Thieves & Vagabonds, Keep On Moving There Is Nothing to See Here.

If you are of a criminal disposition, then please avert your eyes now.

 

I am really worth mugging at the moment.

This is unusual. Normally if approached by knife wielding “hoodie” with nefarious plans, then I would have handed over my purse with a jaunty smile as it normally contained somewhere in the region of £1.73, some useless credit cards and a debit card that had an available balance of somewhere between £0 – 20.00.

I think on balance a few months ago, I would have been most upset to loose my Tesco loyalty card. All those points!

Much has changed since I started blogging. My credit cards are now worth nicking, but are safely stored at home. Not to stop any theft, but the much more likely possibility of my head being turned by a pair of sparkly shoes or the longed for mascara which will never smudge!

However, I am trialling a new system since pay day on Thursday.

I have taken out £400 in cash and split it in half. £200 to cover petrol for the month and £200 to cover food for TC and myself.

This means I have more cash than I have seen for a long time in my purse.

I am doing it to try and keep a track on my spending in February.

Time will tell if it works, but I do need to try and decant some of this cash into the safe.

I did my first proper shop for The Chap and I on Friday after work and for the first time was able to use one of the vouchers to get £6 off if you spend £40 or over. The shop came in at £49 and will last us until at least Friday, and hopefully longer. It also led to another voucher for next week.

I think TC is very happy to have given up the cookery reins, and is certainly delighted to have his extra 20mins in bed of a work day morning as he does not need to iron a shirt for work. I do it all on a Sunday.

I on the other hand am quite happy never to pick up a wrench, sander, polyfiller etc. Division of labour is wonderful.

 ***

I wonder if anyone can help? I want to start a little garden here at “Southfork” and am planning on appropriating a small patch say 1m square for the growing of some vegetables. Can anyone suggest a good garden planner on the net I could use so I know when (i.e. the month) to plant potatoes etc?

I am thinking of starting small

Potatoes

Onions or leeks

Lettuce

Carrots.

Space is limited here at "Southfork", so I was thinking that spuds can be grown in pots or bags can’t they?

All advice gratefully received.

Frugally yours

Abigail

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Oh Sh*t"

I checked my bank balance today, and had an “Oh Sh*t!” moment. I have £130 left to last me until 28^th June – 18 days away and I have a book club meal and another weekend away to London to contend with.

Breathe Abigail! Breathe!

After spending 20 minutes panicking. I calmed down sufficiently to put the high heels and short skirt away.

I phoned my friend S straight away and asked if we could swop the weekend to the 2th June?

The theatre tickets (my birthday present from her) had not been booked so no problem. 1 thing less to worry about. Phew!

Time to re-budget. I am going to need £80 at least for petrol to get me to and from work. So lunchtime today I visited the cashpoint and grabbed the cash. It is now in an envelope ready for the times I need to fill up, and stuck in a handbag pocket ready to be decanted into a box at home.

That leaves £50. Plus the £4.69 I currently have in my purse which I am going to make last until Friday and will be keeping you updated over the next 5 days to see how that goes. How long since a £5 challenge?

I am not going to visit the supermarket except for milk between now and Sunday.

This really for me is very tight and I am worried.

I seem to have reached the “the wall” at the moment about my debt of £562. I still want it gone but my internal warning light about my savings keeps flashing.

So much so I am currently contemplating making 2 months of minimal payments (say £50) in July and August and redirecting the money into my savings account.

I still would love to get my the remainder of my debt paid off by December, but there are plans afoot for after the summer and by my calculations I need £1000 in my savings account by then to make some changes so I can achieve them.

I do not want to say just yet what those plans are, in case I jinx it. But, I am excited. I will get this damn debt gone, but not quite as quickly  as I initially hoped it looks like and certainly not at the expense of peace of mind of having money saved.

Damn it, today I am a little bit frightened, frustrated and disappointed.

On the plus side I am feeling a lot better, after feeling so sick at the end of last week. My nephew was a delight this weekend, and I bet none of you were being a horsey at 7.30am on Saturday morning!

Seeing my sister is always wonderful, I wish we lived closer to each other. We speak 2 or 3 times per week, text and email, but nothing…..nothing is like having a cuddle with her or talking in our dressing gowns on a Saturday morning about the world, the universe and everything whilst drinking tea and watching her son play.

Priceless!

Frugally (and still a bit panicky) yours

Abigail

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It Is Good To Talk or You Are Not Alone

You are not alone.

It is January 2012 and you sit down to look at what you want to do this year, perhaps a nice holiday or a new car?

And slowly you realize that the debt that you were in in 2011 has grown and the £8000 is now £12,000.

It seems like all around you your peers, friends and family are enjoying the good life, holidays, expensive technical toys and fancy cars. They do not appear to be in debt so why are you?

Well, what I want to say is it is good to talk.

About 12 months ago when I really got the money saving bug, I started talking to my friends and family. I explained I was in debt and trying to pay it back, that my credit card took priority over a dinner out or an expensive weekend away. 

Honesty breeds honesty and it is an important tool in changing your financial habits. I am not saying ask you next door neighbour or friend how much debt they are in. But often if you tell someone they will tell you. Then, you realize you are not alone.

