Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Hi Debtbusters,
Well here's a thing. I had a bit of time to kill in town this morning before a meeting, & found myself drawn into Monsoon, where there were some very enticing sale rails. As I said in an earlier post, I don't really want to buy summer clothes, I'd rather assess my wardrobe in September & prioritise anything I need for the colder months.
But of course I had to look, so I set myself a little exercise: to choose 3 garments from the sale rail which I almost certainly would have bought using my overdraft back in the Spendy Decades. I chose a dress, a skirt & a black cardigan. Then I asked myself "What's wrong with them?" The dress was in a lovely fabric & a curvaceous style that I like BUT being honest with myself, I have 3 dresses in this style hanging up in my wardrobe which I'm not wearing very much at all at the moment because my weight is still a stone & a half up on the lowest weight I slimmed down to, & they feel too snug round my waist at the moment. The skirt was utterly gorgeous. I have 2 tops it would go with & could extend its use well into autumn, but it was far too long. I love a maxi skirt but am only a smidge over 5' 3" & so it trailed on the floor. I can turn things up but this was a stretchy fabric so difficult to do well. And the black cardi? Yes, useful. It would have gone with lots of outfits, but I already have a long black cardi, 2 other similar black over-garments & a black poncho. It would just have been duplicating what I already have.
Back pre-LBM, I never really applied any critical thinking to my sales purchases, & as I've said before, I used to waste a lot of money on stuff from the sale rails, none of which I ever really loved, once I'd got it home & into my wardrobe. Think I will defo wait till the new season, assess what I need & just enjoy looking for that one garment I totally love. I'd rather pay full price & enjoy wearing it till it drops than buy 3 things which don't make the best use of what I've spent on them.
And now I'm going to work off a bit of that chunky mid-section weeding our squash bed! Already done the sweetcorn. Just chatting to you while having a rest.
Cheers all......keep it in your purse!
F x

Hi Sunny Debtbusters,
Oh.....how I want some rain! We had about 5 mins of very sparse raindrops the other night & that was our lot, so boo to that!
Anyway, time for a catch-up:
I haven't been able to via any further money into the Loan Pay Down Fund since recently having to use a wodge of it to pay that legal bill. I have slacked off a bit on surveys, which are one of my key income streams for that fund. I had a look at where I am with them today, & did a few while I was at it. I need £3 on Onepoll for my £40 cash-out, so must really make myself sign in every day until I get there. I could cash in Prolific Academic, as when I get my outstanding payment, I shall have just over £40. I might keep going with that until next month, though I expect the surveys will decrease until the new academic year. I've got around 600 points on Ipsos. I used to like the Compliments vouchers to spend at John Lewis from that, which they no longer do, so will look at the latest selection of rewards & choose the best option for us. I'm half-way on Toluna - I have barely touched these for weeks - & I like to go for the £35 cash payment on that, so must try & shift a survey every day at least.
As for ebay, I only have a couple of items to list, so I might wait until I have found a few more. I also have a pile of items to try on Ziffit again, with a code which I received for doing their feedback survey) for £5 IF my order comes to more than £10. I'm not sure it will yet but maybe worth a try & it would give me my spare room futon back, where everything is stashed.

So, nothing more paid into the LPDF, but have still been pretty good on the general frugal front. What's really helping now summer's here, is picking our own food from the veggie garden. Can hardly believe we've had 52 cucumbers from our 3 plants so far this summer! Thankfully I grew the mini variety. mr f is requesting them in his lunchbox every day as they are so crunchy & juicy, & hardly any calories. Today I've also picked tomatoes, rocket, basil & courgettes. The first beans will be ready tomorrow by the looks of them. The peppers are swelling, the chilli plants are smothered & 2 aubergines will need to be accomodated in our meal plans over the next couple of weeks, so that the other smaller ones have more energy to grow. The strawberries have finished for this year......the first summer I haven't bought any! So all of that effort is made worthwhile at this time of year.

And, I'm also looking towards the winter months, especially the spendy one beginning with 'D', as am currently knitting 2 more gifts for the presents box. So the motivation is there, My mid-month budget check-in went ok earlier this week. No nasty surprises. Just made sure to tell mr f that our current account is not to be accessed until new budget. I like to keep a little bit of a cushion for any small emergencies & small cushions can so easily be frittered away with a coffee & bun here, a packet of mints there, a top-up shop loaf of bread, you know how it all adds up. On Friday we'll be doing our final grocery shop of July's budget & we have all of our target spend for that intact, so I look forward to doing a good meal plan which makes the most of our fresh produce & a proper Big Girl's Sensible Shopping List!
Hope you're all doing ok. I just want rain now........(but not while we're camping!)
F x

I know what you mean, OBL. My Big Budget Day should be this Friday (payday), but I am out most of the day so will be tackling it on Saturday instead. I never thought back in the day that I'd turn into a willing & enthusiastic budgeter, but I can't wait to get my backside on my desk chair upstairs in Foxgloves HQ to start number crunching. We've already got 1 extra expense.....mr f went for an eye test yesterday & needs not one, but TWO new pairs of glasses!! So I've got that sort of 'end of the month wanting to get cracking' feeling. I must also remember to chase up an order I placed for a dressmaking pattern......they have taken my payment but I haven't received the pattern. Grrrrr.
On a more positive 'crafting' note, I finished knitting a Christmas gift today & have packed it away in the presents box.
Food supplies lasting longer too, as am back on the calorie counting & am MOTIVATED. 4lbs off last week!
Hope all is well your end.
F