Category Archives: Saving money

Does it make financial sense?

Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

I think I’ve cracked it. I think I’ve got a balance of doing what I want to do, when I want to do it and making sure I can afford it when I do. It’s not been easy and at one stage the big thing that held me back from making my own decisions was doubt in what I was doing. It went something like this…..

“My mum/dad/sister/best friend/bin man…… saved all his life and died three minutes after he retired”. It can happen to anyone, me and DB are of course anyone. We could work hard and live carefully and die the minute we walk out of the car park with the retirement clock into the path of Keanu Reeves driving a dodgy bus! You’d be amazed how often people think that my life would be better if I: went to restaurants, concerts, the theatre, had posher holidays (I think I already have posh holidays) bought what ever I wanted when ever I wanted. Once, those types of remarks would have instilled doubt about myself, my choices and make me question if I was missing out.

“When you retire you won’t be as healthy as you are now”. Yep, heard that one too. Healthy enough to do what is what I ask? I like riding my bike but I’ve no intention of taking it in an iron man triathalon and a bimble around the forest on a track is doable at any age. I like walking but have no intention of stomping up Kilimanjaro at any age. Again, those remarks might once have had an effect but I’ve learned to live quite happily with the knowledge that I might be less or more healthy tomorrow or the day after that. I can take that risk.

“The world is a dangerous place and you never know what’s around the corner so live for today”. I did think that one was a bit much to be honest. Some of us are old enough to remember IRA bomb threats, bags being taken away by bomb squads and mainland terrorists who spoke the same language as us. Didn’t piss myself with fright then and I’m still not scared of whatever bogeyman we should be worried about today or tomorrow.

I know what makes financial common sense to me. I will have a limited income when I retire so it is sensible to me to make long term arrangements. I also make day to day common sense decisions that are financially based. My decisions are made with my head and not my heart. They are thought out, restrained and never ever made out of fear, guilt, nagging or gullibility. I don’t spend money to be part of a crowd, to keep up with the Jones or have I ever followed a trend.

I’m a happy bimbler!

I’m never happier than when I’m having a bimble, a potter or a quiet time.

I don’t get bored.

I can and do amuse myself.

I don’t need to be entertained.

I don’t need a crowd, to be fed by someone is ‘whites’ and the future will bring what it will bring.

I ask myself, before any investment, any purchase, any account is opened, anything is replaced……does it make financial sense?

If anyone else chooses to live their lives and never ever ask that question then they can carry on and do so. I’m happy to live and let live. Those of us who live by quiet restraint in our own sweet way are not doing anyone else any harm and really should be allowed to do so without interference.

Over to you Dear Reader, does anyone else get their ears chewed either occasionally or frequently because you choose to save rather than spend? I wonder if I’m the only one?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Efficiently, effectively and with economy.

Saving money



Hello Dear Reader,

It’s that time of year again. It’s the time of year when people take stock of finances. Some people might repeatedly ask the question, where does my salary go? Whereas a more helpful question to ask might be, what do I want my salary do for me? I’m reminded of this as you wrote to me and you have a pension so when I write about salary, that can mean ‘the money you have’ each month. It’s the time of year to be your very own ‘National Audit Office’.

The National Audit Office exists to scrutinise government spending . You might wonder, as I do myself, why we need another layer of bureaucracy to keep a check on government spending? Why can’t they audit themselves? Why do we need a bunch of pen pushers, telling another bunch of pen pushers how to spend the nation’s money? Here’s my ten pence worth. One person’s good idea is another person’s pile of shite. And, no one’s perfect. Somewhere, in a cupboard, in the shed we’ve all, at sometime or another contributed to our own pile. So, as governments come and go someone needs to stand back and hold a mirror up to make the point that: it won’t last, it’s not needed, it’s not good value and sometimes shout….’really?”

So, how do we audit ourselves. How do we work out what’s good value, what’s needed, what’s important and how do I make my salary ( the money I have) work for me.

