Preparing for the biggest move of our life

bellevie

Thanks MT, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

bellevie

I have just noticed that Barclays rewards would top up my account by £4 a month! Well, £7 but there is a £3 fee.

I do have a barclays account, its currently a 'spare account' I transfer food & petrol money weekly so that I stick to the budget.

I am going to have a play with my spreadsheet to see what I could move over there!

Im with Nationwide atm and have no complaints. Just every extra penny helps, so if I can benefit from both accounts, its worth a try.

Food shop ordered for Wednesday delivery - we have missed this week's food shop due to lack of car, but will pick up some milk tomorrow. Being without the car has had a silver lining this weekend

MuffinTops

I have 3 different bank accounts based on what they can offer me, and earn a decent amount out of it, when you consider I do very little to get that money. Definitely worth looking into.

firesidemaid

Hiya.


Was just having a read of your diary.


I can't imagine how busy life must be working with a little one (I don't have kids), but wondered whether it's possible to sometimes get some of your shopping for less.....it all adds up & can then go towards your savings.


Are you able to et to a Wilko's as they regularly have EVERYTHING on offer at some point - toiletries, cleaning products, stationary etc Also, would you consider childrens' books second hand in good condition?


Good luck with your plans x

RosaBernicia

Big hugs Bellevie - life can be a cow at times but you're managing it really well.

I'm the same with brake lights - I once bumped someone at a roundabout whose lights had gone. I didn't actually realise that was why it had happened until he finally pulled over and I could see that the light was still whole and must have been already broken beforehand.

I loved the Faraway Tree too - it was in the box of books at my nanna's so used to read it in front of the fire on wet weekends . Thank you for bringing back a nice memory :A.


Rosa xx

bellevie

Hi Firesidemaid,

I already shop in Wilko's as its round the corner to my workplace - I get my laundry products when they are on offer :money:

I used to shop in Lidl/Aldi but have trouble getting to them in the week and they are far too busy weekends.

I was ordering via the click & collect with Tesco, their minimum spend was £25 which is usually what we spend. Then they upped their minimum spend to £40:eek: so the past couple of weeks I have alternated between Asda & Sainsbury, depending what comes out cheapest. This week we spent £32 (£1 being delivery). That included a few extra snacks as we should be *car permitting* travelling to see my brother next weekend.

It probably would have been £2-£3 cheaper at Lidls actually. I know they tend to be quieter very early morning or later in the afternoon, so I just need to time my visits better!

I did kick myself re the books when I got home and searched on Amazon, came up quite a bit cheaper than the book shop :mad:Ebay may be cheaper still if I find some second hand.

Lesson learnt

I have some amazon vouchers saved towards Christmas that I haven't included in my budget so I will see what I can pick up there.

RosaBernicia

Amaz0n is usually cheapest for books - there are a few sites like Bookbutler that will check all the sites for you, but I've kinda stopped bothering as it was so rare that anything else worked out best. I haven't really looked for kids books on Ebay but I wonder if people might do bundles for particular authors? Also, charity shops are still worth a look - they're not as cheap as they were but often work out less than the postage.

I love W1lkos, I wander round the one near me at lunchtimes... but have given up making separate trips to Ald1 as the hassle and petrol doesn't seem worth what I save if I'm careful in the other shops. Sainsbugs always seem to send me vouchers if I ignore them for a couple of weeks so hope they will for you too.


Rosa xx

bellevie

Funny you saying that Rosa, the past couple of top up shops on my lunch break I've got a voucher for £1 worth of nectar points on next £10 I spend! Only problem is I'm forever forgetting them until they expire!

I saved the last one in my purse, so will use that next week:j

bellevie

Its been a week.....again!

Monday was fun but stressful, cab to school running late, car had been in garage all weekend. Bus after work took forever, but not as expensive at £3.30. Car fix turned out to be the brake switch, £65. Relief, that it wasn't the electric wiring, and a quick fix.

Yesterday good day, car seemingly back to normal.
After work collecting DD from after school club, I couldn't get the gear stick out of park! One of the other mums with some struggle managed it, so I thought maybe it needs some WD40?
Got home, put it in park and straight away it jams.
Google was my friend and I discovered if I lifted the gearbox cover I could push a yellow switch which allowed me to move the gearstick.

Restless night, woke at 5am fretting that it would be a £700 gearbox problem. This morning he quickly inspected and said the brake switch used was a cheaper brand and damaged. Damaged either because it wasn't inspected prior to fit or it wasn't fitted properly.
I could have gone to the original garage, but I have lost confidence in them. I went there a couple of years ago and issues kept re-occurring. I thought it must be the car and brushed it off. I only went there last Friday because they were the closest and on a bus route to work.
So the new garage ordered the part, manipulated the original one to make it stay in so that I could at least get to work. Then fitted it after work - that said second part that arrived had also been damaged in transit so one of the chaps drove into the next town to pick one up in person, he then showed me the switch so I could see what it should be like.
Talk about dedication! I was seriously impressed with the customer service. They could see how panicked I was and that I needed reassurance and they did just that.:T

£58.80 - and car drove home fine, bright brake lights and gear stick did not get stuck! I am cautiously optimistic. Though I might not relax until I have had at least 1 week trouble free

bellevie

Crazily busy day today, I don't know but before I knew it, it was time to go!

Tomorrow should be a little calmer, 2 brief apts and I have booked to leave at 3. So I am planning to make calls on my cases check I am up to speed and make a start on my 'go to bible'.
I have found the information I need is far too scattered around, contacts, forms, charity info, budget planners, guidance notes etc. Having to source the information each time is really eating into my time that would be better spent meeting people and getting our waiting list under control. So I am creating my own 'manual' with all the information I pick up along the way.

My employers are only just setting up mobile working - a little late I know. I think it will be brilliant, in my overtime role I could do so much more if I could log on whilst at a residents, or in the car after my visit. Update and off to the next one. At the moment we have to blitz through visits then spend a couple of hours were possible catching up & reporting. Or report in after every couple of visits otherwise its just not possible to complete the administrative tasks that follow each visit.

Pay day tomorrow :j I am excited. I was fairly surprised when I checked my savings account yesterday:money:, I have been tucking away £5 here, £10 there. It does include £80 that I think is an overpayment but I figured I might as well earn interest on it as it will be cut from somewhere else. I might just earn maximum interest rate from the account for the first time in a year

After work tomorrow, we are heading straight on the motorway (car permitting), to meet my brother & sister in law they booked a caravan weekend for all of us last winter. I'm looking forward to seeing them, not looking forward to rush hour traffic, but I hope if I get out of work on time I may miss the worst of it.

Sunday we will probably head back at lunch time so I can get DD ready for school. I did book Monday off to recover and as it happens DD's desk should be delivered, so I will be assembling that and catching up with washing etc.

I can see myself waking up at 5am tomorrow to check my bank balance so I had better get an early night