May 15th - 31st Financials

I am furious. Livid, even. I received my internet bill in the mail a few days ago and to my shock, it was exactly double what I usually pay. So, I gave the internet company a phone call to find out why I had been double charged, and to have the second charge removed, of course.

Keep in mind, I've always done telephone work of some kind. I even worked as a collections agent as well as a billing agent at one point, so I know my way around talking to customer service reps. I was confident that I could get this minor issue fixed in 5 minutes, maximum. It appeared to be a simple clerical error.

It turns out (unbeknownst to me), that my internet company has migrated all 160,000 of it's customers over to a new billing platform that is now demanding that all new customers pay for the month upcoming, rather than the month you've just used. I informed the rep that I was in fact, not a new customer but had been with this company for better than 2 years now. I also informed her that I had never been made aware of this change, therefore I would not be doubling up my payment and would continue paying my bills as I had been for the entire time I've been a customer. After a very long hold, she returned and told me that they were sorry that I had not been informed but that she was quite sure that there was an insert (read: those junk fliers that get stuffed in your bank statements and other bills) in one of my previous bills.

I examine everything in every envelope that comes to our home, I told her. And I had never once seen a notice alerting customers that in an upcoming bill you will be expected to pay double because the terms are changing. She basically told me that that was just too bad - nicely, mind you, but still. My efforts at speaking to her supervisor were to no avail, even when I pulled out my bag of tricks from my own customer service days. She wouldn't budge.

When I pulled out the trump card of opting out of my contract due to a change in the terms of service (a little known but very valid option), she claimed not to know and offered to transfer me to another department. I had, at this point, been on the phone for over half an hour and my daytime minutes are precious and very expensive. I declined.

This frustrates me - I budget for certain amounts each payday and yet again, more of our hard earned cash is going to be diverted from Papa Bear's credit card debt to this ridiculous bill. I'd take a bit of a stronger stand if I could, but it would cost me $7 a month in late fees if I did, so I'm just going to swallow my pride and anger and pay the damn bill. End rant.

Here's what we did with our paychecks this pay period:

-paid Papa Bear's cell bill (it was over by $9.02)
-paid the last half of the MSP bill for this month
-paid the internet bill (it was double)
-set aside the last half of the credit line interest payment
-put $50 gas in the car
-ensured the rent money is in the appropriate account
-spent $200 on groceries
-set aside the remaining half of the insurance payment (will be withdrawn tonight)
-withdrew our fun money

We were able to make a $60.00 payment onto Papa Bear's credit card - short of course, due to the internet bill fiasco as well as Papa Bear having missed a few hours of work this pay period therefore his check being a bit smaller than usual.

Have a look at the Debt & Earnings Tracker to the left in the sidebar to see the changes!

As I mentioned a few days ago, I had returned empties which brought the Snowflake total to $47.00 - so close to the $50 mark! I do have quite a bit of change piling up in the change tin so in the next few days I'll spend a bit of time to roll it, and am quite sure it will bring me up and over $50. I agree with the comments I received about putting it towards Papa Bear's credit card so we will be doing that as soon as I get the change rolled.

I'm looking forward to June - I'm going to be increasing our grocery budget because I'm finding I go over our current budget regularly what with buying diapers and wipes and formula now...so I'm going to increase it by $100 a month ($50 a shopping trip) to help combat the rising costs of food and baby needs. Unfortunately this money will be coming from the debt repayment but I'm hoping that somehow, some way we can still stay on track.

Another reason I'm looking forward to June is in the hopes that we can stick to our budget better - hopefully there won't be any more double internet bills or calls from the bank demanding money!

Take care, dear readers - enjoy the weekend!