Money down the drain - tell me your tales of misery!

[SomeOtherGirl]

Bad luck comes in threes, and I've had three money ones this week (the second one's not too bad)!

1- DH used a toll bridge that won't let you pay at a toll gate, you have to log on to the website when you get home. Guess what, he forgot - and used it in both directions. £80 fine coming our way! (And he wonders why I'm so neurotic about stuff! :-D )

2 - The toilet broke and needed replacing. I called a plumber and he wanted £160 plus VAT for the first hour. DH is currently redeeming himself for item 1, with a youtube 'how to' video and a toilet from B&Q. Dodged a financial bullet there! And shredded the divorce papers. Phew!

3 - But the most annoying one - I just mucked up an accommodation reservation in a really daft way that has made it cost an extra £130. Nothing I can do to undo the damage - I've tried, it is what it is - basically I lost out on a one-off discount. Urgh. That's a lot of money to me!

When this kind of thing happens, it makes me reflect on how difficult it is to save / earn money, and how easy it is to lose it, if you're daft enough (like us!!) For example, last night I spent three hours on the internet researching baby equipment to save £30 on the price of a baby item for imminent DC2. I was dead chuffed to have saved the money and was all pleased for a bit. That's three hours of an evening to save £30. How have I just thrown away £130 then?! What is wrong with me?

Now I'm wondering what I could have done with that £130, all the lovely things I deny myself in the interest of saving money.

*15 books for DC
*Probably an entire layette (if you still use that word!) for DC2
*10ish reusable nappies
*A total hair makeover including dye, perm and other glitzy stuff
*260 cans of diet coke
*A babysitter and meal and cocktails out on two occasions for me and DH
*A fancy upgrade on the pram I want to get for DC2 but can't justify
*A fancier phone next time I upgrade
*proper leather boots this winter
*A Rymek keyboard (total frivolity!)
*Petrol for four and a half round trips to see my DPs
*Tickets to go and see DPILs
*A lot of cinema tickets
*A lovely(ier) birthday present for DH
*Some clothes that aren't in the sale for once! (And therefore probably fit a little better)

I could go on :-D

Then I was thinking, hmmm, what could I do to make up that money, little by little - and I realised the world doesn't really work that way. I found 18p on the street the other day and felt I'd won !!!

So aibu to ask you to cheer me up and tell me the face palm moments when you realise you'd lost / squandered / wasted a load of money, what would you have done with the money if you hadn't lost it, and whether you managed to do anything to make it up in the end? :-)

my first car :(, i bought a nissan micra 500 quid it was an awesome beast i loved it one day car wouldnt start, breakdown cover charged 50 pounds to tow to nearest garage 10 miles away... starter motor failed 150 quid for replacement and labour etc, to then drive it out of the garage and get it written off by a woman making a left hand turn in a right turn only lane.... they paid out for a new car then decided to make a claim against me this was may 2019... still waiting to go to court,..

Moved into my new house just before Christmas. Absolutely bloody freezing. Could not get the radiators to come on for the life of me. Finally gave in and called a gas repair fella. He came in, walked straight up to a round, white disc on the wall I had hitherto not noticed, and turned it to the right. Instantly the radiators started to crank up. It was a thermostat, and I had never had one before. He was extremely apologetic but said he couldn't not charge me the call-out fee as his company logged all calls and he'd get in trouble. He was probably in my house less than three minutes. This was over 15 years ago and it was £75, right before Christmas, right after buying a house.

Neighbour noticed our roof had a few broken skates. Roofer quoted £200 to replace, when they got there they told us we need a whole new roof for £12k and then a tax bill for £10k came through the door 🤦🏻‍♀️ sometimes you’ve just got to laugh and be grateful you have your health 😬

*slates

Bought a whole load of new school sports kit for my 13 daughter over Christmas hols (school had changed to a new type). Over £100 as every bloody thing has the logo on. In January she lost her whole PE bag. I asked her to look, and to ask at the office/lost property. Knowing that she is hopeless at looking for things I also phoned the office and they said no sign. I even went into school and rummaged in their lost property myself. I also contacted Southeastern lost property in case she left it on the train.
Finally gave up and replaced all the kit in late February. Brand new kit has then obviously sat in her room throughout lockdown. Third day back at school today and my younger daughter found the PE bag in a history classroom (older child hadn't done history all last school year as not one of her options). Urgh.

