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

SuzeQStan

Hi Elisheba - happy to see your post - happy Christmas chaos to you too - and hope you are feeling better very soon 😊. 

just an idea but you could rent a camper van and see how you get on in a trial run of having one as your main means of transport.

Think you are very sensible about full
time van life. Like you say it’s more of a lifestyle than money saving exercise.  

One thing about data sims tho - Having lived with a unlimited data mobile sim for broadband the last few months WFH (long story in my other post) - it nowhere near approaches a proper broadband connection. Me and OH have agreed we would rather be without water utility than broadband! (Just got our proper broadband connection back last week!)

As regards the heating - it’s been so cold no one would blame you for putting cost to one side.  During the coldest days we let the heating rip - it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting at £15 per day but now that things have thawed a bit we are back on our frugal 2 hr heating per day (supplemented with multi burner) schedule.

Big hugs to you and yours Elisheba - hope you have a wonderful Christmas in Scotland 🎅🏻🎄🥰

xx SQS

Elisheba

Evening all, 
I've not posted for a while - just the usual Christmas chaos, followed by a nasty bug I'm just recovering from. 

I finally got around to tallying up December spending today, but haven't totted up my end of year debt level.

Back to the the budget and the grind now. I'm definitely not going to hit the £4k max for my LISA this year, but I'll at least get to £2k which is better than nothing. I've decided against a campervan for now, after much debating with myself. This way I'll be debt free by the end of the year, and that's been my priority for so long I don't want to give it up.

Personal life wise, I'm just recovering from this bug. Loads to do around the house since I haven't felt up to it, including taking the decorations down. That will be this weekends task. Social wise, I haven't much in my calendar this month, so hopefully all budgets will be stuck to!

I've added an extra spreadsheet to my pile to keep track of what I've put aside for my spending pots so that should be useful. Towards the end of December I really felt like I was slipping back into old habits, so it is good to get back on track again. 

I hope everyone had lovely Christmases, and a good time at Hogmanay. 

SuzeQStan

Happy Hogmanay & New Year Elisheba!

glad to hear you are on the mend xx take it easy on yourself

Lots of folk stay in in January - good time to catch up on budgets etc.  I’ve gotten on the wagon haven’t had a alcoholic drink for over 2 months now. The hangovers are too much for an auld lady like me 😳🤣

I think you are doing brill to save £2k in the LISA - sometimes things have to ease just a bit or they become too tight and we rebel.

hang onto your dreams re van life - you will make it happen one day - it’s not a race 😊👍🏻

Oh and you have inspired me to do savings pots for real - the only thing that puts me off is using real money it scares me.  Are your pots real or do you do them online?

xx SQS

Elisheba

Thanks, SuzeQ. Well done on 2 months on the wagon 😁.

These pots are online. I've worked out what I need for things like car insurance, service and MOT, clothes, holidays, etc each year and split it into 12, and I put that amount aside a month. I don't keep it physically separate though as I need to filter money from my savings accounts into my general account to offset overdraft charges, and in the past that has led to confusion. So this year I have a separate s/s to add up what I put aside each month and what I spend from that as well, just to keep track of things. 

Elisheba

Afternoon, frugal friends,

I've had a fairly lazy morning even although I'm feeling a lot better. Been drinking tea, and doing a bit of admin.

My plan today is to do some food shopping, get the Xmas dec's down and put away, drop some bags off for charity, and so the dishes and hoover. Hopefully tja should leave me with a relaxed evening where I can light the fire and read for a while. 

I'm contemplating whether I should add another line to my budget for the next few months for coal and wood. Its obviously not essential, but in those dark months I do find a fire comforting. Even if it's just for lazy weekend afternoons. And I have discovered B&Q do a half decent fake coal called Braziers - 2 bags for £17, and a big bag of wood for £30. So that would be a extra £47 for a few cosy fires. I've still got some left over from New Year so I don't need to decide now. 

A small plan for the next few month is to run down all the blooming teas I have in a cupboard. Some have been there for years, and as I have put them in jars I could use the space and jars for something more useful 😂. 

Anyway, off to do busy things. Have a good weekend, everyone 😁 

Elisheba

Well, I got most of my list done today. Hoovering and washing will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Got my food shopping for under £30. I'll need some bits before the end of the month, but hopefully not much. 

Did impulse but a men's overshirt, T shirt and jumper, all on sale in Tesco, which came to £22.50, so I'll take that off my clothing pot for the year. Its two winter outfits though, so certainly won't go to waste. 

Spent the evening by the fire, and watched a couple of films, so that was nice. Absolutely exhausted though. Its hard getting things dive when you are recovering from the lurgy. 

Cheery_Daff

It most certainly is, I do sympathise. And I hear you on the tea collection 😂 I don't even drink herbal tea that often, just have aspirations to, and we have loads of it 😂

Slowdown

Hi Elisheba,
I hope you don’t mind me popping in to ask a quick question. 

I am currently researching mobile phones and on searching the site for teracube your thread came up. 

Would you mind letting me know how this phone has performed and whether it’s been any good? I found it on the ‘Buy Me Once’ website. 

Thanks 
😊  🙏 

Elisheba

Hi @Slowdown .  The camera isn't great on it which is my biggest annoyance. Its okay, but nothing like as good as you can get on a budget phone. The case on mine (which came with it) has just fallen apart, and there are no cheap alternatives so I need to order one from Terracube for £20.  I have found the screen a bit glitchy on mine, but if I have emailed them with a problem they have gotten back to me fairly quickly. However, it works fine in general, and I think its still under warranty for another 2 years so definitely better fr the environment than phones that stop[ working after a years or so.

Slowdown

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. 

I’m still thinking about the Terracube but the camera has had other bad reviews too. 

Definitely on the eco side though. 

Thanks 😊