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

Elisheba

Pay properly cleared today so allocated funds to various pots.

A loan I had with my ex got paid off in December, so for January and now this month we've paid the loan amount onto a joint credit card. It's so lovely to be able to make big payments and watch things go down quickly. 3 more months and that card will be paid off too! 

I need to put £100 aside for annuals but I think I'll leave that till the end of the month as no point making the OD higher than it needs to be. I'm also hoping to put some dosh aside for my emergency fund, but the exact amount will depend on how well I can stick to budget and where I can cut back more.

Other than that it has been a quiet and frugal day. Haven't had to put the heating on. The smart meter is only at 60p for the day, and that's with a load of washing earlier. I did it at 20 degrees and it seems fine, so I won't bother going above that in future unless it needs it for hygiene reasons.

My Mum is in hospital just now for a perforated bowel and possible sepsis. I thought it was all going quite well as the bowel has self healed, but the antibiotics haven't brought the infection markers down enough, and now it looks like one of the antibiotics has caused kidney damage. It's all very worrying, and I live a long way away so can't visit. I'm quite pleased I have my frugal living plans to take my mind off it all. 

Elisheba

Honest to goodness.  I just looked up what I currently pay for energy and what my company tells me I will pay when my deal runs out at the end of February.

Electricity standing charge up from 11.05p to 25.08p, and unit rate up from 15.849 p/kwh to 20.592 p/kwh.
Gas standing charge up from 7.74p to 26.11p and  unit rate up from 2.623 p/kwh to 4.047 p/kwh

Some quick sums for me personally indicate that my bills will go up by about 66% on the tariff alone (including standing charge increases), and if they go up by 50% on top of that in April that is about a 110% increase on what I'm paying now.  For me this is an annoyance as I would rather spend the money elsewhere, but what happens to the people who just can't absorb that sort of cost rise? 

It not like energy is an optional extra - no matter how much you cut back you will still need some.  Living offgrid is not normally a viable lifestyle choice these days. And with a standing charge increase of 18.37p a day on gas, and 14.03p a day on electricity that's an increase of £118.23 per annum even if you didn't use a single drop of electricity or gas, and that will probably go up again in April as well.

I don't know what some people are going to do - £10 a month increase before you even take account of the fuel you are using.

WinterWarrior

I hope your mum is getting better. It must be very worrying when you can’t visit.
The energy rises are a joke, food is increasing ridiculously and then the national insurance increase…I keep wondering what will be next! 

badmemory

I agree the energy price rises are gigantic.  I've worked out that with the new prices in April mine will have RISEN 140% since September.  I know many whilst good with £ s d are not good with percentages so that is every £100 will become £240.  I've ceased believing the figures this gov gives out they seem to be less than true.  Even the new figures for covid show a lot larger than they have been saying.  Fancy not counting someone who has had it once & then gets it again.  Unbelievable!

Elisheba

Thanks @winterWarrior Not exactly sure how Mum is today. One of her antibiotics seems to have caused kidney damage. My brother went up today and said she was really out of it due to the painkillers.

@badmemory 140%!!! That's just crazy!

All these price increases are just so frustrating. While frugal people may well be in a better position to deal them than some, it feels like swimming in treacle to pull out all the frugal stops and still end up paying more. 

Elisheba

Happy Monday all!  Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

This week past I have been really challenging myself to reduce energy costs. Good for the environment, good for my pocket, and it should give me a base line of how much power I can get down to, to work out how much I will be paying when it all goes up astronomically.

* I have turned the heating completely off - and have only put it on twice.  Once when I was having a bubble bath, which was my treat for dealing with all the stress of mum being ill.  And once on Friday night, but I turned it right back off again as I saw the smart meter climbing up and thought 'I don't really need this on, its not heating the house that much anyway.', and filled a hot water bottle instead.

* I have been boiling the kettle in the morning, making a big pot of tea and then putting it in my flask to last the day.

* I've made sure everything is turned off at the wall except the fridge, freezer and wifi

*I've been remembering to keep everything turned off at the wall after I have used it (sometimes easier said than done!)

* I have changed when I charge my phone from over night to in the evening so I don't leave the charger on all night eating power.

*I dug the slow cooker out and bulk cooked some veggie bolognaise yesterday to freeze.

This coming week I am, hoping to -

* Bulk cook some more meals, so all they will need is heated in the microwave, rather then putting the stove top on.

* Keep the heating off all week except for if I have a bath.

* Have a sink wash on alternate days so I am not using the shower so much.

* Do the dishes on alternate days, possibly after I have a shower actually, so the water heater goes on less.

As well as all the power saving, I have been pretty thrifty in the main all week.  I treated myself to a bag a chips on Friday night, and spend £7 or £8 on a top up shop at L!dl on Friday.  Just milk, beans and tins of fruit. Didn't do any shopping over the weekend, and the only thing I bought was a bag a coal from BnM for £4.  Much as a love having the fire lit, it is a treat these days.  And the new smokeless coal I have tried had all been pretty awful and barely heated anything, so its not something i do often. So that's one week into the month and I seem to be on budget.

This week coming I have a meal out with friends on Friday, and think I'm meeting a friend for a coffee at some point over a the weekend.  All budgeted for so that okay.  I think I should make a dentist appointment as well, as I have a tooth that has been nagging for a while.  Hopefully it can wait till March and then I can add to it to March's budget.

Oh, and I should also tot up where the debt is at for the end of January this week.  Everything should have gone through now.

Elisheba

My tooth was quite sore at lunch, so thought I had better make a dentist appointment.  Had a quick look online and absolutely nowhere locally is taking new NHS referrals.

It turns out, however, that when I made an appointment last year with a dental surgery that was then accepting NHS patients, I was registered at the time, despite having forgotten the appointment and not attended(it was about 5-6 weeks in the future and completely slipped my mind) so I do have an NHS dentist - yay!  And I now have an appointment for the back of 9 tomorrow morning 

Elisheba

drum roll - I have totaled up where my debt stands for the end of January and it is at £13,457.  Which is down from £21,510 in January 2020.  Which is an £8k drop which isn't bad at all.

I know if I hadn't paid for a holiday for my family in between lockdowns it would have been about £2K less than that, and if I had been properly frugal the whole time it would have been even less still.  Never mind, no point crying over spilt milk.  

The trick now will be to see if I can get it all paid off before January 2024.  It may or may not be possible.  I'm also building up a £1k emergency fund, putting money aside for holidays and an annual budget so I won't be paying much extra on top of what I'm paying now off until the end of the year.  Still quite a few cards will start being wrapped up, so if I keep paying the same amount there will be less interest, and then hopefully next year I can really hammer some things.  

badmemory

Well happy dental appt!  If any dental appt can be said to be happy.  I think they are probably bottom of the list of things people actually want to do & I do mean below the flu jab thing.  Even worse than the opticians which also come lower on my list than any jab.  The hygenist comes even lower than that.

Elisheba

Thanks, @badmemory I haven't been in years, but thankfully I've never had a truly horrible experience so don't have any fear. Just one of those boring things I'd rather not do.