A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

I get paid tomorrow and have £6 of the overdraft left. This may seem small fry to some but I think it's a great achievement considering I didn't start budgeting until 1/4 a way through this month and we always go over.

My car breakdown cover is due next month and I usually pay in full. I've added it to my budget. I looked through a cashback site and can get the same price elsewhere but with cashback so I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if they can reduce the price, otherwise I'm off.

Both kids have residential trips coming up the next year so I've budgeted to pay for these. 14's is in April & 10's next September so that's more than enough time to put a bit by every month.

I also need to budget my nephew's last football installment which is £65. It's a long story but SiL is in an awful place financially due to her marriage break up and a crippling mortgage so we have paid for my nephew to continue playing football. He's left school now so next year he has to pay his own fees.

So I'm feeling positive that I'm managing to account for everything and even though it's Christmas coming up and a long month, I'm prepared.

Both kids have currently got sore throats and sniffles, 14 has a temperature and off his food which is very unusual. Cooked a lamb joint today for dinner. Got lots of leftovers so going to look for a recipe to use it up.

Stay frugal

Naomim

Naomim

Payday :T I've logged onto my bank account, paid the bits that aren't on DD and moved money to the savings pot. I just have money to move to the Monzo account but I'm waiting for the card to arrive.

NSD today too. I was going to buy myself lunch as a payday treat but decided to bring in a tin of soup instead and ignored the coffee shop at the train station this morning.

Also still not smoking. 18 days and it's getting easier :j

Hope everyone has had a good Monday, stay frugal.

Naomim

EssexHebridean

I'm ludicrously excited about your comment about the "Beware the December pay trap" thread - I've done those threads the last couple of years as so often on here you see people struggling in January with money - and yes you're right about one person (basically a troll - check out the posting history!) deciding to take issue with it. I was quite cross though - what's the sense in thread spoiling on something like that! Anyway you've also reminded me I need to go and give the thread a bump again at some point to bring it back into view again. (It got me my money-tipped badge, too - only took 10 years for me to get a weekly email mention! :rotfl:)

Well done on the not smoking thing - how well are you doing there! AND the NSD's too - it's all about the small wins, remember!

Breakdown cover - not sure who you're with by we are both covered by AXA these days and they are outstanding - we've been really impressed. We pay under £60 for each car and that includes homestart and recovery too.

I'm quite jealous of your lamb leftovers - so many lovely possibilities!

Naomim

Aww I'm so pleased I've made your day, its an excellent thread about December payday. Sorry I didnt name check but couldn't remember who it was.

I'm going to check out AXA. Renewal quote is £142 with homestart & recovery for two 10year old cars.

Plans for the lamb is Rogan Josh. Just need to get the bits with it. I have a big bag of samosas in the freezer.

I'm pleased with the smoking. I'm using champix tablets which work for me. Also going great gins on NSDs. Brie & onion chutney panini today for me & MrM although I did buy a coffee.

Online shop done £81. I need a couple of bits for the lamb leftovers.

I've transferred money into the monzo account for monthly spends, petrol, dog food and set up the pots.

Feeling determined.

Stay frugal

Naomim

Naomim

No lamb curry for dinner tonight MrM ate most of it last night in a sandwich. To be fair he didn't know I had plans for a curry and at least it's been eaten.

Have ordered the dogs dry food from Amazon so need to transfer the balance from Monzo to the bank account. I've also spent £7.00 on a gift. At work we don't do secret santa but the company supports the Kidsout giving tree charity where you buy a gift for a child who may not otherwise get one.

Another NSD. Ham & cheese toastie for lunch and no coffee from the coffee shop on the way to work . :T

Yesterday there was a small fire in the building I work in. We were all evacuated and after being checked in, some of us decamped to a local coffee shop. Luckily one of those was one of the company directors and he bought the drinks :j

No more to report from today.

Stay frugal

Naomim

EssexHebridean

Absolutely no problem with not remembering whose thread that was - it's the thread that's important, not who originated it, I reckon! :D:D

Goodness I'm glad to hear the fire in your work building didn't cause too many problems - and equally as glad to hear you got a free coffee out of it! :rotfl:

Naomim

Had a bit of a nightmare 24 hours. Got home last night, went to take my rucksack out of the car only to realise it wasn't there! I'd left it on the train! Luckily I'm on a suburban line so I rushed off back to the train station and got the same train coming back to Waterloo. The bag was where I'd left it. I was so relieved. No money but company laptop & my kindle were in there so it could have been a calamity.

