Put away your purse & become debt-averse

enthusiasticsaver

Well done on showing restraint on forking out £149 on coffee machine. We have a dolce gusto one which uses pods but pods are expensive and although our LA says we can recycle I strongly suspect they are not doing that. Hence we restrict ourselves to maximum 2 each over the day.

joedenise

We don't drink a lot of coffee, just a couple of cups a day but have a bean to cup machine which we love. Took a while to find beans we both liked but now that we have we just order a kilo at a time from Am*zon and keep in the freezer, bringing in enough to fill the machine as and when needed.

We recently went to France on holiday and found a supermarket one which was half the price of our current one and thought we'd buy it and give it a go! Surprise, surprise we both love that one too. So from now on we'll be buying several bags to put in the freezer when we go to France (but always keep at least one bag of the original one in the freezer in case we run out!).

It's only recently that we've become more sensible with our money, although we haven't had any debt for about 5 years, apart from the mortgage we finally paid off in 2016!!! We still use a credit card for loyalty points and/or cash back but both paid off every month and only spend on it money which has been budgeted.

Denise

foxgloves

EnthusiasticSaver - I know what you mean. I know there are many people who swear by the 'pod'
type coffee machines, but we don't want the waste stream from all those empty pods. Our local authority definitely doesn't recycle them, so it would be landfill for any from our household. Coffee bags aren't recyclable either of course, though I do sometimes use those for sowing runner beans & sweet pea seeds as they like a deep root run. I also experimented by saving a load of empty coffee bags, turning them inside out so that they shiny silver side was on the outside then stapling them all together to make an insulating 'blanket' for my tender greenhouse seedlings during the colder spring months. It worked quite well, but was fiddly to do & aesthetically, I'd have to say it looked like a pig's breakfast!

joedenise - We've still got our mortgage, but I'm hoping we might get an opportunity to pay it off next year......it depends on a few unknowns, as yet. Agree about credit card use. We have one each, both from places where can collect loyalty points to exchange for vouchers. We pay both cards off in full at the end of the month.....if, very occasionally I carry a little bit of Christmas present spending over, it is paid off by Dec 31st. I am adamant I'm not taking debt from the previous year into the next year with me. I spent way too many years doing that & as I've said before, those January & February statements were just so completely depressing.
And now I've done all today's jobs & have a while before I need to glam up a bit for going out, so I'm going to get my Christmas piano music out & try to get a bit festive.
F x

crazy_cat_lady

I don't have coffee at all in the house, unless it's a fancy pants latte or mocha sachet that I make with milk rather than water to be extra indulgent :rotfl:
I always fancy a pod machine but you can get those sachets for £1.50 for 8 and that will do for the coffee I have in the house. I'm happy with a cup of tea at home - I don't even like strong black coffee. Well done with saving that money though, you've shown massive levels of restraint there!

Onebrokelady

Well done to you and Mr F for resisting the spend,hopefully it will be in the sale in January,I'm drink coffee at work to keep me going but I'm more of tea drinker at home,I drink Rooibos tea though as I find others too bitter
Like CCL I also drink the coffee sachets and quite like the caramel latte flavour ones,at Christmas when I've got a bottle of Baileys open I chuck some of that in my coffee,it's yummy and much more fun to drink than milk:rotfl:

foxgloves

I must admit I do feel quite proud of myself (& the hairier half of the relationship) for resisting that spend, but we will definitely have that machine.....it's just a case of waiting until we know we have the spare cash so that even if it is bought on a CC, which it will be, for the loyalty voucher points, we are able to pay it straight across, as we certainly won't be incurring any interest. My view on interest is that both of us have paid enough of it during the Spendy Decades to last us a lifetime & unless we have a total disaster somewhere along the way, our preference is not to buy things on credit again.

