saving my future self from debt

pennyforthepot · 1 May 2018 at 1:38PM

Money worries are not good for my well-being. My once calm and possibly vacuous mind is now filled to the brim and overflowing with the constant gibberings of my Thought Monkey filling every available space: when to spend, where to spend, why do you spend, what to save, how to save, when to save, pick it up, put it back, pick it up put it back. It is no wonder the world we live in today has such high levels of mental health issues.

I am off to meditate

pennyforthepot · 2 May 2018 at 6:26AM

Slept much better last night. Running a bit late as I slept in a bit this morning. Did a really big shop yesterday as I had run the cupboards bare, particularly expensive items like olive oil and nuts etc. Didnt start the MS day off well when the petrol station at Asda was closed for maintenance which is half the reason I go there as its not round the corner and then I managed to leave my £1 coin in the trolley as I was so tired I wasnt thinking. Anyway the scores on the doors for yesterday are as follows:

£83.47/£250 food
£2/£60 kids cost
£8.49/£318.40 celebrations pot
£190 council tax
£65 electricity (I must increase my dd back up to £85, it automatically changes with reduced usage)
£2.62 daily electricity spend
£12.30 daily available spend
£369/£455 cash pot (I reduced it and shuffled some pots around
again during my wakeful hours the other night- really tight now)

I picked up a few stocking fillers for xmas hence the celebration spend.I make DS an Advent Hamper too for uni which is basically edible goodies and toiletries that he cant normally justify buying so picking those up when I see them on offer.

Morning is calling - gotta dash

PFTPx

beanielou · 2 May 2018 at 9:36AM

Have a good day

pennyforthepot · 2 May 2018 at 4:55PM

I found choices hard to make yesterday when I doing my large food shop as I realised that to really make a significant cut in my costs I would need to make compromises with what I value and I had to ask myself whether I was willing to do that.

Treading lightly on this Earth is a phrase that I hold dear to my heart which means the way I shop should be environmentally friendly where it can be. This typically lends itself to more expensive shopping habits, (although I often either abstain from buying something if I can or make my own for household products and toiletries if possible). Food packaging is a big bug bear of mine and I would typically buy my fresh produce individually rather than bagged up which tends to make the cost more expensive. Yesterday I bit the bullet and shopped in a less environmentally friendly way and saved myself some money - it was hard and my consience weighs heavy

beanielou · 2 May 2018 at 5:19PM

I think the key to this is doing what you can when you can.
I try not to beat myself up about it.
My income is limited & I have to try to live within it.
It is what it is.
I try to make ammends in other ways.

pennyforthepot · 2 May 2018 at 8:08PM

beanielou wrote: »

I think the key to this is doing what you can when you can.
I try not to beat myself up about it.
My income is limited & I have to try to live within it.
It is what it is.
I try to make ammends in other ways.

You're right Beanielou, I think I beat myself up too often. In fact you've given me a great idea. I'm going to offset my plastic carbon footprint from my food purchases by picking up the plastic rubbish that I see when I walk up my road to Tescos, there's always stuff lying around as I live half way up a hill so I think the rain washes it down. I can drop it in a bag and stick it in the bin just outside the shop. Thanks Beanielou - you just made my day:T

System · 2 May 2018 at 8:54PM

I agree with you, I would love to be more environmentally friendly with plastic packaging etc, but find My budget doesn't always allow it. I try when I can .

Loving your diary.

pennyforthepot · 2 May 2018 at 8:59PM

Scores on the Doors:

£1.50 - food (couldnt find the item yesterday)
£162.50/£250 left in food pot
£6.96 - stamps (from miscellaneous pot)
£33.04/£40 left in the misc pot)
£2.62 daily electricity (£5.59 for month to date)
£360/£455 left in cash pot
£12.41 Daily Available Spend (up 11p)
2 x free coffee at work + one satsuma going spare!
2 x strolls passed the Tesco taster table (cheese+biscuits)

PFTP x

Treadingonplaymobil · 3 May 2018 at 5:19AM

I have struggled and struggled with the eco angle of money saving too. I'm not sure where you're up to in my diary, but the short version is that I compromised entirely on that side of things for more or less a year, then just couldn't do it any more and introduced some of my old standards (plastic free food shopping as far as possible, organic dairy and meat where practical - ie not cream because it goes off in about 7.3 seconds, and not cheese because the price difference is unsustainable for us and we don't eat loads of it). I now do a hugely involved food shop, which means going to Lidl/Aldi and getting what I can plastic free there, then Sainsburys and getting the next tranche of stuff plastic free, then the zero waste shop and grocers in town for anything remaining. Some things I just cannot, for all intents and purposes, get plastic free (dairy, I'm looking at you again), and I have experimented with cutting them out but it's just not worth it and I have reconciled myself to a vastly reduced level of plastic rather than plastic free.

I'm not sure what the lesson is there, just wanted to let you know I have struggled enormously with it too! I mainly console myself with the knowledge that compared to the vast majority of people we know, we are treading incredibly lightly anyway - we don't fly, we buy very few clothes, we don't eat fast food, we eat seasonal local fruit and veg most of the time. We're not doing appallingly.

enthusiasticsaver · 3 May 2018 at 8:03AM

pennyforthepot wrote: »

Four years ago my life was tripping along nicely, I even had a diary over on MFW - saving up to buy a flat in London. With the flick of a switch my world was turned upside down. Within a month of each other my husband was diagnosed with leukaemia, my 13 year daughter depression and anorexia and my step father septicemia following a routine operation which resulted in 4 agonising months in intensive care and the decision to turn off his life support, he was a year away from retirement. To add insult to injury our dog was knocked over and killed not long after.

This is not a post to evoke sympathy but to recognise whilst we are all paying off debt or overpaying mortgages you never know what is around the corner and should add into the equation some form of emergency savings.On a practical basis there are two things that made a MASSIVE difference during that period: the first was having enough of a savings buffer to help me through a torrid period which lasted nearly 3 years and the other was being a minimalist which meant there was no clutter to deal with on a daily basis and everything I needed was where it should be. Our family expenses increased horrendously in almost every area, whilst income dropped as DD was unable to bring in an income and I had to give up work for 6 months when my DD was too ill to go to school. Every pot was drained of any savings and I will never forget how often I was grateful that we didn't have money issues to add to the stresses of our lives.

Things have moved on since then and our lives have improved dramatically. I will always value the importance of a savings fund but also recognise that I need to maintain the balance between living for today and saving for the future

PFTP X

This I agree with 100%. Saving with no aim has no interest for me. Saving for emergencies to give you the security to know you can handle whatever life throws at you or saving for financial independence is the mantra we held for many years. Many people though do live life as if nothing will ever change and most of us know that is unlikely. An emergency fund gives you stability to cope with illness as you have had to deal with, redundancy and in the worst position bereavement.

saving my future self from debt

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