My journey to a debt free life

Onebrokelady

Had a busy day today,spent the day with DD1 and DGS,she needed some bits in town so we went shopping for the morning,I didnt buy anything just looked, I was looking at all the things I would normally buy and just thinking that I would rather have the money in my bank account than spend it on things I dont actually need
I need to sit down and work out what I need to do with my money this month,Im working tomorrow but I should have time on Thursday
I did sit down earlier and tot up my food receipts and last month my food budget came to the grand total of £115 Im really pleased with this as my actual food budget is £140 so its nice to know I can reduce my food budget,Im going to aim for the same again this month
Thursdays list is
Work out budget for the month
Pay emergency fund money into savings account
Bake Homity pie
Clean out chickens
Do the ironing
I’m babysitting for my DGS on Thursday so all the above will get done if he isnt too demanding, of course if the snow thats been forcast turns up I wont be babysitting because they live out in a village and will be stuck out there,hopefully we wont get any:)

Cherryfudge

Lovely to have a bit more cash than you'd expected! I know it's tempting to overpay but those emergency funds are soooo important... we never know what might crop up. Can you guess what I'd advise?

Has the snow reached you yet?

enthusiasticsaver

You sound as you are doing well with food budget.

I would not overpay on the DMP initially. I agree with cherry that saving for emergencies is better. Later on you can save for F and Fs.

I live just over the Devon and Cornwall border and we had gorgeous sunshine yesterday and it looks the same today. No snow here. Cold still though.

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Lovely to have a bit more cash than you'd expected! I know it's tempting to overpay but those emergency funds are soooo important... we never know what might crop up. Can you guess what I'd advise?

Has the snow reached you yet?

I agree with your advice and I’m putting it in the emergency fund
We have snow this morning that has settled,it’s actually just stopped but is supposed to get worse at lunch time,I’m not babysitting today now as my DD office is closed so she didn’t need me,Im just trying to get up the energy to take the dog out ( she really isn’t keen to go out either ):rotfl:

Onebrokelady

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You sound as you are doing well with food budget.

I would not overpay on the DMP initially. I agree with cherry that saving for emergencies is better. Later on you can save for F and Fs.

I live just over the Devon and Cornwall border and we had gorgeous sunshine yesterday and it looks the same today. No snow here. Cold still though.

I’ve decided to put it in the emergency fund instead, lack of an emergency fund is what quite often leads me to using a CC but I can’t now so I’m thinking my emergency fund needs to be as big as I can get it
I’m really pleased with my good budget so far and I think I can get it down lower than last month with some sensible planning and cooking
We had a lovely cold sunny day yesterday but have woken up to snow this morning,it’s not deep by any means and has stopped coming down at the moment but it’s supposed to be getting worse at lunch time so we will just have to wait and see,I like snow so l9nb as I dnt have to go anywhere and I have to go to work tomorrow at 6.30am if they cancel the buses that means an hours walk in the snow,so I’m hoping it will be gone by tomorrow

System

Ooh, hope your snow clears for you before tomorrow
We only have light snow at the moment. Blowing around a lot in this strong wind as soon as it falls and then turning to ice by the look of it. I have to work tomorrow but it is only a 10 minute walk. However I am terrified of walking when it is icy and I have Osteoporosis and can fracture so easily if I fall.:eek:

Onebrokelady

ploppy57 wrote: »

Ooh, hope your snow clears for you before tomorrow
We only have light snow at the moment. Blowing around a lot in this strong wind as soon as it falls and then turning to ice by the look of it. I have to work tomorrow but it is only a 10 minute walk. However I am terrified of walking when it is icy and I have Osteoporosis and can fracture so easily if I fall.:eek:[/QUOTE
It’s been snowing here all day now and is about 6 inches deep, I’ve just been outside though and it’s raining, they had forcast freezing rain for around 9pm so that’s what it must be,The forcast shows more snow for tomorrow though so I’m not holding out much hope of this being gone by the morning,we have a red alert in the southwest and they are telling people not to go out unless they have to,unfortunately I have to get to work,the hospital I work for sent out a request for all available staff who could get there to work tomorrow because they have so many who are snowed in and can’t get in tomorrow
If you can avoid going out at all in this weather I would especially with a condition like Osteoporosis,please be very careful if you do go out,take care and safe journey tomorrow

Onebrokelady

Well Ie spent the day not doing any of the things I was supposed to do due to the weather
we woke up to snow this morning which quickly turned to heavy snowfall,the steps in my front garden have completely disappeared,there is just a steep slope,I wore my ankle length walking boots out in the garden earlier and it came over the top,I think its about 6to 8 inches deep,
So the snow came and as always when this happens my boiler stopped working,I knew it was the condensate pipe that had frozen outside so out came the ladder and the kettle and I went out to thaw it out,unfortunately the roof to the chicken run is in the way slightly so I had to spend my day out in the garden removing the roof to the run and then putting it all back just so I could get to the end of the pipe,I managed to get it thawed out outside but it still wouldnt work and there was water dripping out the bottom of the boiler,so seeing as I have British Gas Homecare insurance on my boiler I tried to call them to come and fix it,they had suspended calls to the number due to high usage,this service costs me £27 a month and its meant to be a 24/7 call out service so you never have to worry about your boiler or heating system breaking down,well I couldnt get hold of them at all,I tried to book an engineer online and the earliest they could come out is Monday when I am at work so that was no good. I then asked people on FB to recommend someone and a friend gave me someones number who I phoned and he gave me brilliant advice over the phone so I didnt need to pay for him to come out,I had to also thaw the pipe out inside the house with my hairdryer,so I did inside and out again and a huge chunk of ice followed by lots of water came out, the boiler is now working again and Imleaving the heating on tonight in the hope it will carry on working,Ive wrapped the outside pipe in bubble wrap so Im hoping that will insulate it enough to stop the pipe freezing again, as for British Gas they can consider their services no longer required as I am cancelling their DD before I go to bed
We have freezing rain now ( whatever that is meant to be) and more snow forcast for tomorrow,Im working tomorrow so have a lovely walk to work to look forward to in the morning,its going to take me over an hour I reckon and Im dreading it,my pain levels go through the roof if I get cold so im expecting a very unpleasant day tomorrow,Im already in quite a lot of pain from today so that is not a good start,I am hoping they wont make me stay until 8pm tomorrow night as I have to walk home as well but I wont be surprised if they do,lots of out staff were stranded at work yesterday or were asked not to go home if they were due back today so they could be in work this morning,they have either stayed in hospital accommodation or with colleagues,the hospital accommodation has no heating that works so its not a pleasant experience at all
Ive got my clothes ready for my walk in the morning,so I;m wearing waterproof trousers and my thermal knee length riding boots with an extra pair of socks plus my fleece lined coat and a hat,scarf and gloves,hopefully I will be lovely and toasty

Onebrokelady

Just a quick update to say Ive cancelled the British Gas DD,I would phone them to cancel the plan but seeing as they arent answering their phones today it would be a waste of time
Ive also been very efficient and checked my bank account to see which bills have been paid so far and to make sure my budget is on track,the first payment of my DMP has gone out too so Im pleased about that......Im on my way to getting rid of this debt and being sensible with money at last,the budget is looking good so far,I have drawn out cash for my food money and Im going to put it into envelopes in weekly amounts,anything left over from each week will be rolled over into the following week then if there is anything left at the end of the month it can go in the savings pot

enthusiasticsaver

My mum had exactly the same issue with her boiler and the condensate pipe. She phoned British Gas and could not get through to book a visit. The emergency engineer came out and shut the boiler down leaving my 83 year old mum and 85 year old stepdad with no heating. Luckily my stepdads daughters partner is a plumber so he came out tonight and thawed out the pipe and got the boiler working again.

We have told my mum to cancel the British Gas contract.