Put away your purse & become debt-averse
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I am a positive person and usually look on the bright side of everything, but yesterday realised my mood has been low the last couple of weeks. Definitely think it’s the COVID situation. I even decided to leave my Xmas deccies up until the 12th night to make sure we don’t have bad luck this year. I know it’s early days but DH has injured his knee, DS is supposed to move house the end of the month but it looks like there are problems with the people buying their house. We’ve gone back into another lockdown. Think I need to pull up my big girl pants and start thinking positive again.x:j Debtfree and and staying that way.:j3-6 month emergency fund, No.61 £140.0010
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The mouse situation must be getting you down, it would me. No one wants mice scampering across their kitchen worktops. Is there a solution in the offing?I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping)8
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Helloooooo Mrs foxgloves & Gang...feeling a tad low today, neighbours husband tested positive for covid but has no symptoms, he is a poorly man as he has COPD and other problems. Hope he will be OK. It seems to be getting really bad everywhere doesn't it?. Ive been sat in bed trying to do a asde online shop but hubby will collect. Weve ran out of a few things, like milk bread fruit and veg. Pay day is Tuesday. Still knitting my squares, coming along slowly. Hubby has been outside trying to put new pipes in for the laundry room and its blooming icy cold out there. Always the way isn't it you are trying not to spend then have extra money to pay off the mortgage and things start packing up. At least I've had a giggle tonight reading about "mouse poo" thanks Mrs F I needed that. On another note I feel happy as its payday Tuesday and we still have £752 in the bank, apart from a little food shop that money left will pay last bit of card off and rest will go in to emergency fund or boat fund..?. Off to do my foodshop. Keep safe and take care x
Mortgage free September 2021. Narrowboat brought October 2021
Emergency fund £7500
Christmas fund £143013 -
I’m trying to limit my grocery shopping to once a week and I usually go between 9 and 10 pm in the hope that Mr T’s will be quieter. In the first lockdown, I wiped down everything that could be wiped down, in a diluted disinfectant before putting it away. I must admit we had got lax so reintroduced that this week. Having a larger family does make the restrictions on the number of milk cartons you can buy, a little tricky, so have decided that if we run out we’ll walk to the new farm shop ( about 2 miles away so much close than Mr T’s) and buy what we need.
paydbx2024 #2 £480/£5000 . Mortgage £144k start ~ £148k Jun 23 -
2024 savings challenge £5/£2000 EF £140. Savings 2 £30.00. Weekly savings envelope #1714 -
I had a rough day yesterday too. Must be getting to all of us. I found myself all nostalgic and hardly able to remember what life was like 'before Covid' and wanting to go out drinking (and I never want to go out drinking).
Hope everyone is feeling brighter today.Not giving up
Working hard to pay off my debt
Time to take back control
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6290156/crazy-cat-lady-chapter-5-trying-to-recover-from-the-pandemic/p1?new=113 -
Yes I think it is getting to us all and personally I think it's got to us all for a very long time but we've adapted to just getting on with it. I know with me I've adapted but I'm not happy.
You tell a good story @foxgloves but what a story to have to tell and on the worktops as well. I had to use bait in the summer and it hurt me a great deal but I felt like it was self preservation because had a mouse gotten into all the food we would struggle to replace given the situation.
Do you know I haven't worn make up for the best part of a year now and I think I am so used to what I look like without it now I think I won't bother anymore.12 -
We're only living half a life with all the restrictions on being able to go places and see people 😞. But I try to be grateful that I don't live alone, have a roof over my head, food to eat and can afford to pay the bills. It's very easy to get stressed and fed up after watching/reading the news so I think it's a good idea to try and limit exposure to what's going on in the world.
I hope you can get your mouse poo situation sorted out Foxgloves, we've been there and found that blocking up the gaps where they were getting in was most effective 🐀🐁🐭. Where the pipes came in behind the washing machine there were gaps which we've filled with steel wool tightly packed in and that seems to have done the trick so far.Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally
Debt in July 2017 = £58,766 😱 DEBT FREE 31 OCTOBER 2017 :T 🎉
EMERGENCY FUND 1 = £50/£5,000. EMERGENCY FUND 2 = £10/£5,000.
CHRISTMAS SAVINGS = £0/£500. SEF = £1,400/£12,000 PREMIUM BONDS ME = £350. PREMIUM BONDS DH = £300.
HOLIDAY MONEY = £0 TIME LEFT TO PAY OFF MORTGAGE = 5 YEARS 1 MONTHS11 -
Hello all, Thanks for all your comments, which I've enjoyed reading while drinking my coffee this morning:
Amber03 - Yes, I agree. You cannot hear the dreadful daily Covid figures & see the news pictures of NHS staff run into the ground & not feel so sad & heavy-hearted. It's definitely affecting my mood now, although I am very grateful I have a warm home, we haven't lost our income & I have quite a big garden for fresh air & exercise.
SunAddict - It looks as though we are getting on top of the mouse problem. We are doing exactly what we learned from the council pest control officer when we had a serious infestation some years ago when our neighbour moved his shed.
Pixiehouse55 - Yes, it is getting bad everywhere. In our district, infections have risen by 50% in the last week. I'm sure this is now the inevitable result of people mixing at Christmas.
Honeysucklelou - Yes, that's been getting a bit lax here too, compared with first Lockdown, so I have also tightened up on disinfecting incoming shopping, etc.
CCL - I know. I don't miss the bigger more exciting things. I can suck it up that we didn't get to go on holiday because we were put in Tier 3 a couple of days before. It's the small ordinary everyday things I miss - going for a coffee & toasted teacake in our favourite coffee shop, enjoying a meander around our region's historic houses, city centre shopping trips, trying clothes on in shops.........I'm really looking forward to doing all those again.
Judiciously - My make-up miniumum (even when I'm at home by myself) is mascara - & plenty of it!
HHoD - Thanks for the mouse tip re blocking small gaps. Evidence of tiny paws has definitely reduced.....they have eaten a LOT of bait, so I am hoping we are down to rearguard action now. Am checking every day & will look at a gap above the heating pipes where I think they could be coming in.
F x"For each of our actions there are only consequences" (James Lovelock)"For in the true nature of things......every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold & silver" (Martin Luther King Jnr)13 -
Back again with today's post.......
So, yesterday morning over coffee, Mr F & I had our annual 'Money Summit'. Apart from a brief summary from the Exchequer (Yours Truly) on the current state of our Home Improvements Budget & a joint decision to postpone the rest of the work until the Covid situation isn't raging so furiously, the only item on the agenda was savings. I know there are several people on here aiming to save more this year - HHoD, Blackcats, etc, & we are going to do the same. We feel that as we are not able to go anywhere, do very much, try on clothes in shops (me), spending zero on non-work petrol, etc, & as the country is inevitably going to take a long time to recover from the economic effects of the pandemic, the most sensible option for us is to save more. Mr F asked if he should bring anything to the meeting (it made me feel like I was back at work) & I suggested he find an online compound interest calculator. Well, it was like his new toy! Wish I'd told him about this piece of magic earlier. Every option we considered was duly run through to see if we were making the most sensible choices. We came up with 4 decisions, which I have been actioning this morning:
1) Leave our Emergency Fund in situe in the savings account it is already in for ease of access. I can have that money transferred more-or-less instantly into our current account should we need it BUT we won't be paying any more into that account while the interest rates are so low.
2) Agreed on a maximum amount to hold in each of our ten Savings Pots. I've been churning this subject over for a while, but we looked at every pot in turn & concluded that there IS a maximum sensible limit for all of them. Once the pots reach the agreed levels, it makes much more sense to put additional funds into general savings rather than run a big surplus......which actually, could encourage us to spend more than we need to, simply because the money is sitting there on our Savings Pots spreadsheet looking tempting. We also decided not to pay anything at all into our Holiday Pot this year. There is sufficient in there already to pay the balance on our November holiday this year, & next year's holiday is already paid for, as we re-arranged the one we lost this year due to Covid. We agreed that all 10 Savings Pots are working for us & there is no need to reduce or increase the number.
3) With his new best friend the online compound interest calculator, Mr F ran some figures through & we decided to increase the monthly standing order into our Regular Saver account. It is one of those accounts where the annual interest is pretty much shirt buttons if you make a withdrawal, but if you leave it untouched, you get a higher rate of interest added as a bonus. This account is for paying into & forgetting about to give us a bit of extra money for the future (still hoping to relocate when Mr F retires & house prices where we want to go will require a downsize & some back-up savings).
4) Current account buffer zone (I am evangelical about having this, I think because I spent so very many years in overdraft) agreed at no less than £200 but no more than £250. Every month, once the budget has been set, surplus funds will be swept straight into my ISA, which has a better interest rate than the account we use for our Emergency Fund. The money is accessible, but there should be no need to touch it as long as I continue to budget, use the Savings Pots & continue understanding the difference between an emergency & a foreseeable expense.
And that was it. A lot of discussion, but it was worth it to make sure we are both singing from the same hymn sheet. The simple truth is that while no situation in life is improved by having consumer debt (I'm not including mortgages, as who can realistically buy a house outright?), almost every potential difficult situation is improved by having some savings. It helps to take the pressure off in a way I chose not to acknowledge back when I was so busy spending both my & the bank's money like water. So today, I've set everything we agreed in motion before doing my usual Monday morning budget updates & I kind of feel that in amongst the madness of everything that's going on atm, as well as knowing that there will almost certainly be more public sector cuts to come in the wake of it all, at least for this year, the Foxgloves household has a plan.
And now I think I'd better go & get the bread out of the oven as it's smelling quite toasty.
Stay safe m'dears,
F xx
"For each of our actions there are only consequences" (James Lovelock)"For in the true nature of things......every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold & silver" (Martin Luther King Jnr)14 -
I think Mr F's new best friend needs a name.
We keep a buffer in our current accounts, took a while to get the buffers where I am happy but we are there now.
We need to introduce an annual Money Summit as well as regular set updates not like the ad hoc arrangement we currently follow.Fashion on a ration 2024 66/66 coupons remaining
80 coupons rolled over 0/80 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases
One income, home educating family9
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