Had a mortgage too long - it's going, going, gone!

Ali-OK

Today didn't go to plan, have come down with something (could be viral or bacterial) and managed to get in at GPs. Prescription cost £8.20.

DS got a clean bill of health at his dental check up, put mine back a few weeks.

FA was here briefly with the 2 options, so I've chosen one of those and now he has to come back in a couple of weeks with more paperwork. How hard is it to add to a pension! :mad:

Went to cash out my £3 from P!necone and I'd got £9 in there, so have requested that :T and another preliminary one completed.

Qmee was up at 77p so have cashed that out too.

Had to do the food shop, a large £38.30 spent due to buying stock items that were on offer. Got a bee in my bonnet about food items that are charged VAT on and have been monitoring this for a while now, so a little game going on of minimising that - this week it was £1.03 VAT and 7 items, 3 of which were dog related.

I actually started to read the Government's VAT rules to understand why cereal bars attract VAT but choc chip cookies don't! I've now learnt that whole choc chips in a biscuit are VAT free, but a half covered chocolate or more biscuit attracts VAT! So no more Ald! version choc digestives in that case :rotfl:

Yes I know useless information really, but another way to save a few pence by choosing the right biscuits :rotfl:

hiddenshadow

What?! Somehow I thought all food was VAT-exempt - shows how much I've been paying attention.

Hope your bug goes away soon.

AlexLK

Hiddenshadow: I believe all fresh food is VAT exempt but packaged food can incur VAT charges depending on what it is.

A_Frayed_Knot

Hope your bug is not the same as I have - had this for 14 days today and no sign of going away, at least have another couple of days to feel miserable before back in at work Monday morning.:(

Maybe I should try the "man flu" remedies, as nothing else has worked:rotfl:


Hope you feel better soon.

debtfreeoneday

Wishing you better soon x

Ali-OK

Quite handy having a high temp in cold weather, as have turned the thermostat down :rotfl: . Feeling a bit better tonight thanks

AFK - man flu remedy :rotfl: Least easy to spot the box on the shelf! Really hope you begin to feel better, that's a long time to be poorly.

Like all the lovely HMRC rules, it's complicated with VAT on food too - 'luxury goods' seem to be a main area - crisps and bottled water, chocolate another one. I guess because prices have to be shown including VAT in the UK we're not so aware of it. But I am now

Meal plan changed tonight for easy baked potatoes with cheese and onion and a side salad. Grated the whole block of cheese and have frozen the remaining.

Done not alot today, except important money things like pay myself back expenses

AlexLK

Didn't know there was VAT added to bottled water, Ali. Also didn't know you could freeze cheese (though I couldn't bring myself to do it, personally).

Ali-OK

Yes, bottled water is classed as a luxury beverage due to tap water freely available.

I learnt the frozen cheese trick from the Old Style Board I think - seriously, is as good as fresh once defrosted (and does so quite quickly). I freeze chopped carrots if I don't think we'll use them all at their best too.

Only your preconceptions stop you . Look back at the things you've previously said you'd never do and then you consider and then you try... just a matter of time

AlexLK

I send my son to school with a bottle of water everyday. Whilst I'm fine with him drinking water from the tap at home, I don't like the idea of him doing so at school and also don't like the idea of filling a bottle with tap water. Due to staying with my parents, they've recently found this out and think it hilarious.

I've always resisted the bulk cooking / freezing though, Ali. However, I do know in some ways it's a bit irrational.

Ali-OK

Alex, I'm the same as you with DS having a bottle of water daily for school, 2 on PE days (and he has a cereal bar for break - also VATable :mad:). More a school rule here on water - we've tried various re-usable water bottles and they all leaked anyway. So I just suck up the cost for now

You've done the leftovers in the fridge for using the next day. Bulk cooking and freezing is only one step further