Bills ahhhh!

Hehe, we know that we are now proper adults because we now pay bills! I knew that bills would cost money and we have alloted money that we don't touch for that very purpose. But what I hadn't figured on was how much time that you spend on the phone phoning them with daft questions and requests like 'would they please change my name from Stacy to Sophie please (EDF)' or 'I have set up a direct debit but now I am told by a letter that my payment is overdue what the hell (again EDF)'. I will never understand how all this stuff isn't electronic either. I was sent an itemised billing schedule for the whole year for council tax, however if I want to go and pay it, I have to key in the amount myself. Its not just waiting on the system for me to put my debit card details in. Which means its quite scary because you don't feel sure your actually paying 'your' council tax eeeek!

This leads me on to how on earth we have the money to pay these bills. We are both employed! Yay! Mattyman is working as a dealer in a casino and I am working in a Pub behind the bar. Its fantastic I feel so much better now I am employed we don't have to worry about money much, because between us we earn enough to pay for everything. We even have money left over for fun stuff and savings (I am currently saving for the AAT, I have discovered that if I pay it in full upfront the price is at a 20% discount which would make it around 1600 rather than 1900ish).

Well since writing this and completely forgetting about it I have had more run ins with EDF. 2 weeks ago we recieved our first EDF bill and the bill told me that noting was further needed from us as the bill is paid by direct debit. A week later we recieved a letter from EDF asking why haven't we paid the bill and to do so as soon as possible. So I sent an email to EDF detailing why I haven't paid the bill. After not hearing from them for a week I get a further letter telling me that if we do not pay the bill further action will be taken by them (a debt collector may come around). So I decide after finding a number for them that wouldn't cost me the earth to phone them by, I phoned them up.

After speaking to a very nice man it transpired that although a direct debit was set up their system had deleted our bank details. All this fuss for £27.57, so as a grown up I made the executive decision to cancel the direct debit and pay quaterly like all the other bills that we pay.

Phew now all that is over we have two months without bills (except council tax which is monthly). Now we can get ready for the wedding without worry of our electric being cut off in our absence. Anyway now to go and pack and get ready for going back to Ilfracombe to see the peoples and furry monkeys (who will be very put out when they see us leave early in the morning on Saturday.

Byeeeeeeee for now, watch this space for wedding photos x x x x x x 

Being Grown ups

Well it is now, May the 1st and lots has happened, we are now offically residents of Plymouth. After our initial visit to Plymouth we went back and arranged to view some houses. The first one we viewed was horrid, the second one was alright but it was 3 floors up and in the student area on town (known for being loud), the third one was a basement flat that was ghastly. Finally we were down to one and a spare that the agent said would be worth a visit which was next door. The first one was ok but the kitchen was in the lounge and it became quite clear that the fridge/freezer and washing machine would be quite distracting, we were starting to worry about whether we were going to find a suitable place and then he took us next door and it was perfect!

It comprised of a large bedroom with storage (2 slim wardrobes), a nice sized lounge, a nice tidy clean bathroom and a kitchen which is part of the hallway. It had room for washing machine, fridge and a freezer (by this point we realised it would make sense to make these purchases and Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Bave for their contribution which paid for all these items). Here are some of the piccys from the estate agent:

 The Bedroom

 The Lounge

 The Bathroom

The kitchen there is more cupboards to the left of the camera as well as space underneath for our fridge and freezer

So after deciding that was the place for us we set about securing it. It took a couple of weeks and a lot of phone calls (not helped by the jobseekers allowance lot, who we repeatedly had to phone as well). However, on the night before we were due to move in Matt was asked to attend the final stage of interviews for a job. This turned out to work in all our favour, as me and Matt were at Plymouth ready to sign for the keys (after a little heart attack provided to us from the card machine which refused to accept our payment) and Dad, Kez and Isaac were able to all fit in the van to help unload. So there is a major thank you to Dad, kezza bee, Isaac and Rosie for all their help lugging and delivering all our stuff and thank you Mummy for all your support in the planning of it all to get it all to work. So after getting the keys we bought supplies for the hard working removal team (which included english breakfast sandwiches (I don't think I have seen Kez's eye get quite that big except at Christmas hehe) and biscuits. It was quite scary when it all first arrived as all the stuff came out before the furniture, so it looked like we had less space than I thought however it all just about fits (as can be seen from the piccys below). 

 The lounge

 The collage I made for the fireplace

 The bedroom, which despite the stuff in it still looks huge

about six weeks after we moved in we recieved this little box of goodies from the letting agents, hehe!

Phew well it is getting late so I will finish with some more to tell another time

Night Night x x x x x