Put away your purse & become debt-averse

DawnW

Absolutely agree @foxgloves.

scandimore

You're right as usual. It's a very worrying time.

foxgloves

It truly is @DawnW & @scandimore . It's so difficult to plan when things keep chopping & changing. Mr F has been to a meeting today hoping to learn just how draconian the cuts are going to be, but of course while it was very gloomy, nobody knows yet because the government haven't announced anything concrete. I noticed that the smart meter monitor was showing over £2 for gas use at lunchtime. The radiators were on first thing (they're set to come on at 6 am if the temperature is sub-18 degrees) & I was surprised that they came on again late morning. I didn't feel cold, so I've actually switched the thermostat down temporarily this afternoon as I knew I'd be up in my little HQ room which gets the sun. I'll put it back up later, but I couldn't see the point it coming on if I didn't feel chilly. I think I will aim to do more of this during the day - be more reactive - it might save a few quid.
F

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Diary Friends,
Quite a useful day - I've fed my sourdough jar for baking tomorrow, discussed a few food/shopping plans with Mr F, researched if we can get free parking when I go for my dental consultation on Fri & had an hour & a half of free exercise & fresh air making a start on clearing one of the big garden borders. I've also done about £7 of surveys & almost finished typing this ongoing gift genealogy project. Very little effort (or expense) required for tonight's nose-bag as Mr F is making Epic Man Stew from a large box of frozen leftovers & I'm intending to have a tuna melt jacket. So that's just a couple of spuds to go in the oven later.
A thought for today........
On Monday I read an article in the Gu*rdi*n, which I found a bit peculiar. I have found myself pondering it & this morning, over breakfast, Mr F suddenly said "Did you read that sort of slightly odd article the other day about middle class thrift?" And it turns out that he'd been mulling it over as well. I don't know if anyone saw it? You know I'm a news junkie.....the title is "As prices rise, the cost of living crisis has reawakened the thriftifarians" - the writer is J. Baggini. I found it a bit rambley, but the premise is that middle & upper class people 'are making a virtue' of thrift when they have no need to do so. He cites the average 'dispoable income' in the UK as £31,400k per year, which I dispute, as that sounds more like average salary before essential living expenses such as housing, energy & food have been stripped out. It also ignores regional disparities. Anyway, his argument is that people with this amount of disposable income can easily afford to pay more for their energy & shouldn't make out they are being affected by the cost of living crisis. I thought 'Does he mean people like us?" He mentions people who have paid off their mortgages being able to ride out the crisis perfectly well. We were in the unexpected position to be able to pay off our mortgage 8 years earlier than expected, so I suppose he would lump us in with the bracket of people he's talking about. But this article has a fatal flaw. It absolutely DOES lump everyone of a certain income in together with no sense that within that group, there will be individuals with different needs, goals, expenses & ethics - also very different sized mortgages, depending on where they live. For instance, we are working on building up savings for security......public sector income is always just one government crisis (& yes, it HAS always been the Tories) away from multiple redundancies, we also want to be responsible with putting some money away to make up the shortfall in my pensions & to make sure we can cover reasonable future emergencies without recourse to our old 'friend' Mr Credit Card & his good friend Ms Consolidation Loan. The writer used the term 'Thriftafarian' as though thrift is a bad tool for anyone but the poorest citizens to employ. I absolutely dispute this - I am determined to use less energy, not so that I can put stylish posts on social media of my front room lit by candles & tasteful rugs strewn everywhere, but because I want that money to be used in a different way. Is using less energy not also more environmentally friendly? Am I not, in just a small way, refusing to collude with an industry in which producers take enormous profits for themselves, as they hold ordinary households to ransom? 
Well, Mr Baggini, whoever you are......I can see you meant 'Thriftafarian' as a negative term - a slur, but I am proud of my thrifty habits & will continue to practise them. They are a big part of a process which got us debt-free & they are now enabling us to save for a greater sense of security. So to borrow an expression from my old Nana (1909 - 1992), he can stick it up his jumper!!
If anyone else read this column, I'd be interested to know what you thought. I was not offended by it, but thought it shows a skewed understanding of why people might want to lead a less-heavily consumer driven lifestyle.
And now I must hie me away to deal with potatoes!
Love to all,
F x

