Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Back on the DFW case today. 

The dance of the balance transfers has been complete. Only £250 dancing this month but every little helps because that’s another £250 I wont be paying interest on for the next 15 months. Each month I will do the same and eventually the money saved on interest will mean more paid off the actual debt and that snowball will pick up momentum. I pay fixed amounts against all my cards so I am not just tempted to pay less on the credit cards as the interest reduces. 😁

I did the little TopCashback trick of buy a £5 giftcard in order to claim the £2 bonus cashback today. Totally recommend this btw! I always end up popping into Tesco for something that neither Olio nor Aldi provide so I will be spending the money anyway. For the sake of a couple of clicks on my phone at the checkout it seems like an easy bit of free cash. 

The £5’s pot is looking a bit bare this month but there should at least be odd bits of cash still to come in due to effort made in the month. One that has surprised me is Testerup. I genuinely thought it would be rubbish for earning potential but I’m up to £11.60 worth of credits so far (it pays out at £20 apparently). It does very much depend on the game you choose but I do enjoy a game of solitaire when I am chilling with my coffee and building a farm on Farmville 3 has been quite fun too (it helps to have it running in the background while you just get on with other stuff). For me at least, I quite like the idea that my game time now earns me money even if it’s just a little. My only issue is I now need to decide what to do with my Dominations alliance that I have been building for literally years and now no longer have time to play. 😬 I feel bad that some of the players joined my team years ago and now I am abandoning them. Crazy right as I don’t even know most of these people and it really is just a pointless game where you build stuff.  Still, who will I hand over control to! 😱

EatingBeans

Omg my neighbour annoys me so much. I mean she is lovely, but when it comes to how she lets her grandson approach my dogs it really makes my blood boil. 🤬

So today I was outside my house doing some heelwork training with my dogs (one at a time so I could give them my undivided attention). Thankfully, it was Big Dog’s turn when I came across my neighbour and grandson walking up the road. Now bear in mind we live on a main road, right next to town, with lots of parked cars and only a small path (so lots going on). We had gone back and forward quite a few times (the idea being to get them to focus on me even in busy environments). We met quite a few people and Big Dog had checked in with me/walked on by, no fuss. Immediately before meeting the neighbour, two ladies with kids in pushchairs had come past, so being polite, I had stood to the side and asked Big Dog to sit, which he did, and the ladies said thank you and walked past. Big Dog just sat looking at me for the next instruction as he’s been taught. 🙂 My neighbour was not far behind so I asked Big Dog to wait and continue sitting, which he did, until the grandson gets to about 6ft away, suddenly throws his arms in the air, screeches about him being a giant dog and launches towards Big Dog. Now funnily enough, Big Dog saw this as an invitation to say hello and equally threw his paws in the air, launching back at the grandson like dogs do when they play with each other. Yes, I know he should have just still sat, but my gosh, Big Dog is only just 2yrs old and was literally copying what the child did, so I forgive him for not being able to ignore the invitation to play. 

What bothered me wasn’t so much that the child did it, (kids will be kids and make mistakes), but my neighbour didn’t even tell the child what he did was wrong! Instead she looked at me like, ‘control your dog’! Seriously, if that was Little Dog or some other anxious dog, or god forbid an aggressive dog, that child risked getting bit in the face! There was plenty of room to just walk past like everyone else did, why not learn to control your child first before you point fingers at my dogs, who bless them are trying their best despite the interactions with repeated bad interactions the neighbour and grandson. Even when the child threw his hands in the air and squealed, Big Dog stayed sat, it wasn’t until he lunged towards him that Big Dog responded wanting to play. I mean, if they were a family with no contact with dogs I could almost understand it a bit, but that child lives with a dog (the dachshund that visits everyday with the grandson), and the neighbour had her own dog for years before then! It does explain why the dachshund is so out of control, but seriously, do none of the adults care enough to teach the child how to interact with dogs!

I probably should point out that Big Dog did not reach the child as I obviously had him on a lead and instantly brought him back to sit beside me the second those paws left the floor.  It just annoys me that I would be deemed at fault if anything ever happens and there is no taking of responsibility from the other side. 😕

Sadly, I know saying anything directly will not help in the slightest, so in true, ‘I don’t want to cause trouble with the neighbours’ style, I just smiled and continued on with our training. 🐕 🤗

Cherryfudge

It does point to a lot of ignorance on the part of the adult neighbour. Is the child old enough to 'help' you with training? E.g. 'You could help me here if you'd like to. I'm teaching the dog to sit still and not jump. Please can you walk past the dog and see if we can get him to stay sitting down?' Then 'Well done' both if they manage it. As you say, it's not the child's fault, but if you hadn't been alert, the child could have been knocked down.

