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

HairyHandofDartmoor

It's payday today and I've spent my wages on Premium Bonds and a wheelie bin, I know how to live it up :rotfl:.

I bought £50 worth of Premium Bonds, which I'm ridiculously excited about . Maybe because I'm not used to having any spare money to invest in my future . Hopefully this will be the first of many investments in Premium Bonds, after a year I'll have £600 worth if I buy £50 worth every month :T.


Then I ordered a wheelie bin :rotfl:. We have two 240L bins given to us by the council, one for general waste and one for recycling. They are both emptied once a fortnight. This should be enough, but as there are five of us here some of the time, occasionally both bins are full and then rubbish piles up in our garden looking unsightly and attracting rodents. As I've recently been doing so much de-cluttering this holiday, we have more rubbish than bin space.

The bin I've ordered is a green 120L one and it cost £42. It can hold the overflow rubbbish until we have time to take it to the tip, then it will stop attracting rodents to our garden and won't look and smell awful. So I think it's a good investment .

I've also topped up DH's glasses fund in my B@rclays savings account and left myself £30 for my treats fund.

I feel like I've been very sensible with my wages :A. I wonder what other people spend theirs on. I've noticed that some of my colleagues smoke, despite being low paid like me. I sound like I'm being really judgemental now but if you're a low paid worker it seems silly to waste it on smoking.

elizabethhull

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

It's payday today and I've spent my wages on Premium Bonds and a wheelie bin, I know how to live it up :rotfl:.

I bought £50 worth of Premium Bonds, which I'm ridiculously excited about . Maybe because I'm not used to having any spare money to invest in my future . Hopefully this will be the first of many investments in Premium Bonds, after a year I'll have £600 worth :T.


Then I ordered a wheelie bin. We have two 240L bins given to us by the council, one for general waste and one for recycling. They are both emptied once a fortnight. This should be enough, but as there are five of us here some of the time, occasionally both bins are full and then rubbish piles up in our garden looking unsightly and attracting rodents. As I've recently been doing so much de-cluttering this holiday, we have more rubbish than capacity.

The bin I've ordered is a green 120L one and it cost £42. It can hold the overflow rubbbish until we have time to take it to the tip, then it will stop attracting rodents to out garden and won't look and smell awful. So I think it's a good investment .

I've also topped up DH's glasses fund in my B@rclays savings account and left myself £30 for my treats fund.

I feel like I've been very sensible with my wages :A. I wonder what other people spend theirs on. I've noticed that some of my colleagues smoke, despite being low paid like me. I sound like I'm being really judgemental now, but if you're a low paid worker it seems silly to waste it on smoking.

Your wages choices sound very sensible to me, and I too love the 'treats fund'.
As for what other people spend their money on - it is a continuing eye-opener to me! I'm just glad I never took up smoking, so never had the awful hassle of trying to give it up.
I also don't like alcohol, and OH is not much more interested, so we save on that too.
BUT, I am dreadfully profligate on clothing, so I'm definitely not blameless in the wasting money category. Other people's choices are always a mystery, but if they can afford whatever it is, and it doesn't hurt anyone - it's up to them. I'm certainly in no position to make judgemental comments !!!

HairyHandofDartmoor

I enjoyed being at work and it was lovely and sunny which helps .

I do feel a bit out of the groove though after two weeks holiday, as though my head isn't quite in the game . Although I think I'm still tired after all that de-cluttering I did over the holidays. I don't regret it as my bedroom looks much tidier and more spacious, but it was exhausting! I've also been busy washing lots of clothes, bedding, towels, etc, for DS3 to take back to uni.

DH has been busy too with his new customer, so we only managed to do our Mr T order at 10pm last night, and then we found there were no delivery slots for today :mad:. So we had to go for click and collect. DH has to drive to Mr T between 6-8pm tonight and collect the food, which will take time he doesn't really have.

I'll feel a bit more relaxed once we get back from dropping off DS3 at uni. Tomorrow I've got college in the morning, then my lunchtime job, then I have to come home, pack and then we're driving to Surrey :eek:. DH is also at the new customer in the morning. So tomorrow is going to be a busy day!

DS1 and DS2 are staying at home, so at least we won't have too much of a load in the car, it's amazing how much more petrol we use when there are five adults in the car, and it will be cheaper for buying coffee on the journey.

doingitanyway

Glad you enjoyed work today.

