A frugal life is an easy life!

I was in the bath earlier this week, pondering about how to spend the £80 we had coming in this week. I enjoy this kind of thinking, it's a relief to be thinking about something positive for our clan, the options that this modest amount will give me and of course, it distracts me from worrying. It's a win-win.

Christmas will be here very soon, perhaps use some of the money for a few stocking fillers?
I could use almost two thirds of it to buy ceiling plaster board for the back room, this would still leave me around £30 to play with.
What about a "Chinese hat" for our flue pipe that will be ordered next week? Least then another cost will be out of the way. (A chinese hat is the chimney plate on which the flue pipe is attacjed and the chimney pot sits upon)
This £80 would cover our christmas fresh meat hamper, cheeses, fish, fruit and veg for the christmas fortnight, all bought off local traders and leave us a little bit extra in the pocket.
Some of it would pay for our new fake christmas tree, the better half has been pestering for us to get.

The opportunities are endless...

Then my ponderings turned to more realistic (some would say boring) things.
It could be put away to cover some of our easter car tax or put towards our soon to be needed cat part of the exhaust that's on the way out.
I could put it away to pay for February and March logs, leaving only the £10 recent increase in price to find.
You get the picture.

It was all pointless brain work in the end, as no sooner had I collected it, then real life took it away from us.
£20 of it disappeared on yet another extra gas payment, bringing this month's total to £100 so far for putting the heating on and off, to get the temperature up to 18 degrees. The burner is out of action until we can afford to put a new flue pipe in.
£15 went on the magically disappearing electricity - we don't heat the house, water or cook with it, yet still the winter months see mysterious unexplained costs added, "Because it's been 3 degrees colder than in summer/autumn months!"
£20 went on extra petrol, as running with the petrol light on in freezing temperatures is never advisable, especially with defrosting the car.

The last £25 will cover the slow puncture repair needed, buy us some milk for the week and leave us with a couple of quid loose change.

Not to worry, there's always an 8% increase in electricity prices in January to look forward to and another year of the same wages, we have just found out a 0% rise will be coming this year.
Funny enough, I wasn't advised life would be like this when I was at school...