Here’s what I do. I say this as it doesn’t say, this is what you should do.

My monthly audit starts with the two of us sitting down and discussing the month ahead. What do we have to do this month? What do we have to put money aside for and more importantly to check that we still want it and even more importantly to us, do we still need it? You see, we are researchers. Nothing is bought without a lot of planning, thinking, trying it out, giving ourselves a cooling off period, renegotiating the the needs and wants and then and only then committing to saving for whatever we have deemed is important to us. We might discuss this month what we need this time next month or even next year and then leave it as we walk away and think on it. No impulsive purchases which are often not a good idea any way and end up adding the pile of shite that no one every really needs or any longer wants.

We don’t have to rein in spending, on the contrary, we have to take time to convince ourselves that we can or should spend at all. In times gone by, we didn’t have any money so this was easy. We couldn’t afford it, we didn’t have the money so we just had to do without. I know, we were in debt but that came from: property renovation, car purchase to commute to work and playing the property market just before the crash. In hindsight, we wouldn’t do it again and haven’t done anything like this since. None of it came from a spur of the moment desire to go eat, holiday, visit, party somewhere we couldn’t afford. It was a sobering and expensive lesson.

Our auditing isn’t about what we spend our money on, our auditing is where we keep a check on our own behaviour. Do we still have the same focus? In our case, that’s retiring when we initially thought we could and not at 68. Our other focus is to live well beneath our means so we can save more than we spend each month. We evaluate all we have which means a physical audit as well. When I have a look around, I have enough bedding, cutlery, crockery, clothing, furniture and month on month I have no need for any more. We evaluate what we need or want to replace and sell or give to charity anything we no longer want or need. We no longer do many things, such as going to the theatre or cinema so don’t need to weigh up what we should see or where we should go, we just don’t do those things any more. The last film we saw at the cinema was Notting Hill and that shows just how long ago we last went.

So, in our auditing we try to make sure that we use our salaries efficiently so that we get the best value for money in everything we buy. Have we got the best energy deals? Have we bought our food for the best price? Are we driving our car using the eco features? Do we have the right amount of pressure in our car tyres so they don’t wear out too quickly? Are we having timed showers so we don’t use too much water? Have we put a jumper on before burning wood in the stove so we make our wood supply last as long as possible? Our spending has to be effective. Anything we buy now really needs to last us ten years until we retire and move to France. It’ll have to limp along, or be made to last or repaired so it does last. I make regular trips to France so I make sure we travel at the cheapest times, even going another day if that makes a more economic journey.

Being your own National Audit Office will not mean to you what it means to me. Economy to me is different to your economy. I’m happy to eat a simple home cooked diet, I’m happy to have my laundry drying in front of the fire, I’m happy to go for walks, read, listen to music, dine at home with friends to afford to save money. That’s what we’ve decided is important to us so we can afford regular trips away and save towards retirement.

If it were 2009 all over again, this is what I would do all over again. Sell everything I didn’t need or want. Cut up every credit card. Start snowballing my debts. Get another job and get more money into the family finances. Get a lodger and rent a room out. Turn off the central heating and only heat the room I lived in. Menu plan, don’t waste food, eat the leftovers, buy frozen, cook from scratch, batch cook. Give up takeaways, eating out, buying clothes. Mend anything that breaks. Wear more clothes if I got cold. Read magazines and books online from the library for free or go there and borrow them if you have to time. Give up days out, cancel any trips out with family and friends. All over again, I would do what ever it took to pay off debt and earn more money. If it were 2011 all over again and I’d just got debt free, I’d spend the next two years paying every penny that I put towards our debts paying off as much as I’d paid off in debts to reduce my mortgage by so that I could move in 2013 and further reduce my mortgage by over half. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. But that’s us.

