Hazelnutty's New Start

Hazelnutty · 22 October 2018 at 5:23PM

Hi everyone

Today's MSE task was car insurance :money:. I'd diarised it as the optimum 21 days before renewal and my current provider's quote had suddenly gone up by over £100 for no apparent reason :eek: This was after it having gone down last year :think: So no thanks then... Anyway, I had an accident (an old lady reversed hard into my car when it was parked somehow) just over 3 years ago and I didn't have the repair figure or the date so all those comparison sites where you have to enter in 5 years of claims were out

But managed to get a decent quote from Direct Line at under what my decent previous year's one was and £10 cashback through Quidco, which has tracked :j OK I know I should have gone through the whole MSE system but it just wasn't worth the hassle right now - sometimes you just have to weigh up whether it's worth the effort of trying to shave off a few more quid. Sometimes it is, but I have enough saved in my virtual insurance pot, I got my cover for less than last year and I reckon that'll do, pig

(with apologies to Pinky!)

In other news, DD is still loving the bed and currently camped up there semi-permanently!

I did manage a little jog of 3k round the country park yesterday then a nice chat with XH while DD played for a bit. Home for roast dinner and Dr Who (what an episode!) Haven't been too productive work-wise today as I needed a 3-hour round trip to a major library to change my books. But I now have zero excuses for not making progress

Excited to see what I'll be OPing when I can wrap up my spreadsheet for this month on Friday (pay day :T) Will report in here. It won't be much but it's my first proper one bar a monthly 'tidy' of under £30, so it's still exciting for me.

Looking forward to catch up on all your threads now! :wave:

the_cross_rabbit · 23 October 2018 at 5:32PM

I thought I'd post this on your diary incase you don't see on mine. Thank you for your empathy. Both you and squirrelgirl made today a better day.

Hazelnutty · 23 October 2018 at 7:45PM

Of course, CR. This stuff is all-consuming. I know virtual support doesn't lighten the load though. How are things looking today? I'll check in on your diary in a sec.

Hazelnutty · 23 October 2018 at 7:58PM

Evening, MFWers!

A quiet day today. I'm struggling a bit with work so a little down today but it's been quite nice having DD around (half term), her working away (no prompting) on her homework in her new underbed study area and me next door trying to get on with my stuff. It's kind of companionable. She asked for OH's company after dinner and I can hear them chatting away. Heart-melting stuff. We had a funny conversation over dinner explaining that once there weren't emojis and we made expressions out of punctuation marks. Clearly the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard :rotfl:

Lovely batch cooked spag bol tonight (had seconds

) Quite a few spends today as I have 2 trips to London next week but I'll get the travel costs back. Even though I know that I don't like having to put the costs on my credit card in the first place - mucks up the figures

)

FB collection today

I still technically have 27 items listed but I've more or less given up on most of them and will ship to my favourite charity shop in the next couple of weeks. The only annoying thing is DD's old bed, which is a really decent bit of furniture (and also takes up space in the 'storage room'). I may just have to bite the bullet and Freecycle it. I really want the room available for us to use as a family before Christmas (our first together as a new unit).

Funnily enough, there has been no interest from DD in cross-country training so far this half term :rotfl: But I will aim to get out for a jog tomorrow anyway as I need to get back into shape.

Looking forward to having a report for you all on Friday on OPs and plans for November :T

Hazelnutty · 24 October 2018 at 3:35PM

A brief check-in. Took OH to her counselling session and had the unexpected surprise of an awesome cooked brekkie in the community cafe there (paid for from my personal stash for non-guilty indulgences). Probably should have taken work to do but sat and watched the new Derren Brown experiment thing on Netflix instead

. FB sale this afternoon, another £3 for the kitty. Totted up that I've made £153 on FB sales this month :j which has nicely contributed to the now infamous high-sleeper bed.

