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

missymoo81

How’s your day Elisheba? I look forward to your updates!

Elisheba

Evening all. 

Thanks, @missymoo81. Not hugely exciting I'm afraid! 

When cleaning out the cupboard under the stairs, I found a bag with the wooden feet for old sofas that my ex and I never used. They have been lovely and warm, burning in the fire this evening 😁, so a bit of a frugal and thrifty saving there.

I still can't call the figures for February as not all the payments are showing. It's quite ridiculous that direct debits don't show instantly - I'm quite sure they have the money! Anyway, by the end of the week everything should show and I can see how much I've reduced that nasty old debt!

Nowhere near 10000 steps today as I couldn't face a lunchtime walk. I was cold and tired, and while logically I know a walk would help, I couldn't convince the less evolved part of my brain of that fact.

I had leftovers for lunch today, which I'm pretty certain would have gone to waste before frugalista living. I fried some potato's I had forgotten about up with some leftover quorn and pickled peppers, in a couple of wraps with cheese. A bit weird, but nice enough.

Put on some bread in the breadmaker earlier. The electricity use on my smart meter seems quite high, so I'm presuming that's the bread. I should really try making it myself at some point, but I've had breadmaking disasters before and it all seems like such a faff when the breadmaker can do it for me. It smelled so good when it was ready that I ended up having hot bread and butter with my homemade marmalade around 4pm, and now I'm not hungry for any dinner 😂. 

missymoo81

Elisheba, I made bread rolls this evening. Really easy, I barely even kneaded (is that a word?) it. And I only needed to Cook them for 20 minutes. Let me know if you want the recipe as I sort of made it up.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Wow Missimoo81 I am impressed by your food budgeting. Needs must and all that. I was interested in your bread roll recipe, would you post it as I'd like to give it a try.

Elisheba

Cheers @missymoo81 I'd love it! My bread rolls end up pretty heavy. 

Elisheba

My made up breadmaker white loaf recipe if it helps anyone:

450g white bread flour 
350ml warm water
2 tsp breadmaker yeast 
2 tsp caster sugar 
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil 

I always let the yeast, sugar and water have a few minutes to bubble, even although technically you don't have to with activated yeast. Then chuck every thing else in and put it on a light colour setting.

It ends up nicely risen with a slightly cracked top, and is easy to slice. 

Elisheba

Hello all and happy halfway through the week!

I'm rather chuffed today.  Just looked at my bank statement and my overdraft charges this month are going to be £15, which is £21 less than last month, and about £25 less than some other months.  This is purely down to changing the dates of my direct debits, and a little bit of bouncing cash between my personal account and the joint account to keep overdraft charges at the lowest possible amount for the total cash available.  I also found where my statements are on my phone app, so what I am being charged isn't a complete surprise to me!

Annoyingly, it's a trick that is only going to work until 25th of this month when the new overdraft charging system come in.    After that, it will be each account for itself with charges being based on actual amount overdrawn,  rather than whether your overdraft falls into a certain amount category.  Hopefully the new system will work to my advantage as I start paying down the OD, although even at 35% interest it isn't my most expensive debt.  At around 80% APR that would be my catalogue!  I had no idea until I started this money saving journey that that was what my catalogue was charging me! Unbelievable!

I read today that the system that I am using, where I pay off the most expensive debt first, is known as the avalanche method, and costs less in the end than the snowballing method of quick wins first.  I has read about snowballing before and thought it sounded a bit expensive, with the high interest payments still racking up the debt, so that makes sense to me.  I don't need quick wins, because I can see on my spreadsheet exactly what is going on so I get my psychological satisfaction from that. 

I am still waiting for my £5.65 moneyback from Checkout Smart.  They say 10 working days and I can't remember when I requested it, but it must be close to that.  Must remember to keep an eye out for it.  At some point, probably in the Spring or Summer I am also expecting £25 in Amazon vouchers for changing energy suppliers, and £50 in Amazon vouchers for changing broadband providers.  I have been keeping a list of things that it would be useful to have, but that I don't 'need' - like some navy washing machine dye for old towels, or a jam thermometer for soap making, and will use the vouchers for that. 

I also really need some gardening tools immediately for the allotment, and can't see any second hand ones for sale at the moment, which would be my preference in terms of keeping my consumption low.  I might just have to splash out for new ones.  Its so annoying as I used to have loads but gave them away when I downsized after the divorce. I've asked everyone though, and no-one seems to have any spare right now, and its the wrong time of year for car boot sales. I've got hand tools, and a spade, and a friend has given me a hoe, so its really just a fork and a rake I need.  I'm cutting the bottoms off milk cartons for seed trays, and keeping the tops for cloches, but I may need to buy some more bits and I will need compost and seeds soon.

After much to-ing and fro-ing in my head, I think I have decided against spending £29 on my niece's school photos.  It's not a need, it's a want, and when one is £20k in the red and also wants to run away to the countryside asap, less important wants have to lump it.  I can take some lovely pictures of them when I see them and get them printed and framed for a fraction of the price. 

In the same vein, I think I have also decided upon a basic camping holiday up in Scotland this summer rather than anything fancier.  I do want to get away and I think it is worth spending some money, just not too much.  I already have camping gear (although I have never put the tent up myself - eek!), and I want to explore the southwest of Scotland having never spent much time there before.  I can run up and see my family who are just north of Glasgow as well for a day or two - or they could make an effort and get a train down to me! Now, I just have to hope it is a hot summer. If not, I'm sure I can spend a lot of time in tea shops, but I'd rather spend my time in the sea, or reading and picnicking on a beach, or exploring - and camping in general is just so much nicer when the weather plays ball.

Bizzywizard

Have you considered switching bank accounts.
I had an overdraft last year with HSBC and could not get out of it, with the charges. So I switched bank accounts to Nationwide Flex direct, it offered me an interest free overdraft of £2k for the one year . I have just cleared my overdraft with 4 months to go before my deal ends this June, it might be good for you. Sorry my question mark and one letter does not work on my comuter!
My husband already had a nationwide account, so did a friend offer and we both got £100 too. Do you know someone that could do this too. They set u a link, you click the link and its very easy...I like FREE money off banks.

Elisheba

Thanks, @Bizzywizard.  With an overdraft which is about £1780 at its maximum once a month, I didn't think there would be any banks who would have me! I was going to wait till I have paid it off, then shop around a bit for deals.  I'll keep an eye out for any that offer free overdrafts though as I would absolutely consider switching if it saved me money.

Bizzywizard

When I did my switch to Nationwide I was about £1,850 overdrawn, so requested £2,000 overdraft and got it. It has saved me hundreds. Then all my ebay money went to the overdraft, its now clear.
See which of your friends have a Nationwide account, so they get £100 and so do you. Glad to be of assistance, good luck with your journey.