Diary of a 30-something idiot

MFWannabe

foxandflowers said:

Positive things I've done today: Set up an account with Chase that will be used to get groceries/fuel and nothing else. This way my bills will still come from Monzo and hopefully I won't be tempted to borrow from Peter to pay Paul. If I make money selling things etc that will go into a Chase savings account, out of the way where I can't see it. Set up my wage to autopay into various pots - bills being the main one, but also puppy, mini fox, dental & vision, vehicle maintenance etc. Then hidden all these pots from view, so again trying to trick myself that savings aren't real money and don't count. Once all the basics are paid, I should have £130 left a month. I never do, but I'm hoping to change that.

Negative things I've done today: Zero actual work at my actual job, too much time daydreaming about a bottle of wine and the next installment of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series. 

I need to demolish a shed this weekend, so a tip run is in the future. And hopefully there will be things in the shed I can sell. The dog is a brilliant asset to the house, if not bloody expensive. He is costing us about £200 a month including insurance and the vetplan for his monthly flea/worm treatments. He's so mischevious and loves a cuddle. See puppy tax below.  

How much is the vet plan? They don’t need continuous flea and worm treatment and you can buy those much cheaper online 

FTbuyer18

How much is the vet plan? They don’t need continuous flea and worm treatment and you can buy those much cheaper online 

I was going to mention this. i have a spaniel and i believe he has only ever had flea treatment twice in his 4 years, and that was because he had a tick. I buy worm tablets online called drontal and do worm regular but it is a lot cheaper this way. My dog is 4 and never had fleas, in fact it was a vet who told my mum the flea treatment is active a lot longer than 3 months and they don't need fleeing until you e a flea, although this is each to their own, it works for me. x

Kim_13

I have a worming tablet on subscription with Pets At Home, which is delivered every month by default. I believe you are only supposed to worm every three months, so I just skip the next two as soon as the charge hits my card for that month’s delivery. The flea stuff that it was available in a bundle with didn’t seem that good, so I dropped the subscription down to the Drontal only and buy flea stuff separately. Delivery is still free and cheaper per tablet than if you went to the shop to buy the two pack (which they wouldn’t sell me once as apparently the authorised person wasn’t in until an hour and a half later. Hung around (as had come 6 miles for the stuff) only for them to then say when I went back that the person wasn’t in today at all!

Good on the Chase account. Were you aware that you are allowed more than one Current Account (though there’s only one card and one credit file entry) allowing a potted approach for spending? I would advise doing this, e.g. Groceries, Fuel, Mini Fox, Ronnie, Personal Spends. You are allowed 10 accounts between current accounts and savings I think, and set the card to spend from one current account at a time. They have a roundup account that they pay 5% on so set that up if you haven’t already. As they pay 1% cashback on most transactions up to £15 a month in cashback (though not tax and insurance, sadly) I would spend as much as you can from the card, as the cashback will add up and help with those little extras. I have to pay £1,500 in per month to qualify and I’m not sure what terms they offer new customers, but you can meet it by sending a faster payment from your Monzo and then sending the money for Direct Debits back to Monzo.

Van insurance needs to be paid above even the gas and electricity, as they can cancel the policy if it’s missed. That would mean Mr Fox driving with no insurance if he was unaware, and insurance being more expensive and difficult to get in the future as the cancellation has to be declared for life. Missed payments on other bills fall off of the record after 6 years.

Excellent about the house.

 

foxandflowers

Wow thats a lot of comments to come back to. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. 

Puppy is called Ronnie, but is known as Ronald, Ronaldino, Captain Big Nose, Mother Ronster, etc etc. He is on Simparica trio every month, which protects against fleas, ticks, lungworm and heartworm. He then gets wormed every 3 months, and has free vaccines and boosters shots, as well as free six monthly checkups. I say "free" essentially I am spreading the cost paying £20 a month, which is good as my vet charges a £50 consult fee before they do anything other than book you in. And it's the only vet in the area, so I don't have much choice in the matter. 

Chase account is all set up. I've earned 4p cashback so far this weekend when I had to run to the corner shop for onions and milk to make shepherds pie. I haven't managed a No Spend Day in months. I'm not spending on things for fun, but every day seems to require another loaf of bread, or pint of milk, or some other stupid little thing. This weekend alone we have gone through four loaves of bread (all the kids were down).

I need to dispute a transaction for a lighter I bought. It cost £44.95, and it was an accidental purchase but there was no way to cancel, only to return it once it arrived. So I followed all the instructions on the website and sent it back without opening the package. It arrived on the 10th June and I've heard nothing from the company. No confirmation it's turned up, no answer to numerous emails, the phone number just rings out... I could really do with the extra money right now so it's v frustrating. Any tips? 