EatingBeans

Yes, the child is most definitely old enough but they just don’t interact with the child like that and I am done parenting other people’s children, when the parents can’t be bothered. They literally have no control over him and just let him scream all the time. Maybe he is on the spectrum or has ADHD or something but I doubt it as Big Dog is usually red hot at picking up on stuff like that and has a tendency to go still like a statue if a child with special needs approaches him (or frankly any other little child he meets randomly), even if they do make weird noises or throw their arms around his neck to give him a big hug (as has happened to him several times in the park by kids that are complete strangers! 🙄). Honestly, he is generally exceptionally good with children.

And if I was having an issue like this with just about any other child I would be taking your approach to tackling it, but there is just something about this family and child that pushes my buttons. Maybe it’s because I am an introvert and love my garden as a place of peace and quiet to recharge but literally every time I go out there now there is either their dog barking or the child squealing/barking at my dogs. I probably get tense at just the sight of them and the dogs probably pick up on that from me which is maybe why they behave different around them. Just thinking about them makes me twangy so I am going to go this happy thoughts… and look at my budget. 🤣

Cherryfudge

Some neighbours are a real difficulty, aren't they? We are blessed with nice ones, though quite what they think of us, I'm not sure!

Happy budgeting. (We picked up some free apples today - not sure why people leave them to fall off trees, but that's what these had done, and had been lying there a while so we rescued a few).

EatingBeans

Another yummy smoothie for breakfast this morning thanks to Olio. 😁 It was a case of make a smoothie containing the last of the apricots or bin them, so a smoothie it was! I threw in a couple of Olio oranges whilst I was at it, then added some frozen raspberries snd cherries to chill it a bit. Altogether quite a random selection of fruit but hey, it is what I had. It tastes better than I expected but it is rather bitty thanks to the oranges! I’ve not put oranges in a smoothy before and I think next time I will just juice them and add the juice. 🤣

EatingBeans

Ok, this whole looking at my budget thing is just depressing. I feel like I have worked really hard this month and yet I am looking at only being ~£200 better off this month than last, £150 of which goes to paying off my brother so the total balance of my credit cards has only gone down by £50 ish. That is A LOT of scrimping for £50. It’s not even paying the debt down at the rate of minimum payments (although of course I am paying all credit cards on time). 😔

I looked back over what I’d actually spent and the only two things that I’d spent on that weren’t essentials were takeaways (and the odd bar of chocolate) totalling ~£100, and money I have given to dd2 for cleaning/odd jobs totalling £115. I am surprised the takeaways came to so much because I barely feel like I have eaten any, but clearly I have so that is something to watch next month. I really don’t know what to do about dd2. I know she is desperate for pocket money but she really needs to get a job and start earning it. Realistically I feel like I should just stop paying her because it is a want not a need, but I know it is really difficult to find a first job and she only gets this time with her friends once. 😕 She’s going back in the budget next month. 

I paid over £450 in interest this month and at this rate I’ve calculated it will take me roughly over 20 years to pay it all back. Something has to give! I know I should probably quit trying and do a DMP but I just can’t bring myself to do it because I know I will then be stuck with this house. 😞 I just have to get dd2 through college and off to uni and if I am still struggling I will simply sell the house and go live in the van. Just 2 more years to go. 😭

Afdaff

Sorry to hear it’s feeling so tough. I have no useful advice I’m afraid, but I do know the feeling of trying hard and not seeing the difference it is making.

ellenvan

Suggestions for Dd2- Xmas recruitment starts soon for temporary seasonal jobs.
Takeaways - prep is the answer to avoiding these. Always try and have something in the freezer, which is very easy to use.
Ignore the above if you already know this.
Keep going even though the road is tough.
Hopefully Olio will have something lovely next time for you.

dawnybabes

Could your daughter make some money doing surveys ? Babysitting ? Dog walking ? 

It didn’t arrive overnight so won’t go overnight.  You’re going in the right direction.  Have you wrote to the cards and seen if they will freeze the interest ?