Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
The sun has just decided to put in an appearance after a grey windy morning. I decided to make a start on the house cleaning rather than go into town as planned. We were really only going in for the market & when our local market butcher flagged up the 2 extremely good offers we were intending to buy & said to get there early as they were selling like hot buns, I realised that if we went in early enough to secure them, there would be no shops open! So Mr F went in on his own & as it was so early when he left the market, decided to swing by Al*i with the quarterly list to do that as well. I couldn't believe how quickly he got all of that done. He wouldn't have been as quick if I'd gone, as I like to look at everything! 
Anyway, this big pantry stock-up shop is something we decided a few months ago that we would do 3 times a year. We initially wondered if we would need to do it quarterly, but it looks as though 3 times a year is just right. It is to buy multiples of pantry staples - tinned tomatoes, pulses, rice, pasta, flour, bread flour, sugar, mayonnaise, cereal, tomato puree, rapeseed oil, stir-fry sauces, cat treats, vinegars, etc, etc.- all the store cupboard basics. I budgeted £100 for this. I didn't think we would spend it all, but as we only go every 4 months, I wanted to allow for prices having increased. It came to £75, so I will be crediting £25 back to July's budget on Monday morning when I do my regular budget updates.
Mr F (perhaps he was a butcher in a former life!) enjoyed sorting out all the meat while listening to a geeky podcast. He has divided & re-packed it into freezer containers ready for 2 BBQs plus leftovers cold for the next day with jacket potatoes & salad plus stuff for several other meals. The offer was 10 packs of mix & match for £20. The other offer was 2 half legs of lamb for £13. These have been frozen for a roast dinner & some follow-on batch cooking later in the month. So, freezer & pantry re-stocked, house cleaned & now it's leisure time. I've done a little more genealogy - just need to write up my notes - & will be starting the next book from my library list shortly. Looking forward to the new series of 'Beck' tonight, as I like a bit of scandi-crime.
I did manage to get those socks for Mr F finished last night  - they were entirely knitted using leftover yarn from my stash, so free, & I was pleased with how the colour combinations turned out. He was really pleased with them so I will defo order some more self-patterning yarns & knit a couple of secret pairs for Christmas. Current knitting project is now to get my shawl finished. 
Right, nothing exciting here, as per usual, but I'm happy to have a quiet life these days.
Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
F x

Suffolk_lass

I also went onto the JL website to look at their sale offers and I ordered two duvet cover and pillow case sets (same pattern, different sizes) and a roll of matching wallpaper (we intend doing a simple panel above the spare bed, where the wall was damaged by our son when he lived at home - it has been like that for maybe ten years). I normally have white bed linen but Stealth cat (black) has taken to sleeping on the foot of my side and it is covered in her moulting coat at the moment. It won't stop the moulting but it won't show so much. 

I looked at shoes this morning after the tip about canvas reductions but my DH's feet are much more awkward at size 13. Just one pair of black boots on offer and I know he won't wear them. 

We do similar with a stock shop budget but I buy the things when on offer, and in quantities to last six months until the next time. It takes a while to work out the offer cycles and timing. I still buy some things on a subscription from big river to take advantage of the 15% off five things too

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Back before the pandemic, we used to start each week's grocery shopping in A*di, then go on to the market for our fresh stuff, ending up in Waitbl00m for all the stuff still outstanding from our list. During Lockdown & the cautious period afterwards, we stuck to Waitbl00m as in our opinion, out of all the local options, their virus control measures seemed to us to be the best & we felt safest there while out shopping. So that has kind of stuck, but of course there is a price differential so we get around that by doing the big pantry re-stock at Al*i every 4 months. While it's not quite a zombie apocalypse level of stock-up, we do aim to buy the frequently used staples in multiples so that they last for 4 months until the next one. Meanwhile, our weekly shop for the fresh stuff, cat food & other bits & pieces happens weekly at Waitbl00m, the market butcher & greengrocer, the eco-refill shop &/or sometimes the health shop & usually Wi*k0's for cat food. I think most of us probably shop around & end up with whatever combination suits us best. I must admit I do really like to see a full pantry.....I'm a bit like a squirrel, especially as Autumn starts to draw closer, which of course, it isn't particularly doing just yet. With food inflation still high, I also think it's worth buying multiples at what are likely to be lower prices than next time.
F

