Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

Sunshine_girl2

Glad you enjoyed your walk with family even if it was a rainy one. It's very windy here today, woke me up this morning. Enjoy your weekend and rest before your busy work week. 

Willowtree222

Sometimes the break from school is just what we need to refresh and do a few different things. A week off does seem to go a lot faster than a week in school, doesn't it? x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

Boo to the MOT cost 👎 Good you can get the Mr M discount, it all helps 👍 I get discount at Mr M courtesy of DD working there, used to be 10% but convinced it’s gone down to more like 5%. I work as an essential worker for the very place that ultimately pays for schools and hospitals but this is never recognised.

Thanks SA . There are many essential workers who don't get recognised unfortunately.

doingitanyway said:

Glad you managed to enjoy outdoor activities despite the weather.
I've managed a little bit of gardening in the drizzle today.
Have a good weekend.

Thanks DIA . Well done on doing drizzly gardening.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Glad you enjoyed your walk with family even if it was a rainy one. It's very windy here today, woke me up this morning. Enjoy your weekend and rest before your busy work week. 

Thanks Sunshine . I think a family walk in the rain is better than no walk.

Nicnak said:

Sometimes the break from school is just what we need to refresh and do a few different things. A week off does seem to go a lot faster than a week in school, doesn't it? x

Thanks Nicnak . It doesn't help that I've tried to do all the things I was too tired to do in the term time and one week was never going to be long enough.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Happy Halloween everyone 👻🧙‍♀️🎃. We're doing absolutely nothing to celebrate this year and I hope we don't get trick or treaters, but if we do I'm not going to answer the door. We don't normally get any unless we put up halloween decorations.

Today is the three year anniversary of DH and I being debt free🎉🎉 🎊🎉🎉🎊 (I don't count the mortgage or my small student loan). Our financial life has certainly been much improved and life generally has been better without the debts to weigh us down like a cloud of gloom. I feel very lucky to be debt free.

Today we awoke to howling winds and heavy rain 🌬💦☔🌧, however the sun has come out now strangely ☀️, so DH and I may manage coffee in the garden after all today. We haven't been able to have coffee out there since last weekend due to unrelenting rain.

I've already put a wash on, scrubbed off the slime from my cotton and wool jumpers with a damp tea towel (remember that saga?) and rearranged the washing tetris on the clothes horses. DH wants me to cut his hair again today so I've said I'll do it if he'll hoover the living room, which he's agreed to, ha ha 😉. 

Have a good Saturday everyone 🙂.

Sun_Addict

Wow 3 years, that’s gone quick 🎉 I think a haircut for hoovering is a fair exchange 😁 Happy Halloween 🎃 

Willowtree222

3 years has gone very quickly. Congratulations for staying debt free. X

doingitanyway

Well done for getting and staying debt free.
I love how you are enjoying coffee in the garden after years of not doing it.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks both of you 🙂.  I've put my cotton jumpers and cardigans on to wash now I've scrubbed the slime off them and hung my cotton chinos to dry so I can pack them away for the winter. I've cut DH's hair and he seems pleased with it. I just need to write in a birthday card and baby card, search in the void for some family history information for a relative and iron a few more tops for school. Apart from that I want to mainly relax this weeekend.The sun is still out ☀️ and it's the first time I've seen it for a week so I hope it hangs around for a bit longer. 

It sounds as if a new lockdown is imminent 😟. I'm glad I managed to see a few family members over half term. Although I worry about the effect on the economy it should at least drive infection rates down. If the goverment had been stricter sooner then maybe a full lockdown could have been avoided 😡. I hope schools stay open or I will lose money that I can't afford to lose. I don't go out much in the termtime so a lockdown won't affect me much as long as schools stay open. I mainly just go to the supermarket in the termtime as I feel too tired to do anything else. It will be interesting to see how strict the lockdown is this time and what we're allowed to do.

foxgloves

Yes, HHOD, the government's scientific advisors pressed for a UK-wide circuit breaker lockdown on Sept 21st, when the rate of infection & numbers of people in hospital were both much lower. Kier Starmer backed such a move, but Johnson & co just wouldn't listen. I know they want the Tiers system to work, but we all know that simply wanting things doesn't make them happen. I feel so dismayed that the country seems to be right back where it was in Spring. We both sat & watched the news showing crowds of people out in our Coviddy Tier 3 local city centre, no distancing, all drinking, jumping around taking selfies of how hard & radical they were being for defying even the Tier 2 rules. I wanted to line them all up & slap every single one of them for their ignorance & wilful stupidity.
Ah well, it looks as though we will all be locked down again very soon.
On a more positive note, a big well done for staying debt-free. You are right that apart from buying a house & maybe a realistically priced reliable car if this is required for a work commute, there is no advantage whatsoever to being in debt. Getting rid of it is indeed like shedding a crate of bricks from one's back. 
We haven't had our coffee outside for ages. Often this has been because the benches are too wet. I have a big old PVC tablecloth which I bought back when my nephews were small & used to get food everywhere. It's quite a nice pattern so I think I might use it to make a flat bench cushion which can just be wiped dry when we've been sitting outside on a less than perfect day. I'll add it to my sewing list!
F x