A reminder to review your account(s) frequently

DD265

You know when somebody posts about how they'd bought something but didn't realise until 6 months later that the money had not left their account and we all think "how could you not notice?"...

I was over paid on a grant by the Student Loans Company (which I still disagree with but decided to let it drop and pay it back). I was paying £250 per month back by standing order.

In mid August I found out what I was expecting as a pre-tax bonus at the end of the month and increased the standing order to £750 to clear the balance. I also set an expiry date on the standing order so that the September payment would be the last one. Then HMRC had their fun so I opted to play it safe, knowing September and October would be expensive for me, and put the standing order back down to £250.

Fast forward to today, and after a busy couple of weeks where I haven't monitored my bank account, updated my spends or reviewed my budget because I've wanted to spend the time on other things, I noticed that £250 had not left my account this month and the standing order was nowhere to be found.

Because I have been misbehaving and made the elementary mistake of assuming all my bills had gone out (they all go out within the same few days so unless I check them off on my budget, it can be hard to keep track) and what was left was left, I have had to take pretty much all my money from savings to cover the standing order.

Lesson learned: check on your accounts and budget every couple of days if not daily!!!