Journey to happy skinflintedness

saraih

Twoblackcats, thank you! This bank has driven me quite bananas and that's saying something considering my last one nearly took me to court...

If I can not borrow anything I'm okay with being skint. The thought of borrowing again gives me the vapours

apple_muncher

Just popping in to say that you maybe able to get more paint from your local freecycle/freegle. People sometimes give away half used tubs. Or you could post a 'wanted' note there.

Congrats on winning against the bank. You sound a very persistent person and a forward planner. Well done!

emslovesmickey

I don't know if it helps but have you thought about getting your son a citizencard? It's only £15 which is a lot cheaper than a passport or driving license

saraih

Thank you appple muncher! I will sign up for freegle today. Normally I just leave my old furniture and tat outside and it's gone in five minutes, I didn't think about it as a source for bits and bobs.

I'd never heard of a citizencard emslovesmickey - this looks great, thanks very much! Way cheaper until I can get him a passport. I've got recent photos as well so no need to get another set done.

This board is saving me money left right and centre lately :beer:

saraih

Another good news day today.

Good - Son & heir helps out on the nearby market on Sundays, setting up and tearing down mostly - slowly the other stall owners have been getting him to run their errands, usually for a bit of product or a pound or so here and there. Now that he's got a good reputation they're asking him for more and more and he spent all morning there getting all the job offers he could shake a stick at! He's massively pleased with himself because it means they trust him.

Blah - I did manage to pick up a flourescent tube from there but also managed to drop it on the way home and it exploded. Had to wander back and get another and it was no cheaper than Wilkinsons in the end

Bad - I need to just stop shopping at Asda altogether. The food is much better quality from the discount stalls on the market and there would be more choice as son & heir doesn't eat meat. I can spend £60 on the market and get all the decent fruit & veg and have enough for all the M&S and Waitrose frozen stuff I can carry.

That adds a tenner travel but if I'm already spending £70 at Asda for bog standard stuff the only real difference is effort. The same £1 on shop brand soup could get me twice the amount in Heinz at the discount stalls. I do cook a lot from scratch but for the son's samosas and spring rolls and the fancier fruit & veg it's worth going down to the market. Quality is worth effort a lot of the time in food, I think.

Good - I spent a long time on this board last night and discovered the £10 a day people!!! an extra 70 a week would literally make me feel rich :rotfl: there are LOADS of ideas and sites. If so many people think this is doable I'm going to give this a serious try. Not going to stress out about meeting goals but even half that would make a huge difference.

Good - I really feel like this debt free life can be done in the long term, as long as nothing atrocious happens before a decent emergency fund can be set up. Have to be quite careful with my optimism because last time I saw the light at the end of the tunnel it was one of those old fashioned steam trains, complete with moustache twirling villain. I didn't suit the Victorian nightie or all that being tied up and lolling on the train tracks at all

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine today.

saraih

Nothing to spend money on today - good job because I haven't got any

Yesterday I got on with giving the windows a good washing inside and out. I use a long squeezy thing on an extendable handle but then I have to run back upstairs to check for streaks. Looks ridiculous but they're all sparkling now.

Last night I did a nice tuna pasta bake, then got a cardboard box to wander round the house collecting bits and pieces for Ebay. Nothing major, just working on the theory that it all adds up. Listed them this morning and we'll see how it goes. Also signed up to freegle and a couple of beer money sites.

Good - OH's prepaid prescription card came through at last. This is great news because he is due several prescriptions in the next week or so, and his catheters and associated things have to be on prescription now, the rules changed on that this month. Can't imagine how much that would be without a card.

Blah - getting a refund for the one prescription I paid for means £8.05 cash when it came out of the bank to begin with. I'll have to hide it until someone needs a taxi or it'll get spent.

Good - refund came in for the dead PSU and that went straight into the bank so no need for transfers.

Amusing - another two credit card 'preapproved' letters today. I can always line the cat litter tray with them but anyone would have to be unhinged to try and lend us money.

Good - Council tax and rent is all paid and I'm one week ahead with it, which will pay for the next five Monday month (in September I believe). I'd love to be further ahead just in case, but that won't happen for a while.

