Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on 26 January 2014 at 3:19PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Debt Free Diaries 3.7K replies 212.8K views

Cheery_Daff

Oh dear, the reason for my pitifully out-of-control financial situation is becoming very clear - yet more sends to declare... :rotfl:

£4.99 entirely unnecessary polka dot bag purchase (although not *entirely* random - I have been looking for something similar for weeks now, big enough to hold lunch and a few papers etc in when going to a work type event...) Tis black with white dots and red handles :j
£1 bananas - could have managed without but the market stall guy was shouting 'six nanas for a pound, who will buy them?' and I found myself saying 'I will! I will buy your nanas!' before I knew what was happening :rotfl:
59p reduced chocolate santa for a shared treat :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I will try SO HARD to make tomorrow a NSD (other than travel I can claim back) - but I've just remembered that friend is coming round for the evening and I said I'd get cake! Best raid the cupboards...

Karmacat

" I will buy your nanas!" I just *love* that :rotfl: and a reduced rate Santa is a necessity, isn't it :money:

Well, maybe not :money: but very lovely all the same :j Hope you enjoy, its worth it :T

boredofbeingathome

I confess i did the same today- i deliberately went out with a specific purchase in mind.... but bananas were on offer and i didn't get what i went out for..*shamefaced smilie*:o:rotfl:

Buffythedebtslayer

Can totally beat that.


In a migraine induced fog I bought a new handbag (£25) and some pyjamas (£10)


I love your diary XX

Cheery_Daff

:rotfl: BOB at your banana purchasing too

but ((((buffy))))) those things were Absolutely Necessary I'd say. Hope the migrane has gone xx

Now much to report here. Managed to avoid too much pottering in town and just bought

Sweetener £1
one each of mini mars bar and snickers 30p :rotfl:

Get paid at midnight! :j :j And since I haven't yet instructed work to change my bank accounts, there'll be a bit of shuffling and nonsense to do tomorrow. Still, got all the bumf for the joint accounts now so I'll try to switch as many direct debits over as I can tomorrow, and that'll give me an incentive to get on with changing the account for my wages :rotfl:

Must dash, lovely friend is coming round for tea, and instead of buying a cake I went all :money: and baked buttery biscuits :j :j (That'll do my slimming world weigh in the world of good!!) :rotfl: :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Right - a sorting out day for me :j :j

I've put my gym membership in my signature - want to make sure I use it I've been lucky - had a 2 month special before Christmas for £40 (for both months!) with no joining fee, and then in January paid £80 for 3 months peak membership :money:Not bad at all!

It's cheap for classes and swimming anyway (£3 off peak, £4 peak), but doesn't have a pay as you go gym (I'm laughing because we once named my sister's fish Pay-As-You-Go-Jim :rotfl: :rotfl: )

Going to count how much I use in classes over the 3 months, and how many times I use the treadmill, and see if it's worth continuing at the end. Once I've done the triathlon in May it almost certainly won't be, because I'll be doing all my runs outside too...

Also on today's agenda - payday bank shuffling :money:

Cheery_Daff

Excuse me trying to work stuff out...

Gas and electric

Just changed plans over the phone.

Previously on Ovo 100% green energy variable plan

Previous DD £147
Annual cost £1542 (so yes, I have a credit balance of £253, which apparently they pay 4% interest on :rotfl: )

Plan was changing (with standing charge increase) so I've moved to a fixed rate one - still 100% green, with a £60 discount for online only

New annual estimated cost £1427 :money:So saved £100 a year :money:
Once that's all updated itself (should be later today) I can go online and play with the direct debit changer slidey thing on the website and adjust the amount I pay each month - hopefully to £120 :j :j

So that'll be £27 a month saved without too much bother at all :j :j

(I know I could get it cheaper elsewhere, especially if I didn't go with a green energy one... But actually this company have been GREAT, their website is really easy to use, limited number of straightforward tarrifs, can look at graphs and compare your use to average house, your use last year etc :j So for now I'm sticking with them)

Apparently our electricity use is much less than average for our type of house, but gas is much higher - which fits with what I said about inefficient boiler/having it on all day. Will see what we can do about that at some point!

Also changed the direct debit to come from joint account, so that's the first one crossed off the list :j:j

Cheery_Daff

House phone and internet

Currently on BT unlimited weekend for house phone

Monthly direct debit £34.50 :eek:
On closer investigation this includes:
£15.99 a month line rental
£3.48 rental of telephone (?! We have a phone from a charity shop!)
£44 of calls over 3 months (so £15 ish a month :eek:)

Also pay £25 a month for internet (From someone else)

Current total for phone and internet = £59.50

Quick look at BT says we could have:

Line rental paid upfront (£141 a year) = £11.75/month
Unlimited anytime calls £7/month
BT broadband £16/month (reduced to £8 for first 6 months of 18 month contract)

= £32.08 a month (over 18 months) (plus a £25 sainsbug voucher)

OR

We could have superfast infinity broadband for £23 a month (£16 for first 6 months) which makes it

= £41 a month (plus a £50 sainsbug voucher)

Hmmm... I know there's cheaper out there but for me there's always a balance between monetary cost and cost of my time and sanity sorting it out :rotfl::rotfl:Since I am not in oddles of debt any more, and I actually HATE the nonsensical process of switching and comparing, I am sometimes willing to pay more to make it all go away... :o

So I shall talk to Mr Cheery later about whether he wants superfast broadband or not (I don't care, myself, but even if we go with that it still saves us £20 a month!).

Suppose I'd best read Martin's home phone switching guide before I do anything else!

(and actually I only popped in to change the direct debit to the new account, thought it was a good opportunty to investigate while I was there!)

(and apologies in advance for the number of these detailed working-out posts I might post today )

boredofbeingathome

Have you tried the comparison thingymajig on here? Pretty good for working out deals on all sorts of things.

*banana update* I am making banana pancakes after....oh and a banana loaf. One needs to be in touch with inner cooking goddess every now and then....goes looking for more banana recipes to use up the darned things.............:cool::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

Damn you and your banananas Bob - I only got to eat ONE of the six I brought home the other night!! :eek: (I have a cheeky bananana eating fairy in my house, apparently) :rotfl: :rotfl:

Might have a go at the phone/broadband line rental comparison thingume, thanks Although I confess I'm starting to get Quite Bored with the whole thing and may soon be reaching my tolerance threshold for today... :rotfl: