Wow, things are a bit different 19 April 2019 at 12:05PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Debt Free Diaries 104 replies 11.8K views

LondonLiz

I wish Tallulah. I love an open fire. But I'm in a purpose built London flat - I'd burn the place down!

Considered having a bonfire in the communal garden but I think one one other residents would call the fire brigade. Not kidding - we have some right nosey-parker interfering old timers in the block who hate anyone whose not lived here less than 30+ years. A few of them have been here since it was a new build - in the 1960's

Hope your debt busting/mortgage free journey is going OK.

LondonLiz

Thanks Beanie, it never occurred to me there were options for individuals to get stuff shredded rather than companies but a quick google has already shown that might be a short term solution. Not that I have truckloads, just more than one person should be hoarding in a 2 bedroom flat! Oh and the garage, I can't even face the thought of that right now. I haven't even been in it since at least November last year - too many spiders.

doingitanyway

I had a bonfire and got rid of personal papers recently. I was off work on sabbatical so couldn't shred at work. I am usually a shredding maniac. That said I'm sure I had PP1 but shredded papers about a year ago...The moral of the story, make sure you scan anything you may need in future!

Did you get the job applications done?

LondonLiz

Well I got 2 job applications in and will have to chase one by phone on Monday as their website doesn't have the job up to complete the application despite it being on another job search engine with a click through. And one of them for every job on your cv you had to enter compulsory fields for country & 'province' but there was a bug so for 2 roles I had to use US states as province it would not let me leave it blank like the others and the drop down had no UK counties! It will look very odd (no that role was not based in London, Alabama!) but didn't see what option I had. Talk about making applying for a job difficult, all the online application processes are painfully slow just some are worse than others. I am sure companies miss out on good candidates when they do this, the ones who are not desperate to move/less motivated to persist. Have also upgraded to premium on Linked in, free for first month trial so hoping I have a job by then and can cancel as after that it gets expensive.

Anyway on other MSE news, I have switched energy supplier and will get a £25 cashback in due course. plus have been sent an email for a £50 cashback each for me and any friend who joins using the personalised link in it. So if anyone is interested PM me! It's through Bulb.

IN my decluttering I also found £8 M&S reward vouchers that expire in August. Annoyingly I also had £6 that expired in Feb - what a waste of money. I had put them 'somewhere safe' and forgot.

I actually have over £100 of M&S vouchers on gift cards as well, from last birthday and work farewell present so at some stage I will use those for either a new work suit or sportswear. I don't want to buy new clothes until I know how 'formal' the next job is - not point in suits if they all wear designer jeans like one job I had years ago. Plus I need to I lose a few more kilos. I really need a new sports bra but M&S don't appear to do my combination of rather generous cup size in smaller than usual back size. I wish I was not so weirdly shaped as the ones I usually buy are at least £25 and never on sale and I like being firmly strapped down thanks.

Speaking of which I got to the gym as well. Legs are now complaining. Am considering going to watch the London Marathon on Sunday, it usually gives me at least a few days of motivation on the exercise front. Especially after seeing the Rhinos lumber past doing a better time than l think I could ever dream of even minus costume that weighs a ton.

BEAT_THE_DEBT

Hi and welcome. A good way to get rid of paperwork is to mush up in really hot water to a pulp? Works for me

LondonLiz

HI Beat the Debt, I might try the papier mache approach tho I can see that potentially getting a bit messy knowing me! Paper piles are still spread out on lounge floor making me feel bad/lazy.



Got to the gym today and had a good workout. Though forgot my towel so had to come home to shower (have been showering there more - may as well use their hot water instead of mine). Not as bad as Friday when I forgot a change of knickers and had to 'go commando' under my jeans on the way home. Felt that EVERYONE i went past must KNOW! At last I was not on my way to work...


Avoided the gorgeous but expensive Sunday food market (amazing organic meat, veg straight out of the ground, you name-it-it's-vegan, tables groaning with cakes and lots of kids called Rupert & Xanthe ). Stayed out of the mini-supermarkets which are a large proportion of my grocery shopping habits, so as it was a social deadzone as well, I managed a no-spend weekend. All up not bad really.



Hope anyone reading has a good week coming up.

LondonLiz

Well how about this.

Going through all my old paperwork made me think about ID fraud, having had it once before years ago. So I tried the free trials for the various credit report providers and on one of them I saw an old mobile phone contract was both open and showing as having late/missed payments after I'd left them last year. Emailed them yesterday and got the following response today.

[FONT=&quot]Thanks for your email and I'm sorry to hear your cancelled account with us is still showing as open on your credit file. [/FONT] [FONT=&quot]I'm able to see this was due to a balance of £6.06 being owed back to you, which I've now refunded to the bank your Direct Debit payments were taken out of. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]In relation to your credit file, I've now arranged for this to be marked as closed and settled. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So as well as fixing the error I have a wee bonus on the way.
[/FONT]
I also spotted that under address history one of the agencies has me moving from my current flat to a random place elsewhere in London that I've never heard of less alone lived at. A bit worrying so I've contacted them to correct that.

Funny what you can get done with time on your hands and no work worries cluttering the head. Money aside, I am NOT missing long working days and weekends, plus constant nagging feeling of having more to do and never fully relaxing.

redofromstart

That's a good result, but like you say worrying.

I moved to Bulb a few months ago and really like them so far. the only mildly irritating bit is that 4 months in MSE energy club still havent had my status updated and paid the £25, and you cant chase till 6 months.

LondonLiz

Oh that is annoying Redo, given the cashback is part of the reason for people using the club. Glad your experience has been good so far.

Have no idea how the random address move could have happened, it's over 8 years ago and I've been here 11. It hasn't affected last remortgage to so assume its not had any negative impact but it goes to show one should check every know and then. I've looked at headline credit score before but the other details.

LondonLiz

A bad day gradually turned into a better one,eventually. From the get go I just felt really flat, irritable and glum, not helped by my broadband dropping out constantly and driving me mad. (That's lasted all day and is still dodgy, hoping it will be better tomorrow or have to start investigating why).

Sat in my PJ's in front of TV till 11am, with another massive pile of paperwork spread out in a mess at my feet and slowly worked through it until I had three bags sorted, keep, chuck out & wait for the shredder, which did cheer me up a bit. I am such a procrastinator & just lazy. Managed to get dressed and decided to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors and by then bad mood started to lift. Finally got to the gym in the afternoon and blitzed some cardio so that helped chase the glums away too. Must try and go earlier in the day when this sort of thing happens as I do know the endorphins help a lot. Still feel a bit blah but much better than I did.

Popped into tinySMkt after the gym for a few bits & scored a bag of 25p YS carrots which I can use for a lamb casserole I have planned to do tomorrow, for freezing up. Going proper shopping tomorrow and for first time in years will take a list based on a meal plan and having checked cupboards.

Having homemade lasagne from the freezer tonight, feeling rather amazed that I made the effort a few weekends ago to cook a batch up and freeze the uneaten portions. Won't starve, there are at least 4 more left.