Fed up of being the family's Money Muppet

FalseEconomist

Good aldi shop,

Came in nearly £20 under budget (to be honest, I was shopping without a list so expect to have forgotten things, but I know I've definitely got enough food to create meals until next Thursday when I go shopping again).

So, money back in my purse........ until I walked round the corner and paid it back into my Bank!!!

I NEVER do this, usually think 'oh, how handy to have cash for next few days' and then it will disappear without trace.

£17 straight back in and the remaining handful of silver is going into my secret minion moneybox. which needs to be kept more secret as the kids keep finding it.
So, a good shop but more importantly, a change of habit.

Because ultimately it's my spending habits which will make or break this.

To that end I also bought the kids their 'Friday sweets' from Aldi. No popping in to the co op on the way home from school. Other people on this forum have no spend days. I think I shall be satisfied with 25 no co op days this month

FalseEconomist

starting to get to grips with YNAB.......

FalseEconomist

Worked hard yesterday trying to plan this weekend so it doesn't cost a fortune....

For my OH's Xmas present I bought us tickets to a West End show he's always wanted to see, and now the time to go has rolled around

Except nothing was going straightforward, my sister who had previously said she would have the kids overnight has gone non contact (she does that from time to time, she's a moody cow) and left us with a bit of a dilemma. Hire a babysitter and drive home after the show (about 3 hours?) this would be tiring for us and need babysitting fees of around 50 quid at least, that's it we could find one!

Eventually asked my half brother and his wife (who live an hour and a half's drive away). Felt so cheeky, but was really getting desperate. Thru have really kindly agreed.

So next step was finding somewhere to stay for the night. I looked and looked and managed to book a really nice hotel room on outskirts of London for 54 pounds which didn't seem too bad. How then to get to and from centre of London. Thought Tube for both of us might work out expensive so I used justpark.com which I've never tried before and booked a parking space for the time needed in central London, 1 mile away from the theatre. That cost 11.20.

Petrol doesn't cost us anything so I figured I'd worked things out quite well,.and was a bit crestfallen when I presented my OH with my.arrangements (we'd left it on the phone as.maybe not being able to go) and he said " but that means I can't drink much at the theatre"

I then asked him how much travel from zone 4 to zone 1 would cost both of us and he said he didn't know.

So he would prefer to spend an unknown amount on travel and a fortune on drinks at the theatre!

He's come round and said "well done" for sorting it out - but it's clear that he's got a little way to go on the MSE front!

So.other expenses today will be something to eat when we get to London. Now, he loves fine dining but he also loves junk food so I'm hoping I can maybe tempt him with a McDonald's or something to keep cost down...

And then I think I ought to buy some flowers for sister in law for so kindly taking my kids overnight.

I noticed the old me kicking in when on the laptop though ; thought process going

"but nice hotel has a REALLY nice sister hotel really close to the centre of London, and it would only be about 70 pounds more expensive, which is nothing really...."

But the fact that I've worked hard to make these arrangements as cost effective as possible hopefully will reduce amount I'm tempted to spend on food and drink as my efforts will have been wasted if we go really over budget.

In other news I think I've caught a horrid cold that my OH had

FalseEconomist

Trip to London went really well. As expected there were a couple of treaty overspends.... 36 quid for a pizza and drink before hand, 19 pounds (!) for two glasses of prosecco during the show, and 10 pounds car parking at the hotel.

It all adds up, but before we (I) were budgeting we would have said 'stuff it, how often are we in London?' and really pushed the boat out.

I didn't even let my OH have breakfast at the hotel this morning - consequently we've arrived home at midday a little hungry!!

Another expense will be sending flowers to my sister in law to say thamk you for having the kids overnight - it was really good of them both.

So belts tightened for the rest of this month!

As it's mothers day (and I have to work tonight) I'm taking to my bed for the rest of the day to chill out and generally laze about

FalseEconomist

Ok, feeling a bit MSE at the moment.

Current account fee of 9.95 a month at moment, covers various things but main one is AA roadside cover.

Applied for an got a Halifax current account. Switched lloyds account to them so will get 125 pounds and 5 pounds a month as long as I can keep to their conditions (which I'm pretty sure I can).

Joined quidco, went through them, bought RAC roadside cover for the year for 27.99 and already showing as 7.50 cashback tracking.


So, 100 quid better off a year for the car cover.
125 cashback
Potentially 60 a year earned if I keep to account conditions.

Job's a good Un!

The 125 can go straight to our holiday fund.

Main job tomorrow morning will be reconciling all bank accounts as all spending and most of our direct debits will go out tomorrow.

Eeek - hope not to find I've already hopelessly miscalculated and overspent!

FalseEconomist

Another day, another few hours spent looking at debt sheets and scratching my head.

Rather than making £100 payment to Virgin credit card this month I made the minimum payment (it's 0% til Oct 2017) and used the rest to pay off the balance to Premierman.

So managed to pay that debt off without incurring any interest. phew. I'm not a fan of catalogues generally, but my OH is a big guy and high street sizes don't work for him. He has started a new office based job and really did need a new suit and couple of new shirts. All paid for now

All cc debt is now on 0%, so trying to decide if snowballing is worth it or not.

Was thinking about transferring it across to one card, but doesn't make sense as would incur a fee. Also, rather than being psychologically helpful, would probably just do what I've done in past and run up more debt on the empty cards.

If I chuck at least £100 quid at them each a month I should clear them in 18 months.

Actually, the snowball calculator will be more fun with our long term loan which is due to run until April 2021 I think. One credit cards are out of the way, overpaying that should really bring it down. Might go and dig out the paperwork and have a play. (not that I'm trying to put off housework or anything!!)

Plans might all be put awry however, car was making some rather unnerving noises this morning so had to drop it in to our garage, am awaiting the phone call of doom!

FalseEconomist

Life keeps throwing me curve balls!

The garage will call me about the car today but it looks as though new brake discs/pads and callipers (!?) are needed and I don't think I'll be getting much change out of 2-300 hundred quid. Seems a bit sad when the car itself only cost £600, but it's a good little car and v economical with fuel (at current prices about 10p to the mile).

Quite where this money is coming from is a bit of a mystery, and I think my holiday fund which currently stands at £120 is going to go for a burton.

Also went over my overdraft limit with the bank last night - well, I have no overdraft limit, so just overdrawn - money for hotel room seems to have been charged twice (something about pre-authorisation funds or some such malarkey) but have spoken to bank and hotel and should be credited back in next day or two.

What I'm taking as positive from this is previously I wouldn't have spotted that, so lax was I about actually checking to see where money had gone, whereas this morning I was like "Let me at them!!!:mad:

I'm pretty sure as I was only overdrawn for about 4 hours before I spotted it and moved money across no charges will have been applied - need to check this though.

grrr. just checked my charges for month up til 4th March £80:eek:

don't think there's anything I can do, although I'm switching current accounts this week and my current one will be closed, so I'm guessing the bank will take it out of my joint account which will still be open?

Had fees waived in September of last year so can't ask for that again.

Ho hum,

just makes me realise how right I was to stop using the overdrafts.

FalseEconomist

I guess it takes time for the negative effects of being poor with money wear off and I can start to see the progress I want to.

until that time charges and fees just sort of catch up with you

FalseEconomist

Car's going to be 275. Ouch. Feeling distinctly depressed today

wantabetterlife

FE have you ever heard of dame Ramsey..he talks a lot about the psychology behind debt...I think you would like him. Look up a you tube video of his called "breaking the chains of debt". There is an app you can download of his daily radio show as well. Good luck.