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

Elisheba

Not too much to say at the moment. Since I recommited to this after my last pay day and had frittered away quite a bit by that point, I'm just trying the rein things in this month and then have a lovely fresh start next month.

I managed to get lots of clothes in charity shops for my nieces birthday last weekend at £10 less than I'd budgeted. I still need to post them, but it should still come in under budget so that's nice.

I've discovered a crystal thing that's a deodorant and seems to work fine for me and have no adverse reactions, so I'll never need to buy another deodorant. Say I would normally buy 6 a year at £1 each, and hopefully I have another 40 years ahead of me - that £240 lifetime saving (minus the £5 it cost me) and 240 less pieces of plastic getting chucked away. I've tried baking my own and buying plastic free but the bicarb in both really irritated my skin.

I've got a friend coming over this weekend for 4 days. I'll try to cut corners where I can, but I don't see that the weekend will be cheap no matter what I do. I'm still not 100% what I'm going to do with her yet - I should probably decide that! 

Elisheba

Well, I'm now properly started in the new month and I can start reviewing my moneysaving ways.

Last night I did the most MSE thing I have ever done I think.  I had gone to L*dl and bought about £40 worth of shopping and as I left I remembered I had a £5 off voucher on the app that I hadn't used.    So I asked staff what I should do, and at first they said contact customer services.  I asked if they couldn't just refund it and put it through again, and they said they could but it would have to be done individually. So I said, okay I'll call customer services because I don't want to put you to that bother.

So I left the shop, filled the car, and looked up customer services online, and in the FAQ it clearly said if you hadn't scanned the app at the counter there was nothing they could do.  So I sat there and thought, if I go home I am going to regret this.  So I packed up my trolley again, went back in store and got them to refund every item individually (they couldn't just refund the whole receipt) and then rescan them all so I could get my £5 voucher off! 

They were very good about it I have to say, and on top of that the scanner was playing up, and in sorting it out they seem to have missed an item (which they were aware of but couldn't be bothered doing anything about, so I think I got my organic eggs free as well ).

Its not a money-saving practice I would recommend as it took absolutely ages and I felt quite awkward, so in future I'll just try and remember to scan my app!

Elisheba

I need to do my finances and see where the debt repayment got to last month . I can update my signature then as well.

On the plus side so far this month I made a meal plan and did the shopping based on that, and minus milk and bread and fresh fruit etc for the month its has come in at around £60.  So hopefully won;t be more than £80 for the month and thast including a little junk food blip I had at the start on the month.

I had a bit of a mood blip last week and did buy some junk food, and some cigs and wine, but managed to pull it back quickly so shouldn't have blown the budget that badly.  As always loads of things look like they will be over budget or I had forgotten to budget for, but I'm keeping track of them so I know where i am and I'm cutting back and under budget on a few things as well.

I did go a bit mad and have spent about £50 on things like bicarb, vinegar, liquid soap and borax substitute.  I'm going to start to make all my own cleaning products for my home and it seemed more economical and good for the planet to bulk buy ingredients.  Should save me a fortune in the long run - fingers crossed!

I've also bought 7.5 kg of potatoes, and am storing them in a cupboard in the unheated utility room, so hopefully they will last.  I know Jack Munro swears by tinned potatoes but they didn't have any (lorry driver shortage no doubt) and this bag was about £3 or £4, so if they last all winter they will be very economical indeed.  If they don't last a total waste of money of course.

Elisheba

Elisheba said:

My aim for this year is to get rid of the personal account overdraft charges (by paying off the overdraft), and have enough money to cover my car service and MOT, a couple of trips home to Scotland, and Christmas and birthdays. For the time being the overdraft will have to be my emergency fund, because it makes no sense to save money else where while I'm paying such huge charges on it.

This was from January 2020.  I'm rereading my diary to inspire myself and I'm laughing my head off rereading it - we had no idea what was coming did we?????? Some trips home to Scotland - chance would have been a fine thing!  I got there in the summer, and that was it.  Borders closed for Xmas.

Still, I didn't do too badly, just not as well as I'd hoped.  Instead of paying off my overdraft I paid off the catalogue.  I managed to pay the car service and MOT no bother, and massively overspent on a summer holiday and Christmas, mainly as a reaction to the pandemic and not seeing anyone.  So those things messed up my plans a bit, but progress was made.  And at the start of 2021 I was overpaying all my CC's so my credit rating is quite good atm.  

