Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Thanks both of you.
CCL - lovely to hear you had such a nice day yesterday, as I know you've had some difficult past Christmasses. What you said about making new traditions really resonated with me. This year was my first year with no parents around. We always had very family-based Christmasses growing up & obviously I will always keep some of those traditions, but as mr f & I don't have children, it's also important we make our own new traditions & over the past few years, we've been doing that. We both love Christmas. So this year was tinged with sadness in that it was the first time there were no gifts to & from Mum & Dad and not to be wishing them a Merry Christmas, but I haven't been miserable. In fact we've been sharing funny memories of childhood Christmasses & we are having a nice peaceful time together after a hugely stressful few months.
Great that your children loved their presents. We always had good pressies at Christmas, but looking back now as an adult, the memories are all the stuff we did, games, activities, etc, more than what we were bought. Anyway, it was lovely to read all about what a good day you'd had. You're moving forward now.
F xx

foxgloves

Hello Boxing Day Peeps,
Our only spend today was on a coffee each when we went out for a Boxing Day walk.
Relaxing evening planned, then tomorrow will be All About Leftovers. In my family, I'm legendary for how far I can s-t-r-e-t-c-h a turkey & this year will be no exception.
All being well, I shall be popping back tomorrow to report back on how many meals I've made for the freezer.
And mr f has a mission of his own tomorrow. He's off into town in search of the best & biggest yellow stickered joint of meat bargain he can find. This time last year, he went out for a few essentials & came back with an enormous shoulder of pork for £5 & I think he felt a bit like a an ancient hunter dragging a tasty mammoth back to the cave!
Anyway, I've got more relaxing to do.
Peace & Love,
F x

foxgloves

Hello Debtbusters,
Today was my Big Budget Day so I've spent much of it ensconced upstairs in Foxgloves HQ with my trusty (free) calculator.
January & February used to be such stressful months for money back before the LBM, but my method now is that while some Christmas gift spending does go on credit cards, these are only used to maximise loyalty points for vouchers & are paid off in full by the end of December.
So, once again I am able to say that we are solvent, our emergency fund is still intact & we are carrying no festive-induced debt into the New Year.
Having been both frugalista & a naughty non-budgeting over-spender, I know which approach I prefer. I couldn't go back to those awful new year bank statements......all of which were entirely self-induced.
And.....still being Ms Frugal, am off to make turkey soup & dumplings.
Love to all,
F x

Onebrokelady

I'm with you on the stress free January bank statements,I'm loving the fact that I won't have an eye watering credit card bill to worry about this January,this is the first Christmas that has been entirely paid for with cash and stayed on budget with no credit card used at all :j:beer:

Onebrokelady

Forgot to say ........mmmmmmmmm dumplings...........:)

foxgloves

It's a good feeling, isn't it, OBL.

City centre trip today. The 2 small items on my list were on offer.....the 3rd one I didn't hold out much hope for. I've been looking for a new handbag for ages & had seen in a brand email that the one I liked was in the sale reduced from £40 to £28. But that was three days ago, so I was expecting them to have been snapped up. Well, I was wrong. There was ONE left & it had been further reduced to £19.50! Oh joy & purple handbaggy rapture! Glad I waited. The only other bags I liked that I looked at before Christmas were between £99 & £130, & while I know that is nothing compared to designer brands, that would have been a lot for me to pay. I had a look at the clothes while I was in there, while telling myself firmly that 'It isn't a bargain if you don't love it'.....but my money was safe. Most stuff seemed to be colours I don't wear, styles which would be unable to cope with the infamous Foxgloves boobs or size 8s......& I don't think I was a size 8 even when I WAS eight!!
So that was me done. A happy handbag day, followed by coming in £14 under budget on our grocery budget - Turkey Leftovers-tastic!!
F xx

crazy_cat_lady

Congratulations on a super fantastic handbag bargain Foxgloves. It's brilliant when fate falls the right way isn't it? Bet that's kept you happy for ages

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

It's a good feeling, isn't it, OBL.

City centre trip today. The 2 small items on my list were on offer.....the 3rd one I didn't hold out much hope for. I've been looking for a new handbag for ages & had seen in a brand email that the one I liked was in the sale reduced from £40 to £28. But that was three days ago, so I was expecting them to have been snapped up. Well, I was wrong. There was ONE left & it had been further reduced to £19.50! Oh joy & purple handbaggy rapture! Glad I waited. The only other bags I liked that I looked at before Christmas were between £99 & £130, & while I know that is nothing compared to designer brands, that would have been a lot for me to pay. I had a look at the clothes while I was in there, while telling myself firmly that 'It isn't a bargain if you don't love it'.....but my money was safe. Most stuff seemed to be colours I don't wear, styles which would be unable to cope with the infamous Foxgloves boobs or size 8s......& I don't think I was a size 8 even when I WAS eight!!
So that was me done. A happy handbag day, followed by coming in £14 under budget on our grocery budget - Turkey Leftovers-tastic!!
F xx

It certainly is a good feeling:j
Well done on the bargain handbag and the super frugal grocery shop,you are on a roll:beer:

foxgloves

Thanks both of you. Yes, I had Happy Handbag Fun today when I swapped everything into my new bag. I also swapped over an unusual.bag charm which was a gift from a dear friend who died 18 months ago. I always think of her when I see my bag charm so there was no way that was going in the charity shop box with my old handbag.
Who doesn't love swapping everything into a brand new bag? Especially a bargainaceous one!
F x

foxgloves

Well, I am aiming for a resourceful & non wasteful 2019 & am off to a good start! Am pleased to report a useful amount of rubber turkey activity. After the traditional roast on Christmas Day, it did cold dinner on Boxing Day, turkey & mushroom supreme with rice the next day & the following for the freezer: 1 tray of turkey slices in gravy, 2 portions of turkey curry (& an additional 3 containers of curry sauce), 6 portions of turkey chilli, 6 portions of soup - two already esten with dumplings - & 3 cartons of turkey stock. In addition, the cooked giblets made a 'free' dinner for our cat - he wolfed them down like they were some kind of rare exotic treat.
More free useful resources have been unearthed today while I've been moving round & blitzing my little HQ room. Will pop back & bore you with those later.
Cheers for now,
F x