Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

badmemory

That is why Martin has always said to use an MOT only garage for your MOT, most will replace bulbs & wipers anyway, but not the big money makers.  Do you know how a service manager gets his income/bonus in a dealership.  They get a certain amount classed as their sales for every vehicle they prepare for sale, that is new & used.  Then they get credits for all the servicing they do.  Guess what happens when the sales department don't make their targets, which stops the service ones making theirs.  That is one of the reasons they throw in long service agreements with a sale now.

milann

Car tyres are indeed expensive…..we actually got away with it and just had to get something done to the rims which were rusted and kept causing slow punctures…..presumably damaged going over pot holes 😡 That was £30 per tyre. 

Blackcats

There have been a couple of recent PAsurveys that have paid very well and enabled me to exceed my target too.  When I do the shorter and less well paying surveys it prompts me to think more of the value of purchases v effort to earn the money doing surveys.  We had 2 of the grandchildren on Thursday and while we were out we bought ice creams from the van -£15 for 4 ice creams.  I paid by card and the man sarcastically said "I'd have thought you'd at least have £15 cash on you".  I wasn't quick enough with a reply but I've thought of several since. We won't be doing that again in a hurry.  

slm6002

Wow that is pricey.  If ever in the situation again and near a supermarket, a box of 4 decent ice creams is a much better option.  If any left over I'm sure there would be someone sitting near by that would appreciate the extra

milann

We were talking about the price of ice cream vendors ice cream 😳😳 annndddd…….the size - they seem to be getting bigger AND they don’t do children’s portions. Then they wonder why the size of the population is generally getting bigger. Half the portion size and the price and if folk want a bigger one they can pay extra…..says me 😂😂😂😂😂…simples 👍

Suffolk_lass

We also bought ice creams from a van yesterday, while at a local beauty spot with our visiting friends. It was £9.20 for two medium and one small "99". I thought as I paid with a card that the poor woman is there all day, using diesel from her van to keep the machines going and the business is much slower. On our way back, she was under a tree in the shade and I asked if she sold bottles of water as I had left the dog's beaker behind on the table, she quickly pulled out a bowl and a 5L water container and offered it for the dog. I think small businesses pay quite a fee for electronic transactions and I thought as I paid I should have popped some cash in to my phone case. I am sure she was doing cheaper children's size cornets but I guess they have to cover their overheads, like everyone else. It came out of our Treats and Entertainment budget. In contrast, we will go to her again, but we don't go often - and the ice-creams were a delicious treat.

Tescodealqueen

slm6002 said:

Wow that is pricey.  If ever in the situation again and near a supermarket, a box of 4 decent ice creams is a much better option.  If any left over I'm sure there would be someone sitting near by that would appreciate the extra

We did this some years ago on a trip out. Popped into the frozen country store and bought a 4 box of Ma**um for a pound as they were on offer then went back into the park gave two to the elderly couple on the next bench and enjoyed our cheap treat while watching the queue at the ice cream van

Baileys_Babe

slm6002 said:

Wow that is pricey.  If ever in the situation again and near a supermarket, a box of 4 decent ice creams is a much better option.  If any left over I'm sure there would be someone sitting near by that would appreciate the extra

I have often done this in the past and given any extra away. It has saved us a fortune and given us and a stranger or two a treat. 

We do occasionally buy ice creams when out but it is likely to be from higher quality small batch local/independent producers.

foxgloves

Well, you are all making me want an ice-cream!

Hello Frugalistas,
Just popping on to say it's been a decent weekend & still a little local outing to look forward to tomorrow, as Mr F has a day off. City centre shopping trip yesterday & some garden jobs & leisure activities at home today. Small money saving wins:
*Agreed to keep our city centre shopping to 3 hours max so as to keep the parking costs reasonable.
*Went to a coffee shop we hadn't been to for ages & Mr F got a free coffee added to his loyalty app for reactivating it.
*Used a 20% off voucher to buy our new toaster. I must say it was very nice to get a really decent piece of toast this morning instead of the half-hearted efforts the old one had been grudgingly delivering.
*Was 100% restrained when confronted with the sale rail in the 'marine condiment shop'. It's not a bargain if I don't need it.
*Got £5 off my conditioner refill as had a loyalty voucher.
*Mr F used a small marrow making lovely 'Lamb & marrow bake' which is a WW recipe. It makes 4 portions so he made 2 separate ones & put the other in the fridge for our meal tomorrow.
*Tied in tomatoes, pruned cucumber plants which will give up the will to live shortly & Mr F gave me a hand planting out new lettuces & netting them from naughty beaks. Shredding lettuces which don't belong to them is unfortunately a popular avine activity in our garden. 
*Picked another 4 courgettes. Could only just fit them in our vegetable basket.
*Decided to do a load of laundry instead of waiting till tomorrow when the forecast looked rainy last time I looked. All dried for free out on the whirlygig.
*Did another couple of PA surveys as will be cashing out tomorrow.
*Mr F (who likes to be chef at weekends) is roasting a pork joint, which I am eyeing for another 2 meals this week.
*Made some apple sauce.........this was to make up for the fact that my first attempt at bottling last year, while so far a success for the chopped tomatoes, was a fail with the stewed apple. Opened a jar this morning. Thought it looked a faintly odd colour. Lid popped well on opening, so it was sealed properly. No unpleasant smells, so I tried a spoonful but it had an odd flavour. Opened the other jar (only made 2 to test) & the odd flavour was noticeably stronger, so decided not to risk it & binned them. I wonder if the cinnamon pears will be the same. Will try them soon. As we lost our apple tree since last year, I shan't have a huge amount of apples to deal with this year, so I may well just stick to bottling tomatoes.
*Entered a competition.
*Discussed with Mr F which chutneys to make this year. Must have made the right amount last year, as bearing in mind that I do trim up the jars & give it as gifts too, we only have 2 or 3 jars of 2022 vintage in the pantry. The others are the rhubarb & the new courgette one, both of which I made this year.
*Did I tell you I sold 6 jars of my marmalade last week? Can't remember if I mentioned it - will be sending the money to a local cat charity we like to support.
Well, I think that's it for this weekend. Looking forward to some sofa time watching more of a N*tflicks series tonight, a glass of wine & a nice bubble bath.
Shall need a big budget updating session tomorrow or Tues, as we were quite spendy on our shopping trip, but nothing that doesn't have a budget, a pot or a plan, so it's a number-crunching/fund shuffling job rather than a worry.
Peace,
F x

BlueJ94

wow you've been busy busy as per! Thought I would drop on in!