Even though you asked me to comment on your financial situation, I really can’t advise you or suggest as you have to evaluate what your needs and wants are. We lived through many many years where wants were never a consideration and all we could do was work towards our needs. It was that experience and the experience of paying off debt and living debt free that helped us evaluate what was important and what we could really live without. I don’t need to be entertained, I don’t get bored and I’m very content with who I am, what I do and what I’ve got.

What I can suggest is that you can constantly become your own National Audit Office where you scrutinise your spending and make sure you use whatever income you have efficiently, effectively and with economy. Some of your decisions will be tough, it could mean a serious life style change or it could lead to a simpler happier life.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Are leftovers safe to eat?

frugal food, Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

Thanks for writing. You told me how you’re not confident with leftovers. H
You asked how long to keep them? How to store them? Are they safe? It’s reasonable to feel like that and I hope to help.

Firstly, I will state this. I’m a thrifty home cook. I am not an expert and I can only let you know what I do. I am not suggesting you do as I do and advise you to do your own research into food safety.

Leftover meat that I’ve cooked myself - I cool this and chill immediately. I will make sure it goes into an air tight container and I will use that meat within four days. An example of this might be a beef stew that I leave in the fridge in a sealed container and take a single serving to work each day to reheat for my lunch. I could portion it first and freeze for extra food safety. Some meat, such as a joint of meat, such as a roast beef joint will be used in slices over a week. It will go dry a long time before it goes off. I will also freeze cooked meat and use it another time. I usually use frozen meat within a fortnight but that’s only because I have a very small freezer. I will also make leftover meat into pies, add it to soups or just eat it cold. I will add cooked meat to a pie and then cook it again when I cook the pastry and heat the pie through. I’m happy to do this but understand if you didn’t want to, it’s my choice and I’m sharing what I do and not advising.

Leftover vegetables - I’ll take cooked veggies to work, add a few slices of ham, some gravy and reheat that for my lunch. I will add cooked veg to a quiche or frittata or a stir fry. I will keep cooked veg in the fridge for up to four days. I will also bag it and freeze it to use another time.

Cooked rice - I will reheat and eat rice. I have chilli with rice the night before, then I’ll take some to work and reheat it the next day. My choice, you don’t have to try this but I’m happy to do so and haven’t died yet.

Left over bread - I buy gluten free bread and at £3.50 a loaf, I don’t want to waste it. I keep the crusts in a bag in the freezer and then defrost some now and then to blitz in my food processor to make bread crumbs. If I make a GF veggie pasta bake with a cheesy crumble topping then I have bread crumbs when I want them.

How long before I worry? - I don’t worry about dates, not even on dairy products. If milk ‘turns’ it smells, then I don’t use it but I always use it quickly. I’ll eat yogurts days after the expiry as its good for another week or so. But, remember again, this is what I do, I’m not suggesting you do it.

I trust my nose, eyes and taste buds. If something smells ok, if it looks ok and it tastes ok, then I’ll trust it.


Things I do fuss about- I keep everything clean. I make sure everything in the fridge is covered. I make sure my hands are clean before I touch food. I use food in a rotation so I don’t let food go off. I make sure chicken, pork and some meat products such as minced meat is thoroughly cooked. I treat pulses with respect and soak them and cook them as advised.

Things I’m really not fussed about - I’ll scoop the mould off jam and eat the jam underneath. I’ll pull the mould off bread and eat the rest of the bread. I’ll cut the mould off cheese and eat the rest of the cheese. I’ll pull the soggy leaves off any veggies and eat the rest of the veg.

Now over to you, I’m expecting a lively response and know some people really won’t agree and that’s ok. How do you use leftovers? What would you not reuse? What do you fuss about and what do you not worry about?

Great to hear from you,

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Review your financial situation!

Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

You wrote and asked “When you think you are doing all you can, how do you review things to tighten the purse strings?” I’ll do the best to answer. As you asked for advice, this will be written as such but from a personal perspective as I’ll not divulge anything about your personal circumstances and will answer generically.