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Have stayed home today as we wanted to get an early start on some garden jobs. I've had plenty of leisure time this afternoon & will be having some reading time shortly.
Just a few small wins on the money saving front today:
*A no-spend day.
*Mr F improved the area where our back courtyard meets the lawn, which has never quite looked 'finished' since we had the courtyard re-laid in 2020. He has removed a narrow strip of lawn & filled the gap with 'moonstone' pebbles. They were leftover from the refurbishment work so this has cost nothing. The pebbles are a pale mix so they make a good contrast as well as adding a bit of interest & texture......
*......meanwhile.....an hour & a half of free fitness for me, as I got right into the back of our biggest border & hacked out oodles of damned white briony, goosegrass, bindweed, nipplewort, as well as cutting down the huge sweet rocket plants, which may decide to put out a few more flowers, I'll wait & see. I could tell my shoulders had, had a good work-out & was glad to get all that weedery into the council garden bin in time for collection on Thurs. I don't begrudge paying for the service at all, but I do like to ensure I am getting full use of that fee.
*Mr F lifted a few shallots, which are looking good. The own brand insect mesh we bought is obviously doing sterling work in keeping out the dreaded onion leaf miner pest.
*Mr F also watered the garden & fed all the veg.
*Laundry rounded up for tomorrow - I shall need an early start for free line drying as it is apparently set to rain here in the afternoon.
*Picked another posy of sweet peas for the top of my piano. They certainly fill the room with fragrance.
*Will synchronise our diaries later - this helps with lunch planning & knowledge of car availability, reminders re any appointments, petty cash requirements, etc.
*Am wearing a top which was too tight at the beginning of the year - not so tight that it was consigned to the 'Shopping from Home Boutique', but still tighter than I would like. It's nice to be wearing it again, as it's a nice one from the shop which sounds like a tropical storm & it does trick the mind into thinking one has had something new.
It's not my cooking night - Mr F is going to roast a chicken, so I already have my eye on that for 3 further meals & it isn't even in the oven yet! Right, time to put my family history paperwork away, which is currently spread far & wide, then I shall fetch my book & make use of the conservatory armchair while there are no cats on it.
F x

Sun_Addict

I filled our garden waste bin today too. I like to get my money’s worth 😆

Makingabobor2

Another one who was filling the garden waste bin ready for Thursday....I'm sure we must live in the same area FG...lol.   Your mention of your piano made me think about the fact that I told DH one of the things I would love to do now in my retirement is take up piano lessons again. I learnt as a child, but gave it up at about 12 or 13 when I reached that rebellious age and wanted to join the St Johns Ambulance instead....no idea why, but that idea only lasted about 4 years and I always regretted giving up the piano. I have "dabbled" when ever I have been anywhere near a piano, but know I could do with a lot of refresher lessons. D isn't keen as then we would have to get a piano....lol.  Anyway, I'll see what comes of the idea. ....lol

2Scratters

Well today I skinned a rabbit. Very cute it was too. Thumper was his name. He is 64 years old.

Don't panic!! it was a vintage one made of soap that was saved by mother?? it was a gift to me as a child, that came from parents house. It had been kept in its box yet when mum was in the wardrobe where it was kept as children we would dig it out. It was not in the finest of fettle. Why would you keep something that length of time? You need to scrape the paint off for it to be used. 
I did check on tbay shop to see if worth anything. It wasn't, especially the state it was in even in its box. 
So now it is sat in the bathroom to be used as hand soap. Likely to last another 3 months 
Hope you all have had a good weekend.

