MeandO's money-shuffling

Elisheba

It does seem ridiculous, the school expecting parents to fork out money for a fancy cake. Don't they know there is a cost of living crisis? Very irresponsible of them really.

Great news about the holiday though! It'll be something fab to look forward to fir the next year, especially with all the anxiety about health 🤗

MeandO

Thank you Elisheba, we are really looking forward to it.

I’ve spent too much money this week and am annoyed at myself as it’s money frittered really, but it’s done and I’ve transferred £50 from another pot to cover it. I’ll top that pot up by an extra £50 when I get paid again.
I did spend £15 in the charity shop on five new tops for myself which all fit lovely except for one which was labelled as the wrong size. I really needed some new tops as I was down to only a couple that fitted after losing weight. The incorrectly sized one has been listed on vinted. I also picked up a big tub of £30 masonry paint in B&M to get on with the job of painting the garden walls, hopefully it will be enough to cover them all.

Two loads of washing are on the line despite the weather being a bit iffy. There’s not supposed to be any rain forecast but the sky looks a bit threatening so fingers crossed it dries. 

I checked my meters and submitted a reading yesterday as my very cheap 2 year fix ended yesterday. The new bill will jump up by around £60-£80 a month.
I’ve baked a cake this morning for DS to have as a treat this week. He’s already eyeing it up and it’s still cooling in the trays, hasn’t been filled or iced yet! I also took everything out of the Tupperware cupboard of doom and sorted through it all, throwing what was no good. I’ve stacked everything nice and neatly now so it doesn’t attack me when I open the cupboard. 

I’ve got some bits to list on fb/eBay or vinted so I may do that today. I would like to earn some more money this month to make up for the money I’ve more or less wasted. 

MeandO

4 lots listed on vinted / 1 on fb. They won't make me rich but will make a few extra £'s if they sell.
I've sent an OP of £8.42 to the mortgage today to round it down to £71,100. I just need to find/make that £100 now to get it down to £71000 exactly. 

MeandO

One item has sold on Vinted, only £3 but it will all help this month as I’m feeling skint and having to transfer money from the Christmas savings pot today to cover everything already this month.

DS needed more pants so I bought some more from trusty primarni today at a cost of £8. He also seems to have grown out of all his PJ’s at once, so ordered some in a sale online - 3 pairs of short PJ’s and 2 pairs of long ones, plus a pair of black sports shorts for £37. I may save the long pyjamas for Christmas. 

I also had to stock up on a few things at Aldi today which came to around £19. Annoyingly, the shelves were pretty empty and I couldn’t get everything we needed so I’ll have to pop into Asda tomorrow and pick up the rest. I also need to put diesel in the car as it’s running on fumes. There’s £65 in the budget for petrol this month and I can’t afford to spend anymore, hopefully it will be enough. I’ve also spent £25 on a ‘big’ birthday present today. OH will likely give me half of that back though as it’s for a member of his family. To be fair, he usually tries to pay for the whole amount but I’m happy to go halves, his family are always kind enough to buy for DS and I. 

Believe it or not I’m sleeping on my own in my house tonight for only the second time in 2 years! DS is at his Dad’s and OH is busy doing some work so it’s me, myself and I. I’ve taken the opportunity to dye my hair as I was starting to resemble a badger. I’ve had a nice hot shower and have been pottering around in my PJ’s ever since. I’ve wrapped the vinted sale, written some birthday cards for birthdays coming up, tried to plan some meals for the week and updated YNAB with the sorry state of my bank account. I’m off to bed soon to try and get some sleep - it’s my first day of F/T work tomorrow for the first time since I went on maternity leave 12.5 years ago, so I may be shattered by the end of the week. Night all x

MeandO

I've just argued with 'ono' energy company as to why they've plucked the figures (and thus set the monthly payments) for my annual energy usage from thin air rather than use my actual usage figures from the past two years. According to the guy I spoke to, they don't use the actual figures, they rely on 'third party information.' Well, this third party have a house and family double the size of mine because their 'predicted' figures are almost double the amount of energy that we actually use. They still won't change the figures so I will get a big red warning every time I log on to tell me I will owe them money at the end of the year, but they have agreed to lower the DD to £75 a month which is much closer to our low usage. I feel like I really shouldn't have had to waste half an hour of my life on that phonecall when they should just be using the actual figures as a guideline in the first place.
Rant over.

MeandO

Another item sold on vinted for £7 and both parcels dropped off today (to different drop off places, annoyingly).  There should be £22 on the way to me from vinted when the payments have cleared. 

Honeysucklelou2

The holiday is something to look forward to 🙂.
The energy companies seem to be a law unto themselves at the moment. In May my electricity direct debit almost doubled overnight and is one fifth of my salary. When I rang to query it, I got cut off 😣.

millymolly22

Utility Companies are definitely playing on these bill increases.  I had the same with my broadband provider.  Doubled my DD even though prices had only gone up 15% (only lol). My account is always just in credit too.   These.companies definitely need to be challenged.

MeandO

HSL2 - that's a huge amount, I'd definitely query it if you can. I also got cut off the first time I called but I did get through the second time.

millymolly22 - I agree, these companies are building lovely little savings pots up for themselves with our money. It shouldn't be allowed.

MeandO

Morning all, it's a grey, wet day here today which matches the current mood. I'm feeling a bit  about everything at the moment and really need to shake myself out of it. I've been doing so much better with regards to my mood the past few months and I don't want to slip back to how I was feeling at the start of the year. I think it's a combination of things - not starting the month off well with regards to money, not seeing much of OH as he's too busy with this damn course he's doing, dealing with a pre-teen who I never know which version of him I'm going to get, being back in my box room most of the day working and not seeing anyone and struggling with SW these past few weeks - it just all feels a bit rubbish at the moment. First steps to feeling better is to carry on eating well (as I did yesterday) and get to bed earlier tonight. Everything seems better after a good night's sleep eh?

Today I need to get some of DS's school uniform washed but I'm holding off in the hope it dries up a bit later (as it's supposed to) and I can dry it on the line. I've updated YNAB and rounded down the bank balance and sent the grand sum of 58p to the EF. There's now £3936.09 in there so will back up to over £4K by the end of the month. Tea for DS is sorted and I'll use up the leftovers from last night.