Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Tbh, we don't mind which food they prefer. We'd rather buy something they eat as we aim for 0% food waste in our house. I do think cat meat has shot up in price over the past few years. It was increasing pre-pandemic - even Wilko's, which for years was the cheapest place to get AGAIL couldn't hold the price & it started rising just before the pandemic, then further during & after. I would prefer not to generate all the plastic from the pouches. We always rinse them out & local C**p take them in their plastics collecting bin, but I don't know what they do with them.
F

EssexHebridean

HRH The Cat used to be fussy if we gave her the opportunity. Generally at home she ate Kitek@t (tinned) which at the time was about the cheapest of the main commercially available wet foods - but when she went to the cattery unbeknownst to us their default if nothing else was specified was Fel1x - so invariably when returning from there she would turn her nose up at the usual stuff. Having got wise to it, we asked them to feed her usual food (they actively encouraged this if owners wanted) and that solved the fussiness issue. She most definitely preferred gravy options though - and would lick off all the gravy first leaving the chunks behind, then return a little later to delicately pick off a few chunks at a time! 😂 it all disappeared eventually before her next feed mind you! 

foxgloves

@EssexHebridean - They are funny, aren't they? My first cat, which I adopted a few months before Mr F & I got together was a real gourmet. I'm convinced he'd have lived on chaumes, smoked trout & assorted deli counter pates given half the chance, but of course he was only allowed very occasional tiny tastes of such things, must to his disgust. He had the same routine for breakfast every morning. He would eat it except for precisely 2 little chunks....same every day.... go outside for a walk around, have a drink of pond, see which neighbourhood moggies had been around, etc, then come back indoors & eat the two he'd left. We had him for 9 years & that routine never varied.
F

foxgloves

Greetings Sunday Savers,
Just kicking in today's budget-helping contributions:
*A no-spend day.
*A good free exercise session in the garden. Mr F harvested the experimental pumpkins & chopped the vines into the compost bins along with the spent courgette plants. I sorted out a buddleja with delusions of triffidism & began clearing the beds on the side of the garden where we have most hedge. I want the hedge cutters to be able to get up close to it when they come to get as much crazy growth off as possible. We are both figuring that this will maximise value from the amount we are paying. 
*Garden pickings: 5 pears
*Cashed out our September PA earnings. I haven't really put the effort in this month as have been busy with other things so mine was £22-86, but Mr F struck lucky with some rather involved studies which he was invited to do multiple times, so he cashed out an amazing £127-25, which I suspect will go towards a new fitness watch. We always add our PA earnings to our Personal Spends. I do a small number of other survey sites too & add earnings from those to the Savings Pots.
*Chatted through our respective diaries to make sure we know what we're doing & flag up any potential issues - all looking ok, although Mr F does have a very busy working week with extra & a very late shift. Being organised SAVES MONEY, even if it is just basic stuff like remembering to pack up extra food instead of popping out for a meal-deal on the day.
*Two baths from a single fill of hot water (we were so grubby after our garden efforts & I always think a hot bath helps prevent my muscles stiffening up....not sure there's any science to this, but I keep doing it!)
*Started new library book.
*Knit more of my fancy shawl. The current section is knitted in a black merino/silk mix on circular needles & is a 13-row repeat lace pattern. It isn't difficult, but I have to concentrate as 1 stitch out of place on these things throw the whole pattern out. I have a sparkly sock for me on the go too, for no-need-to-concentrate TV knitting, as well as the pair I am knitting for Mr F's birthday which I get on with over my lunch hours when he is out of the house.
*Tonight's meal will be those chicken slices in gravy I froze from last weekend's roast chickens so it will feel like a 'free' meal - certainly easy with just the veg to do & not my cooking night.
That is it for today. Oh, I noticed that following my really quite physical garden clearing efforts this morning, my fitness tracker said I had only done about 2.5k steps, but it HAD conceded that I had done 80 minutes of activity so that should at least show in my calorie burn for today.
F x

foxgloves

Ah, here we are with another Monday. Welcome to a new money-saving week, m'dears.
Quite a productive day with tasks on the whole, if a little random. Budget-helping aspects:
*Managed to get the laundry into 2 loads despite a few larger clothing items & the 2nd load was quite happy with 30 mins at 30 deg. Heated airer out as it has only stopped raining today for precisely 11 minutes as far as I can see. I have decided to run the dehumidifyer in useful bursts rather than have it on permanently while there is wet laundry as it seems very effective & soon gets on top of any condensation.
*Not a No-Spend day as we got word that one of our favourite little indie businesses is closing so we decided to order a few things, mostly cards, which when I looked at the prices, will work out cheaper than the single greetings cards I usually buy, so I think there will actually be a small saving there over the next few months of birthdays.
*Did Monday morning budget updates - mostly grocery budget, personal spends & also an unexpected £6-98 credit to October's budget from paying off Mr F's mobile device plan.
*Today's tomato batch cook - more soup, which I had for lunch, Mr F is taking for tomorrow's lunch & there are a couple more portions in the fridge.
*Baked a sourdough.
*Other tomatoey activity....triaged the tomatoes again (the ones on the ripening trays are doing pretty well) & weighed out 1.6kg for tomorrow's batch cook.
*Jacket potato night tonight with fridge/freezer dive for toppings of our choice.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch, breakfast & dinner - poor Mr F is there for the long haul tomorrow.
*Reduced our milk order by 1 pint per week as we both think we are ordering slightly more than we require, so that will be a small credit back to October's budget.
*Made Smoky Blackberry Ketchup (recipe found online). Recipe made 5 jars & a ramekin. I shall save a jar to go in a festive hamper. Have never made this before & oh my goodness, it's scrummy! Supposed to be good on meat but I think it would also be fab with brie in a toasted sarnie or drizzled over an interesting salad. 
*Did a bit more present knitting over my lunch hour.
*Earned a jaw droppingly impressive 22p on surveys. West End here I come!
Right, off to distribute cat treats & see if I can encourage them to put a paw outside in the rain. Ash will go out later - he's an all-weather cat, but Soot won't go out in anything wetter than barely imperceptible drizzle.
Here's to a good start to our respective money saving weeks.
F x

