We will get this debt down & the savings up

Makingabobor2

Sun_Addict said:

I’ve got the Shark steam scrubber which is brilliant but it only does floors. 

ooh, will check it out.  Thanks

Makingabobor2

Right, I will leave my question on the steamers up there and get on with today's post. 

What has been happening this weekend?  
Yesterday we went to the farm shop, potatoes, veg & eggs from my list and a small packet of choc tiffins, not on the list, so they came from my personal spends.  Was incredibly cold and still said -4 at 12.00, but today it has actually gone up to 1c...but was still freezing cold when we went for a walk this morning. 
Yesterday I made veggie soup, using a lot of bits left in the fridge. Then we had fruit crumble after, to get it out the freezer and make some room....and so I have an excuse to make some more...lol.  It was delicious and we were really good and had it without custard. 

Today, after a nice, but cold morning walk, we came back and DH started on some more decluttering of his junk cupboard. Just going up to see how much there is exactly and update my items list on my signature. There is certainly a bit as there was 45 items when I went up to look earlier, and it has had a good hour since then. 1 nice lap top top bag discovered, so will see if we can sell that on FBMP, if not I will see if the 15 year old DGS wants it, if not, it can go to CS. 
The rest of my day has been spent, hoovering and washing the kitchen floor, did it on my hands and knees as steamer seems to have given up, but might get DH to have another look and see if there is anything he can do to it, before I can get a new one.  I know I have savings pots now...but don't want to spend anything....lol.  Then I spent some time reading my latest book...Fast Food for the Soul, purchased 2nd hand from the Bay of E, for just £2.74.  A really good read if you are into self help books at all. A lot of it I already know, having read The Secret, and some of Louise Hays books, and a few others,  but its always nice to remind yourself of these things.  Also added a couple more books to my book wish list.  Then did a bit more puzzle and then been researching steamers.  
Now to get dinner, salmon & rice tonight, with some veggies. 

Just remembered I was going to checkout my basket with my cards from Wh*st!* F*sh. That will be my years supply then, we don't send many and DH & I just reuse the same ones from some old ones I have kept. We write the year on it, so we can see how many times we have used them. 

So that's about it really.  Looking forward to a new week of Money saving.  Oh BTW, I discussed compost bins with DH and he says as long as I can find somewhere suitable to put it, then he has no objections. 

Makingabobor2

Just popping in to say I have been having a bad couple of days with appointments and things, so feeling a bit non MSE at the moment and need to get back into it all.  Had to go for a hearing test today, no free parking anywhere, so had to pay £3!  Test had revealed what I already knew from previous one though, that I really need hearing aids and they aren't going to be cheap!  I could go down the NHS route, but their test was not nearly as thorough and not explained properly and really not going to help as much as theirs apparently help with volume but not with clarity of picking up on words which appears to be my problem. the NHS guy didn't even do a speech test, just the "beepy" one.  So we will have to have a think and decide what to do. There is no way I really want to spend money on hearing aids, but then what price can you put on your health?   Its like, just when we thought we had more money, by clearing the mortgage, we suddenly find we need to spend some!!  

Sorry, feeling a bit miffed by it all. But will be back on it all tomorrow, I promise.  

On decluttering news, I have cleared out 2 big bags to the CS so far and a lot waiting to go to electrical recycling.  That makes me feel better if nothing else.  Oh, and at least I cashed out over £7 on P/fc today
 

badmemory

As the NHS ones are free if your doctor refers you why no try them first.  Then if you aren't happy you can always go with the spendy ones.  Just make sure you are not being upsold.

Makingabobor2

badmemory said:

As the NHS ones are free if your doctor refers you why no try them first.  Then if you aren't happy you can always go with the spendy ones.  Just make sure you are not being upsold.

18 month wait in this area to get NHS ones and as my test this time was a lot worse than last time, I'm not sure waiting that long is a good idea TBH. I don't think she was trying to sell me something I don't need. It was the audiologist at the optician I go to, and been going there since 1991 as their care is 2nd to none. She was quite clearky very knowledgeable & showed me everything on computer so I could see the results. The NHS guy last year was rubbish TBH. 

kayannie

Makingabobor2 said:

kayannie said:

Regarding compost bins attracting rats - I have been told never to include cooked food in the compost as that will encourage them. Mine is mainly fruit & veg peelings & we get through a lot of fruit & veg, being vegetarians - no cooked food is thrown away except maybe scraps which would go in the council food waste bin.
KA

Yes, that would be what we would be putting in. Plus I have been told that used coffee grains and tea are good. And is it right that you should cut up old egg boxes in there as well?

I would use egg boxes or most other unglossy
paper cut up small but for some reason Mr KA dislikes paper in 'his' compost, he also objects to tea bags as they take a long time to rot down. I did attempt opening up the tea bags but gave up as it was too messy! 
KA
 

badmemory

I only waited days for my appointment.  I got the okay from the doctor & referral & less than 2 weeks later I was wearing them.  But mine was at my opticians too.  I'm restricted as to what I can have because my ears are so damaged there is a risk of infection.  18 months wait is horrendous.

