Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Oooh, HHoD - Clotted cream!! Sighs.... that's something I do have to avoid with my naughty gallbladder. I bet it is fab on mince pies.
Re the headache. It's not too bad a one, just annoying, nagging away. I used to get some horrendous perimenopausal ones, so any thing's better than they used to be! Sometimes I think headaches just go on their own, when they're ready. I'm hoping that when I wake up tomorrow morning, it will have disappeared. If not, I'm going to take some codeine as soon as I wake up because I'd like my get-up-go back!
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

I often feel the same, OBL. Like you, I wasn't visited by the massive light bulb until much later in life than many people & was 46 by the time we paid off the last of our debts from the Spendy Decades. Many times I've thought about how different things might be had I (& then we, as Mr F was every bit as bad as me, in fact I'd say he was actually worse) not frittered so much money & had saved it instead. I used to moan about not earning enough to save, which was such a silly attitude. Even a tenner a month would have been £120 towards Christmas gifts for next year & I could have afforded to save much more than that. Just imagine if I'd put away £50 a month from when I started my first professional post in the late 1980s........ it would be a tidy sum now, wouldn't it?
But we both know that we can't go back. I'm grateful that the LBM did come & clump me round the earholes. Better late than never. I can't think of any life situation which is genuinely improved by running up lots of consumer debt. It's such a short termist approach & usually backfires later. I am much happier knowing I won't go that route again.
Let's just keep thinking forwards & celebrating the fact that we have made big changes & adapted well to them.
F x

Definitely looking forward here and like you I'm celebrating the fact that we've made big changes,I'm so amazed at myself everyday now,I've never stuck to my guns about anything before but I know now that I will never let myself mess up my finances again, sadly I'm slowly witnessing my eldest daughter and son in law go down the same rabbit hole which is sad,I have tried to tell her but she won't listen,I do keep banging on though just in case

Onebrokelady

Blackcats wrote: »

Hi Foxgloves and companions - I think paying off the mortgage will take a while to sink in, but when the first month without a mortgage payment comes around it will feel real and wonderful.
I'm another who has wasted so much money over the years but although I can't identify what most of it was spent on I console myself that I have had some fun along the way. I'm now in the zone where i am probably balanced between the desire to spend and the desire to save. I have a goal of early retirement so I am focusing on saving and I am moving closer to that goal. A more thoughtful and frugal lifestyle now will help me in the future.

I cant remember much either apart from I know some of it was due to my partner leaving me in debt and some massive vet bills for the dog I owned back then, some was me trying to make Christmas and birthdays perfect for my family and the rest was just me being daft

I'm a different person now when it comes to spending and saving,I would much rather see the money in my bank and I definitely don't buy things for the sake of it now, I have the occasional treat but mostly only buy things I actually need rather than want

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Hi OBL - I use a set of 4 double pointed needles for knitting socks. Obviously the needle size will depend on the thickness of yarn you have in mind, but I usually stick to standard 4-ply sock yarns so my sock needles are 2.5mm.
I do use circular needles for other projects - my current jumper is being knitted on circulars - but I learned to knit socks on a set of DPNs, got used to it & stuck with it. I can't remember what brand my needles were as I've had them years. For other needles which I've bought more recently, I've just bought 'Pony'.
Am glad to hear there may soon be a bit of sock knitting in OBL-land.
F x

Thanks Foxgloves, DD1 keeps promising to show me how to knit socks but we haven't had chance yet due to the clingy baby attached to her chest 24/7 :rotfl: he is starting to chill out a bit now though so I thought if I got some needles fro Christmas's we could get cracking then and hopefully he will be able to be put down for a bit, I have some sock yarn I just need to find it and a suitable pattern and hopefully I will be able to get cracking :j

foxgloves

OBL - It sounds like your little GS might let you have a sock knitting lesson before too long then!
Sorry to hear that your daughter might be going for the debt route. I don't blame you for banging on about it to her. People like us who have lived or are still living through the paying-off process are the best advocates on living within one's means. But she isn't likely to listen until she has her own moment of realisation. I certainly didn't. It's just way too easy & normalised nowadays for people to regard available credit balances as 'their money' instead of 'some more debt which will need to be repaid & will quite likely become burdensome'
My credit card provider recently reduced my credit limit because they noticed I don't make use of it. I was fine with that. I mostly use it just for points for loyalty vouchers or to 'hold' a necessary larger purchase until payday. I spent many years borrowing & apart from mortgages & loans for a car so I could commute to work, none of the rest of it was remotely necessary or even very memorable. I couldn't go back to that.
F x

