Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Yes, we are lucky with our market, although older locals who have lived here forever are always moaning & groaning that it's rubbish, no stalls, used to be much better, etc, etc. We like it. The greengrocery stalls are packed with fab produce, the butcher's van always has a very good range at amazing prices & there are often vintage & artisan/craft stalls too. We've sadly lost a lot of our chain stores - M&S, Monsoon, Moschulu, Fatface, Phase8 & others, but we do have lots of interesting indies which sell a range of different things.

@2Scratters - One of the jobs on Mr F's list is sorting out water butts. We were only intending to buy one - to make use of the rainwater from the shed guttering, but the old one attached to my greenhouse, which has already been mended, is now leaking worse than ever, so it is looking like a double-purchase will be required. 
F

foxgloves

Hello Monday Frugalistas,
I sort of drifted awake this morning thinking of all the stuff I could do today. then remembered that it's my Big Budget Day, so I have been up in my little Foxgloves HQ hideout nearly all day, number-crunching, clearing admin, filing, etc.
The main take-away point from Budget Day has been that we really do need to give our grocery budget some serious thought. I budgeted a generous amount for June - neither of us thought we'd gone wild - no entertaining done, which can add to costs as we all know, but despite this, we still overspent by £10.87. I was expecting to have significantly more than that leftover to pay into a savings pot. So I was not a happy bunny. I am going to suggest to Mr F that we have a bit of a 'no-suggestions-too-silly-to- mention' grocery-budget reduction conversation. I've already thought of a couple of things which could be tweaked.
It took me longer to do my monthly budgeting today because I needed to update the current figures first, so as to get the end of June figures absolutely accurate. There's no point sitting there melting my calculator if the base figures aren't correct to begin with. Budgets are a bit like computer programs......put rubbish in, get rubbish out, I always think.
Other stuff? Not a lot. Did a few surveys as my June PA earnings are on course to be half of last month's if I don't have a final push. Cleared a big pile of filing & emails. Not a no-spend day as had to order 2 sets of DPNs. Came to a standstill on cardi 1 (magenta) when it dawned on me that despite the pattern not mentioning I'd need different needles for the sleeves (sts picked up & knitted in the round), I obviously do, as it isn't possible to knit a narrower piece on the 100cm circulars I used for the main body pieces. I cast on the back of cardi 2 (black.....these are part of my plans not to be turning the thermostat up this winter!) last night rather than waste knitting time, as I still have half a hiking sock & another present to knit as well as finishing these. I did manage to use a 15% discount code, which covered most of the p&p. 
Not much else to do today - home made fish cakes defrosting, need to pick 1st cucumber of the season, more lettuce & spring onions plus some herbs for some savoury bulgur. Tomorrow's packed lunch will be a spare portion of something microwaveable from the freezer so no effort required there. Some brisk showers today so no laundry done. I work around free drying opportunities whenever possible.
Hope everyone's got off to a reasonably decent start to the week. If not, as I always say, it's only Tuesday tomorrow, the week is young. Just start it again & aim for a better day. 
F x

EssexHebridean

The silliness that is the ever increasing prices in the supermarkets does seem to be causing lots of folks issues at the moment - you're definitely not alone if the grocery challenge thread is anything to go by.  It wasn't that long ago we increased our monthly budget by £25 and to be honest I'm now wondering how much longer before it has to get nudged up again. I noticed the other day that the cheapest packs of spaghetti and pasta have each gone up by 3p a pack - nothing in the grand scheme of things to a lot of us but a possible budget breaker to a large family on a tight budget where every penny has a task already. 

foxgloves

Yes, @EH, it is really noticeable that things are going up by more than the rate of inflation we are often quoted. I think I mentioned a cat litter own brand we used to buy.....£4, then suddenly one Saturday it was £4.50......the following Saturday it was £5 !! That's a speedy rate of increase. I've been reading an article in the Guardian today about shrinkflation & also the same sneaky principles being applied in service industries too, like restaurants, airlines, etc. It was an interesting read. I started budgeting more for groceries when I was building up my Brexit stash.....I think I peaked too soon with that & will actually need it going forward as a few chickens seem to be coming home to roost on that score, but it was very useful during the pandemic as it enabled us to go out & shop, & therefore mingle, less. We also found we were spending more when there were shortages in certain grocery categories.....I didn't have the East Midlands Top Toilet Roll Hoard by any means, but things like flour, yeast, hand-gel, tinned tomatoes, tuna,etc......I think we all tended to stock up when we saw them. Since the pandemic, our grocery budget just hasn't settled down again to where it used to be. I did increase it at the end of 2019 when we paid off the last of our mortgage, but it incrased again during the pandemic, as I said & I just can't seem to get top-side of it in terms of cutting it back. I do budget a generous amount but when we even go over that, as we did this past month, I'm not happy with that and have deliberately budgeted £50 less for July. I am an economical cook, have a household zero food-waste policy, cook from scratch, use the freezer, batch cook, grow a reasonably decent amount of food, do quite a bit of preserving/baking etc & we shop around. I would, however, describe us both as 'foodies' so maybe there are cuts to be made there? We buy very few brands though, no ready-meals & use a very affordable local market butcher. You can tell I'm going to give this whole thing some thought as we go forward into the new month.
F x