Well, I've spent all afternoon wrapping ebay parcels - another 6 sales from my auctions which finished today, just little things, but I've sold about 60 such items in the last couple of months & it does all add up. It's amazed me how well stitching magazines sell - I listed about 25 of one title & every one sold. I like wrapping gifts, but oh my days, ebay wrapping is another matter......it's so dreary. I couldn't even have the radio or music on as I needed to listen out for a delivery. Never mind, all done now & apart from sticky tape, of course, I've used entirely recycled materials from my wrappings stash.
Right, next job is a nice one......framing a couple of lovely photos of my Mum & Dad (now that I'm an orphan). I haven't bought frames for this, as I know I have a couple of lovely ones stashed away that I can use......just got to find them first.
I can hear mr f coming through the door now so I'm going to nobble him about helping me put up a swag of pine cones across the fireplace. Our tree isn't going up for a while yet, as it's a live one in a pot & it does best if it's indoors as little as possible, so because I love Christmas decs, I'm putting everything else out gradually, kind of something each day, & it feels really nice, almost like a free advent calendar type of activity.
Anyway, I'm off to look for those frames.
Enjoy your Friday nights, all. And keep your hands on your pence!
F xx

foxgloves

Thinking ahead this morning.....as in thinking ahead to avoid Takeaway Temptation tomorrow night. We are out all day tomorrow - an early start & a long drive. This is classic 'Oh it's late & we're hungry & the only POSSIBLE solution is buying a takeaway' territory. So I've made a nice big fish pie. I've used all the trimmings, tail sections & a spare salmon fillet from when I cut up & froze last month's fresh fish delivery. I just chuck all the oddments into a box ready for a fish pie when we fancy one. Loads of potatoes in, as we buy a sack from our local farm shop at this time of year, as they last ages & are locally grown & good quality - have had tons of black bits in supermarket potatoes recently. When we get home tomorrow, we'll only need to pop it in the oven & it will be a nice plate of something tasty & warming to eat by the fire after our long drive.
Back in the Spendy Decades, we were shockers for wasting money on takeaways. We had around 2 a week - we are both good cooks & can (& do) make pizzas, curries, etc, but there was always a good 'reason' why we had to have a take-away:
-Had a really busy day at work.
-Had a really boring day at work.
-Late home from work.
-Vile day at work (so deserve a treat)
-Great day at work (so let's celebrate)
-We are big greedy nackers.
-Forgot to take intended meal out of the freezer
-Diet re-starting on Monday, so may as well have a pizza
-There's an 'R' in the month
Need I go on?
The most common reasons were that we either didn't fancy what we'd planned to eat (this was before proper meal planning, though) or we had forgotten to get it out of the freezer. We don't use a microwave, so defrosting something quickly wasn't & still isn't an option. We don't sit here proudly admiring our hair shirts - we do still have an occasional take-away, but that's what it is - maybe 4 times a year, not weekly, which was bad for our health, weight & budget. LIke everything involving budgets, planning is key. We make sure that when we do our weekly meal plans, we choose meals we really like, so that we don't come home & start looking for alternatives, & I got into a routine of taking out of the freezer anything required for the next day's meals every morning, as soon as I've washed the breakfast pots.
I've promised mr f a lovely Indian takeaway on New Year's Eve, but we're not going to crack tomorrow.....fish pie at the ready, & it looks like a nice one - it's also big, which is always an important factor for mr f!
OK, must crack on, & get everything ready that we're taking over to our friends' house tonight - especially presents, as we are unlikely to be going over that way again till New Year.
Have a good weekend all,
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Takeaways are still my downfall foxgloves... Me and the kids never eat the same thing, and I hate cooking and have used every single one of those excuses. However, I do know now that I'm not keen on eating a big evening meal and therefore I don't have to if I don't want to. So I'm happy with sandwiches etc.

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves wrote: »

-Had a really busy day at work.
-Had a really boring day at work.
-Late home from work.
-Vile day at work (so deserve a treat)
-Great day at work (so let's celebrate)
-We are big greedy nackers.
-Forgot to take intended meal out of the freezer
-Diet re-starting on Monday, so may as well have a pizza
-There's an 'R' in the month

This looks very similar to the list that I used to have for drinking... glad I've finally mananged to knock that on the head

Onebrokelady

Same reasons we use to have a takeaway,I hate cooking so if someone suggests takeaway I'm agreeing without even thinking about it,this is exactly what happened on Saturday night when we ordered pizza even though I had bought pitta breads to make our own which are actually really tasty, we have cut it down but we still have a way to go before we get it under control,next year will be interesting because DD is doing her no spend challenge so she won't be suggesting takeaway to me and i won't order it just for me so next year should be a whole year without a takeaway:eek: