Floozie's Lightbulb Diary

Intergalactic_Floozie

Following last week's laughable 'we are increasing your electricity monthly direct debit to £80 from £48' letter followed by the phone call which reduced the increase to £55, today I received the gas bill!

We are increasing your direct debit from £100 a month to £220!!! Erm, I don't ruddy think so! After a phone call they increased it to £131 however a blinking rise of £38 per month in my fuel bills is not something I am particularly impressed with! Especially when I have tried my utmost to reduce my gas consumption. The heating has been off for months, and only other gas useage is the hobs, and all four of us are out of the house all day what with school and work.

At the end of April when I got my last bill I owed £463. Now (after the DD on the 1st of the month) I owe £203. My gas useage for the last three months, which has been minimal was £141 so that works out at a minimum of £47 per month for the summer period. Jeez!!

So the nice lady at EDF suggested I switch to an on-line tarrif. I went online, had a look and found one called Online Version 5, but when I tried to switch to it, it was treating me as if I were a brand new customer. I phoned them to ask if they could switch me to it, and at first she said no, and then she said yes so hopefully I should save a few quid per year on that *cue hysterical laughter from me*

She also suggested I get my boiler serviced to make sure it is running efficiently. We've lived here five years and the boiler was two years old when we moved in, and we haven't had it serviced since we moved in so I guess it wont hurt to have it done.

Only other thing I guess I can do is go around making sure I switch everything off after the kids.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Money in purse: £4.70 (still haven't had bonus ball winnings but I was told today it is two weeks worth, which will be £26-£28)
Money in bank: £571.25
Car Money: £185.00
Days to payday: 16

Have spent money on:
£10.00 - for kids at Soft Play Centre. DS1 managed to wrangle his way in even though he's about a foot taller than the maximum height limit!!
£30.00 - topped up my bus pass to last me til next pay day.
£6.50 - DS1 had his hair cut AGAIN, he asked for it cutting this time, and as normally I have to beg and plead for him to have it done, I thought I had better get in there quick and have it cut before he changes his mind.
£12.93 - Aldi
£17.00 - Farm Foods including £10 cash back.
£32.87 - Morrisons including £10 cash back, and also including a bottle of champagne and a card for my DH for our 9th wedding anniversary, which is today
£1.10 - went for a drink on Sunday lunch, made one last an hour!

I'm slipping back into bad ways what with not posting on here daily. Also as mum and dad have been having my kids at my house, I have hidden my spending diary as didn't want them reading it. I'm also over spending at the supermarket too!! (although I am going to go and buy something for a special 9th wedding anniversary tea tonight and then that's it - no more Morrisons!).

Oh - have booked my car in for a service tomorrow as it's overdue, and it is only going to cost £35 + parts! I expected it to be three times that much.

Verbatim

Congratulations on your 9th anniversary IF.

Well done on all the mse stuff too. And grrrr to the utility companies.

alisong4567

Just have to say "Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary"!

Keep up the good work!
Alisonxxx

Fire_Fox

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

If Bradford Council can keep that pool in good condition, then it will be a really nice place, however I used to work right next to the Magistrates Court fountain/pool and they couldn't look after that! I noticed in yesterday's paper that the council do have an events page on the website so will keep an eye on that, and see if anything is going on.

Exactly this was discussed at the last City Centre Steering Group meeting! Apparently they have drilled down stupidly far for the cleanest water, and the mirror pool has been designed so that it can be drained for events and for cleaning. :T Also the sit-on street sweeper machines will be able to drive through it even when full of water, whereas the magistrates court pond-aka-rubbish bin was never designed to be able to be cleaned easily.

Also I noticed that the bus company are bringing out a new 'friends and family' ticket where up to five people can travel all day for just £7. Thought it might be of use with one less car and parking being so expensive.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Hello, not dropped in for a while.

Money in purse: £4.30
Money in bank: £514.32
Car Money: £0.00
Days to pay day: 12

Car money has all disappeared. Turned out the service for the car cost quite a bit with parts and VAT added (£125 give or take a few pence), and I have had my boiler serviced today which was £60. It hasn't been serviced since we moved here five years ago, and I had wondered if it had anything to do with the sky high fuel prices (it didn't). I also don't have a gas leak. Gas man suggested putting water on a timer (it's on constant at the moment) and trying to use the gas fire as little as possible :-( (I'm always cold!!!). It's alright saying 'put on a jumper' but even with my ugg-type boots on, it's my hand and feet that get cold and then the rest of me is cold. I think I'm going to have to turn my gloves into fingerless ones!!!

I'm feeling really overwhelmed at the moment with housework. Nothing I seem to do keeps the house looking tidy. I have so much clutter but nothing I 'want' to get rid of, and nothing that would sell on e-bay. I have a wardrobe of clothes with stuff between a 10 - 18, most of it is in binbags but I dont want to chuck it away for 'when I lose my weight'. I hate this overwhelming, anxious feeling.

Verbatim

Aww Floozie,

you sound a bit down. Don't worry, I reckon you have to wait until you feel the urge when it comes to housework........but then if you saw the state of my house

Fire_Fox

You are always cold, and you want to lose some weight ... have you ever been tested for a thyroid or other hormonal imbalance or circulation issues? Your hands and feet get warmed by blood circulating from the rest of your body so if you can insulate your arms and legs better you should, in theory, be warmer.

moo2moo

My step mother has an excellent fridge magnet (we'll overlook the collection of dodgy plaques dotted around the garden like signs for errant gnomes) which reads "dull women have immaculate houses". Nuff said.

Still if the car came in at £125 that most excellent and the children will eventually return to school leaving vaguely less disaster in their wake. Do you have aloft you can stick the surplus clothes into?

Intergalactic_Floozie

Okay, there's been a development which will have cost implications on my budget.....we've bought a new car.

So, as you know DH's Mondeo went to the great breakers yard in the sky and we've been managing with my Peugeot 107, which I love however as a family car it is most impractical having only two seatbelts in the back and very little boot space. Also since DH started driving it he's been complaining about having back ache. I haven't been able to see past how cheap it is to run but after a couple of weeks It's finally dawning on me how impractical it is. My initial plan was to run it for two years until the loans were paid off and then part-exchange for a bigger one, however I'm fed up after two weeks.

So we've part exchanged it (got £5000 for it, which is great as I only paid £5499 for it ten months ago) and have bought a Vauxhall Vectra for £5495. It's 3 year's old, full service history, and they are servicing it and putting 12-months MOT on it. I've had to pay £188 for road tax for a year, and an extra £131 for the insurance but it means that it's ours, we've only had to take £814 from the emergency fund (still leaving £2200). I intend to put my child benefit money into a 'car savings' account so any repairs etc can come out of it and in readiness for service, insurance and MOT next August. We collect it on Wednesday.

DH has however stopped smoking although it's only eight days in but he's so thrilled with his new car hopefully it will keep him motivated.

House is still a tip but I'm more relaxed about it now.

Oh - and I have totally lost track on how much money I have got left but I do know it's only five days to payday and I do have plenty left in le bank,