Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Some little wins so far today.  The courier came and collected a box of books for Music Magpie, so that's me almost £30 up.  I hate giving away books, but I really wasn't going to look at these ones again.  So I said goodbye to them and their memories. I'm slowly, slowly trying to get rid of some stuff.  I'll never be a minimalist, but small clear out here and there do make life a bit easier.

I've also been getting seriously frustrated with how cold my spare room/office is.  The heating can be on for hours and barely make a dent, and I'm now in there 4 days a week.  So I googled how to insulate old houses, and have now stuck rags up the chimney I never use and called my estate agent about re-caulking the windows in there.  On inspection the caulking on the front door and living room window could also be redone, as could the weatherproof stripping round the front door which has broken at the bottom.  Hopefully the owner will pay to get that sorted, but if they don't it really doesn't look expensive so I will pay for it myself.  All the weatherproof stripping in the house is a bit dated actually, and just a D shape rather than P or E, which I presume would help with sealing the windows and doors off - they can let in draughts so the evidence would suggest so. I doubt the owners will do much about that though if its all still in one piece.

I googled coal yesterday, and discovered if I order online I could get half a ton for £35 cheaper than I'm paying currently.  I'm just not sure where I would put 25 big bags of coal!! Ah well, that's a thought for next winter, but if I am going to keep using my fire as my special luxury then I should be doing it as cheaply as possible.

Homemade bread with homemade marmalade for lunch today.  I'm really craving sweet things right now.  I'm not buying junk any more, but also (because I don't have chocolate or dried fruit in at the moment) I've not been baking either.  I think I'll make a lemon drizzle cake tonight as I have the ingredients in for that, and with some cocoa that should satisfy the cravings.

I am so sleepy constantly right now.  I think its a side effect of my meds.  Some weeks are better than others, but this week I am seriously contemplating speaking to my doctor about changing them as this is ridiculous.  I haven't up till now as they have been working very well otherwise, but all I want to do this week is nap and napping never helps. I'm sleeping for 9 hours at least, and could easily sleep more.  Sleep routines aren't helping, day light exposure isn't helping.  I'm going to have to deal with it somehow.  This is positively debilitating.

Elisheba

Money saving fail! Went downstairs this morning and discovered I'd left the oven on at gas mark 7 all night 🙄. What an utter waste of natural resources and money. I presume it was because I was in such a sleepy brain fog yesterday. Even making dinner was a bit of a slog. So far I'm fine today but I did sleep for 10 1/2 hours, and the sleepiness can come back at any time 😢. 

Elisheba

Hi all,
I'm finally starting to feel more human.  I think its no coincidence I haven't taken either of the meds that can cause sleepiness  .  Sadly one of the meds I can't just stop, and the other deals with a side effect of the other medication.  Honestly, what a mess.  I will have to make a doctors appointment and see what can be done.

I saw today on the Checkout Smart app that there were some full cashback offers for a couple of little breakfast things from W@itrose (NB. This app claims 5% of your cashback so it won't be entirely free products even if it is a 100% cashback offer).  Now, I know I am all about consuming less, and I wouldn't normally buy tiny pots of basically muesli as they are terrible value.  However, I wanted to get out, I will eat them, I'll use the tubs on the allotment, and I could then claim the free coffee and make a little outing of it. So that's what I did, and thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the coffee bench scanning my products and receipt, then reading the free paper that I will use as kindling on my fire at a later date, and generally looking rather weird I imagine!  And almost free breakfast tomorrow!  

I resisted all the yellow sticker deals. 25p off something pricey I likely wouldn't buy anyway still isn't good value.  If its not at least 50% off I won't even consider it!  Even then, you can often get the value brands cheaper and they are just fine.  I'm not a yellow sticker convert to be honest.

Then walking back along the high street I almost bought 5 DVDs for £1 in a charity shop.  Certainly this wouldn't have broken the bank, and maybe one day I will, but I have loads of DVDs to watch already so I need to watch them first before I get new ones.  I just didn't need them, and even as a 'want' I didn't need them.  Then I resisted stocking up on cheap Aldi pizzas for lazy days because I know I can make some dough in the breadmaker today and then I will have more bases in the freezer ready to use for no money rather than a few pounds.  So total spend today with probably end up a few pence, or maybe not with all the receipt apps cashback which is hard to quantify, but hard work to not spend much.  This extreme frugal living can be hard. Spending can be so much fun... at the time!  Just got to keep thinking bigger picture - for every penny I don't spend that's one I can put toward the debt, and then a house deposit and then a cottage in the country and the dog, the hens, a couple of goats and some alpacas.