2 Scratters xx

marionmgcars

being being a healthy eater certainly saves me money by not buying crisps and biscuits.  Was my birthday lately and we eat one small box of chocolates over weekend.  The rest of calory  laden gifts have been hidden away - out of sight, out of mind - as my mother used to say.  

foxgloves

Hello readers! Thanks for stopping by & commenting. I completely agree about getting our money's worth from the garden waste bin collection. I think it is now so full though, that even Mr F using brute force would fail to get anything more into it this time around than a very small feeble twig. Collection day Thurs, then I can resume hacking back the overgrown backs of borders.

@Makingabobor2 - Why not resume piano lessons again if you'd like to do so? I have had long periods of my life when I haven't played, but have always gone back to it, so thankfully I can still play, although not as well as I used to back when I was having lessons as a small part of my degree course. It's a lovely hobby to have. I had no room for my parents' piano when we were clearing out our old family home. It was a baby grand & there's no way I could accommodate that in our house - my sister felt the same - so we donated it to our old secondary school, where both of us had been involved in music back in the day. I knew Mum & Dad would be delighted that I wanted to take up piano playing properly again, so I used a little of my inheritance to treat myself to a lovely shiny black 2nd hand piano during lockdown. Maybe you could arrange a few lessons first, just to check you absolutely definitely want to do it, then see if there are any free pianos going......yes, sometimes people just need to get rid of them & I have seen 2 or 3 free ones advertised on a first come, first served basis during the time we have lived here.
F

foxgloves

And now for today's post, although tbh, I don't know why I bother posting small positive money wins on a Monday, as they are always pretty much the same, with Monday being my 'getting set up for the week' sort of day.
Ah well, skip it if you already know exactly what it'll say! 
*Did my usual Monday morning budget updates. 
*Credited the unspent £24 from the amount I budgeted for the 4-monthly pantry stock-up shop back to July's budget, then used it to more than cover that 2nd pair of bargainaceous canvas shoes Mr F bought last week. Did this to leave the Clothes Pot intact. It's funny how once I longed to have better Savings Pots for stuff & now I've got them, I don't want to dip into them & avoid it wherever possible!
*Did 2 loads of laundry & got about half of load 1 dry on the line before the rain & thunder came. Now on airer with windows open. I'm not switching it on, that's for sure, not in July.
*Picked courgettes, rhubarb & another artichoke (which I had with melted butter for my lunch).
*Cooked the rhubarb to eat with yoghurt as it helps our supplies of fresh fruit stretch further.
*Did rubber chicken duties. Mr F was very pleased with himself for finding the biggest one in the shop. It did us a roast dinner yesterday, will be cold chicken, home made cajun wedges & salad tonight, fajhitas tomorrow & there is enough for 2 portions of Man Stew, which will do Mr F's dinner on Weds (which is jacket potato night) as well as a microwavable work lunch at some point. It also provided enough for a chicken dijonnaise sarnie for tomorrow's packed lunch plus, added to another carcas I'd got in the freezer, has made some nice rich stock in the slow cooker.
*Read LGPS annual pension statement which arrived in the post this morning. 
*Did a few surveys.
Not money saving = Mr F having to pop into Wil*0's on his lunchtime walk for more cat food because the (good) brand bought last week was being spewed up by Soot (very unlike him to waste anything in the food line) & now Ash is only eating about half a bowl of it before giving us a look as if to say, "Wot, this gruel?"
And just plain annoying......noticed that there is a dodgy stitch in my shawl. Unfortunately I didn't spot it until I was 8 rows on, but it shows. I know it is there, so I have started frogging it to re-knit. Infuriating! All I have done, I think, is to include a 'YO' on the row which doesn't require one, which probably took a second to do & will now take more than an evening to frog. Grrrrrr.
Ah well, time to crack on with a few bits & bobs,
F x