Review your spending.

Food - stock take, menu plan using what you have, create a shopping list with a set budget and stick to it.

Bills - check every tariff, are you getting the best deals? Reduce consumption, switch to LED lighting, don’t leave anything on standby, turn down the thermostat, reduce the amount of time the heating is on by half an hour a day, turn down the thermostat on the water heating, timed showers, quick wash cycle on the washing machine. Watch the weather reports and get the washing out for a ‘blow’ to reduce drying time. Dry your washing in front of the wood stove if you have one.

Children - go online and check the school website, look at the school diary. Look up when trips, fund raising and subscriptions are required. If there’s nothing on line, phone the school or drop in and ask for upcoming events, readathon, Children in need, charity events have regular dates and you can ask when these are. School uniforms, shoes, PE kit all have to be bought each year, don’t wait until the new term, regularly set aside a budgeted amount for school supplies.

Children non-essential spending - you can spend what you like, however if money is tight you’ll need to be honest with your children no matter how young they are. No need to worry them with details, just be honest and tell them you can’t afford something. Technology can be bought cheaply, every piece of tech/IT in our house from iphones to ipads are second hand. When there are upgrades, someone somewhere is selling the previous model. We usually work on the ‘previous, previous model’ and it’s still an upgrade for us. You’ll have to instill a back bone into your children and teach them they are lucky to have a phone/tablet gadget full stop let alone the latest model. Love is sometimes tough but it won’t kill them.

Financial services - Are you getting the best deal from your bank? How much are you paying in bank charges? If you’ve got a grip of your finances, move your account to a classic account with no overdraft and no fees, it’ll save you around £15 a month or £180 a year.

Insurance - never just renew, always pay once and phone up the provider and tell them it’s a one year thing and you don’t want to automatically review even if you made the first payment by DD. Use price comparison sites. Reduce what you insure. We’ve never claimed for accidental damage and are careful, so we don’t pay for it. I’m a careful driver and I’m prepared to have a higher excess of £250 or more so I pay a much smaller premium. I don’t pay for new for old on insurance as nothing was new in the first place! All of this means my home insurance is under £100 and my car insurance is under £150.

Debts - I’m not going to mention that here, in the new year, I’ll review how to get a grip of debts and work on that a new.

Set goals and work towards them. We’ve always got a financial goal. We are always saving for something and we have short, medium and long term financial goals.

Short term - school uniforms, car or home insurance, holiday or anything that happens annually. We work out what it will cost, divide that by twelve and make a regular saving deposit in one of our savings accounts each month.

Medium term - here, it might be a car every five years, a new boiler, the garden shed will need replacing in four years. We all know a washing machine or electrical item will last around five years then need replacing. Don’t wait until it happens, pre-empt the fact that it will need replacing and get saving now.

Long term - pensions and mortgages - these are the biggest and take the longest to pay for. You can over pay on both of these or do something about it. We’ve bought a cheaper house abroad to holiday in for ten years so in the long run we can rent out our home here in Cornwall as a holiday cottage and add that to our pensions to live on when we’re retired. We over pay our mortgage each month to halve the time it will take to pay it off. In your case, review how much you can add to your mortgage payments. This will depend on your age. If you are in your twenties and lucky enough to have a mortgage then I suggest you get all your other finances in order before you over pay your mortgage. However if you are in your late forties and still have a mortgage then your situation is a little more critical and you need to throw everything you can at getting the financial stability of having a house paid for.

Finally and this is the best advice I can give you is to be realistic. I went truly, deeply frugal to pay off my debts, drastically reduce my mortgage because I wanted to. It wasn’t a hardship as it was my choice. If you have a family and you’re the only one with the drive to reduce living costs and pay down your mortgage you might be on for a difficult and lonely time. If you can control the bills, household purse strings then that’s fine, keep saying yes to what you can afford and if you can’t then the answer will always be no. Do not feel guilty if the answer is no to what ever the request may be, if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. There is no shame in being skint, poor, earning a low income or living on a small pension. It’s bl**dy inconvenient! But there’s no shame.

And finally finally, pat yourself on the back. You’re doing a great job and you’re trying to keep on top of finances and you have my total respect for trying your best.

I hope that tiny nugget of advice helps in any way it can.

All my love and I’ll see you tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx








Why a weekly menu plan?

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, money saving, Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

Not my wood pile but it’ll make sense as I go on.

Here’s my thought for tonight. None of us should wait until we’re skint to be thrifty. In the future, as a pensioner, I’m going to be skint. I’ll have a limited income, no immediate or easy possibility to earn money and I’ll have to watch every penny. If you are facing retirement in ten years or more, you’ll be in the same position. You won’t be able to get your old age pension, which is currently available at 68 as by then, the goal posts will move and we’ll all be in our 70’s before we’ll be able to have it. So, we will have less money and we’ll have to get on with it. We have workplace pensions and don’t intend working until 68 and hopefully, fingers crossed will retire early at 60 and take reduced pensions if that’s still an option. Who knows where the goal posts will be by then? That might not be an option and we’ll have to reconsider our plans.

Now, whilst we are earning is the time to be thrifty, watch the pennies, save everything we can and live on less. We’re young and fit so can do with less heating, I can find bargains and we can make our own entertainment. Who knows what my health will be, if I need the heating on more or if the cold drives me to the Costa del cheap for a month each winter to stave off the cold. Who knows? Now is the time for me to be a cheapo, skint flint tightwad whilst I have the choice.

We’ve just paid out the last lot of money for the house in France!!! We’ve paid for the: rewiring, new back doors, furniture, tree surgery, electrical goods, hired a trailer to go over, paid for the ferry and gite as the house isn’t fit to live in yet and of course paid for the house, the estate agent fee and all legal fees. No more money going to France until we have to pay for utilities and council tax. After Christmas, when we sign for the house, we won’t go back until Easter. So, thrifty it is until then. The plan is to rein in any spending for the next four months. Please, will nothing break, need fixing or replacing!

Family members are being bought passports as Christmas gifts, we won’t be here for Christmas and will have a sandwich whilst working on the house! Christmas sorted and budgeted for.

It means, I can keep my purse shut, build up savings and hunker down for the winter.

I don’t have to buy much food this week as I’ve already cooked. Here’s my menu plan for the week.

Today - Chicken casserole, potatoes and steamed kale - this will also make two lunches for me this week.

Monday - Vegetable chilli and brown rice - this will also make two lunches for me.
Tuesday. - Fidgit pie - bacon, leeks, onions, potatoes baked with a cheese and mustard sauce on top.
Wednesday - Baked potato with cheese and beans - standard, we always have something either on toast or in a baked spud.
Thursday - Fish cakes, beans (from the freezer) and carrots.
Friday - Pasta with bacon, veggies and chilli (I bought a pack of cooking bacon from Aldi and I need to use it up)

Breakfast, yogurt, muesli, cereals, toast or variants there of.
Lunch, leftovers and sandwiches, apples for snacks.


My shopping list for the week.

Fresh veg
12 pink lady apples
Yogurt
Sliced cold meat for sandwiches
Pickle
Bread/GF bread
plastic bags and foil.
SF orange squash
Butter
Teabags
Loo rolls

Now, back to the wood pile. I’m fascinated by wood piles in France. Some properties have ten metre long piles, ranged down one side of their homes. Neatly stacked a metre high, kept water proof and there for the future. We all need a bit of that French mindset. I’m sure they didn’t buy all the wood in one go. They will have bought another cubic metre when they can afford it and stored it away. They didn’t wait until they were skint and then start worrying about where the money is coming from to heat the house! As the saying goes, the time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining, not to think, it’s not raining so I won’t spend money on roof tiles. We’ll all have to face being skint one day whether through retirement or the insecurity of modern work where nothing is certain. Whilst we’ve got jobs and can work, in ‘these times’ we all need to thrift up! Not spending is the new spending, not staying in is the new going out and cliche after cliche but it’s the world we live in.

