Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello Sweet-peas!
Another old-style day today, just like my Nan....which is very appropriate as today would have been her birthday. My Nan had lived through difficult times & she knew a thing or two about frugality, I can tell you. We used to laugh at her money saving ways, but of course I wish I'd heeded one or two of her pearls of wisdom. As I returned laden with yet more bags of stuff from the January sales (having blown all my Christmas money & much more), she'd purse her lips & say 'You should always spend half & save half because that half that you save will be there for times when there's nothing to spend'. Well that was far too sensible & fogeyish, wasn't it, so amount of notice of it taken by me was precisely zero! Nan died when I was 29. My share of the money she left provided the deposit on my first house. She'd have liked that, but not as much as if she could have seen my inauguration into the frugal sisterhood. I think she'd have been truly amazed! 
So today, I got the ironing out of the way first thing then went out to the greenhouse & tied in & side-shooted all the tomatoes (first one almost ripe), followed by cucumber plants, aubergines, then all the outdoor tomatoes. Pickings today were 2 more cucumbers, courgettes, another lb of strawberries, spring onions & a bunch of coriander, also 100g of chillies picked green for freezer, so that the fruits keep on coming. I  have identified the next herbs for cutting & drying but couldn't do them as the rain came & they shouldn't be soggy. Another bunch of flowers picked for the front windowsill too.
On the kitchen front, it's been a use-it-up day. I'm making butterbean crumble tonight & serving it with wokked shredded cabbage seared with a bit of garlic & chilli. I've been making a pile of things to go in the crumble base & adding to it all day. I've also managed to get a few 'use-it-ups' into Mr F's packed lunch box for tomorrow. He made the fatal mistake of suggesting cheese for his sandwich, then saying 'You can add anything else to it'. I abhor food waste, as you know, so I think this sarnie is going to need a bungee cord around it at this rate to keep it together! Oh & have also started the grocery shopping list, which I shall finish as soon as the crumble is in the oven later.
No money at all spent today, not even a gifted voucher for a posh online yarn shop! Needless to say I shall enjoy spending that very soon!
OK, must run along. Hope everyone has had at least a reasonably decent day,
Love F x

LateLearner22

Thanks @foxgloves, yes I'm fast approaching the big 60, and we've recently had to cope with (I was going to say "a big drop in income ", but really it's just declining credit options)  so it must be time to learn some better habits. We've never been sound financially, and now I see the same pattern emerging in our kids families. Just want to make the most of what we have, and appreciate the little things 

foxgloves

Well that sounds like a good & sensible idea, @LateLearner22. If I can change my decades of bad financial habits (& Mr F too, as was even worse - & more endebted than me!), then I truly think anyone can do it. The will to change is the most important, then building the knowledge, methodology & 'toolkit'. I just couldn't go back to the insecurity of all that debt, which accrued solely because I made no attempt to live within my means or put anything by ready for emergencies.
F

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Morning all, just popping on to say i do like the sound of butterbean crumble
I got into debt in my 40s when i split from my partner, never really been a big purchaser of 'stuff' but i did spend lots on theatre tickets, concert tickets, days out etc.  I've been debt free for 4 whole months now and it is a great feeling!
Love Deni

foxgloves

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer - Yes, it is an amazing feeling being debt-free, I agree. We paid off our last chunk of debt when I was 46. I had been in debt for 27 years!! We did still have the mortgage & now that has also gone, I am able to put that money into savings each month. I did finally see sense with my finances - I just wish it had been earlier! 
F x

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
I've spent most of today on leisure pursuits so have spent no money......well, except for the grocery shopping which Mr F is picking up on his way home tonight. Today's only frugal activity has been old-style again - I've weeded the squash bed, as the plants are starting to ramble into good growth now, I've cut a bunch each of sage & bay for drying - now tied & hanging from the kitchen beam (well, strictly more of a 'joist' for anyone out there who thinks I live in some sort of idyllic beamed period cottage - I very much don't!). I've also strung our home grown garlic & hung that so it can finish getting properly dry. We won't be buying garlic for a while, at least, although it isn't the biggest crop we've ever had. I've also made tomorrow's packed lunch so no sneaky little meal-deal sarnies required! Enjoyed a nice long skype chat with my sister this morning & we have sorted out who is bringing what to our planned family picnic which is not long now (the first time we've seen each other in person since Christmas 2019) That will spread the baking & effort as well as the cost. We are also thinking we may take flasks of coffee with us in case there isn't a coffee shop nearby as we don't want to be driving around looking for one.
But apart from that, it has been a day of leisure activity - including finishing off another bedspread square & pottering around the garden looking at the swifts & froglets.
Hope all is well with my fellow diary frugalistas,
F x

QueenJess

I thought of this thread today as I've been shopping from home and started shopping from other people's homes!

Shopping from home wins:
- Bookbag needed for DS school found in the house from a free book trust thing we got when he was born.
- PE bag needed for DS school found in DH's general pile of tat in the wardrobe.
- In laws are coming round and so dessert is being made from yogurt (already in fridge), meringues (made from chickpea water and frozen everytime I open a tin), redcurrants from the garden and some shop bought strawberries.

Shopping from other homes:
- free salvia plant obtained from a neighbour to fill an empty patio pot
- Free books for DS presents from my parents attic. They kept all books and most toys from my childhood, so am getting a full list so I can use them as Xmas/birthday presents 😊

foxgloves

Some good wins there @QueenJess. It's amazing how much stuff can be 'shopped' for free, & that's not remotely at the grim end of things like rooting around in people's bins (I draw the line at that, although I often can't resist a peep in skips!), it is simply looking around at home & seeing if there is anything that will do the job for free & there so often is. I find it really satisfying to be honest. I probably get as much of a buzz from a really successful shopped from home item as I used to do back in the day when I was always going out spending.
It's also satisfying when you are at someone else's house & are offered a plant or something you want or need and it is often doing them a favour too as it's stuff they want to get rid of. Anybody swinging by our house this week will be getting a free bag of courgettes, that's for certain sure! And if they moan about the courgettes, they will get a load of rhubarb too!
F x

QueenJess

Yes I agree.. I was more excited than I should have been to have been offered a free plant and found some free things round the house for DS!

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Funny how the plop of a credit card statement landing on the doormat can be a positive thing or a horribly scary thing, depending on the state of one's finances. When we had a lot of debt, I think there was only one postal item I dreaded more than credit card bills & that was bank statements. I think it was seeing that reality of my overspending in black & white, meaning I could no longer pretend that it was "only an xxx", "I needed it", "it was an amazing bargain, I'd have been stupid to leave it in the shop" etc, etc, ad infinitum. So pleased to have left those irresponsible years behind. Today, I opened my statement, scanned through it & the first thing I noticed was all the credits, where I have already paid off items which were planned spending. The other thing was that ALL the other items on there are planned spending & will be covered by transfers from the appropriate savings pots or in one case, from Mr F's personal spends. This means that my credit card bill is whet I think of as 'Budget neutral'. It won't affect my monthly July budget at all, as I have funding streams for all the items on it. I will do the relevant transfers/accounting on Monday when I do my regular budget updates. 
I use this card really just for the loyalty points as I love vouchers. It obviously works, as I received £15 worth fairly recently & already have over another £6 to come, so it does mount up AS LONG AS such cards are paid off in full each month. I'm saving these vouchers for adding to the Christmas presents pot.
OK, that's me....I've got a date with the Dys*n. Conservatory looks like a fly's graveyard.
Cheers all,
F x