Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

scandimore

Glad the dental went well. I must admit £800 does seem pricey to me. We tend to pay £3-400 for dentals. They have both recently had more difficult ops (lump removal / a digestive blockage / a tail removal) and each op has been max £800, even with an overnight stay. Maybe our vets is more reasonable with price than I thought.

I must admit the costs are as clear as mud, even a simple consultation seems to be charged differently each time. I approach the counter to pay with some consternation each time!

The cats are super old so we paid insurance for years and years without using it, until the premiums got ridiculous and we cancelled it. Despite the out of pocket operations we're still ahead compared with having kept the insurance. I do think the costs need to be a bit more transparent before the treatment.

foxgloves

Thanks everyone for your well wishes for Ash & comments on the cost of cat dental work. Our insurance would pay out for emergency work on teeth, such as resulting from an accident or an infection, but not for routine dental work/maintenance, which is what Ash has had. He is on soft food only so no biscuits or crunchy treats for a week. We've been lucky with his painkiller. He has liquid Loxicom which doesn't seem to smell of anything as we have been mixing a dose into his breakfast & he's been eating it with no complaints. He had a return vet visit last night just to check how his mouth is healing up & although he was borderline for being discharged, the nurse decided she'd like to see him next week just to be on the safe side with one of the 'gaps'. She was pleased with him though & we were able to report that he'd recovered well from the GA & is being sensible with his food - little & often as recommended.
He was delighted to be allowed outside again, also Soot (who was also confined to barracks because we needed to close the cat flap) who was so happy, he went out 8 times in one morning!
F

foxgloves

And here's today's post. To borrow a phrase from @PennysIntoPounds, today has mostly consisted of 'usuals'. The following are the budget-friendly bits:
*Did a few surveys.
*Squidged down the garden for a bunch of carrots & some parsley.
*A quick squint in the greenhouse on the way down revealed that the sweetpeas I sowed recently from saved seed are already coming up.
*Made up half a box of hair colour & tackled my roots. Hair colour boxes are usually on a '2 for' offer so my cheapskate method (using a clean applicator bottle saved from a previous kit) to make up a half quantity to colour my roots, concentrating on areas which are most on display. The next time, I use the other box (the whole lot) to get a really good whole-head covering. Then the time after that, I use the leftover half from the first box. This way, I get 3 hair-colourings from 2 boxes......& VERY much cheaper than the professional colour I regularly used to have done with the bank's money back in the Spendaceous Era!
*Sorted out Christmas presents & began wrapping. My little HQ room was looking less like Santa's grotto & more like a cardboard box-strewn corner of a warehouse. Decided to move wrapping higher up the list to give myself some space. Assigned each recipient a gift bag then wrapped some presents in no particular order, other than starting with those which were most in the way, adding them to the gift bags straight away. It was always my intention that the principles of Project Surbiton would come into play at wrapping time & so they have. I haven't bought any festive gift wrap at all. I am using the 2 enormous rolls of paper which Mr F saved from going into a skip at work - one is bright green, the other scarlet, so they are nicely festive as well as free. I made the gift tags from last year's Christmas cards & some gold ribbon I rescued when we cleared out Mum's craft hoard. I have re-used 3 gift bags from my recycled stash but didn't mind buying the others because there was a good selection in a local shop which is closing down & they were selling them at 74p each. While I was sorting out, I got all the Christmas cards into a small box along with the recipients' list so when I feel like it, I'll be able to write a few each day. I already have plenty of stamps, although they are interesting mushroom ones, rather than the usual festive issues. 
*Covered a suitable box (yes, that free roll of green paper again!) for the foodie hamper we are giving to friends - tarted it up by cutting out some silver & red stars from scraps from my recycled wrappings stash & sticking them on. It occurred to me that if I didn't know how big the box was going to be, we might just keep on buying & buying, when in actual fact, I think we will only require about another half dozen items & a big bag of posh festive crisps.
*Packed a bag of donations for the charity bookshop as Mr F needs to pop into town tomorrow & offered to drop them off, so that's made a bit more space. Not money saving, but I am still very much in decluttering mode.
*Oh, & I have got my Christmas piano music out. It's too early for carols, but I have some more difficult festive arrangements I need to practise so as not to sound like Les Dawson in the run-up. I defo do NOT require any more Christmas music (even from the charity book shop) so shall need to keep my purse firmly in my bag if I see any, as I am easily tempted by a rummage box of old music. A not-too-far-away NT house is asking for volunteers of Grade 5 or above to do sessions playing their grand piano during Christmas visiting hours. I would so like to do a session.....I did play a piece of Bach on the fab old grand at a fenland NT property a few years ago but I am not feeling sufficiently confident to play in public atm. Maybe next year........if I start practising Christmas repertoire in August, lol! (or February!)
Right, enough yakking. I'm off to do a round of closing curtains, put the kitchen fairy lights on & start cosying down for the evening. 
F x

Suffolk_lass

What a lovely idea to use your piano playing heritage and skills to give others pleasure by playing a grand old piano at an NT property. I'm very taken with that idea. I wish our son still played in public. His is not piano; he's a very competent bass guitarist with a wide-ranging taste in music (influenced by both parents and personal influences, and can play a double bass in a band ensemble, but not with a bow as he is self taught on that. I am glad to hear that all normality has resumed in cat land. Ours came out of hiding about three hours after the last bang last night. Mr Sl was home with dog and cat, while I was on the servery for the burgers and sausages so the regular person could spend the evening with her family who had come up for a day or two. All sold out by 9.15 - but two hours of non-stop serving after the brief but impressive display of ever louder bangs!

