NST December A - Z

Thrifty_Taylor

Sending hugs to you @mothernerd & mummy Mothernerd. Great news @f0xh0les, a brilliant start to 2022!
Didn't sleep well at all last night, only managed 3.5hrs. My mind was very active thinking of DIY plans for the coming year. Got up at one point, thought I could sleep in the settee, but DS2 had beaten me to it, so I sat on the bathroom floor for half an hour & read my book!
Hubby went for dialysis & I met a friend for a walk, just under 5.5 miles today. Did a bit of tidying, then sat on the settee & finished my book. Did the ironing before tea & dishes after. Waiting for DS1 & DS3 to come home, so we can play a game together & watch a film.
Grateful for hanging the washing in the line, catching up with a friend & hubby saying that he has to go to Aberdeen hospital in February for tests, ready to go in the kidney transplant list 😍
Hoping that you all stay safe & that 2022 is kinder to us all. See you on the January thread x

f0xh0les

Thank you for keeping me on the straight and narrow this month @mothernerd , managed to make it into double figures for NSDs (just), came in just in budget (well, including Xmas money I did) and everything paid off that has been bought.

Going into 2022 with no debt, mostly because of the accountability and focus I get from you lot.

See you on the other side.   We made it through 2021.

mothernerd

I've had a lecture on upsetting someone, from her dad. She's the last person in the world I want to upset but I am so fed up of mum's partner's family interfering. Written a long list of grievances - may not actually say any of it but I'm so fed up of biting my tongue and this is making me feel sooo much better. I didn't argue back, I just wanted to go to sleep - I had my mask on when he phoned. Can't put money on my phone - put £10 on at 4 am when it was down to £2.37 and by teatime it was down to 90p. Waiting for Beloved to get off the computer, so I can ask to borrow hers.

Final Thought for December  
Be kind to yourself, you're doing the best you can in difficult circumstances.

Buffythedebtslayer

Mothernerd, am sending you so much love XXXX 

KxMx

@mothernerd

Have you thought about moving from payg to a sim only contract? Commitment as little as 30 days rolling contract. 

I moved last year having always used payg and for the princely sum of £5 per month to Lebara MSE deal (they use Vodafone network) I get unlimited calls, texts and some data.

Do I use £5 worth every month? No. 
Am I glad I changed, for peace of mind that everything I may need is covered for a low cost?
Absolutely!

It's very odd making calls and not mentally clocking up the cost/worrying while talking, but very nice too. 

Also very useful for budgeting knowing a fixed monthly cost & no unexpected expenses in the form of unplanned top ups. 

DawnW

@KxMx I agree re the sim only contract. It is definitely a lot cheaper than payg. No fancy new phone with it, but I buy reconditioned used ones when needed (ie when old ones break or don't work properly any more) from Music Magp*e or similar for OH and I.

mothernerd

 Thanks for the info, I'll look into it. I normally only put £10 on my phone and that can last anything up to 5 months (mainly used to summon taxis to take us home after appointments). They also give me triple the amount I pay, so £20 free credit (but that disappears after a month). Just seem to be having a perfect storm at the moment.

I knew I'd spent too much. I couldn't really afford to pay half the cleaners fee, but it was essential (I'd already spent 4 weeks clearing the floor litter and dealing with as much rubbish and recycling as possible) and hadn't the energy to argue DS3 down - needed a quick decision. I knew my balance was low when my Tessimo order didn't go through but as it was placed a couple of weeks ago, I decided I could cope without any of the order.

Being mid move doesn't help - I tried to check my balance online, found the book of passcodes but no pinsentry machine (don't know if it's in one of the boxes I haven't unpacked here or in one of the ones at mum's. The same with contacting the boys, had DS2's phone number, had both their bank details (had to transfer present money last year - on hold for 2 hours) and DS1's from when I transferred the dishwasher (wedding present) money but no phone number for DS1 (asked DS2 who messaged it). DS3 had transferred some money to my account and it was showing as available (when I actually got to the cash machine after doing the test to see if I was allowed to go outside and then spent ages setting up an account and submitting the details online).

Going to stay on the bed and sort things - I have lots of targets, lists, shiny new notebooks (bought for 25% of the original price about 3 years ago). My leg is hurting a lot - went downstairs for drinks and a roll of bags to put various recycling in but no desire to try going anywhere else for now.

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

Move is on hold as I don't know what will happen over the next few days. If mum comes out of hospital, I'm probably going to have to move back in (will only take essentials) with her in isolation (cancelled the milk for a week yesterday). Both sons (DS3 is in the house with me), my elder niece (she will pass info onto my baby brother) and mum's cousin (really supportive and I'm free to moan to her as necessary) are up to date. I think I'm organised (brain knows what I should be doing) there's just so much of it. I think I should apologise to the person I upset but I don't have the luxury of being a 'delicate little flower' or of going to daddy to complain that someone is being 'mean' to me (and only have 90p credit on my phone).

Either she helped me with mum out of genuine affection (I'm sure she does care) in which case she should not need profuse thanks and pats on the head or she only does it for the praise and is therefore not a nice person. If her family and their minimal compliance (Oh I can come in, because I'm a carer - not mum's carer/ everything in life is a risk - not your life you're gambling with/ need to get back to normal - I want to get my hair and nails done, go round all the shops for no reason whatsoever and go to Spain whilst we still can ie it's risky enough that even our incompetent govt are planning to stop it but that's more important than the risk to other people/ lazy doctors - and all the other rehashed cliches from the paper that supported Hitler) didn't put my mum at risk then the implication was that it is me and I'm not standing for that.

Rant over. I'm calm. Will make a start. Happy new Year everyone.

KxMx

I was on a 3p/2p/1p payg plan, then Three really increased the rates (after I'd started the process to leave in fairness), Mum was on the free credit tariff with Tesco but also switched to Lebara and is also really happy. 

I got £10 free credit for porting my number in too.

We also cancelled our landline calls boost afterwards so saved there.

For long calls it's great to put mobile on loud speaker then putting it down next to me rather than holding up the landline - I have to save my energy where I can too. 

I know it won't help you in the short term, but being on a low cost rolling contract means you won't have to worry about credit/making calls again, you have enough to deal with day to day 🙂

f0xh0les

@mothernerd , I think I might find myself musing (loudly) that all the time you were living -in,  protecting grannynerd, she did not catch covid, but as soon as you stopped being the house rottweiler /  front door bouncer, in less than a week, somehow Covid found its way into the house......Must have been a squirrel. 

And the £4 sim only deals are great - I am on one myself.   I have all my boys on the £8 a month deal with ID or Sm4rty, and they get unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 10GB data. 3 out of 4 have never run out of data.   Now I just need them to turn their Do Not Disturb off.

Buffythedebtslayer

f0xh0les said:

@mothernerd , I think I might find myself musing (loudly) that all the time you were living -in,  protecting grannynerd, she did not catch covid, but as soon as you stopped being the house rottweiler /  front door bouncer, in less than a week, somehow Covid found its way into the house......Must have been a squirrel. 

And the £4 sim only deals are great - I am on one myself.   I have all my boys on the £8 a month deal with ID or Sm4rty, and they get unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 10GB data. 3 out of 4 have never run out of data.   Now I just need them to turn their Do Not Disturb off.

Oh my God I love this post, that is EXACTLY what I was going to say!!!