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

HairyHandofDartmoor

daisy_1571 wrote: »

It's hard to know when the right time is to spend money. After so long of needing to literally watch the pennies it might feel wasteful to spend a bit on different things but I think you are looking at it purely financially. Look at it also from the day to day convenience point of view.

You have mentioned for years that lack of storage is a problem in the house and you have to store garden stuff in the house. This would appear to get helped, or even sorted, by the comparatively small amount of £100. Spend the money, get the shed, clear out the under stairs cupboard and sort it out for things you need to store in there. This gives you an easier life. You really cant put a price on that. If you have thought about the purchase, have a good reason for the purchase, have investigated the best price using vouchers/sales/comparing shops/quidco etc if you look at it logically you can hardly feel that you are making an unnecessary impulse purchase.

I do understand, once you get a bit money in the bank, it becomes quite a thought to spend a bit. Just giving you another point of view to consider. I feel now we have got a few little things that just make life a little bit easier it pays off hugely in the mental health area. Things stop being a huge nuisance or a little nuisance or unworkable or just downright time consuming and annoying. Frees up mental resources to deal with other things.

Daisy xx

Thank you Daisy . You're right that it is hard to spend money when you're not used to having any. I do think the shed would be useful for making the house less cluttered which would have mental health benefits. But I'm reluctant to spend any of the EF .

We do have other expenses coming up like the car tax which is due by 30 April. DH wants to get it annually to save money and so we don't have all our car expenses just before Christmas. But that will cost £290 :eek: although we'll save £29 by buying it annually.

I'll have to think it over.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm feeling very pleased with myself because I've finished my assignment :T :A. I just need to proof read it tomorrow and then email it to my tutor. It's 5,358 words so not quite as long as my second one.

I finished it by 4pm, so afterwards I walked to the park with DS1 so he could find a geo cache and then up to the shop to buy some milk and soap. It was nice to see so many people enjoying the park by running, cycling, dog walking, taking children there, etc, and we saw a lovely patch of bluebells.

Now I'm resting and feeling smug before I shower and cook .

I can try out the new oven tonight too which will hopefully make cooking easier.

beanielou

WEll done on the assignment
Enjoy cooking with the new oven

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks Beanie .

The new oven seems to be working well, although DH had to show me how to use it as I couldn't even turn it on and I'll probably need reminding by tomorrow! I'm not good with gadgets .

I'm looking forward to eating, resting and another early night as I feel tired now.

My plans for tomorrow involve:

Reading, signing and posting back forms for my new online savings account
A food shop at Mr T in RL
Ringing tax credits to tell them about the H@lifax refunds
Tidying, cleaning and de-cluttering the house (starting on it anyway!)

daisy_1571

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

Thank you Daisy . You're right that it is hard to spend money when you're not used to having any. I do think the shed would be useful for making the house less cluttered which would have mental health benefits. But I'm reluctant to spend any of the EF .

We do have other expenses coming up like the car tax which is due by 30 April. DH wants to get it annually to save money and so we don't have all our car expenses just before Christmas. But that will cost £290 :eek: although we'll save £29 by buying it annually.

I'll have to think it over.

I understand it costs £290 which seems a lot at once but by not paying it in a oner you WILL spend £319.

This is your big chance to get ahead for all your annual bills. Pay it in a oner then put aside in a virtual pot what you would normally pay monthly and next year you will be able to pay it in a oner again (with a safeguard if it goes up by £29). Do the same with all your other costs and while you are building up your virtual pots you should be able to cover any small emergencies out of the virtual pots as you are unlikely to need to use all your pots in one month eg we have pots for car tax, car insurances, car mots, house insurance, bike tax, bike insurances, bike mots, savings for vet bills, car repairs/servicing, house repairs, home repairs/servicing, holidays, fun stuff, xmas and other presents, clothes, etc etc etc. You will have your own headings, some the same as me, others maybe related to the business like tax and vat so you know that money cant be touched till the relevant time to send it over to hmrc.

That's how you get ahead (at least it's how I got ahead) and will be able to keep your EF intact for/in future years. The first year I estimated the cost, divided it by the months left before it was due. Subsequent years were then easier as each cost was divided by 12 making the monthly cost a little cheaper. The first year was really hard for us as we were starting from zero. In fact from a minus figure as we were also paying off credit. I could only dream we suddenly had a few hundred to get our pots started. (This was a long time ago so all costs were much lower.) You are in this position now.

For 'pots' I just have it all in our joint account and a spreadsheet adds up each month what is in the individual pots. That way i know that if I have £xxxx in the account, I know that £yyyy of it is accounted for and I will need it later in the year to pay bills and only £zzzz (the balance) is unaccounted for and actually available to spend. If we have a genuine emergency though, I have the money there that can be spent immediately and we will have a bit of time to build the savings back up again.

Making each month easier makes the year easier and makes savings build up even if it's only a fiver a month it adds up over the year. In your case it is a little more uncertain as your husband earnings are subject to change so you might want to only bank on him getting whatever the lowest is that he has got in the last few years. Anything extra is a bonus that month.

Maybe think of some of the ppi money as your 'working money' or some other title rather than all EF just now, work towards saving a bigger EF then you will be happier using the working money.

(Our wages go into this joint account and I have a weekly standing order every Wednesday into a second joint account that we use to pay for our day to day messages, petrol etc. This pot is set up with enough funds for a 5 Wednesday month so on 4 Wednesday months there is a little extra in that pot to help cover more expensive occasions. We also have a standing order into each of our own accounts for our discretionary spending, our 'pocket money' if you like. Thats how I can plan the first joint account accurately.)

Sorry, didn't mean this to be so long, just got carried away explaining our (literally life changing) system. Just suggestions for yourself and anyone else reading that can use any of this. I have mentioned in other posts over the years this is roughly how our system works and it appears to be useful occasionally.

As ever, use what you feel would work and disregard the rest.

Daisy xxxx

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thank you Daisy . It does sound like a good system. Such a lot to think about :think:.

beanielou

It is a good idea to think about
If only for me :rotfl:

elizabethhull

Daisy for Chancellor of the Exchequer !!!

daisy_1571

Och my cover is blown !!!!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Daisy (Philip hammond irl) xxxx::cool:

HairyHandofDartmoor

elizabethhull wrote: »

Daisy for Chancellor of the Exchequer !!!

daisy_1571 wrote: »

Och my cover is blown !!!!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Daisy (Philip hammond irl) xxxx::cool:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: