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

Elisheba

KajiKita said:

Great result on the water meter charge update 👏😊
No chance of a refund on what you have spent since moving in as you have now proved your usage?

KK

No chance on my payments prior to the water meter in Jun, sadly.  The over payments I have made since then seem to be subsisting next year's £12 a month payments, as they should rightly be about £18.30 by my calculations.

Elisheba

@foxgloves To be honest, if my ex and I had been a bit more sensible with money I'm sure we could have gotten on the property ladder in our 30s.  Apart from anything else at one point I was given £20k as an inheritance - we spent it on iphones, TVs, nights out, a holiday and debt repayments (which we then racked up again  ).  Still in some ways maybe its for the best.  The divorce would have been a lot more complicated and possibly nastier if there was some actual money involved.  

Elisheba

fionaandphil said:

Is your boiler costing a lot for just hot water? We have ours on all year on constant. In the summer when it's water only we find that we hardly use any oil, thats for family use for showers, washing, dishes etc. We only use a more substantial amount once the heating goes on in winter. We have the heating set for 3 x 1 hour per day and then boost when required or use the fire. Without it our house quickly gets cold and damp. Everyone is different but I definitely couldn't cope without hot water on demand - I'm too soft!

Well done on the house plan - sounds very promising 

I'm not really sure how much oil the boiler uses for hot water.  The shower is electric so I don't need to put it on for that, and it never seems worth while to put it on the the occasional dish (I use the dishwasher for most dishes) or handwash.  I could put it on in the morning for sink washes but its seems a waste for just that when I can boil a kettle.  Only time it really goes on is if I want a bath, and I spread baths out as a nice treat.

With the heating I just use it as and when I am feeling chilly.  I don't bother with the timer. I prefer lighting the wood stove to be honest, but sometimes the heating is just easier.

SuzeQStan

Hey Elisheba - sorry long time no chat 😊 - just thinking about the expensive leccy showers - could you use an old fashioned rubber shower attachment on the bath taps instead so you could have a much cheaper oil heated shower? I know you don’t want to use up the oil but leccy showers are spendy spendy 😉

Elisheba

Bore da, parsimonious peeps,

I have been off this morning to get my Covid vaccination, so that's me now had both covid and flu for the year.  All free with the NHS - can't get any more MSE than not having to penny a penny for good health.

Another chilly morning.  My spare room office is showing as 13.8 degrees, so I have an oodie and the footwarmer on.  I lit a fire last night which was lovely and cosy.  May well be lighting it again this evening if its still cold.  I still have some anthracite left which seems to burn for a really good long while, so I am thinking of getting bags of that rather than wood for the rest of winter.  I'll need to price it up. The local fam store sells it, and I'll need to call the coal merchant to ask as well as it isn't on their website.

Last night I spent some time looking at cars on Autotrader.  I would really like something with a big enough space to sleep in when I am camping, but there is nothing really within my price range.  I am never sure whether to go for newer or less miles - at the price I am looking at you can't have both  . I'll also need to enquire when I am ready to buy whether the dealer would do a part exchange with my car and what they would offer me for it - which would be much easier than selling it myself.  Do they do part exchanges where they end up giving you money?

I also played around with next year's budget.  I can't be exact as yet as I don't know what my net salary will be after my backdated payrise has been awarded.  I'll get the backdated pay at the end of December, but it won't be until I get January's payslip will I know what I'll be taking home each month, as you can never tell the month you get the backdated pay as all the deductions are also backdated. 

Anyway, with a good wind and running a tight ship I think I should be able to save £5k next year which will just about cover the money I'll be spending to pay off the old debts and take me back to having a 5% deposit.  Then after that it will be about saving money for house moving costs. The question will be whether I can make any more savings in my budget on top of that - how far can I stretch things?????? @foxgloves raised a good point in that whatever is left on my bank loan will likely be reduced from the amount I'll be able to borrow, so it may end up a waiting game as I save more money to cover that shortfall.  I suppose it depends on what houses are available and for what price at the time, and what my broker says when I get one.  It really is a shame I am not ready to buy now because there is a perfect little mid terrace for sale fairly near by, in walk in condition.  Oh well, other houses will appear in in due course.

Right, I am off to do some work.  Stay warm, everyone!

fionaandphil

Just realised you have an electric shower so my question about oil probably didn't make any sense.  We have our shower running off the boiler and it costs peanuts to use.  DS uses the one in the main bathroom which is electric and it makes my eyes water every time he switches it on - don't want to stop teenagers showering but do they have to do it for so long!

Elisheba

Afternoon, thrifty friends,

No idea how it got to the afternoon already!  The day is disappearing!  

