Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Thank-you.....although I don't feel remotely inspirational. My head is full of stuff I keep intending to do, then put off, such as finishing my novel, which I haven't even taken off its shelf for probably 2 years, if not 3. I could have finished the bloody thing during the pandemic, though tbf, was spending a lot of time supervising builders & before that, dealing with everything from the death of my parents including clearing out our old family home (75 miles away). I have said before that when we were agonising over whether or not I should take VR, I was only willing to do so if I took over the running of the household as my 'job', so I treat it exactly as that. Yes, I do find that some elements of this cross over into existing hobbies & interests like gardening, cooking, preserving, crafts, etc, which is really good, but I fit a fair bit into my day primarily because I treat it as my 'working' time. I get up at the same time as Mr F (about 6.15 am) & we have a drink & watch the News together, then he sets off on his commute to work at about 7.35-ish & I get started on whatever jobs I've got planned. I kept the same approach as when I was working, so I have certain tasks I mostly aim to do on set days. I have a break for breakfast at 10 am (since we've been doing TRE) & then a proper lunch hour at about 1pm when I usually sit down & watch an episode of something on catch-up or read. Then I fire up the coffee machine again & do whatever I've planned for the afternoon, but the evening is my own. No jobs, it's for leisure & time together when we catch up on what we have been doing with the day ......& any gossip of course! Obviously days where I'm out & about are a bit different, but days when I am at home usually follow roughly this sort of pattern. I am not some paragon of virtue doing jobs all day, I am just hopeless at sitting around doing nothing - even if I am poorly, I will be trying at least to knit, read or something. 
F x

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money-Savers,
A productive start to the week, although I don't think my plans to deep-clean the kitchen this week are going to come off. I will see what Wednesday is looking like & aim at least to do all the cupboard doors, but really, I want to have a lovely de-cluttery turn-out of all cupboard & drawers and a real blitz. It won't hurt if it has to wait until early September.
Anyway.....today's positives on the frugal front:
*Did the laundry & all has blown dry for free in the sunshine. Am about to go & fetch it in.
*Today's garden pickings: 1.5kg tomatoes.
*Made chutney. 
*Prepped & brined veg ready for pickle-making tomorrow.
*Baked bread.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates. Grocery budget went over target by about £20 last week....that was partly because of the extra preserving ingredients I added. Should still hopefully come in roughly around monthly target  - one final shop to do from this budget cycle.
*Reconciled my credit card statement. No nasty surprises on that, both our CCs are paid off in full every month (unlike the bad old days).
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Entered a competition.
*Checked for surveys - nothing doing so far, but will keep checking while I have my laptop on.
*Knitted heel flap on current sock.
*Postie brought latest voucher pack from the Lake-District-sounding shop.....pleased to see there is another 20% off voucher in there, as we are looking to replace some of our kitchen knives shortly.
Nothing much left to do in the way of tasks - I will be reading on the coffee bench as soon as I've fetched the laundry in. Very easy meal tonight as Mr F made enough lovely lamb & marrow bake to feed us for 2 nights. I just need to prep some french beans to go with it. I shan't need to pick any more as there are some left in the fridge. I will crochet a few more squares for Ash's new blanket tonight. I am getting much speedier with them & am trying to prioritise all the tiniest little balls of yarn so I don't have to put them back in my yarn cabinet. Love a good clear-out & if a nice new item can be conjured up from leftovers/scraps, so much the better.
Cheers m'dears,
F x

ladyholly

I thought of you this morning when I noticed Mr S had courgettes on special offer.

foxgloves

They're on an even better offer here, @ladyholly........because they're free! Veg basket still absolutely piled high with them! 
F x

PennysIntoPounds

If you have a voucher can you still go through something like T*pCashback, or do you have to choose between?
I thought I was being very mse signing up to aforementioned but it's been half a year and still no cashback on Mr PIP's shoes despite enquiring so I'm reluctant to give them any more click earnings atm!

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - I don't know, as I don't use cashback-type sites. 
F

Tescodealqueen

PennysIntoPounds said:

If you have a voucher can you still go through something like T*pCashback, or do you have to choose between?
I thought I was being very mse signing up to aforementioned but it's been half a year and still no cashback on Mr PIP's shoes despite enquiring so I'm reluctant to give them any more click earnings atm!

Generally if a voucher code isn’t listed on the cashback site it will negate the cashback. I use a couple of cashback sites and usually choose whichever will give the best offer which varies all the time so you have to be on the ball.

EssexHebridean

I usually still go through TCB if using a voucher but as a rule it does, as TDQ says, mean you don't get the cashback. 

Foxgloves I was delighted to hear that another batch of lake-districty vouchers may be on the way - the possibility of 20% off our planned upcoming purchase from them is a good one indeed, so I will be watching for the post with interest! (And must remember to ensure that they are on my list of addresses to change!)

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean - Yes, I am sure that if mine have arrived, yours will soon be winging their way to you. I am always particularly pleased to see a 20% off included, as that does make a difference to a larger spend. Minimum spend, like last month's, is £50 but that meant a decent reduction on our much-needed new toaster & will hopefully mean that a few decent kitchen knives will also be purchased soon. I don't want a whole set of them or a new knife block. We find we tend to use the same 3 knives, which are now crumbly-handled & getting beyond being re-sharpening, so we are hoping to use our 20% off voucher to choose 3 good quality ones in just the sizes we need. I was looking out for those vouchers.
F

Makingabobor2

Do you sign up on their website to get these vouchers?