Your Mr T online shop has become like second nature now hasn't it? I remember when you were weighing up whether to have it. Someone wrote it is like a different person writing the diary now and they were right. It is.

teafor2

Congratulations on buying the first of many premium bonds. I've got my fingers crossed Ernie chooses one of your numbers very soon. And a big :T for starting off your 'treats' fund.

I've never smoked and it's one thing I drill into the DC's not to do, along with other nasty habits of course :rotfl:. Obviously it's from a health point of view but also the money side. Hubby has been an ex smoker for several years but neither of us can bear to think how much has gone up in smoke since we met

That is a busy day tomorrow. Are you taking DS back because he has a lot of things with him or do you just like to make sure he's got there safely? DD quite often comes home on the train, she's not got very far to travel, but I must admit I do like to drop her back, it feels like we've rounded the visit off properly

Hope everything is going well with your DH's new customer. Have a safe journey. xx

tryingtodobetter

De-lurking to say that my local council, South Hams (not sure if that's yours too) let you have a second wheelie bin if you are a 5 or more person household. Hope that helps and that you have time to cancel the order if it does

HairyHandofDartmoor

doingitanyway wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed work today.

Your Mr T online shop has become like second nature now hasn't it? I remember when you were weighing up whether to have it. Someone wrote it is like a different person writing the diary now and they were right. It is.

Thanks DIA . I was reluctant to do an online shop before, but I guess we're just so much busier now that we have no choice :rotfl:

teafor2 wrote: »

Congratulations on buying the first of many premium bonds. I've got my fingers crossed Ernie chooses one of your numbers very soon. And a big :T for starting off your 'treats' fund.

I've never smoked and it's one thing I drill into the DC's not to do, along with other nasty habits of course :rotfl:. Obviously it's from a health point of view but also the money side. Hubby has been an ex smoker for several years but neither of us can bear to think how much has gone up in smoke since we met

That is a busy day tomorrow. Are you taking DS back because he has a lot of things with him or do you just like to make sure he's got there safely? DD quite often comes home on the train, she's not got very far to travel, but I must admit I do like to drop her back, it feels like we've rounded the visit off properly

Hope everything is going well with your DH's new customer. Have a safe journey. xx

Thank you TF2 . I've set it up so that any winnings are reinvested back into Premium Bonds, so that would be fine for smaller prizes, although if I won the million then I think I'd want the cash :rotfl:.

We'd prefer DS3 to go by coach but he has an enormous computer to take there and back which he says is essential for his course! So we have no choice but to drive him :mad:.

tryingtodobetter wrote: »

De-lurking to say that my local council, South Hams (not sure if that's yours too) let you have a second wheelie bin if you are a 5 or more person household. Hope that helps and that you have time to cancel the order if it does

Thank you and thanks for delurking . I'm not sure that our council do that, but I should ring up and ask shouldn't I. Thanks for the tip .

redofromstart

It is worth asking, ours do a bigger bin if you have five people but only if you ask.

Happy first premium bonds!

Sunshine_girl2

Great to hear you are having a treat fund for yourself. We have bigger bins here as well for bigger households may be worth checking .

You and DH are very busy this week, so I hope the drive to Surrey with DS3 isn't to daunting. Safe travels HH and a good Saturday with the family.

HairyHandofDartmoor

redofromstart wrote: »

It is worth asking, ours do a bigger bin if you have five people but only if you ask.

Happy first premium bonds!

Thanks Redo .

Sunshine_girl2 wrote: »

Great to hear you are having a treat fund for yourself. We have bigger bins here as well for bigger households may be worth checking .

You and DH are very busy this week, so I hope the drive to Surrey with DS3 isn't to daunting. Safe travels HH and a good Saturday with the family.

Thanks Sunshine . DH doesn't have to go to the customer tomorrow morning now so he can relax before the drive which I'm pleased about .

We already have two of the biggest bins that our council provide. On our council website it says that two 240L bins should be enough for everyone :mad: but they will come out and assess bigger households if they think they need another bin :eek:. I'm not sure I want to be assessed . I could ring them and find out what they say I guess, although I won't have time tomorrow because it's going to be manic.

I think the bin will be useful anyway though as we could store all kinds of things in there potentially, like things that are waiting to go to the tip, etc, and then they wouldn't be cluttering up the house .