EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

Lemon_Tree

Thought I'd just say hi EH as I'm back on the boards.

EssexHebridean

savingholmes wrote: »

Lots of mse positives there. We had a regular saver mature this month too - and got £48 one of our best ever I think... I'm looking forward to the day when a much bigger proportion of our income is passive.

It's definitely a good feeling although also slightly surreal. That's a nice little bonus on your regular saver too - I think we're going to go with one of the Coventry Building society accounts in the new year if it's still available - while the interest rate isn't quite as good as we've been getting it will let us pay in double the amount that the single remaining Nationwide one has done so it'll balance out.

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

Thought I'd just say hi EH as I'm back on the boards.

Ooh LT - hello! Will investigate to see if you have a new diary! :j

EssexHebridean

Sooooo - sainsbugs shop got done and I ended up doing Aldi AND Lidl as well as Aldi appear to have stopped selling tinned chickpeas and I'm allergic to paying the 45p a can the mainstream supermarkets want for even their own brand ones. On the flipside Aldi DID have bread flour in again so that's added to this week's list. The Sainsbugs shop added a little boost of Nectar points to the tally too - I confess I only ever use them for regular shopping but that suits me well enough.

On the subject of loyalty points, a number of the Clubcard ones got converted to vouchers against the purchase of our good food show tickets again - excellent value as always! we also currently have some converted ready to use for a day trip to the London Wetlands Centre at Barnes - which I think is going to happen this weekend. :T we still have plenty of CC vouchers left too - some more will get used for the renewal of the Two Together railcard which needs to happen in Mid January.

I've been trying to convince myself that I don't *really* need to replace my existing padded jacket - and while on the face of it it remains both reasonably warm (it's a man made fibre fill, so not THAT cosy,but still, not bad) and fairly water resistant, I was reminded thanks to a short shower and a sharp wind combination at lunchtime that I really do want to replace it with something better before we head to the Hebrides next - the hood has no means of tightening and so the least gust of wind blows it straight back off my head again. :rotfl: I think on the basis that my original plan in buying it was to "see whether I got on with a padded jacket" and in the two years since I've barely removed the thing in vaguely chilly weather, my question is answered and I can justify a replacement. I have a 20% off code for Mountain Warehouse so I'll have a look on their site I think.

The credit card "month" has now ended so I can start doing the money shuffle whenever I'm ready now. Some of it already got done thanks to the extra DD being taken, so I'll need to refer back to the notes I made on that at the time.

Adopting Lemon Tree's idea of "Frovember" I think as well to try to work through some of the assorted random "stuff" in the freezer. Last night was half a packet of fish fingers. Tomorrow will be some reduced price chicken pieces and a chunk of chorizo to turn into "kinda-paella" I think. Also fairly sure I can use some hot dog rolls and sausages, and the remains of a packet of oven chips on Friday night. :T

Tonight's tea however will be a nice lazy one as MrEH is out for the evening - so either scrambled eggs with (not on - soggy toast UGH) toast or possibly jacket tatties with sardines in tommy sauce & grated cheese. (A gastononomic DELIGHT let me tell you!) It may well depend quite how frozen I feel when I get in whether I can be bothered with the jackets though - it's more than a bit parky out there today and I have a 5k run pencilled in for after work.

Running is going rather well currently and I'm fast chasing down my annual goal of 500km run - which at the beginning of October was looking rather unachievable (On the basis that there was only 3 months left in the year and I'd run less than half of it.) As at last night I had under 90km left to cover thanks to a mighty effort in october and a decent start to November as well. the shiny challenge medal shall be mine! (She cackles, rubbing hands together in glee...) :rotfl:

Some train tickets just booked using a discount code from GWR following some travel disruption last month means £58 of tickets - already reduced to £38 thanks to the TT railcard, were actually purchased for £22.50.

I think we're winning....

beanielou

Always good to be winning

RosaBernicia

Might be worth a look in Go Ou7d00rs too if you have one near. I picked up one of these - more than I meant to spend, but with adjustable everything, cosy through a full day's walking and still smart enough that I can wear it in to work. Haven't got to test it in the Hebrides yet, but hopefully...





Rosa xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'll have to stock up on tinned chick peas next time I go to Lidl.

I've noticed that the Mr T Saver has reduced their interest rate. They did it a few months after I opened my account which is very annoying.

Well done on all the running .

Lemon_Tree

Glad to see you joining Frovember, we've not achieved something every day but are slowly seeing some space

Cheery_Daff

Definitely looks like you're getting somewhere from here! :j :j

Must check our Mr T points - it's the only one I've not checked recently, mostly because when the vouchers come through the door I've only usually got about £1.20 :rotfl: We do use them for fuel a lot more these days though so...

EssexHebridean

RosaBernicia wrote: »

Might be worth a look in Go Ou7d00rs too if you have one near. I picked up one of these - more than I meant to spend, but with adjustable everything, cosy through a full day's walking and still smart enough that I can wear it in to work. Haven't got to test it in the Hebrides yet, but hopefully...

Rosa xx

Ooh good thinking - yes, we have a store in town so that might be worth a look! (A quick look at the website suggests there may well be options!)

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I'll have to stock up on tinned chick peas next time I go to Lidl.

I've noticed that the Mr T Saver has reduced their interest rate. They did it a few months after I opened my account which is very annoying.

Well done on all the running .

Thank you - SOOO much running! :rotfl:

I think our T's interest rate has done a partial drop - our bonus is still in place for another week or so but the interest rate fro the basic account rate has already hit so it will plummet when the bonus drops off.

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

Glad to see you joining Frovember, we've not achieved something every day but are slowly seeing some space

LOVING Frovember! Took out a chunk of chorizo and a tub each of roast pork pieces and pork stock ready for "Paella-ish" tonight so looking forward to that later! I'll use up some of the sliced bread that's in there for toast for weekend breakfasts too, and need to think what else I can use over the weekend! :T

EssexHebridean

Cheery we never get a fortune in CC points but enough to pay for odds and ends through the year like the railcard and the food show tickets - so well worth while. Oddly I never use Nectar points in any way other than in-store, but NEVER use CC points in store at all!


Just completed the application for the new Coventry BS account as recommended by :money: so we should get the paperwork through the post on that inside a few days hopefully. Once it's opened I can begin the process of yanking money out of the soon to be disgustingly low interest Tesco account and across to the new one. Sigh. All very boring but needs doing.

Most of the CC money shuffle got done yesterday - I need to check those payments are showing, work out which of my savings accounts I'm going to borrow the accommodation deposit money from and throw that across, and then work out the remaining balance from the joint account.

Also did the electricity meter readings yesterday evening and have submitted those to Bulb today - looking at the last statement they had overestimated our day use again so that should mean that this months works out lower. Night rate was probably about right though. Gas meter could probably do with reading as well but that's a job for MrEH because the cabinet the meter is in it outside and so spiders ugh. The storage heaters are now very much on in both the hallway and the front room - we'll very likely start using the spare room one on low this winter as well as we now have one in there that works and that will be a decent way of warming that end of the flat without the bedroom getting too hot. That can probably wait for the very cold weather to go on, though.

Decided that I'm going to skip the gym this week as well - partly as I think a rest day tomorrow might be a good idea and secondly that I don't currently have an active monthly pass so I may as well hold off renewing that until next week now. That works extremely well to fit with Christmas then too - I'll start the new one next Tuesday - meaning it will expire on 18th December which will be the last day I go to the gym before Christmas at a guess - then I can buy a new pass in January when I'm back at work.