Win Some - Lose Some

purplefran

Today's Musings.

Thank goodness for the rain, the garden seriously needed it. With the rain and the sunshine/warmth I might get a few more runner beans & courgettes, more FREE food lovely I have kale, beetroot, celeriac, celery, spring onions, chillis, fennel, herbs, butternut squash and spaghetti squash in my garden and a few tomatoes left to ripen. I would love to get an allotment too. By the back door I also have two boxes of salad/herb leaves growing to save me buying bags of leaves at £1+ a time. I love FREE food! Well almost, I buy the seeds when they are 50p a packet in early September. 1000 lettuce seeds at 50p is a lot of lettuce and a huge saving. I mix the lettuce leaves up with herbs, last year's beetroot, peas etc to make salad pickings more interesting.

I already practise many of the basics of frugal living but I have to put more in place. I have to stop my random spending, convincing myself that I really need that new top, another frying pan etc. I HAVE to divert more money to paying off debts rather than accumulating more. If I don't learn about good money management now, how on earth will I cope when I retire and my income drops? I want the freedom from the drudgery of work and the freedom from debt. I WILL do this.

Positive Actions Today :
£65 from Specsavers
£10 - savings - total £50 - more squares coloured in!
1% paid to Next - total 9% - and another square!
Contacted Barclays HO about mortgage exit fees and disgraceful customer service, they are looking in to it for me.
Made a 9 portion veggie lasagne from garden produce and stores. Tonight's dinner and some to freeze.

Spent :

£4.32 in Tesco - bananas, oranges, lasagne sheets (everyday) & soy milk (long life everyday)

purplefran

Morning people! Lots of lovely rain again. I like this; rain early morning - glorious sunshine all day. Perfect.

I am going to make a couple of confessions now (confessions are secret, so don't tell anyone else please) 1) I hate housework and am really bad at it 2) I have too much stuff, it clutters up the place. So, with my new positive state of mind, I am going to set myself two small challenges each night for the next day to clean and declutter this house. I can even sell some 'stuff' to raise money towards my debt reduction; win win there then:)

I will check in again later, but now I think another cup of tea is in order as I am not going anywhere in this weather! Have a good positive, non spendy day

DawnW

I enjoyed reading your updates Fran - you write very well. Is that what you do for your job?

I took early retirement earlier this year at age 60, after undertaking the kind of planning you are doing now. OH and I paid off debts, bought a house and did it up (ok this was the other way round), and now live simply on our small pensions, minimising expenses and growing as much of our own food as possible in our little garden We occupy ourselves by each having a tiny business, paying hobbies really, which just about break even according to the accountant / HMRC.

Good luck with your plans. I will follow with interest

purplefran

Thanks DawnW that is a lovely compliment. I don't actually write for a living, but I would love too.
Great to hear that it is possible to survive this and retire with grace, thanks for your support.
Enjoy your weekend xxx

purplefran

Today's Musings.

This is not about making excuses why I am in debt, but more of a trying to understand me. I had years and years of being a single mum to three children with no money and lots and lots of money worries and stress. My ex husband was about as useful as a chocolate firescreen, in fact, he actually made matters a lot worse. The only way we survived was with a lot of help from parents and grandparents. Eventually I got a very well paid job; hated the job, loved the money. At last I had money to spend and boy did I! If I wanted it, I bought it. I tried to give my kids all the things that they didn't have when they were younger, I had a real guilt trip about what they had been deprived of. Although now of course I know better, they were not deprived of the things that mattered like love and attention.

I also started my habit of stockpiling, I think this started as a subconscious safety net, in case things went pear shaped again. Stocking up on bargains to save money is good, buying 3/4/5+ of an item 'just in case' is not good, it means more debt to pay for it and more 'stuff' to clutter. This is an OCD habit that I have to break. Why, oh why didn't my OCD find it's outlet in housework?!

In short, the sensible course would have been to stay out of debt and saved the money for a rainy day. But I have always done things the hard way and have taken until now to learn my lesson. But I obviously wasn't ready at that point in my earlier life. On the other hand, my kids are all good with money, so I think they learnt from our days of skintness (like my new word - I couldn't justify the word poverty, we had a roof over our heads and we ate). This is a new beginning for me, I love my hubby, my new home, my kids and grandkids. I have a new job that I enjoy and one that gives me some flexibility, albeit with slightly less money. So now I feel in a better place and more positive than I have in many years. I am from Essex, so....... THE ONLY WAY IS UP!

Positive Actions Today :

At a friends today, so free dinner, took wine from the stores. Great night.
Signed up for an Iceland loyalty card.

Spent :

Nothing - hurrah!!!

Tomorrow's Challenges:
Clean shower tray and screen thoroughly
Go through pile of gardening magazines that I get from Mum and give to neighbour.

purplefran

Morning!
The sun is shining here and I don't have a hangover after last night! Will get up in a minute and have a shower and then complete the first of today's challenges - thoroughly clean the shower. Is housework allowed on a Sunday? Surely there is an old law that says it is banned!
Today I am planning another NSD; plenty to get on with, without hitting the shops. I think I might bake some goodies and make granola for next week's breakfast.
Anyway, got to get going now, so see you later. Have a good day x

purplefran

Something bad happened last night that I am not going in to detail about. Suffice to say that it ended up costing me £60 and I didn't get my challenges done.
I didn't put the £60 on a cc, which is good in a way, but now I am going to have to cut back elsewhere to make it through the month.
But today is a new day. I do have to spend a little money for work purposes today, so not a NSD and my challenges will carry forward to today.

Onwards and downwards with the debts. Positive thoughts to all xxx

monz

Aw dont worry about it. there will always be setbacks x

purplefran

Thanks Monz. I have had a really bad couple of days and I need to get back on track and get back to positive thinking. Hopefully the worse is behind me now and I can brighten up and get on with things again.

Have a good day x

monz

Hey hope you are feeling better today x