Put away your purse & become debt-averse

savingmore

savingmore said:

delurking.....that waitrose article sounds fab....had no idea you could do that with carrots!  tried to find it online on waitrose site but can’t, couldn’t you send a link teapot?  wouldn’t be so grateful....tx

i eventually found it by using the /weekend, thanks.   don’t know why you can’t get from main page.  never knew they produced this free nehttps://weekend-online.com/issue591/2/spaper, looks great!!

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

savingmore said:

savingmore said:

delurking.....that waitrose article sounds fab....had no idea you could do that with carrots!  tried to find it online on waitrose site but can’t, couldn’t you send a link teapot?  wouldn’t be so grateful....tx

i eventually found it by using the /weekend, thanks.   don’t know why you can’t get from main page.  never knew they produced this free nehttps://weekend-online.com/issue591/2/spaper, looks great!!

oh great thanks!  I couldn't post a link, lots of inspiration there for us all

foxgloves

Hope you all find it useful, all those who have commented. It is a nice little free paper, available to pick up from Waitr*se usually from Thursday. I've had lots of useful recipes from it over the years. They often do seasonal & themed recipes & some of the healthy eating ones have been useful & affordable. We particularly like one they printed for beanburgers topped with a roasted pepper salsa. Also (not healthy!) a fab rhubarb & custard cake. I always enter the crossword competition to win a £100 gift card as I would sooooo enjoy spending that, but have not yet managed to win it!
Right, my ☕ has been slurped. Must get back to work on the jasmine & pyracantha jungle before builder arrives on Tues.
F x

Sun_Addict

I like their free newspaper too. I read something about them stopping it (or was it the magazine). It would be a shame if they stopped it. I like the Mr T free magazine too, lots of good recipes in there. 

foxgloves

They have stopped their free newspaper offer, @Sun_Addict, but that is something different, it's the free choice of daily or weekend newspaper their loyalty card holders were allowed to choose when they spent over £10. We must have had oodles of free Guardians over the years & really appreciated what a good offer that was, as it included Sunday papers too. It's that newspaper offer which has ceased. Their own little free weekend paper for customers is still going. I'd quite miss it if it went, as always like to look at the recipes & sustainable food/farming news...... & it is itself recycled atm underneath cat litter trays!
F x

BlueJ94

Afternoon @foxgloves

Just having a quick catch up as I've been either sleeping or working this weekend!

Reading how planned and organised you're planning on being is motivation to me to get myself sorted and start doing the chores, I've been sat procrastinating for ages. Feeling tired and sorry for myself

On the plus side but also downside. There's no over time available for anyone in Sainsburys this week. Well only Saturday for me. So I get to get a lay in tomorrow. (7am)

Sun_Addict

foxgloves said:

They have stopped their free newspaper offer, @Sun_Addict, but that is something different, it's the free choice of daily or weekend newspaper their loyalty card holders were allowed to choose when they spent over £10. We must have had oodles of free Guardians over the years & really appreciated what a good offer that was, as it included Sunday papers too. It's that newspaper offer which has ceased. Their own little free weekend paper for customers is still going. I'd quite miss it if it went, as always like to look at the recipes & sustainable food/farming news...... & it is itself recycled atm underneath cat litter trays!
F x

That’s good to hear. I didn’t know about the other offer to be honest, I’ve had a few free coffees from them though.

foxgloves

@BlueJ94 - I am convinced that planning is absolutely key to budgeting, whether it's for debt-busting, just staying solvent or for saving. I always do better at all areas of my life when there's a realistic plan in place. I'm not surprised you're tired though, as you do work long hours & none of us can keep running on empty. Take care now,
F x

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money Savers,
Usual Monday-ish routine day. Laundry, bread making, tidying, budget updates, wrote letter to a friend I haven't seen for ages, finished knitting current sock & cast on its pair (still knitting up my stash, haven't been buying yarn), a bit more planning for builders' demolition day tomorrow, did some surveys as would like to cash-out for a £100 'Christmas bonus' again this year.
Have also been thinking a lot about energy bills today - aren't we all, atm? Reading a news story about the the cap possibly being around £3000 from October has really increased my determination to reduce any silly energy wastage in our house. Just small things......I mentioned I found that the woollens handwashing cycle takes 56 minutes less than the one I'd usually use, I've also recommenced pegging out today.....not sure how dry the laundry will be when I fetch it in shortly but if it just halves heated airer time, it is another small saving. have found out that our new coffee machine will make the exact amount of coffee required to fit my favourite mug. That sounds too small to be a saving, but we were previously using our kettle on the gas hob & a cafetiere & although I had reduced the amount of water I was putting in the kettle, it was still often more than required. We have reduced our thermostat as of yesterday so that it is set at 18 degrees all day, rather than 19 from 5pm to 10pm, as we feel we ought to be starting to move towards a Spring mindset now. We usually light the stove at around 6pm in the evenings, but have changed this to 7pm now  - we haven't had a very cold winter, really - will turn the flame down as soon as it has had its recommended 10 mins of efficiency warm-up time & will also try to remember to switch it off altogether half an hour before bed time when the room is perfectly warm. That's three & a half hours of gas time saved per week just from a slightly earlier switch-off. Another thing I have resumed doing is remembering that I don't need to fill the washing-up bowl to the brim with hot water. I do that just out of habit. I think I tend to think of water as 'free' because we are billed & not on a meter, but it's paying to heat it we need to remember. This morning, I switched off the tap when I reckoned I'd got sufficient water to wash the breakfast dishes properly & I didn't even notice a difference, so I will be doing that more often. I also found this morning that it is now light enough first thing (once I've opened the black-out blind) to get up, get dressed, make the bed, etc, without the light on, ditto having a bath. All such very small things, I know, but it is the number of measures plus the frequency of them that make a difference. I am on this now & will be implementing more micro-savings as I go further into this week.
But for now, I must go & fetch the laundry in, try & reassure Soot that he is not actually going to starve away to a wraith in the meantime & see how little heated airer time I can get away with. 
Hope you've all managed at least a reasonable Monday - if not, tomorrow is another day,
F x
P.S Just checked my latest two energy statements. We used £150-75's worth of energy in January & £144-88's worth in February. My goal is to see another drop for March. I'm on it.

savingmore

you’re tips for energy reduction are good foxgloves, as you said, each one might be micro but quantity and frequency really add up.  just thinking about what we are all experiencing.  firstly the world has been through a collective trauma (covid), then the war in ukraine, energy prices, food instability, rent hikes, lack of housing, few holidays in last two years, education suffering, inflation, it’s quite a full load and everyone’s resilience is stretching at the seams.  it won’t take much else, if we haven’t already reached a tipping point.  what we need to pray for, apart from the demise of putin and end to war, is a lovely weather for spring and summer and a continual return to more old fashioned values of make do and mend, but most importantly friendly community, in real life and online.   your diary is one such place and i thank you for it.  help s me feel not alone and with like minded friends.  the benefit of this cannot be underestimated.