You might think, what’s the point of veggie meals and saving money on food and keeping the heating off? We rarely eat out or go out, we keep our spending low on utilities and over heads and keep to a budget. The little savings all add up, no nipping to the supermarket in the week, not unplanned spending and keep an eye on our increasing not depleting saving accounts. So, I’m pulling on the jumpers, eating plenty of veggie meals, amusing ourselves and as I said before, hunkering down for the winter.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Have you learned to curb your spending?

Saving money



Hello Dear Reader,

You know who you are and you asked me to respond and as promised, I said I would blog about it. You told me about your situation with debt and all credit to you, with two jobs and the measures you are currently working on, you will work your way out of it.

You said “Can I ask one question, are you still frugal or has this taught you how to curb your spending?”

I’ll do my best to answer.

I don’t see money saving, living beneath my means or saving money as a competition. For me, it’s not about going without it’s about being sensible with my money so I always live beneath my means. I downsized so I have a smaller mortgage, smaller council tax and smaller maintenance costs on the house.

I could have all inclusive long haul holidays, a new car every year, meals out, new clothes every month and so on. I would also have no savings if I did that. I don’t go without those things I just don’t want them. I found a cheap holiday, I cook at home, I buy new clothes only when I need them and I buy second hand items for the home such as furniture. When I spend money, I do so judiciously after research and getting the very best deal.


Here are some things I’ve done today to save money. I made a batch of pasties. Some are for us to eat today and the rest will go in the freezer for days out, picnics ect. I don’t eat gluten so I make a crustless pasty, I just put the beef, onion, swede and potato inside foil and create a pasty shape to cook it. I then eat the inside with a fork.

I’ve learned some more French today (my latest hobby) with the Duolingo ipad app and ‘Comme Francaise’ free You Tube tutorials.

I’ve upcycled a small cabinet with chalk paint and today, I’ve waxed it.

I’ve sewn some more quilt blocks for the quilt I’m making, I use a mixture of thrifted fabric and fabric I’ve bought from a discount store (Trago) for under £4 a metre.


We’re in it together as a family. Here is my ‘back porch’. In honesty, it needs replacing but we’ve used wood filler where the wood has started to deteriorate, we’ve scrubbed the window frames. We’ve painted it even though we can afford to pay someone as if we can do it ourselves, then that is exactly what we do. These old cottages were built as ‘two up and two down’ and the kitchen and bathroom extensions were added in the 1980’s. The ‘sheds’s that you can see would have been the outside toilets….ours is integrated into the back porch and forms a rough and ready utility room.

We can afford a bigger ‘better’ house than this but this is our choice. We want to get it paid off as soon as we can and I don’t want to work until I’m 68 and intend to retire at 60 as was the original plan for most of us.

So, everywhere we can save money, we try to do so. That doesn’t mean I go without but then again I have simple wants and needs. I could upgrade the kitchen and bathroom but we’ll just fix it up and make the best of it. I could have the central heating on for six hours a day but come winter, one hour in the evening to take the chill off and then heat downstairs with a wood burner is enough for me.

For us, it’s not about ‘curbing our spending’ but adjusting our attitudes to life and living mindfully. We have everything we need and more. We eat well, we live a happy life and we don’t go without. We are warm, clean and have a roof over our heads. We have luxuries such as our own car, holidays and can take time off. Recently DB changed his contract and now works term time only so we have all the time off together which many families only dream of. When we adjusted our attitude to money we became richer overnight.

We have everything we need and more.

It’s not about being frugal, it’s about being content with what we have.

