The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

More “hacks” to save money!

Sun says “one clever women does a years washing for £18 due to B&M£8.99 purchase!” 
She buys the biggest pack of washing powder.

Martin Lewis says “ put a bowl of water in your freezer to save hundreds of pounds a year”. I was thinking “ does it make it freeze quicker or something ?” Can’t see how but I’ll read on.

Turns out you out your credit card in it so you can’t use it and get into debt, ffs!

[Bren]

Once driven forever smitten.

Dougie's red top cavalier more than likely written off on the M40 after hitting debris on the carriageway.

Good job a biker didn't hit it.

[mitsisigma01]

Glad I'm not riding a bike at the moment, we've got potholes round here disguised as outdoor swimming pools, instead of fixing them they'll probably install a lifeguard and a lifebuoy ring 😧

[Zelandeth]

Apparently there is a new depth to how shit something can be and Halfords still put their name to.

Produced for them even?

Yeah right, it's the cheapest piece of garbage they could find.   Literally useless.

Which makes me exceptionally grumpy as it means I'm still 5 minutes away from being able to finish the same job I was five minutes away from being able to finish two hours ago because I need to remove one bloody circlip.  Plus I'll need to go out again tomorrow to buy another set of circlip pliers!

Won't be from Halfords this time.  So much for saving time because I was passing by there.

[goosey]

  On 23/01/2023 at 17:15, Zelandeth said:

Apparently there is a new depth to how shit something can be and Halfords still put their name to.

Produced for them even?

Yeah right, it's the cheapest piece of garbage they could find.   Literally useless.

Which makes me exceptionally grumpy as it means I'm still 5 minutes away from being able to finish the same job I was five minutes away from being able to finish two hours ago because I need to remove one bloody circlip.  Plus I'll need to go out again tomorrow to buy another set of circlip pliers!

Won't be from Halfords this time.  So much for saving time because I was passing by there.

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Needed some on site for work, these £15 ones from Screwfix got me out the shit and have been ok so far 

[Wibble]

  On 23/01/2023 at 13:57, Bren said:

Once driven forever smitten.

Dougie's red top cavalier more than likely written off on the M40 after hitting debris on the carriageway.

Good job a biker didn't hit it.

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I watched that too, nasty and the poor Cav looks done for🙁

[New POD]

  On 23/01/2023 at 13:57, Bren said:

Once driven forever smitten.

Dougie's red top cavalier more than likely written off on the M40 after hitting debris on the carriageway.

Good job a biker didn't hit it.

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Is that Dougie Rankin ? Scottish Cavalier hero? He owes me a favour. 

[New POD]

  On 23/01/2023 at 12:02, Metal Guru said:

More “hacks” to save money!

Sun says “one clever women does a years washing for £18 due to B&M£8.99 purchase!” 
She buys the biggest pack of washing powder.

Martin Lewis says “ put a bowl of water in your freezer to save hundreds of pounds a year”. I was thinking “ does it make it freeze quicker or something ?” Can’t see how but I’ll read on.

Turns out you out your credit card in it so you can’t use it and get into debt, ffs!

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The credit card in an ice pack has always been a good way of not impulse buying. 

Also. Once the ice is frozen, it takes up space and means that you aren't letting too much warm air in, when you open the door. 

I've bought the biggest own brand washing liquid from Costco, for £8. 12 months ago. Still not used it all. I do one wash a week, a 30 minute short wash at 30.

Never wash the sheets. 

[New POD]

  On 20/01/2023 at 19:32, barefoot said:

Fuck me, that's shite. 

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No, that's the post brexit, post covid, NHS, run by conservatives who typically  fail to mention £24 fucking million to the HMRC by being a little careless. 

[MikeR]

new comet in the night sky , does that mean 100 % cloud cover until it is gone ????

[sierraman]

  On 23/01/2023 at 13:57, Bren said:

Once driven forever smitten.

