Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

beanielou

Must investigate if Morrisons deliver here.

BalanceBy50

Hi CBC, Hope you've had a lovely weekend?

Forgive me if this is a nosy, intrusive question but I was wondering why you wanted to be such a super scrimper and save save save? I am sure I have read that you are in your 70's and have no children so surely now is about enjoying yourself whilst you can? I can understand having a small saving pot but after the hard few years you've just hard surely there is now money to treat and enjoy yourself?

I hope you don't mind me saying this but having been to 3 funerals relatively recently if people in there 40's & 50's surely you don't have to be that tough on yourself.

Still loving your writing xx

tantaraza

Hi carbootcrazy! I’ve popped over here from HHOD’s diary as I really enjoyed reading your ramblings

With regard to your books (3500 :eek:) have you thought about selling them to We Buy Books or a similar online book-buying company? Some of them will only make pennies but given the amount you paid for them, I’m sure you’d make some sort of profit. At the very least, you’ll get them decluttered?

Your concerns about running the cupboard down instead of spending unnecessarily on food but getting snowed in etc by the weather are very understandable, and I hope I can share a suggestion? I’m moving into a new house next month and I’m planning to stock up with an absolutely enormous supermarket delivery of cupboard food. My plan is to keep a running list of what’s there and the quantities, and replace whatever I use the next time I go shopping, so I always have X amount of Y in the cupboards at all times in case of bad weather or no money to buy food. Obviously this does require the cash to stock up in the first place but it may be a solution? Feel free to ignore me though

Also :rotfl: at the “pork and paprika curry”! What are the odds that next time you go looking in the freezer for chunky vegetable soup, that’s what you end up with?

[Deleted User]

BalanceBy50 wrote: »

Hi CBC, Hope you've had a lovely weekend?

Forgive me if this is a nosy, intrusive question but I was wondering why you wanted to be such a super scrimper and save save save? I am sure I have read that you are in your 70's and have no children so surely now is about enjoying yourself whilst you can? I can understand having a small saving pot but after the hard few years you've just hard surely there is now money to treat and enjoy yourself?

I hope you don't mind me saying this but having been to 3 funerals relatively recently if people in there 40's & 50's surely you don't have to be that tough on yourself.

Still loving your writing xx

Thank you, BalanceBy50:T. My weekend was productive if not totally lovely. Pesky eBay listings:(


It certainly isn't a nosy or intrusive question at all and if I write about my plans and doings on here I expect to be challenged by people who are kind enough to visit. It actually helps me to find reasons for some of these things, even if they might seem nonsensical to anyone else. So please, to you and everyone else, keep asking about anything you want and I'll try my best to answer honestly:)


I really do understand what you mean about funerals of relatively young people and I'm now only too aware of the lottery that is life. My own brother died from cancer in February last year after being diagnosed only 2 months previously. He was almost 3 years younger than me and had been in good health so the shock of that event really brought home to me, possibly for the first time, the fickleness of life. I've been blessed with excellent health all my life (and I really do count it as a huge blessing:j) but round about the time my brother died I became really ill myself. This was a total 'first' for me and the symptoms really knocked me for six. I suddenly felt very vulnerable. I know I'm getting on a bit but was the one among my contemporaries who was still capable of doing anything I wanted to do, physically at least,if not financially. Fortunately my condition has improved massively and with monitoring and medication I'm pretty much back to my 'old' self:j


The main reason I want to concentrate on saving at the moment is mainly car-related:(. I live in a very rural area, no bus routes or public transport. A return taxi, should one ever be needed, to the nearest small town. dentist, doctors etc cost over £25 and that's if one can be found. I haven't tested this for myself but was told by someone who had to have one recently and is still recovering from the shock! OH has a car for which I'm a named-driver on his insurance policy but he is out and about a lot and usually in a totally different direction from the one I want to go. I've always had a car of my own and not to continue with this would definitely curtail my feeling of independence. I know car ownership is a money pit but being a driver is a big part of who I am.


My current car is 17 years old! I always become ridiculously attached to my cars and keep them longer than is financially sensible. I didn't have any choice this past 6 years when I was drowning in debt and trying to pay it off but I used to keep them for years even when I could afford to swap. That means that when they do finally become unreliable and more expensive to keep going than they're worth they're only worth scrap value and I have to start all over again from scratch:eek:. I never buy brand new, never have even when I could easily have afforded to. I need something sturdy and reliable though.


My current car has been a fantastic 'buy', and I'm amazed I still have it because when I bought it I planned it should be a temporary stopgap when my last car finally died. I needed something in a hurry. I didn't even like it particularly, it was just available, low-mileage and at a bargain price. Here I am, 14 years on still with it:rotfl:. It's only let me down once and that was totally my own fault for taking my eye off the ball as far as servicing went and trying to skimp because of lack of money:o. Otherwise, it's sailed through every MOT with barely even an advisory and apart from having to replace the usual wear-and-tear parts like exhaust, battery and tyres it's been incredibly cost-effective:j. It still looks good too (if you like the retro look and colour, which fortunately I do:rotfl:) and the bodywork is excellent for its age. Certainly not a rust bucket:eek:. I'm realistic enough to know it won't go on for many more years though, engine-wise if nothing else, so need the funds in place asap to buy a replacement as soon as one is needed. I don't plan to go mad but will need a few thousands:(.


By throwing every possible pound at my debts (and being already retired when I had my lightbulb moment and knew I had to start a DMP) I was not able to save anything at all. A DMP means access to credit is out of the question (not that I would want credit ever again) so the only way I can fund a 'new to me' car is by spending money I actually have. Sounds obvious but it's a whole new way of thinking for someone who lived for decades on 'plastic'. Incidentally, to go back to your mention of my age, I was hell-bent on repaying my debts in the shortest possible time largely because of it. I made things miserable for myself which, had I been younger, I definitely wouldn't have done. I could have taken a more scenic route;).


Another reason for my saving mission is that I know of several people who have died unexpectedly and left their financial affairs in an unholy mess for someone else to sort out:eek:. I've made no secret of the fact that I managed to get through this whole debt nightmare without OH being aware of my problem. I'm not proud of the fact that I needed to do this completely on my own, it probably indicates something lacking in me that I didn't feel able to confide in someone I've been with for almost 50 years:o. The thought of my dying leaving debts behind has been a major spur to crack on with getting them paid off. The next stage now is to have some savings, apart from the car fund, to leave behind. It's not as if OH will need my money, he needs a general anaesthetic before he ever spends any of his:eek:. He's been a saver from childhood and apart from the mortgage which was paid off by the 1980s he's never owed a penny to anyone in his whole life. We're like chalk and cheese in so many ways and it constantly amazes me that we've been together all these years:rotfl:


OH wrote his will years ago as common-law partners have no legal automatic right to anyone's estate. He's leaving everything to me apart from a few small charitable bequests. He keeps going on and on about how it's important for me to make a will of my own. This has caused me to panic as, having no assets, I've been very concerned about whether the person drawing up the will would need to know that I had debts rather than assets. I'm not worried about being judged by them but a will, as a legal document has to accurately reflect the situation and can't be vague. I really want to have a will drawn up but not until I'm debt-free. It may sound nonsensical but it's a major driving force in my saving plans. I know I should try to find out more about the whole will 'thing' and it's very near the top of my 'to do' list for this year.



I've got carried away and have been rambling again:o. Apologies.

[Deleted User]

tantaraza wrote: »

Hi carbootcrazy! I’ve popped over here from HHOD’s diary as I really enjoyed reading your ramblings

With regard to your books (3500 :eek:) have you thought about selling them to We Buy Books or a similar online book-buying company? Some of them will only make pennies but given the amount you paid for them, I’m sure you’d make some sort of profit. At the very least, you’ll get them decluttered?

Your concerns about running the cupboard down instead of spending unnecessarily on food but getting snowed in etc by the weather are very understandable, and I hope I can share a suggestion? I’m moving into a new house next month and I’m planning to stock up with an absolutely enormous supermarket delivery of cupboard food. My plan is to keep a running list of what’s there and the quantities, and replace whatever I use the next time I go shopping, so I always have X amount of Y in the cupboards at all times in case of bad weather or no money to buy food. Obviously this does require the cash to stock up in the first place but it may be a solution? Feel free to ignore me though

Also :rotfl: at the “pork and paprika curry”! What are the odds that next time you go looking in the freezer for chunky vegetable soup, that’s what you end up with?

Thank you for the suggestions:T. You're up late too tonight or maybe you're a night owl anyway. I'm just the opposite and am usually up by 6 but I've been sorting out some paperwork and lost all track of time. Then I came onto MSE for a quick catch-up and have just had a shock when I looked at the clock:rotfl:. Hardly worth going to bed now:eek:


I have sold quite a lot of books to We Buy Books, Ziffit etc and I agree it's a good way to offload books in bulk. I'm not worried about only making pennies per book as it would still be a small profit on what I paid. I just want them all gone, they've been weighing me down physically and mentally for far too long:eek:. Sadly, these companies are pretty selective and most of the titles I input the barcodes for are not acceptable by the website:mad:. I keep trying though whenever I drag out yet another boxfull from the shed.


Maintaining a stock of tinned and dried goods is definitely a good idea:T. I hope you're more successful with your running list of what you have than I am. I start with such good intentions but soon get out of the habit of keeping the list up to date. I love lists as a rule, I make lists for everything:rotfl:, but updating them, crucially my food cupboard and freezer ones, seems beyond me.



As for the casserole in the freezer, there are definitely some in there. Several in fact so the odds of finding one sometime soon must be pretty good. I've fished out a gammon joint to thaw out overnight,. No mistaking what that one is:rotfl:

tantaraza

Morning! I can’t seem to quote posts for some reason :huh:

That is annoying about We Buy Books and Ziffit! Hopefully their policies change and they decide to accept those books of yours — or, now that I think about it, if it’s affecting you that much, could the books be recycled?

To be completely honest, my ability to keep a list up to date is abysmal, but I’m determined to turn over a new leaf :

I hope you had a good night’s sleep after staying up so late — 2:14am!! :eek: (Says the hypocrite who hasn’t gone to bed yet :rotfl:)

Lifeisforliving19

Morning CBC. In answer to you question, yes I do have a new diary, its called Lets get this show on the road. But for some reason it wouldn't let me post a link to it. Its still in its early stages, but hope it will get more interesting soon.
Really enjoying reading your posts. I agree about labelling things in the freezer...I am like that....lol

[Deleted User]

tantaraza wrote: »

That is annoying about We Buy Books and Ziffit! Hopefully their policies change and they decide to accept those books of yours — or, now that I think about it, if it’s affecting you that much, could the books be recycled?

The problem with WBB and the other bulk-buyers is that they need to resell the books they buy in. They don't want to be lumbered with masses of the same title or books that were printed in vast quantities, were big sellers and just about everyone has already read. The website just says something like 'sorry, we are not able to accept this item' when lots of my barcodes are inputted. Should that be 'input'? I never know:o. I can understand their position, they are businesses after all and need to turn a profit.


When you say 'recycled' do you mean take to the tip? There's a huge skip at our local one for unwanted books and other printed material. I asked one of the workers what they do with them all and he said they go for pulping or burning for energy. I've spotted some lovely books which have been tossed into that skip but regardless of condition they are just destroyed:eek:. Unless mine are really tatty and undesirable I can't bring myself to just dispose of them that way:(. What I still have stored isn't getting me down as much as once upon a time when I was despairing of ever disposing of it.


There used to be those collection bins at a couple of car parks in our nearest town where books could be 'posted' but they've disappeared now:(. That was a solution for a while and at least they went to charities directly rather than via a charity shop.


One of the charity shops in our nearest 'big' town is very keen to receive donations of children's books, regardless of condition, as they have a deal where whatever they can't sell in the shop they send off to deprived areas in other English-speaking parts of the world where children have no access to books. They can store any amount but sadly I had very few children's books to give them. They don't do the same with adult books:(. OH visits that town occasionally and takes boxes of adult books for me to the better variety of charity shops than those in my local town. Even though the shops are bigger and presumably can store more books pending putting them out for sale they are not willing to accept many books per donation. A lot of the books I'm sending look almost as good as new but they still say 'no more' because they get so many books donated and just don't sell most of them.


Who would have thought that lovely things like books would cause so much grief?:eek:

elizabethhull

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Unless mine are really tatty and undesirable I can't bring myself to just dispose of them that way:(. What I still have stored isn't getting me down as much as once upon a time when I was despairing of ever disposing of it.

OH visits that town occasionally and takes boxes of adult books for me to the better variety of charity shops than those in my local town.

Who would have thought that lovely things like books would cause so much grief?:eek:

I have the remains of my father's library, which consists of all the books a well-read and educated man would want in the 1930's - so not much for today's readers !! Haven't heard of Ziffit, so could try that for some of the 'coffee-table' books other people bought my parents.

I think 'adult' books are a whole different category:rotfl:

Yes, books are lovely in themselves, and I keep thinking they are sacrosanct but they really aren't, I have even recently (horror!) written a note in a book - you got detention for that at school !

[Deleted User]

elizabethhull wrote: »

I think 'adult' books are a whole different category:rotfl:

No, I don't have any of that kind of book:rotfl: