The good times are over we are told as inflation hits my pocket more than I dare to accept.

Direct debits have caused me a problem, okay I received letters saying that the payments would be going up but individually they didn’t seem to amount to anything, now, when I see how many and how much I am sweating a little.

The bank’s not bothered they just accept the payment request and pay up, well they did until yesterday. I received a letter from the bank saying that insufficient funds are in my account to make a payment therefore it has not been made, and that a charge is made for them to tell me! A second letter was from the building society, saying they had had a payment request refused by my bank and that it was now due and that they would be charging me for telling me also!

I sit down and stare at the letters trying to fathom out what to do. Although the money is there in my monthly budget, I have caught myself out again with being paid monthly and this being one of the 5 week months, and on top of this I have two charges of £35 each of which I have not included in any budget.

At the bottom of the statement from the bank it shows how much I have put in and how much has gone out, the figures seem to be the wrong way around!

My wage goes in today, pity it’s a few days late for the payment, in the days of cash in hand I would have been able to pay at a ‘desk’, a few days here and there never seem to matter then.

I accept its my fault, I have agreed to all these terms and conditions, but it’s a bit of a cleft stick really as you can’t get the utility services without a bank account, in fact all payments now revolve around the banks, I thought there was a monopoly commission?

I remember my mum and dad; they had tins for this and that which they put in each week. The insurance man used to come around each Thursday night, the milkman either Friday night or Saturday morning. Direct debit doesn’t feel like you are ‘spending’ anything, and your wage going directly into the bank never feels like you receive any ‘money’.

I wonder how truly vulnerable people actually manage?

In the newspaper today are reports about how much the government is spending on new projects, and how much they are reducing benefits, and how much they are going to have to increase the taxes to pay for them. Alongside another report details how much the leaders in government are getting what seem to be automatic expenses (?) whatever that means. A lavish banquet is being prepared for some visiting dignitary, and the Town Hall offices are being totally refurbished as there fittings are 10 years old. My settee is ten years old, so is my fridge and television and bed, I could go on except it seems like I am rubbing my own nose in it as I can not see when I will be able to replace them.

I read that the local football club is crying, they can’t afford to pay there players the thousands a week they are demanding, well it makes no difference to me as I can’t afford the £20 ticket to go and watch them each week anyway.

Beer is dearer than petrol, looking in the supermarkets even some of the water is dearer than petrol.

I’m having a right good whinge here, but its getting me nowhere fast, I still have to balance my own budget somehow.

A thought has struck me, why can’t I have cash, why can’t I go to the offices up town like my mum used to and pay over the counter with cash. I can’t spend more than I’ve got then can I

Why do I ‘have’ to have a bank account, why can’t they accept even a token of responsibility?

Sometimes I think that the old ways were not always a bad thing!