Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Sun_Addict

QueenJess said:

foxgloves said:

Quite a productive morning so far - just stopped for a coffee. Have sorted clean laundry & done the ironing, made Delia Christmas braised red cabbage - now in oven & starting to smell nicely festive & poached fish ready to make a fish pie later.

Ooh - I got a red cabbage in my veg box and was trying to decide what to use it for. I think I have my answer!

Nice in coleslaw and stir fries too.

Pixiehouse55

Hi Foxgloves and Gang 
Well it's been a hard, difficult 10 days.  Basically our batteries were not charging. We ended up at one stage with our electric, lights or pump for our water. We eventually got to a boat yard.. First of all the bloke was fully booked up till Friday. He suggested going back to a boat yard we had passed or go on to the next big city. We couldn't go back or go forward. I explained no electric. No water. He then said he knew someone he could try and get hold of. And so he did. We needed a new Alternator and a Doide. So the very nice man moved a narrowboat out the way. Put us there and hitched up to electric whilst they ordered the parts we needed. Cut a story short the Alternater was tested,  nothing wrong with it. We do need the Diode which they are having trouble getting hold of. So still here sat waiting. Thankfully we have lots of wood and coal for our log burner to keep us warm. The wind and rain is really picking up tonight. We've got plenty of food I done a food shop on Tuesday.  Hopefully we will get to Surrey to spend Christmas with friends. Or end up stranded on the canal due to weather and work on the canals 🤣😂 All the joys of boating. Oh and Couple of leaks have occurred with wet weather. Happy Days lol. Take Care and Keep Safe everyone. Xxx

QueenJess

Sun_Addict said:

QueenJess said:

foxgloves said:

Quite a productive morning so far - just stopped for a coffee. Have sorted clean laundry & done the ironing, made Delia Christmas braised red cabbage - now in oven & starting to smell nicely festive & poached fish ready to make a fish pie later.

Ooh - I got a red cabbage in my veg box and was trying to decide what to use it for. I think I have my answer!

Nice in coleslaw and stir fries too.

That’s what I would normally do, but they sent me the biggest red cabbage I’ve ever seen! It would take a momental effort to get through it!

I think the Xmas recipe will take half of it and then I’ll be attempting to use the other half.

Jellytotts

When our DDs were little and was at home with them full time whilst DH worked we always used January's money to pay for Christmas, a friend used to moan at me every year and say I should be better organised to have it all paid for before the event but once you're in the trap of low wages, high rents and no choice you do what you've got to do.  I thought I was doing well to have it all cleared off within a month.  Then of course one year the car blew up in November, so a few hundred pounds was shoved on a credit card for a new one.....and so the circle of hell started.

It took us years to release we were in a very bad place (head in the sand) and then DH was involved in an accident that let him disabled and unable to work.  The stress of dealing with that combined with the debt stress was horrendous.  His first compensation payout cleared half the debt, the 2nd cleared the rest and the 3rd gave us enough for a deposit on a house.  We had a very understanding bank who managed to find us a decent mortgage deal even though we only had benefits and a small salary replacement scheme in play.  We found a house, we moved in and the compensation was settled (once all the benefits you've had are all paid back from that final payout it doesn't go far).

We swore and declared we would never go into debt again (without a good reason/plan).  And we managed for 12 years but this year after having spent out on groundwork's to make the house more accessible, DHs 2 mobility scooters died, they'd had a lot of use so it wasn't unexpected, but it was unexpected that they both die within 5 days of each other.  Luckily we have a good relationship with our local mobility shop and managed to get a suitable refurbished replacement but it had to go on a card.  Planned repayments from our tiny monthly income would have seen the last payment being paid in April of next year but we've scoured the house, found bits to sell, used Olio to bulk out the food each week and generally pulled every belt in.  The last payment will be made on New Year's Eve, 4 months earlier than planned...and that's along side paying for Christmas and everything else required.  

I think sometimes going through the spendy years is necessary to make you really appreciate the calm mindedness of the "no debt" years.  I love working out our budget for the month and keeping a track on each and every penny, there might not be much to play with but each and every Penny has a job to do.

Humdinger1

@foxgloves one theme that really rings true is blaming the bank! I used to rant and rave about bouncing cheques, how small my overdraft was compared with what I needed...words fail me as I look back on my entitled attitudes and behaviour.  As @Jellytotts says, the calm of a settled budget can't be overstated.   Jellytotts what a journey you've had; congratulations on your huge achievements.   Love Humdinger x 

maddiemay

QueenJess   Wrapped very tightly and kept cool, but preferably not damp, red cabbage will keep well, you may have to shave a thin layer from the cut edge from time to time. OH loves Delia's red cabbage recipe, but I don't, I like it in coleslaw, but he doesn't, so you can tell that a cabbage takes a while to use here!

Hope everyone and properties are safely tied down, take care all.

foxgloves

Hello everyone, Thanks for your comments, to which I shall reply in a minute. I really enjoyed reading them all. When you are a dfw diary-writer on here, you never really know who or how many people are reading your ramblings. You have to be signed in to 'like' stuff, so there are probably people who do sometimes read but I don't know they do, iyswim. I know that when we lost our dear old cat last year, I had kind comments from people whose names I didn't recognise, & I do try to respond to everyone.
Well, I hope nobody has actually blown away. Rough night here, but no damage - Mr F had to go out & recover the Christmas tree, which although quite large & in a heavy pot had blown over & then made its way down the garden.
We were in A*di by 8.10 this morning to do our pantry stock-up. A really decent trolleyful for £40, I thought. Then on into town for a few things & the local Co*p to make use of their annual pre-Christmas 10% dividend on everything. We bought a couple of local beers which finished off the final present bag & also chose our bottle of spirits, which I budgeted for via our Personal Spends, rather than have the cost of these come from our grocery budget. My current gin of choice (the one with the seville oranges) was on offer at £4 off, but Mr F was like a dog with two tails as he spotted they'd got his favourite single malt for £22. It should be £35, so he was going on about being £13 up on the deal (plus the 10% divi) for most of the mile journey home!
Other stuff - Hung a selection of our upstairs pictures & stored the rest in the loft. Mr F fetched the Christmas box down so I can get to stuff as I need it. I filled the Advent calendar with sweeties & have hung it in the hall. Mum stitched it for us many years ago & while it has come out every year, it is ofc course more precious now that she & Dad are no longer here to be part of our physical Christmas. 
Mr F's cooking night, so I am going to read & maybe put in my two pennorth on what film we might watch tonight. It's still blowing a hooley here, so I will soon be drawing the curtains & shutting out the night.
Love to all,
F x
P.S Haven't forgotten today's festive spendy sin.

foxgloves

@Queen Jess - We chose a massive red cabbage, so I know what you mean! I had enough for Christmas Day braised red cabbage plus 4 or 5 additional containers for the freezer. It is lovely with good sausages, home made onion gravy & jacket potatoes too. I've pickled the rest. It made 3 large & 1 small jar, at least one of which I'll be putting in my Christmas hampers for family. The jars look so pretty - bright fuchsia pink - on the pantry shelves. I like red cabbage in coleslaw too, but had never thought to stir-fry it, so thanks for that idea, @Sun_Addict.
F

foxgloves

@Pixiehouse55 - Oh no! What a time for your boat to develop problems. I do hope you can get it fixed asap & can get to where you need to be for Christmas. Do stay safe, m'dear.
F

foxgloves

@marionmgcars - Yes, I frequently have the same problem around nice (& by nice, I mean almost any!) desserts. It's one of the reasons I don't bake as often as I'd like. I would be spherical......instead of (at the moment) amply curvaceous.
F