More WIRE than FIRE, simplifying, saving and savvy spending

ShyAndRetiring

I've been a bit adrift as things ran away a bit this month, but am determined to move forwards. The WIRE efforts have continued and I'm starting to get a sense of how things are looking and could improve (more for another post).

For now, a quick January round-up:

• SURVEY GOAL - £50 - achieved this; £30 withdrawn, £21+ still in pending. 
• GO-BELOW POT GOAL - Limit grocery spends to £300 - small success here in terms of the £, especially as we had a birthday in the house and more visitors staying for a few days. The bigger success was that OH is now heading straight for the yellow-sticker cabinet when he goes to the local SM and is also trying to ‘pop to the shop’ less. 
• WEEKLY NSD GOAL 5/7 - achieved on all weeks except one, so happy with that.
• £750 WEDDING WEEKEND GOAL - Mixed outcomes here so I’m having to revise this goal a bit. There was a sudden panic in the family when everyone realised that the hotels, B&Bs etc nearest the venue are booking up fast, despite the fact the wedding is in the autumn. So we had to jump in and book a room for us and one for another couple in the family (a stayover is necessary due to distance). Thankfully the new credit card helped to make the payment (0% interest so didn’t have to dip into any other funds). The other couple will pay me back so I can pay it straight off the credit card. Any monthly money I can put towards the wedding weekend will now be divided between the CC payment and the savings pot. So, the £750 goal is now £500 to be saved, as I have already paid out on this. 

 JANUARY WRINKLES 

Car trouble - there were issues at the end of last year and this year has started with the Month of Dinks! Two now need attention (particularly the one which wrecked a light and how it’s sitting / fitting). Current estimate is around £500. Waiting to confirm this and when it can be done, so it’ll be an extra expense in February.

Debt has increased, as mentioned above. However there is a plan for paying it all by October. Aim not to add to this debt apart from if we need to pay for the car fixing and choose to stooze at 0% rather than raid the savings Then, the aim would be to pay by end of the year.

• CC #1: balance: £347 / £500

• CC #2: balance £420 owing - start payments in Feb

MSE Challenges

• DECLUTTERING #1: yarn stash use-up - all going well, several small items made and one larger item, 7 / 52 balls used in Jan. Crochet-along project for Feb planned, I didn’t buy the Manufacturer’s pack that goes with the pattern, instead I’ve chosen colours from my stash and should use up 15 balls of yarn! 

• DECLUTTERING #2: 40 / 365 - making regular weekly donations of ‘stuff’ to a local charity for their online auction.

• NO BUYING TOILETRIES USE UP CHALLENGE - ongoing, 4 items used up (shower gel, body spray, lippie and a lip balm). 4 / 52 used but more importantly, no toiletries purchased except for toothpaste which is an absolute necessity!

• Xmas 25 52-week challenge - £250 / £1378 - will update with survey money once it's all through.

• Wedding weekend savings - £100 / £500.

• LIFE ADMIN: have located / filed safely all of my ID docs (digital copies also made). OH is responsible for doing this with his own paperwork - as and when!

Simple pleasures

• Am managing to get a walk most days and enjoying the fresh air, headspace and nature! Fabulous way to get through the month of January and start looking for signs of spring as we go!

Hope everyone else has had a good start to 2025, S&R x

Organgrinder

This has made me think about doing a "stocktake" on cleaning products, dried foods, tinned foods, stuff in the freezer etc.

Reckon I can easily save £100 in the next couple of weeks.

I already know there's mince in freezer for lasagne or a chilli. Prawns for a stir fry. Etc, etc.

As for toiletries.....I doubt I need to buy anything other than mouthwash for the next year!

Humboldt

Hi @ShyAndRetiring sorry to read that you have been feeling overwhelmed and a bit adrift. I took the decision to leave my full time role because I was no longer willing to sacrifice my health and happiness for a job.  Initially I felt guilty if I wasn't filling every moment of my day.  Now I am learning to hold value in simple pleasures, i.e. nature, selfcare, cooking a nice meal, reading, etc.  It is still work in progress, and I sometimes have to remind myself to slow down, but I have no regrets about my decision. Health is wealth.  I hope that you don't mind me sharing this and that it helps in some small way.  

I love the subtitle January Wrinkles lol.

Humboldt

Organgrinder said:

This has made me think about doing a "stocktake" on cleaning products, dried foods, tinned foods, stuff in the freezer etc.

Reckon I can easily save £100 in the next couple of weeks.

I already know there's mince in freezer for lasagne or a chilli. Prawns for a stir fry. Etc, etc.

As for toiletries.....I doubt I need to buy anything other than mouthwash for the next year!

That's the way to do it!

ShyAndRetiring

Organgrinder said:

This has made me think about doing a "stocktake" on cleaning products, dried foods, tinned foods, stuff in the freezer etc.

Reckon I can easily save £100 in the next couple of weeks.

I already know there's mince in freezer for lasagne or a chilli. Prawns for a stir fry. Etc, etc.