Blah - this month the cat will need litter, food and frontline. It doesn't usually happen this way and can be staggered but I recently used the last frontline and so it goes. It's more expensive than I would like because I buy in bulk to save quite a bit in the long run. Just hasn't worked in my favour this month. Next month is his injection and teeth check for the insurance, so I can't really put it off.

I have no idea how much money will be left at the end of this month because it all depends on this and that. Frustrating not to be able to plan ahead, but if I can beat £13 left over then it will be an improvement :beer:

Right then. Off to sort the shed out to see if there's anything I can offer on ebay or freegle. Clutter is a bitter enemy

saraih

Got a text this morning to see if I wanted to pick up three hours of cleaning work - yes I do, thank you

Because of the odd hours needed to be available for OH it is hard to come by a regular job but everyone in a ten mile radius knows that I'll do anything legal on short notice.

I remember when we both had professional degrees and 'owned' a house and had a good secure 'career' each :rotfl:

I also remember getting doorstep Provident loans to get school uniform when it all went pearshaped, so yes I certainly will clean a house out for minimum wage thank you very much, and if you need anything else call me

Good - popped today's money in the bank on the way back so it can't be frittered.

Good - shuffled off 100 into the son & heir's savings. Always feel better when that's done.

Made a quorn lasagne last night, it works out cheaper if we all eat veggie a few days so I don't have to do two separate meals. It was okay but I'd have loved a nice bacon sarnie today. Chile and rice tonight, that will use up all my odds and ends of packets.

Right-o then. Best check ebay to see if anyone fancied a battered box set of DH Lawrence or something.

parsniphead

You have to learn to roll with life's ups and downs don't you? Actually when I was on holiday recently I was walking throught he town when a lady asked if she could tell me my fortune. I said no, politely. As I walked away she shouted after me that I have had a lot of ups and downs in my life!!!!! I just laughed and shouted back who hadn't.

I have been saving for my soon too. I have managed to save him a nice little chunk so far which is amazing as I have been on this planet 43 years and still have about 83p I think. It does feel good to save for the young ones though.

Good luck with ebay.

saraih

Too funny about the fortuneteller, if I could have seen my future back then I'd have been shocked myself but you have to go with it.

Saving for the youngun is very comforting isn't it? a lot of my early problems were down to never having that buffer and being in debt right from the start (Poll Tax back then) if only my parents would have explained money to me - when I moved out I didn't know how to sign up for a water bill. Gosh I was an idiot

saraih

Nothing to report again, no news is good news in this house :j

Another no spend day and it will stay like this until the weekend, I try to keep any town visits to the one day a week because of the travel money. OH has no appointments this week so that money is saved and my son mostly hangs out here with his friends or at their houses so he hasn't needed any.

Still worried as to how the rest of the month will go. I can plan ahead so far and then it's all up in the air. Don't like it I'd love to squeeze in a theatre trip for us before the son starts college - theatre is cheaper than the cinema because of travel and not buying popcorn. No idea if this will be feasible so I didn't mention it.

Can't go out today as I'm waiting for OH's medication to be delivered, so a bit stuck in a rut. Found a few more bits for ebay so I suppose I ought to list them - nobody will buy them if I don't! Nobody is buying the things I did list, but there's a few more days yet.

Good - Cancelled all three CRA subscriptions. I only needed them to check that they were all clear now, there were two that didn't drop off Equifax when they should have but a quick phone call sorted that.

Good - The bank swap all seems to have gone through so there should be a bonus put in soon.

Blah - Child Benefit sent an extremely vague letter that explains nothing and will need a phone call.

Blah - We've made quite a few finance related calls this month. Last month it cost us £10. At least the doctors have stopped using a premium number, I really resented that.

Good - Last nights chilli left enough to be frozen for another meal and the quorn wasn't awful. Still longing for real meat though so it'll have to be separate cooking tonight.

Off to do something that has nothing to do with money at all. Don't know what, but if it's on a spreadsheet I'm not doing it