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

Elisheba

Thank you, @Cheery_Daff that is really helpful. Armed with that bit of guidance from you I was able to dig into the postage options where I live -i didn't know what to look for before. The main thing I noticed is that although most of them have drop off points near me, not all of them provide the labels and without a printer that's much more of a faff for me. It would involve going to the library to print one off on some of the rather random hours it is open, then going to the drop off point. Not sure it's worth it, but I don't need to decide now. And there is one option that will print the labels, not including the post office.

Elisheba

Morning, frugal warriors,

I woke ridiculously early this morning so I'm just having a coffee in bed before I start doing things. No doubt silly dog will wake soon wanting attention.

Yesterday turned out very spendy in the end. I ordered the pinafore from Vinted I had already mentioned, then later after price checking the original online I ordered the Dunelm duvet cover I liked on Vinted as well. Then, when I was looking at one of the prints I had put on the wall I realised it was too small for the space and needed another print up there as well.

I had seen the perfect one a few days before so I ordered that, and when I was ordering the frame for it I saw a deal on 3 frames that size, and I have another two prints I got from the National Gallery years ago which needed frames so I bought the 3 frames. So, yes, very spendy!

It's one of those things though, if you want a nice space to live in you do need to spend a bit of money on it. I buy all my furniture second hand, and I don't buy expensive cushions, ornaments or throws (mainly because silly dog would ruin them), so a few pictures and frames isn't the end of the world. Having to buy lots of frames at once, like I have this week, is a bit of a sour pill, but is mainly because a) for all the debt my ex and I got in we never spent anything on our home, it was all going out and holidays, so I have very little in that category, and b) a few of the pictures I did already have got broken in the house move. 

So yes, it feels very extravagant, but I am investing in my life and my home and my wellbeing with a few little touches like pictures. I'm not borrowing to pay for them, although obviously that money isn't going into debt reduction or savings either. I have no excuse for the duvet set though - I already have 4 duvet sets, and I try to keep the amount of bedding I have minimal, but it was just so pretty 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

Other sending yesterday included the £5 entry fee for quiz I was at and £1 for the raffle. I won a box of chocolates on the raffle though, so I can't complain ☺️.

Right, silly dog has just woken and is wooing away to himself so I had better get up and see to him. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone 😁.

WinterWarrior

There’s nothing wrong with pretty! Sometimes a little treat is what’s needed to keep you on your path and vinted is much cheaper than dunelm proper! 

SuzeQStan

WinterWarrior said:

There’s nothing wrong with pretty! Sometimes a little treat is what’s needed to keep you on your path and vinted is much cheaper than dunelm proper! 

Definitely agree ☝🏻 have a wonderful weekend Elisheba x

Elisheba

Morning, all,

Looks like it is going to be a scorcher today!  I am trying to remember where I put my little space heater/fans when I moved, but have no idea!  Could be in the garage which will make them a proper mission to find in amongst all the boxes.  I bought silly dog a cool mat in a charity shop months ago and got it out for him yesterday, but so far he has shown no interest in it.  If he doesn't use it I am going to use it for sleeping on!

Small spend of £3 odd today on a cover for the rotary washing line.  It looks so ugly in the garden I thought I would treat myself - and you never know, it might stop the washing line perishing.  

I'm very annoyed with myself as the 3 x A3 picture frames I ordered last week were the wrong size - well 2 of them were. I just looked at the prints and thought they were A3, but it turns out they weren't.   The third frame is the right size for the print I have for it.  I suppose I'll sell the remaining 2 on FB Marketplace at some point as I have no other use for them.  

I am in the lovely position of having no evening activities for the next 2 days, and I'm not in the office this Friday either which is nice.  Or the Friday the week after actually, as I have booked the day off as I intend to stay up until the wee sma's watching the election results.

This week I have been mainly trying to think my way around whether I want to sell my car and buy a cheap runaround and a motorhome instead.  There are pros and cons, but I think what I have settled on is revisiting the idea next year when all but the car debt are gone.  In the meantime I am going to try and get away on more camping trips and see how I get on with that.  At the moment a motorhome isn't necessary, and as always there is yet another restructure at work which should get to my level sometime next year. So with a lot of potential changes in circumstances I think its best to wait and see how things look in a while. 

