Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Nooooooo! Was expecting builders to finish today & tomorrow but it's bloody well raining! I don't know if they can work in the rain as the last bit of work involves grouting quite a large area & remedial tarmac to a piece of pavement. Am crossing my fingers that these are just showers which will stop over the next half an hour. Grrrrr. 
F

Baileys_Babe

Fingers crossed for you 🤞

Sun_Addict

Hope it brightens up and you get the work finished today. 

EssexHebridean

Oh blast - how annoying is that! Fingers crossed either it stopped and dried up, or they were able to do the work anyway...

foxgloves

Thanks all - you could sense me willing the rain to reverse & go back upwards, couldn't you? Well, I don't think that happened, but it DID stop & the builders arrived & cracked on.........& guess what?
Oh, I haven't even said 'Hi'.......Hello dear diary readers..........yes, they've finished!!! When I asked, the estimate was that they'd need another 5 days but they have finished it in 4 & it looks fab! They even moved our house name around to the front so that the postman can actually see it & put up a bee box for us. It's over to us now to sort out the topsoil, planting & sourcing a big terracotta pot, which I have still not successfully managed to do as nothing I've seen so far is quite what I want. Our big house refurb project began in Jan 2020 & although we've had gaps in between various parts of the work, it has gone on for a long, long time & despite everyone who has worked for us having been lovely, I am soooooo ready to have the house back, plus all of my time. 
Onto today's money saving activities - not so much, really. The main thing was doing belated Monday morning budget updates, which took me longer than normal because it covered birthday expenses at the end of last week, as well as the usual grocery shopping, etc. Anyway, all the relevant transfers of funds were carried out to keep the various pots straight & as always, there's that feeling of security once it's done. I honestly don't know how I wasn't a ball of stress back in the Spendy Decades when I barely looked at my bank statements & was permanently in my overdraft, repeatedly using my horrid flexiloan & overspending my income on a monthly basis. I really only got panicky when I thought the bank might be about to stop my cards. Now, I find the aftermath of doing my weekly budget updates quite soothing because, as with everything else, knowledge is power, I suppose plus it confirms that budgeting works very well despite being in denial for years that it would benefit me & the parlous state of my finances in any way!! 
I've also done a mountain of ironing & actually ironed a couple of damp dresses dry rather than have an additional hour of heated airer time this morning, cut a bundle of chard to steam for tonight's veg & tweaked meal plans to use up 2 leftover portions of the smoky fish bake which Mr F cooked on Sunday. Tonight's planned meal will be bumped to next week's meal plan. Oh & I knitted the heel flap & turned the heel on the slouchy hiking socks I'm making for the presents bag over my lunch break & did a couple of surveys.
That's it for today's efforts though. I really feel I can throw myself into things now that I don't need to be on call for builders. While I haven't made a written list, my head is full of tasks I could usefully do tomorrow. I reckon if I had extra coffee, I might even feel like starting with scrubbing out our ucky fridge. It's so overdue for cleaning, I reckon I can hear the germs whispering when I open the door........."Haha, we've still in here, & there are 93, 000,000 more of us now than there were this time last week", "Yeah, & we might jump in your milk or slide across your butter"............ You know, I'm going to leave it there......when you find yourself doing voices for different fridge germs, it's defo time to sign out & do something else!
On a more serious note, we have spent a lot of money on upgrading our home. Yes, it was all budgeted for & has been carefully managed, but it is now very much time to enter a period of significantly less spending, something which will be achieved by implementing good daily money saving behaviour. Tomorrow, I will pay the builders' balance, update & sign off my refurb project accounts & psychologically as well as physically, this will re-set the dial on our household finances. 
Onwards!
Foxgloves xx

QueenJess

Excellent news that its all done and you can enjoy your home even more. Thanks for providing me with some good news (and laughs re: the germs), I really needed to hear some today!

foxgloves

Aww, you're welcome @QueenJess. Sorry to hear you have not had the best day today.
F

foxgloves

Well, here I am at 7.23 enjoying a 2nd cup of coffee instead of running around getting ready for builders arriving. Everywhere I look atm, I can see a ton of jobs which need doing. I'm aiming to do 12 tasks today & yes, our minging fridge is going to be pretty high up on that notional list. Hopefully back later with a positive money saving day to report.
Keep your mitts on your pence, Money Savers,
F x

Baileys_Babe

Great news that the builders have finished.
Enjoy the freedom to be in charge of your time.

marionmgcars

thanks for the motivating posts Foxgloves.  I'm still settling into a new retired routine, but very busy I'm pleased to say.  Like yourself there are a few jobs need doing at my bungalow, and need to have a plan of action so it does not get too expensive by rushing into things and not doing my research.  I've worked out my new "pay day" when a little pension gets paid into my account, and aim to top it up out of savings I had for my retirement pot, until I draw on my state pension.  I find I can stick to a budget better if I have a monthly amount.
I was tempted to buy wool for sock knitting from a lady who has a fab online shop who was having a sale, but thought I had two lots to knit up first, and there will be other sales.  I'm trying to use the wool in my stash before buying any more, unless it is for a gift for someone else.  
Away to do a freezer list, and meal plan for the next few days.