Hazelnutty's New Start

Hazelnutty

Quick update. Childfree evening went from meal out to Waitrose meal deal to a pie! (Admittedly a Waitrose one). £4 well spent I think (although not v romantic)

Finally got fed up with flaky FB buyer. Kept delaying and also asked for individual photos of each item of clothing in the bundle, which was a real hassle. Kept asking - do you want this? - as it just felt like she was stringing me along and was expecting free delivery as well. Anyway, within an hour of finally just moving on someone else had come by and got it so £15 in the kitty! Another £5 item should go tomorrow.

Also totted up the TTs since last payday: £11.54! So by the time I get paid again I should have at least £20 to OP.

Probably working for couple of hours or so tonight but then it's feet up, pie in and kittens on the lap. Have a great Friday evening everybody.

Crumpets

Well done on all you selling and decluttering Hazel. It can be so frustrating when people string you along, I had the same thing happen to me recently :mad:

Hope the loft bed construction goes well

greent

Glad you managed to sell it :T Flaky buyers annoy me :mad:

Hazelnutty

Hi all
Fantastic news today. OH has had her benefits approved following a recent assessment. It's been a terrible time for us both as DWP just treat people so badly - apparently a consultant brain surgeon's expert judgement isn't enough to prove you have a genuine medical issue (oh and also an ENT consultant and basically reams of paper from medical professionals). The stuff in the tabloids about people on benefits raking it in are so dangerous because she's been through hell for a pittance. It does mean that she can start to contribute a few quid to the weekly shopping budget. It won't be much but it matters hugely to her and every little helps. Don't think either of us has got over the shock of this turning out well!

In more trivial news, unfortunately the loft bed fell through. When the seller was dismantling it and taking off some stickers the bed got damaged. As it was an Ikea bed with that shiny finish it couldn't be easily painted over and DD decided she wasn't sure. Grateful the seller sent us pics so we could make our minds up. The upshot it I've now ordered a bed new online, which is lovely but more expensive Having said that it might actually be more future-proof as it's more of a older style... But I am a bit of a soft touch

Popped into town this afternoon to spend more of DD's birthday vouchers. Bought her a guitar case, an unexpected spend but one that I probably should have done a while back as she's a bit of a disaster zone (having dropped it a few times already). Also bought a lovely book for DD at an independent bookshop in return for her handing over her discarded Smiggle pencil cases for me to sell :j

£5 FB sale later today and another tomorrow all being well. Listed some of DD's old shoes on FB this morning so fingers crossed I'll get some more sales for the OP/bed pot.

Hope everyone's having a good Saturday!

the_cross_rabbit

fantastic news on your OH been award what they are entitled to. We have these hoops to jump through in a couple of years when DD2 moves from childrens DLA to PIP really not looking forward to it. Well done on all the FB sales etc.

CathT

Hi hazelnutty, just caught up. Sounds like you're up to a good start with you MFW journey. Starting a diary was the best thing I did, definitely keeps you motivated.

There really are some time wasters on Fb but glad you've been able to make some sales. I'd agree about posting more sale posts later in the year, I've bought loads of my children's presents off Fb!

Hazelnutty

Thanks for stopping by, Cross Rabbit and CathT

The ESA claim has been hanging over our heads for so long now and it's been really hard not to feel that you're basically not being believed or that all the medical professionals' statements don't count, because basically the DWP want claimants to fail (or at least a high % of them). I think we'll both sleep a little easier now and I know that being able to make small contributions to the food shopping is psychologically important to OH.

Reorganised some of my FB sales this morning as the bundles weren't getting any interest, so hope to shift some more stuff soon, £5 here and there. I am wondering how long to leave things before giving up and sending them to charity shops just so I can get the storage room clear and usable. Speaking of decluttering I saw a cool ad on FB this morning of a couple of women who have turned their OCD into a business doing decluttering and organisation for people. It looked like a great set-up. Decluttering isn't really my problem as I love a good clear-out, it's just finding the time and energy to move the decluttered items on to new homes.

Main CC cuts off on Tuesday and current balance is £405, which I'm really pleased about (budget is £750). Having said that my spreadsheet isn't showing a nice underspend for me to squirrel away, which is a bit strange. But nonetheless hoping for some extra OP in November.

Unfortunately I have to do some more newsletter editing work now (am clearly procrastinating!) so will catch you all later. Have a great Sunday!

Kittenkirst

Great news about your OHs claim being accepted- I bet the relief is huge for her and I can totally understand she wants to contribute to your household

My big brother has had long term mental health issues which are pretty debilitating, he's been that way since a teen and has had a spate of being homeless. Yet every few years he has the stress of the reapplication which is often declined his first time. He then has to get psychiatrists and doctors all involved for it to be agreed again. As an outsider looking in on the process I don't get how some people can defraud the system when such deserving people have such trials and tribulations

The new bed sounds lovely- am I too old to get one too? :rotfl:

Hazelnutty

Thanks, KK. It just seems like the systems that are put in place to assess people are just totally disproportionate to the task and to the amount of fraud (just imagine how much it costs taxpayers in admin to decline your brother's application then him appeal and get it) If they just got Amazon and Starbucks to pay their taxes it'd totally dwarf all these costs of course.

The bed is lovely. It's a grey silk highsleeper with a cool built in desk. I would totally have it except the thought of a middle of the night loo trip is a little daunting :oI always wanted a cabin bed or highsleeper when I was a kid (oh and patent shoes). Never got either :rotfl: I do have some nifty patent black DMs now so I guess it all came good.:cool:

Hazelnutty

Just done some reorganising of my savings. Most of my money was in a Nationwide loyalty saver earning 1.1%, which is useful to have as it's where my virtual pots sit and I can move money easily between there and my NW current account. But the pots only add up up to about £2.5k so I've moved most of the rest into one of the MSE easy access best buys - Chartered Savings @1.4%. OK, it won't be much more but every penny helps! I've also request closure of my NW loyalty ISA, another underperforming account (so much for loyalty!). Once that money comes in I'm going to set up a Chartered 1-year bond @ 2.01%, another MSE best buy. I'll stick the capital from the ISA in there and OP the interest off the mortgage.

All of this sorted accompanied by OH's cookies yum!

Feeling a bit down on myself that I haven't exercised this weekend. I actually love sport but when I'm not in a good place I tend to sabotage myself a bit and just retreat into inactivity. Rain doesn't put me off, in fact I love running in the rain, so I can't even blame the weather. It's top of my to-do list for tomorrow!