Put away your purse & become debt-averse

marionmgcars

Our local food pantry sometimes has excess food, so they offer to public who are walking past.  It saves waste of fresh food from going to landfill.  I picked up some parsnips, and have just had my first attempt at curried parsnip soup, it is delicious, although quite a big pan full.  I wonder if I could freeze a carton (as it has milk as one of the ingredients).  

foxgloves

Morning diary readers,
Well, this week is not the busy productive few days I'd planned out in the veggie garden & clearing out my half of the shed. Yesterday morning, the builders turned up. I wasn't expecting them, but they had just found out there was Covid in their current client's household so were trying to make best use of their time. It isn't easy to work in the garden atm with workmen here because I obviously need to keep an eye on the cats, who are not allowed out yet (though that day is approaching). I needed to keep answering knocks at the door about one or other aspect of the renovations & attempts to shut the cats into the only possible room (we are quite open plan downstairs) only worked until builder needed the window open for electric socket access. So I did other stuff instead. I got cross with myself for feeling grumpy about having to abandon my garden plans, then got even crosser with myself for how negatively I was dealing with it & gave myself a stern talking-to! Of course, the more of the work done before the official start date, the earlier the project will be finished. I also delivered myself a firm verbal slap for whinging when frankly, I've wanted this project done since about 5 minutes after we moved in nearly 20 years ago! 
Builder here again today & tomorrow. Nice to see the work progressing. 
I've had a useful morning doing my mid-month budget check-in - the figures are more complicated this month because a couple of factors concerning the money for the building work, but once I'd separated that out & done mid-month reconciliation, I could see that we were £52 out on my original budget. I did find £23 of this - a silly error in which I had not added the new pet insurance policies to my spreadsheet, but there's another £29 adrift somewhere, which will probably show up as an accounting error at some point. Other budgetty stuff today:
* Council Tax bill arrived. An increase of £7 per month.
* Water bill came last week, an increase of £5.18 per month, so that's £12.18 more on those 2 bills combined.
* Mr F pinged to say he'd filled up with petrol at the supermarket near his work which is usually the cheapest petrol locally & that it was 163.99 (his last fill-up there was 156.99). He has to work an extremely late shift tonight due to an absence on his team. He will get time + a half back in lieu for the unsocial hours, which will be enough for a day off & my 1st thought was that he wouldn't need to use 52 miles of petrol that day! I can see this is how we are all going to be thinking, isn't it?
* Cancelled a monthly subscription because realistically, I won't have time to use it until summer. That credited £16.99 back to my Personal Spends.
*Have done 4 surveys this morning & currently have PA open as a tab on my laptop so I can leap on when new ones appear. There's a £3 one I'd like to do but I can't commit to the 30 mins in case I get called outside to discuss a building issue.
* I've made bread rolls for the freezer - just on their 2nd proving. You know my views on the budget-gobbling 'top-up shop'....well, when we need something, it is usually bread & then often ends up being bread plus a couple of other bits being bought, so I am trying to overlap my bread baking better. I currently have a sourdough in the freezer plus some of these rolls can be frozen too.
* Tonight's meal has been left in the freezer as it will just be me tonight, so I will save that for next week's meal plan & have defrosted a lone portion of home made turkey soup for me instead which will be nice with a freshly baked roll.
* Yesterday I pretty much dried 3 loads of laundry inc big towels, jeans, etc, outside on the whirlygig. I just needed a couple of hours of heated airer for finishing off, which is a big saving on last month's use. Shall be ironing only those things which require it & turning off the iron to press the final item using residual heat.....I am reinstating this as one of my energy saving micro-measures.
* I shall choose a film to watch tonight with the cats & will finish knitting Mr F's sock. That will be 4 pairs he's had for free, as all the sock yarn was from my stash & he's really pleased with them as they are nice funky colours/patterns. I like knitting socks as I know the pattern by heart so perfect to knit while watching TV. I think I will cast on B-in-L's Christmas pair next so they can go in the presents bag & I can forget about them until October when I tend to unpack it all & remind myself what I've got.
OK, enough yakking. Time to go & see if those rolls are ready to go in the oven.
Stay strong in the face of unnecessary spendy temptation m'dears, we are in uncertain & worrying times.
And let's continue to support each other.
F xx

QueenJess

Times are definitely hard, but I enjoy reading your doses of reality and practicality 😊. I really must get round to plant some things in the garden…

My attempt at frugality/reuse today was making a Mother’s Day card by using a pretty square tissue box with the circle cut out at the front.  I used an envelope from the recycling to get a white background and then I used bits of useless scrap card from the craft drawer to make a flower and stuck it in the middle of the circle. So pretty much everything rescued from my recycling bag.

