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

HairyHandofDartmoor

Hi Retired lady :wave: I'm glad you like my diary .

[Deleted User]

Retired_lady wrote: »

Hi CBC

I’m following your diary as a lurker on another thread (Hi HHOD - just love your diary :wave:) and feel that in many ways we are very similar.

First of all, congratulations on being debt free (neutral) that is a really fantastic achievement. I am a little younger than you I think? (63) but my OH is 77 and like your OH is very frugal (well downright tight] to say the least. We too have lived in unwedded “bliss” for well over 30 years. Like you, I was in debt, which I also hid from him. I also felt that it was MY responsibility to get out of the mess that I had got myself into. My OH was born during the War and his mother was a single parent (in the days when it was a bit of a stigma) as his father left when he was a young child. His mother had a factory job, as well as cleaning and ironing jobs to put food on the table. I think this goes some way to explain his view about money. They were very poor and he remembers spending time in a Children’s Home as his mother couldn’t cope at one point. Although leaving school at 15, by attending evening classes he was able to get an education and eventually a teaching post in Further Education, rising to Middle Management.

Me - on the other hand - was an only child and, whilst we certainly weren’t well off, I never wanted for anything. I got my first credit card when I was 18 and my debt just spiralled from there. My credit limit kept increasing - add a couple of loans - and I was in serious debt. My “light bulb” moment occurred about 12 years ago. I wanted to retire from a stressful job and realised that there was no way of doing that with the amount of debt I had. Like you, I cut everything back to the bone, managed to get a promoted post in the same field but at another place, and although I was a lot happier, I still wanted to get out of the daily grind/commute and live a much more relaxed and stress free life.

Fast forward to today - I have now been retired just over a year and live off my small occupational pension and draw down from a private pension. I will continue to draw down until I receive my State pension in 3 years time. I would not have been able to retire if I had been in debt.

My OH, being a bit older than me and having been retired for several years, was a little apprehensive about me stopping work. I solved the problem by using the lump sum from one of my pensions to build a loft conversion:rotfl: - we live in a very small bungalow. He is now up there with all his toys/gear/a flat screen TV and I hardly ever see him. Well, he does come down at meal times:rotfl: We are very similar to you and your OH - I am fond of my own company and could quite happily live alone, but after all these years - I think I will stick with the Old Man:rotfl::rotfl: We share the bills and although I do most of the cooking and cleaning, I don’t mind, as my OH maintains both cars (he spent years in the Motor Trade and has saved us a fortune in repair bills) and can turn his hand to anything - even installing central heating many years ago! To me, that is worth his weight in gold, and to be honest, if he offered to cook for me. I would politely refuse - I don’t think it would be very edible!

I hope you get your kitchen sorted out soon, it must be hard to try and make meals every night under those circumstances. Although we are relatively comfortable now, it wasn’t always like that. I DO have a credit card, but, like Martin always says, I pay it off IN FULL:money: I realise I am very lucky to be in this situation, but nowadays I get a great kick out of seeing my savings pot grow, far more pleasure than the buzz I used to get when spending money on things that I totally didn’t need, or really want.

You are doing great. My debt wasn’t as great as yours and I am awe of how you managed to pay it off. I think you said your savings will go towards replacing your car? Next - new kitchen:T. (after essential re-wiring, of course).

Keep up the good work.

RL x

PS - I KNOW you said your diary was a politically free zone. However, I feel I have to say that former Chancellor, George Osborne, did me a HUGE favour in not forcing people due to take retirement to take out an annuity. If I had to do this, my pension would have been dire. With the new rule, I was able to take a lump tax free sum and draw down a small amount of money to tide me over until I reach State Retirement age. Hopefully, there will still be money left in the pot to use towards home improvements/emergency fund after I stop the draw down. I can’t say I have ever been a HUGE fan of Old George, but I do feel that this is ONE thing the Conservatives got right.OK - political talk over, I will revert back to lurking:)

Welcome to my diary, Retired lady:hello:. I'm so pleased that you came out of lurkdom to join us:T. I hope you'll be a regular visitor now.


I loved your post, it could have been me writing it:T. It's uncanny how most of what you said exactly mirrors my own situation and experiences. It's always lovely to find a kindred spirit:).


