Put away your purse & become debt-averse

takingcontrolatlast

Have a lovely evening Foxgloves and I'm up for a frugal week definately :j Would love to be productive as well.. but with work and hospital visits I usually just want to "chill" but the essentials will be done at home at least!

Blackcats

Me too! Count me in for a fun frugal week.

Dottles1

Count me in

D

foxgloves

Morning all,
OK, a few takers for an extra-frugal & productive week. Goodo!
I think my veg garden productivity is going to be severely hampered by wet weather this week. Just seen the forecast. Basically, rain, rain & more rain right through till Friday. So my money saving & productive activity looks likely to be indoor-based. I'm going to start by sorting out the kitchen, which unusually, is a bombsite. This is because cat needed an unexpected vet trip late yesterday afternoon & we were out in the evening & not back till late. I can't even think about being especially frugal & productive until the kitchen is nicely shipshape again, so I shall concentrate my efforts there for an hour or two & pop back later with achievements when I've ordered my thoughts.
F x

Onebrokelady

Hi Foxgloves, I hope your cat is ok now😟 and you had a good night out, my kitchen needs a tidy but I'm off out riding in a bit so it will have to wait until I get back😄 I see you mentioned using a heated airier, are these cheap to run and do they work well, my tumble dryer has died and I don't want to replace it but was thinking something like this would be handy for times when it really soggy out and I can't have my heating on, things take ages to dry in my house when the heating isn't on, I'm going to try and pay out as much as possible though,have a good day 😊

foxgloves

Hi OBL, Yes, cat is doing OK. He's not ill, just a very sore paw.... now on the mend & luckily no infection.

Yes I do have a heated airer. I've only used a tumble dryer in a couple of holiday cottages & I thought they made my clothes smell really frowsty. I gather they are expensive to run too, so we've never bothered with one. My heated airer is the 3-storey tower type one from L*keland. They seem to have increased a fair bit in price. Bought ours a few years back & it was around £85 I think. It claims to cost less than 5p an hour to run, though energy tariffs have increased & also, I try to maximise using mine overnight when we have the Economy 7 tariff. I didn't bother buying the cover, which is supposed to dry stuff a bit quicker. I just hang all my washing on it & save a sheet or duvet cover to chuck over the top. It is basically an airer with heated bars so it does dry quicker than the non-heated version. I will peg laundry out all year as long as there's a breeze but I wouldn't be without it for the winter months. It folds down so can be stored against a wall & you can arrange the tiers in various ways, so it's good for drying things like handknits as you can put them flat. I can't really comment on how it compares to a tumble drier because I have so little experience of them x

Blackcats

Hi all. I also have a heated airier from Lakel*nd and I find I very practical and useful. Agree with all the points made by Foxgloves.
I did some shopping from home today, prompted entirely by your imaginary voice. I've decided to knit a gift for a little one in the family for Christmas. Now I know that's a long way off but I'm a slow knitter so want to get it done in good time. My immediate reaction was to look on the wool website I use for a pattern then I wondered if I already had a suitable pattern. I dug into the footstool of doom where my knitting stash is and lo and behold a suitable pattern and the right size needles too.
Frugal week day 1 and no money spent. Too rainy to venture far from home. Leftovers for lunch and dinner from freezer.

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Hi OBL, Yes, cat is doing OK. He's not ill, just a very sore paw.... now on the mend & luckily no infection.

Yes I do have a heated airer. I've only used a tumble dryer in a couple of holiday cottages & I thought they made my clothes smell really frowsty. I gather they are expensive to run too, so we've never bothered with one. My heated airer is the 3-storey tower type one from L*keland. They seem to have increased a fair bit in price. Bought ours a few years back & it was around £85 I think. It claims to cost less than 5p an hour to run, though energy tariffs have increased & also, I try to maximise using mine overnight when we have the Economy 7 tariff. I didn't bother buying the cover, which is supposed to dry stuff a bit quicker. I just hang all my washing on it & save a sheet or duvet cover to chuck over the top. It is basically an airer with heated bars so it does dry quicker than the non-heated version. I will peg laundry out all year as long as there's a breeze but I wouldn't be without it for the winter months. It folds down so can be stored against a wall & you can arrange the tiers in various ways, so it's good for drying things like handknits as you can put them flat. I can't really comment on how it compares to a tumble drier because I have so little experience of them x

Thanks Foxgloves,I've seen the ones in my local L*keland and had thought about getting one before but wasn't sure if they were any good,I only really used to use my tumble dryer for my bedding and towels as most of my clothes can't be tumble dried anyway
I'm going to try and manage without for now but it's nice to know I have that option if I need it
When DD moves out and it's just me here I definitely won't need a tumble dryer so a heated airer would probably be a good idea then, it's ok when it's cold enough to put the heating on because everything dries really quickly on my radiators

janb5

I have bought three heated Lakeland airers but from EBay so considerably cheaper. You do need the cover tho as it it works much more efficiently than a sheet.

I bought one each for my sons and then one for me . Mine cost paid £50 + the cover.

foxgloves

Oooh, good start, Blackcats. Looking in the Footstool of Doom was a great idea for a bit of shopping from home.
I've had a decent start to Frugal Week Day 1 too. I listened to my audio book while blitzing that messy kitchen. I didn't go out, so no money spent at all.
I dealt with the leftover chicken which Mr F roasted for Saturday dinner. It did chicken, jacket chips & salad yesterday & there was sufficient for a stir-fry too, plus some to go in Mr f's next Epic Man Stew construction & to fill a pitta for tomorrow's packed lunch. I didn't make stock this time as we still have some in the freezer. Updated budgets/banking - a regular Monday morning task for me, paid a 'just for points' CC in full & updated my grocery budget tracker sheet. Determined to come in on budget for groceries this month, as our spend has been creeping up. Two shops in & we're still nicely on target atm. Cashed in my Prolific survey earnings - £50.
Shopped from home for a birthday card, lettuce (the rain should help bring all the homegrown salads on) & a recycled scrap paper pad refill for the kitchen.
Had a think about priorities for the very rainy week ahead. I am going to carry on with my major HQ (my little home office hub) blitz and also do an audit of my emergency supplies cupboard. Oh, & I've started my next Stash Knitting project - a pair of socks which I can either sell on my sister's autumn knitting stall or keep for myself. The yarn was given to me by someone who didn't want it, so either option will be a bonus.
I'm feeling very positive about spending as little as possible this week & being resourceful instead.
Knitting needles coming out now.
F x