Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

dustydigger

There's always something.

Mr Dusty has been having problems with his bus pass,doesnt work properly,and drivers have been just waving him through for weeks,but today a somewhat disgruntled driver confiscated it and asked for full fare to town,around £5 return. So he came back home. Unfortunately he had tucked his bank card away in the little folder. Searches for phone numbers ensued and then the task of trying to explain the situation to a dozy person on the phone  to the bus companywho said he could do nothing,we should just cancel the bank card. Then 20 minutes on the phone to bank to cancel the card.Then another wait to order new bus pass from council. A week or more for the new bank card,and 10 days for the new bus pass to come.

Good job we just started a fortnight,we will have the card before the next one starts.

Bluegreen143

I don’t see a need to compare who’s better off than who 🙂 We all have different incomes, family circumstances, health issues and savings/debt amounts. And we all have different goals.

I’ve always found this board is very welcoming and accepting of people contributing and posting regardless of how how they earn/save/spend - we can learn from each other. 

I’ve posted here as a recent graduate with a low paid job saving for a wedding; a debt free wannabe; a SAHM in a one (low) income family of four; and now we are in a fortunate financial position as I have a decent paid professional job, my husband has a well paid skilled manual/trade type job and we have no debt. But in all these circumstances I’ve found OS and money saving helpful! 

I know I learn and am inspired by posters in a range of circumstances so I don’t think anybody would reproach you for being too well off (which is completely relative anyway; plenty of other people would consider your income is really low). The important thing is you set your own goals and work towards them. Don’t be put off posting about whatever you like @dustydigger, it’s your diary.

dustydigger

Thanks Bluegreen,thats very comforting. Budgeting is an amazing tool that is useful for all sorts of situations and circumstances.People who dont use this site are panic stricken,dont know where to turn. What a world.

joedenise

Absolutely agree with @Bluegreen143.  This is your diary and you can talk about whatever you want to.  No one should be comparing themselves with you.

I think you do extremely well on the money you have coming in.

London_1

dustydigger said:

Thanks Bluegreen,thats very comforting. Budgeting is an amazing tool that is useful for all sorts of situations and circumstances.People who dont use this site are panic stricken,dont know where to turn. What a world.

Indeed the world has gone into panic mode at the moment .But if you step back and think about things in a logical manner we can all hopefully get sorted.
I buy mostly basic brand stuff, as to me as long as it
tastes of a baked bean
looks like a baked bean
 then chances are it is a baked bean , If you see what I mean .

When I was growing up in the 1940s/50s there was far less choice about food .it was mostly on ration so it was more a case of what you could find to buy, more than who made it.
 
Walk around supermarkets and you see so many companies all selling more or less the same thing, but advertised in different ways 

I think if I can get the best value for my cash and it tastes Ok, I don't really care what's on the label of the tin.
Why would I pay a pound for a tin of Heinz beans when I can pay 22p for the same product.

I know there are folk who just refuse to downsize the food stuff, and think they are getting a better deal/taste/flavour if they pay three times as much, but to be honest food is fuel for your body and after you have 'fuelled up' eaten, the tin goes into the recycling

 If by budgetting carefully I can help get my youngest grandson through the next three years foodwise then I am OK with that.I shan't go hungr,y or without things .I buy very few clothes ( at my age I doubt I will out grow, or out wear them  )

I don't smoke, and rarely drink, so thats not a problem either.
When it comes to 'take-aways' I can make twice as much for half the price and as I'm retired (since 1995) I have the time to cook from scratch. 

So life may get a bit more ...interesing foodwise over the next year or so, but I love a challenge. Finding interesting ways to make different things for less money is a bit of a hobby of mine . I bought last week three small carrots that cost me 9p loose, i peeled and sliced them and had a lot more carrots in water waiting to go into a stew than if I had bought a tin of carrots for three times the price. So often, if you can, its worth thinking about how you can get better value for the same item, and the extra will buy something else

I'm sure we will all do Ok in the coming months and because we are all here to help each other it won't be such a struggle . The families I feel for are the ones with young children who have never had to think about these sorts of things Shopping was just a Saturday or friday night going around the big stores chucking stuff into the trolley. a lot of which would probably end up in the bin before next shopping day.Maybe the Cost of Living problems will cut back on wasteage which can only be a good thing

JackieO x

dustydigger

My parents during WWII had 3 young children (I was a 1948 afterthought!)and it was tough. Everything was rationed of course. My mother never had any new clothes right through the war. The  lady next door was a clothes fanatic. My mother would exchange her clothes coupons for the lady's banana ration - one banana per person per month,so that my siblings would have TWO whole bananas a month! Rationing went on till about1954.

