Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Quite busy today, one way & another. Cleaned whole house - I'm sure the replacement vacuum we bought recently will save us money over the course of the year......it's so light & easy to push around. I can zip around with it & do the stairs in less than half the time. Our old one from the rival brand was too heavy for my arthritic hands.....which aren't too bad yet, so I want to keep it that way. 
Also baked a sourdough loaf, did a couple of surveys, cashed out of a survey site for another £5 voucher (now printed out & added to my stash of 'turkey tokens!) & unpacked grocery delivery - we usually shop instore but had another good offer.....£20 off a £60 spend + free delivery.
Also made a list of everything we can usefully do on our city centre trip tomorrow - the parking is so expensive that I like to get my money's worth out of it, so that we go in less often. Relevant vouchers ready in my purse or on my phone.
This afternoon, I've printed off the first half of the genealogy project I'm intending to give as a Christmas gift. I have lots of A4 plastic wallets from a friend who no longer needed them once she retired, so no cost implications there. I do intend to buy a pretty ring-binder though - hopefully tomorrow.
It's Mr F's cooking night & he's just putting a tray of homemade jacket wedges in the oven to eat with some of the leftover pulled pork I did last night & some use-it-up salads from the fridge. 
Not money-saving.......throwing a hardly-used cat bed in the bin! Yes, really! And you know how I hate wasting things. The cat bed in question was bought from a well-known bargain warehousey-type chain & looked lovely....sort of cappucino-coloured fake fur with fake suede edges. Ash used to love it......for about a couple of months in Spring, then no longer went anywhere near it. I've been trying to interest Soot in going in there - he loves a comfy spot - & this bed was sooooo soft & warm. I picked it up the other day to move it to another spot & ewwwwww, the sides & base were horribly sticky. I bravely smelled it, thinking there may have been some kind of unsavoury incident involving felines, but no, if anything, it seemed chemically. My hands were so sticky after touching it, that I had to wash them several times. Mr F had a look (also had to take the nailbrush to his hands afterwards!) & reckons that the smell is glue-based. We think that something used inside to (cheaply) hold the component parts together has broken down & is now leaching out through the fabric. No wonder the cats have been avoiding it. I'm just glad that I discovered this weirdness before it started coming off on the carpet. The waste-shunning part of me thought about trying to wash it, but Mr F's view was that this would just make whatever it is that's leaching out more runny. Bought in readiness for adopting new cats, so too long ago to seek a refund. So there you have it. Shock horror, as Foxgloves bins large, under-used item!!
Enjoy your Friday nights all,
F x

Sun_Addict

I hate to bin things but there’s not a lot else you could do with it. Could you send a shirty email to the company you bought it from, might not get your anywhere but you never know.

foxgloves

I did momentarily consider that, @Sun_Addict, but can't send a photo as the problem is hardly visible & the whole thing is in the bin now. I'm going to chalk it up to experience.......cheap things are definitely not always true bargains. The sticky-yuk cat bed cost about a third of what we paid for our other one. 
Soot sorted for a bed atm as he's on my lap.
F

ladyholly

It might still be worth writing if only to warn them as if other people have the same problem they could end up with an expensive claism and you never know they may send you something.

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
Not much saving been going on here today, as we had our planned city centre shopping trip, but everything bought was planned from appropriate budget categories & nothing on that trouble-causing non-category heading 'the credit card', which will NEVER again be a catch-all spending category for either of us.
The day did not get off to a good start. For some reason, I pinged awake at 4a.m & couldn't get back to sleep again - one of those nights where I just couldn't switch my head off fretting about nonsense that ceases to be more than a normal-sized worry at any other time. Then, on the drive in, I started feeling physically unwell & also anxious that the nice morning we'd planned would end up being cancelled due to me needing to turn around & go back home. We went for a coffee & biscuit & after a while, the feeling started to pass. 
We ended up having a really useful morning - we stuck to our list & bought quite a few Christmas presents as planned. I also stocked up on toiletries to maximise the stash of Advantage card points vouchers Mr F was sent through the post (I never get any!) There then followed a good example of the difference between the Reformed post-LBM me & the Old Spendy Me. I wanted to look in the 'tropical storm' clothes shop, which is one of my favourites. I found a pretty tunic-style dress (I like these as will go over leggings/trousers or chunky tights with my DMs) & Mr F said I could have it for Christmas if I wanted it. Well, I couldn't let that pass, so I trogged off to the fitting rooms. I tried it on in 2 sizes & while I liked it, it was only 'ok'....for the simple reason that as I am short, the waist wasn't in the right place on me & it spoiled the drape of the dress. Now, the old me would have put this aside, as the fabric & colour were both nice & basically, it did fit. But the Reformed Me returned them to the rack & left them in the shop. As I've said before, I used to buy oodles of clothes that were only 'ok' - I'd wear them a few times, then they'd sit there until I decided to do a big charity shop clear-out. It was a silly expensive way to go on, & I won't do it any more. If I don't love it, it stays in the shop. 
Other stuff: Did a couple of surveys & cashed out my October PA earnings (£46.23).
We're treating ourselves to a takeaway pizza tonight - we always use a local indie one now. Back when we were spendy, we always used the big-name chains, but the difference in price once we'd discovered the little indie one, was enormous, so we have given them our custom ever since. Takeaways obviously used to go straight on credit cards or our everlasting overdrafts. I budget for them now. If we've decided we might like one (a rare occurrence now, compared with the old days), then I just make sure I guesstimate a realistic amount & write it into the budget. It's not rocket science, is it? I might sound squeaky clean on the financial front on here, but I sometimes have to remind myself that I was a silly spendy narna for many more years than I've been an MSE anti-debt diary-writer. 
Well, m'dears, I'm going to read a few chapters of my book now - 'The Gosling girl' by Jacqueline Roy, which I have borrowed from the library. Enjoying it so far.
Stay cosy.....the heating hasn't been on at all today, so temperature has obviously held at above 18 deg. Blanket over back of sofa ready for film-watching & tealights at the ready.
F x