I was more fortunate than you in that, being a bit older, I was able to start receiving my State Pension as soon as I reached 60:j. I was very much in debt by the time I retired and without it I don't know how I'd have coped:o. I'm sure many people would find my occupational pension reasonable, as I do, (although I certainly contributed enough to it over a lifetime of work:eek:) but it certainly wasn't enough on its own to enable me to clear all my debts so quickly.


I certainly don't mind your mention George Osborne and politics in general:). Or anyone else mentioning politics. I vowed to stop rambling about politics myself on my diary because I'm so obsessed by the subject that I can bore for England:o. Looks like being a 'big' Brexit day today on the BBC Parliament channel. One good thing about the weather being so cold and frosty is that I don't feel guilty about staying in all day. I can find plenty of indoor jobs to do and still be in earshot of the TV:j


See you again soon:beer:

[Deleted User]

Hi Car Boot (and HH) - thank you for making me so welcome on your diaries.

Watching the BBC Parliament news now . . . Interesting . . . .

Lifeisforliving19

Retired_lady wrote: »

Hi Car Boot (and HH) - thank you for making me so welcome on your diaries.

Watching the BBC Parliament news now . . . Interesting . . . .

Hi Retired Lady....I am hooked on the politics lately as well. Who knows how it will all end?:rotfl:

HairyHandofDartmoor

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Hi Retired Lady....I am hooked on the politics lately as well. Who knows how it will all end?:rotfl:

It will all end in tears at this rate :eek:.

[Deleted User]

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

It will all end in tears at this rate :eek:.

I feel a lot more optimistic about the outcome than I did a couple of weeks ago:j.

Suffolk_lass

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I feel a lot more optimistic about the outcome than I did a couple of weeks ago:j.

Me too - at least they are all going to talk. Personally I thought the binding amendment from Yvette Cooper made more sense but that is party politics for you!

[Deleted User]

It was bit of a mixed day yesterday as far as minor successes and failures go.


My kitchen sink was blocked, not totally but the water was extremely slow to drain away. I don't have a dishwasher so use the sink a lot. I'm careful what goes down it though. Never any grease as I always wipe out greasy pans on kitchen roll before washing. I put washing soda crystals down the plug hole at regular intervals too. Just before bedtime on Monday the sinkfull of water refused to drain at all. Even after an hour it was all still there:eek:


I always unblock the kitchen sink myself for some reason, I don't think I've ever asked OH to do that one although he usually does any others. He was upstairs watching the other TV so I decided to just get on with it and then go to bed. I had to ladle all the water out and then unscrew the U-bend pipe under the sink. It was absolutely full of black gunge:o, no idea what it could have been. Didn't smell horrible or anything, just like thick mud:eek:. I must have been a bit over-keen when I last did it as I'd screwed the pipes back on really tightly and could only loosen one bit of the pipe so couldn't clean it out properly. I was tired by then, past my normal bedtime and I haven't been sleeping all that well recently. I screwed the pipe back and put some drain cleaning chemical down which had to be left for at least 6 hours before flushing out and went to bed.


I got up yesterday really optimistic that I'd fixed it but despite copious amounts of water it just flushed through really slowly. Obviously still partially blocked:(. It goes against the grain with me to have to ask for help from OH once I take on a job:o (too independent for my own good as my Dad used to tell me). I had an idea I had some heavy-duty sink unblocker in 'my' shed so I went out there before it was fully light to see if I could find it. I was amazed I found it within 5 minutes:j. That only needed leaving to work for 20 minutes.


I left it a bit longer just in case but it still hadn't worked:mad:. I know we should buy a plunger but we never have so I improvised with a couple of cloths and plenty of elbow grease. I partly filled the sink with water but all that happened was that at every press down on the plughole this horrible black gunge came shooting out of the sink overflow hole and into the sink:eek:. I plugged the overflow up with another cloth and tried a couple of times more. Eureka, a gurgling noise from the pipe and all the disgusting black sink water disappeared:j I ran some water and it started going down a bit quicker and after about 2 more sinkfulls it was disappearing as fast as I've ever seen it with a reassuring gurgle at the end. Job done to my immense relief and all before OH appeared for his first cup of tea:j. Note to self: buy a small plunger ready for next time;)