I’m starting to think I will never need to buy gift boxes, gift bags, gift wrap, gift tags or card making stuff ever again - it’s all here already!

foxgloves

Yes, I agree @QueenJess, it's amazing how much good wrappings stuff & trimmings can be shopped from home. My recycled wrappings stash is nearly always well stocked. 
Well done on the handcrafted card.
F

Elisheba

CRANKY40 said:

We watched a video on utube which is a vet's surgery showing how to put a pill into a cat. My son who was 15 at the time looked over my shoulder and said "That cat is drugged mum". It just sat there quietly and let the vet nurse put the pill in. Inserting tablets into our cat takes two of us and a towel. If she's poorly I can sometimes put the first tablet in without a struggle but once she knows what I am calling her for it's a whole different ball game. 

In the labrador years all we had to do was say "Oooh look, a sweetie" and then throw the tablet in the air. The medication was in the dog without it even touching the sides.  

Its very similar with my labrador, and if there are any issues then sticking it in a bit of cheese means it disappears in a flash! The cats are a completely different matter.  Its a total nightmare trying to get any meds in them.

Elisheba

Deni_debt-free_dreamer said:

Evening foxgloves
I've never wanted to share a bath, its a relaxing activity ideally spent in the company of a glass of wine and good book!!  

Unless you have a special shaped bath where the taps are in the middle, one of you always has to lean against the taps and it is never as good fun as it sounds 

Pixiehouse55

Good morning @foxgloves and all
How are you? What have you been up to? Behaving I hope and not overspending!! 
I'm so sorry I've not been in to sit and have a cuppa and a natter. Retirement life is so good. Very relaxing. But we do have a poorly dog, we are now on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Hungerford. Weve moored up here for a week. I think Harry is going to need to see a vet. He's been sick today and he was on Sunday but then picked up and ate his food in the afternoon. Then this morning I woke to a Poo on the floor and he had been sick again. Might be something he ate out on a walk yesterday or it could be his tummy playing up. He does have a sensitive stomach.
 When we were in Newbury we had those nasty winds, luckily where we had moored up we were surrounded by shops!! Ha ha yes shops like Dunelms. B&Q and Tescos. I LOVE Dunelms!! They had reduced a lot of their Wool and needles. Sewing things as well!! So I did buy some wool and a couple of patterns, knitting Needles *sizes that I didnt have) and a couple of crochet hooks.
We are making our
way back to Bristol where we will Moor the boat up, hire a van and go back to our home town where we have stuff in a storage container load up the van and take it all back to our boat! I have lots of wool and fabrics here plus my sewing machine.
2 armchairs and 2 storage pouffs a dressing table and a king-size bedstead to sale!! 
 Weather has been lovely the last few days. Lovely walks along the tow path. With the evenings getting lighter it's 6pm and we are busy knitting or hubby is Tatting and we realise the time!! So dinner can be as late as 8pm lol
Hasn't food shopping gone up??
Went to do a food shop the other day, didn't buy loads and it came to £74 I look at the cashier in shock lol
Anyways its now absolutely heaving it down with rain so I won't be going anywhere today! Hopefully it will calm down later to take dogs out for a walk. 
Off to do a bit of knitting now whilst waiting for the water to heat up so that I can do the washing up. I'm knittingva jumper for a 6 month baby. We are thinking of getting a traders license so that we can sale what we make. 
Look forward to reading what you've all been up to. 
Take Care and Keep Safe xxx

Alchemilla

Elisheba said:

CRANKY40 said:

We watched a video on utube which is a vet's surgery showing how to put a pill into a cat. My son who was 15 at the time looked over my shoulder and said "That cat is drugged mum". It just sat there quietly and let the vet nurse put the pill in. Inserting tablets into our cat takes two of us and a towel. If she's poorly I can sometimes put the first tablet in without a struggle but once she knows what I am calling her for it's a whole different ball game. 