Dougie's red top cavalier more than likely written off on the M40 after hitting debris on the carriageway.

Good job a biker didn't hit it.

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That Advert always makes me laugh. ‘Once Driven Forever Smitten’ didn’t quite equate to an Astra Merit. A bit like Ford ‘Everything we do is driven by the accountants’

[sierraman]

  On 23/01/2023 at 19:20, New POD said:

The credit card in an ice pack has always been a good way of not impulse buying. 

Also. Once the ice is frozen, it takes up space and means that you aren't letting too much warm air in, when you open the door. 

I've bought the biggest own brand washing liquid from Costco, for £8. 12 months ago. Still not used it all. I do one wash a week, a 30 minute short wash at 30.

Never wash the sheets. 

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Or just have a bit of discipline about yourself and cut the fucker up! 🤣

[GrumpiusMaximus]

  On 23/01/2023 at 19:32, MikeR said:

new comet in the night sky , does that mean 100 % cloud cover until it is gone ????

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I also learned how to properly collimate my astro binoculars and perfected my parallelogram mount too.  So we're definitely going to have 100% cloud cover for the next month.  Sorry.

[somewhatfoolish]

  On 23/01/2023 at 19:24, New POD said:

No, that's the post brexit, post covid, NHS, run by conservatives who typically  fail to mention £24 fucking million to the HMRC by being a little careless. 

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What's the beef? Is anyone who has been penalised by HMRC a criminal now? They're a shower of shite but this is thin gruel, much like the pant-wetting hysteria about the PM being fined for not wearing a seat belt. Oh noes! He got fined by HMRC, along with probably thousands of others.

[Metal Guru]

  On 23/01/2023 at 19:42, sierraman said:

Or just have a bit of discipline about yourself and cut the fucker up! 🤣

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That’s what I was going to say, I’m an adult , if I can have a credit card , I will use it properly. “A big boy made me do it” isn’t a valid excuse once you are over 12.

As for never washing sheets, mmm, nice.

[chaseracer]

  On 23/01/2023 at 22:24, somewhatfoolish said:

What's the beef? Is anyone who has been penalised by HMRC a criminal now? They're a shower of shite but this is thin gruel, much like the pant-wetting hysteria about the PM being fined for not wearing a seat belt. Oh noes! He got fined by HMRC, along with probably thousands of others.

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None of whom were Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, nor Chair of the Tory party now...

[wuvvum]

My boss casually mentioned to me today that overtime is being stopped because apparently we don't need it anymore.  I've been kind of relying on overtime pay for the last several years to make ends meet.  With the cost of everything continuing to go up (my rent hasn't yet but I'm fully expecting it to at any time), unless I get a hefty pay rise this year I'm going to be in trouble.  There's an outside chance that I'll get a decent rise as I had a promotion last year and I haven't had my pay adjusted for that yet, but all the noises senior management have been making about "difficult economic times" and all that bollocks don't bode well.

I'm OK for a few months - I'll be getting December's overtime pay in this month's pay packet, then I have a few "easy" months as I don't pay council tax in Feb and March and I don't pay car insurance in April and May - but the upshot is that if I don't get a decent raise I'm going to have to find a new job.  Which I really don't want to do as 1. I like my current job and the people I work with and 2. I fucking hate job interviews.  Plus I've been in the industry I currently work in for 20 years and unless I find a job based in London but working remotely I'm never going to be rich, but then again I don't really want to start again from scratch at my time of life...

I'm just getting rather tired of the fact that every time I start to get a little bit of financial security life comes along and pulls the rug out.  It's surprisingly difficult to maintain a decent standard of living as a single person on an average wage these days.  Maybe I need to become an IT consultant - they always seem to be on decent money.  I know naff all about IT but I'm quite good at talking bollocks so I might be able to wing it...

[chaseracer]

  On 23/01/2023 at 23:17, wuvvum said:

...I had a promotion last year and I haven't had my pay adjusted for that yet...

