Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@amber03 - That was my thinking exactly! As Christmas draws nearer, jobs should tail off nicely, leaving plenty of time for films, reading, music, games, relaxation & fun. 
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Got this week off to a good start but didn't finish everything on my list. Revisited list. List was stupid. Too many things on it so bumped some tasks to tomorrow & Weds. Budget-friendly stuff I did get done:
*2 loads of laundry on eco-setting.
*Finished knitting remaining birthday present sock, sewed in the ends & wrapped both pairs.
*Baked bread.
*Used some surplus bread to make bread sauce for Christmas Day plus crumbed & froze what I need for stuffings.
*Baked bread pudding to use up last of the surplus bread. Added leftover cherries from the Christmas cake to the dried fruit, so with the mixed spice & nutmeg (Cranks recipe book), it has turned out quite festive. Sliced into squares & will freeze some for lunch boxes.
*Packed the last of this year's saved seed (cosmos & more Guatamalan blue squash) into envelopes for my seed box.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Selcted today's Advent items - a little embroidery my Mum did, spelling out CHRISTMAS in ornate letters,  & a rotund robin I knitted a few years ago.
I will get the tasks which fell off the list done tomorrow. Am confident I can finish them.
Try to stay dry tomorrow. Forecast looks pretty grim.
F x

Makingabobor2

Putting too many jobs on my To Do list seems to be one of my biggest failings. Must try & be more realistic in new year. 

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - The 3-job list can be quite helpful if you have an overwhelming amount of tasks to do. You prioritise 3 things which most need tackling & write them down. You are not allowed to add any other things to this list until you have done at least one of the tasks because the idea is that it never has more than 3 outstanding tasks on it at any one time. You can get into quite a rhythm of doing a job, crossing it off, adding another, etc, & you can find you end up with a long list of crossed out tasks which is as long, or even longer than if you had written them all out at once as a single list. It's the 'never more than 3' thing which seems to swizz our brains into feeling less overwhelmed.

foxgloves

Hello to Wednesday's Festive Pence-Wranglers,
Just popping on with this morning's budget-friendly efforts:
*Hair cut -  £13. Personal Spends. Such a change from the cut & colours of the Spendaceous Era. Did my own colour yesterday as didn't feel like spending Christmas looking like tragic badger.
*Mr F's day off so had breakfast at our fave cafe - Personal Spends so budget-neutral. 
*Bought my gardening mag - also Personal Spends......
*....followed by a replacement bulb for living room lamp - House & Garden Pot so also budget-neutral.
*Grocery shopping - not a long list & we were able to use £6's worth of member money-off vouchers. (+ a free coffee)
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Minimal ironing this week so not much electricity used there & not too boring for me either.
*Did 3 surveys.
*Studied a letter from water supplier which arrived yesterday. As we are in a water-shortage region, we are being changed automatically to a water metered supply. This is compulsory but not really a problem as we had been thinking about requesting a change to metered last year, then never got round to it. The letter states that we use less water than other properties of a similar rateable value so we are over-paying & are likely to receive a refund dating back to April. The thing which surprised us was them saying they know how much water we use because we already have a water meter. That was certainly news to us! We have lived here for 23 years & it's the first we've heard of it as it's never been mentioned before. We will be 'swapped over' later this month & any credit refunded to our bank account. I wouldn't say that we are heavy on water use, but my reticence about changing to metered last year was that we have quite a big garden with about a third of it given over to food growing, & a wildlife pond which requires occasional top-ups in dry weather. We do have 2 water butts which we use regularly & I have also asked Mr F always to leave the big plastic weeding trugs out as they collect a useful amount of rainwater which is more important to me than having them tidied away in the shed after use. Our current non-metered water bill payment is £82-34 a month from April to November inclusive. I think we ought to be able to do a bit better than that. Hope so, anyway. I will monitor it. As this is a compulsory changeover for environmental reasons, there is no option to change back to non-metered if it turns out that we don't make a saving. However, I am quite encouraged by the letter saying that we are over-paying on the current system (though it's them who set the bills!!) so on this basis, I'd hope to save a little or at least break even. Mr F says he has only just read the letter but is already being more careful & has also suggested that the dehumidifier water should be used for occasional loo-flushing. 
Well, it's not my cooking night & as we are just having pesto pasta - all that pesto I made while we had the summer basil glut has been the gift which keeps on giving - so very little time/effort required. I am looking forward to some time with my book - the new Inspector Lynley mystery by Elizabeth George. It's a big doorstep of a thing so should keep me busy for a while.
Take care, m'dears,
F
P.S Advent items:
9th - Hung a chunky knitted stocking on living room door.
10th - Trimmed up kitchen dresser with festive handsewn bunting.

EssexHebridean

I think sometimes we lose sight of how delicious a simple meal like pesto pasta can be don't we. Especially at this time of year too, it's sometimes a perfect sort of meal - marrying up a nice bowl of winter-friendly carbs with the reminders of the home grown bounty from the summer! 

We were pleasantly surprised how low our water use is, although our garden is obviously far smaller than yours sounds, and we currently just have the one butt. We've adopted the idea of trugs to catch additional water too - although at this time of year the one that takes the run off from the log store roof is almost annoying as it fills up and there is no use for the water! 

silverwhistle

£82 a month for water?! I'm on a meter too supplied by Portsmpouth water, sewage by Southern. The latter have just put up their prices massively but aren't doing a very good job as I go out on the water locally and can see the evidence. No doubt I will on my venture on the water tomorrow. Last year was ~£21 a month although I pay on receipt and it will be more next year.. Single occupancy which means that when I don't have house guests I yellow/mellow.. One butt but may add next year after building work and a new large shed install. Have you considered an IBC: 1000 litre capacity?

I rarely have my hair done but it costs a lot more when I do. As for colour? Looking like a tragic badger is an attitude of mind, dear. ;-)

Cheery_Daff

I've got a 1000 litre IBC - I don't think it's ever been full (principally because of my inadequate water collection before this year) but I have high hopes after the recent sogginess! 

Hadn't heard of anyone going onto a compulsory water meter 😬 i don't think we're too bad, although we are both fond of a bath... We do have a standby trough for the neighbour's cows sometimes though if the spring fed trough dries up in the summer, that probably uses a bit. Don't think there's much chance of us being in a water shortage area though 😬

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

@Makingabobor2 - The 3-job list can be quite helpful if you have an overwhelming amount of tasks to do. You prioritise 3 things which most need tackling & write them down. You are not allowed to add any other things to this list until you have done at least one of the tasks because the idea is that it never has more than 3 outstanding tasks on it at any one time. You can get into quite a rhythm of doing a job, crossing it off, adding another, etc, & you can find you end up with a long list of crossed out tasks which is as long, or even longer than if you had written them all out at once as a single list. It's the 'never more than 3' thing which seems to swizz our brains into feeling less overwhelmed.

That's quite a good idea. X

weenancyinAmerica

I discovered we had a major leak at our house - and managed to buy the part. Our friend put it in for me. I hope it saves a lot on the water bill, as the toilet would never stop running. 

I was lucky enough to take a class from Elizabeth George. It was a special 8-hour class on how to write a mystery:4 hours on Friday and 8 hours on Saturday taught at our local university. She is a fantanstic teacher.