The Dairy of Mr Malaprop

Mr_Malaprop

Thanks Scott, I think you are right. Don't want to attempt to give up mid-week with the stresses of work to deal with. I am hoping to get a couple of days off as leave from work later in January, so that may be an ideal time to aim for. Will start to plan it now.

So, just popping in for a quick update. MBNA have sent me my latest bill, so that has come down a little bit. I had already budgeted for some repayment, but it has come down by an extra £9.

I also paid in the change to my bank account, so that will be £20 to come off Bcard next week. The trouble with Bcard is - If I paid the £20 off the bill now, then all they would do is reduce my direct debit, so you don't actually overpay. However, if you make the extra payment after the DD is taken and before the next statement - then they have to reduce the balance.

Also, got my monthly reward from Hafilax.... another fiver to add to the repayment.

Had more interest on my savings, so the total outstanding is at least moving in the right direction.

On the down side, no further NSDs. A total of £10.23 spent over the last two days. But that does cover lunch for work, and three evening meals. Not bad - but that has been thanks to a bag of prawns from the freezer left over from Christmas. Also - no further Roadkill - not through lack of looking! just the roads seem to be empty!

OK - so the BCard DD should be made tomorrow - so then it is time to start paying down some of the balance. At the moment, the scores on the doors are:-

Total Saved - £15004 Total Debt - £18195 SHORTFALL (£3191)

System

Re the smoking, my son went to a hynotherapist 3 years ago. It cost him £80 at the time. He hasnt smoked since, no cravings, nothing. Perhaps something to consider?

Good luck

tallyhoh

I smoked for 30 years before quitting. I think I had persuaded myself that it was going to be hard, it actually wasn't, had a headache for 3 days - that was it.

Mr_Malaprop

Hello everyone, hope all is well in the world with y’all. So just popping in with an update from the last few days….

Bcard haven’t taken their payment yet, so waiting to start sending overpayments to them. HSBC haven’t acknowledged my application for a new bank account – so wondering if there was an issue with that. I haven’t received a dicky bird from them – so I feel that the on-line application must have failed to save somehow. They haven’t even said “Thanks, but no thanks”. Also, no refund from my mobile provider yet. I know we are all getting up to speed after the Christmas holiday period – but this is starting to get a bit frustrating.

In other news, I have received the notification that my car tax renewal is due. Very surprised to learn, that the quote from my current supplier might actually be the cheapest! I am going to give it another week and retry the compare sites just in case I can knock a few pounds off.
My current NSD count for January stands at 4/31. AFD count stands at 5/31. These will both fail today as we are out celebrating a big birthday later. A good friend celebrated a birthday ending in zero yesterday. As it is impolite to discuss a ladies age, I will leave it at that :cool:. A meal and drinks later with a small gathering and hoping to keep the spends below £30.

My meal planning worked a treat this week – I took two packed lunches in to work, and batch cooked a prawn curry. I ended up working late on Friday and whilst driving home, I was thinking about how hungry I was and should I just stop off for a chippy tea and as I would be stopping off for tea – I might as well get a few tinnies in…. well it was Friday night!....... Managed to talk myself out of it knowing that I had the curry at home waiting, and would be having a few ales today. I reckon that was £10 saved right there plus I rescued a NSD.

Yesterday, I made a chilli. Two reasons; first – I had left over chillies from making the curry paste, mince in the freezer and two tins of tomatoes in the cupboard. Second – I am starting a cold thanks to my generous work colleagues and wanted to try and sweat it out. I am not sure if it is the cold, but I could have done with it a bit hotter. Still – a fairly decent chilli, and enough leftover for two meals. That is lunch sorted for Monday & Tuesday, though I may sprinkle in a few crushed chillies.

I also popped out to get a gift for the bidet today, and walked to the shops (saving on petrol & parking). Managed to find three separate pennies, so roadkill now standing at 4p plus 50c. I just love finding roadkill – I have no shame in picking up any coin. Also, for the bidet gift, I bought my friend’s favourite bottle of spirits. This particular bottle is very expensive, so as a compromise – I bought a half bottle for half the cost, and brought myself back in to budget.

So, everything considered – I am reasonably pleased with progress in 2017 so far. Just need those financial companies to pick up their game.

As is customary, here are the latest scores on the doors:-
Total Saved - £15006 Total Debt - £18195 SHORTFALL (£3189)

Scott_Weiland_2

Have you planned a quit date???