Credit card catastrophe

Ok, so here it is, my first rant.

I would just like to point out, as a little caveat, that I am not one of those people that has nothing better to do with my time than be a serial complainer. It's the end of the financial year at work, and my boss and I are working terribly hard, I have a wonderful fiancé that I love to spend time with, I'm getting fit for myself and the wedding and I like to have a healthy social life too. So "nothing better to do with my time" just doesn't fit my bill. But there are just some things that people and large corporations should not be allowed to get away with.

Also, this is not just a moan about capitalism in general, nor a protest against fat cat chairmen with large bonuses.

Enough said.

Well, I have a couple of credit cards. One I am very pleased with, with is a Lu crew credit card with American Express. I've never had a problem with them, and you can save up British Airways airmiles for them and get tickets Oracle and Daddy Lu's holidays, which they enjoy and love.

Here it comes... And then there's Tesco. Every little thing about their online credit card statement does not help. It is impossibly difficult to understand. And I'm ok at maths, honestly, plus I managed to survive the law school accounts exams unscathed. But when you look at your online statement, you just don't want to. And it's not just the numbers. Balance means unbalanced, spending plus adjustments is not adjusted, and if you ever set up a direct debit... Well just don't.

Their call centre puts you through about eight different sets of options. I was really pleased with myself having keyed in my credit card number, date of birth and pin, and got through another couple of levels, and then, most unfortunately, I pressed the wrong option and was greeted with "This office is now closed. Please try again later." CLOSED??? At 12.34pm. How dare they?

Their saving grace was a lovely guy who gently explained my problem and patiently talked me through. He even took my suggestion of "making the online statement system more user-friendly" with good grace. Unfortunately, I didn't get his name, but I'm sure I made his day with my helpful comments.

Hmmm, I feel much better now. I think the grumble is definitely better out than in. All that negative energy building up inside of me. In fact, you know what? Tesco credit card have saved me from dishing out for a therapist. Maybe I'll write them a thank you letter. Or then again... maybe I won't.

Kid me or kid me not?

So it's wedding update time.

In a nutshell, and not to get to slushy or anything, I'm marrying the most wonderful man I've ever met (cue the sickbags). I promise not to go any further. We got engaged over two years ago and I've been wedding planning ever since. Venues in the town I'm getting married in get snapped up very quickly, particularly for Saturdays in the summer. So we have a lovely venue, beautiful church, fantastic photographer, wonderful cake people, amazing wedding singer...

The RSVPs have been trickling in. We had 113 on the guest list and so far six definite no's. Because the venue is so popular, we need to hit minimum numbers of 100. Just to make doubly sure, we needed to firm up on the "maybe's". And so the time old question rises again: kid me or kid me not? In other words, do we allow little ones to attend or not? A few people have said if they could bring their kids, they would be there like a shot.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. In fact every wedding I've been to have had children of all ages (including drunken has-beens...) and they've all been lovely. I think if someone could guarantee me a sunny day... Ah well, I'll say my prayers and hope someone up there is smiling on me on our wedding day.

It's just that I also have visions of some little horror running around crashing into everyone, screaming his head off, with grubby baked bean fingers. Quite why I have this image I'm not sure, and maybe this is more of a reflection of the person I am, I don't know.

What I need is a sign, that's it, a sign. Or maybe some helpful person reading this post will helpfully post some words of wisdom in response. That would be really useful. So, to the unknown blogger that has yet to post, I await your wise words...

Well I can't make a decision without my fiancé, so I guess you'll need to find out next time what we decide.

Launching a little line from a Little Lu

So here it is, the blog of Little Lu.

It's the start of the weekend, which by 12.30pm, has already clocked up four hours of working from home with the help of a handy little Citrix token. I can now access all my files as if I was in the office, without having to leave the house. Wonderful.

So what's going on in my world, the world of Little Lu? Well I'm getting married in less than four months. Well three months and twenty days to be precise. It's not quite Bridezilla stage yet, but soon, I'm sure. I'm enjoying the wedding planning, probably because I have the luxury of time. We got engaged two years ago and arranged most of the big things like the church and reception venue fairly early on. But more of that later.

Work wise, I'm an editor in legal publishing. I qualified as a lawyer back in September last year and decided publishing was where I wanted to be, and here I am. There's a great working atmosphere in the office and the work is good. Couldn't ask for more. Except maybe a clothing allowance. Speaking of which...

I like shopping. Well actually, I love shopping. That's better. A great website called MoneySavingExpert (MSE) created by a guy called Martin Lewis taught me how to look for discount codes when shopping and also, how to get cashback on your online purchases.

A couple of months back when I was looking for a reasonably priced pair of authentic Uggs, I came across a site called Shudoo, through MSE. They e-mailed me earlier this week with a special promotion of 20% off if you sign up to their newsletter (http://www.shudoo.co.uk/forms.php?form_id=30). I'm quite tempted by another pair of French Sole ballet pumps.

That's enough for a first post. Mummy Lu, or the Oracle (as she's known in the Lu Crew), always said something about keeping something back for later. So that's what I'm doing now. Taking the Oracle's advice and keeping something back for later. Well lots more in fact. See you next time for more Little Lu ramblings.