Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hello Friday Readers,
Another day of resting here....my back felt so much better this morning, but after sitting to watch a couple of episodes of a programme on TV this afternoon, it started griping again. I don't usually sit for long periods in the day, so must remember that this actually made it worse. I'd usually have cleaned the whole house on a Friday, but I have been banned from anything involving bending & reaching so I've pottered around doing various small jobs instead. Any money saving activity?
*Re-chopped my birthday bouquet for the 3rd time & re-arranged the surviving bits in my flower bottle (the good thing about those is that even a single bloom can look good & a few look fab as such a narrow neck) - Birthday bouquet now in its 3rd week.
*Various minor decluttering jobs. Found a few things I'd forgotten about.
*Wrote a formal letter to HMRC to chase up what has happened with the verification process I was asked to write in (extensively)to sort out back in early March. I don't think it can have been done, as I am still unable to access my Gov't Gateway account due to 'incorrect information' (it isn't, but their records for me include a significant error - they wouldn't tell me what it is). As I've pointed out, the inclusion in my future pension fund of the voluntary NI contributions I made back in early March is the only kind of 'receipt/evidence' I will have from them that I actually paid. At well over £5k, that's a lot of money to us & we want to be able to see the evidence of it. I've requested an email to let me know that the process has been done (supposed to take 'up to 6 weeks') & if it has, to explain why I am still locked out of my Gateway account.
*Did quite a few surveys - finally squeaked into double figures on PA (plenty of month left to work on that) & am very close to cash-out on Ips*s - it's been very slow for me this year. Remember all those 'turkey tokens' I was earning in the run up to Christmas? It slowed right down in January (though we did procure a very subsidised turkey!)
*Entered 2 competitions.
*Wrote town list for tomorrow. I am not sure if I am going in, as it will depend on how I feel, which could be interesting, as one of the items on the list is purple bias binding. I asked Mr F if he knows what bias binding is. His reply: "Nope, but I like a mission".
*Avoided being Ms Naughty Yarn-Buying Foxgloves. Honestly, it was money I just didn't need to spend. I received a swift for my birthday, having wanted one for ages, & am really wanting to set it up this weekend but currently have no skeins to experiment with. So I started browsing an expensive online artisan yarn shop's wares to find a skein to order. Then I suddenly remembered that I received a lovely shawl knitting kit for Christmas containing not one, but THREE skeins! I will now be testing out my new swift on those without an unnecessary spend!
*Cut open a hand cream tube to extract the last little bit.
*Made use of a 20% discount code plus 2 loyalty point vouchers to order some moisturisers for both of us from the shop which sounds like it's where you would go for a new body. The order should have been over £40 full price but with the discount & vouchers applied, plus it met the free p&p threshold, it was only £26.80. Budget-neutral as it will be paid from our respective Personal Spends.
Well, not an exciting day, but I'm supposed to be resting my back & I do at least feel I achieved a few useful things.
Wishing everyone a peaceful Friday night......but if you are heading out on the town, well then obviously paint it red & have a gin & bitter lemon for me!
F x

Makingabobor2

OOh gin & bitter lemon, what a blast from the past. Not had one of those for many years. TBH, I went off bitter lemon as I got older.  I'll settle for a sherry in a large glass with ice now....I know it sounds odd, but it is my favourite. I do of course only buy sherry from Ald! and then maybe treat to myself to some HBC at Christmas. Luckily for me, DGH hates it. 

Hope they sort out your Gateway account soon. I love going into mine, and looking at how much I have coming soon....lol

Hope Mr FG finds the bias binding ok. You are lucky to have a haberdashery shop or sewing shop to get one. I recently wanted a needle to sew up my knitting and ended up having to get one from the Bay of E. No shops round here to get stuff like that and charity shops didn't have one, MIL didn't have one and none of my friends are knitters. But as you know I have only recently started knitting again, so that's why I didn't have a needle, think it must have got donated with all my wool years ago. WE do do some silly things don't we?  But I only started again when DG3 said that ladies of 65 had to knit and he wanted a blanket. I'm actually surprised that I am enjoying it as well.  

