Free National Trust weekend.

On Sunday we had to go to the big blue and yellow Swedish store to get a wardrobe for my DD.Normally we would go to London but as the marathon was on and apparently a football match nearby we decided to go to Southampton.
I had checked before hand that what i wanted was in stock so it wouldn't be a wasted journey.It wasn't very busy and we were in and out quite quickly even with browsing around the store.

We had planned to take advantage of the National Trust weekend and i had my tickets printed.We chose to go to The Vyne nr Basingstoke.As well as it being free they were celebrating St Georges day so lots of extra activities including Morris dancing,Archery.

The actual house is lovely and my DD who likes her history was in awe that Henry V111 had walked the same floors she was and slept in a bed that was a few feet away from her.

It was a lovely day helped by decent weather.
Here is a montage of pictures of The Vyne.

Finally have a replacement fridge freezer

Yesterday i had a call at 7.30 am to say my replacement fridge/freezer would be with me within the hour.
This bit of new excited me know end as I'm normally the last delivery and have to wait all day for things to come.
True to their word they arrived within the hour and one of the delivery men came indoors to survey where they had to take it.
Then the worst possible thing was said to me,"It wont fit in that gap"
what we have been sent as a replacement was a hell of a lot bigger than my existing one and just would not fit in the gap( i have a small bridging unit over the where the fridge goes.)

Well they didn't unload it and i was told to ring Tesco to rearrange.
This was easier said than done,it takes an age to get through and you can guarantee as soon as you start talking to someone you get cut off.I was told to choose a replacement .Great i hear you all say but upon looking through the fridge freezers the majority are out of stock,too big,wrong colour.I knew a compromise was going to be had to be made but even widening my options this was not going to be easy.

So i asked OH how easy it would be to remove the cupboard so i could go for something taller.
I then phoned the delivery person and asked if i ok'd it with Tesco was there any chance they could come back with the fridge/freezer they had for me.He was a star and said he would do it on way home and with agreement from Tesco (to get me off their backs )

Well true to his word they turned up and brought in my new appliance and what a beauty it is.Even though it was a lot of hassle my replacement was worth £529 ,currently my existing one is selling for £199.

Now i have a working fridge freezer in my kitchen and you don't know how good that is.
So than you to the Logistic company who's customer service are top class ( letter will be sent)
and thank you Tesco even though you have mucked me around for the last 2 weeks we got there in the end.

As i got out of my car at the Post office today i noticed that the Post Office van i had parked next too had an alarm going off.


The van was very similar to the one above  and blaring from the van was
"warning this van is under attack call the Police"

I went into the Post Office and said and the postmaster came out.Banging was coming from inside the van and then from the little window someone put a thumb up and said I'm Ok.
The postmaster said oh hes ok my response was how do you know that's him..
So a phonecall was made and luckily the van door opened and the man in the van came out.He had got locked in the inner sactum of the van and when he was finally able to free himself he let us know he was OK.

Bizarre experience which luckily wasn't a robbery but i couldn't walk away until i knew the driver was safe.

30th anniversary of the £1 coin

Lots of blogs i read have recently have mentioned the 30th anniversary of the £1 coin.
Moneysupermarket have a competition to win a £1 for every idea they have to save a £1.

To enter our 30 Ways to Save £1 competition you must have a blog. You need to write about and list your favourite ways to save money - and it doesn't have to be exactly £1. 

So here's my list.

1/ Join a moneysaving site.(like MSE) I guarantee you will save more than a £1 on this one.

2/ Join a cashback site like Quidco,Topcashback.

3/ Join priority moments on 02 (if that's your mobilephone provider,they have regular offers and freebies)

4/ Look out for the free cinema tickets,sky rewards, show film first.(i can count on 1 hand how many times i have paid for cinema)

5/ Join Swagbucks you can earn gift vouchers.

6/ Join survey sites i mainly do Valued opinions.

7/ Look on Amazon for free books for your Kindle.

8/ Lend 1 book a month from the Kindle lending library on Amazon.

9/ Use your library.

10/ Before you buy anything look for didcount codes .

11/ if you are going away and need to stay in a hotel look on laterooms for great discounts.

12/ Never fill your car completely with fuel, you will use more fuel driving around.

13/ Regularly check tyre pressures.

