Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

One of the things I like about freezing it, marionmgcars, is that it is so nice to excavate to the back of the freezer in the depths of winter & discover a pot which is a little taste of summer.
F 

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams, (although rainsplats would be more apprppriate here atm). It's been a kind of mixed day today. Woke at 6. A good time for me to get up is around 6.15, but unfortunately I fell back to sleep & woke at twenty to eight with a muzzy head which has persisted all day. Other not so good things.... the local sparrowhawk had struck again so I buried the sad find of two perfect little goldfinch wings. It's nature, I know. I hope the young hawks enjoyed their breakfast. And then... I can hardly believe I'm returning to this topic after last autumn.... what did I find on the lawn but THREE mystery poos!!! Completely different from last time's mystery poo. I can see I shall have to turn poo detective again. Bah!! 
On the positive side, I managed to find some nice gifts in town for my sister's birthday box. I also received some L*keland vouchers in the post & absolutely could not believe what one of them was for! I've mentioned that I had decided to treat myself to a Kitchen*id mixer. It is an expensive purchase & by the time I had decided I'd defo buy one, we were in Lockdown. I have failed to get one online since then, despite leaving 'email me when back in stock' requests with J*hn Lewis, etc. No luck. Then today, a voucher amongst the L*keland mailshot for 20% off a specific colour (one that I liked) of the correct Kitchen*id mixer! That felt like a proper bargain because it was £100 off something I'd planned to buy anyway. Well, I got straight onto it & the voucher code didn't work, so I phoned & ordered it that way. Then it got even better because the chap doing the order said their system had also discounted my other purchases (items for presents) as well, despite the code specifically being for the mixer. I have apparently also qualified for a free pack of freezer bags! Honestly, I can't tell you how often I've checked for these mixers being back in stock during the locked down months & suddenly I not only manage to buy one, but I've saved £100! So that was a good thing & balanced out the mystery poo & goldfinch funeral. 
Still got the damned headache though. Glad I've done today's 7500 steps because I intend to do sweet B all tonight. 
Peace, 
F xx

foxgloves

Hello Diary readers, Hope everyone is well & starting to get back to some kind of normality, even though in reality, things are still feeling peculiar.
I've been quite busy today but made sure to build in a walk, some gardening & a 10-min fitness video so as to achieve my steps. I'm on Day 4 of my 30-day challenge & am walking 7500 steps a day this week, then it increases. However, late last night, Mr F invited me to do a steps competition with him today & I agreed. I regretted it this morning as he is like a machine once he puts his mind to it, but he must have been at his desk or driving for a fair bit of today as I have done well over 12,000 steps & we are neck & neck. Free fitness anyway, a bit of fun & also involved me getting 3 beds weeded & hoed in the veggie garden. Also did a few admin jobs, tidied & made Malaysian fish curry.
I've been thinking about energy meter readings/bills but will save that for another post as I need to think about what I'm trying to say & will be interested in your views.
Talk to you tomorrow, 
F x

marionmgcars

I tried the TooGoodToGo app today at a local mini supermarket.  It cost £4 for a magic bag (lucky dip) and was pleased with the contents - mind you, I am not a fussy eater.  Nice to add a bit of fun to shopping these days.  

foxgloves

Morning Friday Frugalistas!
Well, Mr F won yesterday's steps challenge, but by fewer than 200 steps. My total at close of day was 13,186 which is a very decent amount for me. Today I'm back to the less onerous 30-day challenge in my magazine which is 7,500. I would like at least some leisure time today so am hoping I can achieve a goodly proportion of those by doing my big Friday house clean, a small amount of veggie garden maintenance & a few other tasks.
Blue sky here, sunshine & birds singing in a new day. I must get myself moving.
Have a good one, 
F x

1LuckyLady

oooo so close Foxgloves! I hope you enjoy your leisure time. 

foxgloves

Hi, 1LL - Lovely to 'see' you dropping in. I know! I so nearly beat him, didn't I? In the end though, I was so pleased with my step total that I wasn't really so bothered about who won. Ultimately, it's what shows on the scales that matters & as of this week, we have new scales so I can no longer blame not being able to see the tiny lines, as they are digital, so I am thinking the real competition is first thing next Saturday when we will both be weighing in. We are both feeling very determined, as weight control has definitely been slacking lately, although I think he is feeling very competitive as he's just spent an hour upstairs in the bedroom trying on shirts to see which lovely ones he could be wearing if he just got a stone or so back off. Hmmmm. I shall throw myself into my steps challenge with renewed vigour during the week ahead (after tomorrow, the daily total rises to 8000. 
Hope you & yours are well.
F x

Toni'sfriend

Well done, foxgloves. I was doing so well and then got a blister on my foot, then the weather was bad, then I was waiting for a delivery. Total nonsense!!! Must, must get back to it next week. Absolutely no excuses!!!! You have my permission to shame me publicly if I don't (PLEASE).