In the labrador years all we had to do was say "Oooh look, a sweetie" and then throw the tablet in the air. The medication was in the dog without it even touching the sides.  

Its very similar with my labrador, and if there are any issues then sticking it in a bit of cheese means it disappears in a flash! The cats are a completely different matter.  Its a total nightmare trying to get any meds in them.

Haha our Labradors put their paws up on the vet reception desk to receive their wormer.

Alchemilla

Pixiehouse55 said:

Good morning @foxgloves and all
How are you? What have you been up to? Behaving I hope and not overspending!! 
I'm so sorry I've not been in to sit and have a cuppa and a natter. Retirement life is so good. Very relaxing. But we do have a poorly dog, we are now on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Hungerford. Weve moored up here for a week. I think Harry is going to need to see a vet. He's been sick today and he was on Sunday but then picked up and ate his food in the afternoon. Then this morning I woke to a Poo on the floor and he had been sick again. Might be something he ate out on a walk yesterday or it could be his tummy playing up. He does have a sensitive stomach.
 When we were in Newbury we had those nasty winds, luckily where we had moored up we were surrounded by shops!! Ha ha yes shops like Dunelms. B&Q and Tescos. I LOVE Dunelms!! They had reduced a lot of their Wool and needles. Sewing things as well!! So I did buy some wool and a couple of patterns, knitting Needles *sizes that I didnt have) and a couple of crochet hooks.
We are making our
way back to Bristol where we will Moor the boat up, hire a van and go back to our home town where we have stuff in a storage container load up the van and take it all back to our boat! I have lots of wool and fabrics here plus my sewing machine.
2 armchairs and 2 storage pouffs a dressing table and a king-size bedstead to sale!! 
 Weather has been lovely the last few days. Lovely walks along the tow path. With the evenings getting lighter it's 6pm and we are busy knitting or hubby is Tatting and we realise the time!! So dinner can be as late as 8pm lol
Hasn't food shopping gone up??
Went to do a food shop the other day, didn't buy loads and it came to £74 I look at the cashier in shock lol
Anyways its now absolutely heaving it down with rain so I won't be going anywhere today! Hopefully it will calm down later to take dogs out for a walk. 
Off to do a bit of knitting now whilst waiting for the water to heat up so that I can do the washing up. I'm knittingva jumper for a 6 month baby. We are thinking of getting a traders license so that we can sale what we make. 
Look forward to reading what you've all been up to. 
Take Care and Keep Safe xxx

Are you giving Harry chicken/pasta/rice?

Love Hungerford, is the antiques arcade still there?

foxgloves

Hello @Pixiehouse55. How nice to hear from you. Glad you are enjoying your life on the ocean waves....well not exactly the ocean, of course, but I bet you still get a few ripples on the canals when it's stormy. Sorry to hear you have a poorly dog. Hope the vet can sort him out. Yes, good behaviour on the whole. Apart from all the money (budgeted for) that we're currently spending on getting the front of our house (drive/courtyard/boundaries/drainage, etc) renovated, we're are pulling in our horns bigtime on the spending front, as price increases are crazy......& not just the obvious ones like energy bills & petrol, because as you rightly say, grocery prices are also rising & they are noticeable increases too. We've been berating ourselves for the fact that our grocery budget (which I increased during the pandemic) is sill higher, yet even then, we sometimes go over the limit. I think only part of the issue is us - the rest is rising prices. For a couple of examples, spread & yoghurt. There were always a couple of spread varieties on offer at £1, also the big tubs of yoghurt. While I know there are still £1 deals to be found, I've noticed recently that a lot of them are now £1.20 instead, which if you buy 4 tubs a week is an extra 80p......an extra 80p across, say 10 other weekly grocery areas & that's an extra £8  - multiply this by 4 weeks' worth of shopping & that's £32. It becomes easy then to see how quite modest increases soon start to stack up. A fairly basic example, I know, but in the same way as we say 'Every little helps' in terms of savings, every little HINDERS our budgets when they are supermarket price increases.
Ah well, we have the skills to mitigate some of what inflation is throwing at us, it's the fuel I am worried about, as Mr F has a 52-mile a day commute.
Enjoy your time on the West Kennet canal. I love Wiltshire, especially Avebury.
Take care,
F x