Monday 20th October - What small DFW things will you do today?

headoutthesand

My DS1 is 10 and he is hopeless as saving. His brother is 8 and very good at saving. I always tell them that they can spend half and save half unfortunately for them they want to spend their half on sweets lol.

We have a good relationship with our local bank and they visit the school each week to collect regular savings from the kids. It lets them see it adding up which is good.

He has been asking if he can use the money to buy things but I've talked him out it as its quite close to Christmas. He can use it for something bigger next year if he wants (visit to chelsea is on the cards).

foxgloves

Greetings Monday Money Savers,
A new week, a new start for caning it with some money-saving. Today's frugal offerings from me:
*Saved energy by doing laundry overnight on Economy 7 & getting it mostly line-dry.......then rain showers appeared so have just got it on heated airer for a couple of hours only, to finish it off. Saved hot kettle water for next drink, switched de-humidifier off & opened windows for a good airing instead. Shared bath tub.....think mr f was hippo in former life....always in the bath! (Tho' better than having stinky husband)
*Free fitness as cleared the rest of a big flower border & dug it over.
*Watered broad bean seeds....first one is just poking through. Watered the rocket & radishes to keep them productive for a bit longer & picked courgettes for cheesy courgette pasta tonight.
*Contacted buyer re large item we sold on ebay last night, to arrange collection.
*Re-listed another ebay item.
*Energy bill arrived in my inbox this morning. We are a very welcome £394 in credit, which will help with the colder months. Have checked out all the stats (Co-op Energy is really good for having transparent, clear billing. You can really get in there & see how you're doing). Checked that bill was prepared using up to date readings (yes) & looked at how much our Oct to Jan quarter cost last year. If we continue to be careful, I think we may be in line for a reduction to our monthly dd in April. Feel motivated to carry on with all my funny little energy saving bits & bobs)
*Did some surveys.
*Checked online banking. Next Big Budget Day will be 27th, but I wanted to check we have sufficient spends to do a bit of something for our wedding anniversary. We do, if we don't go ridiculously mad.
*Ordered some more paying-in envelopes. Find it really useful that I can pay into our current account (Co-op Bank) at any post office branch, saves me having to pay to park in town to do this.
*Had a serious think about the Bathroom Fund. There isn't any way we are going to have that sum before the bill becomes due, so I have checked out the WTSHTF account with a view to borrowing from that & then paying ourselves back over the next year. Must get the payment due date on calendar as it's a BNPL agreement & if we don't pay in full by that date, we're locked into a 3-year credit period & will end up paying about double! That is NOT going to happen!

Bob- Had to smile re grand piano/TV......we didn't have a TV at home when I was a child, but we DID actually have a baby grand piano, lol!! Mum is a piano teacher & we all played. We didn't have one because we were wealthy, we weren't, but because Mum's great aunt died & left her some money to buy a grand piano. It wasn't until I got into genealogy that I found out that this particular lady was put into a cart as a little girl with 3 brothers back in 1901 & driven to the workhouse because there were so many of them (12) & their widowed & poverty-stricken father couldn't cope. They didn't make it there as they met a local farmer who said they could help themselves to a few vegetables from his fields if they had nothing else to eat. I can remember her as an old lady......she took us gleaning for free wheat (I ate mine raw & got the 'trots'!) but you know, she owned her own home & had enough money to gift my Mum a baby grand piano. She was very canny with money......in a different era, I reckon she'd have been on here every day! She wouldn't let us waste food & was very into make do & mend. Wish I could meet up with all those long deceased family members......they could teach me so much about old-style money saving, as they had so very little.
Ooooh, mr f has just appeared & it sounds like the kettle is going on. Time to sign off.
f xx