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

Elisheba

In more frugal news today, the envelope I asked for to post back my old broadband router arrived so I got that posted off, which will save me a charge.  Also remembered to post my brother's birthday card and as I had left it late I was delighted to find I had one first class stamp left!

I was reading the Frugalwoods blog earlier, and blimey - things in some parts of the US are cheap!  Less than £300k for 60 acres of woodland and a 4 bed house in Vermont.  I guess the UK is a small island, and land is either owned in great big estates, or shared out between a lot of us so its way more pricey.  It did make me think that it would be good to get some woods with my country cottage when I eventually buy - mainly for a free source of fuel.  However, the area I am looking at is more moorland than woodland, so its not likely.  

Porridge for breakfast and apple crumble with Greek yogurt for lunch.  Not sure what to have for dinner.  I might boil some potatoes and have veggie sausage and mash.  Will see how I feel when I get in from my dog walk.  I could also defrost some quorn bolognaise and have that with spaghetti.

I had an email from MSE about my credit score today, which always gets sent on the 22nd.  I haven't checked it in months so I did today and it it has gone up nicely so that was good. I am now at the top end of fair. I always find it quite stressful if it has gone down especially as I am never sure why.  I swear it tanked about the same time my divorce came through and I'm sure the two are related.  It was always good or very good before that, and since my finances had been separate form my ex's for 2 years before my divorce it made no real sense for my score to fall because I was divorced.  Ridiculous system.

A little update to my heating and me not turning it on, I had read a tip somewhere to wear woolen jumpers hat have shrunk in the wash as insulation.  When I was going through some mending, what did I find but a woolen jumper that had been felted a bit in the wash!  What a lovely coincidence!  I probably put it aside thinking I could make a cushion cover or something from it at some unknown date in the future when my dog doesn't destroy all cushions in his vicinity. So I have that on as a layer over a long sleeved T shirt (wool is itchy) and with a loose jumper on top of that.  You couldn't wear it on its own - its a bit short apart from anything else, but it is very cosy so far.  With these layers I am wearing I do have to remember to take some off before I go out for a dog walk otherwise I feel faint from how hot I am    

There are two young lads kicking a football around on the road outside my house.  It reminds me of my youth in Scotland.  Kids never seem to play outside down here, and I've never seen them playing kickabout on the road either.  Its a quiet road with one way traffic so it is safe enough for them I think.  Anyway, its nice to watch while I work and type 

elbree

Elisheba said:

Its amazing how much of a con the cat food sachet are @sunshine_raincloud Its a pet peeve of mine!  how marketing got us to accept less for more. Amazing really!

Isn't this basically the same as the 'travel size' toiletries and 'mini' snacks?? I fall for it every time! I coo over how cute they are in Superdr@g and before I know it I've spent a tenner! 

foxgloves

Re extra woolly layer, @Elisheba, I love a nice hand-knitted shawl. So easy to have round my shoulders if I feel chilly, but cast off in seconds when I've warmed up. I've knitted several over the years, some in the traditional triangular shape but my most recent one is a wide rectangular scarf shape, but shorter so that it can be pinned together at one shoulder. I knitted that with birthday present yarn.... gorgeous 100% wool yarn in dark fuchsia with flecks of other colours & knitted up in a cable pattern. Lovely & warm.
F x

WinterWarrior

Another one that buys boxes and boxes of sachets for my lot….they only have the posh stuff with posh biscuits on the side…I swear they can read the prices before they judge it worthy! I wonder if I can find some tins they would accept? Mine are house cats, they have 5 litter trays, but also 3 corners where I have to lay down puppy pads to catch the wees….boys! I never had that with the girls 😖

Elisheba

I do like a good shawl @foxgloves.  I have one I picked up at a bootsale that i wear when working from home.  For some reason my back always gets cold!  I'd love to take up knitting again for for some reasons my dog goes mad whenever he sees a ball of wool and needs to have it and play with it, so its not really possible right now 

Cats, eh @WinterWarrior One of my female cats used to pee indoors not in her littler tray sometimes.  I cleaned the area and put lemon juice down to try and get rid of the scent for her, and then put tin foil down in the area and it did stop most of the time.

Elisheba

Morning all.  A quiet day planned at Casa Elisheba.  I had a sink wash for body and hair this morning as part of my ongoing experiment to see how low I can get my energy bill.  I feel really refreshed and clean so that seems to be going well.  For lunch I will have the last potion of Apple Crumble, and dinner will be spaghetti and veggie bolognaise with garlic bread from the freezer.  I found some vegan plant butter in the fridge so don't have to buy any butter, and I am making do on the coffee front with the old stuff I found in the fridge.  

Its all really a count down till pay day when I will transfer out what I am putting away for this month and start thinking about next month. I've agreed to go to London for cream tea in July but need to pay for the tea/dinner soon I think, so I might do no spend Lent and put the spare money towards that as it will be expensive with the tea and trains and things.  