Today DS goldfish died.
The car broke down on the way to school. Had to walk to school and back then call the AA and get it towed to a garage.
Then I found out my blood pressure is really high. Decided to go for a bike ride to do exercise in bid to reduce it. Chain snapped on bike three minutes in.
And work was vile

Tomorrow’s got to be better right?

Thanks to a virtually invisible sign indicating no right turns allowed I've received 3 £70 fines that were accrued in less than an hour 😩😩 Tried appealing and even pointing out the legislation that demonstrates there's not adequate signage and got a letter today rejecting my appeal.

I once called out the AA (or similar) after my car wouldn't start. Waited a few hours in my work uniform. Turns out it was the car battery. AA man said to go and buy a new battery so I did on route to my DPs to collect DS2.
Was parked outside DPs for half an hour when someone drove into my parked car. Lovely car with brand new battery written off.

@mamabubs - you want to hire barrister Robert Cummings to fight your case. He recently fought for himself (and won) a case over signage.

My husband’s son didn’t pay his rent and we were his guarantor. Five. Grand. I’m still bitter a month later.

I paid nearly £3k to send our puppy for 3 weeks residential training as I could not cope with him (not my first dog but he was untrainable). I might as well let him eat the cash. He’s nearly two now and still a handful that I can’t walk without getting pulled over

Not quite in the same league as some on here (and I'm slightly in awe of @veralynn and her £92k on fabric!) but two spring to mind.

1 - Had a new front door fitted and toddled along to the local hardware shop for some spares cutting. And I was presented with 5 shiny new copies of the old front door key which I'd mistakenly given them.

2 - On holiday in France a couple of years ago, we decided to take a day trip over the border in Switzerland to visit Basel. Fired up sat nav and confidently followed the recommended route, only to be pulled over on the motorway exit in Switzerland and made to pay 40 euros for a vignette (sticker) which we discovered you need to drive on motorways in Switzerland.

It lasts for a year. We needed it for about a mile of motorway on a single day. And we'd taken 2 cars (party of 10). 80 sodding euros.

Probably serves us right for not checking, but it just never crossed our mind that the rules would be so different compared to France/Germany/Belgium/Luxembourg!

@hellokitty67

The toll bridge one...done it before and if you explain it's your first time they often let you off!

Also I recommend downloading Honey as a chrome extension and it adds the discounts all over the internet to your basket without you doing anything! Always saves me money!

Just signed up

Ok not as much as some poor PP’s have lost but I was still annoyed... paid £50 for fancy farm tickets to take the DCs, queue unexpected DC illness the night before. Website says ABSOLUTELY NO REFUNDS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Great. £50 down the 🚽

As a child, I lost a refund cheque of several hundred pounds that had been sent to DM. When the company sent a replacement cheque, it was for a tenth of the value it should have been. DM was desperate for funds and cashed it, and never saw the rest of the money.

@mummabubs

Thanks to a virtually invisible sign indicating no right turns allowed I've received 3 £70 fines that were accrued in less than an hour 😩😩 Tried appealing and even pointing out the legislation that demonstrates there's not adequate signage and got a letter today rejecting my appeal.

Appeal it higher!

@sapnupuas

I have 721 shares in a company which I paid £4.14 for.

Currently at 116.43.

You mean in total or each?

Moved to Oz, kitted out DS1 in new school uniform, normal and PE including tracksuit (all with school logo). Pulled DS1 out of shit school six weeks later, had to buy all again for new school 😐

My aunt and uncle offered us a trundle bed after we moved house as we were broke. Realised we couldn’t get them in the car so hired a £70 van. my oh parked our car in the van rental space except it was for a car club space. By the time we came back my car had been impounded. £300 to get it released 3 weeks before Xmas. I started my new job in January after 2.5years off work. Came back to my car and drove off slowly due to traffic when the steering went. Pulled over realised someone had let down two of my tyres! I was stuck for 5 hours till rescue could get the right tyres. It was snowing and I didn’t have loads of petrol so spent most of the time shivering.
Cost me £300...
Those are my worst but they haunt me!

