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

jokono

Congrats on the big milestone! 🎉

I can't remember if you turn the shower off while you lather? That wouldn't work for me as it takes just as long for the water to get back to the right temperature after being off, but I imagine not all showers are the same? The library is a good idea for a break out of your huge ski overalls 😁

Elisheba

Thanks, Deni and Jokono.  I love libraries, always have done.  Going to work from them is a bit of a new idea for me though - not even sure mine has desks anymore.  They have set up some sort of business centre where the desk I used a few times last year used to be.
Regarding showering, I always forget to turn it off between lather and rinse.  It does mess up the water temperature as well, and in winter without the heating on I don't even try to remember as its too blooming cold with the water off!

Elisheba

Have just seen that energy prices might be capped.  That's good - maybe I won't have to increase my payment as much as I thought.

I've just ordered a heated hoodie (and battery pack for it) from Am@zon, so I'm pretty much set for winter now.  Still need walking boots but they can wait.

missymoo81

Oooh would love a heated hoodie. 

Elisheba

Yeah, it arrived @missymoo81 and it looks to be awesome. Very thick and cosy and all working fine.  It'll be a lifesaver when I'm working from home in winter.  

Elisheba

Well, I've just done a weekly shop and it only came to about £25, but that was with a lot of Clubcard prices and a £5 voucher I had.  Vegan shopping isn't working out for me financially at the moment.  Things like own brand oat milk were out of stock today, so I ended up having to pay £1.50 for 1 litre of milk which is too much.  Also I was shopping hungry (rookie error I know) and bought icecream and puddings which, as they are vegan, are tiny and expensive.  

I'm just not organised enough to do lots of cooking and baking in advance, and I'm too busy really to read lots of vegan cookbooks and meal plan that way.  I'll need to mull it over.  The point was to be better for the environment and a bit healthier, but processed foods aren't healthy and lots of packaging isn't good for the environment either.  I've got enough (except milk) in for the week so I have time to mull it over.

Moneywise, I need to catch up with myself.  I still need to record what I've spent from Thursday onward and see how the budgets are looking. I don't have to spend as much on petrol as I though this month, and got a £50 refund for something I had over paid by accident so that was nice.  

I think 2 of my credit cards may have gone into persistent debt again as I have only been paying the minimum on them.  Or actually, I'm only paying the minimum on one, not sure why I have a letter from the other. Maybe I'm not paying enough to get out on persistent debt, despite paying more than the minimum.  They are the cards that are last in line and all the money is going on 2 others ones right now, but no doubt that'll mess up my credit rating again. i did check it today and its the same as last month, but who knows when it will change again.  

Elisheba

Oh and meal plan this week -

Weekday lunches - HM soup and sarnie
Weekend - fake bacon, tofu scramble, toast

Dinners
Mon- Quorn escalope from freezer with new pots and brocolli
Tues - as Monday
Wed - Potato and veg curry on naan
Thurs - As Wed
Friday - home made pizza
Saturday - leftovers, or fridge/freezer surprise

Elisheba

Using the average new capped rates after the energy freeze, I reckon I'll only need to increase my DD to £103 a month, not £145.  That isn't taking the £60 a month extra from the government into account from October to March.  Not sure if I want to take that into account, or treat it as some energy credit for the future.

badmemory

Elisheba said:

.  Not sure if I want to take that into account, or treat it as some energy credit for the future.

You may not have a choice, it all depends on how your supplier is going to deal with it. BG say they are going to refund the £66 to the account the DD came from (unless your DD is less than £66 & they have another way but you still get it).  Another, I think it was EON, said it would go onto your account with them.  I think it is just a case of we will have to see!!!!  I am just grateful the £600 I calculated is not going to happen.  That was doing the SC at 80% too though.  They will keep us waiting until the last minute I am sure.  I will just make sure I put my readings in on the 28th & then again late on 30th Sept the same as I did last time.

Cheery_Daff

Well done on your frugal shop. I just wanted to chip in a bit on the vegan thing (as I was one for 7 years, a out 20 years ago when there certainly wasn't the profusion of easily available processed stuff as there is now).

Like many types of diet, it can be as cheap/expensive/complicated/straightforward as you make it, as you've found. I did mostly cook from scratch, just because stuff like sausages, vegan cheese etc wasn't really available easily (or was extortionate!) and there was only really soya milk, which I couldn't stand. 

I think the trick is to not try to replace what you would have had anyway with the vegan version (sorry if I'm just saying stuff you already thought of...), and keep it simple. So I just wholesale stopped drinking tea, rather than having soya milk. Never had soya yogurt/cheese etc - breakfast was toast and jam, or vegan margarine (I did make that concession!) and marmite, or peanut butter. Other meals would have been stuff like baked potato, pasta, rice etc. I ate a lot of red lentils and chick peas, still do. Occasionally threw in some value salted peanuts for a bit of flavour. Stuff like red peppers were far too expensive, so I cooked a lot of carrots etc.

Never usually bothered with recipe books. Made a lot of stir fries (I remember buying stir fry cubes - like stock cubes - do they still exist?!) Lots of potato and chick peas curries. Lots of pasta and tomato sauce. I used to buy big tubs of peanut butter and make a lot of satay sauce 😁

And I confess I also made a lot of puddings 😂😂 Apple crumble (sometimes with cubes of marzipan in...) was my favourite 😁 But that's probably not what you were aiming for 😂😂

No need to put a vegan label on if you don't want to - leave yourself open to other options if they're easier occasionally

Anyway, enough waffle from me - ignore if it's not helpful!