Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Onebrokelady

It's been freezing here today but I also made myself go out for a walk. I'm not sure B was too keen but I did put her coat on, I love it when you come back inside and it's all warm and toasty 🔥🔥

marionmgcars

Having a no spend week so far.  Snow still heavy so my partner took my 4x4 car out to do shopping - bonus was he paid for all the shopping - good result 

Blackcats

Giant baked beans sound yummy.  I'm not a fan of the standard tinned baked beans - about twice a year I fancy beans on toast.  However, I do like making my own spicy beans concoction with chorizo, tomatoes and other odds and ends served with spicy sausages from the butchers - yum yum.  

Baileys_Babe

That sounds like dinner I made tonight @Blackcats

foxgloves

Hello Icicles,
Friday is usually my big weekly cleaning day but today I woke up & just thought "I'm b*ggered if I'm spending today cleaning" & have spent all day doing my own thing. What a rebel! Of course it will need to be done tomorrow, but I don't care. I shall most probably feel more like it then.
On the MSE front, absolutely no money spent whatsoever, leftovers consumed for lunch so fridge is looking nice & clear for our supermarket delivery arriving tomorrow & a big sort through my basket of music scores turned up a couple of different pieces to play, so no temptation (yet) to hop online & start buying new piano music. Also revised my list for town tomorrow morning.
So cold today. Snow still laying on the garden. Three attempts to thaw the bird bath with hot water - all failed, as it froze again. Tried to make a breathing hole in the ice on the pond the usual way by stamping the heel of my boot down hard on it. It didn't even crack! Spent the next few minutes hitting the ice with a rock. Nope! Went inside to boil another kettle. Poured that over the ice. Still not completely through, but with my trowel, I managed to poke through the ice under the hot water to make a small breathing hole of about 5 cms diameter. That was all I could do! Hope the hibernating frogs appreciate my efforts. 
As I was already wearing my coat, hat, scarf, boots, etc, I decided I'd go for a brisk walk. Paths mostly clear, but still snowy & very slippery where the sun hasn't reached. Blimming cold wind but I am aiming for weigh-day on Sunday so am considering myself on last chance calorie work-off!
Mr F informs me that the temperature is dropping to minus 6 tonight, so doubtless we'll have Round 2 of the icy pond performance very soon.
Stay cosy, m'dears & be as safe as you can - Covid cases seem to be falling back, but still far too much of it about for complacency.
F x

ladyholly

If you have fish in your pond be careful breaking the ice as shock from the vibration can kill them i believe. Our is frozen and we just leave it until it defrosts. The fish dont seem to mind  and we started with about 6 and we now now have over twenty so they are obviously content with their care.

foxgloves

Hi Ladyholly - No, ours is a wildlife pond. We don't have any fish x

ladyholly

Thats ok then. I was just a bit concerned in case you didnt know.

maryb

Foxgloves, being close to the sea when you retire sounds wonderful and it’s obviously going to give you a real focus for your saving.  Once the mortgage is paid off, it’s easy to take one’s foot off the pedal.  But you mentioned that you won’t get a full state pension because of taking VR.  It might be worth making some voluntary NI contributions to make up your record.  With interest rates as rubbish as they are, it might give a better long term return.  It would be index linked whereas living off savings means having to worry about inflation.  And any future government is going to find it tempting to let a bit of inflation eat away at the massive increase in government debt this pandemic has caused

foxgloves

Maryb - Thanks for your comment. I will maybe have another look at paying extra NI contributions, but last time I looked (several years ago to be fair), it seemed hugely expensive to make up even a year or two. I will have a look though, when I get this year's local authority pension statement, as that will remind me. Last time, I came to the conclusion that if paying in what to me was a sizeable chunk of money for only a very small improvement to my state pension, I would do better to save it. It's worth me having another look though. 
F x