Get a grip woman!

beanielou

Please stay 

Suffolk_lass

@trix-a-belle this link is to the British Beekeepers Association map of swarm collectors  - just pop your postcode in

debtfreeoneday

Same as others have commented. Stay and don’t worry. Life goes on after debt and mortgage but we don’t stop living the same way and trying to save and invest. 

Karmacat

Here's another one chipping in, asking you to stay.  An awful lot of people getting debt free then want to become mortgage free - and with you still being in the dfw board, it's a great showcase for that journey.   You absolutely don't sound smug: you sound like you live in a small village with an active community, nothing smug about that.

When I was almost entirely on the dfw board, what I remember is a lot of people finding it hugely difficult, once they were debt free, to find the balance between spending a bit more, but not going back into debt.  Your diary is a really good advert for that, because you have a comfortable standard of living, but you're sharing on here the work you do to get it and keep it that way.

Baileys_Babe

As others have said please keep posting this is a wonderful read and you share the most fantastic knowledge (like today's swarm collectors map). Lots of people have the aim to become debt free, mortgage free but no plan as to how to manage once they have reached their goal this diary is a very good example.

You do not come across as smug.

trix-a-belle

Thank you for the link, that adds some more names. Do I recall you have had to take some of yours several miles out when relocating hives, I guess so they don't go back to the original spot? Does this need to happen with swarms also?

I clearly semi talked it up as I had a scout come down my chimney this afternoon so they were swiftly ushered out the window & a small fire set going to deter anymore (yes i'm sweltering) & i'm clearly going to have to look up getting the top of the chimney bee proofed as I seem to live in bee central station. I did have a quick look around outside and couldn't hear or see another swarm

Suffolk_lass

Thank you all so much for the feedback on whether I stop posting. I had not considered the "setting an evidence-based example" and yes, although many move from this board to the mortgage free board, we viewed this as part of our debt, so we stayed with this board. Maybe that's why I never received the mortgage free badge 

I might not post every day but I will give regular updates. I also regularly post on Save £12k in 2022 (not £12k in my case), the monthly Grocery Challenge because it makes me track my household spend (not just groceries!) and on Reverse meal Planning, where there are loads of ideas for substituting ingredients you already have for what the recipe says, and how we try and cook from what we have in already. They keep me accountable.

On both RMP and GC we share our approach to shopping for stores or in bulk where it helps us to save money). For example, if I get my milk delivered (more expensive you might argue) I shop less frequently, and living a 10 mile diesel (£1.80+/l) round trip from the SM, that saves me from temptation (I am terrible for that), buying things on the off-chance (like the box of blancmange powder dated BBE1998 I still have [what's to go off?] in my store cupboard) or the mindless "usual things" or offers I don't need. I just abandon all discipline (ooh, shiny) in the SM. 

I think the big thing is knowing your own weaknesses. One woman had basically bought so many Bogof toilet rolls she had insulated her loft with them. Whereas YS savings are a real issue for some. They think they are saving money (and some do) but buying more than you will use (fresh or frozen) is basically paying the SM to store their food or paying them to compost their food waste (some fruit and veg). Don't get me wrong, I buy YS meat (and freeze), and if it's what is on my list, F&V too - such as when I am cooking for the Village Lunch, a bag of wonky fruit mixed with fresh YS strawberries is great for that day's lunch. 

@trix-a-belle when bees swarm they lose their sense of home so there is no need to follow the 3 foot or 3 miles guide (remembering bees don't read books) and so once collected as a swarm, they can be taken anywhere suitable. If they don't like it, they will leave again but if it's a hive with frames of foundation they will draw the comb so the Queen can start laying. The swarm we collected are in a small hive called a nucleus (5 frames) and when we checked yesterday they had drawn 4 frames. If they have started to draw comb they have undertaken orientation flights and know where they live, so relocating becomes more complicated. I refer to 3 foot or 3 miles - the received wisdom is that this is how you relocate them. Another theory is if you move them at night (after all the flying bees are back in for the night), you can stuff grass in the entrance and they have to chew their way out so they reorientate to their new location. We have not tested this yet but we are relatively new to this!

Karmacat

This is great, I'm glad you've taken it to heart - and how amazing to hear more about swarm relocation!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - I've been having similar thoughts about my own diary. I started it to show that even latecomers to budgeting CAN turn around their woeful past spendy ways, & indeed I found my diary helped keep me focused on us staying debt-free. Now that we have no debt, have paid off our mortgage & are concentrating on trying to save more, I have been thinking my diary doesn't really qualify as a DFW one. I suppose it's more 'old-style' than anything with all my grow-your-own, preserving, cooking from scratch, zero food waste, making things, etc. I was interested to see that you've been having similar thoughts about your diary. I enjoy the discussions on mine -it's a nice little community - but I do have some qualms about posting that X has gone into our savings, etc, or which savings pot to prioritise at a time when so many people are struggling to stretch their income to basic provisions & hot water. Or is that my Lefty guilt? I don't know.
F

EssexHebridean

Suffolk_lass said:

I'm consciously posting less frequently on here as I'm aware this diary sits in with the debt-free wannabees diaries and is no longer about our debts and must come across as incredibly smug to others who are really struggling. I could start another but we don't have a mortgage any more, I don't find the savings threads very friendly and we are not exactly old-style, although apparently growing fruit and veg and how I use it is now (it's what I have always done because each time a seed I have planted, germinates, it lifts my spirits).

Oh lord - please stay because if you go, that puts more pressure on me to do the same, and I agree completely on the not finding the savings threads as friendly, OSers are generally lovely but they really don't "get" the DFW vibe in a lot of cases, and as you know we too saw off the mortgage with a boot up it's behind a few years ago now (and - shhhh....but I really didn't get on over o MFW, either!)! I don't want to be (MSE) homeless! *places tiny violin back into its case and stashes away on a shelf* 

I get you on being wary about appearing smug too - I posted the other day about not putting half our joint account surplus into PBs yet - realising as I did so I was talking about an amount in excess of what a lot of folk on here spend on food every month. (In fairness, an amount in excess of what I spent on food last month too, but still!) and I do worry that it could easily come across as gloating, or indeed just being here being "playing at being poor" - which I absolutely try not to do. I currently justify my DFW existence by the fact that hopefully some stuff on my diary might help others at least a bit, and I definitely think that applies to you, too. 

Edit to add - all of the above applies to foxgloves, too!