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

KajiKita

Adding to the deodorant chat ….
I’ve switched to s@lt of the earth deodorant stick. It is literally just salt. I was amazed both by how well it works and how long it lasts. I’m still on my first stick after 8 (?) months. You apply it to damp armpits after a shower so I had to change my routine a little to have it in the bathroom to apply it after my shower at night rather than in the bedroom in the morning and sometimes I (still! 🙄😳) forget, but other than that it’s been really easy. It’s completely unscented too. I get mine from H&B. 

KK

themadvix

We use Wild (also bicarb-based, sorry Elisheba), and they are very similar to Fussy, but can be bought in B00ts, Sains and from 0cado (with good offers on) as well as online. Have also noticed less gunky armpits on clothes and once our bodies worked the nasty old chemicals out, we’ve also not had any instances of it ‘failing’ - ie ending up smelling despite it being less strong than anti-perspirant (sorry, potentially tmi, but useful to know I think as in my experience there’s a perception that some people are very sweaty and need strong anti-perspirant because this happens and I think this is actually an issue caused by the anti-perspirants - I know my sister was dubious, but actually is thrilled with how they work). I wouldn’t go back - both from a performance point of view, but like foxgloves, mostly from a plastic point of view.

Elisheba

Morning, all,

Sorry for the delay in writing - I seem to have been a bit busy!  I decided to go for a Wild deodorant in the end as they do a sensitive range that is bicarb free.  I paid a couple of pounds extra for a pretty tube with bees on it and it arrived yesterday, so fingers crossed I don't react to it. I think it was the cherry blossom scent I got and it smells very nice.

I did an @ldi shop at the weekend and overspent a bit, which is annoying as it means I'll end up going over my £100 budget for food this month and I did so want to stick to it.  A little too much fresh fruit and veg and cheeses, and I'm not sure how I am going to use them up in time.  I'll have to do some batch cooking at some point and freeze things.  The main culprit though was buying loads of seeds and nuts for my brunches.  L!dl and @ldi are cheapest for that sort of thing but when you buy a lot it all adds up.  There are some small savings to be made if I bulk bought a lot online but I just don't have the space for 25kg bags of lots of things. What I bought at the weekend should last me a month or two though so I'll see it if it evens out over time.

I was at a village BBQ on Saturday.  The rain was torrential, but I did have a veggie burger and salad, a hot chocolate, a very nice cookie and a big icecream all for the princely sum of £12.75 which I though was very good value (and I was off the healthy diet for the night as well which was fun).  

I paid a small car garage bill this morning which was £17 odd.  It was something to do with the car tyre pressure and a warning light, and despite me doing the pressure twice it wouldn't go off so I had to send it to the garage.  That was last month but my garage send me an invoice and allow 28 days for payment which is nice.

The fairly high interest saving account I opened last week seems to have gone through okay despite me thinking the online ID checker hadn't worked.  I have had an email about depositing money it it anyway.  I'm definitely going to end up paying more for Blue Rewards this month that I earn from it I think so hopefully this saver account means I'll be making money again from next month. 

I looked at Chase and the other options, but none of them work for me as I currently have a big overdraft facility on my current account, that I need at the end of this year.  Paying off the OD is next on the list after the last of the old credit card debt is paid off.  I normally don't use it and even when I do, all my bills are set for the end of the month, so it is only for a day or two. However, the reason I don't use it is because I have money in the account that is earmarked to pay off a credit card in January when the interest free period ends.  

It was fresh and sunny yesterday so I put a washing on first thing, and got it hung out to dry early so I was able to bring it it at the end of the day and put it away.  hard to believe today when its all wet and cold again.  I am considering whether putting wooly tights on would be overkill at the moment! I think it doesn't help that my hair is still wet - I have curly hair and ideally it should dry naturally to form nice curls rather than frizz, but it takes ages!

Today I need to put some clothes' away, hoover upstairs and downstairs, and then make some cleaning spray up and clean the bathroom.  The plan is to work until 3.30 (I started at 7.20am), then take silly dog a walk, the do the chores from 4.30 - 5.30pm.  Cooking and dinner is 5.30 - 6.30pm, then I have a church thing at 7.30pm tonight, so will read for a bit before I go out for that.

