We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

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

12592602622642651551

Comments

  • You should definitely find time to go Carboot and a midweek non-market day sounds the best option, so you're not fighting the crowds. You should treat yourself to a coffee (and perhaps a cheeky cake too) and then it makes a lovely low cost outing :).


    Thank you:T. I don't plan to treat myself to food and drink though, not out of meanness but because I never drink coffee (don't like the taste and it always gives me a headache:eek:). I'll forgo the cake too as I haven't a sweet tooth. I've never been a sweets, chocolate, biscuits, cakes eater. Not for health/weight reasons, I just don't like the taste. I opened a smallish block of chocolate at Christmas and it lasted me for about a month and even then I gave the last half of it to OH:rotfl:. I never had sugar in tea even as a small child. I suppose I could have a pot of tea if I treated myself when I'm out but I'm not really bothered to be honest and it would only take up valuable mooching time. I love savoury foods though and cheese is my downfall when it comes to keeping the calorie and fat levels down:o. I deliberately keep well away from the crisps and savoury snacks aisle of supermarkets because I just can't trust myself. I think salty, savoury snacks are worse for us than sweet ones:(
  • Another cheese lover (meaningful glance at Redo). I wish I didn't like chocolate! I think sugar is just as unhealthy as salt, as our bodies have trouble processing refined sugar and it leads to awful mood swings.

    A pot of tea sounds like a great alternative, but as you say you will have more mooching time if you abstain :).

    Coffee and books are my two real loves (apart from DH and the DC of course!) and somehow I feel they go well together :D.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • I wish I had your taste buds and your self discipline.
    Mortgage at 01.01.14 £119,481.83:eek: today £0 Emergency fund £5.5/5.5k & £200/200 cash.:jWeight 24/02/19 14st 7lb now 12st determined to stop defining myself by my mistakes. Progress not perfection.:T100%through my 1% mortgage challenge. 100% through my pb challenge.
  • Happy Easter everyone :EasterBun.

    Today my plan is pulling up weeds in the garden and a bit of pruning, followed by cleaning the cooker and the microwave, more laundry and some general tidying.

    In between a bit of sitting down and scoffing chocolate will occur ;).

    Later on we'll go to my parents for dinner. A good programme of events in my view :D.

    It should be a NSD as none of the shops are open :rotfl: :money:.

    Have a great day everyone :).
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • HairyHandofDartmoor
    HairyHandofDartmoor Posts: 13,960 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 1 April 2018 at 4:49PM
    I'm sitting down to have a rest as I am SHATTERED!

    I've weeded the front garden which I thought would take ten minutes but took about an hour :mad:. Then I weeded some of the borders in the back garden.

    Our garden is a tiny walled garden and is basically a patio surrounded by borders, but weeds seem to flourish there. Also a genius previous owner thought it would be a great idea to intersperse cobbled areas among the paving stones. In the fifteen years that we've been here the concrete has crumbled and weeds now flourish among the cobbled areas too :mad:. Anyway it looks a lot better now after my efforts :T.

    Since then I've done two lots of laundry, cleaned the hob of the cooker, cleaned the microwave, emptied the dishwasher and emptied all the bins.

    I'm finished now for the day as I'm a mass of aches and pains :(. It doesn't help that I was tired to start with after yesterday's day out! :( I'm going to rest and eat chocolate now. Then later on I'm going to have a lovely hot shower and then go to my parents for dinner, thank goodness I don't have to cook!.

    DH has been relaxing in front of the tv all day (he's tired after yesterday too) but has finally stirred himself to vacuum the lounge. The hall, stairs and bathroom also need doing so I'm hoping he'll do those too. I've also asked him to fill the dishwasher and put it on.

    Housework and gardening are exhausting, but I hate the place looking like a sty so it's worth it. We'll be burning off some of those chocolate calories too :D.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • jwil
    jwil Posts: 22,391 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Well done on the gardening. Can you come and do mine now please? :D
    "Good financial planning is about not spending money on things that add no value to your life in order to have more money for the things that do". Eoin McGee
  • jwil wrote: »
    Well done on the gardening. Can you come and do mine now please? :D


    I was going to suggest a swap. HH can come and do my gardening and I'll keep her windows sparkling. I did my outside windows last week, they were disgusting after all the wind and rain:eek:. Took hours in the end, not helped because OH had tidied away the aluminium steps into one of the locked sheds. His storage systems defy all logic:eek:. He'd gone out when I needed them:(. I had to dig out my late Dad's old massive, heavy-duty wooden ones and use them. They were definitely built to last, must be pre-WW2:eek:. Umpteen emptyings and refillings of the bucket, lugging the steps and a lot of rubbing and polishing totally wiped me out. And that was only the downstairs windows:eek:


    Doing the windows is one of the few household jobs I normally enjoy. Well, 'enjoy' is probably the wrong word:rotfl:, but it gives me a lot of satisfaction when it's done. I love sparkly clean windows. I can ignore griminess elsewhere:o



    It's absolutely teeming with rain here and has been all night. Massive pools of standing water in the lane, a car just came by and the resultant spray was higher than our front hedge:eek:. If any of you have any outdoor plans today I hope the weather is being kinder to you:beer:
  • jwil wrote: »
    Well done on the gardening. Can you come and do mine now please? :D

    Gladly, If you will do my ebaying in return :rotfl:.
    I was going to suggest a swap. HH can come and do my gardening and I'll keep her windows sparkling. I did my outside windows last week, they were disgusting after all the wind and rain:eek:. Took hours in the end, not helped because OH had tidied away the aluminium steps into one of the locked sheds. His storage systems defy all logic:eek:. He'd gone out when I needed them:(. I had to dig out my late Dad's old massive, heavy-duty wooden ones and use them. They were definitely built to last, must be pre-WW2:eek:. Umpteen emptyings and refillings of the bucket, lugging the steps and a lot of rubbing and polishing totally wiped me out. And that was only the downstairs windows:eek:


    Doing the windows is one of the few household jobs I normally enjoy. Well, 'enjoy' is probably the wrong word:rotfl:, but it gives me a lot of satisfaction when it's done. I love sparkly clean windows. I can ignore griminess elsewhere:o



    It's absolutely teeming with rain here and has been all night. Massive pools of standing water in the lane, a car just came by and the resultant spray was higher than our front hedge:eek:. If any of you have any outdoor plans today I hope the weather is being kinder to you:beer:

    I'd rather do weeding than clean windows Carboot, so it sounds like a good swop :rotfl:. Your dad's ladder sounds fabulous :).

    It's raining lightly here today and we've had heavy rain all night and half of yesterday, so our ground is very waterlogged :eek:. I just hope it stops soon as we're meant to be going to a garden centre today :eek:.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
  • System
    System Posts: 178,369 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    HH , I have missed so much of your diary. Very belated birthday greetings .

    Your day out sounded wonderful, definitely on the to do list if I am ever your way.

    The garden is always hard work, I don't have one now but always enjoyed it once it was tidy and weed free. I do miss my own piece of England .

    The weather was most kind in the lakes , I also have sore legs from some hill walking but the view made it so worthwhile.

    Enjoy a restful Monday .
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • Thank you Cumbria :). I'm glad you had a good time in the Lakes even if your legs are sore (no pain no gain :))

    I do like having a garden, even though it is tiny. Do you have any space you can put a tub or two, or a balcony or window sill where you can grow a few plants? There is something very soothing about seeing things grow. I have a chilli plant, a Christmas cactus and an African Violet on my kitchen windowsill.
    Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
    Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
    EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
    CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
    HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.1K Spending & Discounts
  • 245K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.4K Life & Family
  • 258.7K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.