What competitions do you enter? Have you ever won much?  My mum always used to do the ones in magazines, and actually won a few small things over the years. As I don't buy magazines, that's out....lol.  

Hope your pains are improving. Take care

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Yes, a gin & bitter lemon was given to me years ago by an elderly lady & it's a real retro drink, I think. Very refreshing with lots of ice in hot weather. My current fave is that Seville orange gin with plain tonic that comes in the little posh cans....or the very acceptable Mr Al equivalent.
Re competitions - I don't do many at all, just small prize draws, the Waitbl00m weekend crossword, an occasional one I might see in a magazine, that kind of thing. I did win the local Labour Party 100 Club monthly draw recently (£30) but that's the only lottery-type thing we do. 
I do know a couple of proper good compers - one is an old work-friend who has always done loads of competitions & the other is our own @ziggy2407 on here, who I know really puts the effort in to comping (unlike me!)
F 

Makingabobor2

Maybe I should try harder.....we have to be in it to win it, as they say

Blackcats

Sorry that you've not been feeling v well.  Fingers crossed it will improve.  I hope the cats are taking care of you.

joedenise

I enter a few free competitions.  Mainly I do the online ones from Woman's Own Magazine (https://comps.womansownmagazine.co.uk/).  Haven't won anything yet but only started doing them a few weeks ago.  No way would I pay to enter a competition.

I started doing PA a couple of weeks ago and have nearly £15 already with another £5 odd waiting for approval - really impressed with how quickly most of them get approved.

Debsnewbudget

There is a whole area of this forum for competitions.
the Posters give you a link to enter and the answers, you can then tick to say you have entered or skipped each one.
I enter quite a few, and have won a number of them. I do recommend you set up a separate email address for them though, as you have to sign up to lots of newsletters.

marionmgcars

I did some “Swedish Death Cleaning” this week.  Amused by this new name it has been given, but would hate my family to have to sift through mountains of clutter when I go - not for a long time yet I hope.  I start to get my gov pension this year, so hope to make good use of lots of years getting money back from government for a change.   Still struggling with driving long journeys.  I had a flask of coffee and some ready peeled orange segments to keep me going, but still gave in to temptation at the garage when I filled up with petrol.  Ate the oranges when I got home 🤣🤣

foxgloves

@marionmgcars - Your in-car snack needs do make me smile!
F

foxgloves

Hi Saturday Savers,
Not much to report today. Quite a lazy afternoon. Cleaned the house between us, but I only did 'upright' jobs like dusting & grubby paw-print removal as am still being careful with my back. I baked a batch of bread rolls, watered the greenhouse & coldframe plants and sorted our medicine/first aid box into a new container as our original one wasn't tall enough. It gave me an opportunity to have a proper look at what we have in stock.
Mr F DID manage to buy me a metre of purple bias binding from town this morning. What would we do without the haberdashery in the shop that rhymes with 'toys'?! Apparently, he thought he'd found it & checked with the assistant, who told him he was 'close' but it was actually for piping. She showed him where the bias binding was & he chose a very nice purple. There wasn't much left on the roll so she threw in the extra for free.....all good for me, as it's given me a bit extra in case of error. I have a mauve hoodie (not something I usually wear as I think I risk looking like a small sofa, but I do like this one) which has lots of wear left in it, except for the frayed binding around the cuffs. For the vast outlay of 75p, I thought it would be worth re-binding them - a job I will attempt next week.
Another small win - bedroom door catch had become so stiff, I was thinking I'd phone the chap who fitted the handles, etc, & get a quote for a repair, but Mr F has sorted it. Admittedly this involved him going upstairs & hitting it repeatedly with a hammer, but it does seem to have done the trick.....for free.
Well, I did say I hadn't done much, didn't I? And now Soot has landed on my lap to say it's damn well about time he had some fuss!
Enjoy your weekends,
F x