Bought tickets to see a band, but did not notice that I was buying through viagogo website, who charged me £400 per ticket! Bought few tickets so amount was enormous. Fought and fought with that wretched company (viagogo), but it got me nowhere. To top it up, the Manchester bombing happened and I chickened out and didn't even go to my concert, which was couple weeks later. Can't bring myself to listen to the band to this day.

@Nurgleturtle

my first car :(, i bought a nissan micra 500 quid it was an awesome beast i loved it one day car wouldnt start, breakdown cover charged 50 pounds to tow to nearest garage 10 miles away... starter motor failed 150 quid for replacement and labour etc, to then drive it out of the garage and get it written off by a woman making a left hand turn in a right turn only lane.... they paid out for a new car then decided to make a claim against me this was may 2019... still waiting to go to court,..

A claim for what?!

Its usually dp who does these type of things. I waste money but I'm always looking for a discount, and I waste it buying shite, but shite I mean to buy.
DPS latest was, we put 4 new tyres on the car. Didn't really really need back ones, but just thought it would be best for the bad weather coming in. 10 days later, dp wrote off the car! That annoyed me.
He will get parking tickets, in my car, so in my name and not tell me about them so I can't pay them early. He actually ripped one off the windscreen before I got back to the car once, because I told him to get a ticket, and he didn't.
He wastes hundreds of pounds gambling (but that's a problem, not stupidity).
He has fallen for scams online a couple of times. Buying things like football boots, or crap for his work, that turn out to be fake, or just never turn up. He will still but things he needs from dodgy sites because he thinks he will save 50 quid, yet he will think nothing of spending a few hundred on a couple of bets now one day (we are by no means well off. We are a lot better off than we used to be though, so this used to be a much bigger problem. Like me literally worrying how I would feed our children).

For apparently hitting her, she drove into me and wrote my car off they paid out for a new car, then decided I was apparently 50 percent blaim to start with then now I'm fully at fault she states I drove into her lane mine was left and ahead hers was right only so I went forward she tried to turn left and is trying to blame me my daughter was 18 months old also in the car her claim is I its my fault and she has personal injury

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

Its usually dp who does these type of things. I waste money but I'm always looking for a discount, and I waste it buying shite, but shite I mean to buy. DPS latest was, we put 4 new tyres on the car. Didn't really really need back ones, but just thought it would be best for the bad weather coming in. 10 days later, dp wrote off the car! That annoyed me. He will get parking tickets, in my car, so in my name and not tell me about them so I can't pay them early. He actually ripped one off the windscreen before I got back to the car once, because I told him to get a ticket, and he didn't. He wastes hundreds of pounds gambling (but that's a problem, not stupidity). He has fallen for scams online a couple of times. Buying things like football boots, or crap for his work, that turn out to be fake, or just never turn up. He will still but things he needs from dodgy sites because he thinks he will save 50 quid, yet he will think nothing of spending a few hundred on a couple of bets now one day (we are by no means well off. We are a lot better off than we used to be though, so this used to be a much bigger problem. Like me literally worrying how I would feed our children).

Gosh it sounds like your hubby is a bit of a problem 🙁 I hope you're ok! The gambling would have me worried I must admit. I think you can ask gambling sites to block you.

@Nurgleturtle

For apparently hitting her, she drove into me and wrote my car off they paid out for a new car, then decided I was apparently 50 percent blaim to start with then now I'm fully at fault she states I drove into her lane mine was left and ahead hers was right only so I went forward she tried to turn left and is trying to blame me my daughter was 18 months old also in the car her claim is I its my fault and she has personal injury

Surely the court will find in your favour. I presume your insurance company investigated? I wish you the best of luck xxx