Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

dustydigger

Mr Dusty was annoyed when his ISA provider slashed his rate from 0.75% to 0.50%. Because he refuses to do anything online or use a debit card except when unavoidable,he spent the whole morning trotting round different banks checking their rates. I did try to show him some online but he didnt want to listen,so I let him get on with it:D In the end he did quite well,found a 1.1 % rate with Newcastle Building Society.
Meanwhile no mess no fuss I signed up for V1rgin's e saver account with a rate of 2.25%,with surprisingly few restrictions.I am going to save for the USA trip on there - if I can work out how to actually put anything in the account. Thought I could just simply transfer from my CA but not so simple.They state I will be using the Faster Payments Service but give no info on actually how to do it.Looks as if I am going to have to phone in and I hate that,you are put through so many hoops and it takes ages.Probably will set up a standing order to save all that hassle - or get Mr Dusty to physically put cash in the account every fortnight when he collects our pensions.Its two bus rides away to the branch,I was hoping to do it all online as and when I please. Anyhoo,I'll bite the bullet and phone in this afternoon - when the next footie match has started.Yep,Mr D went off upstairs when the match finished and will back at 4 for the next one:mad::mad:

beanielou

If you can do bill payments on your current account online then set it up as a bill payment?

dustydigger

I normally visit Her*ns when I visit the library opposite to it,and stock up on my frozen fruit and veg etc there.I always save £1 on my stamp card for Xmas.Yesterday I found our branch has been taken over by b&m,and my stamps will only be valid for another week or two here or I have to save in future at the Her*n branch in the town 7 miles away,and a good long walk from the bus station. They claim they will continue selling the same brands as normal but cant say I trust them about that. We have faithfully been buying a certain frozen curry there that - wonder of wonders - Mr D will actually eat in the form of curried chicken pasties. Cant see Mr Dusty being amused at having to walk over the town for them.Fingers crossed that b&m really mean what they say.

dustydigger

Am trying to get back onto doing surveys. Managed to get a couple of YouGovs,a measley 75p for 2 of them in total ,but as I said recently MySurveys didnt seem to like that I wasnt doing them for about a month,and it became increasingly hard to get on their site. Often my ID wasnt working,or if I did get on I was unsuitable for any of the surveys and eventually this last week I would get a page saying the site was temporarily unavailable,try later. Yesterday I got an email warning me that I was not being active and if I didnt click on to a survey soon they would be forced to close me down. I tried at least 8 times and always got that ''temporarily unavailable'' message,so thats that. I was so happy accumulating enough points to get £5 Amaz*n gift vouchers every 2-3 weeks,it bought me quite a few crucial books on my Hugo award winners list.I bought probably 7-8 books over the last 4 months and I was very happy with the situation. Now no money left in the Amaz*n kitty. I only have £7.85/£30 on OnePoll,and £8.05/£50 on YouGov,and £3.42/£20 on Prolific,so no more new books for a very long time.:(
Oh well,I do have about 35 books on my shelf earmarked for various challenges,plus around another 15 lined uponlineso I am not going short but I was really happy doing the surveys - however boring- for the tangible results.And later in the year I will once more be needing books for the challenges and now being a pennypincher I will not be happy forking out for books!:mad:

dustydigger

The above moan about My Survey should have been posted as part of yesterday's Day from Hell rant but while the rest was half humorous,I was really too annoyed to even broach the subject:D
Also yesterday HP told me it was time to renew my laptop insurance,which I did,£25. But I remember how I didnt extend the waranty on my last laptop,and only 2 months out of date I spilled a glass of water over it and it was a writeoff. I am being much more careful with liquids near the computer these days - live and learn - but knowing klutzy me,I was happy to pay the £25. And the new improved Dusty of course had the money at her fingertips,no fuss:cool:

dustydigger

:eek:Right,finances,surveys updated. No housework,no exercise either,apart form humping two heavy bags of groceries home yesterday.I knew the bus would be full of buggies and school kids,couldnt take the shopping trolley.The feet were protesting all night so no walking today.
Hobbies? Didnt go to the family history group this week because of the gastric gruesomeness,so never open a single file there.And reading is still rather below par,only 3 books completed so far this month,though I have at least 5 books in progress.But my projected 14 books target is looking very dodgy:(
Not getting an Asd@ delivery this week has meant using up my cash household budget rather quickly. Only £60 left out of £141 already,usually at least £80 at this point,5 days in:eek::eek:.Well,the£50 is in the CA if I need to do an emergency shop,but hopefully I will manage. We'll see.

So thats it for today folks.Mr D is having easy peasy beef sausages for supper,I'm having a salad.I am going to do some reading now if I can tune out the TV.
Oh,didnt I say the football is back on.....(sigh)......
See you tomorrow!

dustydigger

beanielou wrote: »

If you can do bill payments on your current account online then set it up as a bill payment?

hi beanie lou! Yes I will have to set up something,I had visions of just easily transferring from CA to saver,but where do I access Faster Payments?
Good thing I caught sight of your post I had clean forgotten I meant to phone the bank.Off now to do it:rotfl:

beanielou

dustydigger wrote: »

hi beanie lou! Yes I will have to set up something,I had visions of just easily transferring from CA to saver,but where do I access Faster Payments?
Good thing I caught sight of your post I had clean forgotten I meant to phone the bank.Off now to do it:rotfl:

Once you have set up the bill payment & send the payment it automatically is sent as a faster payment.

dustydigger

beanielou wrote: »

Once you have set up the bill payment & send the payment it automatically is sent as a faster payment.

I phoned them and I have to go into the bank to fill forms for a the regular payment. Looks like I need to phone in if I want to do a one off payment. I hate phoning and getting all those options,mine is always the final ''for everything else please hold''and a long hold with moronic muzak and someone announcing every 15 seconds ''thank you for waiting'' which for a moment you think is actually a real person. Then my mind wanders off and I am hastily recalled to the world by the person trying to get a reply to their greeting:rotfl:

No wonder I want to do it all online!:D:D

beanielou

So why cant you do it through online banking :think: