Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

[Deleted User]

Sallyforth wrote: »

Hi CBC
Just to add when I was going through sorting settlements I found Santander the worst. They kept telling us “it’s in the back room” and we had visions of all these poor workers in Spanish caves. Seriously they were extremely inefficient.
Sally x

Sorry you had bad experiences with Santander, Sallyforth. I totally agree on their inefficiency. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing in that organisation. Local branches are excellent, OH has one of his accounts with them and swears by them. I only deal with Head Office and swear at them rather than by them:eek:. Only under my breath of course. I don't want to alienate them;)


I sent off SAR requests to both Santander and Lloyds a couple of years ago. Within 3 weeks Lloyds sent a very heavy parcel of paperwork about 9 cms thick. Everything I expected and more:rotfl:. Santander needed chasing up after denying they ever received the request (although I knew they had because I sent it 'signed for'). What they eventually sent me fell far short of what I asked for and what they were legally obliged to provide:(. It took months before I received most of it, chased up constantly by me, delivered in dribs and drabs. I never did receive the full amount and just gave up in the end. I'd had what I really needed and could do without the remainder. Not worth the hassle. The fact that they could find no trace of the account that I'm disputing at the moment(only closed in 2017) on their system speaks volumes about their efficiency IMO:eek:

[Deleted User]

beanielou wrote: »

I would send it signed for.
About £1 more to do.

Good idea, beanie:T

I have mixed feelings now about sending things 'signed for' to big organisations. Advice frequently given on the debt-support threads veers towards not bothering to do it with big organisations as everything just goes to a post room anyway and still may not reach the correct department even though it's in the organisation somewhere.


I've sent things in the past just with a free proof of posting and when the organisation has had to be chased up after not responding and denying receiving the correspondence they've miraculously 'found' it when I say I've proof that I sent it:rotfl:. I know proof of posting isn't the same as proof of delivery but it's often enough;)


In this case the extra outlay might be well worth it though if it brings results:)

Karmacat

Wow, those experiences with Santander sound awful I'm really glad I sold those shares now ...

The thing about posting/ signing, I sort of agree, CBC, even comparatively small organisations. One of the things we did when selling my mum's house was to buy the freehold (Lancashire has a few leasehold houses here and there, its about the estate they were built on, the aristocratic estate and although the organisation that takes care of them were desperate to sell (the ground rent, fixed, was £8 a year!) they were terrible at the paperwork - I could send something that would take a day to get to them, and it would take two days to get to the right department In the end, we needn't have bothered doing it, but thats another story ...

[Deleted User]

Karmacat wrote: »

Wow, those experiences with Santander sound awful I'm really glad I sold those shares now ...

The thing about posting/ signing, I sort of agree, CBC, even comparatively small organisations. One of the things we did when selling my mum's house was to buy the freehold (Lancashire has a few leasehold houses here and there, its about the estate they were built on, the aristocratic estate and although the organisation that takes care of them were desperate to sell (the ground rent, fixed, was £8 a year!) they were terrible at the paperwork - I could send something that would take a day to get to them, and it would take two days to get to the right department In the end, we needn't have bothered doing it, but thats another story ...

Thanks , KC:)

I remember reading on your own diary about the palaver you and your siblings had to endure when organising the selling of your Mum's house. All that added stress is the last thing people need when still grieving for a loved one. I'm glad everything worked out all right in the end:beer:

[Deleted User]

A bit of positivity of sorts to report after a frustrating weekend. The letter to Santander has been posted. I took beanielou's advice in the end and sent it 'signed for'. Now I need to be patient and wait for some response. Knowing the speed at which they work I won't be holding my breath;).



After my No Spend on Groceries month I'm having to do a big replenishing shop. It was raining heavily yesterday afternoon and I went on the Morrisons website after tea to see when the earliest delivery slot was. I knew very heavy rain was forecast for last night and part of today and I didn't relish going shopping today if I could help it. Amazingly there was a delivery slot for 1-2 p.m. today:j. What money I saved on groceries last month I'll need to spend in February and I don't suppose the challenge counts as saving money really as the stockpile that we ate up had been bought and paid for in earlier months anyway IYKWIM.



The advantage of doing it though was making an inventory after discovering things I had pushed to the back of my partially inaccessible overhead cupboards. Amazingly there was nothing so far past its 'best before' date to be harmful to eat:j. I also realised that bargains are not really bargains, however cheap they are, if the food isn't something we particular like. For some weird reason I had a lot of tins of butter beans. I do use them from time to time to bulk out casseroles etc but certainly not in that quantity:eek:. I'm happy to report that all but 2 tins have now been eaten with no complaints from OH;).