I have a big day out for a friend's birthday this Saturday and I'm staying over night with her, so silly dog is going on holiday to the kennels and I'm picking him up on Sunday evening. The expense of the day is something I budgeted for in my annual pots so should be able to enjoy myself without counting the pennies. I found pretty Jo£ Br0wn dress in my wardrobe I've barely worn as the underlining always rode up with the cotton shorts I wore under.  Now with the Sn@g chub rub shorts it doesn't happen so its like having a new dress I can wear!

Saying that about the Sn@g chub rub shorts they have frayed a bit at the gusset after only being worn once, so I have emailed the company as that can't be right.  Hopefully they will replace them!

Right, its almost 11am when I can eat so I'm off to make some porridge with fruit and honey.  So far according to the scales I have lost about 5kg but I don't think that can be right in less than a week.  Must just be fluid and my period.  Hopefully from now on it will even out on a downwards slope.  My aim is to get to a size 14, which will hopefully help with the nerve pain I get in my leg and give me greater choice in the charity shops!

Have a great day folks, and be careful not to melt!

Cheery_Daff

They definitely shouldn't be fraying after one wear! I'm wearing mine today - no signs of damage after a year or two 😊

Elisheba

Evening, frugal friends,

I'm glad to hear they should last, Cheery. I haven't ordered them before and was a bit worried they would only last one or two washes when that happened.  Sn@g have gotten back to me asking for some details so hopefully I'll hear more tomorrow.

I ventured to my garage at lunchtime and found one of my little heater/fans so that cooled me down for the afternoon. I felt it was too hot to take silly dog a walk today, so at lunchtime I weeded the back patio with my free time. Its looking much nicer now, and silly dog has barely moved this evening so clearly the heat is getting to him and not going a walk was the right call.

My V!nted pinafore arrived today. It fits fine but I'm not sure how flattering it is. It's more of a Spring/Autumn dress so I'll see what I think when it's cooler. I can always sell it on if I don't like it. I was also naughty and ordered a winter cable jumper. 

Brunch today was porridge with fruit and honey. Later I had a banana, 2 satsumas and 2 little Twix sticks for mid afternoon snacks. Then for dinner I raided the last bits in the fridge and made wraps with Quorn chicken, a red pepper, feta and cheddar, with some fajita seasoning. Not the best combo in world but edible.

I did an online Tesco shop with a delivery date for next week a few days ago, but as I was out of fresh food and very low on dog food I changed the date to tomorrow evening instead. A few little treats in there - some strawberries, some choc ices,  and T£sco have started selling veggie jelly sachets so I order 5 🤣. It has been a long time since I was able to make jelly at home - and of course I had to buy some tinned fruit to add to it, so that got ordered as well.

Tomorrow is supposed to be much cooler which will be a relief. I need to deadhead the irises in my front garden, put on a washing, and do some hoovering. No evening activities so I shall probably watch more Sister Boniface on UKTV. I do like a nice, easy murder mystery.

I'm currently attempting to rescue a multi tool thing which has completely seized up with what must be old dried up oil. My friend said surgical spirit might do it, so it's been soaking in some today, and I'll leave it over night. After a few hours I could move a few of the tools so it is obviously doing something. I also got a couple of prints up in the living room today, so it's starting to look really cosy ☺️.

Okay doke, the ten o'clock bells have rung so that's my bed time. Let's hope for a cooler night than last night!

KajiKita

Hi @Elisheba 😊
Finally read all of your diary 😊 Really enjoying how you creative you are with food and spending resistance 😊 I hope Silly Dog appreciates how lucky he is to have you as his owner 😊❤️ Black cat reminds me of my two with their random vomiting! 🙄😂
I am obviously in a different time frame to you, so just wanted to say how relieved I was when I read that you have found a new and so lovely home so quickly when you got you notice to quit. Sounds like you are creating a real community around you. Something I should learn from 😊

KK

Makingabobor2

how are you @Elisheba ?  Not heard anything from you for a while. Hope all is well and its just real life stopping you from having time to post. x

Elisheba

Good afternoon, frugal fighters!