As for toiletries.....I doubt I need to buy anything other than mouthwash for the next year!

Hi @Organgrinder ... that's absolutely the way to do it, for me it's a win-win as it saves £££ by 'shopping' from home and it also declutters extras and forgotten-abouts from the cupboards (or freezer, as you say).

Also makes for inspired and innovative meals when food cupboards are involved!   

Thanks for stopping by, S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

Humboldt said:

Hi @ShyAndRetiring sorry to read that you have been feeling overwhelmed and a bit adrift. I took the decision to leave my full time role because I was no longer willing to sacrifice my health and happiness for a job.  Initially I felt guilty if I wasn't filling every moment of my day.  Now I am learning to hold value in simple pleasures, i.e. nature, selfcare, cooking a nice meal, reading, etc.  It is still work in progress, and I sometimes have to remind myself to slow down, but I have no regrets about my decision. Health is wealth.  I hope that you don't mind me sharing this and that it helps in some small way.  

I love the subtitle January Wrinkles lol.

Thanks @Humboldt ... I absolutely don't mind you sharing your thoughts, your words and your understanding are appreciated and yes, they've helped, 'adrift' definitely sums it up. I've had some mixed messages from my old workplace (including some less-than-pleasant attitudes) which unsettled me, but I've tried to put it behind me. I'm doing a small amount of work for a friend, which I'm enjoying, so that's helping a bit where £££ and mental health is concerned.  

You're right about simple pleasures - I've tried to make a mental note of at least one an hour, even if it's just having that time to pause and reflect on them, so win-win there.

Ha ha, January Wrinkles is just the way it went, I'm sure there will be a few February Faux-Pas by the end of this month too, that's life after all 

Appreciate your words and your visit, thank you, S&R x

ShyAndRetiring

Back again - I keep planning to update of an evening but there always seems to be some other malarkey going on! So far this week (well, month, as it happens):

Extra income / surveys / freebies

• £8 / £50 on Prolific so far, most of which is still pending. 

Spending

• 3 / 7 NSDs so far, but about to break that today as I have a few necessary spends that weren’t in the budget (but will shop around). 

• This month’s Pot Underspend challenge is for the Petrol pot. Sadly I think the fact the car is dinked and awaiting attention is going to mean taking money from the emergency / car maintenance pot but hey, currently saving money on the fuel as we’re trying not to use it. It is roadworthy, but am worried about bits falling off whilst the mechanic waits for the replacement bits. 

Saving

• As above, nowt spent on petrol yet this month so approx £20 saved so far (and of course has been added to car maintenance fund)! 

• OH is also doing sterling work with the grocery spends, following our ‘strict’ January! He tends to be the one who pops to the shop and his new skill of diving into the yellow-sticker section are proving useful this month too. Just under £3 worth of veg on Monday gave us a stir fry and a soup this week, which is fab!

• Listened to an interesting piece on R4 yesterday, about whether people do their laundry too often. Good discussion about the £££ and environmental savings to be made, so I may do a bit of a focus on this one month. To be honest, I tend to be guided by the weather as I line-dry everything, so if the weather’s rubbish, I can’t wash much. Obviously not ideal with a four-legged friend who loves to walk whatever the weather and we live in a very muddy spot, but I’ll definitely think more about this. 

Sorting

• Starting to get on top of a few necessary home improvements. Will cost some money, but hopefully hundreds rather than thousands. At this stage we’ve made a few lists and got a few quotes, all needs rather than wants, but all the work will require a bit of decorating afterwards - that part is also a bit of a want, if I’m honest! 

Debt

• CC #1: was £348  - £64 paid so far this month current debt: £284 

• CC #2: was £420 - £95 paid so far this month, current debt: £325

Challenges

• DECLUTTERING #1: another ball used up so - 8 / 52 balls so far. New CAL has started and 15 balls have been retrieved from the stash (shopping from home)! 

• DECLUTTERING #2: 40 / 365 - haven’t used the car to take donation bits anywhere, so nothing out of the house yet this week!

• Toiletries Use Ups - ongoing: lippie finished; 1 x perfume almost done: 5 / 52

• Xmas 25 52-week challenge now stands at £560 / £1378 - trying to do the bigger amounts whilst I’m hardly spending anything!

• Wedding weekend = £200 / £500

• LIFE ADMIN: Pensions this month - have sorted some pensions paperwork and contacted some providers. Separate post to follow on this as this life-admin has the potential to be a tad life-changing actually, especially where my slight panic about the RE end of WIRE is concerned! 

Simple pleasures

• Logging on and seeing lovely visitors, thank you!

• Daily walks - plenty of geese, curlew, heron to see, plus regular sightings of the Barn Owl, who clearly has the same schedule as me and the dog!

• Just loving that the days are that little bit longer, everything just feels so much better.

• Broccoli, especially the yellow-stickered variety!

