Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Despite having had quite a relaxing day today, I also feel I've done a few useful tasks & set myself up for a busy productive week ahead. I've ordered a couple of inexpensive Christmas gifts, made a list of outstanding gifts to buy, which is fairly small now & had a chat with Mr F over coffee about what to buy for a quite tricky person. Also made a start on wrapping. Doesn't it always take way longer than you think it will!? Writing cards is the same. You think you'll knock the job off in an afternoon, then three evenings later, you're still writing them! I will make a start on mine soon, I think.
As it actually hasn't rained today, I went for a look around the garden, which is hugely soggy. My little winter lettuces in the greenhouse are looking promising. I must plant them out asap. My sweet peas are just starting to poke their first shoots up. No sign of the garlic yet, though.
We've also opened our sealed pots today. We don't do the official MSE challenge, but we have a sealed pot each, into which I save 50ps & Mr F saves £2 coins. My pot contained £67 & the £2-coin snaffler's contained £192. We were pleased with that. We started doing this as a bit of a fun thing a few years ago. There are only two rules:
1. The pots must not be opened until the day we decide (always November or December).
2. The money inside can ONLY be used to buy 'wants', not 'needs'.
This means we get a nice little sum of money to treat ourselves in the run up to Christmas or which can be saved until we see something we want. I don't have any specific purchases in mind for my pot money yet. Back in the day, it would be burning a hole in my purse. £67 feels like quite a lot of money to me now, but the Old Me could have spaffed that in one garden centre visit then home via a coffee shop. I value money so much more now. My head is just in a different space entirely where all things financial are concerned.
Well, the fire is lit, there's a chicken roasting in the oven - I think I'll read a few more chapters of my book, which is quite an unusual story.
Stay warm, diary readers.
F xx

foxgloves

P. S Book is 'The Well' by Catherine Chanter. I read another of her books a few weeks ago called 'The half-sister' & liked her writing style so thought I'd try another.
F x

Onebrokelady

Well done on the sealed pots,I might adopt this idea next year,I like the idea of having some money to treat myself in the run up to Christmas, it does remind me of me of the year where I adopted the idea of treating myself each time I bought a present for someone,the only difference is I didn't have the money back then to do that:eek:

foxgloves

It does seem to work, OBL, & is a nice way of ensuring you have a little bit extra to treat yourself, to go out for a Christmas meal or to spend in the sales. I don't really miss potting all my 50ps & if I spot Mr F with any, I swap them. The lowest I've had is £60 & the highest, if I remember correctly was around £115. It depends entirely on how many 50ps come my way during the course of the year. Mr F's pot mounts up more quickly because of only needing 5 x £2 coins for each £10, but the downside is that if he has a few to feed into his sealed pot, say 3 or 4 coins, then that's £6 or £8 out of his monthly personal spends allowance, which is quite a lot. He has mostly managed to pay in all the £2 coins that he's had, though. I was wondering about doing something different over the next year, but the 50ps work well for me, so I've started off my pot for opening in November 2020 already.
F x

Blackcats

Another one going to start the sealed pot challenge ready for next year. I think I'll save £1 coins. Hooray I've found a £ so I'm off and running.
OBL I like the "one present for them, one present for me" concept and never mind the cost. Actually I nearly did that myself yesterday - I bought a lovely scented candle as a gift and I so, so wanted to buy myself the same candle. Pleased to say I resisted the temptation and put £20 in my retirement savings pot.

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
I got off to a cracking start today before steadily being stymied by recalcitrant technology & gadgets. First no Internet, then our shonky old printer decided it wasn't playing. Then I had my card declined while trying to pay a credit card bill. Instantly felt worried in case our account had been hacked so logged into our online banking but all was looking normal. Started an 'online chat' conversation with the bank to see what the problem was, but the queue meant I kept timing out. Abandoned it & then discovered the declined payment was actually nothing to do with my visa debit card but because of a new security measure on the credit card account I was trying to pay. This was followed by almost being charged £5 extra on a Christmas gift I was ordering....it defaulted to the gift wrapped option (!) I then missed a phone call because I'd accidentally switched my phone onto silent & finished off by covering the kitchen worktop in hot liquid curry paste twice because the lid on the blender wasn't properly sealed..... all I can say is that oily turmeric goo travels a long way & seems to defy logic regarding expected direction of travel! At least the curry was worth all the cleaning up once I'd finished making it!
Doubtless tomorrow will be every bit as rainy as today, so I've lined up a cosy batch cooking day which will fill the freezer with useful meals & I can listen to my audiobook at the same time.
I've planned to cook quite a lot of stuff, but I'm looking forward to it, so will hopefully be reporting back with decent progress.
Cheers all,
F x

amber03

I have two sealed pots a year. One I start the 1st January to the 30th June. I then start a fresh pot on the 1st July to the 31st December. Cannot tell you how excited I get when opening them. Usually the June pot will get spent on summer hols and the December one on Xmas sales. I usually save any lose change I have in the tins. The most I have saved in a tin is £120, the least about £70. Dont think it's a large amount this time and the money will be going on a treat I have booked for my DH who is retiring the end of this year.

foxgloves

Amber03 - Interesting that you do two sealed pots a year. I think there are potentially lots of variations & it's a case of finding out what works for us. The main think that motivates me is whether around £60 to £115 would be a nice thing to have this time next year, & the answer's always 'Yes'.
F

foxgloves

Well, I woke up at 5.30 feeling quite discombobulated after a weird dream I can't even remember. I'd got a rotten crick in my neck, so decided to get up & go & put the washer on while we're still on the cheaper night time tariff. Then I'm going to nabb Mr F's bathwater which will be another little electricity saving. I'm planning a big batch cooking day today. I definitely intend to make:
Re-fried beans (will do in slow cooker)
Spicy chickpea burgers
Bread rolls & a pizza base
Chicken & leek soup
Sourdough loaf
However, I need to remember that our last Grimsby fish box of the year is being delivered on Monday so I must leave both some containers & some freezer space.
A good audiobook at the ready. Just need to fortify myself with breakfast & coffee.
Ah, just remembered I've forgotten to budget for cat's vet visit tonight, but it's only claw cutting, so shouldn't be too expensive. He refuses to strop them on anything tougher than our carpets & rugs so they are like scimitars!
Have a good day, all.
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Hope your day is going better than yesterday Foxgloves... sounds like 'one of those' days.
I had to break into my sealed pot this morning because dd needed a fiver and I didn't have anything. Hope she is making something nice in food tech today and not like the almond free Bakewell tart that arrived home last week.