good luck lovely!!! Knock em dead.

Claree__x

Cancelled my gym membership today - only £18/month but I can't commit to that and studying and being a mummy and working - so it'll have to be at home dvds for the moment.

Otherwise I balanced my spending diary in my lovely new moleskine diary (bought for me by my boss, bonus!) which is keeping me on track not to spend. Had a spendy day on Monday but NSDs every other day since last Thursday. Going for dinner tonight for our anniversary, though, so NSD out of the window - does it still count if I put it on my husband's card?

little_pink_purse

Afternoon


Sorry I missed Tuesdays post still doing training cover shift so iam all over the place


todays todo
wash on
meals from stores
wash on
ebay posting
check banking
early night


talk soon xxxx

ziggy2407

Bobarella wrote: »

Morning All

Ziggy - Glad your son had a great day and is being sensible with his birthday money. He's got a great head on his shoulders for savings from what you've said.

Morning Enjoyyourshoes

Wednesday already. The week feels like it no sooner starts than races towards the middle, end etc...

I have to confess to feeling quite frustrated at the moment. I have that feeling again of wanting to make big steps in my DF journey and the plodding nature I have to keep is getting to me. I know I am among friends here and it's ok to admit this hence the off load.
Much of this is linked to the business progress since reopening. Although there is much to be pleased about. Regulars returning. Great party bookings. Some good weeks on the final figures earned. It is still not making enough to pay me anything some months. Which puts continued pressure on our personal budget as we need me to be making something at the very least. So I feel a bit stuck and a bit cross some of the time.
Anyway I keep telling myself that this time of the year has never been strong from a trading POV and I just have to get through it in as positive a way as I can. Keep accounts up to date. Every payment I make to my overdue PAYE is one I will never make again. That is costing me £305 a month till January. I also have a rent break for November and December because I pay my rent over 10 months at the shop. And once all these darned music vampire charges are paid (paying one company £40 a month for 3 months and 1 £88 a month over 6 months:eek: just for my crackling radio to be on each day. There are so many things that I have to do before I see a penny a month.

right on that note time to get cracking.

Sorry for the ramble!

Bob

I love your posts, so please ramble on, we are all here cheering you on from the sidelines - look at your signature - some fantastic figures - well done, keep it up :T

ziggy2407

twiggy86 wrote: »

Morning all!

Eeek - I have a second interview later so I'm very nervous today! Came into work at 8 so I can leave at 12.30 and take half day holiday so I get changed, touch up make up, panic before my interview!

Think that's everything for today. Hope you have a good day! Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Everything crossed, we are all here for you too cheering you on from the sidelines :T Knock 'em dead, you can do it!!!

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Friends,
Mixed sort of day. Still feeling so tired with getting over the flu, & today, wouldn't you just know it, my bloody hormones decided to kick in so now I have feeling really grotty from The Blob to contend with as well as last remnants of the lergy. Bah!!
A few money-saving things today:
*Free bra arrived. Eh? Free bra, you're thinking? While I was at laid up with flu last week, my Mum sent £20 for a 'cheer-up'.....her intention was for mr f to pop out & use it to get me some flowers or something, but I decided to use it to order a bra instead. I've got 2 lovely sheer summer tops which weren't getting worn because the bra I need under them lost a wire, & once those damn things are out, they're out, aren't they? No amount of sewing & reinforcing seems to get them to stay back in place.So you've heard of flowers & grapes for the invalid, this was the same, but in the form of a bra!
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Pulled up last of broad bean plants & harvested more beans. Will make broad bean pesto with some of those for dinner tonight.
*Pick lettuce, spring onions & cucumber for tonight's salad.
*Did a few surveys & claimed next £15 Sainsbury's giftcard from Toluna. Cat seems to have been accepted on a cat treats trial, which sounds right up his alley.
**Paid off a chunk of credit card. I would have preferred to pay it off in full but this would leave me with too small a buffer zone this month. I'll pay a bit more next week, then aim to clear it in full next month.
*Registered for married couples tax allowance. Am elligible for the full amount - £212 a year. Claiming it was ridiculously complicated. Received the official email with all the links to claim online, so assumed it would take me maybe 20 mins tops? Oh hahahahahahahaha. How naive of me to expect something might actually work? My 'personal link' in the email wouldn't copy & paste, so I hand copied THREE LINES of URL & painstakingly typed into browser. All it led to was a general website about married couples tax allowance, nothing 'personal' at all. Instructions to verify my ID online were useless, as although I was able to find enough info about 'Verify' to write a small essay, there was no sign of anywhere to input my details to actually use it. Returned to main application site & filled in my name & NI number. Given that I've worked & paid PAYE most of my life, & have boxes of billets doux from the HMRC upstairs in my office, I was surprised to get a window pop up saying 'We are unable to verify you online, phone HMRC to register for you marriage allowance'. So I phone the number given & am subjected to nearly 10 mins of robot telling me general stuff about tax I do not need to know. Robot then establishes I am phoning about marriage allowance & I join the queue of callers.........where I sit listening to the most ear-numbing, brain-killing tune imaginable..........for 36.89 mins before the most depressed-sounding chap in the world finally picks up. I explain why I'm ringing. He says there's nothing on my record about me having registered. I say that's because none of their online systems have worked so I have been instructed to do it by phone. He says he'll put me on hold while he asks someone who might know. I tell him that I have been on hold for 36.89 mins at my own expense already, so could he bear this in mind & be quick because I might actually faint for lack of sustenance, He apologised & was quick. Said he was putting me thru to the marriage allowance department. I said, 'Do you mean that I've queued for 36.89 mins & hadn't even been placed in the correct queue, because that is unacceptable'. By then, I'm speaking to someone in the know. She took my details, plus mr f's details & the whole process took 10 mins. Apparently, we will be between £17 & £18 a month better off - not a fortune, but if it's our money, I'd rather we had it. We will be owed some arrears first though, as it's backdated to April, so she said to look out for a payment of around £70. Nearly 40 mins in a phone queue though.......I know that HMRC have had staff cuts as part of the government's 'austerity' project, but I shudder to think what that has cost me.........& the time! If I'd been working still, I'd have had to make that call on my lunch hour. I was proper mad. Can't abide bad service.
So it's a big lot of moans from me today. I've cleared a huge ironing pile too.....not money saving, but in the 'not having to send your husband to work in his shreddies' stakes, it was a useful job well done.
f x