About the super abundance of food in supermarkets,I am sure that Aldi's policy of having only one fair quality brand,often from another country,is a factor in its popularity..I am quite happy with Asd@s own brand cornflakes,oatmea,rice.plain yoghurt,smart price sardines, and other stuff,but I still stick with my Napolina tinned tomatoes.cant like any other brand!

dustydigger

Had a spendy weekend. My computer has been getting slower and slower for a long while. 7 or 8 minutes from signing in to seeing an actual web page,up to 2 minutes from clicking on a page till actually seeing it.Never ending buffering,battery running down in 2 to 3 hours. Just so hairtearingly stressful. My last computer when it was slowing down I just bought a generic compatible battery on line and the replacement,about £15 I think,kept the computer going for another 18 months. This blasted Lenovo has been annoying and slow from getting it,and the way it was designed there was no way to replace a battery,it was a sealed machine.Barely lasted 3 yr 4 mth. It was very heavy too,hell on my arthritic hands,and all in all a miserable experience.

I got my new Asus brand at the weekend,and its just a delight to click and see an immediate shift to a new page

I also got a new microwave. I have only had the last one 11 months. Right from the start the little plastic ring which moved the glass plate around would jerk and slip out of place,so that soon the white paint was flaking off,the dish being microwaved could slide over and tip over,and the ring would get stuck. It was my first digital microwave and I found it a bit tiresome to programme. e g  To defrost took many clicks getting the number down from 100 to the defrost setting of 30.The inside ended up all rusty,looked horrible. No more Sharp brand for me! I searched around and found a nice simple old fashioned manual,only 2 dials. Stainless steel interior,so no flaking paint.

Pricey weekend,well over £400 ,but that came from my household savings ''pot'',I remain debt free.

Feeling much less harassed and annoyed having machines that actually work!

CapricornLass

Bliss, isn't it, having a computer that works?  However, sometimes its the programmes that  are running that are the problem, not the laptop and some of those programmes are only visible in the background, if you know what I mean.  When my son looked at my laptop, there were two programmes running in the background that interfered with each other, and slowed down the laptop performance to the point of stopping altogether.  I'm very lucky in having one son who has built several computers from scratch, and the other who is a programmer by trade, and who could not only identify the problem for me but also have the skllls to fix it.  Otherwise I would have been like you and forking out for a new laptop.

But not being able to replace the battery is annoying,

Paspatur

Paspatur said:

dustydigger said:

Looks like  I was clear as mud,as usual! :)These figures are present spending,beforeI start cutting down 

All the bills are paid online,out of a monthly budget of £556,then every fortnight I get £123 in cash. So the whole monthly budget is £556 + £246=£802. 

So the £556 is your small pension plus pension credit? And the £123 in cash fortnightly is from your husbands pension, where is the remainder of his pension included? Or am I missing something? Or is that going on council tax and rent/mortgage which are not mentioned?

Dusty, sorry if you thought I was insinuating you had too much money. I was interested in your numbers for my best friend who works 5 days a week for £350 net wages and pays full rent and single person council tax. He is worried that when he retires at 66 (in 2 years) that his £185.15 full state pension plus rubbish company pension (maybe £73 a week) would be all he had but looks like he may get some help with rent and council tax at least

Wraithlady

dustydigger said:

Only self indulgence is my £8 amaz0n kindle unlimited subscription. 

 I do have some free sites I can use for classic science fiction and old vintage crime and the like,but they are scanned and often hard to read. So unless it all becomes really dire,I will continue with my kindle! .

Just wondering if you'd come across Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ - they work on a Kindle and the books are free (and digitised, not scanned)