Floozie's Lightbulb Diary

natsplatnat

Hi Floozie - Sorry to hear about DH!! Glad he is ok though? I hope it all gets worked out ok through the insurance company - I know what you mean though, not my fave people either!

I have done my budget for the week and I won't go any lower than -£450 this week, so thats better than the -£560 I was hoping for!!

Have a great weekend!! Nats x

Intergalactic_Floozie

HSBC credit card came today

Previous Balance: £950.53
New Balance: £944.30
Reduced by: £6.24

GRRRR it's horrible looking at the interest they have added on! Oh well, at least it is going down and not long before I will be able to throw more substantial amounts at it.

Further to DH's accident I'm not sure what's happening. We contacted the insurance company who told us to take it to a local garage to get it repaired. We were told we would have to pay the £150 excess to the garage and it would be refunded if the other party was found to be at fault...I'm really disappointed as I am due to get £220 extra in my wage with overtime and a backdated payrise and was hoping to either:
a) pay off my overdraft in full
b) pay off the gas bill, and Additions bill and a bit more off overdraft

And now I don't have to dither about it because I wont be able to afford to do either. Natwest has given me £600 extra overdraft so if the car gets booked in before I get paid on 13th Feb, I will have to dip into that and pay it out of my wage. I'd rather not have to do that though.

However budgeting and spending diary are still going on. I've created a lovely spreadsheet that I colour in all different colours and fill in each day LOL (I need to get a life). I'm underspent in personal and other for this week, but have overspent slightly on groceries (yikes).

I did another pinecone survey today (my 2nd) so will be receiving £3 in luncheon vouchers fairly soon.

On another plus side, I had to go to the dentist yesterday and this is the first time in as long as I can remember that I haven't had to pay for it on my credit card! It came out of my weekly "other" budget!

natsplatnat

Hi Floozie! Sorry, I've not been round to many diaries recently, I've actually had to crack on with some work!! (what's that all about I ask you?!)

Thats a real b*gger with the insurance excess. For the claim, do you have extra witnesses (other than the 2 cars involved!) who can confirm the car infront turned unexpectedly?

It does seem like you think you are making a bit of progress and then BANG something out of the blue crops up just to put a spanner in your carefully worked out plans! These things are sent to try us - but wouldn't it be nice just to be given a break?!

Have a good day / week and I'll be back soon!

Nats x

Intergalactic_Floozie

Week 2

Shopping / Petrol
Budgeted: £78.53
Actual: £ 85.33
Overspent: £6.80

I was in shock at the over spend this week as I barely needed anything! I had to get petrol and filled up the tank, but even so that was only £27.32. However I am guilty of not meal planning again….

Personal Spending:
Budgeted: £33.11 (this is including winnings and found money)
Actual:£24.39
Underspent: £8.72

This went on much the same as last week: Slimming world subs and bars (guess who was Slimmer of the Week with 3lbs loss – yep, that would be me!!! 6.5lbs off in three weeks), Saturday’s newspapers, quite a lot of bets (£11), Lottery entry and a mascara.

Other:
Budgeted: £46.06
Actual: £36.91
Under Spent: £8.95

Kids cost me a fortune again: £8.00 for eldest son’s footy subs, £3.50 for youngest son breakfast club. £3.41 on Sudafed and tissues as DH had man flu, £2 for a collection at work (bereavement) and £20.20 at the dentist on a check up fee for me and some mouthwash the dentist recommended for DS1.

I’m gonna have to watch my grocery shopping this week as I only have £67.92 left from my shopping budget and I spent £50 of that today!!!

