Diary of a Struggling DFW

Eyebright

Managed a NSD and my lunch can keep until tomorrow, as I got a free lunch on a training course that got sprung on me today! Tomorrow should also be a NSD but will have to break into my £20 note on Friday as I need to pay £2.50 for my zumba class. Not tried it before but the class at my local gym looks amazing, and my friend swears by it so I'm going to give it a whirl! I'm aching all over today from last night, I'm so unfit!!!

Had a bit of a shock today, I gave E.ON my meter readings on Monday and had an email this morning telling me my DD was going up. Sit down before you read this....it's going from £42 a month to.... £137!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:
This seems to be from a combination of my price plan ending and going on the basic tariff from next month combined with the cold winter and all the heating we used. So my promise to leave my ditch and switch a month went out the window and I've used Martin's energy club to switch to Sainsbury's Energy (which is basically British Gas it seems). In about 3 months I will also get £30 cashback which would be gratefully received. The initial estimate seems to be that my bill is going to go up from £42 to £75.50 a month, but that is still a million times better than £137...I've never switched energy supplier before (we've only been in this house a year and a half), so I'm hoping it should be straightforward. Can anyone tell me if I need to do anything with E.ON, do I need to notify them, or does the switching service sort all that out for me?

Night all xx

Eyebright

Sorting out the washing this morning and found a fiver in one of my pockets! RESULT!! Have put it in my sealed pot which is going towards Christmas. What a great start to the morning, it's only going to go downhill from here right???
Beautiful, sunny day here this morning which is nice after all the rain. It was freezing cold here last night, but I kept the heating off and made a HWB instead. Aiming for another NSD here today as lunch is LO from yesterday.

Payday a week tomorrow so I'm looking forward to starting to think about my budget for next month. I'm starting to think about any essential spends not usually accounted for I need to make next month. I need some new knickers (sorry!!) and I would like a haircut as well. Noo birthdays coming up, but OH has got a friend coming down to stay in the first week of June, so will have to budget money for entertaining, and no doubt OH will want to try and do another BBQ. They work out so damn expensive Still, I am now an MSE'er and I can do this!!!

Best set off to work I suppose...

PollyOnAMission

Bad news about your energy bills but I can't say I'm all that surprised; what you were paying before was incredibly low I thought!

Does that £137 increase include paying off extra you owe them for the past few months? If so, don't forget to factor in paying them back alongside your new ~£75 per month payment. £75 is much more like what I'd expect when averaged out over a whole year.

Eyebright

Hi Polly, you were right it would seem! I'm a bit cross with E.ON and myself, as all through the summer I had regular email requests from them to supply them with our meter readings which I dutifully did...then they stopped asking for them after November until this month. So when our usage went up as it inevitably does in winter they weren't adjusting our DD and well this is the result!
I should have been on the ball and thought "hang on they haven't asked for a meter reading, I know I will submit one anyway", but I didn't....:( lesson learnt I guess.

I have cancelled the energy switch for now. I want to pay off what we owe E.ON first now. Thanks for pointing out I would end up with 2 bills to pay, that hadn't occured to me. Lesson number 2 learnt! Looking after money and stretching it as far as you can is hard!!!!!

Now I'm trying not to make excuses but the worry about the energy caused me to break into my £20 pocket money on Thursday, where I bought a bag of crisps (I have plenty @ home), and a dark chocolate bounty for me and a starbar for OH I need to save money for the mammoth bill increase not start frittering it away now! Oh and then last night all the hard work (and OMG it was hard work) I put in at my Zumba class got ruined as me and OH split the cost for a take-away. Bah humbug, I'm so frustrated with myself at the moment.

Feeling a bit down in the dumps with it all at the moment. I do not need a bill increasing by that much when I need to save up for this roof repair. OH has started pricing it up for me and his estimate is £1200-£1400 :eek::eek::eek: and that's with him knowing some people in the trade...

Well I have a mammoth amount of housework to be getting on with so I'd best get my bum off the sofa and crack on, then I'm going to try and soak up some of the lovely sunshine. :j

Eyebright

Finally got around to sorting out pet insurance for my little kitty we got back in Feb :eek: Feeling pretty chuffed with myself, her insurance is £60 for the year and got it through Quidco with £55 cashback, so actually it's a fiver for the year! Small victory for me after all my other fails this week, though we went to KFC for dinner tonight so actually I've neutralised my efforts it feels like.
Payday next Friday, I'm looking forward to a nice clean budget to start with from scratch. Hoping I will do much better, though I'm definitely going to end the month with some money in my account (bar a disaster... touch wood that won't occur!).

