From £6000 ----> £9000 in 2023.

MovingForwards

My condolences.
I think it's always 'nicer' when someone passes at home, in bed, seems a little more peaceful.

Vet price was good.

Don't reduce your mileage too much as that can have a negative effect, stick to 7k plus and do comparison searches just in case there is a better price.

Charity shops and 3bay for clothes, that's how I did it when last job hunting. 

Try and make the most of your day off, whether it's catching up on sleep or going for a walk.

NinjaSavingKat

Good Morning One and All. 

Misty cold and frosty morning here in Camp NSK. 

Granny has been laid to rest. Daddy blitzed some gardening centres the day after but more on that later. 

No news from the cat insurance just yet. Will be interesting to see what they would be happy to refund.

Car insurance quotes are hitting around £280 - £300 as a basic model. I was going to go with the £280 quote but their Trust Pilot reviews are not great - 2-3 quotes down from that is a £300 quote with a company that seems to be much much better in that they offer a more comprehensive cover with the same excess etc. 

I have £285 cash. Checking my current insurance people their trust pilot reviews are just as rubbish - thoughts?

So that decision needs to be made tonight. 

I am looking over the budget. I think I can easily put away £100 into the ISA now, stash it until I have 3-5 months salary then start filling the LISA. I have £400 in the ISA but petrol money came out of that on Friday as my the parents were going to donate to my travel costs but we purchased an item in the garden centre for my next project. So I think I put in £45. Petrol is obviously rising but I only use a full tank once or twice a month. I drive like an OAP and my circle of interest (work / gym / home) is all within a 6 mile radius. I have ways to reduce petrol usage - like going to the gym straight from work today as the changing rooms are now open.

In the ISA I now have £355. This is wrong. Petrol will be covered by this weeks wage. Nothing to be removed from ISA..

So.. we are gonna do it this way. I think. ;-)

The Car fund will be reduced from £50 to £35
The Bill fund will remain at £35.
The Rent fund will remain at £50
Tithe/Charity will remain at £36 
Isa will now be increased from £50 to £100

Leaving me with £105 (£35 to the Other Account / £70 Food )

Any return on the cat insurance will go to the car account from whence it came...;-)

So there we go. Haven't sold anything on Vinted in ages so may upload more items this week. 

Famous Last Words.

NinjaSavingKat

The Gardening / Prepping Post. Please skip if you are not interested. 


Now, we have land to plant vegetables. I think its pointless to have the land and not use it. I am a prepper by nature so its high time I got stuck into the vegetable gardening. There are things that I do to prep every day / some long term some not. I just think right now off the back of a global pandemic and in the face of nuclear war (don't panic!) its high time our self sufficiency is stepped up a gear. 

Not everything can be achieved overnight. I don't need to achieve everything overnight. The basic preps I have already in place for staying in situ and have been padding my daily veg intake with garden produce all winter - however - I am now talking about ensuring a year round supply be that canning / dehydrating or Mylar bagging and freezing.

This is not everyone's cup of tea. Fine. But the less I need to visit the stores when the real panic starts the better. 

I don't panic. Let me say that. On occasion just for fun I will eat everything I have in the house before heading to the shops. I managed a good, nutritious 4 weeks then bailed because I wanted fresh fruit. With the right herbs and spices anything can be made delicious. If you are willing to eat simply. 

I cook everything myself, find nothing more fun that creating something from nothing like scraps in the fridge etc. 

So...I started last year. Prepping the veg beds. Attempted some veg (broccoli / cucumber / beetroot / tomatoes (FAIL!) / courgette (FAIL!) / kale / strawberries / rhubarb and beans (FAIL!).

The main aim of last year was seeing what would succeed where. Now I know. We have a conservatory which doesn't get enough sunlight - so we trimmed some over hanging trees. 

We have a greenhouse that reached 51DegC in the summer so needed a watering system. 

We have 5 x veg bed's (20ft x 10ft) that had not been weeded for 5 years. I attacked them with the strimmer last summer, covered them in black polythene to kill the big root balls of nettles and will be piling them high with horse manure and new soil and some grit this week. We have cardboard (procured from work with no plastic tape) that goes on top of that then the polythene goes back on top - plants are poked through the plastic. No weeds. 

I rescued the multitude of raspberry plants we have. Built a bamboo frame (harvested from our own bamboo plants) and near cut my hand open. But covering that in a net protected some from birds - hopefully we will have more this year.

Purchased 3 blueberry plants / 1 different variety for cross pollination purposes so perhaps some berries this year - who knows. 

Seed trays filled this weekend (purple sprouting broccoli / butternut squash / sweetcorn / French beans / 3 different tomato varieties (one bush variety) / courgette / beetroot ... and more that I have forgotten now....then promptly ran out of seed compost. 

I bought a seed tray tent on Friday in the garden centre. It has 5 levels / seed trays are zipped up and kept warm until they germinate. Daddy has a propagator buried in the conservatory which I will pull out tonight hopefully. I currently have al the fire wood in there which prevents me having to run outside to the shed in the cold. So I will have to rethink my woodpile.

The propagator will then have more seeds later this week. I will hopefully stagger the growth to prevent a glut.

Any overage will be dehydrated. That's what I will be aiming for my birthday in April. A dehydrator. 

Right. Gonna go see how many strawberry plants I need for a 20ft bed...;-)

MovingForwards

People rarely give praise on reviews and only tend to add them when unhappy. I personally take anything on TP with a pinch of salt and do a browser search for name reviews as it pulls up various sites.

If you can give a clue about the potential insurer, we may be able to give better insight and say which sister company, if any, they are part of.

Could you open up another current account, one which pays interest, have that as your fall back account. It's never a comfortable feeling when people dip in and out of 'savings' accounts for everyday items.

MovingForwards

Hopefully the funeral went as well as they can and healing will begin in time.

MovingForwards

Growing is my thing and I've a good supplier for my seeds, quite cheap and reliable results. If you can find one they're so worth it, keep back some seeds for sowing and from your produce.

Pop over to the gardening section as there's quite a few of us who do no dig.

Fruit bushes I picked up from A1D1, got more from my go to nursery as I've a ton of vouchers to get through. I even managed to get some fruit trees last year, although it will be a couple of years before I'll be eating anything off them. Mine will be cross pollinated by others within a few doors either side or self-pollination.

No doubt you've people to seed swap and plant swap with, if not it's always worth joining a few local groups, or become friendly at a couple of allotments.

I don't use seed compost, it's another expense and one our forefathers wouldn't have had the benefit of. Most get down directly into the ground rather than starting inside.

Sandwich bags tied over the pots, plastic takeaway tubs or tupaware tubs or bottles act as propagators, if you've got them or can find them for free they'll work and it's how I did it last year.

I'm aiming for more winter store items, chutneys and jams this year. 

It will be good to see how you get on and swap ideas 😊

NinjaSavingKat

So I am running out of work to the gym. I have car insurance with Admiral but the cheaper option is Carole Nash. Whom I might just go with...

The better £300 offer is with a company who's name escapes me right now but has a substantial more good reviews.. 

Edit: Found them. One Call. 

NinjaSavingKat

MovingForwards 

Could you open up another current account, one which pays interest, have that as your fall back account. It's never a comfortable feeling when people dip in and out of 'savings' accounts for everyday items.

I have one. I use it. Its empty to accomodate car insurance. There is always jiggery pokery at the beginning of a tight savings plan. It's how you progress, reset and continue.  

Don't feel uncomfortable please..😁....this week has thrown in a few unexpected things. So I replan and reset. With the ability to put away more than normal in my ISA which remains intact as per above.

Petrol will be paid from this week's wages...😁

MovingForwards

OC plug their name into your search engine and add this forum name on 😉

CN was mainly one for bikers and must have moved more into cars several years ago; they were good and hopefully all that knowledge and experience has stayed with them.

Phew, thanks for clarifying 😃

NinjaSavingKat

Yes I was with CN once back when I had my bike. So I was surprised their name came up. I like their prices too. From a simple search on OC with this site I think I'll just go with CN..🤣🤣