Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

And now for today's post. 
Hello frugal diary friends, Have felt reasonably industrious today. No builders, so was in the greenhouse by 8.35 am. Sowed chard, basil, echium blue bedder, poppies, cleome, calendula & larkspur. Weeded rest of the herb bed & planted out autumn-sown parsley babies. Cut the sage & rosemary into a better shape & tied the stems for hanging to dry. Harvested this year's spring rhubarb & enjoyed its pink & lime green-leaved lusciousness before turning it into compote. Have been able to freeze some too as I like this on skyr & porridge. 
Made pastry for quiche (use-it-up shortening, 1/2 a red onion & some diced New Year's Day gammon). Made 2 individual-sized pastry cases with the leftover pastry plus 1 solo jam tart.......this was made for a bit of a laugh, actually. I'm not bothered about jam tarts (except the large lattice-topped ones my Nan used to make with her home made cherry jam) but Mr F likes them. I have popped this single little tart in a teeny lock-n lock & hidden it right at the back of the freezer to see how long it takes for him to find it. I think this could happen as early as tonight, as nothing much gets past him, I'll see!
Ordered this month's Grimsby fish box. Deliveries of these are every two months & I had thought that we'd do without this time as we do have some (not much) left from January's box. Then I thought If I am going to miss a box, that May's might be a better bet budget-wise, as I bet the prices will have gone up by then. Fishing boats need fuel after all, as do refrigerated warehouses. Have ordered one. I divide it up into portions myself, so will make it stretch as far as possible & as usual, save all the trimmings for a fish pie.
Oh & I did a bit of sock knitting - am about 2 cms into the 2nd sock of the 4th pair I've knitted for Mr F recently from my yarn stash. He really likes them, though he did ask when this particular pair might be finished as he 'hasn't got any in those colours'. And that's kind of been my day, apart from the tedious everyday stuff like cat litter trays (that was a 2 patchouli joss stick job today!)
F x
Oh my days!! Mr F has just pinged me a FB photo from BBC East Midlands of a garage in a neighbouring county where petrol is currently 180.9. I had heard it was already 178.9 at our nearest A1 motorway services at the weekend, but it has clearly all got some way to go as yet & will be over 200 very soon, I should think. Time for us all to ramp up our frugalista skills.

Tescodealqueen

Just had email from our energy supplier our two year fix ends on 31March. They will transfer us to standard variable as it is their cheapest tariff. They estimate our dual fuel costs will change from £1223pa to £2589p!!! Goodness knows where it will be at the end of the year

Sun_Addict

Looking at our energy supplier’s prediction, now our fix has ended, it appears we’ll be paying £120 a month extra which means it will be more than the mortgage! Thankfully the budget can be shuffled about to accommodate the increase but I feel for those already struggling. 

foxgloves

@Tescodealqueen & @Sun_Addict, I've just received my email letter too. It pinged into my inbox late this afternoon. I haven't done any proper number crunching yet, but there seem to be some scarily large figures. I'll go through it properly tomorrow or Monday, but have already pinged Mr F to say that the energy saving measures conversation we had recently is now even more of a reality. I'd already set us the goal of using less energy in March than in Feb. Temperature-wise, it hasn't felt much different, as we haven't had much proper winter weather here this year, so any reduction.in usage when I get this month's statement should be down to our efforts to use less.
F

BlueJ94

Evening @foxgloves

Not really had time to catch up on your diary, I did have a quick read and seen you're sowing some seeds etc! Cant wait to start mine, I'm going to have a look where to get some veggie seeds from  

But on another note, I wanted to thank you for cheering me on recently and without knowing so, giving me a big kick up the butt! Sainsburys are keeping me, I've paid £220 towards debts today, clearing Safety Net! I've agreed a part settlement with Vanquis at £200 saving myself £80 and I'm hoping before August this year I will be debt free. Without the support of people like yourself on these forums/diaries I dread to think what situation I would of currently been in! 

