Mrs. P's Diary

MrsPorridge

Well - its bad and I've decided to post it on here to make it more real and bring me up sharply. Went to pay for soemthing yesterday and my debit card was declined. This has never happened to me before. When I got home and checked my online account I was up to my OD limit of £2,000 I am so annoyed and cross with myself. I have felt so proud that I am not using CCs but instead I have been using the OD

After a bit of soul searching have now decided to put that onto my Egg CC which I can do a transfer to an OD on. So that is now done. Got a good rate of interest but it means I can now concentrate on paying that off. I am going to reduce my OD limit down to £400 and try and never use it again. Have I learnt my lesson? I certainly hope so, but we will see.

Now feel terrible seeing it written down. HOw could I do something so stupid? That £2K as well it has been spent on luxuries, food, meals out, a couple of weekends away etc. That is my only crumb of comfort that it wasn't used on necessities.

Oh well, onwards and upwards.....

buddiebabe

Hey MrsP am glad you have posted on here about it. Its amazing how it just disappears when you don't keep a close eye on it. I have had my overdraft reduced to £100 which is interest free so that i still have it there for emergencies but i no longer have access to the other £700 that i would have just used and used and it would never have been paid off. Just make sure that if you do use the egg card to balance transfer it that you do cancel the majority of the overdraft or you may be tempted to use it again... thats always been my biggest problem.

I hope you will be able to enjoy your weekend and with any luck if the weather is nice you can go and do your car boot sale and get some extra cash in.

Keep your chin up

Buddiebabe x

MrsPorridge

A bit more positive today - I know I can clear this OD/Egg. I had a £1 on the lottery yesterday and have won £10 - so that can do a PAD with that. Payday on Wednesday so nothing major needs to be spent till then.

Didn't do the boot fair today Decided to go for a long walk instead - walked along the cliff paths, took flasks and lunch with us. Did a 3 hour walk, stopped for our morning coffee and muffin using the flask and muffins packed and then had our lunch a bit later - sandwiches. Absolutely lovely. And I didn't take any money with me on purpose (although only passed one shop).

All weekend I have used cash and not the debit card and actually think this is the way to go. In future will leave the debit card at home.

buddiebabe

Hey MrsP that sounds like a plan just using cash. I am only going to use cash from now on too. I have £25 left in my purse that will need to last me until i get my money from my fiance on Thursday and paid on Friday.

My mum didn't do the car boot sale either today which means no extra money for me either it was a free listing weekend so i have relisted some books, video's and clothes im not confident that anything will sell but i have got some things listed and hope that maybe it will give me the motivation to get some new things listed that might sell.

Good luck with getting the overdraft paid off

Buddiebabe x

MrsPorridge

Managed an NSD today.

buddiebabe

Woo hoo :j well done on the NSD x

MrsPorridge

Oh dear - I went to the dentist yesterday and it appears that they mis-charged me for some of my treatment and I owe £300 - why oh why can I ever get straight?

MrsPorridge

More bad news - have to have more dental treatment and cost is now £1,000 - I'm so far down the road with this now and its almost finished and it has made a difference to my smile and also my confidence. Have decided that I will take £400 out of my savings and use the Egg card for the final £600

Not sure what else I can do.

Positive stuff:

Went shopping yesterday and it was like a military operation - I have meal planned to within an inch of my life. Have noted down how much I spent - need to go again Saturday morning (all planned) and then that will be my monthly shop finished. Am aiming to spend £160 for the whole month so will need to "save" some out of that to spend on weekly stuff like milk, fruit and some veggies.

On the veggie front my veggie patch is looking fantastic. I am already harvesting courgetts and lettuce. I've got tomatoes and broad beans and runner beans plus sprouts on the way

Have got organised with my packed lunches and the last couple of nights have used meal leftovers to take to work the next day which I can then zap in the microwave. Tomorrow I've got left over curry from last night.

Have posted a thread on here asking about ways to save money on the water bill as our bill is always high (we are in the south west which is notorious for their charges). I have taken the advice on board and have ordered some hippos from SW water (free); am not going to have baths any more and not going to use running water for my teeth. I just have to educate DH and DS now (although they always take showers), its just rinsing cups etc., under running water I have to stop them doing.;)

Have been invited to a BBQ on Sunday so that is one meal less I have to prepare/cook/pay for - is that really bad of me thinking like that?:D

I get paid tomorrow.:beer:

MrsPorridge

Did some more food shopping today and stuck to list more or less!

Bad bit - if i say it quickly it doesn't seem to so bad - bought some Pjs for £25 They are lovely though and I was wearing DH's T-shirt as a nightie.

Had roast chicken for dinner tonight. There is enough left over to have stir fry chicken on Monday night.

Have meal planned for the whole of August and stuck up the Excel spreadsheet with all the meals on in the kitchen so will stick to that.

If I can only cut down the amount of spending on food then I'm gonna make some savings

going to chill in front of the TV tonight - love the Swedish version of Wallender on BBC4 at 9pm.

buddiebabe

Hey MrsP thats not good news about the dentist and it has reminded me i have an appointment on the 4th where im going to have to pay approx £100 which had completely slipped my mind and im annoyed with myself for forgetting about it. I know what you mean about getting it done and feeling more confident the only reason i decided to get my front tooth fixed was because of the wedding so i've been having it bleached from the inside out (the tooth had died) and in every picture i've had taken for years it looks like i have a black tooth even though its not that dark. The last appointment i had he put a temporary veneer on it which left me in alot of pain and looks worse than the original tooth and i'd already paid over £100 to get this work done i just hope im happier on the 4th cause when i saw the temp veneer i was so upset and have been really self conscious about it... more so than the original tooth. I just hope it all goes ok and i will have a semi decent smile for the wedding photos.

You sound super organised when it comes to meal planning.... the closest i come to that is walking around morrisons saying there are 6 days till we will be here again.... what we having?!?! then getting things that have ok dates on them so we can use them whatever night we feel like the stuff we bought and in my case its usually i don't want that stuff i want something else

You shouldn't beat yourself up about the pj's everyone is entitled to spend a bit of money on themselves now and again and like you said its not like you didn't need them. If you had a drawer full of pjs (like me ) then bought them then you should feel bad. But in this instance don't worry about it. Its done now i hope you enjoy wearing them.

Am gonna go check out my farm on facebook now... why oh why did i ever start one of those darn things!!! Im slightly addicted

Buddiebabe x