Sun_Addict

I’d like to bet you are good enough to play in public even if you don’t feel ready yet. What a lovely thing to do you should definitely volunteer. Les Dawson 🤣 I remember the piano sketches 🤣🤣

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - There didn't seem to be that many fireworks in our village on the 5th, so I have left a litter tray in the lobby in case everyone is having their celebrations tonight. Soot & Ash are both very worried by fireworks, especially Ash, who is the more timid of the two. Hopefully they will settle down & watch a film with us. I find that closing our heavy living room curtains helps as they can't see the flashes. Bangs still come down the chimney of course. Hoping tonight will be the end of fireworks for a while.

@Sun_Addict - I know I could do it but I would be pretty stressed about the idea & might end up bottling out. Maybe I will feel brave enough next year. Our favourite cafe in town (medieval building & lovely laid back vibe) has a piano which customers are welcome to play so maybe I should sneak in really early & try a festive public rendition to a very limited audience (as they'd still all be in the coffee queue!) 

foxgloves

Greetings Saturday Savers,
Busy morning so as to get jobs out of the way for a leisurely afternoon & evening. Not a no-spend day but the more budget-friendly things as follows:
*Cleaned bathroom & kitchen - usual minimal products & washable clothes. Mr F flung the vacuum around so everywhere looks decent for the weekend.
*Dinner is in the slow cooker - a recipe I adapted from something else ages ago - a chilli which uses 225g (ish) of leftover roast pork chunks & black beans. It's so quick & easy, tasty too. Shall only need to cook some rice to go with it.
*The free 'Little treats' from the new loyalty card scheme were collected from Waitbl00m (along with a free coffee) when Mr F called in to check I hadn't imagined that pineapples were on offer. I hadn't! The big ones are back to 2 for £4 which means I can get on with making pineapple chutney next week for which I've saved some of our scotch bonnet chillies. No urgency for our own pantry, but I want to add a jar to our hamper which is going to my family in London as they had a jar last year & I think it had pretty much been eaten by the end of Boxing Day!
*Mr F also went on a festive crisp hunt. We'd already decided when present planning that it'd be fun to add a big bag of festive crisps to a few people's gift bags - nephews, B-i-L, our friends' hamper, etc, so when I received an email from the C**p flagging up that their Irresistible range of posh crisps were currently half price at 85p a bag, Mr F (who is also a significant crisp fiend in his own right) felt this was too good an offer to miss. He managed a good haul, so all the present bags sorted except youngest nephew for whom we wanted the ever-elusive camembert & black garlic flavour which according to the assistant had been selling in droves. Nice to think of people getting a good deal & I always think that if offers prove profitable, even as a loss leader, then supermarkets will offer more of them. Anyway, enough of crisps.
*Withdrew the cash I budgeted for paying for hedge & gutter work next week. Hoping we will have some leftover which I will re-allocate.
We are having a film night tonight, either something from Netty's Flicks or our own collection. I intend to finish knitting the first of the snowman wrist warmers I'm making for a Christmas charity project & to see how far I can get with the 2nd one. I altered the colourwork so as to make them speedier to knit but my alteration means I now need to make sure I knit the right hand one next & not a 2nd left hand one. In the original pattern, it didn't matter as they were identical.  Well, I think that's everything. We are hoping to go out tomorrow morning if not pouring with rain so I shall try not to be too tempted into parting with money.
Have a nice evening, all.
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Well I didn't know I needed camembert and black garlic flavour crisps in my life but apparently I do 😁

Hope things remain quiet and cosy for the cats (and of course you and Mr F) this evening 

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,

I have landed back in MSE after being absent for months. Letting life get me distracted from where I need to be. There is far too much for me to read back on.

We lost my dad in July and the 4 of us siblings are still working with mum who has mixed dementia. We are trying to keep her from care home admission as we feel she will shut down and as she is registered blind will also confuse her even more.
Our building work has been dramatically changed. Where it should have been an extension we are keeping within the original foot print of the bungalow. We have run out of time on the planning permission but have used some of permissions granted. Turns out we will have for fork out another £350 as we have had a new roof last year They really love nailing folks boots to the floor. 
I have needless to say lost focus quite a bit and we have been eating out far too much. We currently have half the kitchen in the living room as we had a wall removed between back bedroom and the original small kitchen. DH is still insistent in doing what he can to keep costs down, which I get however it will take even longer to get to where we are going. Fingers crossed for this next week for a kitchen designer lady to call she had to let us down last week 2 times due to children being poorly then herself catching what the children had.
Yesterday he sorted our fire stove with the new glass and rope he had purchased a couple of months ago. The liner was cleaned all the way to the top. It was hypnotic to see the flames dancing last night. Even the new double headed fan worked a treat after it had been knocked off a few weeks ago with a dog toy being bounced around. It had landed face down on the blades, turns out that it is possible to get new motors so may go down that route for a repair and DH can then use it in his workshop. 

We have been careful/lazy with the housekeeping money spends and not really done much supermarket shopping unless it was to be for specific items only. 
Our new collie pup is due to be spayed next Wednesday hopefully she doesn't come into season before then as she is just over 6 months old now and it will cost us more if she does. 

Have a good week
2 Scratters xx

foxgloves

Welcome back @2Scratters. Gosh, what a lot of stuff you have had going on. Sorry to hear about your parents - very sad & stressful. We all need to revisit the MSE mindset now & again, don't we, so I'm sure you'll be back in the zone in no time.
F