I hope that in some way explains and answers your question.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx



Another budget to think about?

Saving money



Hello Dear Reader,

We are about to get probably, but I’ll eat my dog’s gravy bones if I’m wrong, the most draconian budget in my lifetime when George Osborne steps out of number 11, brandishing his red briefcase. Politics aside as I know people are still smarting from the 2008 crash and still blaming international banking; it’s a budget based on the premise that we have to reduce the public spending as the economy is still far from recovery. I don’t envy his job, if it were me, then I might be tempted to stop public spending on anything that wasn’t essential…forever! Of course, every government, household and individual will have a different view on what is and isn’t essential and there’s another political debate. This isn’t a political blog but one where I share my personal financial views on how I choose to live my life. It isn’t about anyone else’s.

As I wrote a few days ago, we live with financial uncertainty and no body has a secure job. None of us can think that we will have a job next month or next year. When you live with that uncertainty, you treat money very differently. I paid off the last penny of debt in 2011 and haven’t borrowed a penny since. Now I make my money, my personal spending make me money. I now calculate every penny I spend and do what ever I can to never pay full price for anything. We also make sure we save every penny we can as well as overpaying our mortgage as much as we can.

We aimed to reduce our mortgage by half which we did when we downsized and now we have a small house, small mortgage and small bills aim to reduce our mortgage in half the time. There is no way we can do this without going without. However, just as if I were the Chancellor and you can all thank your lucky stars that I’m not, we have and can make do without anything that’s not essential. Our holiday is not essential, if I needed the money else where then I just wouldn’t go. We didn’t go the year we moved, or the year after when we were double glazing and installing a wood burner into our house. However, we researched, found cashback discounts, got a 10% discount on the ferry and will take everything we need and will have a thrifty holiday.

If we were not thrifty, if we weren’t over paying our mortgage then we could take ourselves somewhere hot and all inclusive and laze on a sun lounger sipping cocktails. As ever, even the holiday has to fit into our budget. I continue to do the little things and it’s also the little things that I don’t do that help me stay on budget.I read newspapers online, the savings might seem minor but it saves me £1 a day - £365 a year. That with totals a week’s stay in my holiday accommodation so I really think that saving was worth it.

My budget for the coming year is as follows.

1. Over pay my mortgage by £333 a month to take capital payment on my mortgage to £1000 a month, reducing the capital over all by £12,000 a year.(Those figures are approximate, it will be around £1000 a month and around £12,00 a year)

2. Set aside £210 per month into medium term savings for a holiday next year, to include dog boarding for three dogs, ferry and accommodation for three weeks. If our circumstances change and we can’t afford to go, then we won’t go and the savings will be moved into our long term savings.

3.Set aside £30 a month to pay for next year’s home and car insurance. That just goes into our overall savings account as it taken out to pay the insurance in one go. We always get a cashback six months later as we don’t claim. Obviously if we did, we wouldn’t get it back. the cashback goes straight back into the bank and usually it’s around £50 per policy as we buy then through Quidco.

4. Continue to watch our water and energy meters to monitor spending and usage to £150 per month maximum.(Water, gas and electricity). We also have to pay £110 a month in council tax which we will continue to pay by direct debit

5. Keep our total expenditure to £500 a month for: all food, transport, personal grooming, clothing, dog grooming and health costs. It’ll be the total amount per month that we spend throughout the month on diesel ect.

6. Save everything else! We still don’t put money into ISAs in case our situation changes overnight so it just stays in a deposit account. We also don’t have enough to spread across more than two banks (I wish!). At the end of the year, if we’re still both in the same situation, take half the savings and pay off a chunk of mortgage.

I write personally but it’s good for us to keep careful control of the budget. We have a mortgage so still have personal debt although we see it as good debt because we’ll own a house at the end of it. We are still working towards owning a house outright and being mortgage free.

As for George Osborne’s budget? We’d all better buckle down as it’s going to be really rough!

