Put away your purse & become debt-averse

EssexHebridean

On the ISA thing, you know that the Spanish bank have a 1 year fixed option at 3.7% at the moment? The rates do seem to be very volatile though - when I opened mine just a week before it was 3.35% - I’m hoping that it might be available to upgrade at some stage but at the moment “Computer says no”.

Humdinger1

@EssexHebridean I think it was you on the previous page that mentioned another Spanish bank saver, which I've now set up.  Thank you! The mix of philosophy and practicality on your diary @foxgloves is addictive, as I may have said before.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

foxgloves

Hello Sunday SuperSavers - Doesn't that sound like a special weekend train ticket which would take you right across the country & back for about £4.99?
I digress. Already!
Thanks for your comments, which I enjoy reading:
@pinkypig & @humdinger1 - Thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad you enjoy my diary. Sometimes as I type it, I'm thinking that I defo need to get out more! I do seem to spend a lot of time with buckets of fruit & tomatoes atm!

@jellytotts - I am fortunate (so far) in that I haven't had any episodes of that awful gallbladder pain. I have been scanned & informed that the only way the stone is coming out is surgery, so I expect I will end up going the same route as you. Usually I only have minor symptoms, unless I have made a total gutlord of myself at Christmas, or with Easter chocolate, then wine on top. For this flare-up, while my diet hasn't been wildly sensible, I think the main agitator has been all the coughing from when I had Covid (I'm still coughing, but not as much). I could feel the stone jarring during all the big coughing fits & I think it has moved. It usually settles down so I'm avoiding stupid things like buttercream, etc, & hoping it keeps improving.
Re trees.....yes, I agree. I don't like cutting them down. Unfortunately the old apple plus the 2 plum trees were rotten or diseased so we had no choice there. The other 4 trees we've removed since we've been here were completely inappropriate plantings for a domestic garden (even a fair-sized one) & needed to come out to prevent other issues.

@EssexHebridean - That's a decent interest rate for that first year. Yes, I could get more interest if I moved our savings, but I haven't really got any plans to do so atm. I do consider it now & again, as I do swap other providers around...most recently our home insurance. Re our banking/savings, it is mostly with ethical providers or mutuals. This is an area of provision we have taken the decision to support, but it is also important to me that at least one of our providers has a physical branch locally. We've lost our local bank in our town, plus the one in the slightly nearer of two city centres. So when we do need (or choose) to visit in person, it requires a trip to the bigger city centre & expensive parking. Having a building society branch in our local town has been really useful throughout Lockdown & beyond. We have 2 savings products there, one with another provider which is online only & one (which is just used for savings pots money) with our main bank. I'm not ruling out changing providers, just more that there are other things to balance for me as well as the additional interest. I think Mr F & I were spenders for so long, that we still can't quite believe we are actually savers now, that's the other element of it, I think!

Not much to report....didn't spend much at the Yellow & Blue Emporium yesterday, late night as went from there to see our good friends who live that side of the county, have had lots of lovely fresh air in the garden this morning gathering the best of the apples which came off the felled tree. Also planted some prepared hyacinth bulbs, some for me & a potful for my sister and cut a bundle of rocket for tonight's salad. Have typed up a bit more of my genealogy project this afternoon. 
The only downside to the day is that Ash doesn't seem too well, so we are keeping an eye on him. We think he's better than this morning, but it is so hard to tell with cats. Anyway, we will keep monitoring & see what tomorrow brings.
Oh I can yakk, can't I?
F x

Sun_Addict

I hope Ash is better in the morning, they are a worry. 

ladyholly

I hope Ash is ok and back to his usual self in the morning.

scandimore

Hope Ash is feeling better soon. One of ours seems to feel poorly in a cyclical fashion but they're so good at hiding when there's something up its difficult to interpret. And always perk up en route to the vets I find!! 
I'm post gall bladder removal, had mine out over ten years ago now, it felt a lot better as things got worse and worse until life was quite miserable. The waiting list for the op was no joke, even back then! Is it worth exploring your options there foxgloves so you are at least on "the list" or are you leaving it for now while it's manageable?

EssexHebridean

Aww poor pusscat - hope he's back to his usual self now. 

we've probably been slower to move our savings than we really should have been - I fall into the trap sometimes of feeling a daft sort of "loyalty" to a bank, and to a degree there's probably some laziness there too. Our long term savings do need to give us as much as they can though - we neither of us have the "good" private pensions in place that a lot of folk have, so our retirement pot is currently going to be a combination of savings, the pensions we DO have, and hopefully if all goes to plan income from rental of the property we are in now assuming we do eventually manage to get the move to the islands sorted out. Of course that move in turn would also diminish our savings pot, so roundabouts and swings there. However, in the meantime, if I can get an extra several hundred pounds a year in interest by making a shift of some money, that's what I need to get round to doing!  I agree with you on the slightly unbelievable thing of actually being savers though - every now and then MrEH and I will be discussing various things around that issue and one of us will say "Honestly - who even ARE we talking about having savings?!" or words to that effect! We are fortunate that the two "main" providers we use for banking both have branches locally - not though we use them very often these days. It's nice to know they are there though. 

