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

Elisheba

Thanks @badmemory. I'm with Shell, so I'll wait to see what they are doing. Thank goodness yours isn't going up to £600! That's unbelievable. I have to say my figures are worked out based on last February when I decided enough was enough and only had the heating on about once a week. If I based my figures on January it would be more like £300 a month. 

Elisheba

Thanks @Cheery_Daff. That is helpful. I think I was just feeling a bit fed up, as I know I'm not cooking from scratch as much as I would want to be, and I did buy a fair bit of processed junk because I was hungry.
I'll keep thinking about it over the rest of the week and see how I get on. 

badmemory

Whilst I only have a smallish house which isn't too badly insulated, I do have a few aches & pains that if I get  cold, sit in a draught etc just get worse.  I also live with my son who also has his issues so we are quite high users.  30 min showers anyone.  As they say it is what it is & I WILL deal with it.  But if I am cold I don't move & so get much worse, so basically not an option.

My thoughts for the near future - solar panels & new fridge & new freezer, before the current price help disappears.  All I need is savinghomes cleaner to help me declutter & spring (autumn) clean.

Elisheba

Yes @badmemory, I feel very lucky I'm healthy enough to withstand a cold house. If you need heat then that's all there is to it, the heating must be on.

I think we could all do with @savingholmes cleaner! What a star she is! 

Elisheba

Morning, all, and welcome to a new day in the new Carolinian age! I am feeling quite chipper today which is nice.  Due to various work stresses of late I have been rather wound up and down in the dumps at times.  Thankfully that hasn't spiraled into anything nasty and I have been able to pull myself out of it.  Thank goodness for healthy habits and medication!

Moneywise, I got around to zapping my receipts last night and writing down all my spending.  Pocket money wise I am already pushing the budget I had set, but I knew that already.  I'll go over but will try and make sure I don't go over by too much for the rest of the month.

I've gotten caught up on a couple of diary's - @missymoo81 and @Cheery_Daff.  Have started reading through Tilly's diary from 2012 as it was mentioned on @Cheery_Daff's diary.  Looking forward to reading how she paid off a her massive mortgage in 6 years  ..  It sounds like it will be inspirational - and I have already learned a new thing - what an off set mortgage is  .

Other than that, had homemade muesli for breakfast with lots of spices, home made soup and sandwich for lunch, and dinner is a quorn escalope, and broccoli and potatoes (broccoli and potatoes were cooked last night so just need heating in the microwave.  I cooked the escalope on the hob, which isn't one of the suggested cooking methods but I wasn't heating the whole oven for one escalope.  It turned out rather well thankfully.

I timed my shower this morning and it was 3 and a half minutes, even taking into account the time it takes the water to heat up. Good little money saving trick that one!

I'm having various thoughts about how I could reorder my debt repayments, and thinking about how I can get money in my LISA, and minimise interest elsewhere.  I'll need to run some figures and scenarios I think, to see what would be best.  

I'm in shorts today as it has just been so hot and humid here recently that leggings have been too much.  I have looked out my winter wardrobe, but at this rate I won't need it until well into October.  Long may it continue is what I say - no need to bring the cold any sooner than it has to be!
 

Cheery_Daff

Shorts?! 😱 I mean, the sun is shining here, but it's definitely not shorts weather 😂

Elisheba

Cheery_Daff said:

Shorts?! 😱 I mean, the sun is shining here, but it's definitely not shorts weather 😂

Well, they are to my knees so not exactly short shorts! It seems to be a lot hotter outside then in here!  Have a jumper on inside, but when I go out I need to take it off.  Think its the humidity outside.

Cheery_Daff

Ha,I expect it's warmer outside here too - I'm sat inside with a hot water bottle and fleecy top on trying to work 😮😂😂

Elisheba

I've been pondering whether I should try and filter some dosh over to my LISA this year to get the 25% government markup up to £4k.  I've worked out some scenarios, and I think I have decided to restructure my credit card payments so I have the 2 most expensive (which are over 25% APR) paid off by Xmas, and the other two, one of which is 1 year interest free, the other 17%, interest, onto the minimum payment.

From January to March I can then filter the money I was over paying on the CC which will have been paid off, about £630/640 per month, to my LISA. I'm also going to put my pay rise when its finally agreed (which will be £1200 or more) to the LISA.   Any extras like Prolific can go towards LISA as well.  It won't quite reach the £4k , but it'll be something.  Then once that is past I will overpay the CC's again. It'll mean my debt free date is late next year rather than middle, but that's okay.  

I think getting that 25% bonus up to £4k will be a better financial plan than paying the rest earlier.  It my sums are right anyway  .  And it will be a nice boost to think I have almost £5k in my house deposit fund.

Elisheba

Took my dog a walk via the park to L!dl. No oat milk there either. I wonder if we get oats from Ukraine and that's why oat milk is in such short supply right now? Or it could just be a supply chain issue.

Anyway I bought coconut and rice milk at 89p instead. I dislike soya and not keen on almond so thought I'd give this a try instead. None of them are as good for the environment as oat milk though, so it's a bit annoying.

I remember a time, before the pandemic, when shelf shortages just weren't heard of. Feels like a long time ago now. It's not like we don't have enough to go round, but still annoying that so often you can't get something pretty basic you are looking for.