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

doingitanyway

I hope the cold did not develop?
I too have lots of washing but holding off until the weather is dry enough. Hoping not to do my drying indoors and having to use the dehumidifier and radiators...
Wishing you a lovely family Sunday.

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil wrote: »

Have a good weekend x

Thanks Jwil .

earthgirl wrote: »

We are just back from hol and have so much washing I have no idea where to put it! The weather was grim so we were muddy every day. Hope you get on top of it soon - I'm going to try and hide mine somewhere!

Thanks Earthgirl . I hope you enjoyed your hol. You washing machine is going to earn it's keep :eek:.

elizabethhull wrote: »

How lovely to have you all together ! Only downside is the washing, that makes you wonder how you managed when they were all at home. I swear washing piles breed in the hamper/basket/box !! 'Washerwoman' makes me think of Toad in 'The Wind in the Willows' escaping prison dressed as a washerwoman !

Have a good laundryful Saturday anyway !

Thanks Elizabeth . Well I'm not escaping from prison but I will be a Washerwoman :rotfl:. It is quite extraordinary where all the dirty washing comes from but DS3 generates the most. He uses a bath towel and hand towel every time he has a shower :eek:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

doingitanyway wrote: »

I hope the cold did not develop?
I too have lots of washing but holding off until the weather is dry enough. Hoping not to do my drying indoors and having to use the dehumidifier and radiators...
Wishing you a lovely family Sunday.

Thanks DIA . The cold didn't develop, it was probably just me being a hypochondriac . I managed to dry two clothes horse loads of laundry in the garden yesterday as it was sunny and warmish :T.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I met stepdad for coffee yesterday which was okay and then dropped off some clothes at the charity shop. The start of much de-cluttering I hope! I bought some bananas on the way home as the ones Mr T delivered were so ripe they went off after two days :mad:. Then I washed some towels and another lot of clothes, cleaned the kitchen sink and emptied the kitchen bins. I managed to dry all the laundry in the garden because it was sunny :T.

It was really nice seeing DS2 yesterday and he gave me a birthday present and me and DH a holiday present that he'd bought in Greece .

Today I have sorted and put into the dustbins all the rubbish bags that were building up in the garden (I hate it when they build up but it's finding time to go through them and seperate the recycling etc). I've also poured three kettlefuls of hot water on the moss outside our back door to kill it and make it less slippery when I go out there :T.

I've also put some more clothes on to wash and hung them on the clothes horses. The sun has come out so I'm just wondering whether to risk putting them in the garden to dry!

After lunch DH and I are going to take our old oven to the tip, ready for the new one to be delivered on Tuesday. I'd also like to empty all the bins in the house as they seem to fill up every other day. After that I'll see how tired I feel.

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday .

daisy_1571

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

I met stepdad for coffee yesterday which was okay and then dropped off some clothes at the charity shop. The start of much de-cluttering I hope! I bought some bananas on the way home as the ones Mr T delivered were so ripe they went off after two days :mad:. Then I washed some towels and another lot of clothes, cleaned the kitchen sink and emptied the kitchen bins. I managed to dry all the laundry in the garden because it was sunny :T.

It was really nice seeing DS2 yesterday and he gave me a birthday present and me and DH a holiday present that he'd bought in Greece .

Today I have sorted and put into the dustbins the rubbish bags that were building up in the garden (I hate it when they build up but it's finding time to go through them and seperate the recycling etc). I've also poured three kettlefuls of hot water on the moss outside our back door to kill it and make it less slippery when I go out there :T.

I've also put some more clothes on to wash and hung them on the clothes horses. The sun has come out so I'm just wondering whether to risk putting them in the garden to dry!

After lunch DH and I are going to take our old oven to the tip, ready for the new one to be delivered on Wednesday. I'd also like to empty all the bins in the house as they seem to fill up every other day. After that I'll see how tired I feel.

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday .

I couldnt be bothered going through rubbish yuck! Thats just an extra job to have to do. We sort as we go, bigger bucket in kitchen, smaller ones in living rooms for rubbish, crate type things in livingrooms for recycling. The crate things both have handles so are easy to take out to the buckets in the garden (which go out for the bin men) with paper, cardboard and metal (which in our area go together but could easily be separated at the bins as its all dry stuff). Messy recycling like cans from dog food, beans etc, juice cartons and such like that might dribble, veg peelings, beetroot jars etc etc are kept to one end of the bunker and taken directly out after the meal has been eaten to go into either the garden bin or the recycling bins so it never builds up and becomes a big task (which is then more likely to get put off and get bigger and even more of a task).