I also massively overstocked with powdered paprika. I know I use it a lot (I'd add it to every savoury recipe if I could:rotfl:) but I had it in industrial quantities:eek:. It was all still 'in date' but I know such things often lose some of their flavour over time and I was lucky with what I've used in January. Not sure about the quality of the rest but I certainly won't be replenishing the paprika for a good while yet;)



I intend to keep a running list of everything that's stored and not to stock up so far in advance of things running out. I hope I can keep to this as it will be a valuable lesson learned. I do make a shopping list and try to stick to it but am easily sidetracked by 'offers' which I must try to stop stocking up on. Not necessarily the 3 for 2/ BOGOF offers if they're on things we would eat anyway but rather the slightly dented cans, end-of-line, discontinued, yellow-stickered type of bargains. I love a good rummage among the 'casualties':rotfl:. I've had some really good and sometimes unusual fresh produce like meat and fish in the yellow-stickered bargains and I can freeze it for later if not immediately needed. Saves money later anyway. It's the dry goods and tins that I don't seem able to resist, thinking they'll keep until needed. Not always so although I got away with it this time.



I also had the opportunity to defrost the chest freezer because we had been eating up a lot of the batch-cooked casseroles and soups that I had in there. Another lesson learned is to label everything. After all the years I've been freezing things, apart from the first couple of years when it was a novelty and I did things 'by the book', I've relied on thinking I'll remember what's in each container. When the containers are opaque and a bit icy anyway and the colour of most casseroles is pretty much the same it's been impossible to know what they are until thawed out:eek:, We still haven't come to the end of the frozen home-grown veg (which I could recognise because they are in see-through polybags:rotfl:). I knew we wouldn't as I generally freeze enough to keep us going through to when the next year's crops are ready. At least the freezer got defrosted and the snow outside the back door on Saturday provided a perfect 'igloo' for the bin bags of containers of frozen food while it was happening:j. I've now made an inventory of what's in the freezer although it still contains some unidentified casseroles.



I'll definitely do another challenge at some future date but not for a while yet. Our very small local (still a 14 mile round trip away) town has only a Morrisons and a Co-op by way of supermarkets, neither of them huge. That's why I use Morrisons home delivery and Asda too sometimes as they come from a depot/large store somewhere and I can have more variety. The delivery cost, if the 'slot' is chosen sensibly, probably works out only marginally more than the petrol I'll have used to get to the smaller stores locally.


They have also recently opened an Aldi store on the outskirts of our nearest town and I'm ashamed to say I haven't even been inside yet:o. OH went once and said the car park is horrendously small and badly designed with bottlenecks going in and out. That aside I think I'll give it a try especially as it's supposed to be so cheap. I love Lidl and visit one about twice a year in a large town that's quite a way away and wish the local Aldi had been a Lidl. I'd have been in there all the time if it had been:rotfl:. Maybe that will be my next grocery challenge, to shop just at Aldi for a whole month to see how much cheaper it is:think:

Karmacat

Good for you, CBC - not necessarily about saving money directly, but knowing what you've got is a Really Good Thing as is defrosting a freezer and not losing any food because of it Loving the powdered paprika

beanielou

So so glad that I do not have any accounts with SAntander~auful.

elizabethhull

carbootcrazy wrote: »

en a Lidl. I'd have been in there all the time if it had been:rotfl:. Maybe that will be my next grocery challenge, to shop just at Aldi for a whole month to see how much cheaper it is:think:

I don't know much about Morrison's prices, but Aldi is definitely cheaper than Asda, quite a bit cheaper than Sainsburys, and lots cheaper than Waitrose ! Especially with Easter coming, all the chocolate goodies are proper nice German chocolate and cheap to boot. I would still shop there if they delivered.

They also do this gorgeous frozen salmon Wellington !!

beanielou

Yes, also so wish Aldi delivered.
Where I live we only have a Sainsbugs & it is so expensive :mad:

Karmacat

beanielou wrote: »

Yes, also so wish Aldi delivered.
Where I live we only have a Sainsbugs & it is so expensive :mad:

Beanie, although you only have a Sainsbo in your town, you might well get deliveries from elsewhere - I get Asda, even though its 15 minutes away on the train.