Blackcats

Surveys have been a bit thin on the ground for me lately, although that might just be because I don't happen to be looking at the right time.  I did one last week about toilet habits and it was very graphic and very detailed.  I nearly returned it as I thought it must be dodgy but did finish it.  The things we do for 80p 🥴

foxgloves

@Blackcats - Yes, I agree there haven't been all that many around. Mr F did really well because he got onto a particular research project which paid £15 for the hour, then invited him back multiple times to continue. 
I did smile about your toilet habits survey achieving the grand sum of 80p - still, we know it all adds up!
F

foxgloves

The more it rained tiddly-pom, the more it rained.......
Dear Diary Readers, I swear it has been raining since yesterday morning when I got up. The forecast originally got my hopes up by showing a much lesser % chance of rain by lunchtime today, but when I double-checked (because this did not happen), it had been changed. Yes, we have rain for the rest of the day, but it might stop at around 3am tomorrow. River levels rising here, but not yet at the stage where us riverside villagers start getting twitchy.....well, apart from the poor sods who saw their homes flooded last time, of course. Ah well, you don't come on here for an East Midlands weather forecast, so I shall get on with today's small budget-helping activities:
*Sorted the laundry really thoroughly so as to iron only what definitely needed it.
*Prepped the 1.6kg of tomatoes I put aside yesterday for getting into the slow cooker - another double batch of gigantes plakis. Shall need to divide that into portions shortly.
*Mr F took a portion of another tomatoey batch-cook (the chickpea curry with shredded kale) for his lunch today & pinged me to say it was delicious & defo worth making more if we still have tomatoes left......if we still have tomatoes left, lolling all over the place at that, having barely been able to lift the remaining crate of them back into the conservatory earlier. Seriously though, it is a good use of our produce to be able to stack up healthy meals for future months. After all, next year's tomatoes won't start arriving until July!
*Liaised with my sis over Christmas cake arrangements. She hosting this year & so I offered to bake the cake. I like to buy 2 or 3 ingredients each week as a good fruit cake can be quite expensive when everything is bought together. I think I will have at least some things in stock already so now I know what I'm doing, I can decide on a recipe for a cake to take with us, as well as baking my usual festive cake to have at home. 
*Picked a bunch of basil - it's not going to last much longer so am making the most of it.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did 2 small surveys.
*Have lined up a bit of darning to do.
Well, I shall be Queen of the Remote Control People tonight, as Mr F is on a very late shift indeed. I am going to make myself a jacket potato with cheese, avocado & coleslaw, the find something to watch on Nettie's Flicks or something from our own DVD collection. I am also aiming to knit as much as possible of the current pair of socks I'm making for Mr F's birthday bag, while he's not here. It's the first pair of two, so I need to crack on. I shall have the cats for company, though I am hoping the rain stops at least for long enough for them to go outside to run off some steam. They have been on wet playtime for 2 days now & are utterly fed-up. 
F xx 
P.S - A scrap metal man stopped by earlier & took the soggy items we put out on our front courtyard on Sunday so that has averted a trip to the tip.

sarah_diamond

Hi Mrs F, I'm not sure if you've mentioned a zero waste shop before.... one or two that I use do a pack for a Xmas cake, I don't eat fruit cake so not sure how budget friendly it technically is but it could be worth investigating just getting stuff from there?

foxgloves

Hi @sarah_diamond - Thanks. Yes, I do use our local eco-refill shop, including for some of my Christmas baking supplies. I find it useful for certain of the more expensive dried fruits & nuts i.e apricots, pineapple, brazils, crystallised ginger, etc, because I can take lidded tubs in with me & just weigh out the amount I need. The cost still adds up, although I think not as much as buying standard weight supermarket packs & having more of everything than I need. I don't think I'd go for a set pack, as one of the Christmas cakes I make has different ingredients to some of the traditional ones, but I shall definitely be going there for a decent amount of stuff. I need to call in fairly soon for a couple of household refills so I will check how many festive baking ingredients are in stock.
F