Music Magpie

I'm sure many of you have probably heard of the website music magpie before. But for those who haven't it's a website where you can sell your unwanted DVDs, CDs, games and electronics. It's really simple to use, for CDs, DVDs and Games you simply scan the barcode and the website (or app if you prefer) will tell you how much they will pay you for it. For example

Shark Tale DVD - £0.30
Bob the Builder Skyscrapers DVD - £2.58

So not always a huge amount but I have quite a few items to sell so it all adds up. I've got 22 items to send this time.

 

Before sending the estimate for my items was £8.33 which is always subject to change once there checked by music magpie. So once you've had an offer and accepted it they will send you a welcome pack with a postage label and the information about delivering or your collection.

 

My parcel was collected on 16th July and took until the 21st July to arrive at music magpie, the items are then checked and the quality assessed. On the 23rd August I received a cheque for £8.14 so a bit less than the original amount but an ok amount for a few DVDs that were just sitting there.  

Pizza Express

On Friday night before the theatre we wanted some dinner, we didn't have a lot of time so we wanted somewhere nice and close to the theatre. So we headed to Pizza Express in The Forum, Norwich.

2 of the 4 of us, are dairy free food only and they were both really pleased to have quite a few options on the menu they could eat. I opted for the Lasagna Classica with some garlic bread. The meal was delicious but I'll be honest I was a bit disappointed with the garlic bread, it didn't have a particularly strong garlic taste and was more like just warm bread.

The staff in the restaurant were great they let us know straight away how long the wait for food was, and were really apologetic when a drink we ordered wasn't available. We all enjoyed our meal and we would all go back there again and at only £58 for 4 of us it was reasonably priced too.


EDIT

I popped a copy of this review over to Pizza Express and had the following reply from them

Dear Tanya

Thank you so much for taking the time to write - emails like that really
make our day!

They'll make our Norwich Forum team's day too, so I've forwarded a copy on
to their manager.

It's great to know you and your friends enjoyed your visit and thank you
for your kind words regarding the work of our team and the quality of our
meals. We would like to thank you for sharing your positive feedback with
your readers on the internet as well.

We put a huge amount of effort into providing you with the highest level of
service, so when people notice this and tell us, it makes all the hard work
worthwhile.

Thanks again. We really do appreciate it, and hope to welcome you back soon!

All best wishes,

I've had the night of my life

Last night I went to the theatre, which you know I do quite regularly with my friend Robyn, but last night we took our mums as a late birthday treat. So last night as the title suggests we saw Dirty Dancing. It was incredible, the talent of the whole cast was amazing, and the partnership of Jessie Hart and Lewis Kirk as Johnny and Baby was just as I expected it to be.

My mums favourite film is Dirty Dancing, so I know the storyline well and I'll be honest there were a few scenes I really did wonder how they would do, especially the iconic lake scene, but the director and the creative team had done them so well. The well known songs including I've had the time of my life were there, and you know what I think my only negative of the whole show was that my favourite song 'she's like the wind' was only the instrumental version. Other than that small thing I absolutely loved the show and I highly recommend to everyone if you get chance go and see it, I would certainly go and see it again. It does come with a slight warning though, you'll be singing the songs for days after, or is that just me.

Saving for Amelie August 15 update

So current total is £84.32 / £13,120.00. it's not a huge amount but it's a good start and I do have at least 10 years to save it all. I think I've had a fairly good month, and added to it a bit this month.

1st - I've added a full bag of 1ps and one of 2ps of loose change, as well as £5 to add from  selling an old rocker of Amelies (£91.32)

6th - Added a full bag of 10ps so that's another £5 to add to the total (£96.32)

13th - Loose change of £6.35 to add to the total, going to add as I go along now instead of waiting for a full bag, to make it easier to keep a record of what I've got where. (£102.67)

18th - Loose change of 33p, not a lot but it all adds up (£103.00)

20th - Only a bit more loose change added, but I know there's some money on the way from a few bits I've sold. 43p today (£103.43)

21st - Sold a DVD for £1 today, so have added that along with 46p loose change (£104.89)

23rd - 22p loose change (£105.11)

28th - 74p loose change (£105.85)

So not a bad month total is now £105.85 which means I made £21.53 this month which i'm actually quite pleased with. Hopefully next month will be better, I think it's a case of getting to know the best ways to make money.

