A Ditherer's Diary (again)

moving_forward

Well done on the extra payments Naomin.  I'm sure Tesco,s just offered me a transfer (not needed at the moment) so maybe they are going to offer you one shortly (crossing fingers and toes for you)

Naomim

moving_forward said:

Well done on the extra payments Naomin.  I'm sure Tesco,s just offered me a transfer (not needed at the moment) so maybe they are going to offer you one shortly (crossing fingers and toes for you)

@moving_forward I hope so! I can't cope with two credit cards charging interest.  Although having said that, even if I moved the Barclaycard interest charging part to the MrT's card the interest would be lower.

moving_forward

any saving on interest is worth it.  Maybe wait until the last week before its due and then move it to Mr T's if no deals come up.

Naomim

EssexHebridean said:

For seeds - you could try here>> https://www.thompson-morgan.com/ 

I will have a look. We are by no way gardeners. Our back garden has artificial grass. Last year I bought some big pots but just didn't have the money to put stuff in them!   But the front garden is just a mess of weeds and weird grass patches. Last year MrM the Elder dug the whole thing over. We went to Cornwall for a week and came home to a mass of weeds.  The 14yo did try and get out there with the strimmer yesterday but he said he couldn't get it to work properly. I might have a go at the weekend. I'd love to have a nice garden but just don't have the time with working full time. I really need low maintenance - hence the rear artificial grass. 

I was looking for compost and it was either out of stock, or on Amazon apparently had a 400% price increase. I have found a local-ish Garden Centre that is open for orders with click and collect so I plan to order some from here. Then with the link that @EssexHebridean sent to me I am going to try and order some plants for my pots.  I've opened an account and put some bits in my basket, just waiting before I check out.  The thing is, I'm not sure how much of anything I will need. I have tried to make sure I pick hardy perennials. I also need something that will grow under the tree canopy at the end of my garden, some kind of bush type thing that will grow in a pot.  It's still a very sunny area but the bloody trees drop so much c**p into my garden. - The trees belong to the flats that own the garden to the rear of my property. They recently moved the fence so two of the trees are now in my garden.   My Grandad used to have a lovely garden and allotment. One thing I miss is the smell of his shed, old wood, old tools, rollies. He'd be shocked at my lack of gardening skills! 

In other strange goings on, I have noticed my house is tidier. I always used to look o the flylady threads on the Old Style boards but commuting/working 7am-7pm I never had the chance to do anything during the week.  Now I'm wfh and not going out for coffee's, cinema trips etc, I've noticed I'm doing more around the house. They are very small bits but gradually are making so much of a difference.  I can see my dressing table and bedroom floor, the kitchen is being tidied every day.. just small bits but I am noticing the difference, even if no-one else in the house does! 

I'm hoping to tackle the 14yo's bedroom this weekend and actually get the unit from the Swedish shop built with his help. his birthday is coming up in 6 weeks.  I'm not sure where we'll be with regards to lockdown so need to start having a think about some gifts.

Naomim



 

moving_forward

Great that you are getting on top of the house.  My advice for the garden is do a little bit at a time.  Keep up with what you have done before starting more projects.  I would be concerned over the trees being "moved" into your garden as although extra land seems great you don't want to be made responsible for any damage they cause or having to maintain them.

Naomim

moving_forward said:

Great that you are getting on top of the house.  My advice for the garden is do a little bit at a time.  Keep up with what you have done before starting more projects.  I would be concerned over the trees being "moved" into your garden as although extra land seems great you don't want to be made responsible for any damage they cause or having to maintain them.

We have absolutely nothing in the garden so it seems I might have to kind of go all out to start with.  I'm going to cut the grass again later on. That is my mission for now, to keep the grass cut this summer. 

With the trees, the flats behind us are newly built, no-one has moved in yet. The trees have been there for years.  Our fence was broken but when I looked on the plans for the new build I realised they were putting a fence up. So they put their fence up between their trees, I removed our broken fence and kind of "claimed" an extra foot of land. Otherwise between their fence and ours was a bit of a no-mans land.  But I guess this is how often boundary disputes start! 

Naomim

So posting this separate as it's MSE and not gardening

MrM and I have both been paid today.  In MrM's salary is £200 extra which would be his annual travelcard.   I have two credit card balances that are interest charging.
Barclaycard  £5474.80  @ 21.04%
Tesco £643.28 @ 15.75

Normally all my over-payments go on the Barclaycard.  I was hoping the MrT's card would offer me a balance transfer as it's a low balance and I have an MBNA card about to start charging interest too.  

What's the likelyhood of the Tesco card offering me a BT if I pay the £200 off the balance of this?   

I want to put it to where it's most use whilst I have it.

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish

In my personal experience, Tesco have been a lot quicker than Barclaycard at offering balance transfer rates when I’ve made substantial overpayments. But that may have been because I’ve had a large balance on my Barclaycard for far longer than Tesco. Tesco has been my “transfer and clear it” card since I opened it so I’ve never gone outside of the 0% period on it. 
Sorry, I don’t know if that is very helpful! 

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish said:

In my personal experience, Tesco have been a lot quicker than Barclaycard at offering balance transfer rates when I’ve made substantial overpayments. But that may have been because I’ve had a large balance on my Barclaycard for far longer than Tesco. Tesco has been my “transfer and clear it” card since I opened it so I’ve never gone outside of the 0% period on it. 
Sorry, I don’t know if that is very helpful! 

No it is as, I'm thinking if I overpay by a nice big chunk then I might get the balance transfer and can move the B'card interest and probably the MBNA  that's about to charge interest over.  Even if after a month or so they don't offer it, I may move the debt anyway as the MrT card is lower interest charging than either B'card or MBNA.

Thanks

Naomim

Naomim

Good morning everyone,

I hope you all had a good weekend - inasmuch as we can in lockdown.  I did a lot of cleaning and tidying and managed to get the front lawn trimmed, but also got to spend some quality time in the garden with a book

I have decided to overpay the £200 onto the MrT's card.  I jut checked my Quidco account as I knew I had a large amount for switching to Scottish Power due and it's confirmed so I had £183.00 in total to withdraw !  Add that to the payment and that's the balance more than halved. I will pay the balance  off next month and that's one credit card out of the way.  Hopefully then they will offer a balance transfer and away I go.

Naomim