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

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's been another busy day! We did our Mr T shop and spent a staggering £109 :eek: :eek: :eek: .

It didn't help that DS1 came as £10 of that was on stuff he wanted :mad:. But a lot of it was my fault as I spent £8 on 24 cans of diet coke (I'm addicted ). Also my hair conditioner was on offer. It's normally £4.50 a bottle but they had an offer of three bottles for £10 which seemed too good to miss. So that was £18 just on stuff for me .

We also got two big packs of Mr T laundry powder, one for whites and one for coloureds which cost £4 each. But we won't have to buy conditioner or laundry powder for months now. I also got four bags of DS1's exensive crisps as they were half price, but now won't need to buy any for four weeks.

We bought extra stuff for DS3 too as he never ever stops eating :mad: Luckily I had a money off voucher my sister sent me which knocked £4 off the price :T.

Unfortunately the spending didn't stop there as I spent £2.50 on printer paper and £12 on a 35L Really Useful Box .

A very spendy session. Hopefully next week we can cut it right down in price.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Since getting back from Mr T I've washed towels and put them in the garden to dry and now I'm washing a load of DH's shirts plus the shirts the DC will need to wear with their suits for my mum's interment.

I felt really inspired to de-clutter when I got home so I went through all the clothes in the void that we never wear and sorted out a load for the charity shop :T. We had a suitcase in there with a broken wheel that was just used for storage of clothes. Well I've emptied that now so we're going to take it to the tip :T.

Inspired by my success I decided to de-clutter some of my books. I know I always say that books aren't clutter and I would never get rid of the books I love. But I have thousands of books. All our bookcases are full and I have plastic boxes everywhere full of books . So I've decided to get rid of the ones I don't love. If I want to read them then I can always get them from the library. So I've loaded up two rucksacks with books to go to the charity shop :T.

This is just a small beginning, but there's only so much I can do in one day without getting exhausted. Plus only so much we can drop off to the tip/charity shop at any one time.

So the current list of things that have been de-cluttered are:

- Bag of clothes
- 2 rucksacks of books
- 2 carrier bags of books
- Big suitcase

I'm feeling very motivated to de-clutter at the moment because we have a big problem caused by something very small. Mice :eek: :eek: :eek:. We are over run with mice at the moment which is very embarrassing .

Now we have some money we can afford to call in some pest control people and the council pest control dept will make two home visits for £92. But we have so much clutter that they wouldn't be able to find the access points for the mice. So I need to have a big clear out before we call them in. I presume they would need to go into every room in the house and DS2's room is a complete tip, so I don't know how that will work .

This is why I'm feeling so motivated at the moment that I'm even prepared to get rid of books. I also want to buy the plastic shed next week so that we can get the gardening and decorating stuff out of the house. The Really Useful Boxes are for storing the stuff we want to keep in mouse proof containers.

We've had to keep ALL our food in plastic boxes or tins and have discovered that mice love bread and chocolate :eek:.

I've edited my list to add on two more carrier bags of books that I've de-cluttered. I'm going to need a lot of trips to the charity shop. I've made a list of twenty nine authors that I'm happy to get rid of. That will be hundreds of books that can go. I do literally have thousands of books, I wasn't joking when I said that . I feel massively motivated to de-clutter at the moment though and I think that when you feel like that you should go for it, as it may wear off and you can move mountains of clutter when you feel inspired .

beanielou

I agree 100% about decluttering when you are in the zone.
Excellent

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks Beanie . I will probably run out of holiday before I run out of clutter but there's always weekends.

redofromstart

I find the 'pasta bait' mouse stuff works really well. (Wilkos/BnQ) if you want to do something temporary while you wait for the visit. I just throw a few into the loft whenever I hear the noises then it goes quiet again. Our house is stone so we can't block access points. I have the same stuff in plastic bait boxes that live in the back of the dry foods cupboards for peace of mind. The sealed boxes stop the cats from eating the stuff.

I found that they liked chocolate, crisps and dry pasta.

HairyHandofDartmoor

redofromstart wrote: »

I find the 'pasta bait' mouse stuff works really well. (Wilkos/BnQ) if you want to do something temporary while you wait for the visit. I just throw a few into the loft whenever I hear the noises then it goes quiet again. Our house is stone so we can't block access points. I have the same stuff in plastic bait boxes that live in the back of the dry foods cupboards for peace of mind. The sealed boxes stop the cats from eating the stuff.

I found that they liked chocolate, crisps and dry pasta.

Thanks Redo . Don't your cats keep mice away? Our house is an old early Edwardian one made of brick and probably full of holes and gaps, so goodness knows if we can block them all up :eek: but we can at least try.

I'll visit Wilkos and see if I can find the stuff you mention.

Willowtree222

The motivation to declutter is great. I am debating decluttering my wardrobe of clothes that no longer fit me. The problem is that they are only two sizes above now, and what if i gain weight again?

I am tempted to just get rid and then if my weight sneaks up, I know i need to deal with it. It would clear out tons of room, and if I am honest make me feel a ton better, just not sure if I should x

HairyHandofDartmoor

That's a tough one Nicnak. It depends upon how likely you are to put weight on again. I suppose because of your allergies there's a lot of high calorie foods that you can't eat, so that makes it less likely the weight will go on again.

I usually keep clothes that are one dress size bigger, but get rid of clothes that are two dress sizes bigger. Having more space is lovely though and I find having a clear out very empowering .

Willowtree222

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

That's a tough one Nicnak. It depends upon how likely you are to put weight on again. I suppose because of your allergies there's a lot of high calorie foods that you can't eat, so that makes it less likely the weight will go on again.

I usually keep clothes that are one dress size bigger, but get rid of clothes that are two dress sizes bigger. Having more space is lovely though and I find having a clear out very empowering .

That's how I feel too. Very empowered when I do it, and then determined that I will stick to everything.

The weight is unlikely to get put back on whilst I am restricted, but I am also aware that I don't want to assume it is permanent as some of them could be reversed. I think I will just go through them one by one and keep the newest one, but bin the old ones.

I cleared out little ones wardrobe earlier in the week, and that made her wardrobe look so much better, and I felt better doing it. I think I might make it a Sunday job this week.

Little one is back in school next week, but I am still off. x

in_need_of_direction

Just catching up and so angry. Don’t dare say that your salary is only £180 a month. It’s currently £180 a month guaranteed income that is allowing you to build up the experience to help gain better employment. People intern for free to get experience and you get paid.
Don’t sell your achievements short. If you do, other people will believe it and join in.
I think you’ve achieved so much, give yourself a big pat on the back