Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor · 14 November 2017 at 8:04PM

Thank you everyone for all your kind and supportive comments

It was a gruelling trip with a lot of driving. Not just on the journey down and back, but every day we drove from Sussex along country roads into the chaos that is London (where the hospital is) and back again in the dark. DH was amazing to cope with all that driving and we were both shattered when we got back

However BIL and everyone else were delighted to see us and were very hospitable. Due to shortness of money and the stress of family problems and illness, we hadn't visited DH's family for a long time and we feel guilty about this. So we want to try and set aside a budget to visit them once a year now we are debt free.

BIL was amazingly cheerful in the circumstances and is getting lots of visitors.

HairyHandofDartmoor · 14 November 2017 at 8:14PM

Money wise it has been a very expensive trip. About £200 :eek:. Half of that on petrol and the rest on food and drinks :eek:. I know it could have been a lot more expensive with three of us on the road for four days, but I'm still horrified at the amount we spent on food

.

Buying food for the journey back was done in Tesco, but as we needed to buy sandwiches as well as drinks and snacks, and DH and DS1 were with me, it was hard to conttol the budget :mad::(. It's hard to make good food choices when you're exhausted too.

Other brother bought us a meal on the Friday night, we had a takeaway curry at sister's house on the Saturday night and sister cooked us a roast dinner on the Sunday night. But we contributed towards the takeaway and DH paid for some groceries for sister, so it seemed to mount up.

I can see that we need an emergency travel fund to go with all of the other emergency funds we need!

enthusiasticsaver · 14 November 2017 at 8:21PM

Glad you had a good trip and I hate driving in London too but have to as my mum, sister and brother live there. Mum is in her 80s and brother has MS so I feel as we are fit we should travel up there regularly from our home in Cornwall. It cost us a few hundred in fuel, travel lodges and maybe one meal out and we usually get treated to a few meals.

I would suggest now you are debt free that you direct the money you were paying to debt to savings instead. Some for holiday/travel fund, some for car/house fund, emergency savings and long term savings. It does not have to be a lot each month but if you start to loosen the purse strings too much then it is very easy to fall back into bad habits.

System · 14 November 2017 at 8:26PM

Glad your back safely and BIL is getting better. London is an expensive place anyway so can understand the spends.

Anyway you are back now and can get on with your saving for next trip to family.

HairyHandofDartmoor · 14 November 2017 at 8:35PM

Thanks ES and Cumbria.

I think the spending was hard to avoid but still goes against the grain

I'm pretty much obsessed with saving now and I think that any Christmas money I get will be added to my emergency fund.

Other good news is that DS1 has passed the health review for his ESA :j (it's a miracle!) and has agreed to give us £20 a week towards his food, which will go straight into the emergency fund :T

Our next expenses are going to be my niece's wedding in the Midlands in two weeks time and then Christmas :eek:. It's like a conspiracy to part us from our money :eek: :mad:

Willowtree222 · 14 November 2017 at 9:54PM

Glad BIL is positive. Travelling is very draining, no matter what, even in good traffic do hopefully you'll be able to relax over the next few days.

That spend doesn't seeem like it was in luxuries though, I know it's not what you wanted to spend, but you managed it by using Tesco for snacks, and contributed to food exactly like you would do at home.

Enjoy your week xx

HairyHandofDartmoor · 14 November 2017 at 10:04PM

Thanks Nicnak. We did our best to keep the spends down, but being away from home always seems to drain money away really quickly :mad:

HairyHandofDartmoor · 15 November 2017 at 8:07PM

DH and I still feel tired today, but better than yesterday when I felt ill with exhaustion.

I did our big weekly grocery shop at Mr T and it came in at £76 including washing up liquid, bin liners, soap, rabbit food etc :T. So I've transferred £20 to Emergency Fund 2 which now totals £120 :j.

We got a letter today saying our mortgage is going up by five pounds a month in December

. It may not sound much but I hope this isn't going to be the first of many. We can't change to a fixed rate while our credit reputation is pants

.

I did two PA surveys and one YG survey today. PA is close to £10, but YG is only up to 2050 points so will take forever.

Most of the big bills for the month have gone out now, so we only need about £600 to get us through the rest of November, apart from the wedding which will throw a spanner in the financial works :eek:.

Willowtree222 · 15 November 2017 at 8:16PM

Amazing how you are working up your emergency fund and loss.

Travelling is so draining, ensure you take it easy.

Weddings are so expensive! x

mummytogirls · 15 November 2017 at 8:32PM

Evening HHOD,

As much as your trip was tiring, it sounds like youve had a nice time catching up etc.

Yay to your extra £20 in the emergency fund pot.

Have you tried @ldi for shopping, I'm a proper convert now :rotfl: xx

Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

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