WE CAN'T COME TO THE PHONE NOW BUT.........

Like HELL!! Sue me then, by the time I was 5 minutes into trying to pay my credit card to an automated phone service I was not only on the verge of snapping my fingers off in frustration but my hair actually meant my weave was almost a pile of mess on the floor from pulling it out. Technonolgy has its evils and automated services is one of them, first you have to sit through numerous painstacking options and when you finally hear the one you think you need you are put through another tedious incantation of Press1.........then Press 2,then 3 by then even the most patient of people is close to snapping point wondering whether these people want their money or not.

I guess the banks are just not happy with us paying those huge interest charges on the cards but they have to draw the last blood by making you sit through a very long phone call just to make a payment. I am at the moment trying to pay an amount double the minimum so I took the liberty of cancelling my direct debit as the option was they would either take the minimum or the oustanding which of course I can not pay at the moment. So I have decided to make a phone call a month to pay by card and boy this is going to take some serious patience ........which I am again going to earnstly ask for. Dear God when you grant me that cup of willpower, please add a barrel of patience too.

The excruciating bit of my first automated payment was not just sitting through a marathon of options but after listening and inputting all the required data I was unable to complete the transaction *Loudly kissing my teeth and doing the face thing too*

I have just taken some time to do a bit of bank account reconciliation and to my chargrin I happen to be out by the amount I tried but failed to pay to the credit card company. I have called my bank who are telling me to wait at least 5 working days and hopefully this transaction will pay back into my account if it had been wrongly processed.

And poor me had to sit through not just a phone call but I cannot get my money as it is not available. Oh this time the messy pile on the floor that was my weave is now now a little mound, I am now totally bald..........the frustrations!!!

GOD PLEASE GRANT ME.........

Yes Please! Please! Please! God grant me the willpower, the self control , the resolute strength to resist the compelling craving, the euphoric sensation, the tingling thrill I get every time I pass through Canary Wharf shopping centre. Oh Yes I need a huge dose of this, I do not mind even if my cup runneth over as long as I can tear myself away from the shopping pangs I get not only once but twice yes I am counting, twice!! every day of the week that I pass through this treasure trove of a shopping centre.

If there is any place, person or thing that makes me fall off the NO SPENDING wagon with a thud it is Canary Wharf Shopping centre. Every morning and evening of a week day I have to pass through Canary Wharf to get to work and believe me it is agony to pass through all those shop windows and not be tempted to at first just take a peek, then maybe try......you know trying without the intention of buying and of course the folly of these actions lends me thud off the wagon and deep into my pocket.

Now that most shops have the new season in store I cannot help thinking that I need this, and it feel almost hopeless with the magazines and even the free papers telling us the must haves for this Autumn and winter wardrobes.....Oh Please GOD!!!! I am sending you an SOS

OF GIFTS AND REFUNDS!!!

I am thoroughly thrilled to say in the past week I have banked 3 cheques which have have been refunds or reimbursements owed to MOI!!

The first cheque for £38.40 was from Greenwich Council which was a refund on my council tax from a house I moved out of 4 months ago (can imagine the glee at knowing that for once they owed me, thank God I made that phone call to tell them I would not be needing their services for at least a very long time)*Big Shrug and Sigh of relief*

The second cheque was of course my Reimbursement from HSA from the dental expenses I paid earlier and thank God here for small favours and contribution from my employer.   My employer contributes though small but significant amount to HSA a health provider on behalf of the employees to cover some treatments and this includes £50 per year for dental which I happen to have spent already.  Though i paid just under £200 I am happy to have received the £50 reimbursement and I am thinking whether I should put this back to my Rainy Day Fund or just look ahead now that I had put my mind to start the rebuilding.  Well I am tempted to deposit it to either my ISA or Alliance & Leicester internet account which earns interest every month.  Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

The third cheque was the biggest relief and thrill when I finally received it, this was for the Sky subscription I cancelled 4 months ago.  I had to literally fight and claw with Sky to refund me this, and anyway without giving them any more space I am just sooooooooo happy I have finally banked the cheque.

The gift part of this post is some £120 I received from a friend who happens to be doing well back home and was on a business trip here and we met up.  I guess I should also elaborate that "He was the one that got away" but as it stands we still have very soft spots for the other and this was his treat to me to get my hair done *hanging my head in shame* as I should have been the one hosting him but anyway I am not going to turn down some free money ummm meant gift actually!!!

About the hair gift money I was thinking since I already put aside some money for my hair I am going to put it to my Internet savings account where it can prop up what is already in and earn me a little more interest.  I am also going to do the same with the cheques, my Internet account receives interest every month so I will at least see my money grow...........Oh Happy Days!!!!

A WEEK INTO THE BUDGET AND..........

Yes it has been a week into my September budget and I am slowly but surely slogging ahead.  I am happy with how well I am coping with sticking to it and hopefully this carries into the rest of the month.

My biggest challenge had been trying to stick to the food budget, but I guess this had been aided by the fact that I was not being realistic about the cost of food.  This month I budgeted £100 for the month spreading it to £25/week, I am happy over budgeting here especially taking into account my love for my 5 a day fruit and I will not apologise to say they have to be from Waitrose.  This is my logic and defence here, since I totally heart my fruits I rather the taste is what it says on the package and so far Waitrose has come up trumps on this.  I am happy paying for quality rather than pinch on this and end up throwing  food away or eating a bag of clemetines which on the package says "sweet and juicy" but on taste is totally opposite and you have to end up swallowing with a pinched face.