14/ Turn lights off when your not in the room.

15/ Turn thermostat down by 1 degree.

16/ Keep your freezer full even if it means freezing tubs of water,it makes it more energy efficient.

17/ Try and dry your washing outside it smells better and saves energy.

18/ Only put your washing machine on when you have a full load.

19/ If you need something check on freecycle,people list things they no longer want.

20/ Grow your own vegetables,If you don't have much room you can grow in containers or hanging baskets.

21/ Use the £1 shops,

22/ Look at freebie sites.

23/ Many local councils offer rewards for recycling, we earn points which can be redeemed for free hair cuts or money off vouchers.

24/ Check your grocery shopping on mysupermarket to see if you are shopping at the best priced supermarket.

25/ Always input your Asda  receipts into the price comparison app, even if you only get a voucher for 5p they all add up.

26/Haggle lots of big companies will reduce the price of something if asked.

27/ Read blogs other bloggers have some serious money saving advice.

28/ See if you can join the Royal mail testing panel you are rewarded each month in stamps an we all know how expensive stamps are.

29/ Try to never dial a premium rate number use a site like say no to 0870 to find the geographical number.

30/ Freeze left overs ,even if its just the ends of bread they can be blitzed up into breadcrumbs.

That 30 was very easy to write all i need to do now is email Moneysupermarket a link to my blog and keep my fingers crossed i can earn a few extra pounds into my paypal account.

Apparently my fridge.freezer isn't economical to repair so i will be getting a brand new one delivered.Its a good job i have a 2nd fridge and freezer as its now 4 days since it broke and i will have to wait to hear when i will get a new one.
It wasn't worth claiming on my insurance for the loss as my excess would have swallowed most of what i would have got back.

After the engineer had left and since i had rearranged my whole day due to said visit i decided to visit my local garden centre.
I managed to pick up quite a few tomato plants reduced to 10 p a plant with a bit of tlc and mainly a water they will be fine.
I have planted a few seeds up.
Parsnips,chives,Pepper and Peanuts for now.
Garlic,onions in the raised beds and I've planted some potatoes.
I'm so excited about getting things moving in the garden,just hoping it all does better than last year.

Disaster

This morning i came down to find my fridge freezer had defrosted.It appears to have happened a few days ago as my OH had mentioned that things didn't seem very cold in the fridge.So freezer contents had to be thrown away as warm and soggy.
Now this fridge freezer is 13 months old so i was more than a bit annoyed that it had malfunctioned and thinking "typical 1 month out of guarantee and it breaks" but it has a 2 year guarantee and someone is coming out on Wednesday to repair it.

My cold is slowly going its been a really horrible bug and knocked me for 6.OH now has it...
share and share alike.His is 10 times worse than mine I'm told because he works outside.His warrants not getting up until 1 pm mine apparently caused by not going outside enough.Enough moaning its getting better (mine) that's all that matters.

Marie Curie

I have feeling a bit low over the last few days,not helped at all by feeling awful .So to arrive home to this email has put a smile on my face.I am so glad i gave up my 2 hours and helped as i contributed to a good proportion of the days figures.

Thank you for collecting during the Great Daffodil Appeal

Thank you so much for being part of Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal 2013 by collecting at the Asda Lower Earley Collection.  We’re delighted that you took part, and we hope you enjoyed the experience.

The success of the appeal depends upon wonderful collectors like you giving up your time to encourage people to make a donation to wear a daffodil. You collected £103.78 which contributed towards the fantastic total of £ 717.55  that was raised at the Asda Lower Earley Collection.  

Every 5 minutes someone in the UK dies without the care they need at the end of their life, and that is why your support is so important to us. Thank you for helping us continue to provide our services completely free to patients and their families in your neighbourhood. Every £20 raised helps us to provide an hour of Marie Curie Nursing care.

Please,please can we have some good weather

I have come down with yet another cold,I'm coughing and spluttering and sleeping terribly.On top of this my back is still hurting,some days worse than others and seeing snow falling again is not improving my mood.

We have also had loads of sad news in the last 2 weeks 3 people we know well, have sadly passed away.
It does make you take stock of your own mortality (which isn't a good thing when your feeling and moving around like a 90 year old)

Hope you are all fairing better than me
until next time
nto
x