Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Blackcats

I also used the "I'm no good with money" excuse to myself.  I supplemented this with the "it's the bank's fault for giving me a loan/an overdraft/a credit card just because I asked for them 🤦‍♀️

badmemory

There is a lot to be said for the difficulties of borrowing money in the 60s.  Even HP was difficult.  Although then H had no difficulty getting an overdraft as long as his salary cleared it.

foxgloves

@Blackcats - Yes, there were a lot of excuses going on, back in the Spendy Days, weren't there? One of my big ones was that I had no money because I'd had a big car bill. Tbf, I did go through a few months of car problems at one point which so many garages just failed to diagnose that at one point, I limped my old VW to the servicing division of H*lford's & refused to pick it up until they found & rectified the problem, despite them calling me every day at work to tell me to come & pick it up! But that was the exception. Usually these pesky car bills were the usual ones - MOT, servicing, new tyres, etc - all absolutely 100% predictable expenses, but of course I never put any money away to cover them because that would have been too sensible. 

@badmemory - Yes, it probably felt constraining at times of genuine need, but really, the frenzy of consumer borrowing which followed hasn't done anyone any favours. I think those of us who are 1960s 'babies' were probably particularly tempted into taking advantage of all these new lines of credit because we grew up at a time when parents, as a rule, didn't borrow, our grandparents positively frowned on it - but here's the thing. We then came of age in the 1980s, & as young adults at the end of that decade/1990s, wanting to set up home, fund our preferred lifestyles, etc, the increasingly liberal hand with which credit was handed out was a huge temptation. I well recall my Mum once querying why I had bought something, saying, "But you said you don't have any money" - I remember looking at her as though she belonged to a different century & saying, "But I still have cheques left". And as for the Evil Flexiloan, which I signed up to with my (then) high street bank to help me deal with my permanently overdrawn current account......well, much as I felt quite important for getting this extra credit stream, I could see in later years how this product was absolutely weighted towards banking profits rather than the helpful thing it purported to be. After the lightbulb moment, it was the 2nd debt I worked on paying off.

foxgloves

Hello Friday Frugalistas,
Didn't get round to posting yesterday as the afternoon rather got away from me & we went out in the evening as we had tickets to see John Cooper Clarke, which was a great night out. Budget-friendly bits were sticking just about to our Week 4 grocery budget - that tough love shopping list obviously worked! Made use of all 4 loyalty money off vouchers plus we qualified for the 3rd 'little treat' on the new Waitbl00m rewards scheme for members - this turned out to be a voucher for £6 off our next shop & doesn't appear to have a minimum spend, so that was well received by us. Mr F had a free coffee, well we shared it actually, as muggins had forgotten her beaker. Finished joining those granny squares & with a swift border of trebles around the edge, Soot & Ash's new blanket is complete & has been put away for their Christmas present (free, though you can bet Mr F will be scouring the shops for turkey lick-e-l*x or something similarly festive, despite my best efforts to tell him that they will both be happy with a saucer of turkey & giblets!)
Nice to have a slower start to the day this morning as we'd had a late night. Mr F made porridge & coffee then we divided house cleaning between us. He opted for bathroom & thrashing the vacuum around & I took kitchen & bins, which meant I also got another task crossed off the list.......sorting out the pantry. I've topped up various jars, selected a nice boxful of my home made preserves for the hamper I always make up for my family in London, plus a jar of hedgerow jelly to add to the hamper for our friends. It was a good opportunity to have a look at what we have in stock, especially jars of things & a move around has made a decent space for Christmas groceries, cake tins, etc. Wiped all the shelves down as I went & as I had a loud late 1970s compilation CD playing while I worked, it was part jobs & part kitchen karaoke! If you've never sung 'Video killed the radio star' while practically standing on your head in the sloping part of the pantry while simultaneously counting jars of piccalilli, it's not too late to try it!
Other stuff - Not a lot.....entered a competition, did a couple of surveys & made the most of the last little bit of candlewax in the base of a scented candle tin by scooping it out & using it on my wax melts burner to fragrance the newly cleaned house. Changed bed linen - now in washing machine waiting to see if we have a dry windy day over the weekend/Monday.
It's Mr F's cooking night & he's making an old favourite - Tuna, chipotle wedge melt, which I think may have originally come from an old edition of the Waitbl00m free weekly newspaper. Tasty, easy & apart from a yellow pepper, mostly uses store cupboard ingredients. I've started reading the 2nd novel in Mick Herron's Zoe Boehm series. I enjoyed the first one, though shan't see the TV series until we swap our current streamer subscription to a different one, as we do every so often because I can't see any point in paying for more than one when there are only so many hours in the day & even fewer when it comes to how many of them I am prepared to spend watching TV.
Right, off I go, but not before wishing you all a calm & cosy Friday night,
F xx
 

2Scratters

We had an evening out at GD presentation in her sport of mx racing. She obtained 2nd in her group. I had purchased a pre owned P**dora charm pre owned was going to use it for Christmas, we had picked this up on the way out. It seemed appropriate to offer it to her on the evening. She was chuffed and I was relieved it was one she didn't already have as I hadn't checked before purchasing it. I have done the same for her mum's special birthday in January, it all helps the pennies go further. 

Have a good weekend all

2 Scratters xx

foxgloves

Lovely gift for your GD, @2Scratters

foxgloves

And the use-it-up mission continues - just had a good dollop of free hair mask & am now festooned with another free edelweiss sheet face mask.
Have also sourced another knitting project from my stash. Have gathered up all my brightly coloured odds & ends of dk cotton yarn & intend to.knit some dishcloths. We need some new ones, so double-win of decluttering/use-it-up & shopping from home.
Looking forward to a productive week ahead. Let's see what we can achieve.
F x
 

themadvix

I’ve been knitting my dishcloths for a good few years now (mind you, it’s the only thing I knit, and slowly!). They are great - the texture helps with getting off stuck on grime and when they’ve got (a lot of) holes in, they just go in the compost. I knit a different colour for bathroom cleaning to kitchen cleaning so it’s easy to tell them apart. Enjoy - with your knitting prowess you’ll have a full complement in no time!

foxgloves

@themadvix - First one finished already & a turquoise & yellow stripy one now on the needles! Good idea about the colour coding - thanks for that idea. I am intending to move all the old cloths to the rag bag for mucky cleaning jobs. Yes, I also add cotton cloths to the compost bins. I just chop them into chunks & they seem to break down well. Although I've always been interested in environmental issues, this money saving lark has definitely made us a much more sustainable household.
F

2Scratters

@themadvix @foxgloves ladies do you use string or the garden twine? I had 2 from my parents house both made of string, the first one had different types of stitches in it and didn't last as long as I remember. We are now on number 2 which is just plain knit. It cleans up lovely with a bit of bleach (not tried the green bleach on it yet!) a large ball of string will be on my secret santa list instead of chocolate 

 2 Scratters xx