A Year in the Life of...

girlatplay

I'm finding it quite difficult to use this forum on my phone.  It is not user friendly at all for me (it may be my phone that is the problem but there's nothing I can do about that).  I can't see dates of when posts have been posted, I can't get a list of my bookmarked threads and when I try to do something which previously fell under the user control panel (e.g. amend my signature), the layout is terrible and it takes a while for me to get to where I want.  I have just had to scroll through 6 pages of diaries to find my own diary.  Everything seems to work well when I am on my laptop but that is not the convenient option for me every day.

I have persevered with it since the new look forum came into play but haven't got the time or the patience to keep doing this.  I have decided that I'm just going to update my diary at the end of the month/payday each month for now and see how that goes.  I crank up the laptop to update my spreadsheet and since I'll be on there anyway then I'll come here and update.

It's payday on Friday.  I have £50 left in the cash grocery budget.  I will be doing a small grocery shop tomorrow.

I'll be back with February's update on Friday.

dawnybabes

It’s horrible, I totally agree! 

savingholmes

Hope you find a better solution - as I don't find monthly reporting works for me. Best of luck.

astrocytic_kitten

Sad you won’t be updating more often, but totally understand why - I’d definitely struggle if I only had my phone, I mostly access the site through my tablet now.

One tiny thing that might help - I have the bookmarks link bookmarked in the browser on my phone so I can get to it easily, it’s the quickest way for me to find my diary as well as those I follow https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussions/bookmarked 

Sarahwithlove

Oooo thanks for link that's very helpful!

savingholmes

Really helpful link - thanks

girlatplay

astrocytic_kitten said:

Sad you won’t be updating more often, but totally understand why - I’d definitely struggle if I only had my phone, I mostly access the site through my tablet now.

One tiny thing that might help - I have the bookmarks link bookmarked in the browser on my phone so I can get to it easily, it’s the quickest way for me to find my diary as well as those I follow https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussions/bookmarked 

Yes, thank you for the link, it is very helpful.  It works on my phone so it is much easier to find everyone.  I might perk up a bit and try again

I've just been trying to get through life over the past week or so.  I'm feeling a bit deflated at the moment so that's probably why I don't have much patience when things go wrong.  I've been keeping up with all my financial stuff (all that's left of my resolutions really) so it's not all bad.

Month End Review (financials only as I'm short of time):

£50 challenge (£150 for Feb & Mar due to non council tax payment months) = £160.27.  I hit the final target because I had £21 left in my February grocery budget!!  Very pleased with that.
-£50 went to overpay the loan.
-£15 went to the Christmas account.
-£13.84 went to the savings account.
The rest has gone towards a seminar I have to attend in March for CPD, an unexpected credit card payment (I paid for something in October last year and it came off my statement this month.  I'm annoyed with myself for not spotting that it hadn't been on a previous statement but it completely disappeared from my credit card account, off the pending items and everything, so I'm just having to cover that.  It's not huge in the grand scheme of things, just annoying) and the £21 is still in the account as I only moved it there today since March's budget starts today.

savingholmes

We've missed you. You are still going strong though. We all have slip-ups. Just have to dust yourself off and get back up which is what you're doing. Make time for joy... 

girlatplay

savingholmes said:

We've missed you. You are still going strong though. We all have slip-ups. Just have to dust yourself off and get back up which is what you're doing. Make time for joy... 

Aww thank you, that's kind.  The annoying part is that I thought I had already paid for it as when I check my statements each month I check that they look right and that there's nothing pending.  I didn't forget what I had bought, just didn't click that it wasn't on the statement as I don't match them against receipts.  The company has gone bust so the OR is probably going through everything with a fine tooth comb.  Bet I'm not the only one this has happened to.  Some people have bigger problems than me.

Exciting news: I can now see signatures on my phone 🎉  This is a positive step!

Was out with the fam today as usual.  We have decided that rather than take it in turns to pay for the coffees we are going to split the bill 3 ways (Mum, sis, me).  We've done it two weeks now and it's actually better.  Mum doesn't have internet banking but she's always got change so either sis or I will pay, the other transfers over their share and Mum pays the payer in cash.  It's working so far and it's not such a big outlay for any of us.

I picked up a few bits in Aldi but I'll need to do a proper meal plan for March as I don't want to end up frittering again.

I'm going to have a quick catch up of other diaries as I have a spare half hour before I go to boyfriend's.  I'm waiting for LMG to get home from work so that I can take the car.  I have other stuff I should be doing but the instant gratification monkey is most definitely in charge right now 😐

girlatplay

Ooh ooh ooh, just spotted that I can see dates now too!!  This is good news 😀