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

HairyHandofDartmoor

elizabethhull wrote: »

The clothes horse sounds like a very sensible and practical thing to save up for. Also, when you get something new that works just right for your circumstances it seems to gladden one's heart when using it - even a mundane item.

We put our tumble dryer in the garden when so many bits of it no longer worked (after 30 years), and it's being repurposed as a gardening table. I wouldn't be surprised to find DH planting something in the drum one day !

The new clothes horse will be perfect for us . It's good being able to repurpose things.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

The new clothes horse will be perfect for us . It's good being able to repurpose things.

Agree on all that:T:beer:

We're big on repurposing:j. Being country-dwellers it's just totally normal to find new uses for things and our garden is testament to that. Our massive collection of 'repurposed' wildlife feeders and water receptacles are a wonderful eclectic mix of everything anyone could imagine:eek:. Do the job though and the wildlife are grateful:j. I'm always 'nagging' OH that the garden has more than a passing resemblance to Steptoe and Son's yard:eek:. Good job we have over half an acre with lots of clumps of trees and bushes to 'hide' things from view. If a developer ever bought the place and gained permission to build lots of houses on the land he'd have an interesting time clearing it first:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

@SA @SSG @Nicnak

Thanks all. I like instant coffee with hot milk but not with water. Costalot lattes are my favourite, but I've spent money on lukewarm inferior lattes in many other cafes and regretted it. So I enjoyed my N3scafe in warm milk.

I'm like SA and only drink black coffee (with no sugar/sweetener). Always have. Very happy to drink instant so long as it isn't the really cheap stuff which has nasty bitter taste:eek:. I don't go to coffee shops, I've never been in one in my life:o. I probably only drink a couple of coffees all week at home.


My addiction is tea, I drink gallons of the stuff. I don't tend to drink tea from cafes and other places either as it's expensive and rarely tastes right somehow. I'll have it if I'm out with other people and they are drinking tea or coffee though. Tea in a flask or travel cup tastes stewed so getting my fix when out and about is a problem:(. I try to be MSE when I buy my teabags, always stocking up when something I really like is on an offer I can't refuse. Our water is very hard and many of the popular brands taste awful here:eek:. I drink it quite strong, unsweetened with very little milk. However skint I was the tea was the only thing I couldn't give up although I downgraded brands several times. I don't buy alcohol or cokes, buy juice very rarely and we use very little milk here so I don't feel too bad about buying and using the tea. Have discovered Morrisons Everyday teabags to be my current favourite and not expensive.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm happy with Mr T value teabags and N3scafe so I'm very easy to please luckily, which helps me to be a cheapskate .

I have a sore throat and horrible head cold today . It started to come on yesterday. I didn't sleep very well because of it. So I'm going to skip Pilates today as I'd spend more time blowing my nose than doing exercises . On the plus side I will save £5 :money:.

DH has a meeting this morning with someone who will hopefully want to spend money with us. He's sowing a lot of seeds at the moment, so hopefully something will grow soon (like a money tree :rotfl:).

I need DH to spend £10 topping up my phone this morning as I'm out of credit, so can't text my friend to tell her I'm not going to Pilates.

I need to put some laundry on to wash as the load on the clothes horse has finally dried, put the clean laundry away, and give NPow3r a meter reading online. I was going to ring them today but I don't think I can face it as I feel quite rough today . Hopefully I can do it tomorrow. The new higher payments are meant to start tomorrow, but we'll just pay the lower amount as we can't afford the higher amount .

[Deleted User]

Sorry to hear your cold has developed, HH. Mine is just starting, probably thanks to that talkative woman in the GP's waiting room on Friday:(. I hope you'll be feeling better soon. Good idea not to risk Pilates tonight:beer:


I hope I'm not in the throes of a sneezy runny cold tomorrow as it's my friend's husband's funeral. Unusually for these days it's a burial rather than a cremation and the weather, although bright, is still pretty cold and breezy. I just hope it doesn't rain.


Fingers crossed for OH getting the new work. He puts so much effort into getting orders and then the darn people take forever to pay up after it's done:(.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I hope your cold doesn't develop Carboot as you won't want to feel unwell at the funeral. I hope it's not too unpleasant for you tomorrow but you're bound to feel sad on your friend's behalf .

It probably was the woman in the doctors who gave you the cold. People are always coughing and sneezing over me on buses :mad:. Sometimes I feel like I should wear a face mask :eek:. And the doctors surgery is a hotbed of germs :eek:. Make sure you wrap up warm tomorrow.

That reminds me of one thing I saw at the Christmas Fair that I would have liked to buy, fingerless sheepskin mittens. Like ordinary mittens but with the ends cut off. That would be sooo warm but you could still use your fingers. I didn't even look at the price as I knew I couldn't afford them. One day, when that money tree grows!

elizabethhull

£1.50 survey on PA at the moment.....

HairyHandofDartmoor

elizabethhull wrote: »

£1.50 survey on PA at the moment.....

Not for me at the moment sadly but I did a 40p one earlier and two 10p surveys on OP. Thanks Elizabeth I will keep checking .

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Not for me at the moment sadly but I did a 40p one earlier and two 10p surveys on OP. Thanks Elizabeth I will keep checking .

I haven't checked PA today as have been busy trying to make my black wool coat look presentable for the funeral tomorrow. It was a charity shop buy for my bother's funeral in March and is really warm. Looks smart too unlike most of my other clothes:o. I was determined to get my money's worth out of it after his funeral although it only cost, I think, £14 so I wore it a lot during the really cold weather earlier in the year. Trouble is, being black, it picks up everything and needs brushing all the time. Last time I wore it I was a bit lazy and didn't hang it up:o, just folded it over and left it on a chair in a room we never use. Looks as if OH has sat on it:eek:, it was really creased and needed a good press. Looking a lot better now though. Now I need to sort something out to wear under it as I'll be taking the coat off for the buffet afterwards. My wardrobe is pathetic, for smart clothes anyway. I only 'do' casual. Since I was ill earlier in the year and lost a lot of weight I haven't put it back on even though my appetite has come back with a vengeance. Everything remotely suitable really hangs on me now and I don't want to have to go out today and try to find an affordable bargain just for tomorrow. I know, I should have got this sorted out in ample time but typically I left it to the last minute:eek:. Procrastination's my middle name:o

HairyHandofDartmoor

Could you wear a belt with one of your dresses to make it fit better Carboot?

Or do you have smart trousers and a plain top you could wear? My mum often wore black or navy trousers with a plain black or navy tee-shirt. She jazzed these outfits up with patterned blouses that she wore unbuttoned over the top. She usually wore a bead necklace or silky scarf with it. She always looked very well dressed, but the outfits weren't expensive.

Do you have anything like that in your wardrobe? I have a dress with a bit of stretch in the material which is useful for weight fluctuations.