Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hello Thursday Diary Readers,
Well Mr F now has a few days off, so we are looking forward to spending them together, with some leisure time as well as getting a few jobs done. Today's small wins:
*Cleaned the whole house between us using minimal products. De-cluttered some stuff back to the shed which seemed to have taken up residence in our back lobby.
*As mentioned in previous post, I washed down all the kitchen cupboard doors which are cream & really show the muck. Was convinced I'd need some abrasive product to get off all the cooking splashes & cat mud, etc, but actually some hot water in a bucket with some eco-friendly multi-purpose cleaner chucked in & a microfibre cloth worked wonders. Makes me smile to look at those doors now! Mr F says he will clean the kitchen windows this weekend too.
*Did a few surveys, including one for £4.50 which seems to have resulted in me earning an additional £7.01 bonus payment in the next few days. This means that my August PA earnings have rallied, so I will continue to keep checking each day.
*Braved the spidery depths of the shed to sort out some jars for tomato bottling, which really will need scheduling in pretty soon. On the way down to the shed, I had a look at the tomato plants & can see that there is at least another large basketful ready for picking between now & Saturday, then probably the same again by Monday or Tuesday. That's in addition to the estimated 1.5 kg I currently have in the fridge. The 'button' lid recycled mayonnaise jars worked well for my first go at bottled tomatoes last year, so I have been adding to my stash of them at every opportunity, rather than buy kilner-type jars. I find that one tall mayo size jar of tomatoes equals (near enough) one tin's worth.
*Today's garden pickings: a bunch of basil, spring onions.
*Use-it-up meal tonight. Am making a veggie pasta bake using a frozen roasted tomato pasta sauce I made last September! Didn't know it was even in there as had gone right to the back under a load of rhubarb! Have half an onion which needs using, plenty of homegrown basil, a courgette (obviously!) & plenty of cheese so will make that & serve it with homegrown salad minus cucumber. Yes, we have finally eaten all of our cucumbers - we must have had over 20, but that's it now until next summer. Still plenty of lettuce, fresh herbs, sorrel, spring onions & tomatoes though for salad-making.
*Wrote a list of stuff I can usefully do in town tomorrow. 
*Am making good progress with the 2nd cat blanket. Even teensy little balls of leftover yarn are being used for the centres of the granny squares & I am prioritising these as there's not a lot else I can do with them & don't like wasting things. Will crochet some more tonight.
NOT money-saving - this morning's follow-up visit to the vet. It was very necessary as she wanted to see how Ash was getting on after his emergency visit the Sunday before last. She was pleased with his progress & confirmed her diagnosis of asthma. He has another 12 days of steroids, but they are being phased down, then stopping to see how he responds. That added another £36 to the previous bill so now a total just shy of £400. I could cover this in its totality from the Meow Fund, but will of course be claiming as much as possible from Ash's pet insurance policy as this is precisely why we pay it. Have added the claim to tasks for the next few days.
Well that, m'dears is me done for the day apart from making a hopefully tasty pasta bake & bunging it in the oven.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Friday Frugalistas,
Pleasant day underway here. Town first thing - only a short list plus a letter to post so just paid £1 on the car park & decided we would get a wriggle on. Grocery shopping finished off with meat from our regular market butcher & a quick C**p visit (nice to see dividend is up to over £33 as that -along with nectar points - is saved towards our December food shop). I shan't be sorting out the budget updates until probably Sunday, but I can see that we will be a bit over on August's grocery spend. Then we added another few quid onto it too, as our butcher was doing 750g beef mince for £5. As I was intending to put a batch-cook slow cooker bolognese on September's master meal plan, I felt that was too good to miss.
Oh dear, it was sad visiting our W*lko's. We go in our local branch most weeks for cat food & other pet stuff plus various household things & of course it was all being sold off at 10 or 30% off. We went in to buy 4 more glass tumblers to match the ones we bought a few weeks ago. We really like them - chunky & colourful - & didn't think we'd be racing against time to buy some more. Feel so sorry for the staff. They are always helpful & pleasant & we found the store invaluable during Lockdown for buying paint, garden & other DIY stuff during all the refurb work on our house. It is definitely a shop I will miss. I don't use the other bargain stores as they are either out of town or I haven't been impressed when I've been in - tatty-looking, can't find anything as everywhere is so rammed, too much plastic tat & tbh, apart from once finding a bottle of chilli sauce that Mr F likes for £1 (years ago!), I have never come away thinking the prices are that good anyway. On the way home from town, we were trying to think of all the shops that have closed in our town over the last few years - Body Shop, M&S, Monsoon, Accessorise, Phase 8, Moshulu, Bon Marche, Shoe Zone, Dorothy Perkins, Pandora, Thornton's, Woolworth's, Poundstretcher, Superdrug - those are just the ones we could think of, & lots of independent shops too - the music shop, lovely old fashioned sweet shop, CD shop, natural toiletries shop, card shop, a butchers, jewellers, bookshop.... Interestingly, the music shop owner said that what finally did for his business was M&S going. It was a proper M&S with clothes, etc, as well as food, not one of the little food only ones which we now have one an out of town site only accessible by car. Apparently his sales dropped noticeably once people stopped coming into town for M&S, but I'm sure the disappearance of other well-known chains made a difference too. 
Back to today's efforts.....we didn't have coffee in town as we will probably be going out on Sunday & Tuesday so thought we'd save our Spends. Mr F's cooking night - all from stores. He's taken himself off down to the veggie garden to do some weeding, which he has decided is quite zen. I have made a sourdough & just got it into its basket for final proving. I've also done a couple of surveys - very close to a £10 voucher on the site which generally invites me by email to do a survey then tells me "survey not available". I think I will do at least a trug's worth of weeding after lunch, then I am going to make another coffee & read my book. I have borrowed several books from the library about gut health to add to the reading I've been doing about anti-inflammatory diets, plus a magazine I treated myself to last week & a novel on the go so plenty to read. Looking forward to best friend coming over tomorrow. Intend to bake a cake to serve with coffee when she arrives so will enjoy a bit of baking tomorrow morning. Today's garden pickings: Blackberries.
Still haven't started tackling pet insurance claim - we must get onto that before Mr F goes back to work. The policy is in his name so he will need to make the claim though I am happy to do all the maths & fund-shuffling.
Enjoy your Friday all,
F x

