DD's accountability thread

DD265 · 19 July 2018 at 6:12PM

Our honeymoon in September finally feels like it'll be here soon! We're all inclusive but will probably want to leave the resort so need to figure out how much spending money we need, and where to convert it. Cyprus though so Euros and easy to get hold of.

I typically buy holiday clothes on eBay. I've just bought some shorts for <£13 including postage which are an older version of the ones currently costing £28 in the store that fit me really nicely (I bought a pair for £8 using a £20 gift card earlier this month). I hope these fit, but if not I know I can go in store and buy a second pair at least. I'm also watching a maxi dress which is the same style as two I already have - bandeau, elasticated top and waist. Very simple but flattering as I have a small waist, and very comfortable!

I'd like some more palazzo pants, but I prefer plain colours if possible. Last year maybe I got some in H&M and they were inexpensive. We have the Debenhams vouchers too - we'll go this weekend whilst the sales are on, plus it's not too far from the office so it's a good test to see how I'll cope with the drive as I have to go in on Tuesday.

If we don't use the Debenhams vouchers on holiday gear, we'll probably use them for things for the house. We would like some new pans and trays, for example. I'm reluctant to hang onto vouchers for too long these days, as you hear too many horror stories of shops going bust and not accepting vouchers! We have over £130, so I'd like to get the balance mostly used up.

In other news, I got the refund for the shoes I returned so my bank balance looks decent again, but I had already budgeted that money. I spent an unnecessary £10.50 at Tesco earlier on 'lady supplies' which basically means sanitary towels, painkillers, Ben and Jerry's (on offer) and a bar of Galaxy. WeightWatchers is out of the window for today because we're getting a takeaway too. I had a painful lady-procedure earlier so I am feeling extremely sorry for myself and will milk it for all it's worth. :rotfl:

beanielou · 19 July 2018 at 9:49PM

I too would use the vouchers ASAP.
Especially that amount.

DD265 · 20 July 2018 at 9:07PM

Yes it would definitely be a shame to lose the vouchers. I usually just buy them online through the work scheme when we've worked out what we're buying, so if anything I only have a couple of £ left over afterwards which I'm less bothered about. I've had 3p on an EasySaver card (does several high street shops inc Argos) for ages, for example. Mainly I like to reduce the numbers of cards in my purse. :rotfl:

The money transfer from the MBNA card has gone through - the fees haven't been added to the card yet but I have a note of what they should be. The money is in my bank account (I wish that was my normal balance - one day!) and I've already requested Lendable take it to clear the balance. I was tempted to hold on to it to gain a little interest, but it'll cost more in interest than I'd make, and it turns out they won't take the direct debit for 6 days anyway.

I'm off to pick up the carpet spray from the courier tomorrow and looking forward to testing that out. It definitely feels worth a go! If the spray works, then I'm fairly confident that we wouldn't need to replace the carpet when we move out. That said, we want to replace the carpet in the downstairs loo (who's idea was that?!) with laminate so maybe we can use that carpet to patch the area if necessary. The landlord may even contribute to the cost for us, but the main incentive is that then we can move the litter trays off the kitchen laminate where they are often in the way.

We have some cleaning and sorting to do over the next few weekends. Really we could do it in the evenings, but my energy levels have been absolutely shocking since hurting my back last week. The only benefit is the money I've saved in fuel! I need to start prepping for this convention in October too which feels like a mammoth task. It'll be here before I know it, and the stall wasn't cheap so I want to make the most of it. I could sell the items as they are, but if I ensure everything looks it's best they'll be worth more. Plus I need to price check a load of things and label them up individually. I hope it doesn't feel like such a huge job once I get started.

beanielou · 20 July 2018 at 9:50PM

What kind of things are you hoping to sell on your stall?

DD265 · 20 July 2018 at 10:05PM

beanielou wrote: »

What kind of things are you hoping to sell on your stall?

I have a collection of My Little Ponies ranging from the 80s to a couple of years old. I stopped actively collecting 4 years back and sold a lot off ready to move in with my now-husband, both for space and money reasons. But I've decided to finally get rid of the rest, although I don't actually know how many that is. They've just been in their moving boxes, barring the ones I bought since and a few I specifically wanted to put on display.

The problem is, everything pre-00's I bought second hand so they are likely to have marks, and they've been in storage so hair will be messy etc. It's not as simple as something like a model car which could have a quick wipe and be done! I'll have to pop the heads off so they don't get trapped water inside, give the bodies a good clean, using acetone for the worst marks, and then shampoo/condition the hair before leaving them to dry for a couple of days. My husband will despair at all these headless ponies around the bath. :rotfl:

Surprisingly, a lot of the more modern ones are sought after and I have a few which I believe are worth around £50 each because distribution was poor or they were exclusive to specific countries. Of the older ones, I think I sold off the bulk of the rarest, but I do have one from the 00's that I want £200+ for. I also have some that have been decorated/painted by artists (including myself) and those are hard to price, but some of them are really beautiful so I hope they sell well.

I have already paid for the stall, and will have no accommodation costs as I'm staying with my sister, so there'll just be food and parking to pay which I'll budget for in advance. Any items which don't sell will then be listed online. I would love to make enough to pay for my car insurance which renews at the end of October and is likely to be around £400-600. I'm guessing a broad range as it could've gone down because I turned 30 and got married, but let's face it, it's probably going up 'just because'!

beanielou · 20 July 2018 at 10:08PM

Interesting what we all used to collect!
Funnily enough I used to collect beanies :eek: :rotfl:

DD265 · 20 July 2018 at 10:16PM

Ooh we had beanies as kids and teenagers. There was a shop in town that used to sell the retired ones so I remember getting a shark with the same birthday as me. Unfortunately I was one of those that believed tags 'hurt' toys, so suffice to say even though beanies were never worth that much in the end, mine were worth nothing.

I wouldn't say I'm a minimalist now, but I almost enjoy getting rid of things more than I enjoy buying them these days so I don't collect anything. Except maybe cat toys.

beanielou · 20 July 2018 at 10:22PM

At least you dont collect cats!!
I now have 3!!!

DD265 · 20 July 2018 at 10:24PM

I might if OH would let me! I'm limited to our two though

DD265 · 21 July 2018 at 9:36PM

Our shopping spree did not go quite to plan. I had balances on 6 gift cards (4 physical, 2 virtual) and yet only two actually showed the balance - the rest were £0. OH ended up paying for the shopping (we used the two) and I kept all the cards so I could suss it out. I've got home and we must have missed scanning one which had the MIA £113 on it. I'm guessing that - despite telling me there was nobody around to do it on the two occasions I rang - Debenhams did actually merge 4 cards onto 1, but they used the wrong one. I'm going to give them a call tomorrow to see whether they'll sort it out for me (AKA refund OH's money and put the remaining balance on the card I want it on as we only spent £120), otherwise I'll take the goods back to get a refund/re-pay on gift card. It's a pain but at least we haven't lost the money! I have been extremely careful to make sure I have kept the correct gift cards in my purse...

OH got some slippers (£22, needed), socks (£9, useful) and an Under Armour top (£30, useful sort and he looked well fit in it

). I struggled a bit - found a few nice dresses to try on but most of them just showed too much cleavage or they just weren't for me. I love getting a bargain, but I hate sales shopping where everything is mixed in. I sent OH to the cafe whilst I queued to try things on and had a mooch around. In the end I got a nice maxi dress for the honeymoon (£30, full price) and a Superdry jumper (£10, reduced) for lounging about, and we got a new beach bag (£18.50) which was also in the sale as ours is a bit naff really and we always take it down to the pool with us.

I got my palazzo pants from H&M; two pairs for £12.99 each but they scanned through at £6 each so I was extremely pleased with that. They feel like an upgrade from last year's - they have pockets. :rotfl: I did make up for it with a trip into Victoria's Secret - 3x knickers to match an existing bra and some PJ bottoms = £69. Their stuff is very expensive, but I don't feel so bad spending the money when I can buy knickers to match a bra I already have. Although I have to confess I did look at one pair and wonder where all the straps went - suffice to say I didn't get those ones. :rotfl: We didn't go into any other stores at all - just Subway for lunch as OH was on a mission!

The window wedges arrived so I popped one into the window frame and it's a brilliant close now; pulled really tight with no air getting through at all. The carpet spray has also arrived and I'm resisting the urge to test it out because I think we should keep the cats off it whilst it dries, and it's a bit late for that. Plus I probably need daylight to actually see what I'm doing, rather than finding out in the morning that it's really not a match.

I did the shopping this morning, about £35 for the week excluding some peppers (rubbish-looking selection in Sainsburys again!) and haddock which I'll buy fresh on the day we need it. I got a big gammon joint so that'll do us 2-3 days plus some lunches for me, and I also got some sausages which aren't in this week's meal plan but are lovely in pasta. I specifically tried to plan 'easy' meals for this coming week; because I've not been feeling 100% cooking has just not appealed at all and I feel bad leaving it all to OH, but these meals tend to be cheaper on ingredients as well. At some point I would like to get a 'price per meal' on my meal ideas list so I can specifically do cheap weeks! In August we'll need cat litter and biscuits (about £60) and that comes out of the household budget so if I can save elsewhere I'll be happy.

DD's accountability thread

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