Daisy xxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

daisy_1571 wrote: »

I couldnt be bothered going through rubbish yuck! Thats just an extra job to have to do. We sort as we go, bigger bucket in kitchen, smaller ones in living rooms for rubbish, crate type things in livingrooms for recycling. The crate things both have handles so are easy to take out to the buckets in the garden (which go out for the bin men) with paper, cardboard and metal (which in our area go together but could easily be separated at the bins as its all dry stuff). Messy recycling like cans from dog food, beans etc, juice cartons and such like that might dribble, veg peelings, beetroot jars etc etc are kept to one end of the bunker and taken directly out after the meal has been eaten to go into either the garden bin or the recycling bins so it never builds up and becomes a big task (which is then more likely to get put off and get bigger and even more of a task).

Daisy xxx

That sounds like a good system Daisy . I sort rubbish at source in the kitchen and we have two 50L plastic bins, one with a green rim for recycling and one with a grey rim for normal rubbish. I rinse all the plastic bottles, cans, etc, first so they don't get smelly and horrid.

However the rubbish that DS2 and DS3 leave in the kitchen is all muddled up :mad:. Also the bins in the bedrooms, living room, office, etc, tend to have a mix of rubbish that needs sorting :mad:.

It is a horrid job but nobody but me seems capable of remembering which rubbish is recyclable. Mind you I'm just thankful when the DC do cart out the rubbish from their rooms rather than leaving it there to rot and fester :eek:.

HairyHandofDartmoor

DH and I have taken our old oven to the tip (DS2 helped DH put it in the car) and DH also took our broken DVD player and some old speakers. I love getting rid of clutter :T.

Then we nipped along to Mr T and bought DS1 some jeans which hopefully will fit him and two Really Useful Boxes that I wanted to put my summer clothes into. One for tee shirts and one for summer trousers. They've all fitted in nicely and I feel like they're all organised now and easy to get to when I need them. That has freed up some space in our wardrobe :T.

We also got a smaller Mr T plastic storage box for some children's drawings and scrapbooks that I got out of a massive box. A few weeks ago I emptied the massive box and chucked out most of it (school books etc) but kept some sentimental items to remind me of when the DC were little :happyhear. So those are stored now in a way that keeps them neat and tidy and will stop them getting damp or creased . I love getting things organised and de-cluttering .

What I really want is a plastic shed for the garden (we could get one for around £99) as we don't have a shed OR a garage and so we have to keep all of our gardening tools and decorating stuff in one of the only two built in cupboards in the house. Our house does look cluttered to me but it's a lot to do with having no storage .

The other thing I would love to buy is a single wardrobe. I've shared a double wardrobe with DH ever since I've known him (37 years :eek:) and I've always wished that I had a wardrobe all to myself. If we bought a single wardrobe then DH could have it and I could have the double one to myself, as I have more clothes than him. Maybe when I get paid I could buy a shed and then save up for a single wardrobe :think: if DH can keep earning enough to pay the bills.

When we got back it was still dry with sunny spells so I've risked putting the two clothes horses in the garden to dry more quickly. I'm still playing catch up with the laundry!

HairyHandofDartmoor

I've just opened a Mr T online savings account for DH too. I was worried that his money was getting frittered away and wanted to ringfence some of it as an emergency fund. So I've transferred £1,500 of his PPI into his new savings account. He'll put more in there once he gets paid by the new customer, but he wants to keep some in his current account for emergencies.

I'm pleased that DH let me do that as we're both better at spending money than saving money and I didn't want all our PPI to get frittered away. We've already spent £300 on the new oven :eek: and I let DH buy a new car stereo as our old one was a bit tinny and distorted, so he's spent £130 on that (including fitting) :eek:. He's very pleased with the car stereo and obviously we needed the new oven, but we still have his glasses and a VAT bill to pay, so we need to stop spending money .

I'm going to try and save as much of my wages as possible from now on and once DH gets paid by the customer we'll pay some of that into his new savings account. My cheque from the H@lifax is still clearing but once that's cleared I want to put another £2,000 in my new savings account. The rest will have to pay for the VAT bill probably.

We must get better at saving money and not spending money . I will still buy a plastic shed I think, but will hold off on the wardrobe as it's a want not a need.

beanielou

One of my friends has a plastic shed & it seems to be just fab.
You have been a busy bee

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks Beanie . I have indeed been busy, but there is so much more that I want to do. The house feels like a messy tip to me, so I want to do lots of cleaning, tidying and de-cluttering this holiday .