I need to put money aside for a family holiday as it has already been booked.  Apart from that I think it is wise to build up my annuals fund - essentially my pots for predicted expenses during the year, as soon as possible. I will jhave to pay them no matter what and it makes sense to have money put aside for them. However, I am still umming and ahhing about whether to have an emergency pot, or to put the extra toward the debt when I get to that point. It'll be a few months, so I have time to decide.  I should point out I am already overpaying my debts, its just whether I should over pay even more, or put some aside for emergencies.  

The toilet paper experiment seems to be going fine so far and no problems as yet.  Thankfully my dog hasn't shown any interest in bucket or clothes!

i checked my bank earlier and nothing unexpected has come out.  I've had the refund for this month's National trust membership.  Also checked my emails and a new smart meter is on its way.  I still think mine is totally off its tiny microchip mind when it comes to my gas.  It either has me using absolutely none, or huge amounts.  All seems very bizarre, and it could just be a reading error because the screen is damaged so we will see.  

Hope everyone as a fabulous day.  Its less than a month till Spring now, so nearly there!

Jellytotts

We don’t have a litter tray for our 3, when we did, they’d use it rather than dig outside….lazy mogs.  We’ve been transitioning ours from wet to dry food as they seem to have gone off all wet food that we’ve tried. It’s going well, just done to one pouch a day between them (for them to ignore) and 3 different sorts of dry food. We have a drinking fountain inside for them and various bowls of skanky rain water outside and they’re all drinking lots which is good to see.

We we’re spending £32 of our £70 per week budget on cat food and biscuits. I’m more important than a cat so things had to change. They’ve all got very lazy and not hunted for a while so they can start earning their keep.

Elisheba

Morning all, and happy Thursday wherever it find you.

I was going to make tomato soup for lunch but found myself completely onionless!  I normally have frozen onions, but must have used them all up.  I'll need to do some sums about whether it is cheap to buy and chop and freeze them, that buy them frozen. I used to buy fresh but some would inevitably go bad, and also I hate chopping them!  Still, more frugal days ahead, so if I chop and freeze them none will be wasted (if it ends up cheaper that way which I suspect it will).

Any lunch will now be bean and cheese on toast.  I didn't have bolognaise for sinner last night after all as wasn't very hungry and had a fried egg sandwich instead.  So it will be spag bog and garlic bread for dinner tonight

Got a reminder from Barclays today that I will no longer be earning any money on the Blue Rewards scheme from April.  I am wondering whether to change my account back to a normal one then, as essentially they will still be earning money on selling my data just not giving any of it back to me.  I have a Blue Rewards savings account which technically is slightly high interest than a basic one, but its not like I have any savings so it doesn't really matter!

I was tired yesterday so feeling the cold a bit.  I did some hoovering at lunchtime which warmed me up no end, and in the evening I got out a sleeping bag and curled up in that with a hot water bottle and caught up on some Escape to the Chateau which was very relaxing and very cosy.  Could have fallen asleep right there.

I saw on Twitter that for those of us who qualify  and pay Council tax by Direct Debit the £150 heating rebate will be paid directly into our banks in April.  I must make sure I shunt that off into savings before it gets spent!  I claimed unemployment benefit about 20 years ago for 3 months, but other than that I don't think I have ever been given any money from the government so I'm quite excited by it!  

I'm thinking of putting my annuals money into premium bond, just for a bit of fun.  I can get the money back in 2 - 3 days when its needed, so as long as I am organised it will be okay and will stop me frittering it away needlessly I think.  

Hope everyone has a great day!

Elisheba

Jellytotts said:

We we’re spending £32 of our £70 per week budget on cat food and biscuits. I’m more important than a cat so things had to change. They’ve all got very lazy and not hunted for a while so they can start earning their keep.

Wow, that is a lot!  When I had 3 I think I was spending £40 - 45 a month, with cat litter etc buying them tins.

Elisheba

Happy Monday all,

Not a money saving weekend for me.  I didn't feel great and had the heating on, spent money on junk and ordered take away pizza.  Not awesome really!  

Still, onwards and upward.  New month starting today as I just got paid.  I've done the great moneyshuffle and bits have been stashed here there and everywhere, and over payments on cards made.  I still need to double check last months numbers and put the money I have saved aside  - probably in premium bonds for now, to stop me getting to it easily,. Some is for a holiday and some is the annual fund.  

I'm out for dinner tonight - just at Spoons, so cheap and cheerful.  I haven't slept well so am tempted to cancel, but with my low spend Lent I'm not sure when I could reschedule to, so  I'll just have to go ahead and hopefully get a nap at lunch time or something.  

I checked my energy account and they want to reduce my monthly DD to £32, but as my tariff ends today they will actually change it to £77 tomorrow!  I'm fairly sure that will go down a bit though, although who knows after April?

Foodwise, I haven't gone shopping for the month yet.  I should manage fine until Saturday with maybe just a milk top up.  It'll be tomato soup for lunch using up whatever veg leftovers I have in the fridge, then out for dinner  Then tomorrow its pancake day so dinner will be pancakes, which will probably do for another day as well and I have a defrosted bolognaise I have to use soon, so that's another meal.  Just leaves Friday where I might do homemade pizza with the remains of the Greek yogurt if there is enough.

So yeah, hope everyone else is okay and has a good week.