Put away your purse & become debt-averse

maddiemay

@Jellytotts The Autumn freebie L*keland catalogue came in the weekend papers and I have a spare copy if you would like one. £5 off £30 or £10 off £60, it is valid until end of October.  PM me your details if you want me to post one to you.

@foxgloves - First time I have posted, I love reading of your gardening and homemaking, well done you and Mr F for turning your lives around, I never owed very much money, but was very guilty of not budgeting and buying things just because I liked them.

Pixiehouse55

Hellooo Mrs Foxgloves and followers. 
Thursday we picked up our motor home ready for the beginning of our travels to find our Narrowboat. Very excited. Constant headache at the moment 10 days to go and still things to sale, charity shops or throw out!! We are phoning and hiring a skip on Wednesday. Saturday is going to beca table top sale sort of thing outside our house for the last bits n pieces. We've found out about z place in town that takes cds dvds, food, clothes, furnishings etc for the homeless and for their charity shop so some will go there. Rubbish from garage garden and house in the skip.....and breath!!  Thursday September 30th is an ex neighbours funeral. I am planning to go to say my farewells but not the wake afterwards. We will then hit the road.  I will try to pop on as and when to carry on reading your amazing Diary Mrs Foxgloves. Stay out of the shops don't spend everyone,  keep safe and take care Xx 

foxgloves

Wow, Pixiehouse55 - No wonder you have a headache. I should think it's from the whirlwind of getting everything ready for departure day. Good luck with everything m'dear. Pop in now & again so we know how you are doing in your new life on the road (& the water!) I expect wherever you are, I shall still be doing things with bloody courgettes & adding up my budgets. I won't go back to stupid spending..... I can promise you that, I've been too long reformed now.
F x

foxgloves

Hello @maddiemay & welcome. Lovely to hear that you enjoy reading my diary. I often feel I just yakk on about courgettes, line-drying, meal planning - really dull old-style stuff. However I know that what I am doing (along with the major attitude change a decade or so ago) has got us debt-free & is keeping us that way, so there is no way I'm going back. We feel much more responsible, 'greener' & happier.
Do feel welcome to post. Comments always welcome. 
F x

Jellytotts

maddiemay said:

@Jellytotts The Autumn freebie L*keland catalogue came in the weekend papers and I have a spare copy if you would like one. £5 off £30 or £10 off £60, it is valid until end of October.  PM me your details if you want me to post one to you.

Thank you for thinking of me but I'm not sure I can afford one from there even with the discount.  They seem to have all shot up in price!   

I do have a tumble drier but I'm just loathe to use it unless the washing has dried on the airer over night and just needs that final finish but as DH pointed out, the cost of a heated airer and the small cost to run it each time will still be more expensive than running the tumble drier every now and then....for now anyway, he's always so sensible, until it comes to stuff he wants to spend on.

marionmgcars

Just to say I’m loving reading all the posts.  I may have redundancy options at work so may  finish work earlier than planned.  I’ve been adding spare cash to my retirement fund so hopefully will come in handy.  Looking forward to living an even more frugal eco-friendly life soon xx

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

hi foxgloves & friends

I got that voucher supplement re lakelund in the sunday papers (had a voucher for free newspapers for a week and the deluxe 3 tier heated airer is £164.99!!  Not sure if that's the one you have foxgloves ?  I have never had a tumble drier either and i dry my washing outside about 10 months of the year .
good luck pixiehouse and it would be great to hear about your adventures 

Deni x

BlueJ94

Hello all! I enjoy reading through this diary as it gives me a kick up the bum to motivate myself! Everyone's busy busy! It's made me realise I need to start meal planning again! Might have a look through pinch of nom later on

foxgloves

Well that's something to think about, @marionmgcars. Exciting. I was the same - too young for retirement but took VR after much soul searching when there was an opportunity amidst all the austerity cuts. 

@Deni_debt-free_dreamer - No, my heated airer isn't that £164 one. Seriously that is a LOT of money. I think mine must be the non-deluxe model which looks v similar. Honestly, I'm sure we paid £80-something but a few years ago, so they have really shot up in price. I wouldn't be without one though.i still peg out in the colder months if I can, after a double spin, then laundry often doesn't need to be on the heated airer as long. When I dried winter laundry on a normal airer in front of a radiator in the spare bedroom, it often smelled frowsty & also created black mould on the walls from the condensation. Worth the outlay on one in my opinion, but I am not sure that price rise is justified.

@jadewest94 - I find meal planning then checking stores for every item required saves money compared with the expensive random shopping we used to do when we had no idea what we were going to eat. I like Pinch of Nom. I think mine is the 2nd one. Do you have a slow cooker? That is useful too, esp as you are working. I bunged the last little gammon joint in on Sunday from the 3 for £10 deal our market butcher did us. It did gammon, roasties, peas, carrots & onion sauce on Sun, will do us some pasta tonight along with a bit of chopped veg & pesto. It will do a chunky ham sandwich for Mr F's packed  lunch tomorrow & I've chopped the rest & frozen it to go on a pizza next time I fancy making one. It can help the grocery budget no end to roll something forward for another meal. 
F x

Jellytotts

I love doing the "how many meals can a joint of meat do" game.  We tend to alternate between a gammon or a chicken most weeks. The gammon gets used similarly to you, the chicken is normally roast one day, with salad or chips/jacket spud the next, mixed with mustardy Mayo and salad in a roll for a nice lunch, carcass made into stock for a risotto with any left over bits.  The cats have their share too.  Add in a couple of veg based meals and that's us done for a week.