Squeaky spreadsheet diary

Tiglath

Just fought my way through the High Street and market - the next obnoxious child who steps in front of me will be run over by my wally-trolley.

My private prescription came out @ £15.30 so that could've been worse, and I got the shower hose from Wilko. Farmfoods spuds have gone up - 2kg for £1.15 now instead of 99p. Maybe it's because they're out of season now. Still cheaper than the big supermarkets which are 66p/kg for basic small whites. Their frozen veg is on offer - 3 bags for £2 so I got petit pois, cauli and mixed country veg. I usually insist on Bird's Eye peas but I'll give the Farmfoods ones a go to see what I think. They worked out at £1.03/kg compared to £2.37/kg for Birds Eye from the biggies. Their frozen mushrooms are also BOGOF so they're handy for stews and curries. £1/kg compared to £2.43/kg for fresh.

Bisto Best 350g jar is £1.89 in Lidl, but £2.50-£3 in the big supermarkets. Stocked up on more lemon & coriander couscous - still 39p/sachet in Lidl. I didn't buy a single thing that wasn't on my list, although I looked lovingly at the mini-stollen and the butter fudge.

I'm getting really hacked off with mysupermarket - every time I do something on there there's a crappy pop-up telling me I have the chance to win an iPad.

I'm on track to reduce my overdraft by more than the planned £200 by Christmas, so that's pleased me.

rising_from_the_ashes

Tiglath wrote: »

the next obnoxious child who steps in front of me will be run over by my wally-trolley.

:rotfl::rotfl:That's me ...... (seriously).....;)

Tiglath wrote: »

My private prescription came out @ £15.30 so that could've been worse

If you need more than 4 prescriptions in 3 months then have a look at getting a pre-payment certificate
http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1127.aspx - you can also buy yearly ones but it's quite a lot to fork out in one go (I used to try to get an extra set of meds out of a 3 month one and then could have a a couple of months before needing to get the next ppc;))

Tiglath wrote: »

Farmfoods spuds have gone up - 2kg for £1.15 now instead of 99p. Maybe it's because they're out of season now. Still cheaper than the big supermarkets which are 66p/kg for basic small whites.

Think it could be down to the poor harvest ..... they're certainly more expensive here too & not as good quality as usual (same with other veg too unfortunately).

Your spreadsheet for keeping track of spends (groceries, cats etc) sounds pretty similar to mine but for outgoings, I just have a big list of dates / payees / amounts.

I don't keep track of the daily balance :eek: I can hear some of you going :rotfl:- I have a separate account for all my bills and d/debits so transfer a set amount on payday to cover them all and then don't need to worry about it again! Totally stress free & never have any missed payments / charges etc.:T

Tiglath

I've actually got a medical exemption certificate so don't pay for NHS prescriptions for the rest of my life now that I'm on thyroxine, but this was the last one from my private consultant. It's been a bit complicated getting NHS and private to liaise with each other, but my thyroid's stable now so I'm done with Harley Street.

I think you may be right about the spud harvest - the people I used to do an allotment with said it's been terrible this year.

We had an early start today - a friend of his turned up at 7am as she'd got the night coach down from up north. I was very impressed that DH was coordinated enough to make her a bacon sarnie before they went out for the day for more interfaith stuff.

I hear you on the two accounts - I've considered doing the same and actually have a joint account set up for us, but haven't made a start on transferring over the direct debits yet. I think I'll make that my mission next summer once the overdraft is paid off.

Tiglath

Paid an extra £100 off Simply Be because the APR on there is higher than my overdraft, so I'll pay less interest.

Tiglath

Just had to call Mint - they haven't shown a new statement in my online account since 21st October. I've been waiting patiently since 21st November for my new one so I can update my spreadsheet. Had to speak to 3 different people, none of whom knew what was going on. It seems my request to increase my fixed DD and move my payment date to 12 days earlier in the month has killed their system. Anyway they did eventually confirm that they will take the new increased DD tomorrow as I'd requested, and I managed to get a new balance which seems to include the interest they applied since my October statement. It seems I have to go back to paper statements which may or may not also be reflected in my online account. Complete shambles, but the net result is my MINT balance is now lower than I thought. I just didn't want their system to miss taking my DD and make me look as if I was in default because they'd failed to take it for one month. Very unimpressed.

Tiglath

Finally did a stocktake of the upstairs freezer - can't believe what we have in stock in both freezers. 30+ pork steaks, 12 lamb steaks, 12 chicken breasts, 3 diced chicken breasts, 3 chicken legs, 8 2-person portions of minced steak, 30 sausages (who bought the duck/apple/honey ones?), peas, petit pois, Yorkshires, mixed country veg, mushrooms, cauli, spinach, diced swede, green beans, parsnips, tubs of stir-in pasta sauce, chips. No need to buy any more meat until January, possibly February as I'm alternating with veggie recipes. That's just a bit of fresh veg like spuds + onions, lunch stuff, milk/butter/bread/eggs/cheese and the odd household/toiletry thing per week for a couple of months. That's not including all the tinned fish in the pantry which can go in pasta bakes etc, and other pantry stuff like tinned toms. Maybe £10-15/week until it's all run down. That's really pleased me - I can seriously cut the grocery budget for a couple of months

sidneysmum

Tiglath - I have just read your diary..... You are awesome !!! Well done !!

lurvlyloz

Hi Tiglath

thats a whole lorra meat great for your food shop budget
stupid mint! hope they dont fluff up and you get charged!

Tiglath

I'm actually having doubts now that they've added the interest to the balance I got over the phone. Have a feeling my requests to change things have given me a 'month off' which I don't want - I'll watch my bank account like a hawk, and if the DD doesn't go out on the 3rd (new date) OR the 15th (old date), I'll be onto them. And yes if they charge me anything for their mess-up, I'll make sure I get it back AND no defaults go on my credit report. I will make a complete nuisance of myself until I get the result I originally wanted. They tried to make up some guff about there being a 'stop' on my account, and I said 'Yes - I requested that myself 18 months ago when I cut up my card so that it can't be used for fraud if someone else gets hold of my details.' Cue silence. Don't mess with someone who works in an advisory role in antimoneylaundering and anti-fraud because I WILL quote rules and regs at them.

lurvlyloz

haha i dont think id want to mess with you