Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Tescodealqueen

If you check the dates by which each year needs to be paid to maintain the current price as I believe they are reverting to cost valid for 2 years after the relevant year. Hopefully the 10 percent inflation figures are behind us but the cost kicked up last year which was the only year left which I could pay (my only gaps being 2012 to 2016 which wouldn’t have added anything as I already had 30 years). Now that you have access to your online account finally it is much easier to check.

weenancyinAmerica

@foxgloves - Maybe you will spur me on. I need that "Get the first draft done". I keep going over the part I have already done (first 56 pages), rather than finishing the first draft. Mine is non-fiction. Fiction is so much harder I think. 
Good luck on your first draft. 

Elisheba

Great idea to get back into the writing, and give yourself a clear, attainable target, @foxgloves. 

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - Well, apart from 'novel length', I'll see how it goes. Not too long as it is aimed at a YA audience. 
@Tescodealqueen - I also have 30 full pre-2016 years so will defo be targeting 2 much later ones if that's what I decide to do. I am waiting for my annual statement for my Local Authority Pension so I can add up-to-date figures from that into the mix too.
@weenancyinAmerica - I think first draft is the slog, isn't it? 2nd draft feels more creative because it's when the text is honed & crafted. Let's see if we can crack on & nail it this year.
@Elisheba -Thanks, yes I needed a target. I schedule my time more effectively if I am feeling a bit of pressure. I was just the same at work.
F x

foxgloves

What a rainy dull old evening. I see we are due a few days of this with potential for thunder & lightning. A window of sunshine earlier meant I got a few garden tasks done & could write with the conservatory doors open, but the rain kicked in gpod & proper after that. A few budget helping things:
*Wrote grocery shopping list then found I could cross 2 items off - carrots because having prepped & added the 2 I found in the fridge to a small bag I froze earlier, there were sufficient for next week without buying any - & cajun spice mix because I knew I'd have all the ingredients to make this myself if I could find where I filed the formula. Now have a jar full.
*Watered all the veg.
*Picked 3 cucumbers bringing this year's total to 6 & cut a small bunch of thyme.
*Deployed my emergency pepper plant.
*Side-shooted & tied in greenhouse tomatoes.
*Sowed parsley (free seed) & peas (for pea shoots to add to salads)
*Trying new recipe tonight - Smoky boulangere potatoes which we will eat with poached eggs. Currently in oven. Hope it's nice, as if so, it is a good way to stretch 4 rashers of smoked bacon into a decent 4 portions.
*Oh & Mr F arrived home bearing gifts again. He had been at a meeting with surplus doughnuts which were distributed to any willing takers afterwards. So that will be free dessert!
No surveys done. I did intend to check because Mr F struck lucky with a £30 PA last night, but my writing time over-ran & I didn't want to halt the flow.
Hope everyone reading has had a decent day,
F x

Sun_Addict

Mr F gets some decent paying surveys. Good that he brought you free dessert too. 

I’m getting sick of this weather 😞

PennysIntoPounds

Free wine and now free doughnuts?! If Mr F ever needs to make a detour to North London.. 😁
Good on you for prioritising flow of writing over possible surveys- while getting quids in pots is important, what are we doing it for if not to get to a place where we can enjoy these fulfilling things 

marionmgcars

Love to read to comments.  I baked a banana loaf while oven was on for something else.  After it was cooled and iced I cut large slices and froze individually.  If not I end up slicing a piece off every time I’m making a cup of tea.  Not good for the budget or my hips 🤣 .  Hopefully it will last a little longer this time 👍

foxgloves

@Sun_Addict - Me too! I think I'm starting to feel that if the weather doesn't start to do some serious picking-up, then it is going to affect our fruit & veg yield. Courgettes & squashes look frozen & fed up. All the tomato plants have fruit on them, inside & outside ones, but the plants just don't have that robustness which comes from warmth & good light levels. I am happy if the summer months never get above 24 degrees, but I think it is very much time they made it out of the teens.
@PennysIntoPounds - Lol, I think the nearest we get is Ealing, though not sure if that qualifies as North London? It does involve sitting in nose-to-tail traffic on a clogged road called the Northern Circular between the A1 & my relatives.
@marionmgcars - Good idea. I used to freeze individual slices too, & it did reduce naughty unscheduled visits to the cake tin. I must start doing that again.
F

foxgloves

Afternoon Rainblobs (although it is just possible there may be one or two amongst our number who are not stuck in this endless band of darkening skies & rain showers?)
I haven't managed to get outside & plant out the remaining oddments of summer bedding, but it can wait until the weekend. Today's budget-helping things:
*Used free supermarket parking in town first thing as only needed to pop in for a couple of errands. Butcher hadn't got what we needed but can do it as a special order tomorrow, so all was not lost. Used 2 supermarket vouchers from the Mozzsters to stock up on cat food as one voucher was for 5% off pet food & the other was £3 off a minimum £30 spend. As we have to go there to get the bewhiskered ones Persian Queen big boxes, we thought we may as well get a couple of those plus a bag of biscuits & treats.
*Cleaned the house between us using minimal products & washable cloths as usual. Mr F serviced the business end of the vacuum, which hadn't been picking up as effectively as usual. Turned out to be a couple of parts underneath had come adrift, now mended.
*Did my mid-month budget check-in. All looked fine apart from being £20-48 short of what I was expecting based on my original June budget. I was able to account for £10 of it, which was a survey cash-out I had pinged to a savings pot, but hadn't accounted for this. The other £10-48 remains a mystery. The answer may present itself during next Big Budget Day, but I am thinking it is probably something that was still pending when I did June's budget 3 days earlier than usual. Whatever it is, I am quite sure I have already spent £10-48's worth of my time on it, so I have deducted it from this month's buffer zone & it can either solve itself or not. 
*Entered 3 competitions.
*Did a few surveys, but not really many around for me today. I think I will struggle to meet my monthly target earnings at this rate, especially as I intend to continue including scheduled creative writing time into my regular activities.
*Discussed concert tickets with Mr F as the city centre concert hall programme has landed. I said I thought we could afford to book a couple (with our favourite good seats, which are not the cheapest) but having consulted the Leisure & Entertainment Pot, there is more in there than I remembered. I forgot I'd paid in the royalties from my Dad's estate a couple of months ago. Back in the Spendy Era, tickets for concerts & other events used to be a real debt-booster for us. Booklets arrived, we'd want to ensure we got good seats so we'd end up buying tickets for multiple events which inevitably went onto credit cards as we never saved for anything or indeed did any form of budgeting. I'd say that we definitely don't go to as many things these days, but the money saved into our Leisure & Entertainment Pot means that we can cherry pick the things for which we most want tickets without having these quite large sums go on credit. Another difference is that I now factor in the cost of parking & something to eat on the day. I do sound boring, don't I, but having been both a non-budgeting endebted person spending whatever whenever AND a sensible one who has found the security of living within her means, I know which one I prefer! (Clue - It's not being Mrs Spendy!)
Well, I may join Soot & Ash in a little meander down the garden as the latest shower has now passed & we look to be getting half an hour or so of sunshine. Mr F's cooking night tonight, so I will have a final check for surveys, then crack on with some leisure time - finishing my library book & magazine, knitting & later on watching Gardener's World - honestly, what a raver, lol!
Take care now all of you,
F x