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

beanielou

Hope that you are on the mend today

EssexHebridean

SusieT wrote: »

A tip I had from a friend was for computer and power cables, save the inners of toilet rolls (or cut down the ones from kitchen rolls), fold the cables so that both ends are together, and put them in the toilet roll inner with the ends sticking out, stand them in a carton so keeps them tidy and your husband can easily see which cable he needs.

This is a superb idea - and so simple! Thanks Susie! :T

Hope the cold is properly on the run today HH!

HairyHandofDartmoor

SusieT wrote: »

A tip I had from a friend was for computer and power cables, save the inners of toilet rolls (or cut down the ones from kitchen rolls), fold the cables so that both ends are together, and put them in the toilet roll inner with the ends sticking out, stand them in a carton so keeps them tidy and your husband can easily see which cable he needs.

That's a really good idea Susie for the cables that get used.

What infuriates me is the boxes of cables that DH never uses but keeps just in case. "In case of what?" I ask and he has no idea :mad:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Hope the cold goes soon. Your immune system will be low caused by stress.

I need to do loads of decluttering. I go off in spurts with it then come to a standstill. I tend to tackle it one bit at a time rather than overwhelm myself with too much at once. Just doing one cupboard drawer a day would chip away at it.

Thanks SA . I agree with doing one cupboard or drawer at a time, because otherwise it seems too big a job and you just never start it.

Seasidegal58 wrote: »

Hi Hairy. I'm glad your trip on Sunday went well DS3 will be back before you know it. Pleased to read that you and DH managed to fit in a nice meal and together time.

I hope you feel a lot better tomorrow.

Re de-cluttering -15 minute sessions once a day is a good method.

Thanks SSG . I agree that little and often is the way to go with decluttering. It's quite tiring too and it doesn't help if you're allergic to dust like I am :eek:.

Sallyforth wrote: »

Hope you feel better soon HH. Colds are miserable beasts and only time gets shut of them - along with rest and fluids.
Hugs
Sally x

Thanks Sally . I hate having a cold, but I agree that rests and fluids are the way to go.

HairyHandofDartmoor

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I really hope your cold has eased a lot by now after a, hopefully, good night's sleep. It will do you good to get out of the house even if only something as mundane as a supermarket visit. Good luck keeping to your budget:beer:


I've been fighting a losing battle against clutter for decades:o. Definitely a Forth Bridge situation:(. Doesn't help that OH is even worse than me, he saves anything and everything in the hope it will 'come in handy' for something one day. At least we have several sheds and a huge garage (that he can barely squeeze his car in among all his 'stuff'). My car's never been able to get inside that garage in 14 years:(. I'm afraid we are both of the 'out of sight out of mind' mentality. You'd take your life into your hands risking opening some of my cupboards with the threat of everything crammed in there falling out and burying you:eek:


I'm intrigued by the 'void' that you frequently mention and seems able to swallow lots of your clutter. What is this magical space, please? We have a loft which runs the length of the whole house, Needless to say it's pretty full but I haven't a clue what's up there. Not a lot of it is mine as it's too much of a faff putting it up there and then retrieving it:(. There is a light up there but the access trap door is small and high and there isn't a fitted 'drop down' ladder. Whenever we drag anything out one of us squeezes in and hands down things to the other who stands part way up the very tall pair of steps. It can get very 'Chuckle Brothers':rotfl:. It's usually me who has to go up there though because I'm slimmer, a bit more more agile and can navigate the trap door a bit better:eek:. My heart sinks when OH is looking for something, has tried all the usual places, and then says 'I wonder if it's up in the loft':eek:.

You and OH sound as bad as each other with regard to clutter :rotfl:. The trouble is that the more space you have the more clutter you can keep :rotfl:. My mum and stepdad were terrible for keeping clutter. They have a double garage, a shed and a summer house all full of clutter, so their cars always had to sit on the driveway. Not to mention cupboards, and voids full of clutter too :eek:.

To explain what our void is; our bedroom is in the attic and we have cupboards at floor level running along each side of the room, where the roof slopes quite low and there is very little head room. In these cupboards are what I call the voids and we have vast quantities of clutter stashed in there.

DH can't get in there :rotfl: so I have to crawl in and retrieve boxes and bags when required. I can't stand upright and there's not light in there so I have to take a torch. It doesn't help that I'm allegic to dust either :eek:. So needless to say the stuff in there rarely gets looked at. The space is almost full, so I do need to drag some stuff out and go through it so that I can put our bedroom and landing clutter out of sight in there.