Sun_Addict

Could you explore alternative options before you sign up to anything. I know hearing aids can be extremely expensive. Do you feel you really need them at this stage? This is why I don't go for a hearing test at the opticians as I know they would try to say I need aids as I have tinnitus and struggle to hear people who talk in a very low voice. They always try to get me to have varifocals as well which I refuse as I really only need glasses for reading and computer use. The last time I had my eyes tested they suggested I try either varifocals or distance glasses as I would need them at some point and I might as well get used to them now. I said that was like telling someone to lie in a coffin to get used to it as you'll be getting in one eventually - which was met with an unamused glare 😐

Makingabobor2

Good afternoon and thanks for the comments.  
Yes @Sun_Addict, I think I could do with getting some hearing aids in the not too distant future, although I am hoping to leave it as long as possible, but the worrying thing is that the longer you leave it, the more chance of getting dementia as the brain has to work harder to try and hear correctly.  I can hear people speaking but sometimes I just can't make out the words they are saying.  The speech test the audiologist did, showed that I only scored 20%!!! and I am having trouble working out certain consonants. So someone might say Pitch, and I think they said Pick....for example.  Also when watching TV, if I turn it up to try and make it clearer, it actually doesn't male it clearer, it just sounds very "vibratey" and echoes. Also its harder to hear the person if I am not facing them.  I am also having trouble hearing people with deeper voices.   I suffer a lot with sinus/allergy problems and sometimes my ears sound pretty echoey anyway, so don't want to amplify that really.  She tried a generic pair of aids on me, that obviously hadn't been calibrated to my needs, and then I had to do the speech test again......scored 94% that time!  but everything sounded really loud and like my own voice was echoing back on the top of my head. Horrible!  She said it can take a few months to adapt to them.    Anyway, I have the price list and am asking a million questions.  In the mean time I am going to B00ts tomorrow for a test as I want to see what they say and compare their prices/makes/models/packages.  Its like buying a car, you wouldn't buy the first one you see. From what I can gather, NHS ones are not so good quality and maybe not so good unless you just have general "can't hear" type problems. Also you don't get the after care like you do privately.  I really don't want to have to spend a lot of money on them, but on the other hand I want things to be right.  

So enough about that. What else is going on?   Well a pretty quiet weekend, been doing some more decluttering and another 45 items gone today. So pleased that at last DH is onboard with this and has got rid of some real junk from his cupboard, although a lot more still to go.  Couple of bits put on FBMP, and if they don't sell they can go to CS with the other stuff next week. I took 2 big bags last week.  I also have a load of old electrical bits I am taking to C*rr*s tomorrow when I go for my hearing test at B00tS. Last time I took stuff, they gave me a £5 voucher, so hoping that scheme is still running as we need a new steamer and maybe they might have a good cheapish one.  I tried again yesterday with the old steamer but it is definitely not working, just leaks water and doesn't steam or anything.  So that can go for recycling.

2 NSDs this weekend, so with any luck I could make my target by the end of the month
Been wearing thermal top indoors so we don't have to have the heating on too much.  Sent in the reading to the tentacled ones on Friday and the amount we used this month is exactly the same as the amount we pay...what are the chances of that....lol.  So when the next DD comes out in 5 days time, we will be back up to £270 in credit. Quite pleased with that as think this is the first winter we haven't slipped into the - figures. I'll see how it pans out over the spring and if it goes up too much, I will try and get some back. Better in our bank than in theirs.   

Bought a nice chicken from the butcher for dinner today and should get at least 3 meals out of it & soup.  So normally I would put it in the SC, but we had some nice sausages for breakfast and I still hadn't got round to making the crumble to use up the apples from in-laws' tree and the reduced plums and pears.  So put the oven on and did it all together and then turned the heating off as we were both in the kitchen so didn't need to heat the rest of the house.  Also found some of those part baked rolls in the freezer, bought yellow stickered before Christmas, so popped those in for DH to go with his sausages....far too crispy for my aging teeth.....lol.  

Oh I did spend 50p in the CS the other day. They had a nice big tin with "world's best gardener" on it.....lol.  Well i am definitely not that, but I had lots of seed packets falling all over the place in the cupboard and 3 pairs of gloves and a few little odds and ends, so thought it was 50p well spent to keep it all tidy. 

So off to put kettle on now.  DH has just gone down to DD's as she rang to say her fridge had stopped working and DSIL was out at football, and she didn't know what was wrong with it. So off he went armed with screwdrivers and fuses and a meter thingy.  Hopefully he can fix it as its a big American type fridge freezer and chock a block as she has 4 kids and only went shopping yesterday. 

Have a good evening everyone. 

badmemory

I have found that some voices are clearer with hearing aids than others.  BBC with them is great, channel 3 not at all bad & 5 it depends if it is an American production (bad).  Anything old is fine.  Hearing in the supermarket near the fridges & similar they are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.  I often want to tell people to ennunciate.  Covid actually was a trigger for the aids.  I had no idea how much I actually must have been lip reading.  My hearing has been bad since around 3 or 4. 

There is the family story of my parents being told I was backward at age 7, with a reading age of 12, that was as high as it went for primary back then.  My father gave up his secondary school job for a junior school & moved me with him.  I was in bottom juniors & he was teaching top class.  Can you imagine his embarrassment when talking to my class teacher at the end of the day.  Did you know your daughter is deaf so I have moved her to the front of the class.  4 years on and no-one had noticed.  The really daft thing was that even my friends had realised there was a problem, although I am sure they were too young to realise what it was, but If I got shouted to go home they would all tell me