Vala's frugal journey to be MF!!

Vala-Mal-Doran

Hello - Its been a while!
Im probably going to be on here quite often over the next few weeks as im off recovering from laparascopic surgery.
(Quicker recovery my a*se!)

On the plus side its given me time to sit/lie and look over all of the mse forums for the last week and tidy up my accounts (and hard drive when i feel up to it :eek: )

Today is the last day iv got my OH looking after me as he's back to work but that means more MSE ways will kick in tomorrow. We have had the heater on a lot this week - whilst I know i have to keep warm etc, im moving around a little more now and am happy with a blanket etc! Its little things like that which make me anxious about our electric bill!

I am looking forward to being able to cook again too (whats wrong with me i know!?) but listening to the clattering and swearing that comes from the kitchen when he cooks, its better for my stress levels :rotfl:

Hope all is well with people!

edinburgher

Welcome back Vala, hope you're not in too much discomfort?

Vala-Mal-Doran

Small steps Ed, I hadnt realised how rubbish I am at being a patient, nor how active I am usually! My random spontaneous DIY sessions have come to a swift halt now! So im writing lists of things that need doing for either OH or me to do when im better .

Vala-Mal-Doran

Pretty dull day here today, not looking forward to going on my 'walk' later(read:shuffle!)
Im pretty [STRIKE]stingy[/STRIKE] msewhen im on my own In the house, I have my blankets nearby and not putting any heater on until my mum comes round later. I also boiled one full kettle this morning for my cuppa then decanted the rest into flasks for using the rest of the day. :money: OH thinks its ott but I know thr kettle uses loads of electricity and with me being at home all day il be using more than normal anyway so just trying to balance out where I can!

id like to say that being at home has meant nsd's but internet shopping is withiin my grasp! Thank fully only fleabay items but still!

edinburgher

At the risk of starting a full scale frugal argument, doesn't it make more sense only to boil the water you need? I'd always assumed that it took more energy to boil a full kettle as it will take proportionally more energy to bring water to boiling point?

In any case, make sure you keep yourself cosy, recuperation is harder in an igloo!

Vala-Mal-Doran

Ahh you see I always assume it takes more energy just to get the kettle going each time than to do it just the once. (twice today as is FREEZING in here and i need my hot water bottle! )

Had to have the heater on for a little while to warm up after being outside in the garden for some fresh (incredibly fresh!) air.

Not much else to report to be honest, trying to use my time wisley when I can and sort through my photos on my hard drive and generally have a digital declutter - can anyone suggest a decent (free) online storage system? I use dr0pb0x for some things but I dont know if its big enough to hold all of my photos etc.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Vala-Mal-Doran

Been trying to sort through my finances today - Since we moved onto the new fixed rate, we had planned to move the excess plus the regular OP over to a savings account once the fee for the move had been paid off, meaning there should be at least £350 to be paid into the account to make up for a couple of months payments (As I havent been on top of it) But the joint account doesnt look like it could stand that being taken out - I cant work out why it appears to be so low - we have had a few changes with the V tv box but they wernt big costs, no more than £20 or so, food bills arnt looking particularly high so Im wondering if its petrol!?
I will have to get the statements up tomorrow and sit and work it out. It really stresses me when my OPs are dissapearing somewhere!

edinburgher

Do you use a spreadsheet to track spends (whether actual or nominal)?

I use a simple sheet that lists our salaries for the month, any outstanding liabilities (reserved savings etc.) and each budget item for the month. I then 'zero' each budget item as it is paid for, leaving me with a single figure 'spare' at the bottom of the sheet.

It took us over a year to marry up our imagined and actual budget when we bought our first home

Vala-Mal-Doran

Not for the joint account (not for either actually but I dont have this problem with my own account) The joint account is mainly direct debits for bills and petrol - theres usually very little change in it at all, I still havent had chance to sit and analyse but again think its down to either petrol or the V/Tivo thing that was supposed to be cheaper but they seemed to have charged us more for one random month. Will be making a phone call to them tomorrow I think.

In better news - I took advantage of the MSE energy winter thingy and have sent my application off to the new provider, it will really only work out between £5-£10 a month better off but with cashback too its better off in my pocket than theirs! My current fix would have run out in March - this will fix us for 12 months from now When we will have decided if/when we are moving house, having possible little ones etc

I have just seen however that £242 is sitting in credit with my current provider :eek: will be onto them to get that back tomoro, I could have got it sorted tonight but the person wanted me to go out to the meter to update it but theres no way im going out there right now! The scary witches might get me :eek: Also i know as its winter - the bills will probably be slightly higher than quoted so im thining of putting that credit straight into the MOP account with the intention of topping up the joint account any extra it needs. That will certainly help make up for the missing OP's for now.

Pleased I finally have something substantially mse to report.:T

edinburgher

Keep an eye on anything to do with the energy club thingy - we ended up in a nightmare switch that took over 6 months - all of which started with an error on their website/forms that led to garbage data being transmitted to start our application. Thousands of others have used them with no issues, so don't worry, but do keep tabs on it