Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Pixiehouse55

Deni_debt-free_dreamer said:

hi foxgloves and friends

i have thick wavy hair and let it dry naturally then straignten it.  To straighten it takes me about 20 minutes as it's so thick!  I usually wash it at night and let it dry overnight.  My approach isn't based on frugalness but on saving my hair from too much heat!  I am very conscious of the increasing costs of energy though My energy bills are low as i was £00s in credit and have been using the credit to reduce my bills; my company went bust so i've been transferred to the tentacle company which i'm fine with.  I shall now be extra conscious of all my energy usage.
I have just walked to the PO (35 mins each way) and although the sky was blue it started to rain so i'm a bit damp now!
Quorn curry sounds nice; i'm using up pasta and various veg and going to bulk make lentil and red pepper soup - when i eat it i will be warm from the inside

pixiehouse - loved the pics of the narrowboat and you were not far from chez Deni!

Love Deni x
  

Oh no, sorry we missed you. Survey was done on the boat we want today. So fingers crossed we should be back at Swanley Marina  soon xx 
We are in Weymouth for 2 nights now 

foxgloves

Hello,
Forgive me, Frugalistas, for I have sinned. My name is Foxgloves & today I spent £165 on two dresses. I have properly hammered the Clothes Savings Pot, so if Mr F needs new pants anytime soon, he'll have to whistle for them. I hadn't been in my favourite clothes shop for over a year because the branch in our local town closed & I think I went a bit giddy. 
<slinks off to do penance>
X



.

Four_Seasons

Oh! Foxgloves how lovely but as a penance I think you must show us a photo of them!!  x

Sun_Addict

They must be really nice dresses to cost that much and presumably you have somewhere nice to go to show them off 😀 I think you deserve this treat as you’re so good 99% of the time 😉

foxgloves

Thanks both of you..... because frankly, to borrow a line from 'Blackadder', I think I probably need a visit to Mrs Spank in Smacked Bottom Land!
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

oh haha foxgloves - i agree you should have the occasional treat and i'm glad you are human as you are saintly 99.9% of the time 

QueenJess

Isn’t the point here that you bought them from the clothes pot? So you aren’t going into debt and you used money you had set aside for clothes already. 

As long as you stick to the budget and don’t blow it all on dresses all the time, there’s no problem.. If you didn’t ever be more indulgent you wouldn’t be human!

foxgloves

Thanks all, yes that is very true that my dresses were bought with money saved in our Clothes Pot. These days, if we haven't saved for it, we don't have it, which is exactly what my Mum used to tell me back in the Spendy Years when I was whining about how broke I was. I used to think that was such a square, old-fashioned attitude, but it is probably why my parents didn't have any debt! As you know, we are in the midst of an ongoing home improvements project (also budgeted for) & I'd just bought a rug & new curtains, so I think the dresses for myself on top of that probably gave me a flash of deja-vu back to the bad old spendy me. I'm fine about it now. 
I didn't get my usual Monday morning budget updates done yesterday as I was out & about, getting my flu jab among other things, so I have had a good productive session at my desk this morning, getting all the different pots straight. I've paid my 'just for points' credit card bill in full & sorted out the pesky credit on it which messed up my system.....not that I am complaining about getting a full refund on a non-working item, of course. Everything ship-shape now.
I also had a good look at the state of our Home Improvements Budget & ran a projection taking into account things we are committed to, but haven't yet paid, such as the decorator's final phase of work next week, new sofa, etc, as we have been expecting a builder's quote for the final large job to arrive any day now. Well, I must have had psychic toast this morning, as I had no sooner popped my sheet of budget projections back into my trusty accounts book when the quote pinged through. We are going to accept it - the work is long overdue & we trust the company as they have worked for us before & I don't think one can put a price on trust where these sort of projects are concerned. Despite only just having done the figures, of course I had to check them all again, factor in the quote, think forward to likely cost of the final sundry items we will need to buy & I am confident that we can go ahead with this final phase of work. 
Well, it's a grey old day here & chillier than the last few days. Our heating is only set to 18 degrees in daytime atm but it came on at lunchtime after several days of not being anywhere near cold enough. I think I've done sufficient jobs (including tedious ironing) to have a bit of leisure time now, so shall say 'bye' & 'stay dry' if you are also having a soggy day where you are.
F x

Sun_Addict

A reliable builder you can trust are worth their weight in gold especially for big projects. Will that be all the home improvements finished after that?

foxgloves

Hi @Sun_Addict, Yes it will be the last phase. Our house has needed an upgrade for a long time - really we bought a 'doer-upper' about 20 years ago & we were previously tackling jobs in affordable chunks.as we were able to do so. We put in a new kitchen & bathroom, added a conservatory to give us more living space & turned the 130 foot jungle out the back into a nice garden. We'd have continued to tackle things just very slowly, & had planned a heating upgrade as the next big thing, but then when it became sadly very obvious that my Mum (who went into hospital with something quite commonplace, but never came out again because of an unexpected medical emergency) wasn't going to make it, I knew (for the worst possible reason) that my financial situation was going to change. Everything house-wise was put on hold & later, this meant we could finish our longterm planned work more as one big project. My only regret regarding the refurb of our house is that my parents can't see it, as they'd have loved being shown around, throwing in their two pennorth, etc, & loving that their own financial stability had facilitated it. The last phase of work is a complete upgrade to the front of the house.....courtyard, drive, boundaries, additional planting spaces, etc. I know Mum would have loved helping me to plant up the new spaces. I do have lots of her plants in the garden so will be sure to choose some to divide up for the new front beds.
I totally agree with you about needing to trust builders......one of the ongoing problems with our house has been constantly having to put right jobs that somebody has done badly in the past (DIY) or has paid for work that hasn't been done to a very good standard. I know I joke about finding yet another hallmark from Mr DIY Numpty, but actually, a few of them, esp regarding gas & electricity, had left things in an unsafe state & I am just hoping there are no nasty surprises under the front courtyard when it comes up. Because of this, I have allowed a contingency pot at the tail-end of the Home Improvements Budget. I hope we don't need it, because I would like to be able to put it into savings, but if they do find some or other bodge that needs putting right, at least there will be that bit of money left to address it.
I shall be a happy bunny when it's all finished. The gin will be coming out & I will require a 3-pack of walnut whips at the very least!
F x