Sadly life post pandemic lockdowns is quite expensive - and I hate saying no to things.  I was an awfully long time stuck in the house myself.

Elisheba

So I've done the sums for September and I'm so excited - I've gone into a lower thousand bracket!  Woo hoo!  It was totally unexpected, but I hadn't been looking at one of my CC's, just carrying the total over to the next month (basically because it has gone app only and I couldn't be bothered digging out the card and logging in), and it had gone down more than expected!  So I'm now in the 14k bracket.  For some one who has done nothing except get into more debt since they were 18, knowing that my debt is consistently going down is so comforting.  

Of course, I would like it to go down faster, but not much chance of that for the next few months.  I need to put money aside for the car MOT and service and any extra work that needs done (fingers crossed not too much!) and then Xmas, and then I need to put aside an emergency fund.  It looks like the loan will be paid off in December, so that money will then go toward the joint credit cards with my ex, so at least that is something.  And once I have an emergency fund together and life is a bit quieter, hopefully I will have a bit of extra cash to put towards the debts.  

Anyway, it's the weekend soon.  Yay!  I had a counselling session earlier, which is much like pulling emotional teeth, so I'm going to have a quiet night with HM pizza and catching up on Bake Off wrapped in blankets on the sofa with my dog.  I have a wedding reception tomorrow night, and I forgot to budget for a present annoyingly. They want a contribution to the honeymoon so I'll put a £20 note in the card I suppose.  No idea where my chequebook is, so it'll have to be cash.  I've gone through my card stash and can only find a tiny little one that says congratulations, so I might have to go shopping for more cards tomorrow. Not sure a wedding card not much bigger than a postage stamp is really appropriate.

To Do List for the Weekend

1. Clean bathroom
2. Put washing away
3. Hoover house
4. Make bread
5. Make fruit buns for snacks
6. Clean car (inside and out)
7. Weed driveway
8. Mending (leggings specifically)
9. Look out winter clothes
10. Cut hair (still cutting my own, still no total disasters)
11. Soak paper for paper logs
12. Dye hair with honey and cinnamon
13. Go to Wedding
14. Sort out present and card for wedding
15. Walk dog 4 times
16. Look up doing surveys and selling things on eb@y
17. Catch up on some TV

I think that's enough for one weekend!  Yesterday was a NSD, today should be as well and Sunday should be too.  Saturday is a write off though.  I need milk, I've got the wedding and although I'm driving no doubt I'll need a few light refreshments, not to mention needing to buy the card and the gift.

I started going though my old MSE diary yesterday, and there are some good (if rather extreme in some cases) ideas I had in there.  I tried a Navy shower again this morning, where you only put the water on at the beginning and end and (probably because I had had the heating on) it was fine.  Cooking pasta off the heat was a good one that worked really well and saves a few pence and using teabags twice is a good idea as well.  I've signed up to the receipt apps again.  Two of them seem to be gone since last I used them - Receipt Hog and Zip Zero.  I remember getting emails from Zip Zero saying they were reducing the rewards - obviously that didn't solve their problems!

Other than that I just need to stay away from cigarettes, wine  and not succumb to any coffee and cake out at cafes this weekend. That's my challenge. Stick to budget this weekend - nothing unexpected!

Elisheba

Happy weekend, frugalistas. I've had a super lazy morning, wrapped up on the sofa with a dog and cat and many tattered blankets, reading posts on here and feeling suitably virtuous as my tea is being made from a flask a water I boiled earlier. 

I've put bread in the bread maker. It's looking a bit watery to me, but it's oat bread so maybe the oats will soak up some of the fluid when it's cooking? I hope so. I've been in two mind about making my own bread as supermarket bread is cheap as chips and the slices are even and can last a while. Homemade I find crumbly and hard to cut to anything but a doorstop thickness, and then once you add the ingredient costs and the energy to make it I'm not sure how money saving it is. I'm giving another try though as it has less additives and involves less plastic, and will see how I get on. 

Once I can be bothered to move I'll shower, make some lunch and have a look at my list and start ticking things off.

