My mortgage clobbering post

KajiKita

Hi @Frith 😊 Just read through your thread and wanted to cheer you on! I am seriously impressed by your mortgage paying off and nursing the car along to 20 years! 😊
Hoping you hear some constructive news about the house sale soon. Not sure if it’s everywhere, but conveyancing seems to be taking forever atm - I have a friend in the same position and nothing seems to be happening for her either ….
Sorry to hear about the not nice blokes, they are fools to themselves! 😉

KK

Frith

Jeezo.

Little progress made.

I just want to record on here my aims, just for next week.

1) Ebay stuff

2) Get son's driving licence address changed.

3) Possibly change bank account to get a "golden hello"

4) Get money from inaccessible Chip account.

5) Apply for new invigilation job as previous one is too far now I have moved house.

6) I have election work, but need to confirm the days. 

Frith

OK, I need a no spend August. 

I'm over my overdraft limit and have £10 in cash to my name. 

I moved house last year and threw everything at it, stripping layers of wallpaper off every surface (including ceilings) - 5 layers in some rooms! It had had one owner since it was built (1960s) so was much loved but had not been repaired or updated much since the 80s. I've removed 2 fitted wardrobes (1961 newspapers beneath), changed toilet seats, broken electrical fittings, swapped wooden curtain pelmet box things for curtain rails and filled and sanded a thousand cracks in the concrete walls. All the carpets were original and worn through to the floor so I chopped them up and took them to the tip. I finished repainting last week. I also swapped paper "wasps nest" lampshades for original glass shades from charity shops and FB. 

It is all pretty much done now, apart from the kitchen floor is just concrete so needs tiling.

Every month I have used spare money to buy curtains (eBay) or furniture as we've moved from a house that was 10 x 18 feet to one of a normal size. I've also had no kitchen at certain points or worked for 12 hours then ordered a takeaway. 

Hence there is no money left!  

There is food in the freezer, £20 of petrol in the car and we have our season tickets for the football. 

So, today:

Mended the patio door catch. (By taking it all apart and flipping it round. No catch on the outside of the door now but I've never needed to lock myself out into the garden!) 

HM carrot and lentil soup for lunch with some toast from a free loaf of bread (someone locally leaves out surplus food). My son has beans on toast. 

Tea will be Spanish chicken from the freezer, with rice. 

Also put a shirt on eBay . 

thriftychick

Well done on getting all that done, sounds a massive task.

Will you get some money in soon for the election work?  I did a few days and I've been told the 20th.  I know it's not a huge amount but it might help you through the month.

Frith

Thanks, @thriftychick

I think I've already been paid. My phone was second hand 4 years ago so will no longer support the First Direct app. I phone FD for a balance but am not up to speed as to what has been paid. 

I've just mowed 2 lawns (I don't own a country estate, I just have a tiny lawn at the front and 2 at the back because it's on a slope). 

Also cleaned the garage window, which I don't think anyone has done since it was built! It's cobbled together on the side of the house with a single glazed huge window and roof and timbers obviously sourced from all over the place! Useful for storage though. 

Frith

Meant to say - I worked at the local election (March?) but not the general. So I probably have been paid. 

Frith

Still going! 

I've made pickled beetroot and 2 batches of courgette chutney. 

The garden has grown courgettes, tomatoes, a few strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and herbs. And some fantastic garlic that I have no memory of planting! 

The free bread house continues to leave surplus food out a few times a week. I've had 3 loaves and a massive radish that I roasted. I left them a thank you note and a jar of chutney. 

Double checked all the direct debits this afternoon. Changed Eon to a fixed rate. We used £2 of gas last month so I don't think we can tighten that up! 

Had a free piano, so all is well with the world. 

The cat is suddenly looking very old, at 19. Quite befuddled at times and her legs look stiff at the back. She didn't seem to have aged at all until a month or so ago. 

The car is now 21 and having its MOT today...

£200 overdrawn already but the freezer is full of HM meals, plenty in the larder, £20 of petrol left in the car. I can't take to cycling but I walk into town - did 7 miles today. 

Really struggling to find a job that fits round son2 and isn't stressful. I have got in contact about 2 voluntary posts today - one at a food share where I might do some cooking or hand food out. The other at the local hospital where the "Friends" have run a teashop all my life and where we had teacakes and a cup of tea at most of son2's million appointments. 

Frith

Well, I've logged onto YouGov and done a few surveys, after rather a long break. 4005 points in there so not long to go to 5000 and £50. It seems impossible to see where the money gets paid into. I'm not sure I still have the same bank account.

Prolific over a couple of weeks has absolutely refused to let me log on and has frozen my account. Has not replied to my emails. It did let me cash out 25p but that has gone to paypal. I haven't used paypal for years! Of course then paypal won't let me log in but wants to send me a code - to either my old mobile phone or the house phone of a house I no longer live in. So a phone call to paypal at some point! Not sure if there is any money in there, or just 25p. 

Quidco has money in but only tracked so far. 

Frith

I don't know if I mentioned how annoying British Gas have been. For some reason, they kept charging me on the "The Occupier" account from when I moved in, but also for a new "Frith" account. 

I received dozens (possible one hundred) letters regarding each account, all with wildly differing figures. I tried setting up an online account. I know this sounds unlikely but this took 12 months! I tried calling, emailing, sending a tweet, sending a formal letter, making a complaint. I couldn't even set up a direct debit. 

By the time I had sorted it out, I owed them £400. I am paying this off at around £100 per month. Easy, as our gas bill last month was £2 plus standing charge. 

The "Occupier" account was always smaller so I settled that with an one off payment.

Today, I have had a letter about the "The Occupier" account and now they say they owe me £96 !!!!!!!! 


In other unlikely news, the 21 year old car failed its MOT on a fog light bulb. When the garage went to change it, they screwed it in tighter and it worked after all! Thank goodness for that. 

Couldn't sort the Paypal account out. No one ever answers the phone or tweets. Hopefully there isn't much trapped in there. 

Am over my overdraft limit now, but not for long. We have a freezer nearly full of stuff, bits in the fridge and my brother gave me 5kg of damsons yesterday and I made 22 jars of jam with it today. 

4200 points on YouGov and I've introduced my son to it so hopefully he will do a few surveys then I will get 200 points for that. 

LadyWithAPlan

Amazing to read how you keep on getting everything done and your new home sounds lovely 
all your jam making is v impressive as well 

sorry re the not v nice men, I am sure a decent one will turn up when you are ready for them.