Dinner tonight is salad, cheese and biscuits, and soup.  I might have some cous cous as well if its still edible.  Tomorrow I am going to make either a lentil bolognaise, or a lentil shepherds pie.  Not sure which yet, and that will last a couple of means then I'll freeze the rest.  I don't have to go into the office this Friday - woo hoo!  So I'll defrost some pizza dough and have a Friday night pizza in celebration.  Saturday night I am out for dinner, and Sunday I'll likely do some sort of kidney bean burger/rissole with roasted veg.

Right, time to get on with the day!  I hope you all have a lovely and warm, cosy Tuesday.

Elisheba

Just a quick update to say the whole Blue rewards things was annoying me, so I have ditched it and transferred my balance over to my new Cynergy savings account.  The whole set up won't be nearly as convenient as being able to instantly transfer money as needed from a 5.12% interest account to my current account, but hopefully will be easy enough to manage.  I'll need to remember to check for a new savings account this time next year as well, as the 4.8% only lasts a year then it goes down.  

Makingabobor2

Do you have a zero waste/plastic free type shop near you, where you can get seeds & nuts etc and just buy the small anounts you need, instead of having to buy large packets? I find it works out much better

WinterWarrior

I am a Wild deodorant user too. I was worried about sweating, but have been using it for over a year and can’t recommend it highly enough! 

Cheery_Daff

This is an interesting deodorant discussion, thank you! I've always been concerned about sweating after embarrassing teenage incidents, but in reality these days I don't wear anything much that would show a sweat patch anyway, certainly not for work. I did have a crystal stone thing (or whatever they were called) a while back. No idea what happened to that, ditched during the house move as I wasn't using it perhaps?? Maybe I'll do some more investigating...

Elisheba

Afternoon, money saving maestros,

I'm sure I saw an eco shop recently near me @Makingabobor2 but I can't remember where!  It was closed at the time and I wasn't sure if that was permanent, I do remember that.  I'll keep an eye out anyway, and I'm sure I'll see it again.

So far, so good with the Wild deodorant.  No skin irritation at all  .  It hasn't been exactly warm so I can't comment on sweatiness or lack thereof.

When I was feeling the cold and watching the rain with disgust at the beginning of the week I got a bit spendy.  I ordered some wide calf wellies (30% off I think) from J!llion which have arrived and fit well. I ordered a pair of wellies from a few years ago, and they were much too big and I ended up giving them away.  these one specifically said they were normal for foot and ankle width, and although they aren't really the pretty design I wanted (which they didn't have with normal foot and ankle) I suppose at least they do fit, and I finally have something waterproof for my feet on wet days for dog walks.   

I also bought some fleece lined leggings from L*nds £nd - which had 25% off, but even still I thought were VERY expensive.  I've actually ordered a couple of pairs in 2 different sizes as I wasn't sure which would be the better fit. 

They are due for delivery in about 10 days, and I'll need to pay to return one of the sizes, but I thought better to get them with the discount.  I haven't been able to see any other plus sized fleece lined leggings and I've had my eye out for years now, so on the premise they will save money in the long run, I thought I should go for them when i saw them.  

There were also a pair of thermal long johns reduced from £35 to £11 I ordered in the L*nds £nd sale which arrived today and fit well, and hopefully they will make wearing normal leggings and dungarees warmer in winter.  It more staying warm when I am working from home that is the issue.  I don't want to have to put the heating on during the day if I can help it.  

So that's a good whack of money I'll need to re-allocate from the end of year paying off pot.  Still staying warm and having dry feet aren't exactly luxuries, and I think I got as much money off as I could.  I paid on Amex so I'll get another 0.5% back that way as well.

Juts wanted to update this diary quickly, so I'll write more later.  Hope you are all having good Fridays.

foxgloves

You do need to be well-shod, @Elisheba. We have had 3 pairs of new boots between us over this past week & it has certainly taken a big chunk out of the Clothes Pot, even though we got good offers on two pairs. My thinking on this is that we do need to have comfortable dry feet & to own footwear we can walk in without problems, so although I would like to see our Clothes Pot filled up as soon as possible, I am not going to feel guilty about having replacing some really old boots with some new ones. You do seem to enjoy your countryside walks with SillyDog, so I'm sure decent wellies will be very useful.
F

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi Elisheba,
I've been using Wild deodrant too for about a year and think it's great !
Deni
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