kayannie

Hello everyone


Bob - Just stick at it, you're doing wonderfully well. You're bound to get down at times, it's only natural, but you'll get there in the end and just think how you'll feel then!


My frugal day so far:


* Walked the dog twice, a total of 6 miles. Good exercise & I can't spend while I'm walking.


* Put any left over boiling water into flask, kept by kettle so that I don't forget. I've even got OH doing that now!


* Re-use tea bags - even though I like my tea strong, I find I can make a good cup from 2 used bags as long as they're a reasonably good brand.


* Cycled to veg garden for broad beans & mange tout. Planted more lettuce seed.


* Buy a day old loaf from the baker for half price - still better than a supermarket one.


* Visit Nis@ shop for half price buttery spread and Philly cheese.


* Made a baked bean lasagne for dinner tonight. Cheap, healthy & delicious. Must not serve the broad beans with it though!


K

Bobarella

Hello All

Thanks KayAnnie - you are so right. About bound to go down as well as up that is. Glad to see you are a fellow 'biker' you must be fit as a fiddle also walking so much.

Foxgloves - Glad you are up and about again. The married couple allowance thing. Wow for persevering on that call, many wouldnt have. But can you tell me any more? For example, does every single married couple get it? Im just wondering if people already get child benefit for example, whether they would still qualify? Sounds interesting, but not for the length of time your call took! How nice of your Mum to treat you to a new set of undies as well.

Thanks Ziggy I always mean to ask you what your own DF story is. You've been out of debt since I have ever been coming here. Would love to be nosy and ask

Clare - Good on you cancelling the gym membership. I havent stepped foot in one for years and am at my fittest right now from walking and cycling miles each day. Free too

Hello LPP as well.

Have just done a quick banking check, ticked off any reciepts, logged spends on my app.

Nothing else exciting to report I dont think

Bye for now

Bob

foxgloves

Hi Bob - re the new married couples' tax allowance. No, all married couples do not automatically get it. It's new taxation policy so you have to apply. I'm no expert, but the idea of it is that somebody like me who is either not working or only earning a small amount, is able to transfer a proportion of their annual tax-free allowance to their partner. Partner has to be working & earning less than, I think, £42k per annum. So, since I took VR in the public sector cuts, we've had a change of lifestyle & lived off Mr f's salary. I'm not earning, so am not making use of my tax-free allowance so I qualify for transferring the Max amount allowed to Mr f. Apart from the arrears we are owed from April, which will come as a lump sum, the allowance will be paid via an adjustment of Mr f's tax code, giving us bet. £17 & £18 extra each month. You have to be married or in a civil partnership to qualify. So, in a nutshell, if there is a non-earner or low-earner in the relationship, it's worth taking a look, & was very quick to sort out once I'd got through that nightmare queue. Hope this helps a bit?
F x

DawnW

Evening all :j
Grandma day today, so late posting - baby has ANOTHER cold Poor little thing, she is hardly ever *not* poorly! Hmm, late posting, and not much done

Ziggy, loving that your son decided to bank his birthday money. Is he secretly reading MSE? :rotfl:

Twiggy - hope the interview went well

Bob, I love reading your posts, perhaps because I am nosy, but I love to hear/ read about other people's lives It was interesting what you said (yesterday?) about retail being down at the moment, because we have certainly noticed that takings are down in the shop in which I rent a space

Foxgloves, glad you are getting better OK you still don't feel great, but you are back with a huge list, so you obviously are getting back to normal

:hello: Hello to everyone else

So, what have I managed to do today?

* Checked banks
* Not spent anything
* HM meals from stores
* Took baby out for a walk in her pushchair, for free exercise. We went to the park to look for dogs, and to feed the ducks, all free (she is only 18 months old, and obsessed by 'woofs' and ducks, and rattles the gate to go out and do this every time I look after her :rotfl: The ducks don't get all the bread though, as she always insists on eating some of it herself ) Saw baby moorhens and baby swans, which were very sweet.
* Made some lemon muffins while she was asleep. She was very pleased to see those when she woke up :rotfl:
* Dried a load of washing outside on the line - it was really windy today.

Hmm can't think of anything else - that isn't much, is it

Still to do:
Put the toys away
Put dry laundry away
See what wants watering in the garden
Pick any produce that is ready
Put a load of washing on, to peg out to dry in the morning
Pick some more sweet peas to replace the dead ones in the dining room - free flowers, even if they do only last a few days
Finish the washing up - OH loaded the DW, but there is always stuff that doesn't go in there (or that he forgets) lurking in the sink

Think what to have for supper tomorrow, and get ingredients out of the freezer

Go to bed, after all that lot :eek:

Enjoy what is left of the evening everybody