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

Elisheba

Morning all, 

What an absolutely miserable day outside! Storm Ciara is making herself known! She does have a pretty name though. 

Since is really is just horrid, I'm going to treat myself to some coal, and after I've done some house basics (dishes, put the breadmaker on, etc) I think I'm going to sit by the fire and read my book for the day. I have nothing planned, and nothing that's urgent so why not? 

Tonight is my night to crank up the heating and laze in the bath as long as I want, so that should be fun. I'll also try and remember to do a honey and cinnamon hair mask to continue my attempts to lighten my hair naturally. 

I have some left over pasta to have for lunch, and a quorn roast I got half price last month for dinner. My home made muesli is not going to last the month - it's not going to last until next week 😂. I'll need to buy more nuts to make more - I still have porridge, dried fruit and some bran stuff. Actually, maybe I should just leave the nuts out and not spend any money until I have to? Frugal and thrifty! That'll save me a pound or two! 

This week I have a very frugal night out on Thursday. For various reasons it's only costing me £5 for 2 games of bowling and a meal. I'll probably need to top the car up with petrol but that's budgeted for, so not a problem. I'll need to make an effort to get out and do things next weekend. Too many weeks in a row of just being in the house or office drives me a bit stir crazy. National Trust membership and packed lunches should keep the costs down for that though 😁.

I've been enjoying the fact that one of my libraries (I have two due to various moves) gives me free access through Press Reader to hundreds of magazines. Paying for that access individually would be in the region of  about £30/month! It also makes getting rid of Prime and its free magazine access a non issue for me, which is nice.

I will say though that glancing through these mags, it's just so much consumerist b*locks!  'Buy this to look younger', 'Buy that to destress', 'Buy the next thing to be this image of yourself that's totally unrealistic and also unnecessary'. I don't think I've ever bought into this stuff too much, but I feel like I'm looking at it all with open eyes for the first time. It's all just self perpetuating consumerism. Most of it is made up! And you are not really buying a thing that will help you destress - you can destress without spending a penny. What you are doing is buying, and that will release the happy hormones and give you feeling of fulfillment that you've done something properly, because we've all been sold the lie that you need to spend to consume/enjoy/appreciate anything properly.

Rant over 🤣. I'm aware I don't actually have to look at these magazines, but I'm as much a part of our consumer culture as anyone and hey - pretty pictures!

Elisheba

Happy... Monday (just checked and its definitely Monday!), 

Today I only spent money on my train ticket to work. Yay! Packed lunch made despite the fact I didn't make bread yesterday - I opened some wraps, and chucked some grated cheese and nacho topping in them and they were really rather nice, and very filling. Two of them and an apple lasted me from 12 noon till dinner at 6.30pm.

I'm still getting hit with the tail end of the mess my finances were in and the rumpus I caused switching  all my suppliers and changing payment dates. A bill from my old broadband for five pounds something today, a credit card payment about £15 over what thought it would be, and I've realised my car insurance will be coming out twice this month 🙄

That means that this month I'm paying about £340 extra in rent, £100 extra in energy (and will be for 3 - 4 months), £55 extra on my catalogue, £52 extra on one c/c, £15 extra on another c/c, £6 extra on broadband... That's nearly £600!

Still, I've tweaked and squeezed my budget till it squeaked, and I was able to put a fair bit aside last month, so I'm covering it all without getting into anymore debt. I just need to make sure I cut my thingiemajig to suit my other thingiemajig this month! It's very lean indeed, but this is the worst of it I'm sure, and it's all uphill and down debt from here on in!

In less MS news I'm reading a book by Horatio Clare on winter and his struggle with SAD, which I am loving. It is really making me think - about the seasons, the cold, depression, beauty. Its a lovely read, and it was one of my very last Kindle purchases of the old year before my resolution to stop spending money kicked in.

I've signed up for one of the free Open Learn courses on creative writing. I just need to put some time aside in the afternoons when I finish normal work to actually do the course. I'm trying to stretch myself a bit more, and challenge myself to do things out of my normal routine.

Elisheba

So I woke at 5 am this morning, fed the cats and made a cup of tea, then went back to bed and had a look on my phone.  There was a MSE email that mentioned LISA's, and you can only get them if you are younger than 40.  As I am 40 this summer, I pressed some buttons and got myself a LISA.  Then I had another snooze 

So in one way that's great.  I'm planning for the future - I definitely want to buy in my 40's and have a rough plan in place to make that happen, so yay me for doing a positive thing!  I can also keep paying into it until I am 50, and getting the 25% top up, so a little nest egg on top of my pension for retirement.