I was feeling a bit down again today. Remember the British Gas v EDF saga from when I swapped gas providers and then back again? Well I have discovered today that I owe EDF just shy of £200. I left them in early August and they only got around to sending me a final bill on Xmas Eve, so that’s 4.5 months – they sent the final electricity bill within two weeks of leaving so when I didn’t hear about gas I just assumed it was over with, but it’s not. I’ve queries it and they are gonna send me “proof” but I have been working it out for myself and I am pretty sure they are right. I am still a new EDF customer with a new account number (having switched back) but they are saying that even though I am still a customer, as it is a different account number they can’t spread the payments out so I will have to agree a payment plan. Well – if they are anything like British Gas it’s looking at being over no more than three months so that’s £65 per month! I’m so annoyed! I’m going to write a letter of complaint and play on the fact about the five month wait for a bill and see if that does anything…

Still haven’t made a decision about DH’s car and the £150 excess we have to pay. The other party have now decided that they weren’t at fault and are now saying their car is un-driveable and they want to claim for a hire car! There were witnesses but the have said they didn’t see the collision and only took notice after they heard the impact. I’m a bit cheesed off with my DH as he gets £400 to pay for his own petrol (£90), 20 x cigarettes a day £150 per month, and he’s still tapping me for money before the month runs out. I want to scream at him and make him pay the excess for his own bloody car – he gets more money than I do! I just don’t feel like I am ever going to build up a substantial “other” fund for emergency stuff. I do nothing but shell out for the kids!!!

I’ve also got 2 months to find £90 for some Tina Turner tickets for a concert I am going to….things are gonna be a bit tight for the next couple of months. You might say, don’t go, but when I booked it I had my head in the sand and felt rich. Also, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t go out, I’ve stopped buying books and clothes LOL.

Intergalactic_Floozie

DH's Tesco Credit Card bill came today:

Last Month: £2462.30
This Month: £2447.32
Reduced by: £14.98

It would have been more but he loaded £20 onto his coral betting account, and then I took £20 off him and channelled it towards the HSBC overdraft which I am obsessed with paying off.

Good news about Quidco - some late payments have resulted in a scheduled pay out of around £71!! So that will go towards the overdraft very nicely - or should I use it to pay towards my gas bill.....

moo2moo

Which will cost you more in interest? If the gas bill is interest free then I'd pay it off the overdraft unless you have a high interest card that you can reduce?

Enjoy Tina! Its not something you can do everyday. Perhaps if you halved your weekly bets (50% of wwhat you would have spent to the Tina fund) you could pay for it that way?

Intergalactic_Floozie

I'm hoping the gas will be interest free. They want "full payment" by four weeks so I can string it out until the end of February then maybe make a token payment, like I did with BG and then pay in installments...I can't see that they would charge interest.

I'm going to just have the one bet this week

Intergalactic_Floozie

WOW - I think I might have been accepted for another 0% credit card! Went through Quidco (£20 cash back) for the Royal Bank of Scotland card at 0% for 9 months (then 15.9 thereafter) with a 3% fee. It came up with an accepted message and a credit limit of £4500, so if that's right then that's £4050 that I can transfer from my interest bearing credit cards.

£71.61 paid from Quidco but it hasn't hit my account yet but when it does that will take my HSBC overdraft down to £282.77!! I can't wait to pay it off.

I've decided with my overtime and backpay in my feb wage etc.. rather than impatiently pay everything off, I am going to keep the £200 as "emergency other" money to cover what my "normal other" money doesn't.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Yeehaw! Quidco money went in this morning so HSBC overdraft is officially £282.77, not long to go now, light at the end of the tunnel etc...

Just trying to work out how much money I have for my 4th week of the budget (get paid next Friday!!!) and I seem to have more left than I thought and can't work out why?? It's really bugging me cos I know it isn't right.

Had a big urge today to buy my lunch from the sandwich shop but successfully managed to quash it saving myself £3. I now haven't bought lunch at all since I started this budget plan on 15th January. I'm also thinking of packing Slimming World in as I am not doing the diet anymore and it's an expensive eay of getting weighed once a week, I think I just like the safety net of having someone to account for...I also don't like being 3lbs heavier than I am when I wake up in the morning LOL.

Made a couple of quid from a football bet, for £5.23 back from a bet costing £2.60 (Favourites obviously). I like having a bet but will never bet more than I can afford to lose. Anyway I've grabbed life by the balls and spent the money I won on lots of little bets which would net a decent amount if they came in....but not enough for me to weep buckets if they don't come in...keep your fingers crossed!

Intergalactic_Floozie

Bank of Scotland stuff came today. It IS 0% for 9 months and then reverts to 19.9% thereafter YIKES!