Postcrossing August 2015 Update

In July these postcards were still travelling, there now:

1. Russia - Travelled 1,219 miles in 34 days
                  Arrived 22/7/15

2. Finland - Travelled 1,317 miles in 16 days
                   Arrived 20/7/15

3. Germany - Travelled 465 miles in 17 days
                      Arrived 21/7/15

4. China - Travelled 5,820 miles in 41 days
                Arrived 17/8/15

Sent this month

1. Ukraine - Still Travelling

2. Czech Republic - Travelled 596 miles in 9 days
                                Arrive 29/7/15

3. USA - Still Travelling

4. Netherlands - Still Travelling

5. Germany - Still Travelling

6. Taiwan - Still Travelling

Received this month, this is probably my favourite parts of Postcrossing, I love to see what postcards pick to send me.

• I had a lovely postcard from Dusseldorf in Germany. I like receiving postcards from the  places where people live
• I also had another postcard from Germany it travelled 452 miles and got to me in 3 days
• Also got a card from Minsk, Belarus with lots of lovely facts about the town from the sender
• I had a lovely postcard from Finland too, the landscape on it is stunning
• The next was a lovely postcard of the market hall, Rotterdam Netherlands, looks like a fab place to go visit
• I had a 3rd card from Germany too, this time from Leipzig in East Germany
• I also had a second postcard from Finland which travelled 1036 miles to get to me.
• Another postcard this month came from the sunshine state of Florida, which was lovely and came on a lovely rainy day.
• And finally one from Jaworzno in Poland  

Below are 3 photos of the fronts of a couple of the postcards I have received this month. Remember you could also join Postcrossing, just visit the website and create your free account - https://www.postcrossing.com/ or if you would like to swap postcards with me get in touch. 

A bargain shopping trip

Yesterday I went to Norwich riverside retail park, and did a bit of shopping and happened to get a few bargains. Headed into Matalan first and picked up a swimming costume for Amelie, the next size up for only £2. Next up was Poundland and I managed to get a couple of DVDs, one is a replay but I am yet to have any problems with any I have purchased. Along with some snacks and sweet treats for Amelie which will last her a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

And as an added bonus I got a voucher for 15% off at Shoe Zone when £10 or more is spent, which I am sure I will use, as I buy a lot of Amelies going to the park type shoes from there.

 

 

Final shop was B&M and I picked up a couple of great vehicle toy sets for my cousins son for his birthday. Along with some cans of drink for only 29p each, and some milkshake straws for 39p. And the flapjacks in the picture are for my mum, my mum is dairy free and we happened to find one day that these flapjacks didn't contain dairy so I always buy her a few if I see them. If your close to a B&M it's well worth a visit.

 

 

Didn't do a huge amount of shopping this time as there's not an awful lot of shops at the retail park, but keep an eye out for more posts on bargains coming soon.

Being Organised

My mum would tell you, I am notorious for writing lists. I have them all over the place, of all different things from presents lists, to craft stock, even DVD's I want. So you would think I'm quite an organised and tidy person, but the truth is I'm not. Our house as per usual is a mess, and not just and Amelie mess, there's half started craft projects, paperwork, just everything all over the place. Looking round right now, as I'm sat on my sofa, I'm feeling the need to tidy and organise better, I just don't know where to start.

My plan some way is to do 1 or 2 small things everyday to try and tidy up and get myself more organised. Things as simple as filing away letters and organising my craft stuff better. There's a website and there's a thread on moneysaving expert called flylady, which is along the same sort of lines, possibly a bit more aimed at the cleaning side of things more, but it's well worth a read for motivation and tips, I'm going to sit and have another read through myself and you guessed it write a list of my plan of action.


Week 1 - Plan of action

Tuesday - Sort out Magazine Rack
                 Clean Cooker

Wednesday - Sort my dresser
                      Organise Amelie's Jigsaws

Thursday - Sort Amelies Bookcase
                  Dust and Arrange Window Ledges

Friday - Sort my bookcase
             Re Organise CD Rack

Saturday - Sort top of fridge
                  Clean and organise top of my wardrobe

Sunday - Tidy Hallway
                Sort and Photograph things to sell box

Monday - Sort Plastic Drawers
                Clean Bathroom