Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

@BlueJ94 - Our old fridge used to do that. It was a blocked drainage hole right at the back - had to remove the salad drawer to get at it. Tiny hole, but could see gunk & that's where the water was puddling, so I poked a pin into the hole & jiggled it around & it cleared it. Wonder if similar thing with your fridge?
Debt-free in August! That is not many months away at all.
F x

foxgloves

Well m'dears, this says it all about household gas costs, doesn't it? We decided yesterday to turn off the central heating. We are both happy to put on an extra layer or have a blanket over us on an evening while watching TV if it's chilly, so as we are obviously keen to build up as much credit on our energy account before autumn as we possibly can, it felt like it was definitely time to action the big switch-off. Mr F suggested doing this earlier, but I vetoed it because we were having that cold frosty snap at the time.
Normally by around this time in the afternoon since the recent price rises, our smart meter display would be showing a daily gas cost of between high £3 -something to just under £5. I've just been through to have a look at it out of interest. 59p !!! I've not used a lot of gas today.....two boiled kettles, baked a loaf, sink-based ablutions, prepped slow cooker meal on the hob for a short while & 2 lots of washing-up -  that's about it, but honestly, the difference! 59p. It will, of course be more by the end of the day, but this is when I often go & have a look at the monitor display so I'm comparing like with like. 
That saving has really got to be worth putting a warmer cardi & extra socks on in the evening if it's chilly. 
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Wow foxgloves that is a difference isn't it!  My heating has been mostly off since March, not because i am ultra miserly but there is only one radiator downstairs behind the sofa so i don't bother with switching it on to heat the back of the sofa!  In the evening I use hot water bottles and blankets or sit in bed to watch TV I don't have a monitor as it broke so i need to investigate getting another one if possible
love Deni x

foxgloves

I don't think you can beat a hot water bottle tucked up behind your back when it's chilly, @Deni_debt-free_dreamer. 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Friday Frugalistas,
A pleasant day with a few positives on the money saving front:
*Got the rest of the Easter shopping from local market & kept quantities sensible. Reduced leg of lamb from market butcher.
*Made good use of vouchers - a free cup of coffee from newly opened coffee shop & 10% dividend at Co-op for Easter weekend. We often buy wine, local beer, chocolate, etc, from there & I bought a couple of nice inexpensive birthday cards too for a couple of friends. Dividend total currently at £51. This & Mr F's nectar card are our Christmas groceries pot. Talking of vouchers, I mentioned last week Mr F received a £4 off cat meat voucher on his Waitr*se loyalty app? Well, he got another one this week so bought another box of 40 pouches, because at £9, that's too good to miss.
*Mr F really quite restrained on Easter beer & chocolate purchases.
*Ate the last of the freezer salvage items for lunch, so at least no further additions to the waste caused by that fiasco.
*Mr F has accepted that the Keeper of the Budget is not going to agree to a gadgetty new vacuum cleaner atm having just had to use over half our Appliances Replacement Pot to buy a new freezer, so he went ahead & ordered a new tube for our existing one.
*Baked a batch of traditional Easter biscuits. I used to bake these in my teens & resurrected the tradition a few years ago - so nice & buttery.
*Set dining table ready for Easter. 'New' (actually heavily recycled!) tablecloth looks nice - I'll tell you about that another day, as it was actually, believe it or not (!), a purchase from way back in the midst of the Spendy Era - a rather rare 'good buy'!
*Energy saving - Mr F said 'Shall I just turn the heating back on for a little while just to dry the towels on towel radiator?' I said no need as I am changing them today so a couple of quid kept out of shareholders' pockets there. 
Oh, & the new slow cooker recipe I tried yesterday was very nice btw.....which is just as well as I can't freeze the surplus, so we're having it again tonight with a bowl of home made jacket wedges.
That really is enough of my ramblings for today.
Bye,
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

evening foxgloves

I love hot water bottles and, as i have a bad back, i find them very soothing. 
You have made good savings on cat food
I'm glad Mr F has easter beer ! Your easter biscuits sound lovely

love Deni x

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
Decent day so far with a few money saving wins:
*Nice lakeside walk this morning using annual parking pass. Took a flask of coffee, buttered hot cross buns & a couple of Easter biscuits to avoid both cafe queues & spend.
*Called in the only local branch of national C**p near us - our main branches are regional ones, but I had £5 credited to my national dividend card to treat myself for Easter. 
*Replacement vacuum tubing arrived. Mr F so pleased to see it -he can't stand our spare hoover, says it doesn't suck -it does- but I wasn't going to argue as he set about vacuuming the whole house to show me how great the new tube is!
*Made apricot & coriander stuffing for tomorrow....actually that's not really money saving but I enjoyed making it.
*Baked Mary Berry chocolate fudge cake (just waiting for ganache to set so I can fill & ice it) -it is our Easter cake but will double as dessert as I didn't think we needed both. Am still using little fluffy chicks to decorate which I bought absolutely years ago, a pack of about 40 for 99p at the 99p shop!
Well, I think that's about it for today. Mr F's cooking night as soon as I've stopped messing around with chocolate, then we plan to watch a film. Think I might get my Christmas gin out!
Take care all,
F x

scandimore

Sorry to hear about the freezer malarkey @foxgloves what a pain! 
Re: reading books we are on Biff and Chip here. I don't really like them. The school give him the same one for weeks on end and demand he reads it 5 times a week even though he flies through them easily so pretty boring for him. One of the reasons for our very frequent trips to the library!  So glad he's a bookworm like his parents though. It's funny how quick readers seem to need to be slowed down isn't it? I remember I used to sit in the library reading at school instead of being in lessons, I'd have much preferred being with everyone else with appropriate work to do.
I work loosely in education and the spectrum of problems which exist with reading/ literacy difficulties is so wide and has such an impact at school and beyond. When you look into how many different functions are involved in the reading process, it's a wonder any of us can. Those of us who just "got it" are lucky.

foxgloves

Yes, I agree with you re the stultifying nature of Biff & Chip, @scandimore. I think young children need to see that there is a point to learning to read & that is much more likely to happen if they see parents & older siblings role-modelling reading as an enjoyable activity. 
F

foxgloves

Oh whoops, forgot to include in today's post....remember I was flagging up the free Waitr*se weekend paper the other week as a source of interesting free recipes & food news? Well the current edition has some fab little recipes for quirky Easter bakes.....chicks, bunny rabbit bottoms & funny little lambs made from cereal. I think children would really enjoy both making & eating these. 
I've done well for free reading this weekend - as well as the above, I have the Easter Waitr*se monthly food magazine, one from the C*-*p & also a little free mag I picked up from our local health shop.
Well, I've iced my cake, licked the ganache bowl, put greenhouse plant babies to bed so I think it's time to go inside, put my feet up & talk to Soot & Ash. 
Love to all,
F x