From broke to better ..a journey

vampirotoothus

Hi there. I believe that the water co can install a meter for you and you can use it for a year and find out whether you will save. If you don't then you can revert to paying like you are now. I believe you will make a massive saving here (towards the pet insurance). Good luck V x

lillypoo

Well that was an expensive weekend.

Antivirus I had forgotten I pay for was renewed with no notification. Think I'm going to try and get it refunded and look for free antivirus.

Had a leak in guttering which left a massive wet patch on bedroom ceiling ...so forked out for a dehumidifier. Didn't like paying for it but am trying to think positive a) it wasn't on credit b) I'll use it yo help dry washing instead of using the tumble dryer so hopefully claw a bit of the cost back and c) it's drying thr ceiling out nicely so potentially saving me more expensive house repairs. 

So pay day is this Wednesday but I'm going to start my march budget on Monday 4th. This week I intend to eat from what I've got in the cupboards and fridge/freezer. There's plenty to keep me going.

No Netflix or amazon prime this month as theres loads I want to watch on terrestrial TV and on the catch up channels. 

The sun's shining. Yayyy.

lillypoo

Update

Haven't used this particular anti virus since 2021 yet they suddenly decided to restart a subscription and charge me £110 at the weekend! Unbelievable. 

Refund actioned.

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on getting the refund.  That was naughty to restart a subscription.  Presumable this is a CPA on a card rather than direct debit? 

lillypoo

It was taken from my PayPal account!

lillypoo

Strange week this week, full of ups and downs.

First of all I've had the new dehumidifier on all week. I am stunned and exceptionally pleased at how it's dried out the damp, stopped window condensation and generally made my home feel better. Even more pleased that it's barely had any effect on electricity usage. Brilliant.

Black horse bank have sold my debt to Cabot less than a month after defaulting me. I really want a bit more time before I start paying them as my pcp is up on my car in September. It's been scratched and dented by two other vehicles whilst parked...noone left a note. So I really need to get the body work repaired before it goes back so as not to lose money. This week I need to sit down and try to work out whether to claim on insurance or to pay for the repairs myself. But that would eat into the money I've saved to get a (older cheaper) replacement vehicle. So in an ideal world I will attempt to safely and without litigation threats, ignore Cabot for a couple of months and squirrel away the pounds.  

Loads of structural changes taking place at work...everyone's a bit on edge. None of it should actually bother or affect me but somehow I end up bringing everyone else's stress home with me. Need to let it go once I get in the car to drive home. I've worked a few extra hours and also, as from 1st March, we have had a small pay rise ( in return for which we will be working harder but hey ho) so looking forward to pay check in April to see how much difference thst makes. 

Grocery shopping today, so going to meal plan with a frothy coffee in a moment, will be batch cooking tomorrow.

My best friend came to stay unexpectedly last night after a shocking double murder in her street! She lives over an hour away from me but wanted to get away from all the police presence etc. One unbudgeted for bottle of wine was consumed. I don't mind, I'll just go without the one I would have had ( and budgeted for) next weekend.

Beautiful but icy cold morning here after a day of snow yesterday. Very crisp under foot so I will be waiting and hoping for a bit of a thaw before venturing out.

So, must do list:

Meal plan

Grocery shop

Batch cook

Sort out logistics of car repairs

DO AN SOA! Can't believe I've been planning a dmp for 9/10 months and not done this yet.

Crochet. I have so many WIPs (works in progress) I could crochet for a year and not be finished.

Emmel

Lillypoo, i ignored Cabot for months as i didnt realise they had actually bought the debt, they still hadnt sent anything remotely threatening, just the please get in touch. I set up direct debits with them mid february and you choose the date they come out (all online). So even if you ignored them for a few more months then say set up a DD on the 2nd of july to have your payment come out on the 1st you would technically still give yourself another month

lillypoo

Thanks @Emmel

lillypoo

Haven't got much done this week. Did meal plan, shop and batch cook. Did a quick soa on lemon fool, but it needs tweaking. Work was sheer chaos and I came home totally exhausted after every shift. So much so that horlicks in bed replaced dinner for three evenings.

Nephew is moving into his first flat in April. I've said that I'll do him a basic store cupboard grocery shop as his moving in present. So I'm undecided whether to try and skim on my own shopping for the month to pay for that or to take it out of my gifts/presents pot. Either way, its not actually budgeted for.

Weather has been dryer this week and actually managed to eventually dry clothes on the line instead of in the house or in the tumble dryer. 

Really really need to do some spring cleaning this week but not feeling in the right frame of mind at the moment. Thanks to the cutting down alcohol thread, I've reduced my wine consumption from 3 or more bottles a week to one! Might use this weeks bottle as motivation to get the housework done. ( note to self ...where has the saved money from less wine purchases gone?)

Cabot call every day but don't leave messages, they've written once, texted once and emailed once. Easy to ignore for now. Its going to be hard but I'm aiming for £3000 saved towards car by ay day at end of June. New monzo pot in place.

FacelessNumber

Hi @lillypoo, I've just read through your diary, it's amazing how long the DMP takes to get set up! Good plan on trying to delay it to allow you to build up a bit more of a savings pot though. Wishing you luck!