Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Hi, yes I have tried it, I do a LOT of washing and have used 2/3's of the first batch, its fine but I do add a few drops of lemon oil, sometimes vinegar, it goes in the drawer.

Next plan will be to make some kitchen/bathroom sprays up, although I do love my febre*ze cotton fresh floor cleaner, so may have to stick with using that as the samll is nice.

I am more than a bit gutted as I seem to have no money left over for may, I can use the cc from about the 13th, and there is around £100 left but I thought there was more :eek: It must be the clothes I bought the kids and dh's fish tank. Thats what happens when I don't check the accounts and write everything down each time. Must do better this month.

newgirly

Yesterday I bought some frozen bits in ic*land and put some petrol in, hopefully enough to get through until cc day! The petrol will go quickly though as its tipping down again and I usually drive the kids to school in the rain.

I have friends for lunch, so we are having pizza and salad today, homemade might have been a bit cheaper, but £1 a pizza is not too bad and frees up time to tidy up beforehand.

For the last few days I have been slowly working my way through frugal queens blog, does anyone else read it? Its very inspiring how she re-uses /makes stuff and tries to enjoy life in a simple way, something I struggle to do with my family, dh is the worst at getting up every weekend and asking "what are we doing today" Meaning where are we going, which often involves spending money. Plus the kids are always going to someones birthday party/meal out/cinema trip at the weekends. I think it must be easier to say no for yourself , but harder to impose our fnancial choices on the kids, of course if we could not afford these things it would be different situation.
Case in point today- the boys football team have got through to playoffs at wembly, ds1 has a season tcket and lives for football, ds2 is also desperate to go, tickets are £33 ish each I found out last night, my parents need an answer before 9am this morning, I know if I say no my parents would buy it anyway which I could not let them do, we have just bought a bloomin fish tank and a tent for goodness sake but its £66 that will have to come from somewhere.:think:

Anyway hope evryone had a good weekend.

greent

Hi newgirly

I started reading frugalqueen's blog about a year ago - and I still follow it, but I do find here a little bit sanctimonious at times at unrealistic. There are only here and her OH and they both appear to earn good salaries, so they have made great progress and cleared their debts and now have started on their mortgage (which was int only) - but sometimes she gets a bit too on her soap box for my liking. Her blog reads sometimes as though she's doing all this because they HAVE to (ie no money) - but that's clearly not the case - she does have the luxury of choice. She doesn't like it if people disagree with her, either, I've noticed. It is also much easier to make the decision to go without heating etc when you are all adults, rather than have children in the house. And then she does the 'I do this/ that/ the other' to save money - and then goes back on it swiftly. (eg: NO spending at all, making own bread) Don;t get me wrong, we're all human, but most people that I read don't come across so preachy about it all, imo

I do still read her blog, though...

And on the gloop front, for anyone interested in how to use it/ where else you can use it, see this post: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=12317463&postcount=1117 I save little hotel bars of soap for it

newgirly

Hi greent, you have hit the nail on the head there! Choosing to go without yourself or as a couple is very different to imposing very frugal ways on your kids. I do find she may have the odd good tips for receipes, but I am often more inclined to read about them than cook them.
Coincidently last night whilst reading an old blog I realised that her income is a bit more than ours, ( not sure if that included her OH) as we have 3 kids at home, 1 dog, 2 cats and fish!

A big difference between needing to be frugal and wanting to for a lifstyle change. That said though, its interesting to read about someone who is not embarrassed to admit to frugal ways in public, every time I mention the odd thing to friends or family they look at me as if I have 2 heads.:D

gallygirl

Is this the Cornwall woman?

I agree it is easier to be frugal as a lifestyle choice than have it imposed it upon you - for 2 reasons: mindset and opportunity.

If you have a very low income and have to watch every penny it must be very draining and demoralising, whereas doing it as a lifestyle choice is positive and empowering - that makes all the difference. A bit like Pulp's Common People "when you're laying in bed at night, watching 'roaches climb the wall, if you called your dad he could stop it all".

Secondly - I'm waiting here on my AF order. £40odd pounds and the couscous etc will last me a year. I spent £9 on 3 big boxes of my favourite teabags last week. Last year I stocked up with 2 years worth of dishwasher tablets and 1 year of soap powder and conditioner with Tesco glitches. I can bulk buy, and when I go the company shop I have a big enough freezer to stock up on cheap food, etc. I can AFFORD to be frugal. The 'woman on the 15th floor with 2 kids and no working lift' relying on benefits can't. And even if she could, she would have nowhere to store it and may well have damp etc so normal supplies would be at risk anyway. No car, 2 buses to get to Tesco to take advantage of DTD glitches, no computer to find out about them in the 1st place, etc.

You're right about the admitting things - I don't even admit to selling on ebay for goodness sake! We do have a bit of a charity shop culture at work so we are all happy to boast of bargains there, and will send others out to look at stuff we have spotted for them .

newgirly

:T Very well said GG, it is easier to be a bit more frugal the better off you are, it also helps to have space to store stuff.

I have not had to cook dinner tonight as dd has a micro burger and fries as a treat as the twins are out for tea, and we are having freezer leftovers, so I have cooked up yet more laundry gloop, this time I am going to take greent's advice and not dilute it. I am sure the last lot was made a couple of weeks ago, and I do a stupid amount of washing , I might work out this time how many loads it does, as 2 weeks does not sound long, but its probably 60 loads.:o

newgirly

Not a good day today, twins got pushed in mud by older boys and ds2 hit his head on playground, the school are dealing with the matter but I'm not over the moon as ds2 got so upset he had his first asthma attack in years

Anyway after a shower and a big bag of chips he recovered ok, and after a big glass of wine I am feeling a bit less stressed. Does the worry ever end with them though?

I currently have the heating on full pelt trying to get blazers dry before school tomorrow, I don't want to risk the tumble dryer.

This morning I had a haircut at an actual shop for the first time in I don't know how many years, £19.95 which was not too bad, we have a surprise 60th this saturday for dh's friend and its in a hotel with casino tables/magicians etc and is black tie so it was a good reason tho finally get a haircut. I am recycling the whole outfit from what I have had for years and borrowing the shoes , so at least a bit mse.;)

Flyladying was going well until today when everything went out of the window, will have to get sorted tomorrow though as family are all over for a takeaway and the house needs a good tidy.

Oops, nearly forgot, I flooded the kitchen as well buy putting undiluted laundry gloop into the drawer, my stupid mistake, it was a bit funny though as the dog was sat on her bed in the middle of the floor which was a river flowing around her bed by the time I realised.

pink_poppy

Hope your DS2 is fully recovered ~ how awful that he got pushed in the first place but to then have an asthma attack because of it Hope the School punish the bullies involved.

Sounds like you have had an eventful day ~ had to laugh at the doggie bed 'island'

You definitely deserved that glass of wine.

never_too_old

You deserve the wine,hope things are better for your son tomorrow

newgirly

Thanks guys, he was worried about going in to talk to the head of house as he is quite shy, they could'nt ask him what happened as he was crying so much yesterday

I have made another about turn with the finances, I have decided to stop paying the minimum on the 0% cc and changed the DD to clear the whole lot by the end of this year at £392.47 per month, to do this I will either have to leave the mortgage IO and not send the paperwork back I have to change it to repayment, or stop the bulk of the isa saving I have just started.

Its probably best to reduce the savings I think? I just would like to be able to say I have acheived something this year, not much has come off the mortgage so it would be nice to at least be debt free (mortgage aside )