I have tried to organise our void clutter methodically though to make it easier to find things. We have four cupboard doors and I have Christmas decorations in one, children's toys in another, sleeping bags and something else in another and the fourth door contains the biggest void area and is full of more toys, photos, DH's boxes of cables and floppy disks, folders of ours business accounts for the past seven years, china my mum gave me and goodness knows what else :eek:.

I really do need to go through it and declutter it all.

I can't help laughing at you and OH doing a Laurel and Hardy routine on your loft ladder :rotfl: but do be careful as we don't want you falling off and doing yourself an injury .

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil wrote: »

Hope you are feeling better today x

beanielou wrote: »

Hope that you are on the mend today

EssexHebridean wrote: »

This is a superb idea - and so simple! Thanks Susie! :T

Hope the cold is properly on the run today HH!

Thank you all .

HairyHandofDartmoor

I slept well again and thought my cold was a bit better, but getting ready to go out made me feel very tired.

We had coffee in the cafe and it was nice to chat to stepdad, but walking around with my trolley I started to feel very tired and light headed. By the time I got home and packed all the shopping away I felt quite headachey and quite unwell, so I'm resting now. I'm thinking now that I may ring in sick for volunteering tomorrow as I need to rest and get over this cold properly.

My budget of £60 was blown out of the water as I spent £85 :eek:. But I stocked up on Linda M burgers and sausages as they were half price, so I shouldn't need to buy any for the next four weeks. I also got three packs of the expensive crisps that DS1 likes as they were half price so I won't need to buy those for the next two weeks. I stocked up on diet coke too as they were £5.50 for 24 which is very cheap and should last me a while.

I've hidden the frozen food bargains under the vegemince in the freezer so it doesn't get eaten too quickly by the locusts, although the chief food eater is at uni now for ten weeks :rotfl:. I'm expecting to save at least £10 a week on food now that DS3 is back at uni, and I'll be running the dishwasher and washing machine less frequently too.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

That's a really good idea Susie for the cables that get used.

What infuriates me is the boxes of cables that DH never uses but keeps just in case. "In case of what?" I ask and he has no idea :mad:.

At least 90% of OH's clutter (and that's a conservative estimate) which fills 2 big sheds, a massive garage, half a greenhouse, a collapsing caravan used as a shed and most of the loft are ''in case'' items. I'm always asking him when was the last time any of this junk was ever useful and he always mentions an afternoon when someone from the far end of our village (who we barely knew) came asking if he had such a thing as a piece of chicken wire that he needed urgently for a repair he was doing. Apparently OH's reputation has spread:rotfl:. After a lot of rummaging and dragging all manner of stuff out of various storage places he found some. He didn't shout ''Eureka'' exactly as he triumphantly held it aloft but he might as well have done. The man had said it was urgent but by the time it was found and he went away with it the sun had already set. This was years ago and OH still mentions it:rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

With regard to our journey on Sunday, we tried to minimise expenses as much as possible.

DS3 gave us £60 towards petrol costs, as he would have spent easily that on a train fare and buying a large suitcase to put his computer in, which was his original idea. I felt a bit guilty asking DS3 for petrol money but the journey was much pleasanter for him and he was able to take lots of books and a small tv that he wanted, and he'd never have got all of that lot on the train. We actually spent £85 on petrol, so only £25 from our budget.

We spent another £20 on coffees on the journey there and back, but needed those to get us through a long and tiring day. I made cheese sandwiches for us to eat on the way there and also took Sn!ckers for DH and bananas for us both. Before the journey home we ate a good meal using our restaurant vouchers and the only money spent was a £4 tip.

So a total of £4 on food and £20 on coffees, plus £25 on petrol for two long and tiring journeys could be a lot worse :T.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

With regard to our journey on Sunday, we tried to minimise expenses as much as possible.

DS3 gave us £60 towards petrol costs, as he would have spent easily that on a train fare and buying a large suitcase to put his computer in, which was his original idea. I felt a bit guilty asking DS3 for petrol money but the journey was much pleasanter for him and he was able to take lots of books and a small tv that he wanted, and he'd never have got all of that lot on the train. We actually spent £85 on petrol, so only £25 from our budget.

We spent another £20 on coffees on the journey there and back, but needed those to get us through a long and tiring day. I made cheese sandwiches for DH and me to eat on the way there and also took Sn!ckers for DH and bananas for us both. Before the journey home we ate a good meal using our restaurant vouchers and the only money spent was a £4 tip.

So a total of £4 on food and £20 on cofffees for two long and tiring journeys could be a lot worse :T.

Well done on keeping the costs down:T. Very MSE:money: It's essential to eat and drink on long and tiring journeys and it's certainly not splashing out on luxuries:)