On the other hand, I won't be able to pay into said LISA for about 3 years which is just depressing.  Its so frustrating knowing if I had £4k available next month, I could get another £1k on top of it.  When I think of all the money I have spent over the years!  Oh, its enough to make grown women cry!

Nothing to be done I suppose.  Its all gone, and its spilled milk.  Just need to let it go and move on. And when I do have funds again, I have a lovely LISA to pay them into.

FootyFanDan

Hi,

You are doing so well . The short term financial downfalls are crap and can make you sometimes feel like whats the point! These ae just short term pain for a long term gain and when you start seeing the benefits it has made this will make you feel so good

Well done on the LISA and yeah i get the feeling meh over past habits and if onlys but you are well on your way to fixing this and the steps you are taking will stand you really good in the future. This diary of yours is inspiring to me and no doubt others too. The way you are just hitting this is fab! Keep it going

missymoo81

Hey Elisheba! 

I’ve just read your whole dIary from start to finish and I’ve really enjoyed it! You are such an inspiration. I have sat and made notes from the great ideas you have. I’m going to start a LISA and I’m so happy that you mentioned about the OpenLearn course!!!! I didn’t realise there was such things and I would love to do them! 

I love how you’re thinking of the small things not just the big. Like the bits in your muesli! I’ve watered down milk for years, my mum used to do it. I have to be careful else OH notices! Thank you again for all your great ideas and I’ll be reading with interest!

Elisheba

Thanks, FootieFanDan! Yup, just got to keep on keeping on, and I'll get there. Thanks for the support! 

Elisheba

Thanks so much, MissyMoo81! I'm so glad you are finding some of these ramblings useful! It's a learning curve for me as well, so I might do something I think is frugal one week and then the next find out there is a whole new level of frugal and thrifty to do the same thing that I wasn't aware of.

Yeah, the Open Learn courses are great! I just never seem to make the time to actually do them! 

MrsCatz

De-lurking to say read your diary from the beginning and as a result will be opening a LISA. You’re doing really well, and Happy Valentines Day

Elisheba

Thanks, MrsCatz! Glad it's been useful to you! 

Elisheba

Morning all! Happy Saturday to you all, and to all a happy Saturday, 

No sign of Storm Dennis the Menace yet, so my plans for the day are still up in the air. The forecast says there will be heavy rain and winds though, so guess I'll just have to plan on that basis.

I got some great news yesterday. With a few caveats, I'm now going to be working from home for 4 days a week. This will save me £1200 a year in commuting costs, and about 500 hours a year in commuting time. I'm absolutely delighted! It's like a tax free pay rise! It's also the first step in my plan to be able work almost completely from home and move to the middle of nowhere 😁. I wouldn't even have thought about it, or getting it approved, if it hadn't been for this money saving journey. It has already been lifechanging and its only a month and a half in. Somehow or other I've identified my values, what I really want, and made some massive steps towards that, not just in money saving and debt reduction, but in my daily tasks, and my quality of life. Its like a magic pill or something. Maybe that spell in the title of this diary really does have some magic to it!!! 

In order to give myself a bit of inspiration, I went through my budget last night and listed the savings I had made since the new year started. It's powerful stuff!

Per month:
Car Insurance - £14
Broadband - £5
Energy - was supposed to be £13, but with the £360 odd underpayment and the need to increase my DD, any savings are unknown currently. 
Guardian sub - £3
Overdraft charges - estimated £15
Groceries - £80
Pocket money - £100
Commuting - £100
B@rclays Rewards - £3
Petrol - £30
Cats - £18
Meds - £8
Spotify - £7.50 (advert version is fine!) 
Netflix and Prime - £8.50.

That's £392 a month! Three hundred and ninety two pounds a month! Dear heavens above! In November I would have sworn I was stretched as far as possible financially if I still wanted to live a decent life. Two months later, and I've managed to cut costs by almost £400! And with minimal impact on my quality of life. In fact in many ways my quality of life has improved. 

I think it's also worth noting that even when the next few months of over payments for energy etc are done, it's not £400 a month extra that I will have to pay off debts. I think that answers the question of how at least some of the debt was acquired in the first place 😏🙄.