Hope everyone is doing OK, here’s to the rest of the week, S&R x

Savvy_Sue

ShyAndRetiring said:

• Listened to an interesting piece on R4 yesterday, about whether people do their laundry too often. Good discussion about the £££ and environmental savings to be made, so I may do a bit of a focus on this one month. To be honest, I tend to be guided by the weather as I line-dry everything, so if the weather’s rubbish, I can’t wash much. Obviously not ideal with a four-legged friend who loves to walk whatever the weather and we live in a very muddy spot, but I’ll definitely think more about this. 

I heard that but was not convinced, and I'd say I'm a less frequent launderer than some - I've heard of families where EVERYONE gets clean pyjamas every day!!! But I think they said 5 days in a blouse, and a month in a pair of jeans! Well, maybe if you're only wearing them once a week, but I don't get through a month without spilling SOMETHING down my trousers ... but my walking trousers are only washed every couple of weeks, even if they're muddy. 

DH gets clean shirt, pants and socks every day because at one stage he was suffering from hyperhidrosis. He could usually cope with wearing a shirt for two days now, but he would struggle to remember whether this was Day 1 or Day 2, so we just keep the 'clean every day' rule going. We're currently discussing whether I need to wash his swimming trunks and towel every time he uses them - he takes a sauna every other day when possible, and thinks I don't need to do so: I don't mind as long as he finds somewhere to hang them up to dry where a) he knows what's clean and what's not and b) they don't smell. As his first attempt was to hang them on the airer with the clean clothes, I just asked how he was going to know which was which? He'd put the towel on one bar, his CLEAN trunks on the next bar, and the damp trunks were on the bar beyond that. 

ShyAndRetiring

Savvy_Sue said:

ShyAndRetiring said:

• Listened to an interesting piece on R4 yesterday, about whether people do their laundry too often. Good discussion about the £££ and environmental savings to be made, so I may do a bit of a focus on this one month. To be honest, I tend to be guided by the weather as I line-dry everything, so if the weather’s rubbish, I can’t wash much. Obviously not ideal with a four-legged friend who loves to walk whatever the weather and we live in a very muddy spot, but I’ll definitely think more about this. 

I heard that but was not convinced, and I'd say I'm a less frequent launderer than some - I've heard of families where EVERYONE gets clean pyjamas every day!!! But I think they said 5 days in a blouse, and a month in a pair of jeans! Well, maybe if you're only wearing them once a week, but I don't get through a month without spilling SOMETHING down my trousers ... but my walking trousers are only washed every couple of weeks, even if they're muddy. 

DH gets clean shirt, pants and socks every day because at one stage he was suffering from hyperhidrosis. He could usually cope with wearing a shirt for two days now, but he would struggle to remember whether this was Day 1 or Day 2, so we just keep the 'clean every day' rule going. We're currently discussing whether I need to wash his swimming trunks and towel every time he uses them - he takes a sauna every other day when possible, and thinks I don't need to do so: I don't mind as long as he finds somewhere to hang them up to dry where a) he knows what's clean and what's not and b) they don't smell. As his first attempt was to hang them on the airer with the clean clothes, I just asked how he was going to know which was which? He'd put the towel on one bar, his CLEAN trunks on the next bar, and the damp trunks were on the bar beyond that. 

It was fascinating wasn’t it @Savvy_Sue, but you’re right that spills need to be taken into account - I end up wearing toothpaste or a food spill most days, so clearly a hand-mouth coordination issue here! . 

You raise a good point about what to do with the not-clean-but-not-dirty-enough-to-launder clothes too. OH used to have a chair of doom and just used to lose things in the pile. 

I was also shocked by the number of bra wears they said before washing - 7 I think it was, I know it sounded high considering they’re under the armpits etc. I will definitely stick with my usual routines for that kind of thing but may experiment with less laundering of items that aren’t next to the skin. Or jumped on by muddy puppy paws.

Thanks for stopping by, good to share thoughts on the subject, S&R x

Savvy_Sue

ShyAndRetiring said:

It was fascinating wasn’t it @Savvy_Sue, but you’re right that spills need to be taken into account - I end up wearing toothpaste or a food spill most days, so clearly a hand-mouth coordination issue here! . 

You raise a good point about what to do with the not-clean-but-not-dirty-enough-to-launder clothes too. OH used to have a chair of doom and just used to lose things in the pile. 

I was also shocked by the number of bra wears they said before washing - 7 I think it was, I know it sounded high considering they’re under the armpits etc. I will definitely stick with my usual routines for that kind of thing but may experiment with less laundering of items that aren’t next to the skin. Or jumped on by muddy puppy paws.

Thanks for stopping by, good to share thoughts on the subject, S&R x

The chair of doom! You know, I thought everyone had one, but DH denied knowing what I was talking about when I suggested replacing ours! It's where all the 'this needs mending but I'd have to get my sewing machine out' stuff goes. Anyway, we've now streamlined slightly: he has a chair, which is just for him. I use a thing FiL made, really for DH, but he never got on with it. It's a hanger about 4' off the ground, with a little tray on top for anything from your pockets. I've adapted it by adding some hanging cubes: my walking gear goes in the top there, and other not quite dirty bits also end up there. I can hang anything I'm going to wear again on that ...