A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

One thing I have learnt from keeping up with the Jones's.  Is that I don't know their situation but I will take a good guess that the majority of them are in debt.  All those Mums at the school with their big cars and designer bags.  All those people just wearing a pair of UGGs I was jealous of, are probably owing to catalogues.  Jealousy will not pay my debts but it can help fuel the pride I feel knowing that I am making a change for the better.

Naomim

moving_forward

Wow Naomin I log on and check your diary and its pages away!  As for the gardening blog 

Naomim

Morning @moving_forward I had a bit of a flurry!   
I can confirm my climbing rose bush now has some leaves and doesn't look like I stuck a branch in a pot.

Homegrown0

Naomim said:

One thing I have learnt from keeping up with the Jones's.  Is that I don't know their situation but I will take a good guess that the majority of them are in debt.  All those Mums at the school with their big cars and designer bags.  All those people just wearing a pair of UGGs I was jealous of, are probably owing to catalogues.  Jealousy will not pay my debts but it can help fuel the pride I feel knowing that I am making a change for the better.

Naomim

This is a very important thing to remember and to return to when feelings of jealousy and unfairness creep in. I also must remember this. It is so easy to get sucked into the materialistic 'must have' mentality. Thanks for sharing

Naomim

Had a bit of a setback.  Last week when it really poured with rain, we had rain coming in through the top of the kitchen windows and all along the boxed in steel work of the extension.  Called the insurance company and the surveyor came today. He says we can claim for the internal water damage as this comes under accidental damage but the problem is with the roof and it's a construction defect.  So three years on from the cowboy builders and we're still having trouble 😢.   

We have to wait for the surveyors report on how much we can claim but the best thing will probably be to claim the funds from the insurance then put that towards the cost having the roof repaired. So it appears my £577 emergency fund will be depleted also.  I know this is the kind of thing I was saving an emergency fund for and I am grateful I have at least something in there, but I'm so gutted as I wanted to get it to £1000.

moving_forward

Oh Naomim there's always something isn't there.  Fingers and Toes crossed its all claimable.

Naomim

Insurance man gave us his report, we can claim £800 for the internal damage that needs redecorating but nothing for external as it's a construction defect.  So we will get £600 from insurance after excess, alongside the £600 I have saved in my emergency fund I am hoping £1,200 will be enough for repairs.  We also have the £400 a month we are saving on our travel if we need it although this was for getting out of the overdraft and clearing down the credit card but at least it's an option. Our neighbour who we are on friendly terms with is a roofer so MrM has asked him to come and have a look.

Whilst I am disappointed to have to use the emergency fund, I am proud that at least I have just on £600 available without needing to go to credit.   FiL did offer to lend us the money but we already owe them £1,800 and paying it back monthly so as lovely as the offer is, I am trying not to borrow money from them.  I'm 46 and can't keep relying on the bank of Mum & Dad to bail us out! lol

Thank God for Insurance, no matter how poor I have been, I've always kept up the house insurance.

In other news, payday yesterday so did my usual payday shuffle into pots, remembered I hadn't paid the vets for the dog visit £78 for a consultation and prescription! I save £25 a month for vet fees so may need to look into upping this by and extra £10 a month. I also want to up the Emergency Fund pot as I usually save £40 a month and want to increase it to £50. 

I also had to have a word with MrM about his spending. We have £120 a month each for personal spends, but with football (his passion) back on TV, he's had a few small bets with an online bookmaker. Whilst none of them are very big, over the month it was £65.  He didn't realise how easily the small amounts add up.  Obviously this wouldn't be a problem but he also smokes so has spent over his £120 this month easily.  Whereas the last time I took my £120 was April payday and I have £26 left. 

I have sold two things on FB,  my 10yo's old dolls buggy and a box of megabloks for £5. each.  I'm going to put that against the credit card at the end of the month.  Prolific is currently sitting at £24.58 this month and will be withdrawn at the end of the month for an overpayment too.   15yo has just celebrated his birthday and was given some cash that is sitting in his wallet.  It will burn a hole if left there and be spent on fizzy drinks and sweets.  He's expressed a desire for a PS5 which is due to be released later this year, I have said if he can save towards it, we may be able to put towards it at Christmas,  With this in mind, he has taken up my offer to convert the cash in his wallet for cash in his savings account.  All is good 👍

Naomimm

Naomim

A very quick post. I'm aware I haven't posted in a while and will update on that later on.  But today's good news....

Tesco have offered me 0% interest until Feb 2022 so I can finally get the last £5k of interest charging debt on my credit cards onto 0% 👌  I just logged on to check, if there wasn't a 0% offer I was going to close the account as it has a 0 balance.

Hopefully I'll get it transferred tomorrow.

Naomim

Scloud

That's great news! We are currently at the start of trying to get all our debt to 0% - it must be such a relief to know that all of your repayments are going to get the debt total down! 

ChasingSunshine

Oh that's great news. Will be lovely to have everything on 0% and know that all your payments are going towards knocking the balance down rather than into the banks pockets.