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

Elisheba

Afternoon, everyone,

I have done some reconciliation between my s/s and my actual bank account.  I haven't done it in about 5 or 6 months because my Amex payments cover until the middle of the month and come out at the end of the month, and that makes things complicated. Anyway, unfortunately my s/s is out by £141,  I'm not hugely surprised as I was very good at spending in December and January, and not very good at writing it all down. I didn't expect it to be quite such a big difference, but it is what it is, and at least all my figures are correct now.

I've seen the most lovely house for sale for £140k.  Its a terrace in a small town rather than a cottage in the middle of nowhere, but it has big airy rooms, and a lovely long garden. Only 15 miles to the sea, and its surrounded by countryside, and the town looks like it has quite a bustling social side.  If the structure was sound all it would need would be some new carpets, old 70's electric fires ripped out and new wood stoves put in (and the chimneys would probably need some work), and  a new bathroom suite.  Nothing that was desperate though so I could save up and do it as I went along.  Sadly, I am not in a position to move or buy just yet :sad

Still, hopefully that little dream house will motivate me to get the debt gone and the savings up.  The rest of my s/s has been updated, and the annuals pots have been increased to accommodate saving for a new car and some other expenses I hadn't taken into account.  It all takes away from my debt repayments and house savings, but I think it is better to be prepared even if it means the debt goes on a bit longer.

Office day tomorrow and then I am off for two weeks - woo hoo!  Still need to decide what to do.  I'm contemplating a short trip up to Scotland to see family.  I could do a day trip or two when there to Stirling as I haven't been in years, and there is a museum on the way up near Gretna called The Devil's Porridge Museum I was reading about in The Scots Magazine that I would like to visit https://www.devilsporridge.org.uk/.  It all about a massive munitions factory in WW1, and 12000 of its workers were women.  I still want to do a day trip to London to see Churchill's War Rooms, and I am also mulling over rejoining The National Trust which will give me a few places local to me I can go and visit as well.

The forecast for this Saturday is dire, so I will be staying inside as much as possible.  I need to do a mealplan and food shop so will get that done in the morning.  The library book I ordered is in, so will collect it on the way to meeting a friend for coffee and cake.  I want to move the furniture in my bedroom, and a couple of things in the living room so will see if I feel like doing that later on.  I have Quaker things that will take up a good part of Sunday, then I'll make a roast dinner and chill out to Antiques Roadshow  . Not sure about the rest of the week, so I'll need to come up with a plan.

Dinner today is going to be the reheated pizza - apparently its quite nice done in the airfrier so I'll give that a go.  Lunch was a tin of soup and a cheese and mushroom toastie, and an apple and satsuma. Also had about 4 or 5 boiled sweets.  I figure they last much longer than normal sweets so I can enjoy them without pigging out.

Well, I am off to dream about the house I can't afford to buy yet, and to feel grumbly that I still have another day of work before I'm off. 

SuzeQStan

Hey Elisheba - cottage sounds lovely - don’t forget there are plenty fish in the sea tho. Keep the dream alive and you will get there with us all cheering you on xx

have a wonder break - 2 weeks off!! I bet Scotland beautiful this time of year (albeit a lil bit soggy) very jealous! My break ain’t until 30th April and the whole office is sick of me going on about it 🤣 

ps well done on getting the ss up to date - I love how you say you are very good at spending 😉 but I have to say you are also good at getting back on track. Inspiring as always thank you xx

fionaandphil

If you are thinking about NT membership, it is cheaper to buy the Scottish one and you can use it in England as well.  Cashback on it too!

Elisheba

fionaandphil said:

If you are thinking about NT membership, it is cheaper to buy the Scottish one and you can use it in England as well.  Cashback on it too!

Oh, I did actually know this but had forgotten! And it won't seem strange at all as I have a Scottish accent. 

No sooner said than done. All signed up and £1.50 a month cheaper than otherwise. 

Elisheba

Morning, frugal fiends, 

I woke up ridiculously early this morning so I've been sitting in bed with a coffee failing at various word puzzles 😂☕.

Yesterday was so long and tiring. An office day, then I rushed home to walk the dog, then out for a meeting of my social group. I absolutely fell into bed last night. It was pay day, so anything not needed immediately has been transferred to my 5% easy access account. I made £4.93 in interest last month, which isn't bad for just moving spending money around.

Spending yesterday included annual membership to a special interest book club I like (£12 - which I am going to add to my annual pots), a book from said book club (£13 from personal allowance), my train ticket (travel budget), and £21 for the craft activity with my social group (personal allowance).

Today I need to do a meal plan and food shop. I also want to dye my hair again to try to get it to a colour I like. Then I need to move furniture, strip bed, hoover, clean bathroom, collect library book, coffee with a friend, walk the dog and take back Tesco clothes returns. This week I want to get the car cleaned inside and out, and weed my driveway. Hopefully I will be able to get some of the mending pile of doom done as well.

I discovered which cat has blood in their poo so have a vets appointment on Monday. I'm hoping it's just an abscess and nothing more serious. She seems in good spirits and is eating well, so fingers crossed. I'll need to wait and see what needs to happen before I decide if I'm going up to Scotland or not. 

I was looking up Churchill's War Rooms, and they are about £27 to visit (insane I know, but I knew that already), but for £60 (which you can pay monthly) I could get an annual membership to the Imperial War Museums, which would also give me free access to HMP Belfast in London, and the Duxford Museum over in Cambridgeshire. So I'm pondering if I should do that. If nothing else it would give me the excuse for a couple of day trips, and you never know - I might want to visit twice. 

I hope you all have wonderful weekends. I feel like a child at the start of summer hols, knowing I have two whole weeks in front of me where I can basically just please myself 😊. 