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
Not much frugal excitement today. Pleased to report a no-spend day at least. On the money-saving front, I've picked another 3 cucumbers (that's 4 in two days!), watered all the fruit & veg, weeded the climbing beans & tied them in again. I've done 3 loads of laundry - all line-dried in the breeze for free. I couldn't find tonight's planned meal in the freezer despite a lengthy delve into its varied contents, so have subbed it with something else (in the Bad Old Days, that would have been a trigger for a take-away for sure!). I've knitted a bit more hiking sock for the present stash & baked a sourdough which is starting to smell nicely 'bready' as I type. Mr F is on leave next week so we are thinking of a few outings we can have without using our usual amount of petrol for these things. We think if we cut down trips into neighbouring counties to maybe just two, we might sub them with a day at the coast. Could go to nearest coast, but I bet you a bun we take the hit with the petrol & head for EA. If we do, we'll mitigate the cost by making sure we take a picnic & a big flask of coffee with us. 
Well, I had better go & check on that loaf & then fetch the laundry in.
Take care m'dears. We need to keep our hands on our pence more than ever, do we not?
F xx

Pixiehouse55

Helloo Mrs Foxgloves and Gang.  I'm so sorry I've not been around for a few months. WiFi is a bit hit and miss at times. We are still on the Kennet and Avon canal!! Just before we went on holiday at last to Thailand we gotva hole in the exhaust of the Generator. No one could fix everyone busy. Oh sister and bil had our nb whilst we were away. Engine on if not cruising to charge the batteries up and hot water twice a day. Then a few other problems when we got back. Thailand was amazing. Masks to be worn everywhere. Food is delicious over there omg I think I gained weight lol  the food was so cheap. What lovely people over there. So much respect for each other and their monarch. 
Gosh havnt food prices gone up? And diesel well started off at 97p when we first got our nb. Now its about £1.57 ish for Red diesel. Could be more now we need to fill up again next week. Fingers crossed our Generator will be fixed within the next week. Can't wait as we can then start using our Ninja again to cook all our meals I stead of the oven. Weve now got a new fridge and a new toilet. A new washing machine arriving next week. We also need a new gas hob. The one we have is very small a d not balanced right. Nearly lost a frying pan of oil a couple of times. So that's my news. I do hope you are all coping OK with the increased prices of fuel,  gas, electric and food. Pretty scary isn't it?
Take Care everybody. Xx 

foxgloves

Lovely to hear from you, @Pixiehouse55..Sounds like you've been very busy, esp with Thailand & needing to fix stuff on your boat.
Yes, supermarket prices really are going up. We did a pantry stock-up at A*di at the beginning of this month. As we only do them about once every 4 - 6 weeks, we could really see the upward trajectory on prices of the things we buy. The only place I haven't seen increasing prices is our local market butcher. He does like to look after his customers though, which I think helps. 
Fuel prices are just insane. I'm convinced the prices include profiteering. I'm very suspicious about the moral compass of big companies. We are limiting our day-trips next week when Mr F is on leave. Just one long trip to the coast & most days will see us staying local - plenty of stuff to be getting on with.
Well, I must go & fetch my hoe & other gubbins & make a start on today's planned garden jobs.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence Warriors,
Very little to impart but am checking in to keep the MSE faith. The usual energy saving micro-measures.....2 baths from one fill of hot water, final garment in the ironing pile pressed with residual heat after switching off, only boiled the exact water needed for drinks, etc. This behaviour was bedded in when we were debt-busting & is now very much being re-embedded.
3 x P/A surveys today have bumped up my June total a little. I couldn't do the most lucrative one as was expecting someone & didn't want to get in a muddle. Pleasant session in the garden clearing stuff that's gone over in the heat, weeding & planting out a few larkspur I grew from seed to fill gaps. Better than a garden centre splurge!
V little effort required for tonight's nosebag as am making kedgeree. Mr F has volunteered for garden watering duties later so I will clear the kitchen up while listening to my audiobook. Am looking forward to Sewing Bee final. My sis is still considering applying as a future contestant but I've suggested she doesn't do it until she's tried making garments against the clock.
Well, Ash has come to tell me it is absolutely definitely cat teatime so I'd better move. I successfully managed to get a tablet down both of them today. Go me!!
F x

2Scratters

Well my purse has definitely been tucked away as I am waiting for my pension money to drop in early. I have saved (paid us) first and the bill money is in its right place. I have not yet withdrawn the cash for the shopping money yet. We are making do till it becomes available tomorrow. Not like we are fading away So as yet this is 4 days no spends. I am focusing on the items that are left in the fridge. I have started a meal plan with the assistance of PON. Done a FULL budget on the 2 vehicles that we have. I am quite pleased with myself - it opened my eyes DH is mithering about having to use his own money, a bit of a wake up call if you ask me I am trying to teach him how to do it with just 1 budget, we never know how things pan out do we? I have always done the money side of the house management.

2 Scratters xx

foxgloves

We used to manage our own money individually, @2Scratters, back before the debt-busting commenced & we were both working full time. As soon as we started living properly to a budget, we could see that managing our money separately was just complicating things so we combined everything into a joint account, which made it so much easier. I did make sure Mr F's enormous everlasting overdraft was well & truly gone before we combined forces though! I got rid of mine first as it was smaller & I didn't want to go back to seeing so much of our income disappearing down a black hole every pay-day! We have Personal Spends money now of £100 each per month to spend on whatever we want, but when it's gone it's gone, no top-ups or starting on next month's early. Since I took VR, I do all the budgeting. Mr F is now very good at not spending on stuff but I am the stronger budgeter of the two of us so I do all that. I do sometimes say to him that if I 'went under a bus' I hope he'd know what he was doing with all my careful accounting systems!
F