22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

Brrrr!
I have had a very very thrifty week, I have £250 lined up in an account that I have saved from the housekeeping over the last 2 weeks and scrabbled around in 'other accounts'.

DH is very sore in the knee department and has not run this week. Very sensible, and his mood is still good, although he gets another tranche of marking tonight, so it may not hold.

I am going to get on to the water-soluble locksmith again today.
Spoke to step-gran yesterday (to make sure she was in to receive her birthday flowers), I do like that Y0del let you track their driver on a map. And again this morning. She is a very happy bunny today, £40 well spent. She has given me a list of things to buy for her and send her - she now has a dark chocolate coated cranberry habit after I bought them for her in H&B over summer. Will package up and send her some.

Got a £3 voucher from S&M for using their credit card. No free candle this year! Boo! Mr AlD1 have a lovely Almondy smelling one (I would roll in almond oil if it made me smell like that). Crazy backwards and forwards driving day yesterday, did the same trip at least 5 times due to volunteering, school run, after school clubs pickups and an open evening DS1 was helping out with. So from 12 - 8 I was up and down the road like an absolute idiot. Good job it is only 3-4 miles in each direction, but I do not think my petrol is going to last until Monday now. Boo!
Going to ignore my credit card bill until November payday and take it out of December budget.

On the plus side, payroll have stated they will not take strike pay out of December salary for DH. They have not decided how they will do it, but I think it will be taken 2 days per month after the new year.

I am getting emails about MOT now - it is due in 5 weeks, and about remortgaging, which is due in 3 months. Not sure what to do. I will no doubt figure it out, and if I make a mess of it, who will know? I will not be in a worse position than I am now. It just feels scary because I know next month is the C-word and the kids only seem to want £notes and doughnuts (posh £2.50 each doughnuts in a fancy schmancy box). They are NOT my children. They are their Father's children.

f0xh0les

70p left until UGuv £50 payout - it will go to the 'naughty ignition fund'
I think I am going to buy a Eurosquillions ticket for tonight.

apple_muncher

f0xh0les wrote: »

70p left until UGuv £50 payout - it will go to the 'naughty ignition fund'
I think I am going to buy a Eurosquillions ticket for tonight.

I was wondering if the key was still in the lock...:rotfl:

f0xh0les

Yep, (sigh) and I cover the base of the steering wheel/ key lock with a black scarf when I get out of the car so that the key cannot be seen. It all blends in with the darkness, and as the keyfob has the immobiliser on it and the locksmith took the fob off when he cut me a thicker key, the engine will not turn on with the key alone. So the danger is that someone sees the key and smashes the window to get in, but they would still have to let the handbrake off and push the bl00dy thing away if they wanted to nick it cos the engine will not start without the fob.
Anyway, mrs locksmith has taken a message and is going to get him to ring me back. I think I will be appearing in his shop tomorrow morning nice and early .....
The worst thing is that Mr G00gle says swapping out the barrel of an ignition is a 20 minute job. Pinning down a locksmith however......

f0xh0les

Made £3.05 on P/Ac so far today, will add that £5 to the naughty ignition fund too, when I get there.

Cornish_mum

Hi foxholes our meanie University are going to take the strike pay off in February in one big lump the rotters. Hope your DHs don’t follow suit.

crazy_cat_lady

Good luck chasing down that locksmith!

badmemory

Cornish_mum wrote: »

Hi foxholes our meanie University are going to take the strike pay off in February in one big lump the rotters. Hope your DHs don’t follow suit.

Old ROC thing - forwarned is forearmed. As in at least you know when it is going to happen.


Re ignition key thingy (technical term obviously) are you sure you are talking to the right sort of key person. I'll try remember to have a word with a friend of mine in the am, he's in the motor trade & may be able to point you in a better direction. Pity you are not still in M/c or it would be done & dusted by now. I keep meaning to ask him about it but see my user name.

f0xh0les

He is the right person, he is very good and comes well recommended, but he is in demand and sees my little problem (the car still drives fine) as not urgent. He can rekey the fob and all that jazz, the only thing it won't do is open the manual, stick your physical key in the physical door keyhole on the passenger side - and who does that anyway anymore? Key fob, push button, bip bip - door can be opened. I think I just need to sit on the dude until he gives me a date and a time. I am even up for getting the bit on bay of E motors, and just getting him to fit it and code it. At least that way I will have a spare key again.

I have been adopted as Morale Officer for the f/b, as, as far as I am concerned, more than 2 people in one place should be designated a party, and like Ms Poppins, in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun, or at least should be. There is a lot more laughter wherever I am working than there was before, and it has been noticed. All those years behind a bar have served me well! Honestly, I could get conversation out of a grumpy five bar gate. Mind you I talk to my coffee machine.
I feel terrified about spending any money right now. I know the key is going to cost, I want to hit £10k in the bank by the end of the year. I am worried heavy snow will make my roof fall off. I feel like I should have got all this house stuff done by now, but I have not.

Elli0t the remortgage man from L and C is in touch, and I am wondering if I should just reclaim £5k of my overpayment and remortgage for £100k, which means I will have a £15k budget plus DH's £6k-£7k. So over £20k budget to sort out the sodding house. I am literally terrified into immobility at the idea of spending that sort of money.

Why did I not just marry a builder? or a tradesman? someone who knows who is a rogue and who is legit. Paralysed by what-ifs. I should ask my volunteering chums if they have any recommendations - that is exactly what I will do on Monday. I am making a small network of people I know, and when I see friendly (recovering alcoholic) plumber chap who used to live next door, I will ask him as well. Basically I want to turn my house in to a castle, There is a large loft space above the bathroom that cannot be accessed and it is a wasted space. One wall of which could open out onto the very top landing, with a bit of jiggery pokery, I could have a whole new room! It would need a dormer window or velux, but it is totally wasted space, even for storage it would be fab. So that is something to think about - honestly I spend too much time thinking and not enough making people come around and look at stuff.

I might have to invent Do-Stuff December after my car is sorted.

f0xh0les

Got a letter from the mortgage company this morning telling me my deal ends in JANUARY!! How the heck can a 24 month deal that started in March, and did not get any money taken until April, end in a January?
Anyway, I will not be paying 5.25%, (nearly £160 more a month than now) I will be off!
So a fun day spent playing with best buy mortgage calculators and then I will go to Elli0t and see if he can beat it. It really bugs me they can charge you £200 to leave a bad deal, and then charge you £400 to do the legals and another valuation, even if it is with the same company (which it def will not be!). Anyway, I think I will be going back onto a 1.59% with no set up fees, about £460 a month repayment for the first 24 months on a 20 year deal. That way we can keep the dd at £528 (current payment) and effectively overpay £60 a month without noticing, and then my o/p on top, until we finish the building works and I can get back on with the bigger overpayments just before we need to remortgage again in 2 years. There. Plan made. Not scary. Will ring him on Monday.