stopping-shopping

Fingers crossed we have a result, I grasped the bull by the nettle (or similar) and called the bank at 8:05. Got straight through to an account switching specialist called Rhiannon who though slightly ditsy, "no payments from the woolwich have been attempted....nope none at all, oh apart from that one" seems to have come up trumps with a promise of all charges being dropped. My new bank are blaming the various direct debit holders and predictably the dd holders are blaming my new bank...happily no one seems to be blaming me! So I think we're ok . In IVA news I have had a letter from one creditor already saying they are aware of my IVA proposal and can I continue to make payments until further notice, so that's proof positive of the IVA company doing stuff at their end. Feeling a bit better today.

AUGH ! Blimmin bank and their blimmin switching service have majorly cocked up. I went into branch to check what was happening ( I think I blogged about it) and they told me 18 Nov was switching day so I dutifully bunged across enough money on the 16 th to cover the months bills. So imagine my rage and irritation to find a letter from my new bank saying that my gas, electric, council tax, mortgage, credit card and water payments have all been refused and I ' ve been charged £19:50 for each returned payment. That's £120 in bank charges that I really can't afford and shouldn't be liable for, talk about a rubbish start to our banking relationship :( The direct debits were presented on the 15 th and 16 th of November but before I put the money across on the 16 th , and definitely before the switching date of the 18 th which I even went into branch to confirm. I rang the bank at 18:30 and they told me the switching dept closed at 16:00, so I tried to calm down and h

Bad bad bad day Lunchtime stroll round M+S spent £44 on clothes for Em and the new baby :( Then sat in cafe going WTF have I just done, felt sick and rubbish. Home after work full of justification and wierd combination of self loathing and tried to justify it to DH. He just sighed and said "it's £44... we spent £130 4 days ago on clothes for Em and we owe your friend £60 for baby clothes" So I got all huffy and upset and said " if we can't afford £9 on half price baby vests then we shouldn't be having this baby" So he said " you're right we'll keep the vests" and then pregnant shopaholic said " No, you've spoiled it now, I'll take it all back" FFS I am a lost bloody cause, so we're sitting at our respective PC's assiduously not speaking to each other and I feel like crap on a stick because I can't control myself. I will be visiting the returns desk of M+S tomorrow and then I think the only answer is to leav

Ok , so good news on both the bank and IVA front. My bank switching day is the 18 th November, so I will withdraw my wages from RBS on 17 th and pay them in cash into co-op in order for there to be enough money to cover my monthly bills. I can then get my employer to pay all future wages straight into the co op, ta daaaaaa job done! IVA news, they have all my paperwork and I am now in the 3-4 week long proposal drafting period, then there is a 16 day window for my creditors to decide if they vote yes or no. If a majority of my creditors agree then the IVA is a go, if not then we can re draft and re approach them but the IVA company are confident I have a strong case and fingers crossed my IVA will be in place by Xmas...a bizarre festive gift but would take a weight off my mind. In less good news, I have joined a lovely forum called Natural Mamas which is as you've probably guessed aimed at hippyish mums :) I'm planning a more eco sustainable (and affordable!) baby this ti

So it's been a week and no word from the IVA people, I will give them a nudge on Monday or Tuesday. I'm also in the process of changing my bank account over to a co-op cashminder account, fingers crossed all the direct debits go through with no issues, the bank have been managing all of that for me. I'm a bit concerned that my direct debits will be set up before my wages are paid in, but I'll have to trust that they have their timescales correct. In pregnancy news we have found out that bump is another girl and we are over the moon! However, I'm feeling slightly stupid for having got rid of the vast majority of DD1's clothing:( Still DD2 is due in March when it will still be chilly and DD1 was born in the very hot summer of 2006, so I'm consoling myself with the fact that most of her early baby clothes would be in the wrong season IYKWIM. I have bought 3 big bags of baby clothes from a friend whose daughter was born last April, 170 something items for £60.

I nearly slipped back into old habits last night, was in a grump with DH (he'd likened me to his mother...not a good move!) and so was sulking in front of my PC. I found myself browsing the New Look website and idly popped a few maternity items into my basket, to be fair to me I do need some maternity jeans urgently...but there I was looking at £80 worth of clothes on a website that takes paypal . I actually hit the checkout button and went to paypal to pay for the garments, I wish I could tell you that I pulled myself back from the brink and cancelled the transaction. Nope, I cancelled the transaction because I don't have a debit card linked to paypal anymore and the New Look website wants instant payment via a card funded paypal transaction. I actually sat there and tried to figure out how to put my debit card details up there without DH noticing that £80 was missing from our current account and that I was wearing a lovely new cardigan ( grey wool with lilac velvet bow det