“Debt is normal. Be weird.”

mumtoomany

The being frugal bit is relatively easy, if you've no money, you can't spend any. The recording it I find very difficult. Life gets in the way! Between careing for three grandchildren, a dozen chickens and two or three dozen sheep; and trying to grow more fruit and vegetables than weeds, I've almost no time left. The work load is just starting to slow a little for the year. Hay should be in this week, this year's lambs will be going to market in the next few weeks and school starts back in a couple of weeks. Since we retired early, we have never worked so hard, or has so little money. But would not change it. The frugal living challenge is over on the old style board. Come and join if you want, they're a very friendly lot. Or just read along, mumtoomany.

browneyed_girl

@mumtoomany Thanks for the info - I think I’ll take a look and see if I can pick up on any tips.  You’re right that life will probably make keeping track of it all rather tricky - I might need to work on my record-keeping!

browneyed_girl

Quick update today.  Payday for me so have already paid a chunk off Very and Amazon CC.  Also moved some money over to Monzo pots (garage bill made me remember how helpful these used to be) - only £100 across 5 pots (car insurance, car maintenance, holiday, Xmas and miscellaneous).  Would have usually put £50 into each monthly, but knowing that the garage bill is coming, I don’t want to be taking out from them as soon as I’ve put money in.  DH has also agreed to put £100 in when he gets paid, so it will hopefully add up quickly.

Loan payment will be coming out on Monday and so will update my spreadsheets then, as well as my signature with all relevant figures.  Looks as though I’ll be moving from the £46k bracket down to £45k, which at least feels like huge progress!  I’d really like to be below £40k by the end of the year - I’ve said it now so it has to happen!

WinterWarrior

Happy pay day ⭐️

I have to wait until Tuesday and I’ve well and truly spent up! 

Honeysucklelou2

Your electricity bill looks impressive. We are now a household of 6 ( 7 when a DD is home) and my monthly direct debit is £169😳. I’m sure the washing machine being on so much uses a fair amount.

browneyed_girl

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Your electricity bill looks impressive. We are now a household of 6 ( 7 when a DD is home) and my monthly direct debit is £169😳. I’m sure the washing machine being on so much uses a fair amount.

Ouch!  I’m not sure our direct debit has ever been quite that much!  It is also true of our house that the laundry basket is never empty, despite how many loads I put on!  I do make a habit of hanging the laundry on the line or on clothes dryers rather than using the dryer function though.

I think the main thing that makes the difference in our house is that we have an open fire in the living room.  Over autumn/winter, I make a game of trying not to use the electric radiators (they are ridiculously expensive!) and instead use the fire, wrap everyone in blankets and force everyone to drink hot chocolate!  We also have electric blankets on all the beds which are a much cheaper option than heating the bedrooms during the evening. Last year, I noted down that our first use of radiators was on November 27th, so I’ll be trying to beat that date this year!

I should also mention that this only works for us because DH will collect scrap wood for the fire throughout the year and (since being given a trailer by a friend) has offered his services to other contacts to collect unwanted logs etc.  As an example, one friend manages a nearby hotel, which recently had some trees on the grounds cut down.  It would have cost them to have a professional remove them, so DH said he could bring his chainsaw and trailer and do it for free!  

browneyed_girl

Yesterday was a bit of an anomaly for us.  MIL offered to have all the kids for a sleepover, followed by a party lunch today as an early birthday treat for DD1.  Now, I actually cannot remember a single night since DD3 was born (she’s now 5) when we have been completely child-free.  The only time I’ve personally managed a night without the kids in the past 5 years was when I was in hospital with appendicitis!

Since it was payday, DH and I initially had elaborate plans to go out for a meal (must seem a very normal activity to most people, but this is something we never get to do!).  However, thinking about the expensive garage bill made us think twice.  DH then had an absolutely genius idea (don’t tell him I said that! ) and packed up his (now) trusty 4x4 with some camping gear and we set off to buy supplies from Lid!.  Total spend of £14.64 then went off on a drive to our nearest National Park.  Spent some time to find the perfect place, which involved DH having the time of his life by taking the car off road . Had a lovely walk (it’s amazing how peaceful this is without kids arguing every two minutes!) and came back to the car to set up the camping stove and cook dinner (fried halloumi in brioche buns with pea shoot salad and relish for those who are interested ).  Spent the rest of the evening chilling in camping chairs with snacks and hot drinks (made after washing the resident spider out of the kettle) and watched the sun set.  The whole thing was very relaxing, very romantic and at least half the price of a restaurant

We did need to stop at Mr T on the way home to pick up a few essentials for £6.09 and also spent £35 on fuel.  On the whole, probably the least we’ve spent on a payday for a good while - we sometimes can’t help but see money landing in the account and suddenly rush to buy all the things we need, plus any treats we feel that we’ve been good enough to earn!  

DH picked up kids today, who came home mid-afternoon and completely stuffed from a massive lunch (good job MIL! ).  This meant they only wanted a light tea instead of a cooked meal, so I now have two meals that were planned for Friday and Saturday which can roll over into next week.  That has made the meal planning a bit easier and I’m hoping that this is reflected in the cost of the main shop tomorrow.  DH did stop at the local shop to pick up some drinks and snacks for tonight (his working week starts tomorrow), so total spend today of £16.04.  I’ve noticed that these top-up and impulsive shops have been increasing recently, but we’re still keeping track of it all and if it starts to get ridiculous, then I’ll quickly nip it in the bud.  As it is, since DH started working again, he likes to make the most of his days off with good food and a few drinks.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask!

Honeysucklelou2

Sounds like a perfect child free evening! How lovely that you were able to have that time.

I have the same competition with myself as to how far in the year I can hold off with the heating. We have a wood burning stove that usually gets lit in the evenings towards the end of September into October. I hadn’t thought of electric blankets as a way of heating...will investigate that, thank you. 

browneyed_girl

Happy Sunday everyone!  Obviously made so much better by the bank holiday tomorrow!

The day so far has been spent shopping and sorting out the secluded area of jungle that we more commonly refer to as “the garden”.  First stop on our main weekly shop was at Lid! where we spent £34.86 and by using our newly discovered Lid! Rewards app, we also received a free cookie (for DD3 - I resisted the call of the brownies and am extremely proud of the fact!) and a free box of Belgian chocolates.  Both items together are quite possibly a sign that I should have postponed the start of my diet!  Unfortunately, Lid! was lacking in some of the items we needed, so we also made a quick pit stop at Mr T with a spend of £11.59.  This means that our main shop for the week has come to the grand total of £46.45

Planning ahead for dinner this evening (I tend to think about food a lot, hence the extra 20lbs ) and kids will be having halloumi and veg skewers with couscous, whilst DH and I have got HM spicy carrot and lentil soup.  I do need to make another batch of soup at some point this week because I only have one portion left in the freezer.  I usually make it towards the end of the week and throw in whatever veggies need using up.  I did find some parsley in the freezer last week which must have been there for ages and can be added to the soup.  I’m sure it won’t do any harm once blended in with everything else, otherwise we would probably have seen some public health warning about the dangers of herbs lurking in your freezer just waiting to poison you.  That said, we no longer watch live TV after cancelling Sky, so I may not have seen the warning if there was one.  I think I’ll still risk it...

I’ve also had a long hard think about some short-term goals that I can write on here and make myself accountable.  Payday always makes me refocus and I spend what seems like hours poring over spreadsheets and doing various calculations to determine how quickly we can clear our debt.  I’ll post these goals separately in a bit, once I’ve checked that they’re actually achievable! 

WinterWarrior

Happy Sunday. Well done on that shopping total…positively saintly!