Two days to go until Pay Day. I have.... 27p left in my account. I posted a Vinted parcel this morning that will net me £2.50. And I cleaned up our giant six burner gas hybrid barbecue with the intention to list it for sale, but I rather think I've under priced it as we paid £700 for it and I've been offered £175... sunk cost fallacy is real, but I think that might be too far, and now I'm not sure how to get out of it except to delete the advert and try again in a week or so.
 
I also cleaned out the shed (finally) and everything was absolutely covered in rat poop. I filled a broken 210L water butt with stuff to be taken to the tip, broke down two ikea bedside tables, ripped up carpet, broken laundry baskets, glass jars that I'd saved for...some purpose. So much stuff. And I can't demolish the shed until I get an electrician out to disconnect the very dodgily connected electric pipe that runs to it. So he's coming to quote me tonight at 6pm and I'm sure it's going to be horrific but that is one of the joys of home ownership. The rat is a bold little !!!!!!, coming into the garden and staring at me, but Ronnie spotted him last night and almost caught him so maybe he will think twice about coming in again. 

I've been juggling pots this morning trying to make everything balance. I need one more pot of paint, some blinds and some vinyl wrap to hide my ruined windowsill, and then my lounge is done. The conservatory is painted, but it desperately needs a new floor as the lino is all ripped. My July project is going to be cheaper though; I will be tackling my stairs and understairs cupboard. Currently we have a half painted, half stripped look going on, complete with patches of sanding that's worked, and patches of gunk where the carpet was glued down. So I need to get more sanding pads, and a tin of black gloss and just make it look less bad for as cheap as possible. I want chalkboard paint for the understairs cupboard door too, and some cute little pots with chalk pens in. But wants and needs are different, and all I really need is to sand the gunk off, and paint it all. If I can finish off the lounge too all the better. 

I've introduced hubby to Hoarders, and we've been enjoying that. Its very motivating for me in terms of wanting a clean and clear living space, that is nicely decorated. I keep telling myself that if I don't get my life sorted out I will end up on a show like that, drowning in junk that I've moved between four houses. 

I'm still tackling to do lists I wrote myself in April. 

SuzeQStan

Mornin Fox 😊 how did you pay for the lighter? If on a credit card you can chargeback If you aren’t having any joy contacting the company due to distance selling legislation. Do you have proof of the return shipping as they will need to see that.  If item arrived back with them on 10/6 then today marks the 14 day stipulated period of time you have to allow the distance seller to refund your money.

foxandflowers

Unfortunately not on credit card, paid via Monzo, so normal debit card. Luckily I have some evidence. I've collected my screenshots and will open a dispute on my lunch break. Fingers crossed. 

I have so much work to get through this morning, it's feeling very Monday-ish, and I am absolutely too tired for it.

FTbuyer18

Sounds like you have had a very busy but productive weekend! We had rats in our shed too and my dog is useless at deterring them, i use to have a jack russell they wouldnt of stood a chance with him around! I totally feel you on the struggle is real with no spend days, i struggle with that too. It is milk in our house that seems to vanish into thin air! 

Good luck with the refund.

foxandflowers

Monzo have upheld my dispute and refunded me £44.95  
And I totally forgot but on the 15th we went to McDonald's and I won £5 on the Surprize Fries thing, and I've just had a notification that they will be paying that into my account tomorrow. My new policy is that any money that comes in that is un-budgeted for, half of it needs to be sent to my Chase Savings account (that is hidden from view unless it is searched for) so I can start building up an emergency pot that way. The rate on that is slightly better than the Monzo pot I have, (5.1% instead of 4.6%) and I get the boosted rate for a year. 

Mr Fox doesn't want to play his Playstation much any more so I am wondering if I can get away with downgrading the internet a bit... Do you think he'd notice? 

birdsfoottrefoil

Hi Fox, I’ve been reading your diary from the start for the last week. You deserve so much credit for keeping going and looking after your family. 

Your situation really reminds me of my sister, her hubby stopped working about 5 yrs ago for a small medical reason and didn’t go back when it was solved. Various reasons and most recently he was always convinced the kids were ill and would keep them off school and would say he couldn’t work as he needed to be at home with them or there to pick them up etc. She on the other hand was working one full time job and an evening job on top. 

He has finally gone back to work for a few hours a week in an “unskilled role”. She started crying the other day about how she wished she hadn’t avoided the awkward conversation with him 5 years ago, as they’re now in such a bad situation financially but that that little he earns has helped massively and made her feel less alone. Also that he is in a lot better place mentally now he’s getting out and about. 

Well done so far and I hope things get better!!! And definitely downgrade the internet!! 

SuzeQStan

I reckon Mr Fox would not notice at all! And if he does just blame someone else LOL

EDIT - well done on your refund 👍🏻💰