Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Onebrokelady - I can completely identify with what you say. I have to try not to think about how much more financially secure I would be if I'd saved regularly instead of frittering my salary away for so many years. I had a serious magazine habit too. I must have bought easily 12 - 15 each month.....all the big glossy ones.....homes & interiors, gardening, vintage stuff, cookery, knitting, craft & more general ones too. I buy very few now. I like 'Feel good you' as find it so positive but that's only 4 times a year. My Mum & sister give me some of their cast-offs & I sometimes visit the magazine stall on our market. He sells non-current issues 3 for £2 or £2.50, depending on what they are, so that is a good way of getting a few 'new' craft or food mags to read too x

redofromstart

I have the app from the library that lets me download current magazines for free, worth checking what your local one does.

I try to look forwards rather than backwards or it can all get a bit overwhelming.

Onebrokelady

redofromstart wrote: »

foxgloves, onebrokelady I'm in the midlands too but moved here many years ago. Where I come from we have nice floury baps (quit sniggering) and a cob is what they call a mardy in these parts as in 'I had a right cob on the first time I asked for nice floury baps in the sandwich shop and the staff just stood and laughed'.

I used to have cash in an envelope in the days of student poverty and it worked really well. If the envelope was empty I did without as I couldn't get anything out of the bank, the cash was my pub job wages. It was a good discipline to get into, its just to easy to spend on cards now. Who else remembers when you couldn't pay by card in shops and you had to write a cheque? That was useful sometimes the day before pay day.

ETA oh I so get the birthday spends from the bad old days. OH still does it actually, I still have Christmas and birthday money to spend but I am better at not rushing out to do it now.

I’m doing the cash in envelopes thing now,my food money is being divided up into weekly envelopes and at the moment my savings are in envelopes ( the savings are going into the bank though as I don’t want lump sums of cash hanging around my house,just in case I get burgled or more likely spend it :rotfl:)
Where I am now in the Southwest bread is called all sorts,so there are rolls and baps depending on how artisanal the bakers are :rotfl:

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Onebrokelady - I can completely identify with what you say. I have to try not to think about how much more financially secure I would be if I'd saved regularly instead of frittering my salary away for so many years. I had a serious magazine habit too. I must have bought easily 12 - 15 each month.....all the big glossy ones.....homes & interiors, gardening, vintage stuff, cookery, knitting, craft & more general ones too. I buy very few now. I like 'Feel good you' as find it so positive but that's only 4 times a year. My Mum & sister give me some of their cast-offs & I sometimes visit the magazine stall on our market. He sells non-current issues 3 for £2 or £2.50, depending on what they are, so that is a good way of getting a few 'new' craft or food mags to read too x

Mine were the glossy ones too,I love home interiors mags and would buy 7 each month:eek: what a waste of money, my mum buys me Woman and Home each month and they usually do a pack where you get Ideal Home included so I get my interiors fix that way:D

foxgloves

Redofromstart - agree about looking forward & not back, but I'm only human. At least I've learned from my idiocy (partner too, as he's been as bad in the past).

Onebrokelady - Mum gives me her 'Woman & home' mag so it's nice to read that. I used to spend loads on stuff for my house......not expensive brands or gadgetry, as my style is more shabby chic/bohemian but all those hippy chic & vintage things added up & I absolutely could not resist antique/vintage fairs. I used to fit one in most weekends, whether I could afford it or not (invariably not!)