Cheery_Daff

Very sad about wilkos - we are avid fans too. We are currently in town, with one of our main purposes being to look in on Wilkos as we may not have much time left. I've always rated their paint - much better than the bigger DIY shops, and I very much agree about the other bargain style stores not being a patch on Wilkos. Very sad!

DawnW

Someone asked about a recipe for roast tomato sauce. I think it was me who first mentioned it. Not really a recipe, but what I do is to wash the tomatoes and pick off the green stalks, put in a roasting tin with a glug of olive oil, a couple of garlic cloves (no need to peel, just cut them up a bit) and seasoning, then roast in the oven till soft. IT doesn't matter if the skins are going a bit black. Then tip the whole lot into a sieve to remove the skins and seeds. I use a mouli type sieve, which makes life easier. Check seasoning (if need be add more salt, pepper, a little sugar), cool and freeze. Nice for anything you would use tomato sauce for!

ladyholly

Nost pet insurance claims are handled by the vets depending on the company. All ou vet needed was the policy number so you may not have to do much except let the vet know you are claiming.

foxgloves

I haven't claimed from this company before, @ladyholly, so am hoping it will be as straightforward as it was in the past with our previous provider. Time will tell! I shall need to stick with them now for Ash, as if I swap, I won't get cover for pre-existing conditions. His steroids are being reduced & phased out, but he will need to be monitored by us for repeat asthma flare-ups needing vet care. He's a strong cat & young - only 3 - but vet said he's right in the age bracket for asthma onset. Aren't they a worry? But we love them both to bits!
F x

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Just enjoying 2nd cup of coffee in the conservatory ....... (just realised that sounds like a Cluedo scenario!)....with sun streaming in through the doors. Am off to line cake tins in a minute, as I want to bake a cake for friend coming over this afternoon. I'm going to make a big Victoria sponge cake, fill it with home made blackberry & apple jam & vanilla buttercream & add a bit of sieved fresh blackberry juice to the icing for a suitably purple hue. The rest of the cake will last us for the BH weekend & mean we won't need bought treats. Always nice to do a bit of baking esp when it's for sharing.
No strict plans for BH. Mr F isn't back to work until Weds so I'm thinking breakfast at the village farm shop tomorrow then Big Budget Day, tomato-bottling day on Mon & an outing on Tues if weather is good. Mr F keen to purchase a water butt if we see one at a good price (good time of year for reductions) to get his big shed project finished. House & Garden Savings Pot will deal with that.
Right, last few swigs of coffee, m'dears, then must go & line cake tins.
Best wishes for a lovely weekend,
F x

BalanceBy50

Sounds like a lovely weekend you have planned @foxgloves! Enjoy xx

Sun_Addict

Have a lovely day. The cake sounds delicious your friend is in for a treat 😋

Makingabobor2

You've made me want to bake a cake now. Not done any baking for ages. I try and do it only if I am using the oven for something else so as not to waste electricity, but then if I'm cooking dinner, I can't be bothered to bake....lol.  Need to make a plan I think.