Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Well, twinkly treelight greetings, Diary readers, from a big armchair by the fire..... or as near as I can get, given that cat is a proper heat hog & is stretched out as near to the flames as he can, without actually singeing his whiskers off!
Am pleased to report my number-crunching has paid off today & I've both reconciled December's budget & set January's, ready for the month ahead. Was surprised to see we ended December's grocery budget with a sufficient underspend to pay for our planned take-away curry on New Year's Eve, so I didn't need to budget for that after all.
Of course, this is only our second month of being both debt & mortgage-free & I'm still getting used to the new amounts transferred monthly into our Spreadsheet Pots. The important thing is that these payments are flexible to maximise what we want them to do. When I consider there are sufficient funds in particular pots, I will via the money to build up some of the others. For instance, today I deliberately chose not to pay any additional money into our Clothing Pot. There is £230 in there atm. Mr F needs a new pair of jeans & a work shirt but says he's fine for everything else. I don't require anything - my goal is for my existing gear to feel less tight, which I reckon I'll achieve by the end of March. So instead of chucking more money into this pot, I put extra into 'Presents' as we have two February birthdays & Opticians/Dental. I've never had a savings pot for this before but am conscious that if Mr F & I required new varifocals in the same month, there wouldn't be sufficient to cover it, so I'm going to keep adding to the various pots (I have 10 now, instead of my previous 6) until I judge there to be enough to deal with a necessary spend. We really do need a new cooker this year, so I'm adding to the Appliance Replacement Pot, but after that, I can just build it back very slowly, as barring disaster, all our other white goods are pretty new & /or still under guarantee.
I am getting a handle on manipulating the new figures, but I think it will take me a few more months yet.
Anyway, I must get a glass of water as this is the 2nd day my throat has felt a bit suspicious.
Love to all,
F x

Onebrokelady

Hi Foxgloves,I really hope your not coming down with the lurgy and that your suspicious throat turns out to be innocent,I bought wrapping paper this year thinking I had used all mine up only to discover two unopened rolls under my bed, they will be used next year and after that I'm using brown parcel paper ,my DD sent a present to a friend wrapped in parcel paper and she drew holly and berries on it then wrote Merry Christmas in lovely swirly writing, she is very arty though but I'm thinking I could use stamps to decorate it or a stencil,DDs looked lovely

You have also just reminded me that I need to do my banking,I haven't looked at my account since I got paid but the upside is I also haven't spent any despite being paid on the 23rd :j I was just reading an article about how to manage your money and they were on about the post Christmas credit card bill,I breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing I haven't got any credit cards to worry about :money:

Blackcats

Thought provoking discussion on wrapping paper. I've got lots left over to use next year but it isn't great quality. I think brown paper will look very nice and allows all sorts of decorations to be added.
I hope your throat is better by tomorrow.

Baileys_Babe

Foxgloves I hope your throat has improved, I had a sore throat on & off for a couple of days and the pain has gone but I've had no voice for 6 days, my Christmas present to the rest of my family :rotfl:

foxgloves

Yes, I'm sure brown parcel paper with jute twine or recycled ribbon & home made gift tags is the answer. However, I will use up all wrappings currently in my stash. I must also cut down on sellotape use. Much easier to re-use gift wrap if it hasn't been smothered in plastic tape.
F

foxgloves

Grrrr...... unfortunately the 'suspicious throat' became a sore throat overnight & I have a lergy. I have clearly brought it back with me from London. I think it's probably just going to be a cold. I have a stiff neck & lower energy levels than usual, but I've achieved quite a lot this morning nevertheless. Have just popped here while sitting down with a coffee & piece of Christmas cake.
So.... Mr F returned from shopping declaring our town to be a turkey free zone. He roasted a couple of chicken's last night, which we had with the leftover stuffing, bread sauce, pigs in blankets & red cabbage I'd frozen. Lots of leftover chicken for my usual post-Christmas batch cooking. I've stripped the carcasses this morning & got them into my big stock pot. There is sufficient meat for chicken & chips tonight, chicken & mushroom supreme probably on Weds as well as an estimated 6 or 7 portions of chilli and several of soup for the freezer. I've also frozen a tray of sliced chicken breast in gravy and a box of the remaining chicken, gravy & leftover roast veg for the next time Mr F fancies making one of his Epic Man Stews. There will also be a few containers of stock to freeze, so I'm pleased with that, as they will all be useful & healthy meals for January.
The stock is still bubbling away on the hob & I don't need to do anything until it's ready for straining, so I am just going to double-spin the laundry & get it onto the heated airer, then I can have some leisure time & rest my lergyfied self a little.
Received a seed catalogue in the post today. It will soon be time to decide what veggies to grow this year.
Enjoy your days,
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Hope it's only a mild and quick visiting lurgy...

foxgloves

Thanks CCL. I hope so too. I was thinking back to when I last had a cold & I think it was the end of December 2016........so I can't really complain, can I?
I have plenty of paracetamol, lemons, honey & fresh root ginger so can dose myself up as necessary. I'm still hoping to go out tomorrow. We like to go out for a walk on New Year's Eve & I think the fresh air will do me good.
Really, I think the sooner I get back to my healthy eating, the better.......she says, having just eaten half a bar of artisan white chocolate & a big wodge of Christmas cake!
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sorry you've got a cold Foxgloves. You're lucky that this if your first one for a whole year. I've had four colds just since September and now a sickness bug, but I'm sure it's because I work in a school.

I think brown paper stamped with festive images would look lovely and be very recyclable for wrapping presents.

Kittikins

Just coming out of lurkdom to say that we ironed on a cool heat the copious amounts of paper that Ama*on include in parcels and stamped them with reindeer and the like for our presents this year and everyone loved it We loved it too, as it was a family activity, sitting around the dining table, stamping, eating chocolate and watching Elf