Blimey, @KajiKita that is a lot of diary and me waffling on for you to have gotten through!!!! Food and spending resistance is very much something I need to get back onto at the moment tbh. Been a bit spendy of late.

Thanks for thinking of me @Makingabobor2. I have just gotten out of the habit of posting on here, but I know its really good for holding me accountable and making me think before I buy things, not to mention all the support and good advice on here. So I am back again, and going to try to keep my diary updated more regularly.

I can't believe that's almost the summer over!  I have just totted up all my August spending as its nearly payday, and that gave me the impetus to get back onto here and update my diary. I had a wedding this month that actually came in under budget, so that was nice. Other than that though, as I mentioned above, it was as spendy month.  

I spent quite a bit on clothes, mainly on Vinted so I got a fair bit for my money. But I needed a new raincoat, and even with 30% off that was expensive.  I also got a pair of F@tf@ce dungarees which were half price in the sale (and cheaper than the pair on sale on Vinted!), and a pair of smart sandals (some money off them as well), so it all added up.  Technically its coming from my clothing annual pot, but I've overspent on that pot as well as a few other ones, so it'll all need rejigged at the end of the year.  having looked at the pots I have some ideas on how to move things around a bit, but it will depend on final figures for the year.

I'm hoping to be able to keep my food budget very low for September.  I am trying to be healthy currently (although having a break from it after a week away) which involves intermittent fasting between 7pm and 11am, which in reality means I have 2 meals a day.  intermittent fasting is supposed to be very good for gut health and insulin production. Breakfast/lunch is a homemade muesli mix of oats, nuts, seeds and fruit in live yogurt and some milk, so that means other than some fruit for a 3pm snack all I really need to buy for is dinner. 

I'm also trying to cut down on all UPFs (most shop bread, fake meat, and basically anything with ingredients not found in your kitchen - there is growing evidence showing that people who eat high amounts of UPFs have much worse health outcomes), white carbs (white pasta etc.) and free sugar (added sugar or not naturally occurring) as well, so currently meals are a bit uninventive and are some sort of grain mixed with various veg, and some things to make it taste better.  You'll remember I am vegetarian, and fake meat is ultra processed so that's out.  Its going to take me a while to get some stock meals I can turn to in a pinch without having to do a lot of thinking.  I have bought a lot of basics this past month though, lots of different grains and lentils and things, so shopping for September should basically be fruit and veg, milk, cheese, and yogurt - hopefully not famous last words!

It sounds like a lot at once, but I am not being obsessive about it and it seems to be working for me so far.  I do want to lose some weight for health reasons, but I have also been really shocked reading about the effects of sugar and processed carbs on insulin production, inflammation and gut health.  I am getting to that age where I think it a good idea to start taking my health seriously, and it looks to me like the science and data on going low sugar rather than low fat is a much better choice in general. We'll see how it goes! 

I am currently waiting on a full refund for a train ticket to the office a couple of weeks ago.  It was a truly terrible journey, and the delays with my connection became so great I just went home in the end.  So hopefully GWR will get that sorted quickly. Looks like it will be an office day this Friday as well, and the the next couple of Fridays I need to drive there as I have a couple of site visits to do.  

My plans tonight will depend on the weather. Silly dog needs a walk, but I am currently sans raincoat so it will depend on if it ever stops raining.  If it does we will go out, if it doesn't then its a night in for the both of us.  Dinner is going to be veg soup I made yesterday with lots of veg that needed using up, and a cheese board with oatcakes (fermented foods are our friends apparently).

I have some books I want to start, or I might be very lazy and put on some TV and zone out - I am currently slowly rewatching all the House episodes. I put out some washing to dry yesterday when the forecast predicted once short rain shower, and it has rained steadily since so there is no chance anything will be dry and need bringing in, so that's a job that can wait another day! Then an early night, and hopefully up bright and early tomorrow.

I am not really in the mood for doing any sort of complicated things where I need to think, but I probably do need to make a meal plan for the rest of the week based on what I have in.  That means I'll need to go through the freezer to see what frozen veg I have.  Hopefully I will have done that by tomorrow when I update this diary again!

I hope everyone is well, and I'll make an effort this week to go through diaries and the boards and catch up on everything!