Just wanted to pop by and say cheers to you and you diary followers!x

foxgloves

Awww, you're welcome, @BlueJ94. To see the back of your debt as soon as August would be amazing. It honestly makes such a difference when all of your wages are your own. Of course we all still have bills to pay, etc, but that millstone of debts from stuff bought so long ago that we often can't even remember what it even was? That's something we are all better without. Keep at it because August will soon come round & you'll feel amazing.
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Evening foxgloves and friends

Your rhubarb looks delicious and compote sounds great
My commute is similar to Mr F's.  I have only been to the office once this week but i am driving to my self employment role tomorrow which is 40 miles round trip.  I looked at the train but it would mean leaving 1.5 hours earlier than if i drove and i'd rather have the time back.  I may change my mind in future.  I asked my boss if management considered the rising cost of petrol and cost of living in the instruction to be back in the office and he basically said they didn't care !  He also said he wasn't going to be monitoring us in and out.  
I did a couple of swag surveys today and got rejected from a lucrative PA one - it wouldn't load onto the next page part way through so i had to abandon it; I did send a message reporting the problems in the hope they might offer me a small reward but they didn't, oh well !
I've dried washing on the line today.  I always use the faster wash option now.  It all helps.  DD1 came for tea so i allowed her to put the heater on for 1 hour but it's off now and will stay off till tomorrow.  I am hosting my book group tomorrow evening so as well as the stress of having to tidy up i also have to put the heating on!  

BlueJ94 - keep going, I've been debt free for almost a year now - it is the best feeling

Hope everyone has a good evening
love Deni x

QueenJess

I popped into my garden centre on Monday and the whole time I was thinking “What would @foxgloves do?!”. So I diligently went through my seed box and discovered I had loads of salad seeds, even though I thought I had none. Saved me a fortune and I only bought myself some spinach seeds and a new tray to sow the huge amount of micro green seeds I discovered in the cupboard.

I don’t have much time to garden, but figured that even I can throw some salad and herb seeds into my patio boxes for the summer. I’ve already set off some micro greens and cress on the window sill. I am now considering filling any holes in the garden with fruit bushes etc and seeing if I could grow some alpine strawberries, wild ginger and a blackcurrant bush in the more shady areas. I don’t have many gaps, but any small savings I can make will be helpful given the price of everything at the moment and the very high chance I’m going to be made redundant this year.

I absolutely love rhubarb and have some in my garden, but I didn’t get anything from it last year as it’s being bullied by an enormous red currant bush. May have to see if I can move it somewhere else or trim the redcurrant bush into submission!

Onebrokelady

Hi Foxgloves and gang, I've just caught up on your diary and I have to say reading it has changed my mindset from worried to up for a challenge. I've enjoyed reading all your ideas for being a bit more frugal and am now on it 😀

Cat worming in this house is done with no fuss now simply because I have worn them down 😂😂they know we can get it done the hard way or the easy way. The hard way involves being held by the scruff of the neck while someone puts the tablet as far down their throat as possible then having you mouth held shut while I stroke your throat until you swallow, they look like and react like I am trying to throttle them but it gets the job done, the pleasant way is to put the pill in the middle of a pile of dreamies which they are then expected to eat and they now always do because they remember the hard way, if I put pills in food they don't get fed until that food is gone even if it takes all day, it sounds cruel to not feed them until they eat the medicated food but if the meds are needed then they need to eat it and those meds have cost me money so no way am I throwing any away,if they are hungry they will eat what's in their bowl 
B is great and taking most tablets but if it's new I know she has had a problem with I mix it with peanut butter and stick it to the roof of her mouth so she has to eat it 😂

Don't even get me started on how I get meds into the 🐓🐓they have very bendy necks and it's a complete nightmare 

foxgloves

Hi @Onebrokelady - I am far from cheerful about all the crazy price increases - the thought of 10% inflation hoving into view, as I have just read in the 'Guardian' fills me with dread, but so much of it is outside of our control. However, my thinking is that if we behave as though there is absolutely nothing whatsoever we can do to shore ourselves up against the storm, we will lose control of some of the variables over which we do have at least some agency. So I'm looking particularly at banking as much credit on my energy account as possible, going through my large collection of cookbooks for about a dozen or so new economical meals to cook & not spending money unnecessarily. Yes, we have savings pots, but even with those, I will be considering properly whether we do need the item or could wait a bit longer or shop from home. I will also be making more effort to add to the presents stash throughout the year. I already do this, but I think efforts had slipped in the last couple of years. 
Enjoyed your experiences of the cats/tablets issue. I can tell you work in the medical profession! I think I cave in too quickly to the sad eyes, droopy-whiskered starving cat act. We still have a flea/tick tablet to get down Soot & Ash so will have to see how Round 2 goes!
F x