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

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks EH . I'm glad you rate the Mr T savings account. I'm really pleased I listened to the lovely people on here and applied for the PPI refunds. It has certainly paid off .

HairyHandofDartmoor

So this afternoon I have cleaned out the furry moron, done our online Mr T order, rung my great aunt back about a family celebration coming up, and opened a new savings account :T.

That doesn't sound like much but it's taken me all afternoon!

The savings account I opened was the Mr T Online Saver that Martin recommends. I've transferred £5 into it to check it's all working properly, so when that money shows up in the right place I'll transfer the rest. I have trust issues! I want to keep £2000 in there as an emergency fund as it pays 1.42% interest for the first year.

Once my H@lifax cheque clears, I'd like to put another £2000 in there and then forget about it. So I'd have £4000 in there altogether as an emergency fund . That would still leave £1000 from the H@lifax payment and I'd have £750 left in the savings account attached to my current account. It pays a measly 0.25% interest, but I may keep £500 in there, just so all the savings aren't in one place.

DH says he has spent some of his £3000 from the H@lifax already, (on our day of travelling I expect) but I don't know how much he's spent. I've suggested that he opens a new savings account too and stashes some of it away because it's too easy to keep dipping into it otherwise.

We need to buy his glasses and pay the end of March VAT bill and it's frustrating not to know how much they will cost. I must make DH an opticians appointment tomorrow and as soon as he gets time we'll work out the VAT bill together so that I know how much it's likely to cost. We also need a new oven and possibly a combi microwave oven too. Again I have no idea how much these are likely to cost. We don't want the most expensive, but we don't want the cheapest ones that may break quickly.

I want to save as much of the PPI as possible, but it all depends upon how much we earn and how frugally we can live.

Our Mr T shop came to £72 today :eek: but DS3 is home and likes eating a lot of meat, so we added some bits on for him. But I knew our food bill would go up once he was home.

DS2 will be home on Friday, so we can ask him for his April keep which will be £200 :T. He didn't give us any for March as he's been abroad for a month.

The more we can earn or get from other sources, then the less we will have to dip into the PPI.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Can anyone recommend a combi microwave? Can you roast a chicken in one? Or a family sized pie? I'm just trying to work out how useful it would be to have one or whether we should just get a new oven instead.

We need a new oven anyway, so we should probably just get a new oven instead. But I don't know how quickly we could buy an oven and get it installed.

I feel paralysed by indecision at the moment . I just know that I don't want to WASTE money.

Willowtree222

I have never used a combi so not sure. I tend to stick to the traditional oven to be honest xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks Nicnak .

Willowtree222

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Thanks Nicnak .

Wasn't much help was I!!

HairyHandofDartmoor

Well it was still nice to hear from you .

Willowtree222

I'm just trying to catch up now. I will be online more next week when I am off. x

beanielou

Good news on the cheque.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks Beanie .