14 has been complaining of a sore throat for almost two weeks. Managed to get him to the docs this morning and he has tonsillitis so is on antibiotics. Problem us he has to take them four times a day, at least an hour before food or two hours after food. I'm not sure there's that many hours in the day when he doesn't eat.

So it's not been an NSD as I treated him to a McD's. 14 also had hospital appointment this afternoon. Waited an hour, they wanted to do blood tests but couldn't due to the throat infection. He's got a dodgy knee that's been going on for two years and we're no closer to finding out what's wrong. Also cost me £5 parking.

Tomorrow I'm out with work but it's not company funded and Saturday taking 10yo to see Frozen 2 so will be spending there too. Aiming to get the bus into town for the cinema so that will be free and get sweets in wilkos when we get there.

I'm religiously updating my spreadsheet and moving money from the monzo account to cover expenses. Bloody determined to shift this debt.

Stay frugal

Naomim

Naomim

It's been an awful week. This may be an epic post so if you want to bear with me, I suggest you get a cup of tea and get comfy

I bought a Shark vacuum half price in black Friday sales
Office was on lock-down due to the London Bridge attack as we are very close by. We were all safe but it was a scary experience.

Weekend was ok, took 10yo to see Frozen 2 at the cinema. Friend had discounted tickets but was still £17.00 for two. Sunday was a day of mooching in the house.

Saturday, MrM's car was also hit by another car whilst it was parked. Luckily it's not too bad and he was sitting in the car at the time so was there to sort it out. Sod's law we've just paid out for a service.

Monday lunchtime. I logged onto my bank account to update my spreadsheet with my weekend spends and there were 61 pending transactions. :eek: 56 of them were to Google Play.

I immediately called the bank thinking I had been a victim of fraud, they put me through to Google. It turns out all the transactions were for one game. A game 10yo plays. I was arguing that I couldn't understand how it had happened as it was password protected and she doesn't have the password. On Friday evening MrM had let her have a £10 spend on the game, he'd left the password visible and she'd gone on a spending spree.

£649.44 :eek::mad:

Google were telling me there was nothing they could do as the transactions weren't fraudulent. I was devastated. MrM told his parents and luckily they put £600 into our bank account. We already have a "loan" with them so it's just been added to it and we're paying it back until the year dot.

Google have since refunded £55. I put a complaint in with Natwest as I felt although the transactions were authorised by a password, 56 transactions to one supplier in such a short space of time should have looked suspicious. They said they couldn't refund me, which I expected however they have given me £100 as a goodwill gesture :money:

so all in all it's been a bit of a nightmare. Yesterday had lots of prolific surveys so up to about £11. Not bad for two weeks. Going to try and get to £20 for a cash out.

Onwards and upwards....

Naomim

EssexHebridean

Ouchy ouch. I presume 10 year old is now grounded and no longer playing that game, then! I really REALLY dislike this thing of "in game charges" for games that are targeted at children of that sort of age - it's always going to put further pressure on parents to have to spend, particularly when the game concerned is one that the child's friends play as well - there is then the social aspect of the child being able to join in with discussions about it, never mind the inevitable one-upmanship about who is allowed to spend what... Grrrr! So sorry you've had to go through that - and yes, I'd agree that many transactions in a very short space of time, on something like that where it's not a familiar pattern should indeed have rung alarm bells with the bank. I wonder whether it's worth thinking about escalating that complaint citing the bank's duty of care towards their customer... I assume that "move bank account" is now firmly on the list for once the OD is sorted, then?

Very glad to hear that MrM is OK after the car being hit - good thing he was on the spot too I guess as you say.

What a rough week!

Naomim

Yes, 10 is grounded, all electronics removed until further notice, she's been told to read more books between now and Christmas. I've taken £60 of her £80 savings and told her she has to do more chores to "earn back" the debt. An expensive lesson for both her and us! The problem is, I don't want her to stop playing the game once she gets electronics back. She's spent £600 I don't want that wasted! rock and hard place spring to mind.

Naomim