I have been a bit spendy this last week I am afraid. I bought an axe and a handsaw for some wood I have lying out in the wood store that was there when I moved in.  But after having a go with the handsaw I don't know if I will end up using it, as I don't have a vice to hold the big branches of wood needing cut, and the handsaw gets nowhere fast even if I did. Its not enough wood to warrant buying a small chainsaw, so I am at a bit of standstill there. Maybe at some point I'll find the motivation to spend all day sawing bits. 

Then I ordered a Christmas jumper and a dress at the weekend (not the very cool expensive Xmas jumper I was eying up last week, a more vintage, green woodland style one which was half price, and the dress was more than half price).  Then today I went onto the very cheap Chinese company website and bought a couple of jumpers and some socks. Which was both not very ethical and spendy!  Oh, and I bought a Kindle daily deal book today as well.

So - no more unplanned spending!   I have a house buying plan now - that's what the money is for, not short term treats. I must behave myself and tie up my purse strings!

In regards to the electric shower comments, @SuzeQStan and @fionaandphil, it hadn't occurred to me that my electric shower would be more expensive than one that ran off the oil.  Still, it is what I have and there is no easy way to run a shower off the bath instead, so I'll just need to live with it.  My showers are quite short, and my electric is between £11 and 13 a week so its not breaking the bank currently.  

No evening activities tonight so I'll be reading my book.  I posted all the Xmas cards that needed posting yesterday, and will walk round my village when I am finished here, posting the village ones.  Then I need to take silly dog a walk, and will be working late to make up for all the time I used up post and walking.

I might make some lentil soup for dinner tonight.  I have been eating too many Xmas biscuits and cakes and need something healthy.

Other than that not much to report on the MSE front.  All spending has been on Amex so I'll get a bit of cash back there, and it gets paid off in full every month.  I had the heating on on Friday and Saturday and got the washing dry on the racks at the same time. I lit the stove on Sunday though, and relaxed a bit with a book in front of it.  Its pretty mild now though so haven't had the heating on or the stove lit since.  

Take care everyone, and don't get stressed about Christmas.  Oh, that's what I meant to say.  I spoke to a family member, who admittedly has always been bad with money and doesn't have a big income being on benefits and PIP, and they said one of their bills had bounced because they had spend money on Christmas and takeaways this month.  I had to bite my tongue so hard not to say anything.  Its just completely the wrong way around isn't it, and who knows what sort of mess other people are getting into this Xmas.  It makes me so sad.  Anyway, take care all.

Makingabobor2

It is sad that your relative still thinks they should "do" Christmas, even when they have no money.  I know we have all done it in the past, using CCds etc, but once you have your LBM, you realise how stupid it was.  Also I think the older I get, the more I hate Christmas and see it for what it really is......a great big commercialised event that has nothing whatsoever to do with the origins of the real Christmas.  I think we should have Thanksgiving in the UK, and just be thankful for our friends and families.  Spending money and eating too much, is stupid, and drinking too much is even sillier.  

SuzeQStan

Agree with you both so much re Christmas it puts so much pressure on people

- I had a woman completely bite my head off in the queue at grocery store this week - she thought I should have let her in front of me and was quite shouty (I hadn’t seen her I always let folk in front of me if I’ve got a big cart and they have less than me) 

anyway I took a big breath and bit my tongue when I saw her cart with diapers and laundry powder and her kids (there wasn’t a pick on any of them) and smiled and apologised and said please go ahead I didn’t see you! She said ‘quite right too!! (🤣) no good deed goes unpunished but the person on the cash register did say to me she was ‘not a nice person’ will leave the exact words to your imagination LOL

Elisheba

I normally quite enjoy Christmas, especially as I do go to church and what not, so am fairly in touch with meaningful side of it. There have been times in the past though, especially when my depression was at its worst, when I didn't enjoy any of it and every task felt like a horrendous chore. And other years when I spent far too much I didn't have.

These days I suppose it's all very well for me to raise my eyebrow at folk spending too much on the never never, but I don't have kids and all the pressure and expectations they bring and I have still made the same mistakes.

@SuzeQStan Well done on being the bigger person. What a rude woman. Letting someone go ahead of you if they don't have very much might be polite but it's by no means a given, and acting as though it is and being rude with it is a sure fire way to get told to take a running jump 🤣.

I forgot to say earlier, on the spending front, I also ordered a bottle of Frangelico, and an LED candle bridge as my old candle bridge stopped working. It may well just need a fuse, but it's over 20 year old and runs off the mains with old non energy saving bulbs, so I thought it would be cheaper in the long run just to get a battery powered one with LED bulbs. But that is all the spending fessed up to now 🤣.

Village Christmas cards have been delivered, silly dog walked, and work done. Just sitting down to enjoy a little glass of the Frangelico mixed with Baileys before I do anything else. Unfortunately silly dog seems very keen on trying said drink, so I'm having to keep it in my hand which means I'm drinking it rather quicker than I normally would 😂.