Car insurance

It's that wonderful time of the year again - car insurance renewal (spookily mentioned on the Martin Lewis show last night!). So off I go on my usual hunt, searching through the price comparison sites. Our renewal price was £450 so I was chuffed to bits when Churchill via Moneysupermarket.com quoted £325. Obviously I wasn't about to forget the lovely Quidco and found Churchill offering £40 cashback - £285 for car insurance happy days! But....when I went through Quidco all of a sudden Churchill's quote jumped up to £470 despite all details being entered exactly the same....not a happy bunny :0(
The search continues.... x

Passport counter-signing

Just going through the joy of applying for my son's first passport. The application was easy enough, done and dusted within half an hour, so why oh why has it taken my doctor 5 weeks to counter-sign the photo! It's one little sentence...not difficult or tasking work and considering I've had to pay £15 for the privilege of her handwriting I would have expected it to have been done a little bit sooner!
Why exactly does the photo need counter-signing anyway? I have a passport, my husband has a passport, we have a marriage certificate, a birth certificate for my son and a national health number for him - surely there is enough information there without having to endure this hassle?? x

Gumtree

I decided yesterday that it was about time I made a start on our bulging loft and get some things shifted, so thought I'd have a little look at Gumtree...oh my god! I don't think I will ever sell on eBay again - it's easy to list, no long-winded category lists and of course the most important thing....NO FEES! The downside is the possible smaller audience but its got the thumbs up from me, especially for large items which can't be posted x

Uniform tax rebate

If you wear a uniform for work and wash it at home, even if its just a company logo t-shirt, you could be eligible for a tax rebate. Please don't bother with any company offering to do it for you (they won't do it out of the goodness of their hearts), it's so easy to do yourself! Full info and template letters are readily available online and for the cost of just one stamp you could receive a nice little cheque for anything backdated and get your future tax code adjusted too. It worked for my husband and all his colleagues x

European health card

Watching the Martin Lewis show the other night and he reminded me to check our EHIC cards for our holiday this summer. Found my husbands had expired and realised I didn't have one for my son.
Laptop on, typed in European health card renewal and clicked on one of the top links....entered details and then noticed a £23.50 charge?? Good job I googled again and found the official NHS EHIC link for a FREE card! Nearly spent money unnecessarily.....not good!! Watch out people x

Hello x

This is my first ever blog following a recommendation to document my daily mini-dramas in a bid to help others or possibly just to keep me sane. Still wondering if it was just a ploy to stop me moaning on to family members but I'm here now so will give it a go....just bear with me whilst I learn how to get everything up and running x