As ever, I love to hear from you.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx





Preparing for winter?

Saving money
Hello Dear Reader,
We’ve had a quiet day at home. Dearly Beloved has painted the hall; we paint everything white. It’s the cheapest ‘colour’ and we can touch up when ever it get grubby. I paint all the woodwork white too, can you see where I’m going with this? In between I got on with paperwork, banking and looking at budgets. We’ve a new roof, insulation and a new shed to save up for and I’ve put together a savings plan to make sure those plans become reality.
I got in touch with our log supplier who was able to deliver our logs. The logistics are interesting; they get delivered to the public car park, we wheelbarrow them to the garden and then they get stacked in the shed. It might seem a bit daft to buy logs in May for next winter but prices fluctuate and whilst they are low, we stocked up.

It’s a funny little way that I try to save money, those logs dry our clothes, keep the house warm and they look so cute in the shed!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

The simpler the better

Saving money


Hello Dear Reader,

These days, I keep this blog to food, craft, walks, saving money and days out……I don’t tell you much any more. Here’s a brief synopsis of what’s going on without any great details. Son and daughter are fine, both grown and flown and doing well. Both gainfully employed, in relationships, no intentions of marriage or children for many years and both really happy. The rest of my family are fine too.

All is well in Thrift cottage, we continue to knock £800 off the balance of the capital every month and it’s the main reason we remain thrifty and we have five more years left to pay and it will be ours. We are still really happy and it’s very much an evenly yoked team pulling at the same strength and in the same direction. We have a simple life of keeping ourselves busy with our hobbies, meeting up with friends as often as we can, keeping in touch with our families and getting out and about and keeping active and healthy.

I still hold quilting and sewing workshops for people who contact me and ask to come along, I still support people online who get in touch.

But here is some news I’m happy to share. We’ve got living with less down to an everyday occurrence to the point that DB was able to reduce his working year and now works term time only. This means we are both off work at the same time and have more time together. More time together is always more important than money! We’ll still continue to pay off the mortgage capital, save and as the house is cheap to run, it’s not money we’re going to miss.

What will we do with our time? Live simply, the simpler the better. Food will continue to be homemade as will entertainment. We are very lucky to be able to make these adjustments and we know how fortunate we are.

Tomorrow, it will be back to thrifty recipes, money saving and sewing……..xxxxx

Until then,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Journey’s End……..in sight.

quilting, Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,


What ever you do, the beginning and the end is always the hardest. When I started quilting, just as an example, I found everything hard. Cutting the shapes was difficult as I was inconsistent, I didn’t get the corners sharp which threw the quilt out of shape. You would think that it would get easier. As a quilt gets bigger, it gets more difficult to manage, the layering and basting almost pulls my shoulders out of my sockets. The final stage of the journey, the quilting, leaves me with aching wrists, sore hips and a painful back.

I have three UFO’s. Today, the journey towards the end involved preparing the backs of the quilts. I’m using some vintage yardage I bought off a lady who’d retired from quilting due to ill health. I’ve also cut 2.5″ strips to fold and iron for the binding.

In the meantime, my sewing room is in chaos but I’m in the final stage of the journey. I now have to borrow space to lay out my quilts as I just don’t have the space anymore.

Whilst thinking about journeys, I often think of my own and maybe you’ll think of yours. It was only two years ago when we restarted our process of downsizing and being able to live well below our means. We are again getting towards the end of a journey where we want to become mortgage free. Hopefully, we’re six years away. It is hard to keep going when you’ve been at the frugal coal face for longer than we’d like but the journey continues.

Part of that journey towards being mortgage free means on top of my main job, I’m a jobbing freelance writer and today you can find my thoughts on cutting back at Easter here http://www.dontfretaboutdebt.net/do-you-need-to-splurge-at-easter-ideas-for-saving-money-on-your-easter-celebrations/

It would be great if you could pop over and have a read.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx