...for sale, in a building I've seen before, which needs a very expensive new roof, and which has a terrible EPC rating (= absolutely freezing in winter with poor insulation and expensive to heat) and it needs new carpet and it's only a studio and it's overpriced and it's not in the ideal location
...and I'm annoyed because I still want it.
Why on earth am I planning where my furniture will go, in a flat that isn't the one I should be buying? I think I've got FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) because I'm behaving as if no other apartment will ever come up for sale at a good price.
Also, I'm owed some money for overpayment of tax... maybe. I got three letters with refund amounts which all contradict one another and the online system is both incorrect and lacking functionality to withdraw refunds... the help desk says yes, I'm owed a refund. But as to how much, I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Yay: Work bought me new steel-capped boots 😀😀😀 Really chuffed about this because my other ones were virtually dead.
Eh: Work has extended my contract again... for two weeks. Uh, ok. I'm told I'll "still be ok" after that, whatever that means. My organisation has a hiring freeze right now preventing me having any kind of permanent contract (so even though two permanent staffers have left, I can't have one of their contracts). Still, I'm getting quite a few shifts at our sister stores, so I'm not panicking atm.
Postscript: went to see the earlier-mentioned flat. It needed less work than expected, but also will need more insulation than expected (£££) and on a very "positive" note, it's already had offers in well above the asking price, which means it's well out of my price range and so I will be forced to behave myself.
Tuesday, 30 June 2020
Tuesday, 23 June 2020
I Did It, Sigh
I quit my hotel job. I know it was the right decision, but I still feel deflated, and I feel as if I'm letting them down - even though it was a business arrangement and not a personal one.
Sigh. Oh well. I will have to hope the supermarket gives me extra shifts. I'm confident I can afford to live, but I'm less confident of being able to add to my "home stash". As it stands if I found a place to buy tomorrow, the interest & repayments would be eye-watering. So every penny I don't spend (or every penny extra that I save) will reduce the amount of the ongoing repayments.
Other news: when is a "100% Guaranteed Accepted" loan offer not actually guaranteed? When I apply for it, obviously. I was hoping to add to my budget but I was turned down without even a credit check. Great! It seems like there's something in my bank statement they didn't like, and they won't tell me what it even is. Nice.
Sigh. Oh well. I will have to hope the supermarket gives me extra shifts. I'm confident I can afford to live, but I'm less confident of being able to add to my "home stash". As it stands if I found a place to buy tomorrow, the interest & repayments would be eye-watering. So every penny I don't spend (or every penny extra that I save) will reduce the amount of the ongoing repayments.
Other news: when is a "100% Guaranteed Accepted" loan offer not actually guaranteed? When I apply for it, obviously. I was hoping to add to my budget but I was turned down without even a credit check. Great! It seems like there's something in my bank statement they didn't like, and they won't tell me what it even is. Nice.
Thursday, 11 June 2020
The Crash, aka Coronavirus #20
So I have three days off work - three whole days to be at home and do absolutely anything I like, or even nothing at all. It should be bloomin' marvellous since I haven't even had two days off together since January. Unfortunately, the overtime budget at work has overrun and extra work has come to a screaming halt. Bang, down from 35 hours per week to my contracted 9.25, and I might not even get my "always promised" extra few hours every Monday.
I just have to keep hoping for random overtime shifts to come up, and that they offer a permanent contract to me at some point. Even a tiny permanent contract will be an improvement in terms of mortgage eligibility.
It all throws a spanner into the works in terms of my second job, which I was considering giving leave on. I might be stuck there a while just to keep myself fed and clothed. I'm not pleased about it. They plan for us to return to work in two weeks' time. We shall see.
Also *angry face* I missed a payment on my credit card. I actually set up a direct debit five weeks ago and somehow apparently missed some kind of text on the screen saying that it would not commence for another seven weeks. Annoyed is not the word. I got a £12 late payment fee, 78p in interest (on a balance of six quid for dog's sake) but the part I'm most angry about is that it might score me a "late payment" marker on my credit history. The payment was missed ten days ago and I paid it in full today as soon as I realised it had been missed. So far none of the credit scoring sites shows it as a late payment - touch wood the bank won't report it. The poor chap on the phone was stuck with me moaning about it and was very kind about it but he can't do a thing about the marker, if/when it goes on. I did once miss a payment for a similar dumb reason with another bank and it never went onto my records, so I just have to hope...
J and I went into the local discount supermarket (read: a competitor) because I'd seen they had a special on Coke and I was curious as to the sorts of other things they sold anyway. I'm ashamed to say that I fell in love with the place and bought home £20 worth of food, even J bought £10 worth. They have a much better and cheaper range of ready meals and staples. We work in a supermarket and still agreed we're coming back to do most of our shopping in future. We are officially traitors now.
Free food: everything.
I just have to keep hoping for random overtime shifts to come up, and that they offer a permanent contract to me at some point. Even a tiny permanent contract will be an improvement in terms of mortgage eligibility.
It all throws a spanner into the works in terms of my second job, which I was considering giving leave on. I might be stuck there a while just to keep myself fed and clothed. I'm not pleased about it. They plan for us to return to work in two weeks' time. We shall see.
Also *angry face* I missed a payment on my credit card. I actually set up a direct debit five weeks ago and somehow apparently missed some kind of text on the screen saying that it would not commence for another seven weeks. Annoyed is not the word. I got a £12 late payment fee, 78p in interest (on a balance of six quid for dog's sake) but the part I'm most angry about is that it might score me a "late payment" marker on my credit history. The payment was missed ten days ago and I paid it in full today as soon as I realised it had been missed. So far none of the credit scoring sites shows it as a late payment - touch wood the bank won't report it. The poor chap on the phone was stuck with me moaning about it and was very kind about it but he can't do a thing about the marker, if/when it goes on. I did once miss a payment for a similar dumb reason with another bank and it never went onto my records, so I just have to hope...
J and I went into the local discount supermarket (read: a competitor) because I'd seen they had a special on Coke and I was curious as to the sorts of other things they sold anyway. I'm ashamed to say that I fell in love with the place and bought home £20 worth of food, even J bought £10 worth. They have a much better and cheaper range of ready meals and staples. We work in a supermarket and still agreed we're coming back to do most of our shopping in future. We are officially traitors now.
Free food: everything.
Thursday, 4 June 2020
Buy-Nothing Groundhog Day
I am admittedly bemused by an article appearing in the Guardian today, in which the author Patrick Collinson appears surprised that the Coronavirus epidemic has created a constellation of "Buy Nothing Days".
It's now newsworthy to not spend money for several days in a row.
Pardon me while I dissolve into an absolutely non-Covid-related coughing fit.
Buy Nothing Day is an annually recognised protest against rampant consumerism, in which the public, for just one day each year, is encouraged not to spend any money. No takeaway lunch, no movie theatre, no click & collect, no grocery shop, no new clothes. Such is our addiction to spending that we need a Day to wake us up and to actively choose not to spend any money. Just for one day a year. Because not-spending for just one day each year is presumed to have a palpable impact on the world's economy, or on your bank account, or on, uh, something. Most likely the only tangible impact will be in the number of social media posts or in the level of feelgood hippie vibes.
To be fair, it's a well-written article and he examines the new distribution of spending. Those with less are still spending, because all they could afford before were necessities, and even in a pandemic, you have to buy your necessities. And those with more are pocketing more savings because they're no longer grabbing their non-essentials. Surprise, what we see is the rich get richer and the poor continue to be largely ignored. Coupled with the fact that those with the property assets are still collecting the dough - but that's a whole 'nother article.
Now I digress. My original, lost and belaboured point, is that it should be normal not to spend on most days. It isn't all that difficult to arrange your lunch before you leave the house. I mean, you accept all the other things you need to do (like getting dressed) and you don't see people moaning that they didn't have time to change out of their pyjamas.
Takeaway lunches aside, we as a planet do far too little of considering our purchases. Simply put, we buy that thing because we can. We don't stop to consider whether it's a worthwhile spend, or sometimes, if it's even necessary. I am just as guilty at times. I went into Poundland (bad me) and blinked and had spent £21. I accept that several items were necessary, but a whole lot of "I want" also went into that basket. I could excuse it by reminding myself that I can't buy clothing second-hand right now, but I also wasn't prepared to wait a few weeks to grab myself a couple of summer shirts.
People talk about making sacrifices, but you know what's far less painful? Nurturing a non-spending habit. In a world where clawing your way out of the land of the have-nots is hard enough, who really wants to abandon the best chance we have by spending our limited cash on crap? It merely entraps us at the bottom of the food chain. And it's not a place that I want to end my days.
It's now newsworthy to not spend money for several days in a row.
Pardon me while I dissolve into an absolutely non-Covid-related coughing fit.
Buy Nothing Day is an annually recognised protest against rampant consumerism, in which the public, for just one day each year, is encouraged not to spend any money. No takeaway lunch, no movie theatre, no click & collect, no grocery shop, no new clothes. Such is our addiction to spending that we need a Day to wake us up and to actively choose not to spend any money. Just for one day a year. Because not-spending for just one day each year is presumed to have a palpable impact on the world's economy, or on your bank account, or on, uh, something. Most likely the only tangible impact will be in the number of social media posts or in the level of feelgood hippie vibes.
To be fair, it's a well-written article and he examines the new distribution of spending. Those with less are still spending, because all they could afford before were necessities, and even in a pandemic, you have to buy your necessities. And those with more are pocketing more savings because they're no longer grabbing their non-essentials. Surprise, what we see is the rich get richer and the poor continue to be largely ignored. Coupled with the fact that those with the property assets are still collecting the dough - but that's a whole 'nother article.
Now I digress. My original, lost and belaboured point, is that it should be normal not to spend on most days. It isn't all that difficult to arrange your lunch before you leave the house. I mean, you accept all the other things you need to do (like getting dressed) and you don't see people moaning that they didn't have time to change out of their pyjamas.
Takeaway lunches aside, we as a planet do far too little of considering our purchases. Simply put, we buy that thing because we can. We don't stop to consider whether it's a worthwhile spend, or sometimes, if it's even necessary. I am just as guilty at times. I went into Poundland (bad me) and blinked and had spent £21. I accept that several items were necessary, but a whole lot of "I want" also went into that basket. I could excuse it by reminding myself that I can't buy clothing second-hand right now, but I also wasn't prepared to wait a few weeks to grab myself a couple of summer shirts.
People talk about making sacrifices, but you know what's far less painful? Nurturing a non-spending habit. In a world where clawing your way out of the land of the have-nots is hard enough, who really wants to abandon the best chance we have by spending our limited cash on crap? It merely entraps us at the bottom of the food chain. And it's not a place that I want to end my days.
Tuesday, 2 June 2020
May Roundup
Another month over and the world is still turning. Here are the extras, because all I seem to do is work...
Testable Minds £9.52
PA £30.44
About £150 of free food. Maybe more. Who knows? Just... a lot.
Absolutely glorious sunshine going on today and I'm considering going down to the beach :)
Testable Minds £9.52
PA £30.44
About £150 of free food. Maybe more. Who knows? Just... a lot.
Absolutely glorious sunshine going on today and I'm considering going down to the beach :)
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