A Ditherer's Diary (again)

Naomim

Afternoon all,

I am dying of the heat. It's so oppressive.  I'm not sure the poor dog is coping either. I've put a damp tea towel over him but he keeps moving to try and find cool spots on the hard floor.  We've got to take him to the vets as I think he's cracked a tooth. 😕  Talking of cracked teeth, I managed to get an assessment with my dentist over my two teeth that have lost bits.  She's given me temporary fillings for now and I'll go back once they are allowed to treat as normal.

I have updated the bank account, between transferring money between my regular account and my Monzo account, an investigation would make me look like a money launderer! 

My mobile phone contract is about to end in the middle of this month, I am moving to giffgaff and ordered a new SIM. As soon as it arrives I'll be activating it and moving onto a rolling month contract. I'm with O2 currently and they want to charge me £25 a month just for a SIM with something like 6GB data.  giffgaff is only £10 a month  for more data and they use the O2 network.  I can live without the "perks" O2 offer. 😄

MrM and I are off to Bath this weekend, trying to find safe things to do and work out an itinerary.  Got a museum and a restaurant booked but just realised we need to book for a restaurant for Saturday night!  So I better crack on and have a look in a minute.

Take care all

Naomim

Naomim

I've been feeling really uneasy financially the last few weeks, like I had my LBM in November and now the feeling is slipping away from me and I'm becoming a bit more complacent.  This is a familiar thing for me, I've been on these boards for 10 years and now have the highest debt.  So whilst I recognise the feeling, I know I need to kick myself up the bum and get back on track.  It's like I go through the rituals of checking the bank account every day and I'm not using the credit cards, feeling smug, but in reality I'm really starting to spend more, not keeping on top of things and I need to stop.  

I had my hair cut yesterday and that was £45.  This is the first haircut I've had in two or more years and had loads cut off.  I've also had to buy the kids school shoes and that alone was £110.00. I have a clothing and haircut pot but there's only £91 in there at the moment .I budget £30 a month but I am going to have to increase it.   It's things like this that are making me feel more anxious about money.   I have pots but not enough money to cover everything.  I'm going to have to re-visit my SOA I think.

Naomim

lucielle

Look at it this way, at least you've got pots.  Fair enough not enough to cover the whole cost but something to go towards it.  Also I'm finding everything is going up and will probably continue to do so.
L

GeorgianaCavendish

I think converting your husband over to Monzo for his daily spends and keeping the bank account with o/d for the household expenses would be a big help. Monzo is a great tool for encouraging those LBMs because you can get updates every time you spend, so maybe it will help get him on board.

I'm finding it tricky to keep on top of what I need to know and be aware of details like promo rates ending etc, but not get too bogged down which just makes me stressed (and usually have a big spending explosion!) It is a constant balance and very exhausting at times. 

Naomim

So after a weekend to Bath and a weekend at Alton Towers, (Travelodge not their hotels!) the OD has jumped up. I've just logged onto the bank account and downloaded the last 10 days transactions.  Once I've updated them and done my transfers for things like petrol and food I should be clearer.  I'm feeling like I've spent, spent, spent and it's not a good feeling.  

I'll be back later once I've got it all up straight and can see where I am at.

Naomim

Naomim

I forgot yesterday was payday for me, completely lost track of my days.  I updated my spreadsheet and it's not as bad as I thought once I'd transferred money in my Monzo pots. I couldn't cover it all but all the petrol was paid for in full, there's some days out money still to be paid over.

I've just withdrawn my Prolific payment. Only £22.06 this month but will go against the OD. I've also made the last payment to 10yo's PGL trip. They were supposed to go away in September but it's been postponed to March but I doubt it will go ahead so may have a nice refund to come back.  But this will free up £50 a month for overpayments from next month.

MrM has to start going back into the office next week on a rota basis. He's not looking forward to it and obviously means we'll lose some money on travelling expenses.  Need to start tightening the belts again and getting back into savings mode.

