The Big Adventure

Pearla*Merle

Fantastic to hear how well things are going, Goldie :T And that extra income generated total is looking F A B. :T

I've been so out of the loop but I'm having a major catchup of diaries at long last - wanted to pop by and say hello, and offer a huge albeit much delayed congratulations on the early retirement! Looking forward to catching up on your diary over the next few days and see what you've been up to

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello Goldie,

Your retirement sounds lovely - you are doing lots of the things that we would like to be doing. And I wish that we could stick to the budget like you do - we seem to go over every month. I keep a spending diary but I need to be more forensic about it as the supermarket total is very high, but it is not all food, it includes birthday cards, gifts, etc, which don't get accounted for separately. I must try harder!

Goldiegirl

Pearla*Merle wrote: »

Fantastic to hear how well things are going, Goldie :T And that extra income generated total is looking F A B. :T

I've been so out of the loop but I'm having a major catchup of diaries at long last - wanted to pop by and say hello, and offer a huge albeit much delayed congratulations on the early retirement! Looking forward to catching up on your diary over the next few days and see what you've been up to

Hi, Pearla, good to 'see' you again.


At the start of the year I made a year plan, and I intended to carry on eBaying, use coupons and points, buy when things I use are on offer, try and use cashbacks when I could, etc, etc


I thought I'd keep a running total just out of interest, and frankly I'm gobsmacked about how all the little actions mount up to a big sum.


I'll catch up with your diary when I get the chance.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

Hello Goldie,

Your retirement sounds lovely - you are doing lots of the things that we would like to be doing. And I wish that we could stick to the budget like you do - we seem to go over every month. I keep a spending diary but I need to be more forensic about it as the supermarket total is very high, but it is not all food, it includes birthday cards, gifts, etc, which don't get accounted for separately. I must try harder!

Not long to go for you, and you'll have a nice long break to do retirement things


The supermarket spending thing you mentioned is exactly what I do - if it's not food/cleaning materials/toiletries, I include it in my 'general' spending section, rather than 'supermarket'. It seems to work, otherwise, I'd be thinking I'd spent £400 on food !:eek:

Goldiegirl

A couple of days ago I said we hadn't got much planned this week, but we've found things to do....and spent a bit of money on the way!

We have a very nice little shopping centre about 5 -10 minutes drive away. However, we decided to walk there and back for a coffee, as they've just opened a row of new 'eateries'. It was about a 40 minute walk each way, so we had some exercise, and it was most pleasant sitting at an outside table with our coffee.

Before we left, we decided to look at the BHS sale. I know it's wise to stay away from shops, but I found a top, in a style that I've been admiring all summer - loose and flowing, with long sleeves, so I can be cool, and protect myself from the sun. At half price (£12.50) I thought it was too good to pass up, so I made the purchase. At the till, it was rung up at £6' so it ended up being a complete bargain.

Today we did something we've being saying we'd do for about the last 20 years. There's a Harvester about 20 minutes walk in the other direction, so we went up there for lunch. It seemed the ideal time, as Halifax have given me a 10% cash back offer for Harvester.

On Sunday we are going to our friends who live near Camberley. They want to go to a National Trust property near them (we are members)' so we'll probably have a coffee and cake out, but we will go back to theirs for a meal afterwards

Sunday sees the end of the 'accounting month', and our expenditure will definitely be less than our income, so I'm happy with all our activities.

The other day my kitchen scales started malfunctioning, as the display wouldn't show the weight in full. I use my scales a lot, so this was a bit of a pain. I was fully intending to by a new pair, but miraculously they are fine again, so that's a bit saved

ourcornercottage

Most scales have a really long guarantee I sent my salter ones back to them last year when they malfunctioned and they replaced with new free of charge. I'd had them a good few years too. It's worth checking out :-)

Goldiegirl

Yes mine are Salter too.

They seem as good as new now, but if they start playing up again I'll look into the guarantee.

Thanks for the tip:)

BookWorm

Hi Goldie - well done on your bargainous top

Re: the scales. Could it be down to needing a new battery? Mine did a similar thing last year and I changed the battery and all good again. You can get them very cheaply off Bay of E

Goldiegirl

I did wonder if it was the battery, but we only changed it a few months ago. We have got spares if needs be. But, weirdly, it's still fine now, so we've put it down to 'one of those things'!

Goldiegirl

We had a nice day out yesterday.

We went to our friends, and visited a National Trust property near then in Hampshire, then they did us a meal at their house.

We didn't get back until about 10.30pm, which is quite late for us these days. At one point in my life, I thought 10.30pm was a good time to leave the house for a night out!:rotfl:

So we're taking it easy today, just pottering around at home

Watty1

How times change. Was out with friends last week and I was driver. One asked if we could stop on the way home at a garage to he could buy loo rolls and washing up liquid. We did laugh. Once upon a time after a night out it would be stop for a kebab - now - its loo rolls and washing up liquid