Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

when we had the allotment we always used to draw up a full plan for the plots and mark up where everything was going to go - I drew the plan when we first took the original plot, marking in the shed, blackcurrant bushes, compost area etc, then added the second plot when we took that on, and we kept an "original" which was just photocopied as needed to mark out for each year.  Something I can see us doing again when we have a garden to be honest! 

foxgloves

@kayannie - Me too! Getting seeds organised is all part of the enjoyment for me. I use a pile of recycled envelopes & write each month on the front & pop the seed packets in according to their sowing month. February & March are always busy months. Then, less so, although I have a flurry in April with courgettes, squash & beans. 
@EssexHebridean - Oh, I reckon you'll be back on it like a bonnet when you have a garden! We've never had an allotment - if there were any in our village, we might have been tempted a few years ago, but we have a decent-sized garden so manage perfectly well with that. Our house is mid-1930s, when according to the solicitor who did our conveyancing, landowners often seemed to want to get rid of the responsibility of random packages of land, so even modest semis built then often ended up with really quite long gardens. Ours is typically 1930s narrow in style - I'd say around 30' wide, but a good 135' long & we use about the top third of it for growing food, including the greenhouse & herb bed. It certainly works for us & is my main source of fitness tbh.
F

foxgloves

Hello Campers,
Feeling a good bit better today - must be all that 3Ginger tea! I can't believe where today has gone. It seems to have disappeared up its own you-know-what! Anyway, tucked in amongst today's activities have been a few small positive money saving wins:
*Did final laundry for the week & got it onto the heated airer. Dehumidifier needed emptying again - honestly, it's crazy how much those things suck out.....much better than it soaking into our walls & causing mould, however.
*Baked bread.
*Did rubber pork - was quite pleased with how it panned out - From a £10 joint, we'll have got 2 roast dinners, 2 hot pork rolls with apple sauce, 2 portions of pork & vegetable stir-fry with noodles, 1 sandwich with some home made chilli jelly & enough added to a box of leftovers for Mr F to have a decent hot lunch on one of his longer work days. I was generous with the sandwich - could have slivered up that portion of meat & made a spicy rice to feed both of us had I required another day of meals. I am defo channelling my Nana.
*Did post-weekend budget updates - grocery budget still looks to be coming in nicely under as long as we don't go crackers next Saturday for our final shop of the month.
*Then did mid-month budget check-in. All looked in order - worked all the figures through & I was just £2.98 adrift....& in our favour. I shall make sure I don't spend it all at once!
*Updated Spreadsheet 1 (Monthly bills/DDs) with a couple of new amounts. 
*Paid another £1 into my secret tin.
*Took a tub of scraps out to top up the worm composter in case of signs of life....there was a bit of wiggly activity, noted that the October sown garlic is nicely up & one of the re-used grow-bags I sowed with rocket is looking well ready for cutting. Rhubarb just poking through, so covered one of the crowns with the forcing crock to get a few of the magical pink stems. Forcing crock had broken into two pieces, I think because it's old & objected to the freezing nights we had in December. I've fixed it up sufficiently to do the job this season & told it to brace itself for more frost tonight & tomorrow.......in fact we had a few snowflakes this afternoon.
*Entered a competition.
*Did a few PA surveys to try & boost my January earnings.
*Knitted the heel flap on presents stash socks.
And that was pretty much it for the day. 
Hope you've all got your layers on ready for this cold snap & hot water bottles at the ready.
F xx

Suffolk_lass

Hello @foxgloves, I have just caught up with your diary. I think you know I have been a bit poorly - it's day 10 and still positive here. Lots of lovely relatives, friends and neighbours supporting us but to be honest, my hoarding and storing tendencies have stood us in good stead. DS picked up the two essentials; cat litter and paracetamol but I took advantage of his shop to get carrots and bowl fruit. 

My approach to shopping is to wait as long as possible before going, as I am terrible at sticking to my list. Having eggs and milk delivered helps keep me out but the doorstep delivery has just gone up again, so now over £10 for 7 pints of milk. I might have to change things so we get four from the local coop and reduce it to a Saturday only deliver. We are very rural so I combine things to do in town at the same time where I can. I tracked much more diligently last year, including DD, subscriptions were included, and only excluding treats & entertainment and pet supplies. With my Mum buying the Christmas butcher's visit we kept just under our £3000 annual target. 

If something is missing, we go without, rather than going to more shops that day and I do an approximate meal plan and only list what we need.

@Humdinger1's story about the roof reminds me that as a boy, my DH's late brother used to shimmy across the 2nd floor roof between his and his sister's attic bedrooms until he fell off, badly breaking his leg. One of the neighbours observed to my MiL that she thought they must know as it happened so frequently! Bless her, my MiL was gobsmacked and could only exclaim amazement that her neighbour could imagine that she would have tolerated a 9 year old boy crossing a roof, over 40 foot up! Of course they didn't know!!

Sun_Addict

Ooh secret tin eh, what’s that all about 🤔 😉 

I don’t have any culinary/thrifty role models I’m afraid. My American grandma died before I was born and my English grandma was quite wealthy so no frugality there. My mum was a buy everything from M&S ready made type of cook, even mashed potato, although I probably have her to thank for the fact I won’t touch ready meals 😆

Blackcats

I'm also intrigued by the secret tin ......

foxgloves

Well, @Sun_Addict & @Blackcats, I miss doing my annual unofficial sealed pot, which came to an enforced end during the pandemic when the use of cash dwindled away. So I've started a tin for £1 coins & despite only paying in those I have spare in my Personal Spends, they've already covered the bottom of the tin & are mounting up quite nicely. 
F

BlueJ94

Morning @foxgloves! I know youre always super busy but not sure if you've seen, my Landlord wants to sell his house originally to another Landlord but we've asked could we buy it and he's come back with an offer of 80k which around here it's pretty cheap for a 3 bed house especially when everything is so high right now! So we'd be silly not to snap it up. Our aim is to save a 20% deposit, we're hoping to offer 75k or 77k so our aim right now is a 15k deposit which is doable. My OH is now interested in all the "pointless surveys" I do he's given me a lot of stuff to sell to go into the savings pot aswell.

I came to ask do you have any extra money saving tips? You're full of ideas and your diary readers probably also have extra tips! OH was surprised when we went to Lidl to buy blueberries for the dogs for them to not have a date on, shows how much shopping he does

joedenise

Have you heard of Tilly Tidies @BlueJ94?  This is where you round your account to the nearest £10 or £5 and send the odd money to your savings account.  It's amazing how quickly it adds up!  I started doing it again at the beginning of December and also the £66/67 help from the Government and am now up to nearly £450.  It helps that DH receives his pension weekly so the odd money goes across at least weekly but I check every day as if a DD has gone out there is also likely to be odd money.

Humdinger1

@foxgloves I'm also intrigued by the secret tin! Do you have any use for the funds in mind yet? Love Humdinger xx