Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Hello Frugalistas,
A better day today. Builders are like buses.....none yesterday, then 3 today! I opened my mouth to say I'd have welcomed a brief text to say that they weren't coming, but closed it again as chief builder found a piece of work (done by somebody else when we had new pipework) that was incorrectly fitted & could in a worse case scenario lead to a seep-out of sewage. He said he'd get it sorted out for us while he was working on other aspects of the drainage to do with the new project, so I decided my comment about yesterday's lack of comms would have been churlish & made everyone a coffee instead.
Very routine day - yesterday's rained-on laundry sat on the airer (not switched on) all night & I re-pegged it outside this morning where it dried in a couple of hours. More energy saving on the ironing, as after a thorough sort, only one item actually required pressing - now, that's the kind of ironing pile I like! Not a lot of effort required on the culinary front as I am heating up the rest of the big fish pie I made yesterday, so will only need to prep some veg. I dealt with a bag of peppers in the fridge which weren't going to last too much longer & are now sliced & in the freezer. Also soaked some chickpeas as I intend to batch-cook some Delia spicy chickpea burgers tomorrow. A bit of greenhouse time in between builders wanting to ask me about edging bricks, in which I potted 30 baby lettuces into modules for growing on. I cut the rest as micro-leaves & have added them to Mr F's packed lunch flatbread tomorrow with some curried tofu slices. 
Did a small amount of admin & updated my profile on the main survey site I use atm. Took the opportunity of Mr F being at work to cast on a pair of hiking socks to add to the presents stash. They are a different style to my usual sock pattern, a slouchy style with the leg in alternating rounds of knit & purl blocks so that they are worn ruched like those old 1980s legwarmers. I knitted him a pair in this style a few years ago & he often throws into the conversation that he 'only has the one pair'. I'm using more of the sock yarn I got at a bargainaceous price & will knit them over my lunch hour while he's at work. They are longer, so more work, but the needles are a size bigger so they still grow quite quickly once I get going.
Energy saving - We've turned the thermostat down to 17 degrees from 10pm to 6am & haven't noticed any difference as we've been in bed for such a lot of this time period. Can see a difference on the smart monitor though. Also boiled a kettle for the builders' drinks & poured the surplus into flasks. Next time I made a drink, I poured it back into the kettle & it boiled so quickly. I did do this back while we were debt-busting & first in that time of trying very hard to stay debt-free. I must go back to it as a matter of habit. We intend to get 2 baths from one lot of hot water tonight. Every time I hear the boiler jet into life, I now see ££ signs, so I think that this is a no-brainer in terms of halving the gas we would otherwise be using. 
Well m'dears, I'm sorry today's epistle isn't more exciting. I think we are all just keeping going in the face of adversity really, aren't we, with all the price rises. At least us debt-busters (& ex-debt-busters) know we have a strong skillset for throwing at the problem, as well as a reasonable amount of practical knowledge to help those who seek old-style money saving advice.
Off to choose another audiobook now, as I finished my current one this morning.
Stay strong,
F x

2Scratters

You have just remined me I have 2 unfinished crochet blankets I have been working on for a while, they need finishing. There maybe someone who could make good use of them. I have been using the wool stash from the loft and there is not much left and am loathed to buy any more. I will concentrate on completing one and then make the judgement of asking for any wool to finish the other. If no one in the village I will take a trip to the CS.

foxgloves

With the ridiculous energy price rises, I should think somebody would love to receive a warm hand crocheted blanket, @2Scratters. I am enjoying knitting up my yarn stash & finishing other craft projects. I do browse knitting projects/yarns for future makes, but am not minded to buy anything new until I've used up what I already have. 
F

marionmgcars

Hi, I'm enjoying tagging along and reading everyone's posts.  Foxgloves - I loved the comment that you have a lunch break, and treat your day as a working day even if based at home.  I think I will copy that great idea.  I'm trying to focus on getting into a new routine now I'm finished work and would also like to loose some weight gained over the last year.  I find that making lists of jobs in my diary motivates me to working through them during the day.  I'm trying to think that any food I eat that is not healthy or essential is classed as a waste of my money, so trying not to have any treat foods apart from on a weekend, and then they do feel like a treat.  Also planning to make a "fake-away" for our Saturday evening meal, as I enjoy cooking not I have the time to do it, and can do it for a third of the cost of a takeaway.  looking forward to more great posts.