Anyway the short of it is my food budget   fell just under £20 and this means I can carry the difference to the following week(hippeee!!!!).

They say when times are tough every penny counts, I have also found out that doing a meal plan for the week docks any unnecessary spending and so far this worked a treat on the first trial and I am going to continue with this.  For this week I plan on having :

Monday:

• pasta bake and leafy salad (made the pasta this Saturday and froze 2 left over potions)

Tuesday:

• selection of cold meats and some potato salad (all from last week's shopping)

Wednesday:

• baked potato, baked beans and salad (potato from last wk's shopping, need to buy salad and baked beans)

Thursday:

• vegetable couscous and a roasted chicken thighs (chicken from freezer, buying the rest of the ingredients)

Friday:

• Last portion of the pasta bake with salad

I have at least one full meal a day which is usaully my lunch, in the morning I have some cereal or yoghurt, i have my fruit which are usually a pear, grapes, blue berries and a clementine spread throughout the day and every other day have a pot of biopot yoghurt.  In the evening if I am feeling perky its usually a toasted bagel with tea or a cob of sweet corn or snack or pop corn.

During the weekend it is all pot luck, might eat out, or at friends or fisnish off the left overs but I make sure it is within my budget  

 

MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL........

Actually let me rephrase it and say "Money is the root of all HEADACHES!!' I have finished doing my budget for September and Arrgh!!! though there were no adverse effects I should say by the end of it I had a throbing head. Well i guess if I am going to take back control of my finances a Budget is a necessary evil.

Now that I have chosen this path there is no hemming and hawing, I am finally taking everthing in stride and hopefully in the following months I will be properly adept at trimming all the budget fat and reach a point where I can live within my income and not splurge needlessly.


The template I downloaded for my budget is the American application Pear Budget, after trawling the internet I was happy to start with something free but comprehensive and though this is a bit busy on first impression it offers a step by step guide to sinking your teeth into budgeting and understanding a simple Excel spreadsheet even if you are not adept at this.

The principles of this budget template are that your expences fall under three catergories - Regular, Irregular and Variable expenses. The spreadsheet lets you keep track of your daily expenditure and you can also look at an indepth analysis of the budget. Its still all work in progres but my monthly spend is looking something like this:

Regular Expenses:

• Rent - £411.67
• Travel - £60
• Insurances & Hospital cash plan - £23.64
• Tithes & donations - £65
• Savings - £125
• Rainy day fund - £50

Irregular Expenses:

• Gifts - £30
• Family £75 (this is the onus of coming from an African family - need to help out)
• Hair - £20 (another weight, starting to put money on the side for when I get to take care of my african nap)
• Overdraft - £50

Variable Expense:

• Store cards - £140 (no more splurge purchase, its painful paying back for something that I am not wearing anymore*OUCH!!!!*)
• Food shopping - £100
• Mobile & Internet - £60
• laundry - £15

Well it's all still bare bones at the moment but I am making progress, and change is coming WATCH THIS BLOG!!!!

SOMEONE CALL THE FASHION POLICE REAL QUICK !!!!

Holy Moly!!!!! Michael Jackson that definitely aint "Smooth criminal" but well I guess that it definitely is thrillingly "BAD" Seeing this latest picture of the "King of Pop" who turns 50 tomorrow if you are like me are left to wonder why there is no end to his eccentricity. We all know the millions have been drying up but honestly you should still have the hundreds of thousands to buy yourself a decent pair of pants because those are so Hammer Time!!!

Well in all earnestness I hope some of those rich friends of yours get you some nice fitting trousers for your 50th. MANY HAPPY RETURNS MICHAEL!!!!! May your future years be filled with closets full of decent fitting pants/trousers/pantalon, oh Michael just get some clothes that fit the crown

TAKING CONTROL OF THE PURSE STRINGS

There is no good time like the present especially with payday looming tomorrow to take charge of my finaces. As already stated in my previous posts I am revisisting my goals, coming into the last lag of the year it is with huge dissapointment to know I have not fared well in one of the most important of goals. I let myself down big time, it's enough knowing my mistakes but being a perpetual offender shows how lightly I take the responsibility of things that are important like securing my future.

Its well and good to get that reality slap on the face now and agin but its time to stop all the whimpering and get back to the drawing board, hopefully by the end of the year I will be singing a new song. Thank goodness I am beginning to understand that financial discipline is about finding a balance between necessities, luxuries and saving for the future. As of today I here AGAIN!!! pledge to make conscious decisions on how every penny in my wallet is spent.

I have downloaded a budget template, this is my first step to reigning in all my improtu spending. I have lso found some bit of inspiration from fellow bloggers on tightening the purse strings. As of September and hopefully for all the remaining months of the year I will be daily tracking on what I spend my money on. Heart on hand this is going to be a huge task but one that has to be put in place all the same.

They say wobbling always precedes walking and as of now these are the two baby steps I am taking, I am going to grapple with them and once I am comfortable with my wobble there is nothing that is going to stop me from walking and what do you know might follow it with running and before I even know it Usain Bolt might be looking in front to see me sprint right ahead.