Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

I've had quite a gentle day today because my back, which was making good headway, seems to have taken a step backwards last night & today. I am much better if I keep moving though.
Hello Frugal diary friends.....I decided I looked a bit faded this morning, so re-coloured my ucky roots. Sorted out the kitchen & wrote the meal plan I did yesterday into my diary. Also jotted down some ideas for the next meal plan to use up things I know we have in the freezer. I'd quite like to batch cook some more slow cooker Bolognese at some point as the recipe is very nice & makes a lot. Also fancy making a batch of Delia's spicy chickpea burgers. 
Pleasant afternoon in the greenhouse. Potted up 2nd lot of tomato seedlings & aubergines. All covered with homemade bottle cloches & will be fleeced at night until temperatures rise. Well, I say 'fleece' bit it isn't the proper horticultural stuff. It's a shopped from home jobber - a big length of packaging material which our new bedroom furniture arrived simply festooned in last year. It does the job perfectly, as does recycled bubble wrap or in the past, I've even used old net curtains.
Also potted some cosmos seedlings into modules. I was going to transplant lettuce too, but my back needed a rest & my head needed some caffeine, which is how I came to be sitting in the sunshine overlooking the veggie plot, drinking coffee & chatting to you.
Mr F announced that he's cooking tonight so I'm happy to let that happen & get on with B-in-L's socks for the presents stash.
I've been thinking about how I tackle present buying this year, esp Christmas presents & may do it slightly differently, I'll see.
How CAN it be Friday again tomorrow? Builders here for real on Mon so this weekend feels like the lull before the storm.
I'm off now, but I must remember to tell you about my sister's tiling quote as you just will not believe it!
F x

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foxgloves

Hello diary readers, 
Grocery shopping done, house cleaned.& plant babies checked & watered. Haven't done the sums properly but I think we have come in sufficiently under budget to be able to cover this week's fish box too. 
Am in the sunshine out on the pondside bench & trying to convince myself I don't have a sore throat (I definitely do....) & have popped on to tell you the tale of my sister's tiling quote. She arranged for a tiler to come & lay floor tiles in her conservatory but he kept failing to turn up & giving her repeated bullsh*t excuses, setting another date, then not turning up again. She told him not to bother, as he obviously didn't want the work & she couldn't be doing with any more of his timewasting. So she set about finding someone else. I haven't seen this conservatory but I know the space it was built into & it isn't very big. It's a new floor, all screed & no old tiles & adhesive to remove. This chap quoted her £7k to lay the floor tiles!! She said not to be ridiculous, that's far too much but he said that's what it would cost!!
I mean, that is just outrageous! She's got another tiler to come & quote for the job imminently. I suppose there are always these chancers out there who try it on in the hope of being able to cheat a vulnerable, very elderly or inexperienced person. My sister doesn't fall into any of these categories & is as assertive as I am, so Mr Skanky the Tiler isn't going to fleece her of her cash any time soon.
As we're quite an assertive bunch on here with our finances, I thought you might enjoy this saga.
F x

Four_Seasons

7K what a rip off but I suppose there will always be the chance someone will accept.  I have tided my greenhouse ready for seed sowing when I am back from my jollies also ordered some chard seeds after your post and recipes.  Hope your throat get better quickly, have a lovely weekend x

Sun_Addict

£7k 😱😡 I think some tradesmen quote high when they don’t really want to do the job. 

Baileys_Babe

Has your sister asked in the local tile shops if they can recommend any tilers? It is in the shop's interest to only recommend competent people as otherwise, it reflects poorly on them.

I hope your sore throat clears up quickly.

ladyholly

Good grief 7K for a bit of tiling. I do wish tradesmen would just say they dont want the job rather than messing people about.

Tescodealqueen

An old friend was a builder. He used to give obscenely high quotes rather than refuse to quote for a job if he really didn’t want to take the job on. My sister is getting similar daft quotes for her replacement en suite. I think there is too much work and too few tradesman around at the moment although materials have gone up by an insane amount too

savingmore

baileys-babe.  i grew up with clay soil.   my dad worked tirelessly adding compost and i think lime to it.  eventually gave up. it was a good 1/3 acre plot.  backbreaking work.  however he chanced on growing strawberries and raspberries.  bingo.  they grew fabulously in clay.  have you tried them?  

foxgloves

Interesting comments re the tiling quote, thanks. It does seem ridiculous not just to say instead 'I am fully booked up until next year' (or whatever excuse for not wanting the work) rather than coming out with such an outrageous figure that potential customers will quite simply never ever contact that person for work again. Some people have long memories (I am one of them) - When we needed some gas engineering work done a while back, I had no difficulty remembering which people hadn't even had the courtesy to get back to me on a previous occasion when I needed help urgently with a smaller heating job in the middle of winter. 
F

foxgloves

Afternoon Daffodils,
Another bright sunny day here so far & I'm hoping to get out into the garden to do a few minor tasks after lunch. Mr F has had to work this morning to cover more staff absence & I've been up at my desk in Foxgloves HQ all morning, as had scheduled today as my Big Budget Day. Well, I soon realised that wasn't going to go as planned, as I haven't yet received our new energy bill monthly DD amount, so am not able to go ahead & plan April's budget. Hang on, I'm just going to fish our letter out & have another read in case I missed something..........

Right, we're with C*-*p Energy which is managed by the Tentacled Provider & the letter I received says "We're not adjusting your payments now, but over the next few weeks, we'll send you a recommendation if your payments need adjusting". I had perhaps wrongly assumed that when their prices go up on April 2nd, I would be sent a new increased monthly dd. I am now wondering if this is because our energy account is over £300 in credit atm or if it is simply a standard clause which went into everybody's letter. If it's the latter, I don't feel too happy about the thought of the DD being whacked up at some random point in the future, I'd rather know now what it needs to be. They estimate that our electricity cost will rise by £396-84 per year & our gas by £570-70 which is an overall annual increase of £967.54, although the credit on our account should continue to grow now that we are approaching the warmer months.....also bearing in mind that we intend to go hard on economising, which we began this month & managed a £34 drop in usage, as I mentioned in a previous post.
Has anyone else had a new actual DD amount from this provider? Or a similar letter stating that monthly payment amounts won't change yet? 
So, these questions meant that I didn't go on to set April's budget this morning, but I did do a thorough reconciliation on March's, partly as I think we are all watching the pennies a lot more closely with all that is going on globally & also because I have a tidy mind & it's the end of the financial year. There were several transfers to do to ensure payments were made using the correct savings pots & various other things to sort out/tidy up. Cashing out our Prolific earnings has provided both of us with a nice little boost to our Personal Spends. Mine was £57 & Mr F's over £80 & he decided to re-pay a small loan he had from our Tech Replacement Pot - it makes such a difference to borrow from ourselves & so unlike the bad old Spendy Era. I found myself experiencing one of those moments where I actually felt slightly sick at the thought of all the money both of us have wasted in the past, before righting myself as I usually do by reminding myself that I can't change the past & at least we DID both finally experience a pretty hefty flashing lightbulb!!
I'm going to stop for lunch now & study this energy letter again.
Hope you are all seeing some of this sunshine,
F x