I'm sure you found the above a really riveting read:rotfl:. I'll put the sink episode down as a little success (in the end) but a failure was my trying to get an appointment with the GP for some meds for the neuralgia. Self-medicating just isn't doing much. Our GP practice is absolutely excellent but they cover a massive rural area and have a huge patient list. They have surgeries at 2 rural sites and although it's quite a distance to drive even to the nearer one there's usually a chance of securing an appointment for the same day with one of the GPs, even if not our first choice. They don't do pre-booking of appointments, you have to ring on the day. The lines are open from 8 a. m. but are constantly engaged until about 8.15. I make sure I keep the number on speed-dial and keep on and on until I get through. It's usually OH I'm making appointments for and I've got the knack of doing it at last. Sadly, yesterday, by the time I'd got the sink sorted it was already 8.20 before I could start phoning and they didn't have a single available slot left:mad:. I was on there again dead on 8 a.m. this morning and by the time I was answered at 8.15 they just had the one slot left at 6.20 this evening at the further of the surgeries. I said I'd take it and then the receptionist said sorry but someone else had just snapped it up with one of the other receptionists whilst she was talking to me:mad:. I've to go through the same pantomime again tomorrow. I don't know why they're suddenly so overstretched. Maybe more people are ill in the winter. Fortunately I haven't had any neuralgia pain for almost 48 hours:j but I'll still make an appointment asap so I can have some heavy-duty meds at the ready for when it flares up again as I know it will.


Anyone who's managed to read to this point will be thinking what a totally un-fascinating life I lead:rotfl:. Hopefully, something more interesting to report next time;).

Karmacat

Actually, I *did* find it riveting :rotfl: my kitchen sink has been doing the same thing, but I only let it stand for about 5 minutes before I took action I didn't unscrew anything though, it's a maze under there, its a 1.5 sink thing and the dishwasher and washing machine drain into the same space, its like one of those screensavers with pipes all over the place :rotfl:

I just have a little "bottle brush", maybe a centimetre wide but very long, and kept swooshing down the plughole. There was some hair :o:o and some coffee grounds and together they were creating the problem. All done now

Sorry to hear about the doctor's appointment problems - it's a winter thing, I'm sure, and those "hang on the redial button" moments are horrible, aren't they.

[Deleted User]

Karmacat wrote: »

Actually, I *did* find it riveting :rotfl: my kitchen sink has been doing the same thing, but I only let it stand for about 5 minutes before I took action I didn't unscrew anything though, it's a maze under there, its a 1.5 sink thing and the dishwasher and washing machine drain into the same space, its like one of those screensavers with pipes all over the place :rotfl:

I just have a little "bottle brush", maybe a centimetre wide but very long, and kept swooshing down the plughole. There was some hair :o:o and some coffee grounds and together they were creating the problem. All done now

Sorry to hear about the doctor's appointment problems - it's a winter thing, I'm sure, and those "hang on the redial button" moments are horrible, aren't they.

Glad to hear my sink problems struck a chord with someone and also glad that you sorted out your problem so quickly and efficiently:T


I forgot to mention that I'd poked and prodded down the plug hole before I resorted to unscrewing the pipe. I didn't have anything really suitable for the job. It would have been better to have something more flexible but I had to resort to a knitting needle. No use whatsoever:(. Note to self: buy a long, thin bottle-type brush as well as the plunger;)


I think I may have twigged what it was blocking the pipes and if it was what I think it was then it's totally my own fault:o. In very hot weather I occasionally put the plug in the sink (and it's a nice big sink and ideal for the job). fill it with water and stand all my house plants and some more tender potted small outdoor ones in the sink and leave them for ages to soak up water from below. There's bound to be a certain amount of compost dropping through the holes in the pots, even with pebbles over them, and being washed down the plug hole:eek:. Some of the compost is quite coarse textured. If there is any other debris already down the pipe it would eventually cause that horrible black mud that I discovered when the sink finally refused to drain at all. I'm surprised it hadn't already flushed through though as I hadn't watered any plants that way since about September and the sink had been draining fine until a week or so ago when it was a bit slower.