You  will discover that probably a lot of those around you are in debt too, you may even find that yours is minimal compared to those you envy.  Someone might be scathing, (well they have been with me) but I do not care, this is my business and I am taking care of it. Some might even say they have not got any debt. Take into account they could be lying.

Often that Wii, Ipad, new car, or even the deposit on a house has been paid on a credit card. Did you know the average UK credit card debt per household for 2012 is £7,982. Well if that is the average, there are many people out there without debt and many with a significantly higher figure. Ask yourself as you look at those you compare yourself with, which out of these two categories do you think they will be in? 

However, it has made me realize that I AM alone when it comes to paying everything back. Not many others are.

Paying back the money, makes me feel good

I will in 12 months be debt free, will they? I will be able to fall asleep and only worry about the mortgage, which I know I can afford.

In talking about finance with others, we stop pretending to be richer than we are, and therefore we stop feeling we are owed the new car, the ipad and the ensuite bathroom.

Talking is a good thing, and one I intend to continue to keep doing.

As a slight aside, I went out at lunchtime today and spent £2, nearly 27% of my weekly cash budget from Sunday, but I did get 3 tins of diet coke and a multi pack of crisps which should last me the rest of the week at lunchtime. You have got to love Poundland!. 

Total left: £3.80.

Frugally yours

Abigail

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Simple Solutions, or How I Am Not Cool

I am not cool.For you see, I am never up to date on the latest tv.

I don’t own a sky box, this make me an enigma amongst pretty much everyone I know.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have Sky as there is so much good entertainment on their channels. But, I will not pay the money.      

I invested a few years back in a Humax recordable freeview box, and I love       it.

It was a one off payment and allows me to do a lot that Sky can do. I can       “series link” a favourite programme.

I can record straight to the hard drive and I can record two channels at       once.

So, I am happy with this, but I do like a lot of programmes that are only       available on Sky. Their cheapest package is £20 per month, and I refuse to       pay that. So what to do?

Well this question was answered about two years ago now, when I joined Lovefilm. They also carry complete box sets of tv series. I am on a high usage package  - 3 unlimited discs per month for about  £13, £7 cheaper than Sky and as I do not mind watching the series I like about 6 months after everyone else then it really works for me.

Currently I am working my way through the latest series of Criminal Minds, and Fringe, plus watching on DVD or Blu Ray means I get to watch episodes back to back.

I would say that my Lovefilm membership is the one of two luxury items that I still have. The other is my private healthcare which costs about £70 / month just for me. This really is a luxury item, but one I can currently afford so I am keeping it.

It amazes me how many of us out there have unnecessary monthly bills that       could easily be culled if you went through your outgoings.      

If you do have Sky do you need ALL the channels, or really could you survive with just a basic package and no movies etc? Do you need that subscription to a website, or a bank account that is costing you money each month?      

I manage my money now pretty well, 2 days after getting paid, a large chunk is sent off to another account by standing order. From this account the       following bills are paid
-               mortgage
-               insurance policies
-               council tax
-               tv license

I then know that the balance must still pay for my utilities, petrol and food. What’s left is for “fun and games” or to fritter. Except it was, now debt gets paid off and savings grow. The fun and games element has been severely reduced.

This is my idea of thrift, constant and consistent review of expenditure.

This is not cool either, talking about thrift. After careful consideration,,, I can live with that.

Frugally yours
Abigail
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P.S. Spent £1.70 today, £5.80 left until Friday.

Roll Up Roll Up! or Ooooo I Love A Market I do!

I found myself in Wolverhampton at lunchtime today and as I love a market, I toddled off to their indoor and outdoor market for a meander.

Do not forget I was rich today with the £3.38 burning a hole in my pocket. I did want (not need) a couple of things, but was really just happy for a frugal mooch.

It may not be the best market in the world, but as I had been there before I knew there were some stalls worth visiting. Plus I much prefer giving my money to an individual and not a Plc if i can.

One of which is my favourite, a spice and general convenience stall. Where I purchased some paprika. I had wanted some for the casserole at the weekend and had been disappointed to find the store cupboards bereft of it.

So the sum of 60p means I probably have about four or five tablespoons full. Ok not packaged in an expensive glass jar, but actually in a little paper bag. However, lets face it, a paper bag is better for the environment.

I then bought two oranges for the fruit bowl at 34p for the 2. Again no plastic or cellophane, I just dumped them in my handbag.

And finally, off to the corner shop to grab my usual bottle of diet cola £1.09 and today I pushed the boat out and got a bag of cheap crisps for 39p.
Total sum spent £2.43.

I thought about grabbing some eggs too at 89p for 6 large ones, but I thought back to my meal plan and decided against it. As currently I do not need them. How pious am I?

Straight home tonight for a quick change before seeing The Chap later after dinner. So, I think I can do my no visiting the cashpoint until tomorrow easily.
In actual fact I do have enough just to grab a drink tomorrow lunchtime too and since there is plenty of the petrol in the car. I may be able to go until Friday, well here is hoping anyway.

I think I am still spending too much, but at least £5 has done me for 3 days. Pretty good I think.
Frugally yours
Abigail
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