I am a numpty

I am a numpty - part 1

I'm at Site this week.  Yesterday, during my drive up, I reached into my handbag to check my phone and realised, with a cold sick feeling, that I'd left it at home.  Stopped at the Services, where I normally text/phone DH to tell him "I'm OK and have got this far";  tore my bag apart.  No phone.  Dashed to a phone booth to call home:  yes, said DH, my phone was were I'd left it, dangling from the bedside table while it was recharging.

Damn. Damn.  Damn!  I need my phone when I'm travelling:  it's my link with home; my alarm clock; and the main way people can contact me.

Solution:  stopped at the supermarket and picked up the cheapest pay-as-you-go mobile phone I could find.  £19 plus £10 for the top-up.  I'd rather not have spent the money but it'll do for the week and will work as a backup phone/guest phone for overseas visitors.  And the top up doesn't expire.

I am a numpty - part 2

As you know, I travel to Site a lot, every second week at the moment.  That involves hotel bills, meal bills; mileage claims and buying my lunch, etc.  I put the vast majority of my spending on a credit card, while I'm here, so that I don't have to fund my expenses (I claim them back from work and pay before the due date).  I've been doing this journey at least once a month for the last three years.  The Project has about three months left to run.

About two thirds of my regular grocery shopping is at Tesco, together with 99% of the fuel we purchase for the car.  Tesco has a "Clubcard" which enables you to collect points that give you vouchers quarterly of £0.01 for every £1 you spend in store.  They also have a Clubcard credit card that gives you points on all your spending over £4 plus double points when you shop "in store".  I've had a Tesco credit card for over two years.  Got it for a 0% balance transfer and never used it since.

It only occurred to me a week ago that maybe, just maybe, I should be using my Tesco credit card during my trips to Site because (well, d'uh!) I could be getting a free penny for every Pound I spend.  Mental head slap time.  At an average of £500 a trip, that's an free £5 each time I come to Site.

I AM A NUMPTY!!!

- Pam (better late than ever)