Squeaky spreadsheet diary

specialkaye

check the vax website as im sure thay have a decent warrenty. or they used to

Tiglath

I've got no proof of purchase now although it was about 9 months ago (memo to self - keep receipts for household goods in a folder from now on). Seems to be a known fault with this model but it didn't show up in any of the reviews I checked beforehand. I might give Vax a call to see what they suggest.

Back from The Damned - Dave Vanian still has his strong voice and sharp moves, Captain Sensible is still anything but, and musically they were quite tight. I wanted them to do Eloise as their final song (my friend's cousin Barry Ryan actually wrote the song so she wanted to hear it too), but instead they did Smash It Up while Sensible mooned at the audience. Once we were home we found out we could've got backstage passes from a friend who knows the band but to be honest I wouldn't have been interested, so no loss really. I'm too old for this lark, and £4.50 for a pint is absolutely outrageous, but we found a tenner so got 4 pints for £2 each in the end. The most exciting thing about the evening was getting home and emptying my shrapnel into my pot! I don't know what's worse - the fact that my life is boring or that I'm happy that it's boring. Either way I won't rush out to see an old band again - those days are long gone.

specialkaye

Talking of old bands, some colleagues of mine went to a concert to see david cassedy and ended up walking out and their childhood dreams shattered

I would definately call vax - where did you buy if from - was it on a cc? i used to work for an electricals co. (not the one that went bust) and we could find old reciepts if you knew exactly when you purchased it. So i would look at your old cc/dc statements to find out when it was bought and see if they can find your reciept

Tiglath

Hmm it was the local Argos and I'm pretty sure it was the debitcard - will go back through my online banking.

Tiglath

I've noticed something strange - the more I focus on debt repayments and go out on a limb in terms of throwing extra money at them, the more my remaining money seems to stretch. Must be some weird law of the universe I honestly don't feel deprived living frugally, whereas before when I was just frittering I felt constantly broke and worried. Maybe it's because it's a conscious decision to do so.

Tiglath

Just reviewed my online banking since 2005. We were managing fairly well until the summer of 2009 when I suddenly went wobbly mentally and was eventually diagnosed with Graves' disease, which made me completely irrational and wildly fuelled by rage. I vividly remember that horrible summer until the GP eventually spotted it because of eye disease and a consultant put me on meds; I nearly begged to be sectioned because I thought I had schizophrenia with strange hallucinations. I remember sitting on the pavement one evening and contemplating the least painful way to commit suicide. I walked out on my poor DH (for a whole 48 hours but he came and found me) and spent lots of money on an online game I used to play with people worldwide. I spent a huge amount on books (because losing myself in a book was a means of escape from feeling so rubbish) and started collecting rescue cats (not that I regret the last).

So now I know where the money problems came from. Fortunately the Graves' disease has been treated permanently and can't come back after my thyroid was nuked to death, and I'm back to feeling normal again. I turned down rescuing 5 semi-feral cats last night; someone else will have to do it. It wasn't all bad news because the mental weirdness pushed me to change careers for something I love and which pays a lot better, and I carried on working throughout. The manic energy was positive in that respect although I was averaging 2-4 hours sleep a night and felt like death.

The sad fact is my current account was rarely in credit for more than a few days since 2005 and the overdraft just kept climbing. I'm still amazed that no payments bounced and I stayed within limits. To be fair to Natwest they've never once hassled me over it. As a sign of faith in my recovery I'm targeting the overdraft by massive non-use and frugal living, and putting paying off credit cards on the backburner for a few months although still paying slightly over the minimum on each. The overdraft feels like shackles stopping me from really going guns ablazing for the credit cards, so that has to go first, and it will stand me in good stead when we look to remortgage in May/June when my current account is back in credit. One store card is gone completely and the second one will be cleared on Wednesday. Roll on 25th May when the overdraft will be completely paid off, and I can really start the ball rolling on the cards.

Tiglath

A new week. Not sure if we're being paid on Wednesday; it was the 19th last year but they haven't said anything about it. All set to go with online bill payments, cancelling later DDs to pay less interest overall as paying bills on statement date, and my new cash-shopping system. It'll hurt to hand over £850 for my annual travel but it has to be done. Continuing to eat out of the freezers and pantry which is relatively stressfree.

lurvlyloz

morning tiglath.

im glad mentally you are doing well now. at least you are able to identify where the finacial problems occured.

I totally agree with you regaridng the weird law of the universe. i am finding i am living like a normal (not normal because im not spending shed loads on nothing) person..feel very positive abotut hesteps im making but yet...theres still money in my bank where as normal there would be none.

great feeling.

good news on turning the cats down. epsecially 5 of them!

Tiglath

A bit grumpy tonight - the database I use at work is playing up and the report I thought was complete (which I use as my monthly source of truth) has 100s of records missing. Still no idea if they're paying us on Wednesday, although I hope to get email confirmation tomorrow afternoon. It was the 19th the past 2 years so I'm assuming it'll be the same and they simply haven't announced it. On the plus side, got a Christmas card from DH's ex-wife saying how much she loves my Facebook posts and they make her day, so that's sweet - her life must be very dull if I'm the funniest thing that happens in it NSD today - all I've had to eat is 2 Marmite toasts, but got lamb, spuds & peas planned for later. Somehow I managed to put my foot through the cheapo duvet last night - I have no idea how because it was just me and 2 of the cats in bed. I'll sew it back up and aim to replace it in spring.

Tiglath

Broke my NSD record today. I'm normally up at 5am but I was kept up by a car alarm going off in the street intermittently all night. My alarm didn't go off at all for some reason so I overslept, and woke up at 9am wondering why it was so light. Cue panic, tripping over cats, shower/hairwash/dry, dress, and dash out the door in 15 minutes to catch the train to be in for a meeting at 10am. Good job I don't do girly things like make-up. I've automated my 'working wardrobe' so it's grab-and-go. I don't wear skirts because knowing my luck I'd end up with them tucked into my knickers.

As a result, I completely forgot about food and ended up buying a roll for brunch. Oh well. As I forgot in the mayhem to take any food out of the freezer for tonight, it's cheese & mushroom omelettes which isn't a hardship. DH is the omelette expert so he's in charge tonight.

Anyway, had an interesting discussion with the boss and a colleague today about what we've all got planned for our futures. If I went freelance/contracting, I could double or treble my salary, but not something to be considered until I'm debtfree and have 3-6 months living expenses under my belt, and could calculate in the things I'd lose like holiday/sickpay, private medical insurance, pension. I realised I needn't just plan out my finances, so my job for my 2 weeks off in January is to create a 5-year 'business plan' for House Tiglath, of which I am the self-appointed CEO. Going to cover areas like career, professional studying, house improvement, gardening etc. Really excited about it - I do really well when I have lists and they spur me into action. My motto is George the werewolf's quote from 'Being Human' -

"Lists solve everything. You put the thing on the list, you do the thing and then you tick it off. And in that way, order is achieved. And the world becomes a better place."