Off to pick DD up from half-term camp soon. Got a free child cinema ticket from her swim school so we may be off to see Goosebumps tonight (or Johnny English on Monday, which I'd prefer, but her choice). Cinema is still silly expensive but I have enough in this month's Ents kitty for my ticket and some sweets

Karmacat · 24 October 2018 at 5:16PM

Hi Hazelnutty, thought I'd pop in after you commented on my diary

and wow, you're doing so well on FB selling - I've never managed it, I confess

and your OH sounds an amazing cook. Reading through in one go, I was thinking to myself, I wonder if she also managed to do the whole juggling saving accounts thing ... as you did

:j:j:j Good for you!

And you're a writer? Very impressive, seriously.

Thinking of bang-for-the-buck, do you plan on doing matched betting, any of that?

Hazelnutty · 24 October 2018 at 5:30PM

Thanks, Karma! I have to admit there were 2 'biggies' in that total - £50 each for an exercise bike and a bed, the rest were all bits and bobs of clothes, toys etc. I've tried to be pretty strict in terms of transferring the proceeds into my virtual pot rather than (as is easily done) fritter on coffees (my personal weakness) and other random stuff!

The virtual pots and savings juggling is all me

. I'm a bit of a nerd and quite enjoy the spreadsheeting, although I don't have a sophisticated one as some MFWs that can calculate daily interest etc. I just have a monthly budget sheet and a savings pot one. In my main virtual pot I have 15 sub-pots from haircuts to holidays

Then my other savings are squirrelled away, as now the household income is so much lower, I feel I need to build up a safety net. I have a decent 6yo car ATM for example but I couldn't afford to replace it now without a loan, and I couldn't service the loan without maxing out my monthly salary. So I'm oh so slowly trying to build up that safety net for such eventualities. Once I've saved in my virtual pot, there isn't much left for 'big saving' though, which is a bit of a worry...

I haven't thought of spread-betting TBH. I guess I'm worried I'd !!!! it up? Does it take quite a bit of time and effort? I work quite long hours (I'm an academic and so a bit obsessive about work anyway

) so am trying to be tough about spare time, saving it for family and health. I fail miserably at the health thing atm

Would you recommend it then?

Karmacat · 24 October 2018 at 6:38PM

Ooh, not spread betting, no! Never! Matched betting - there's a big board on here - its about making use of the offers that the gambling companies make, and using websites called "exchanges" to "lay" the bets. If you work at it, you can get about 80% of the original offer as pure profit. I know it sounds like gambling, but its not. Since you're so time-poor, its probably not a good idea in any case, it genuinely does need to be studied and studied again.

Honestly, no, I wouldn't recommend it for you, because of the time issues. Is your OH mathematically minded, does she have the spoons for that kind of stuff? I was just trying to think of big things that made a lot of money - not surveys and clicks and whatnot. Sorry

my big mouth.

Hazelnutty · 24 October 2018 at 6:44PM

Oops sorry, my ignorance! I really am clueless about these things! I suspect it isn't for us as she's dyslexic so mistakes could happen (e.g. she could know exactly what to enter in her mind but still enter the digits in the wrong order on the screen, but not be able to spot it, if that makes sense). I really welcome ideas for money-making though so thank you anyway! She did start surveys etc but like you say it's not great returns. I started FB selling my stuff partly because I like decluttering but also as I knew there was money to be made, even selling stuff well below what it's 'worth'.

I'm genuinely open to ideas for money-making as I know she's keen to do what she can towards the household costs (I pay for everything ATM although now she's got her benefits confirmed, she wants to start contributing something towards food). So any other ideas, keep 'em coming

:beer:

Karmacat · 24 October 2018 at 7:08PM

No probs then

Couple of dyslexics in the family, so I know the area of the issues, yes. Better not go to matched betting!

I always wondered about making things - like on etsy - or even designs, selling designs for xmas cards and whatnot. Keeping chickens and selling the eggs? The modern classic of dogwalking probably isn't for her, but what about petsitting? Where the animal might come to you, if she has mobility issues? I have energy issues, or I'd definitely do that. I stay at my nephews' and niece's houses in any case, catsitting and rabbitsitting, which I love. I do it for free because its family, but it can be a business.

Definitely need to stop being on the computer now. Have a good evening

Hazelnutty's New Start

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