foxgloves

Hello Diary readers,
I hope everyone is having as decent a weekend as possible. Naturally I had no sooner put a load of laundry on than the heavens opened, but it's not been a bad couple of days on the whole. I didn't get my post on yesterday as I was so kippered by the time I sat down, I did nothing more onerous than watching TV, but I did get quite a lot done yesterday & didn't spend any money. I did my big weekly house clean & emptied all the bins, changed the bed linen, baked a sourdough loaf & a batch of cobs & then headed off down to the veggie garden with a pint of water (for me!) & got on with some outdoor jobs. I removed the anti-sparrows netting from my 2nd sowing of french beans & tied them in, hoed 3 beds & did a bit of general maintenance & watering, I packed a load of old bottles we'd previously used as edging ready for the recycling bank then picked beans (some of which were blanched & frozen) & tomatoes. I also rounded up a colander of small early windfall apples to see if they were useable for stewed apple or if they'd be too sour. They were ok, so now potted & frozen. 
Oh, & I achieved 9228/7500 steps.
Today has been more spendy, but nothing off-budget. I've been needing to replace a couple of worn out duvet covers so have ordered a couple from the Swedish Emporium this afternoon. I also almost ordered our new bedroom blind, but then took it out of my online basket & instead ordered a free sample of fabric in each of the 2 colours I like. I already have the curtain fabric so I thought it made sense actually to have a look & then know for sure that I've ordered the one which best matches that. I bought myself a coffee, cake (my one weekly treat now that I am back on the weight reduction with a vengeance!) & a funny little lunchbox set from our local market featuring 'Simon's Cat' - we both love those little films.....especially the one where the kitten goes for 'the snip', lol. One of the things I love about having 'Personal Spends' built into our budget is that we can both buy bits & pieces without any guilt. It's our money.....we have a set amount each month but when it's gone, it's gone. And we do stick to that rule. For instance, Big Budget Day is this coming Monday. Mr F's July Spends are overspent by £7, so he will have that sum deducted from August's amount. He is fine with that. We both know that having no 'brake' on spending on stuff we liked got us  (both before we even knew each other & afterwards as a spendy couple) into a whole heap of silly meaningless debt back in the day & it feels so much better to have an agreed budgeted amount which can be spent without any guilt, justification etc. It also concentrates the mind wonderfully on how quickly a regular coffee shop habit can erode a perfectly adequate monthly allowance! 
Anyway......I do digress, don't I? It's not my cooking night tonight, so I am going to do a very few garden jobs - nothing more than clearing a few pots & trays away, then I intend to finish knitting the thumb on my mitten & hopefully also finish my book & choose another from my enticing library pile.
Oh, I meant to ask you all something about summer & energy bills.....I'll put that in another post.
Cheers (& then I promise I'll shut up!)
F x

foxgloves

OK, here is my question. Does anybody else feel that they kind of 'take their eye off the ball' a little with energy usage at this time of year? Our energy account went into debit at the end of last year. Our provider had previously reduced our monthly payment & I didn't challenge that because it is nice to have a monthly dd go down. However, at the time, I did remark to Mr F that I thought it was a bit low & that it wouldn't be long before we were building up a debit total & they were wanting to put the monthly dd up again. That is exactly what happened.....& added into that, our energy provider merged with another one into a different company and they pretty soon got in touch to say that we needed to pay £300 into our account to get it to 'zero'. I did that, did some sums and  informed them that I wanted our monthly payment increased, which they did. Now that I am used to how this provider manages billing, statements, etc, I quite like it. I receive an email each month asking for a meter reading. I upload that online & within a day, I receive a statement of how much gas & electricity I've used over the past month along with my current account balance. As it is now summer, I've gradually seen our account move into credit with £90 now sitting there ready to help with bills in the colder months. As we won't be using any heating in August & probably none in September either, that's another two months for building our pre-winter credit. I started thinking of other things we could be doing to build it a little more, then it occurred to me that many of my usual little energy-saving measures seem to peter out in the summer months. I wondered if anyone else finds this? I think we are much more conscious of it during autumn & winter when the heating is on. We know how expensive it can be & so I think we are much more inclined to turn down thermostats, watch out for lights being left on unnecessarily, etc, than we are in the summer when we are much less hard-wired to think about saving on energy bills. I've noticed recently that I am (yet again!) boiling more water than I need for a cup of tea, I'm washing laundry on 40 which could easily be done on 30, I'm putting lights on because I can't be a*sed to fetch my specs & not making such good use of overnight Economy 7 tariff for laundry as I tend to do in winter for some reason. I noticed last night while doing the washing up that I used hot water for rinsing items when I would generally use cold & I have stopped turning off the iron & using the residual heat to iron the last couple of items as I would almost always do in the winter when my mindset is obviously much more geared towards trying to keep our energy bills down. Now I know that these measures only save small amounts individually, but we all know that small things add up. I am sure it must be the lack of heating & generally smaller bills during the summer months which leads me unconsciously to think there isn't the same need to be sparing with energy use. But you know, having these monthly emailed statements which are based entirely on my own extremely current readings is now motivating me to see how much credit I can build up before the chillier months return.
This time last month, the credit on our energy account was £33-57. It is now £90-33. I think I will use these figures as motivation to try & apply the same stingy mindset to our summer energy use as I do in winter.
I've just read this back......it's a bit of a ramble, but I think you can see what I'm trying to say & I'll be interested if anyone else finds that they lose focus with energy saving during summer.
And now I must go & do another 1000 steps or I shall miss my target.
F x