In other news, I am enjoying the Frugalwoods blog and can recommend it.  I caught up with Doctor Who and it's looking like a half decent plot arc for the series.  Free Spotify is keeping me entertained working from home, but I need to find some evening activities as its too long without human company. I think my friends are a bit concerned, although I'm fine at the moment and I do do one social group every fortnight and there is another one or two I can do at weekends, although weekends aren't really an issue and I very often arrange to catch up with friends then.  

Happy_Monday

Just delurking to say it sounds like you are doing a great job tackling your debts, it’s not easy and staying motivated can be hard.  Your bigger picture sounds fab, I’d love a cottage in the country, a few hens and a couple of dogs......preferably in a nice warm country!

I’m looking for some new hobbies, I like walking so was thinking I might join the ramblers, or find another local walking group. I was watching the Coast to Coast programme last night, and that’s on my bucket list.
Hope you get your meds sorted out too

Ive not heard of the frugalwoods blog, I’ll have to have a look for it.
Good luck and keeping plugging away x

Elisheba

Happy_Monday said:

Just delurking to say it sounds like you are doing a great job tackling your debts, it’s not easy and staying motivated can be hard.  Your bigger picture sounds fab, I’d love a cottage in the country, a few hens and a couple of dogs......preferably in a nice warm country!

I’m looking for some new hobbies, I like walking so was thinking I might join the ramblers, or find another local walking group. I was watching the Coast to Coast programme last night, and that’s on my bucket list.
Hope you get your meds sorted out too

Ive not heard of the frugalwoods blog, I’ll have to have a look for it.
Good luck and keeping plugging away x

Thanks, Happy Monday.  I'm actually considering one of the coldest places in the UK, but hey, property is cheap and I'll really appreciate the log burner .  Optimistically its still about 4 years away though, maybe even 5  . Stupid debt, silly me for getting the stupid debt!

I've thought about walking and Ramblers etc before, but again its a weekend activity which I find hard to commit to.   I'm also probably more of a fair weather walker - not hugely keen on going out in gales and treading through claggy mud in winter up to my ankles.

Frugalwoods is defo worth a  look.  She's written a book, but as someone on here told me there is a blog and it is free so more MS!  She's a very sensible woman I think, and no over-hyped hyperbole about how to do things and claiming impossible results.

Happy_Monday

To be fair, I’m more of a fair weather walker too, so I’m just scoping out walking gear (via the charity shops obvs!!) so probably won’t start til spring. I’ve been watching a new life in Greece, and that really appeals to me, I’m not a massive fan on the cold! I’m a bit older than you, but would love to retire when I’m 55, or at least work part time and have a bit more of a work life balance! 

Just found the blog now so will take a look. All of my spare money is going into my retirement pot. So I’m a bit like you, thinking do I really need it, or is it a want.....and if I don’t buy it I can put in towards my retirement. Some of my friends think I’m crazy living so frugally, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Elisheba

Another update today.  One of the receipt apps I downloaded was ZipZero.  I had £1.45 on there but it asked for a sort code and account number for a biller, and I couldn't find one anywhere on any bill!  So I finally called my broadband provider and got theirs, so now I should have £1.45 off next months bill.   Can't complain about free money! at least i thik I will - do DD's reduce if there is extra credit on the account?
PS.  Someone asked before - ZipZero is the only receipt app I have found that will take my GWR rail ticket receipts, but at a round up to 1% cashback onto bills its always something :-). Shoppix did once but rejected them after that.

Elisheba

Happy_Monday said:

 All of my spare money is going into my retirement pot. So I’m a bit like you, thinking do I really need it, or is it a want.....and if I don’t buy it I can put in towards my retirement. Some of my friends think I’m crazy living so frugally, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

To be fair, I think there is a lot to be said for frugal living as an end in itself.  So much of what we think we need is what we have been told we need by the commercially orientated world trying  to get us to spend money.  It not only won't make us happy but it will detract from the things that can make up happy - like appreciating the tasks we are doing in the moment, and taking care of each other and spending time with loved ones.  Those sort of things.

Happy_Monday

Elisheba said:

Happy_Monday said:

 All of my spare money is going into my retirement pot. So I’m a bit like you, thinking do I really need it, or is it a want.....and if I don’t buy it I can put in towards my retirement. Some of my friends think I’m crazy living so frugally, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

To be fair, I think there is a lot to be said for frugal living as an end in itself.  So much of what we think we need is what we have been told we need by the commercially orientated world trying  to get us to spend money.  It not only won't make us happy but it will detract from the things that can make up happy - like appreciating the tasks we are doing in the moment, and taking care of each other and spending time with loved ones.  Those sort of things.

Completely agree with this 👍

missymoo81

Still loving reading your diary. I do need to look at what I can pare down. I struggle with food spends a lot though, I seem to be hungry all of the time! Keep up the amazing work!