foxgloves

Hi Diary readers,
Back home by the fireside after our visit to Mum's. Saw some awesome snowdrifts on route!
Today's loan-busting efforts have really just been both of us using our good money habits. Not frittering, not wasting food, that kind of thing...plus being grateful for a nice treat as Mum insisted on paying for coffee & cakes as we'd driven a long way in the fog to see her.
The fish & leek crumble I made to take with us (to avoid a lunch spend) went down well, but when I assembled it, I'd made too much cheesy crumble, so I blagged a freezer bag from Mum & brought it home! I shall use it to top some of the leftover pulled pork & make another meal.
Then a very unusual thing happened. Mr f decided he'd GOT TOO MUCH LUNCH!!! The lovely mr f is built like a brick privy & loves his food, so this is indeed a rare event! But like a good 'un, he carefully transferred it to a freezer box & has brought it home to eat another day.
I have spent only £5 today, & some of that was a Mothering Sunday card so I could save on a stamp. And as I had my halo on, this was from my personal spends allowance, so no effect on our budget at all.
Mum had been having a clear out & gave me a few craft magazines to try selling on ebay. I'll give them a go. I've sold many mags on there in the past, but it can be a bit random. All ebay bits & bobs of money go straight into our Loan Pay Down Fund, so I'll defo list them when I next do a batch of items.
Hope everyone has had a productive pleasant day. Try & get a bit of relaxation tonight before Monday morning swings in again all too soon.
F x

foxgloves

Morning readers,
Well, my lergy really does seem to have gone on its way today, as has the snow, so I'm feeling ready to tackle the Spring......both all my gardening jobs (I grow a lot of food) & continued de-cluttering & thinking of ways to hasten that last bit of loan away.
Today on my 'Things I need' list, I'd got 'Vegetable seeds' & 'Easter cards'. Now I've got lots of seeds left over from last year, so I sat down with my planting list & my seed box to double-check what I already have in stock. Classic 'Shop from home first'. That confirmed the need to buy only 8 packets of seed instead of 16, so I went ahead & ordered those & qualified for a free packet plus a 25p packet of tomato seeds. I already have tomato seeds, but will use these extra ones just in case I have any that fail to germinate, as I like to grow 12 tomato plants per year.
The other item on my 'To buy' list was Easter cards. I like to send just a few each year to people who I know will appreciate receiving one. I'm trying to look at everything from a 'Shop from home first' viewpoint & a riffle through some unused craft supplies has uncovered a pile of yellow card, unused envelopes & some pretty craft papers. I know I have some odds & ends of ribbons in my recycled wrappings stash, & even though I'm not usually a card-maker, I'm reasonably crafty, so surely I can knock out 5 or 6 Easter cards for free? I shall attempt a simple design this afternoon. It just seems so silly to have resources sitting at home doing sweet bu*ger all, while I'm spending cash on something I can probably make myself. My current decluttering splurge is unearthing all sorts of useful stuff.

2 more Prolific Academic surveys done this morning, taking my total to just under £35. When I cash out, I intend to transfer the money straight into our Loan Pay Down Fund. Still haven't had my Toluna money, but I do usually find them to be the slowest payers of the surveys sites I use, so I'm sure it will turn up.
OK, am off to make some lunch (yes it has come out of the freezer, & no, I haven't popped out to buy anything to make it more interesting!)
Hope everyone's getting off to a great start to the week. Remember, even really entrenched spenders/fritterers can change It was like a revelation to me that all those bags of stuff I used to come home with in the bad old days, simply could not make me as happy as being in control of my finances now does.
F x

foxgloves

Oooooh, I take it back - just received my Toluna payment. Will extract it from Paypal tonight along with the money from my last Ziffit sale.
Just putting a cafetiere on to celebrate. I know how to live, don't I?!

foxgloves

Morning!
I'm just going to tidy the kitchen & mix up a sourdough loaf, then I'm going to carry on with my major decluttering efforts to see if I turn up any 'treasure'. The most useful treasure would be stuff I can potentially sell on ebay, as I intend to do some listings later today.
Will pop back later with achievements. My focus on getting rid of this last bit of loan has doubled over the last week.
Up & at it!

foxgloves

1LuckyLady - Shame you had to change your plans, but you are brave for gearing up to tackle the garage. Yes, I did find some quite useful stuff. I am not in anyway a hoarder, but it amazes me just how much stuff we seem to have kicking around. Weather not bad here....have pretty much managed to get a set of bed linen dry on the line, so that's a sign Spring isn't far away. I was surprised to feel so 'Up & at it' this morning, as am still tired halfway through the day from the aftermath of the lergy, but I have got lots done. Just wish I could get 'Up & at it' about getting back on the diet at the moment!!
F x