Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Sun_Addict

KajiKita said:

I thought Persian Queen was the expensive brand!! 😳 You mean you can go up a level from that?? Please don’t tell Chloe Madame!! 😉😂😂😂

KK

Pur1n@ One and G0urmet Perle are the preferred options for my fussy pair. Pur1n@ is the cheaper of the two but still slightly more expensive than Persian Queen unfortunately 😬 They used to like Lid! own brand not so long ago so I don’t know why they’ve suddenly become such gourmets. 

badmemory

I suspect that their food like ours is finding that ingredients are being downgraded to save money.  I also suspect that their noses are more able to tell the difference between the old & the new.

foxgloves

Ours will reluctantly eat a couple of flavours of Perle, except for the quacking poultry flavour which we gave to a very grateful hedgehog during the heatwave.
@badmemory - Yes, I am sure you have a point there. Certainly there has been shrinkflation on cat meat pouches. We bought them a box of Waitbl00m own brand pouches recently & were surprised to see that they are still 100g each as other brands have cut theirs to smaller servings & we are sure Ash noticed the difference on a past brand as he seemed hungrier. It would work out at 30g less food a day so on cat-sized rations, that might well be noticeable to their tummies, as I didn't increase their biscuit serving.
F

foxgloves

@Moorviews - Yes, I think £25 is good value for a dress as I have quite enjoyed sewing it & learning new skills. I have lots more fabric waiting as I chose some supplies from the fabric stall on our local market - a great stall, lovely chap, but can't make it profitable since the B-word as it is now so much more expensive & complicated for him to import from Europe. A real shame, but at least I was able to put some money his way on stock clearance. I think this Autumn, I will try a new pattern (a top) & make a slightly longer version of the tunic dresses I made for summer but in some winter warm black fabric I bought. One of my summer dresses was free as my sister gifted me the lovely batik fabric & the other one cost the princely sum of £3 plus a reel of thread from the market chap's closing down sale. It's lovely crisp summer cotton too.

Not a lot to report today but I thought I'd check in:
*Did 3 loads of laundry as having seen the forecast for the next few days, it looked like a dry blowy morning for free drying. I wish I'd known about the free electricity hour tomorrow afternoon as I think I'd have saved some of it until then. I do need to wash a jacket ready for packing away in my summer clothes bag, so I may decide to do that. Mr F has just bought some new rechargeable electric shears so is going to charge its batteries as they will need doing from scratch. 
*Finished my maxi-dress. Was hemming it at 8.30! Then gave it a good press & tried it on with my boots & leather jacket. I'm pleased with it. Yes, it wouldn't get past Esme, but there were new skills for me in altering an existing pattern into a different style & I have learned lots. None of the little less-than-perfect bits actually show & even if they did, I am pleased I made it myself.
*Today's garden pickings: Courgettes, aubergines.
*Mr F popped out to Waitbl00m to get the few items we couldn't get on Wednesday & availed himself of a free coffee while he was there.
*Checked bank account for the disappearing transaction. Bah! It had turned up. I can't explain why it utterly vanished for a day when it had been showing perfectly normally as 'pending' but then completely disappeared  before moving to the normal completed transactions 2 days later. 
*Use-it-up freezer clearing meal tonight.
*Was intending to clean the kitchen today & Mr F suddenly announced he was doing it. I asked why, as I was perfectly happy to do it & if the cleaning is done on a Saturday, we always share it. He mysteriously said that there were 'things he needed to do' & suggested I take my coffee & the papers out onto the reading bench, which I did, along with Ash who was being a fusspot for strokes. I could hear sort of general activity from the direction of the kitchen & when I went indoors after quite a while later, he'd been up the ladder & scrubbed the grubby kitchen pan rack which I can't reach, cleaned the kitchen windows inside & out plus the living room window!! It was lovely to see it all sparkling. He said "I know you can't reach it & like looking out at the garden & birds, so I thought it would make you happy"....which it did!!
Right, I'm going to sign off to go & sort out my witchy tresses plus my final summer toenail colour before doing Autumn holiday toenails in a couple of weeks time. Then I think some time with my book.
Enjoy your weekends all,
F x

scandimore

You've got a good'un there with Mr F. Very sweet.
Well done on the dress! I have a project to complete next month and dreading it due to my general incompetence....but I'm going to give it a go anyway 🙃 

Cheery_Daff

Very impressed with your dress making, and with your seasonal toenails! Are they just a different palette of colours, or do you do fancy toadstool and acorn designs??

PennysIntoPounds

Aw lots of husband points to Mr F, that's very sweet.
Well done on the dress and all your usual activity.
I think Autumn has truly arrived in London, it is grey and raining with much lower temperatures and predicted to stay that way with the occasional lightning storm in the week for variety!

Makingabobor2

What a good husband you have in Mr FG, my DH has to be asked to do anything helpful cleaning wise.

Suffolk_lass

Just to mention that one of my transactions disappeared then was applied two days later. The bank was the multi-owned East of England one. Of course the wretched transaction was the one that failed to complete properly or give me my receipt at the new premises convenient store of the same name. So I trailed in when it disappeared, and got them to add a fictitious transaction (photocopying!) for my stuff, only to have to go back and ask for a refund after it applied, two days later. They were very good, but clearly had me in the "batty old person" category when they agreed to refund mine. I am so relieved it was not only me!

foxgloves

It's odd that this happens, @Suffolk_lass, & I'm not sure why. This transaction was clearly at the top of my online account, along with another, both showing as 'pending'. The 2nd one just appeared as a normal transaction alongside all the others but the larger one vanished. I'd even made a little note of it so I know it was there. Then it vanished for 2 days. I searched through all the transactions in vain. It was nowhere to be seen, then yesterday, up it popped. I'm not sure why this happens. It's only occasionally but I find it neither logical or helpful. Yes, mutually owned bank which has the same name as the chain of shops.
F