Eyebright

Have decided from now on to just draw out £10 for my weekly pocket money which will free up £40-£50 a month which I will use to pay towards the CC.
Am also going to finally get my butt in gear and start putting some things on e-bay. I want to try and raise/save enough money to pay the outstanding on my E.ON bill, then once it is paid off I can do a price comparison to see if I can get a better deal.

Not been online much this weekend as have been trying to catch up on my CPD as discussed previously. Didn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but I'm moving in the right direction now! OH is away on Sat/Sun to watch the rugby at Twickenham so am hoping to finish it off then.

Went to a local farmers market on Sunday and found some delicious goats cheese, so bought my self a small chunk as a treat.

Have also joined Maximiles, as I think I can earn points slowly, but steadily and for every 3,000 points I earn I can redeem a £10 Asda voucher which I can use. The site seems quite straight forward and you can earn points watching videos, answering surveys as well as the usual buying products/signing up for stuff (which I probably won't do!).

I've also joined Bzzagent and have signed up for my first campaign today! Very excited as it involves my favourite food group...CHEESE. They are sending me vouchers to redeem at Tesco for free cheese products to try and promote if I like them. Can't wait to tuck into my free cheese!

Did an ASDA online shop yesterday which was delivered earlier. Came to £54 including delivery. Have yet to add it to my grocery budget total for the month. Hoping to come in under budget but time will tell. I need to go to bed now, so I will sort that out and update my signature in the morning. Payday on Friday...yippee!

PollyOnAMission

Great find on the pet insurance with cashback!

Eyebright

Thanks Polly, I was really please with that. I needed a win! :jToday has been horrible, work was a nightmare. A colleague seems determined to make my life a misery, which I think stems from me and him both applying for a new role created and me getting it...not really sure what to do about it at the moment. Will just watch and wait I guess. I hate being emotional and upset as I buy myself treats (which are usually chocolates or crisps and so not good for my purse or my waistline!). Today was no exception, I bought a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar, though I managed to resist eating the choccy bar. Good job I went to Zumba to try and offset the damage!!
Monday and Tuesday were NSD's though except for the ASDA delivery but as grocery shopping is accounted for I don't class it as a spend as such.

Though the pet insurance was a great deal and I needed to get it it has left me with on £65 left in my account now, was hoping to have £100 left to throw at the CC (and maybe to stash some towards paying E.ON). Still at least I have £65 to throw at the CC, it's definitely better than nothing, and I am determined to be even more strict with my budget and spending next month. Bring it on!! :rotfl::rotfl:

Eyebright

Weeee it's payday tomorrow, I keep checking my bank account to see if it's gone into the account yet but no such luck....As it's a day early with it falling on a Saturday I haven't been able to see exactly how much I'm getting, as payslips haven't dropped yet. I want to know how much I've got so I can plot, plan, scheme and allocate where my money is going this month!!

Today has been a NSD, and tomorrow should be as well. Hoping to keep spends to a minimum this weekend too (aiming for NSD's on Sat and Sun) as OH is away, and I need to spend all weekend at the laptop to get my CPD finished off. No time to go hit the town and we have plenty of food in.

Have applied for a Tesco Clubcard today, seems like you get a lot of vouchers etc with them, so the plan is to start doing an online food shop at Tesco's.

Done a couple of surveys on Maximiles and few other bits and bobs, taken my points up to 500, at 3,000 I can redeem them for a £10 ASDA voucher! Have I also mentioned I've joined Bzzz Agent? Am awaiting some vouchers for free cheese to review and promote if I like them. Can't wait (I love cheese...)

Hope everyone is well xx

Eyebright

Happy to report I've been paid!! Today I will sit with my money notebook and play around with my numbers, work out the bills etc and see where I am at.
I've just made an additional payment to my CC of £30 which takes it down to £490, so I've gone under the £500 mark. It's a good feeling...

I'm determined this month to get my food budget under control and to spend as little as possible. I do need some underwear (will probably get from Primark or George to keep the costs down), but I'm not sure there is anything else that I "need", as in can't live without. The rest are just wants. I was going to make today a NSD, but I want to nip into town to go to Lidl's (I can only get there at the weekend), as their meat is good quality and reasonable to buy some bits for next week. Also want to get some eggs and bread. That's it though.

Though have got a friend visiting next week for a few days (OH's friend not mine, so won't be expensive for me!), then the week after I've got a week off work. Haven't planned to do anything, but will have a look to see if there is anything cheap/free that tickles my fancy...