foxgloves

@marionmgcars - I do always have a proper lunch hour, it's true! The reasons I took voluntary redundancy are a bit of a rigmarole & I haven't really gone into it in my diary as I like the anonymity on here, but when we'd discussed whether or not I should do this about a million & one times, part of the plan was always that I would take over the day-to-day running of the house, oversee all the self-sufficiency stuff (we grow a fair bit of food) & importantly, maintain our household finances with an iron grip. I was used to working full time in a professional graduate career & was on a management grade when I left. I'm a very organised person & a planner. I'm also very bad at sitting around doing not a lot, so I knew that if I gave up work, I'd need to transfer all those organisational/creative thinking skills to running the household & think of it as my new job. I still get up every morning at the same time as I would if I was still going to work & I have a morning coffee break & a lunch hour. I'm a much more laid back hippyfied person IRL than this is making me sound, but we knew it would be a big change to our lives. One thing's for sure.....if we hadn't got rid of our debts & bad attitude to money, taking VR would not have been an option. We are both of the opinion that it has improved quality of life for both of us, even though I do keep a much tighter eye on our finances. So yes, I do have a lunch hour......I usually spend it watching an episode of something & knitting, or reading in the garden if the weather's nice. 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence-Wranglers,
No builders today, but they had flagged this up because of the weather forecast being too wet to do the next stage of the work. It started off sunny, but soon turned rainy with some very heavy showers. I've had a pleasant afternoon finalising a big genealogy project, after a useful morning. I batch-cooked spicy chickpea burgers (Delia recipe) & froze them. Also have golden lentil soup in the slow cooker, which will shortly be divvied up for the freezer. Fed sourdough jar ready for baking tomorrow. Also sorted out greenhouse plant babies & checked online banking for a small royalties payment. It had arrived, so I transferred it to savings pots, split between Appliances Replacement pot & Meow Pot, plus the price of a coffee each added to our April Personal Spends. Knitted a few more rounds of hiking sock while I was on my lunch break.
Today's energy saving: It occurred to me while I was cooking that as I'd got the back door open to encourage Soot to go outside & I was standing over the stove, that I was paying to heat the garden & over-heat myself! I turned the thermostat down a degree for about 3 hours to stop the heating coming on. I didn't turn it up again until I started feeling chilly & there were no doors open. That must have saved a little bit of gas. I also boiled a bit too much water for the stock required for the soup recipe so I used the leftover water from the kettle to hard boil the egg needed for tonight's kedgeree. The pan boiled so quickly, it made me think that these little measures ARE worth doing both from the current economic point of view, but also from an environmental perspective. None of them will save a heap of energy in isolation, but lots & lots of them done regularly will have an aggregate effect on our bills which can only be positive. I think it can sometimes be easy to forget the value of money when it is spread over a long timescale. I have no idea how much these little energy saving measures will actually save us in terms of money, but say it's £100 a year (I've plucked that figure out of the air for the purpose of the argument....) - divided between 12 months of dd payments, it doesn't sound like a huge amount, but the reality is that I wouldn't dream of going outside with 10 x £10 notes in my hand to poke them down the nearest drain, so would it not be an equivalent action to give them to an energy company (shareholders still making huge profits btw) when I don't need to? Back when we were debt-busting & first adjusting to staying debt-free on half our original income, I did an energy audit of our home & really threw myself into lots of these little energy-saving measures, but over time, as our financial situation became a bit more stable, I think some of them drifted by the wayside. Well, they need to start drifting back to the fore because these energy prices are truly horrible & any money we can save is better off in our pockets than big energy company shareholders.
Well, the sun is shining again, so I think I might pop out & have a little nosy at what the builders merchant lorry delivered to our front drive this morning - it looks like edging bricks & a colossal amount of sand from what I can see from here.
F x

foxgloves

Hmmm, raining already & forecast looks set for a wet day. Can't see builders turning up today, but will soon find out. Plenty to do today whether they are here or not. Defo a no-spend day too, as I don't need anything..I'm just going to see how the day goes.
F

marionmgcars

I always think that the "stay at home" ladies are underestimated in their role, doing a fabulous job in managing the family and usually responsibility for the accounts.  Friends of mine have sometimes said that their husband is not as thrifty as them.  My answer was to get the husband to take control of the accounts for a few months, and they would then understand exactly how much money you do have spare to spend.  I was married in my early twenties and took sole responsibility for the finances which I now know was a huge mistake.  Now my partner and I sit and look at our finances and decide what we have to plan.  We still have separate accounts, which was more my decision than his, but means we understand each others finances.

Since finishing work I do find it helps to plan my list of jobs, but will now factor in having my coffee break and lunch break as it helps to put structure into my day.

foxgloves

We do plan together, @marionmgcars, but I do all the running of the budget & financial admin (except for mobile phone & broadband contracts which I find utterly stultifying). I took over the budgeting when I was still working & we were debt-busting & just at the point of combining our finances. Mr F is now very good at not wasting money but I have the stronger budgeting skills out of the pair of us. I can tell this is still the case because he sometimes makes throw-away comments about something just having gone on his credit card (always paid off in full each month & primarily used for loyalty vouchers) & when I say "Oh well hang on, which pot is it coming from?", he seems not to be fully aware that 'credit card' isn't a pot. After I've set the budget for the month ahead, I do sometimes take little expenses from the current account as I always leave a buffer zone, but these tend to be just little things like a few stamps, a packet of paracetamol, a get well card for somebody, a small charity donation, you know the kind of thing. Apart from a few of these very small things, all expenditure needs to be assigned to the relevant part of our budget or it the figures won't work out correctly. He does get that, but doesn't always see the practical side of what needs to happen to ensure that funds are deducted from the correct pot. I know this is partly because I manage all the administrative side of things. We always discuss plans though & are generally in agreement about savings v spending & our longer term goals.
F x

Whatlifeis

Really enjoying your everyday tips on energy saving @foxgloves. I’m always learning loads from your diary, including mega-posh words like “stultifying” (I had to look that one up). Never let it be said that your diary isn’t a highly educational experience!