Cheery_Daff

Lots of things planned there! The museum cost does seem better value for the annual pass, especially at that price for a single entry 😱 But if you'll use the others, it'll bring the cost right down. 
Two weeks off! Lovely! 😊 I usually take 2 weeks at Easter but I'm going to a conference the second week, and I've been on strike so much I feel like I've barely been at work (although I also don't feel like I've been off...) so I'm working this time - but only on cheerful things 😁

SuzeQStan

Happy holidays Elisheba - 2 weeks complete freedom! Enjoy it you deserve it (I’m only jealous!)

hope your cat is ok - pls let us know how she gets on at the vets 

Makingabobor2

The annual membership cost sounds well worth it. Some interesting places to see there.  Hope the cat is ok. 

Elisheba

Evening, all, 

Sounds like a good plan @Cheery_Daff, and I don't suppose the annual leave is going anywhere.

@SuzeQStan I will do. The appointment is Monday evening. I'm second guessing myself now over whether this is the right cat, and whether it's even a problem. I thought I felt a lump yesterday but can't seem to feel it today. All I can do is keep an eye on her, and make a final decision on Monday I suppose.

@Makingabobor2 It does sound like good value if you fancied all 3 museums, but I looked up Duxford and it's all aeroplanes, which I'm not interested in really. So it would only be value for me if I wanted to go to the other two exhibitions more than once, which seems unlikely as its not cheap for me to get to London. So I will probably just get the day ticket. 

It's been a hectic day, but I got lots done on my list albeit not everything. Hair has been dyed a slightly better colour. Bedroom furniture has been moved. Food plan and list done, and shopping acquired (from 3 supermarkets altogether). I discovered I'd forgotten my handbag when I arrived at the first supermarket, so had to drive home then back again 🙄.

A few good value food items acquired. One type of UHT milk in Aldi is only 69p. I've not tried it yet so I can't say what the 26p difference between this one and the normal UHT is. Since I don't like the flavour of UHT anyway, and only use it in things rather than straight, I don't imagine it will make much difference to me.

I also got an aubergine as part of Lidl's super six and am going to try making fake bacon with it. I wanted to get some Quorn items on special offer, but they were sold out so I'll look again during the week. Otherwise I managed to get everything on my list which is really unusual as of late.

I met my friend in town and we got a light lunch and had good chats which was nice. Then I popped into a couple of charity shops and bought a 2 new books 😳, then collected my library book and a few others. 

Managed some hoovering in the house, but that was all as I am knackered after the rushing about. I have been sitting down with tea writing up exactly what I've spent, and then made a good inroads into the library book I ordered.

My eyes are closing as I write, no doubt because I've woken at 4am the last two mornings and have not been properly able to get back to sleep afterwards. I think I'll head to bed in a minute and maybe glance though one of the magazines I can get free through PressReader and my library.

Tomorrow is less busy. Quaker stuff until about mid afternoon I think, then a dog walk, strip and change the bedding and put a wash on, quick bathroom clean, then dinner and relax 😊.

Monday I have swimming in the morning, and the vet in the evening so I think I'll just visit my local city. There is a National Trust place there I've not seen, and I haven't been to the Museum either, so that should fill the day nicely. 

I think that's all for just now. Was really feeling the cold this evening so I've put the heating on. I hope you are all toasty and snuggled up wherever you are, and have a good night's sleep. 

Elisheba

Afternoon, all,

A fairly chilled out day for me today. I woke early and had time for a cup of tea in bed before my dog started barking for breakfast. Quaker things only lasted until 1.15pm, and then I walked home, had a cup of tea, and took my dog out for a walk for an hour and a half. It wasn't that long a walk, but I've pinged something in my knee that hurt if I moved my knee in a certain way so it took longer than normal. Being hypermobile these sorts of things are fairly common, but quite often they clear up quickly.

The cat I'm supposed to be taking to the vet tomorrow seems absolutely fine, and there is no blood in the litter tray. I have only noticed a couple of tiny spots since the first occasion when there was quite a lot. So bearing in mind I still can't even guarantee that it is her I think I'll cancel the appointment and just monitor the situation for a bit longer.

I was thinking happy thoughts about my baby dishwasher yesterday, and how even although it was expensive and I'm sure it is costing a fair bit in electricity, I wouldn't be without it because of the improvement in my quality of life of not constantly having dishes to do.

Then I got thinking about other things in my life that aren't essential but it would physically hurt my to have to give up. 

So far I have:

A reasonably warm home 

The pets

The dishwasher

Tea

Bubble baths

Cordless vacuum

Good company

I'm not a particularly materialistic person. Even in my spendy days most of my furniture was secondhand and loads of my clothes came from charity shops. Most of my spending was always on socialising and experiences and books. The only reason books weren't on the above list was if I couldn't buy books I would just go to the library so it wouldn't be a problem. 

There are loads of things in my life I like well enough, like my car which makes life very convenient, or TV which can be interesting. However, if I had to get rid of them I would just sigh and get on with things and it wouldn't be the end of the world.

With the things on my list though, I would do an awful lot to keep them. For example, I lived my ex in very difficult circumstances for 15 months as I couldn't find a place to live that was suitable for the cats. And I would never willingly choose to live somewhere which didn't have a bath. And from my experiments with turning off the heating I know that after it gets below a certain temperature, even if you can live in it well enough, it takes all the joy out of life.

So I guess those are my life non-negotiables. I'm sure everyone has their own list - it would be interesting to see what other people's look like. People are so different they must vary wildly! 

It's been a no spend day today which is nice. No idea what I'll make for dinner. I know a roast it traditional, but with just myself to please I probably won't bother 😂. I'll read for a bit, and maybe watch some You Tube videos later. Nothing chore like for me today just fun and relaxing things. 

I hope you are all having lovely chilled Sundays, whatever you are doing. 😊