Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Coxy11

Just delurking to say there's an app called petrolprices.com that shows the cheapest fuel in your area. Might be useful - sorry if already mentioned elsewhere.

foxgloves

Hi @Coxy11 & welcome from your de-lurk! Yes, I'm aware of that app & we do occasionally look, but we are finding that prices are changing so quickly that they are often already out of date when we get there. Cheapest fuel in our town is a supermarket & cheapest where Mr F works is a different supermarket. We do use a 'just for points' credit card to buy fuel, also nectar card whenever we can, in the spirit of getting at least a titchy bit back. We do get double nectar on petrol purchases as a perk of having pet insurance with said supermarket & all points are being saved towards Christmas food shopping. But the thought of £2.00+ per litre is awful for everyone except the wealthiest.
F

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi foxgloves

I got a voucher for 5p off per litre on Tues at Sainz but i didn't need petrol and thought i'd get some yesterday - by which time it had gone up 5p a litre!  Cost increases are scary.  I have a similar commute to Mr F but am allowed to WfH a couple of days a week.

Deni x 

foxgloves

I think that's almost the scariest part of the price rises, @Deni_debt-free_dreamer - the speediness of that upward trajectory. We can drive past a petrol station in the morning & see that the price has gone up since last time, but with how things are atm, we can go past the same place late that same afternoon & it's not unusual for it to have risen again.
Although we are in quite a rural part of the county, at least we are only 1.5 miles from town....a small country market town, nothing major, but at least we can buy most things without a bigger trek. I feel for people who live in much more rural areas who need to drive for pretty much everything.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
Oh my giddy trousers, I feel tired tonight. Busy day....decent step-count around town (well, decent for me....compared to @Sun_Addict's daily steps I look like Queen Wimp of the Wimp People!) This afternoon, we tackled a job that REALLY needed doing - cleaning layers of builders' dust & gunk off our windows & external doors. All done except the conservatory. Mr F tackled the windows -inside & out - he's done a cracking job & noticeably improved light levels. Meanwhile, I set to with an ancient bottle of UPVC restorer. I wished I hadn't but I kind of enjoyed the penance aspect of it. You see, I bought that stuff back in the Spendy Years & it has pretty much sat in the shed ever since like a billy-no-mates - a total waste of money until today when I decided to use the damn stuff once & for all. It had gone rather thick so I had to scrub like a woman.possessed to buff it off. The doors look fresh & clean. I look knackered. My hands are already feeling stiff. I've told Mr F that if I keep moaning about them tomorrow, to tell me to take come co-codamol & shut up! 
Some observations today:
* We decided to fill.up with supermarket petrol. We arrived at about 8.15am & the queue of cars was already off the forecourt & down the road. Petrol was 1.78. Doubtless everyone had heard that average petrol price is now 1.83 & had the same idea.
*Did pantry stock-up at A*di. While we got a very decent amount of store cupboard groceries for what we paid, we hadn't done a stock-up for 6-8 weeks & we could really see that prices had gone up.
*Gaps on shelves - mayonnaise - none at A*di, a few jars left at Waitr*se.....that'll doubtless be the 🌻 oil shortage? No bread flour at all at A*di, hardly any at Waitr*se. 
*Voucher V Price rise. We had a voucher for £2 off own brand wood pellet cat litter which we had every intention of buying, but it had risen in price again & is now £5 a bag! It was £4 until recently, £4.50 last week & now £5. Bought a different type instead which worked out £1.10 cheaper than using the voucher for the wood pellet one. Really found ourselves querying prices per 100g in store today too to check we are opting for the most economical way to buy.
Ah well, we will all be throwing our mse skills at the situation, I know. 
Take care m'dears, 
F x

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

evening foxgloves
i bought petrol today, same price as you, no queues at our SM but i went mid afternoon.  
I had my hair cut this morning and was relieved they hadn't put up prices.  
I haven't had a productive day like you!  I walked to the hairdressers so i have achieved 14k steps.  Then i went to town, had to buy moisturiser at b00ts but had a £5 voucher.  Then I had a catch up with DD1 and her bestie.  I'm making HM pizza for tea.  I'm really conscious of everytime i put on the oven or hob so trying to cook once, eat twice as much as possible
Have a lovely relaxing eve
love Deni x 

foxgloves

I think more people than ever will be more conscious of their energy use now, @Deni_debt-free_dreamer. I know I'm being more cautious about all categories of expenditure because the extra money needed to cover the fastest rising areas - gas, electricity, petrol & food - will have to come from somewhere. We have returned to shopping around more for our weekly food shop & maximising vouchers when we can.
F x

DawnW

Fuel isn't necessarily cheaper at supermarket forecourts any more - a local Tex*co garage was 1p cheaper than Sainsbugs for both fuels this morning. We went there quite by accident, as the supermarket station was closed due to the tanks being refilled, so decided blow it we will go elsewhere. Really surprised it was cheaper.

foxgloves

That is surprising @DawnW. We only have one supermarket petrol station in our town & that's relatively recent. Despite it being a store I'm not keen on, we were pleased to hear we'd have the chance of some cheaper fuel. Previously, all the big branded petrol stations seemed to operate as a kind of cartel keeping local prices significantly higher than in the nearest two city centres & other towns in the county. We are in a rural town so have to drive to neighbouring places - public transport, while good on North/south routes is hopeless on East/west routes. We used to have to remember to fill up while elsewhere in the county or over the border.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Another of these days where I don't really intend to do much in the way of jobs, but somehow begin pootling around & then realise I'm actually achieving a string of stuff. So far, I've batch cooked apple sauce & portioned it up for the freezer, done a load of laundry so that it can benefit from a free blow in this breezy sunshine, re-filled the bird feeders, printed some docs which are part of a research project I've been doing, written a friend's birthday card, pruned the grapevine & thinned off the smallest not-likely-to-do-much bunches. I've dosed some dodgy looking bedding plants with seaweed solution, watered the veg & got my diary filled in with stuff I need to do this coming week. 
Not a no-spend day as we popped to the village farm shop cafe for breakfast this morning, but I'd budgeted for this - it had just been postponed from the day we originally intended to go.....& we did have enough loyalty card stamps for a free coffee so a big yay to that.
I'm intending more pootling & some leisure time this afternoon, as it's Mr F's cooking night - he's roasting a pork joint. It's not even in the oven yet & I'm already eyeing it for its rubber pork potential.
While of course it is always nice to hear 'I love you', Mr F came out with some more of my favourite words this morning, when he came in from mowing the lawn & announced that he could do with me WRITING HIM ANOTHER JOB LIST!!!
Oh my! I'm on it like the proverbial bonnet!
Take care, m'dears. Let's keep our mitts on our pence over the coming week - I think I will also do a little stock take of my toiletries stash to ensure I don't go buying things I already have. I've got form for doing that.
F x