Blackcats

Hi Foxgloves

i just read that article and it made me cross.  As a reformed spender, a reasonably well paid person who now has no mortgage or debt, I think it's up to me how I use my money.  Large increases in energy prices can be mitigated by choosing to be more deliberate in how I consume gas and electricity.  This means that I can save or spend any money that is available from the reductions on the bills that I can achieve.  
I accept that for me that is choice not necessity but it's my choice to make.  

I don't plead poverty on the forum or in real life but in both places we discuss how we chose to live and try to support and encourage others.  Having come to it late in life I think being more frugal is a good thing.

I might have misunderstood the premise of the article because I was riled very quickly 😵‍💫

DawnW

I thought it was anti green to be honest. We should all be saving energy as much as possible. And if people who are a bit better off, through their own efforts or otherwise, choose to do something with their money other than further lining the pockets of fatcats, well, all power to them!

A thought though, have you considered only turning on your heating when you need it? We used our thermostat religiously for years, as that was how the system was set up. But now we turn the heating on only when we feel cold - the rest of the time it is turned off. We haven't had it on yet this season, though we have lit the stove a few times to avoid feeling chilly when sitting down in the evening. It is mild this evening, so we won't be doing that tonight either. The dog will be disappointed, as he loves to lie upside down in front of it

foxgloves

Hi Blackcats - (Coincidentally, I have a black cat around my ankles as I type!) I don't think you have misunderstood the premise of the article at all, as you sound just as wound up by it as me! I think to strip it down to it's bare bones.......yes, I could theoretically pay an extra £300 per month to energy companies, but that is money that currently goes into specific savings. If I was to say 'Oh we can cope with the rise, it's fine, let's not bother cutting back', these pots would not be paid & there'd be a rebound on our finances further down the line. Like you, we have come to the concept of saving later in life than some people & it is my choice if I decide to continue implementing my financial plans for as long as possible, rather than hand the money over to our energy company. I know our bills are going to go up big-time & yes, there will have to be adjustments to our budget, but if I deal with this by employing a thriftier lifestyle, that is my business & certainly not intended as a virtue-signalling exercise as strongly implied by the article's writer. 
F

foxgloves

Hi Dawn, Yes, it was anti-green. I agree.
Re the heating......yes, I have thought of that. For instance, this year, we have got it switched so low at night that it is very unlikely to come on. The thermostat is set at 18 degrees, but if I'm not feeling chilly, I just alter the target temperature down a couple of notches, which is the equivalent of switching it off. To be honest, since turning it back on again this year, it seems hardly to have come on at all. I often have a peep at the thermostat on my way through the hall & it has mostly been over 18 (sometimes well over) so the boiler isn't being triggered to come on at all. I think keeping it off at night should make an inroad into our usage, as it was set at 18 all night last year. 
Like most people. I keep hearing that £4,300 (or whatever today's latest iteration is) figure for April's cap & thinking that it's only that much if we use that much, so we have to be an un-average household.
F

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi foxgloves
I just quickly read that article and I don't interpret it the same way that you and Blackcats have done!
I don't read it as anti green or saying thrift is bad; my reading is that he is arguing against people who say we're all struggling the same. We are not. Some people can manage with increased bills, we may not like it and we would rather spend our money on other things or save it - for myself, any extra money going to the utility company is money I'm not paying off my mortgage. However, I and others are not in the same position as people who have to choose between heating or eating. That was my take on the article
love Deni 

RosaBernicia

I usually find Baggini irritating, but that article seems reasonably balanced to me.  He has a point that giving up a holiday or buying less stuff is entirely different than not having the money to make the choice in the first place.  What I would dispute is his assumption that most people on a median income are not living at the stretch of their means - having checked his source data, "Disposable income is the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes, such as Income Tax, National Insurance and Council Tax, have been accounted for." - and it therefore doesn't include housing costs, which have gone up massively.