Debsnewbudget

Having a takeaway thats budgeted for is great.
 I Know citizens advice are worrying about the fact that you can now use the cl*rna pay in 3 for orders on deliv*roo
I also worry that people will still be paying for todays pizza after Christmas 😱

milann

That’s a scary thought Debsnewbudget….paying for pizza after Christmas 😳😨😳 but I suspect a great many people will be 😢 
I’m not surprised the cats won’t go near the comfy bed. It sounds horrible 😡
I planted my sweet peas a couple of weeks ago and because it is so mild they’re already a couple of inches tall. Hopefully they’ll survive the winter 🤞
I love the sound of the genealogy folder as a present. I think you’ll make somebody very happy.

foxgloves

@Debsnewbudget - It's a scary thought, isn't it, that paying in instalments for a takeaway is even 'a thing'? I think that the whole BNPL industry is just too tempting for many people. It's similar to when I was in my late teens/20s & we all got credit from the big mail order catalogues. The stated weekly cost of an item of clothing always looked tiny & manageable....except that the payment was monthly, so was really 4 times that amount. Because it seemed so titchy on paper though, we all ordered more stuff, until the monthly payments were more of a stretch. It was my first entry-level experience of borrowing. 

@Milann - Yes, the cat bed was horrible. So weird, & it really took some scrubbing to get the sticky feeling off our hands.
I hope the person who will be receiving the genealogy folder will like it. She did say to me in the summer over a coffee in our garden that she'd really like to know more about her family's origins. I've edited in the last piece of info to the maternal side this afternoon & now only need to proof-read & print it, which I'll do this coming week, then add it to the lovely ring-binder I bought yesterday & job done.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers from your crippled up diary friend,
I made the mistake of sitting down rather too long after a very energetic/bending myself in two morning in the garden, & I am now creaking about like an old crone! I've made good inroads into clearing one of the large flower beds, cutting plants back for their winter sleep & forking out tons of annoying bindweed & couch grass. A few hours of free fitness there, anyway. Mr F sowed the garlic. He likes to plant it around Hallowe'en. Still using the bulbs he planted this time last year. I love seasonal cycles of activity.
Other money saving activity today: Energy use has been pretty low - the CH only came on first thing for a little while but the temperature has since held at 18+ all day. Got 2 baths from 1 fill of hot water, so that saved a bit more.
Did some pre-holiday planning.....we will be in self-catering & Mr F is as keen as I am to take plenty of food from home to facilitate making meals while we are there, as it does get expensive to keep eating out. 
Last of the leftover slow cooker pulled pork for tonight's meal, so only need to cook some rice. Nice recipe I make every so often & it provides 3 days of meals plus a lunch, plus freezes well.
Did a couple of small surveys & added our respective PA earnings to the Personal Spends spreadsheet, which was a nice little boost.
Oh & I have set the blackberry vinegar to strain overnight through the jellybag, before finishing it off tomorrow on the hob. It should be a nice rich one, as the fruit has been steeping for 4 days. I like a spoonful of blackberry vinegar for soothing a sore throat, as well as adding a tbsp to stews, chilli, etc. It's also useful for drizzling on things like salads, etc.
Well, that's it for today....I just need to round up a load of laundry to go on timer, as I want to be able to peg it out for as long as possible tomorrow. Covid jabs plus vet tomorrow, as well as all the other things I'm very much hoping to get done, so I think I'll aim for an early start.
F x

Blackcats

Foxgloves - I loved the lure of the mail order catalogue's teeny tiny weekly payments.  As teens my friend and I would spend many happy hours browsing the pages and writing out our lists.  There are some funny scenes in the Royle Family about shopping from the catalogue.