foxgloves

Thanks all for your good wishes re ailing pussycat. He has eaten some food today.....not a huge amount but has been back to his bowl 3 times, also scoffed a bit from Soot's bowl & had a few biscuits. Sees brighter in himself & no more puke (as yet!) Fingers crossed.
@EssexHebridean - Yes, I do think that the extra interest would be useful. Our savings are in the 'very useful but not enormous' cateogory, so I suppose I baulk a bit at the hassle if it isn't going to add a decent wodge. It's something to think about going forward, I think. The intention is to save my money if Mr F can stay in his current role (or nab one on the next level up) until retirement. His sector - in which I also worked till my redundancy- is one that has been pretty devastated by the austerity cuts with more to come now, of course. He's been called in with his tier of staff this week to hear how bad they are expecting it to be, so we are well aware that circumstances outside our control might scupper our plans. We both have a local government pension. Mine won't be a full one, but will be decent enough considering I haven't worked since taking redundancy. His (all being well) will be a full one. So as I am a few years older than him, the plan is for my lump sum to go straight into savings along with a tidy amount of my monthly amount. Ditto when I get my state pension (again, not a full one). So if we can stay on track with that, I shall have some more to add to savings & may well start something up with a new provider. It's all dandelion fluff in the wind, however, if the imminent public sector cuts are as bad as we fear they might be. A case of wait & see, I think. 
F

foxgloves

Just a quick one to say I've kept the money saving faith today. I have:
*Done my regular Monday morning budget updates & moved funds around as required.
*Done 2 loads of laundry which have blown dry outside in the sunshine.
*Dealt with various financial admin, filing, etc.
*Done a little more of my genealogy project - still lots to do if I am to have it in a professional-looking state for gifting this year.
*Dealt with some of the latest apple mountain by cooking up a pan of them to eat as dessert with yoghurt.
*Did a few surveys.
*Cashed out of a survey site with £10 JL voucher ('Turkey tokens')
*Found some leftovers in the freezer which will make a nice packed lunch for Mr F to take into work tomorrow.
Off to fetch the laundry in now before Soot starts trying it on for an early dinner.
Hope everyone's got off to a reasonably productive start to the week. If not, don't worry, just start the week again tomorrow - that's what I do.
Cheers,
F x

foxgloves

Hello Frugalsitas,
I'd intended a more productive day today, with my time this afternoon sort of mentally planned out in sections. Needless to say, it hasn't gone according to plan. I'm working like mad on this genealogy project which is to be a Christmas gift for Mr F's sister. I'd got a clear end-point/time planned, then over-ran by over an hour because of complications. Though I say so myself, I'm a good genealogist & always investigate anything that doesn't look quite right......investigations which today turned up an additional 'illegitimate' child for one of the women (doesn't that word seem old-fashioned & judgemental these days?) when I thought there was only one. Then somebody's little sister turned out to be their daughter, so I've had to do a bit of a re-write. I love history - always have - & I think the reason I get so sucked into family history is because it's the history of The People, not endless monarchs, aristocrats, etc. Anyway, anomalies sorted out & another typing session plus a day for editing in photos, etc, should do it. I've told Mr F he can do all the printing as it's a gift from both of us!
Other stuff I DID manage to do:
*Rounded up various use-it-ups for going into tonight's pasta bake.
*Did a couple more surveys.
*Did a little bit of cleaning & all of the ironing.
*Picked a bundle of rocket.
*Started off a pot of £1 coins.
I intend to watch GBBO later, so will knit some more of my friend's birthday present socks while I'm watching that. I've come to a bit of a standstill with the mittens......couldn't concentrate on the charts while I was poorly with Covid & too detailed to knit while watching TV, so I will need to plan in an hour's specific knitting time regularly to ensure they are finished for Christmas.
Well, you know I am a lefty, so I'm not going to go on & on about the current government sh*tshow, but I think we can all agree that the situation is a big worry. The universal help with energy bills is now going to end in April. That was always going to be expensive without the necessary windfall tax on producers, but the change of plan will mean everyone's financial plans are now messed up. Mr F & I have decided we need to 'pull our horns in' financially. We're not extravagant, but we are reliant on the public sector for our income. The trouble with 'efficiency savings' is that on the frontline, there is precious little left to cut. I could list all the ex-colleagues who took redundancy during Austerity 1 (including myself) & it was a lot of people. I can foresee a horrible situation where already cut-to-the-bone public services have to shed staff to pay out-of-control energy prices. And wages HAVE to rise because they have been stagnating since the 2008 crash. We worked out that without that long period of austerity, Mr F would be around £15k better off a year. It's a deeply worrying time (again!) but kind of feels worse this time because it has been exacerbated by such unrealistic ideology.......the end point of Brexit, I suppose. The UK didn't shoot itself in the foot there, it shot itself in the head. 
Ah well, all we can do is shore ourselves up as well as possible & try to concentrate on those elements over which we still have some agency.
Think I'll run the vacuum over downstairs to calm myself down......you know what a news junkie I am.
F x