foxgloves

Hello chilly readers,
Well, I don't think my toes have felt warm since I got out of bed at 6.30am! I don't feel as though I've achieved very much today. It's been one of those so-so or so-what type of days. I baked a loaf & a dozen rolls, wrapped a Christmas present, did the ironing (a deliciously tiny amount this week, so a big yay to that!), made a start on writing our Christmas cards, knitted a bit more birthday present (Dec birthday & still not finished) & tried again to progress the bloody asbestos. Despite reply from council saying almost exactly down to the word what I thought it would, I still felt a bit deflated & spent more time than I'd have liked trawling the minefield that is responsible asbestos disposal. Anyway that's all beyond tedious & in all honesty, I'm boring myself into a torpor just typing about it!
Have written meal plans for the week ahead, which I couldn't do until we knew whether our friends were still intending to come over for Sunday lunch, have done the shopping list & also a list of all the jobs I could usefully do in town tomorrow while I have access to the motor. But I did hope to progress a couple of projects today & I haven't. Never mind, I can't go back in time, so it's fairly pointless fretting about them.
I intend to do lots tomorrow & Saturday.
Stay warm, all.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Friday Diary Readers,
A productive day so far today, although my name was about 5 different kinds of mud with Mr F first thing, when I got up really early (on his day off) & let our cat into the bedroom. Now to be fair to cat, about 3 times out of 10, when he manages to get into our bedroom, he does just find a nice little patch of blanket & snuggles down for an extra snooze. Today was unfortunately not of these occasions. He decided to jump straight onto Mr F & lick his head (??) till he woke up. So the first words I heard this morning were "How the **** did he get in here?"
A useful trip to town - mr F had an appointment for his flu jab & a voucher code from work for a free one, so I drove, as he has form for fainting with blood tests, etc. He was fine, as he says it's blood, not needles which is the problem. So as he was still perfectly vertical, we continued our Christmas shopping & also did all our grocery shopping - all our fresh stuff from the local market, which is always excellent quality, cheaper & as they also pop everything straight into a couple of our bags for life, much less of a contributor to the plastic mountain too. The gift we had in mind for a relative was 20% off today, which was a decent saving & I also withdrew the cash we are gifting to our oldest nephews for Christmas, so that I don't have to remember to account for it anywhere when I am transitioning between two different budgeting systems. We didn't visit our favourite coffee shop today, as our 'Personal Spends' monthly allowance isn't replenished until next week, but I did take two pictures for professional framing - both lovely gifts, which have sat for ages down by the side of my piano because I wanted to have them done properly, rather than wreck them myself. I think professional framing can be quite expensive, but these do a really good job & it is skilled too. My efforts don't look anything like as good. It felt good to progress a task that has been waiting such a long time.
I'd intended to do my big weekly house clean tomorrow when Mr F unexpectedly has to work, but when we got home, he suggested we share it out & get it done today, so we whizzed through that and as it's also his cooking night & I've already done my German practice, I'm not intending to do much else tonight apart from knit, read & watch TV.
I think I mentioned when I first started this diary, that since becoming debt-free a while back, we'd had to take out a small loan to help with buying a reliable car? We saved a big chunk ourselves & borrowed the remainder. We also saved a big one-off payment, as well as the usual monthly direct debits, which really helped reduce the balance as well as the term of the loan. Today, mr f requested a settlement figure. It is almost paid off now, only a very few hundred pounds left outstanding, but of course now that we are able, we are getting shot of it. It really helped us at the time. Unlike previous loans we've had, we took out this one post-LBM & applied our much more sensible attitude with saving a decent amount first, & then feeding in that large extra payment which was pretty much made up from things like ebay sales, survey earnings & savings made elsewhere. I have felt very much in control of it, in a way that I don't think I would have done if I'd had a fancy car finance package which might have been more difficult to overpay. Anyway, it feels good to be putting these things in motion. I think earlier in the week, I was almost in denial about the fact that we have become able to do so.
Only late afternoon, but I have the curtains drawn already, the fire lit & a big candle which was a gift from my Mum flickering on the hearth. I wonder who I have to snog around here to get a cup of tea.......
Stay warm, all.
F xx

Toni'sfriend

All our fresh stuff from the local market, which is always excellent quality, cheaper & as th.ey also pop everything straight into a couple of our bags for life

Oh, how I envy you. We don't have markets. A fairly decent butcher but the fishmonger and fruit shop have long gone. I love going on holiday to places where they have markets.

foxgloves

Oh, that's a shame, Toni's friend. I do think market's are important. They are struggling because the supermarkets have subsumed so much of their trade, so we try hard to support ours. The veg we bought this morning was from a local farm about 8 miles away. On another stall, I bought 2lbs pink lady apples for £1.80. Sometimes I can pay just £1 for 4 full size avocadoes. I love the seasonal focus too. Next month, some of the fruit & veg stalls will also have Christmas wreaths & bunches of mistletoe, chestnuts & dates. But I know the stall holders can only keep coming if local people buy from them. Many have given up since we've lived here. I think it's a case of 'Use it or lose it' with markets, just as it is with small independent shops.
F

Blackcats

I am very lucky to have a fantastic greengrocers - fruit and veg in the quantity I want, chosen by me and straight into my bag, plastic free. I use the butchers too where the quality is superb and they are now using re-cyclable bags that can go straight into the freezer if required. The leaseholder of the majority of premises in my local shopping street is very strict about what businesses can rent the shops. He only allows one smallish supermarket and the rest of the shops are small independents, a few estate agents, etc. We are very lucky.
I've got to pop out for an hour soon - really don't want to. I'm nice and cosy and it's bitter cold.
Enjoy your Fridays everyone.