Naomim

GeorgianaCavendish

Hope you enjoyed your time away, after so many months of lockdown stress I think it is really important to have that break Well done for getting back on the horse with tracking transactions and funding Monzo pots too. I did some clothes shopping for the first time in ages and I was feeling super anxious about it (almost couldn't sleep last night!) but now I've added up the spending and shifted my pots around I feel much calmer. Old me would have her head buried in the sand (while probably racking up double the amount on some denial spending!) We're making progress  

Naomim

I've just totalled my credit cards after the August payments all went out.  I'm now at £30,000.09.  now I know some of you that 0.09 would be killing you sitting there! 😄  But I'm so happy that at the end of this month I will be sub £30k.  the overdraft is dropping nicely although MrM is now back in the office for a few days a week so travel costs will have to be included. It's £12.30 a day for him to travel to and from London.  I've tried to work out how many days he will have in the office this month and add that to my spreadsheet. 

I've also joined my local gym. I have put on about 10lb in lockdown and am at the heaviest I have ever been.  Luckily the gym up the road from me is run by Sports Direct and is £25 a month, has a swimming pool and  all classes included. I mainly want to use the pool as I'm very unfit.  My company pay half so £12.50 a month is a bargain!  As I won't be back in the office until at least January, this gives me 4 months to use it.  My SiL did invite me to join her for a bootcamp class thing but I refused saying I couldn't afford it. No point paying out for two things and I don't really want to be in sweaty pieces in front of people.  

Emergency fund is currently sitting at £700 and my pots are adding up nicely.  Once the overdraft is finished, I'm trying to work out what to do with what should be left in the account. It should be about £300 a month so at the moment I'm thinking half to emergency fund and half to overpayments on the credit cards.  I probably have about two months before the overdraft finishes.

The dog is poorly. He's got some nerve damage in his face so we're forwards and backwards at the vets at the moment.  No payments made yet and we do have insurance so will have to wait and see what the outcome is.

I'm very behind on reading all the diaries, I will need to find some time to have a catch-up soon. In the meantime I hope you are all keeping well.

Naomim

Naomim

A quick post on something that struck me this morning.  Kids are now back at school so food costs should come down a bit without a 15yo with his head permanently stuck in the fridge*.  At least with school lunches, I budget and 10yo takes a packed lunch.  However my petrol costs will start going up every day as 10yo's school is 4 miles away and too far to walk to and no public transport to be relied upon.   Need to keep a strict eye on the budget.

*when he's awake.

Naomim

Morning all,

Thought I'd post a quick update.  

The dog is being referred for an MRI scan so I still need to contact the insurance company as I need to pay my vets for the blood tests etc he's already had.  He seems happy enough in himself which is a good thing, I just want to know what we're dealing with and how to manage it.

MrM has also been having treatment via my BUPA for his shoulder and arm. He's had a steroid injection and is having physio. There's a £200 excess to pay but my HR Department at work have said they will pay for it as he was supposed to be on my Medicash claim but they forgot to process the paperwork.  I need to pay it out of my emergency fund but at least I will get it back.

10 year old has come down with a cold, one week into school 🤧  She's very snotty!

I also had a hidden bonus this week. I was going through my purse as it was full of old receipts and found an unexpected £50 stashed in the back.  I always keep a spare £10 in a hidden bit for emergencies but that's already there so £50 bonus. Just no where to spend it as no-one taking cash at the moment.  I should go to the bank and put it in my account to pay against a credit card.

Have also taken 10yo's ipad to be repaired as the screen was smashed. £60 but have told her I am taking half from her savings as she is the one who took the cover off and dropped it.

Nothing financially to talk about, the usual middle of the month limbo.   Having just said that.. added up the CC totals from the apps and now sub £30k!  current total is £29,735.09.  so now I might go to the bank with that £50 and whip it off the Barclaycard.

Hope you are all well and safe.

Naomim