Broke and lonely with it

Blackcats

That's great about your local library.  I think you might be able to borrow online magazines which is another money saving option if you enjoy browsing through magazines.  I'm sure the librarian will tell you the various services you can use.  

ET22

@A0911 , thankyou! ive never heard of it before. I will check it out x 

Last week when i went for a walk i started talking to a man in his 70's and he said his daughter was at university now, an older dad. He said he wanted her back home and the highlight of his day was talking to the staff at the till in the supermarket. I think theres a lot of people who are in the same boat and its just something people dont  like to discuss x

Sarahspangles

How are you doing @ET22?

ET22

Hi @Sarahspangles. Im doing ok actually, thankyou for asking, its much appreciated :-) x 

I have been in the office a couple of days this week so had a bit of human contact. Im.feeling more upbeat today and im.planning on starting work early in the morning to get a head start but be ready to go for a walk once i close the laptop at 5pm to mark a clear end to the working day. I think i might set a goal to go for a walk on the days i work from home after i finish. The gp rang so i  have an appt booked.with them on 9th October

Ive made a small list of my own admin tasks to do this weekend and im going to write a to do list for jobs at home to get more organised too. 

Im due to make the second payment to my relative and make a payment to council tax tomorrow so its another week going without but i dont like owing anyone money and once its paid its out the way , then  i can just concentrate on getting other debts gone. 

I think i will just gradually come out of the overdraft by creating a weekly budget that is consistently a small amount less than i earn. Maybe i will pay one service charge payment each week of 130.00 until ive caught up. It will mean i will struggle for a while longer to get back on track but i would prefer to struggle.for 6 months and be in a more stable position. 

I just need to make life enjoyable at the same time so im planning on finding a book to read tomorrow before bed and having a nice lie in before i go shopping on saturday. Im actually looking forward to the weekend to get a few things done. X 

Sarahspangles

Your plans sound perfect - it’s a good point in the year to rethink routines going into Autumn. I need to do this, so that I’m active but also have ‘cosy’ time every day rather than the work - switch off - sleep - work routine.

vampirotoothus

Hi there, if you have friends local to you why not consider asking them for lunch on Sat and do a tin of soup and crusty rolls (or part baked). I have found this has worked really well for me and it has meant I've kept in touch, but without spending a fortune. Friends don't need to be impressed with anything more. Good luck on your journey V x

ET22

Hi @vampirotoothus , thats a good idea. I do tend to wait to be asked rather than initiate plans, thankyou x 

@Sarahspangles,yes definitely, I will try and start as I mean to go on. I think as part of the routine, I will schedule in the weekly clean and shop to be done on saturdays so that I have all of sundays off and can plan nice things to do in advance x 

I made the second payment to the relative this morning and a payment to the council tax, a total of 240 pounds. 

Im thinking about withdrawing cash on a weekly basis because its too easy to tap the bank card to spend the odd few quid here and there. I will have to have a think about a realistic amount first. Its probably a good habit to have and will make me think twice before wasting any of the small amount of money I have got at the moment x  

foxgloves

I agree with you about paying by contactless. I would have massively over-used this if it had been an available payment method back in my spendy decades. While customers are mostly asked if they require a receipt (I always do as I use them to reconcile my.monthly budget), those who choose not to will have nothing to remind them.of what they have spent until they look at an online statement.
This morning, I was in town & paid for some market shopping with cash. The stallholder commented that they have recently started seeing an increase in customers using cash again, so I think other people are probably also thinking along the same lines as you.
F

Grumpelstiltskin

OP A few thoughts on food.

I know it can be more difficult when you are single but you need to make sure you don't spend more on food than you need to and you don't waste any.

Do you buy reduced items in the supermarket ( referred to on here as Y/S, as the reduced stickers are usually yellow ) ?

Do you know when your supermarket reduces food?


Do you buy big brands?

The Old Style board on here is a good place to look for ideas.
This is a very long thread.

Cooking for one (Mark Three) — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Chocolatefund

I'm definitely guilty on spending way too much on food for just...me.  It took me a while to train my brain to pay more attention to supermarkets and thier prices.  I've been slowly switching from branded items to supermarkets own and it does make a difference.

Definitely gonna check out that cooking for one link. I'm just so lazy when it comes to food...If I can stick it in the microwave or oven then I will!