Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Thanks for all the commiserations re fussy felines. I've been chortling over your stories, esp the cat who only eats multi-shape biscuits! We spent ages in the pet food aisle this morning & decided on a big box of the ancient queen variety. They have tried a pouch of the turkey flavour each for their dinner & yummed it down, so hopefully we will have clean bowls this week. Re biscuits, they are still pretending they don't like them, but are crunching them down pretty swiftly when they think we're not looking. So we have decided they can finish the bag & then we will revert back to their favoured brand. 
They are absolute monkeys.
F x

foxgloves

Evening m'dears,
Thick fog today & my knees were flippin' perishing in town.....that'll teach me to wear a short dress on such a bitterly cold day. The thick white frost on our lawn has not melted at all today. Anyway, less weather-whinging - it's winter, after all & onto today's small money saving wins:
*Final grocery shop of January's budget cycle & we not only coped fine with lopping £30 off our monthly grocery budget, we have finished with a £5.47 underspend, so I will be paying that to a savings pot.
*At our market butcher, I suggested buying an extra chicken to roast alongside the one for Sunday's roast, as I've been planning to do some batch cooking & this seemed a good starting point. It'll maximise use of the oven too as my home made 'ready meals' will probably just need heating on the hob.
*Mr F did indeed have a free coffee to claim on the chain's loyalty app so we only paid half the cost of the paid one each.
*Ended up spending £45 in B**ts (Personal Spends) but this was because 3 of the items on my list were on "2-for" offers. For instance, my foundation (usually £9.99) was on '2 for £12', as was my favourite mascara which is usually £8.99. As these are products I use every single day, I was happy to make use of these, plus some other offers. 
*Found a book I wanted in the charity bookshop for £1.99 - perfect condition..I don't think it has ever been read.
*Crunched out to the greenhouse to cut a bowl of rocket. Surprised it hasn't  turned up its toes in this cold snap as greenhouse is unheated & the rocket isn't under fleece. Will make a note that this variety ("Runway", I think) stands well in winter temperatures.
It's not my cooking night. Mr F has just brought me a glass of wine & suggested we decide on a film to watch tonight. I think the glass of wine might have been because I'd just seen our latest monthly energy statement from the Tentacled Ones..Oh my goodness, there are some scary figures on there which will require more examination/number-crunching, but not until next week.
I shall be knitting too, this evening, as the sooner these little balls of scrap yarn are used up & not available for mad cat chases, the better! 
F x

lucielle

I’ve finished my crochet project and now twiddling my thumbs. I need a new project. 

L

foxgloves

@kayannie - Yes, I was having pretty much the same problem you describe. Very annoying. Although I still receive no invitations (despite my selected setting being "As many surveys as possible"), I do.now seem able to access my account.....or at least I have managed to do so the last 2 or 3 times I tried. The codes did arrive in my email inbox & they worked when I input them. There was on each occasion, a survey waiting there for me to do......but for which I had received no invitation. I complained twice....the bot reply answered a different question which I hadn't asked, the 2nd one was ignored. So my intention is to sign in regularly to try & make up the £7 shortfall then cash out. Whether I continue after that will depend entirely on the ease of doing this. This used to be my favourite survey site & I've cashed out quite a few times over the years. I just don't know what changed ....& as they don't reply to communications, probably never will.
F

foxgloves

@lucielle - I don't like being without a project, but I love choosing. I've got two pairs of socks on the go & might knit a scarf for the charity shop after those. I received a lovely knitting project for Christmas from.my sister - quite a fancy shawl in gorgeous green R*w*n yarn. I'm.looking forward to casting that on, but am prolonging the anticipation by making myself knit up some of my stash first.
F

Sunshine_girl2

Hi Foxgloves, just coming out of lurkdom to ask where you usually buy your wool from. I am thinking of taking up knitting again , have plenty of needles and patterns but haven't bought wool for a long time . 

lucielle

Trouble is I can only do plain granny squares. Could do with going on a course. There’s some beautiful designs out there and see a few on Facebook. 

L

Four_Seasons

Years ago I had a go at needle felting didn't really get into it, have finished my crochet blanket and have decided to have another go at felting, still not sure its for me but will keep trying. Your fancy shawl sounds lovely x

Makingabobor2

Sounds like a good day FG. I know what you mean about the energy. Been so cold here, we have had heating on most of the day & I've been moaning at DH to switch his computer off, he spends quite a while on it at weekends and it seems to use loads of leccy.  He won't get a laptop like me as he says there are so many things he can't do on it......men are just so silly sometimes!   Enjoy your film, hope you chose something good

ziggy2407

lucielle said:

Trouble is I can only do plain granny squares. Could do with going on a course. There’s some beautiful designs out there and see a few on Facebook. 

L

Check out you-tube there are some great tutorials on there for all crafts including crochet (its on my list to learn this year).