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What...??!

 

[wuvvum]

  On 23/01/2023 at 23:37, chaseracer said:

What...??!

 

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I had an "extra" mid-year payrise the year before (Sept 2021) so when April 2022 came around and I got my promotion, I didn't get the payrise because I'd already had one within the last year.  My manager did make noises about me getting another mid-year rise this year, but that never happened.  She did give me a rather chunkier-than-normal bonus last April to try and make up for it but, nice as a bonus is, it doesn't carry forward into the next year.

[fairkens]

  On 23/01/2023 at 22:24, somewhatfoolish said:

What's the beef? Is anyone who has been penalised by HMRC a criminal now? They're a shower of shite but this is thin gruel, much like the pant-wetting hysteria about the PM being fined for not wearing a seat belt. Oh noes! He got fined by HMRC, along with probably thousands of others.

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I would google and read the Dan Neidle blogs on this if I were you. He lied about having outstanding tax and then negotiated his 'settlement' whilst he was in charge of HMRC at the exchequer.  The level of fine shows how culpable he was. One for the politics section I guess 

[Split_Pin]

I received my renewal quote for the red 93. Literally nothing has changed since last year!

They can get fucked with that!!

[Metal Guru]

  On 24/01/2023 at 07:31, Split_Pin said:

I received my renewal quote for the red 93. Literally nothing has changed since last year!

They can get fucked with that!!

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Worth a phone call, sometimes they will give you a much better quote. I had the same with my wife’s car, up by about £50 with Direct Line . One call and the reduced it by about £40. Admiral on the other hand put mine up by £75 despite being with them for 11 years , no claims, and the best they could offer was £10’lower.  Renewed with eSure , lower than last year with Admiral.

[iainrcz]

Yay. More shit to deal with.

[loserone]

Shit cement / gypsum skim fallen off?

[iainrcz]

  On 24/01/2023 at 11:47, loserone said:

Shit cement / gypsum skim fallen off?

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I've a feeling it's damp. Bottom of the skirting is going a wee bit soft.

[loserone]

What I mean is that it looks like it's had a cold / condensation problem which has been hidden with an injected DPC and replacing the plaster up to a level with something non permeable. Which has now fallen off, as is inevitable.

 

It looks like the kind of part of a house it's difficult to keep warm and ventilated.

[hairnet]

currently barfing a lung due to viral (they said) laryngitis

would be ok but for the coughing (i coughed me ring on thursday and had to stop the van it was that bad)

was gonna hop a plane this evening due to good news but cant cos 16 h on a plane might not be a good idea

 

[Split_Pin]

  On 24/01/2023 at 10:52, Metal Guru said:

Worth a phone call, sometimes they will give you a much better quote. I had the same with my wife’s car, up by about £50 with Direct Line . One call and the reduced it by about £40. Admiral on the other hand put mine up by £75 despite being with them for 11 years , no claims, and the best they could offer was £10’lower.  Renewed with eSure , lower than last year with Admiral.

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Go compare has netted me £189 with Swinton. Not as good as last year but I doubt E sure could have beaten that. My brown 93 is also insured with Esure and I only renewed it in December. It was around £150 for the year and is almost identical to the red one save for being a manual.  How do they work out their quotes?!

[iainrcz]

  On 24/01/2023 at 11:54, loserone said:

What I mean is that it looks like it's had a cold / condensation problem which has been hidden with an injected DPC and replacing the plaster up to a level with something non permeable. Which has now fallen off, as is inevitable.

 

It looks like the kind of part of a house it's difficult to keep warm and ventilated.

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Yeah there are a few places we struggle with. We've got some really cold walls with the inevitable sweating.

[sierraman]

  On 24/01/2023 at 11:47, loserone said:

Shit cement / gypsum skim fallen off?

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He says as he’s mixing up a batch of lime mortar 🤣