It's eggs for lunch and burgers for dinner. There should be food at the wedding reception this evening but it's not till half seven and I don't know what the veggie selection will be like, so best to eat before I go.

I've been thinking about ways I can reduce my energy use. My deal runs out in January and I doubt I'll get anything even vaguely good by then. So ideas I've collected from reading some of the posts on here are the insulate my windows as best as possible. The spare room office will be a good place to start as it's always cold in winter. One of the double glazing panes has blown which I'll mention to my estate agent. I've already blocked the chimney in there. I'm also going to start making sure all my curtains are closed before it gets dark, to stop any excess loss of heat. Layering up as much as possible, using my sleeping bag in my office, anything to try and keep the heating off as much as possible!

Elisheba

Just had to pop back on and say my house smells wonderful right now. I'd forgotten how good baking bread smells! The loaf itself is a bit flaky on top, which I think means there was to much water (as I suspected) but I'm sure it'll taste lovely. Just got to try and work out how to cut it without making huge doorstops of slices!

The used paper log maker I ordered from eb@y has arrived, so I've filled a bucket with water and torn up some paper and card to soak. Still got more boxes to tear when I can be bothered. Hopefully will get making some logs tomorrow.

Ended up having a baked potato that needed using and cheese, with the last portion of hm soup, for lunch. Feeling very full and sleepy now 😊. 

WinterWarrior

I like the sound of the paper log maker…I feel it would be much easier than shredding all my work print outs to safely get rid of them. 

The bread sounds lovely. If it feels a bit dense from the water it should still be excellent toasted. 

Elisheba

WinterWarrior said:

I like the sound of the paper log maker…I feel it would be much easier than shredding all my work print outs to safely get rid of them. 

The bread sounds lovely. If it feels a bit dense from the water it should still be excellent toasted. 

Thanks @WinterWarrior the bread is good toasted 🍞😁. The paper log maker arrived and I've been busy soaking all the paper and card I have received recently. It'll take the logs quite a while to dry out, and I'm not sure how good they'll be made with card as well as paper, but even if they are only ever kindling that's still saving a few pennies 

Elisheba

I'm afraid I spent far more than planned at the wedding on Saturday. Drinks were absolutely extortionate! However, I think by cutting back on a couple of other things I'll be able to rein it in and shouldn't go much over budget for the month.

Otherwise it has all been fairly plain sailing. Sunday and today were NSD, and on Monday the only spend was on a shampoo bar. I'll need milk tomorrow, so it won't be a NSD but won't break the bank.

I'm still keeping the heating off. Looking at my energy bills, central heating seems to be the biggest cost. Doing the sums I seem to spend  up to £40 a month in it when it's on. At some point it'll need to go on of course, as I've no intention of freezing, but for the moment jumpers and layers and blankets seem to be doing the trick. My hands and feet do get chilly at times though, so if anyone has any suggestions on keeping them cosy I'd be much obliged. I'm wearing thick socks and shoes, although I'm not wearing gloves.

I got all my winter clothes out and summer clothes put away. I have 3 massive bags of clothes and shoes to be given to charity, sold or used as rags. I just need to sort out what's what this weekend. I'm a bit worried about how I work out postage costs for eB@y as I've not sold anything on there before. I also don't have a printer to buy and print prepaid post if that's necessary. Maybe I should just try gumtr3e?

I tried boiling water in the morning and putting it in a flask, but my flask must be no good because its luke warm by lunchtime.

I watered down my milk to make it last longer, which was fairly successful but the trick is not to water it too much or it loses all it flavour, and to remember you need to use it before it's best before day or it'll just go off.

I've tried closing my curtains just before it gets dark to keep as much heat in as possible but I can't say I've noticed much difference. I'm pretty sure the blinds in the dining room and kitchen wouldn't keep in anything though, and the bathroom doesn't even have a curtain so that's probably why. I should probably think about making some curtains for the bathroom. Don't think I'd be able to do much for the other rooms though. 

I'm remembering to turn off switches at the wall which is probably useful. Looking at my bills I don't really use much electricity so no huge saving to make there but even if its just a couple of pounds it's something.

I'm hoping I can get to the weekend without having to buy anything other than the milk. That sounds a bit optimistic to me but I can't think of anything else I'll need. Fingers crossed then!