Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Thanks so much for all your anniversary wishes. We had a nice peaceful evening. I did feel a bit stuffed by bedtime from that lovely pizza, but rallied sufficiently this morning to enjoy a cappuccino & toasted teacake!

@PennysIntoPounds - I know, it IS a mystery, & I must stop banging on about it ad infinitum! I told Mr F last night that I hadn't been able to find anything which explained the anomaly so had used the money to pay for some Christmas presents. He said 'But what will you do if it suddenly turns out that we don't have that spare £110?" I said that as I was first aware of it in the middle of this month, couldn't see the issue then, or a week later, or yesterday when I had a really thorough look, that I think I must have made an error somewhere & that the money isn't likely now suddenly to disappear (she says with confidence......) I have had 2 refunds recently- one was the p&p on an item which had to be returned because they supplied the wrong item, but that was a v small amount -sub-£5, & the other credit has been held on my online account with the business, so it didn't come anywhere near our bank account & was again sub £5. When I have the time & inclination, I will look at September's budget in my Money Book & see if is something from further back, which I have carried over without noticing. Can't think what it would be though - I am pretty hands-on with the budget.

@Suffolk_lass &@Kayannie - Yes, I would defo buy those wax-dipped firelighters, not for a woodburner, as we don't have one (although people assume that our gas one is a real wood-burning stove), but for BBQ firelighters. I once bought a big bag from a 6th form business studies stall in a nearby city centre. They had all been put into small groups & tasked with coming up with a business idea & trialling it with the public on a Saturday morning on some market stalls to see if they could actually make any money. The waxy pinecones seemed to do the job & I liked them better than Mr F's chemical-smelling gels/firelighters, although he uses those less since he acquired a 'chimney' BBQ starter thingy. So yes, with the addition of your local bees being involved, I think folk should hopefully buy those.
F

foxgloves

Hello Saturday Savers,
Just a quick one to say I've been keeping the faith. Did some more Christmas shopping this morning - nothing expensive, just picking up some of the foodie items from the list, as well as chocs to fill our Advent calendar when I do it at the end of November. Today's small budget-helping positives:
*Discussed Christmas gifts for our 3 Neffs with Mr F. Two of them (brothers) seem to be getting more actual presents from us this year, so we have decided we won't be giving them their usual cash as well. Our Neff on the other side of the family is very much more difficult to buy for, so he will still receive some cash, but fewer presents. 
*Visited local market butcher early to make use of a very good offer he is running for half term. 10 trays of meat for £20. I don't know how he does it at the price, except by having an extremely effective social media presence & buying in bulk. There were all sorts of things in the offer. We chose some ribs, pork steaks, chicken thighs both plain & garlic- buttered, 2 small gammons for the slow cooker & other options - all now portioned up into containers by Mr F & frozen. These will be very helpful for meal planning over November.
*Have put relevant vouchers plus Mr F's Christmas & birthday wishlist in my handbag for tomorrow's city centre trip. We have also decided to take some filled rolls with us & our coffee beakers, so that we can pop in to buy some crisps & a banana (for me!) & avail ourselves of free coffees. It will be a good saving on buying lunch. No temptation to visit a cafe for elevenses, either, as the recital we have tickets for also includes a slice of cake & coffee in the price.
*Did a couple of survey follow-ups, which were recalls to ask about my cynicism about a couple of issues in the previous survey, in which I was apparently more cynical than the respondents as a whole. It was kind of good to know that my natural cynicism is still alive & well, so I explained away & earned another £1.80, bringing my October earnings from this site to £51-93.
*Found 3 books in our local charity bookshop today - 2 novels & a Christmas craft book, so that was a few quid from my Personal Spends. Mr F actually asked the manager if he would 'do a deal' on a big pile of CDs (King Crimson - right up Mr F's muso alley!) & the answer was 'Yes', so he paid £7 less than the asking price, & as this was his first ever haggle, he felt he'd got lovely bargain. I'd sort of whispered to him that it was worth just politely asking, as we are regular customers & it would mean them getting rid of the whole pile at once. & that nobody would think he was being bad or trying to get something for nothing. 
Well that's it for today. Mr F's cooking night & he is doing one of the aforementioned local butcher finds with home made jacket wedges. Then we plan to have a cosy evening watching another couple of episodes of 'Bodies'. - only seen the 1st one so far. Very intriguing & stylish. I will be sock-knitting too, which will help keep me awake. I have turned into my Mum for the hours I keep - I wake & rise early, but am ready for bed at 9.30pm these days!
Enjoy your evenings all,
F xx
 

Sun_Addict

Could you put the rogue £110 to one side just in case something suddenly appears to claim it? Then if it’s still there in a couple of months claw it back. 

That’s a brilliant offer at your butcher. No wonder you snapped it up. 

My mum was the total opposite of me. She didn’t used to go to bed until around 1am and get up late. I’m lucky if I’m still awake at 9pm but then I’m up at 5am most days. 

PennysIntoPounds

Glad you've been having a lovely time. How pleasing to know that one's inate cynicism pays! 
Don't stop going on about this mystery money, where else would anyone find such a captive and genuinely interested audience 😁
You mentioning Christmas gifts and funds brought to mind the possible idea that maybe you'd earmarked money for cash gifts from one pot and took the money for the extra physical presents from your pressies pot leaving you with the excess? Or you mentioned a while ago that you had a leak that needed sorting, was there any money you'd expected to spend on a household thing that then didn't cost as much?
I'm gripped, gripped I tells ya 😂

Suffolk_lass

I'm very taken with the idea of using my pine cones as room scents @kayannie! Personally I really struggle with all the aerosol spray smelly things except the pet version of Feb' and find all the plug in things rather overwhelming, and not to my taste. I did visit a floristry supplier with my friend last year, to buy things for the wreath-making day she was running and there were lots of bits of bark and bundles of cinnamon sticks. I think I shall trial my original idea first and see how that goes. I brought home half a small trug of more closed cones to top up my stash yesterday, as the churchyard clear-up team was going to put them all on the bonfire pile for next weekend. I can combine the ripe ones with the closed ones now.

themadvix

The chemicals (some carcinogenic) in the aerosol and other artificial room scents are enough to put me off, although they also smell revolting to me (I’ve been known to turn them off in people’s homes when cat sitting - I usually remember to turn them back on!). If we need to hide (mostly) ‘eau de chat’ then it’s a natural scented soy candle. But pine cones, orange peel and cinnamon sticks sound lovely and also rather festive!

 I’m another one intrigued by your excess money Foxgloves - particularly knowing how closely you monitor your budget!

Moorviews

Happy Anniversary weekend and I hope you both enjoy the piano recital 🥂
I’m finally catching up on the week’s posts and was glad to see that the floodwaters receded from your village in time to avoid too much of a problem for you. 

marionmgcars

Loving the posts.  I made scented cones for Christmas gifts one year for friends who own closed door log burners. Put a little leftover candle wax in bottom of the silicone cupcake moulds, then sat the cone in and sprinkled some festive scented oil on before packing in baskets that I sourced at charity shops.  Everyone loved them, and used as scented air fresheners before using them on fires.  I loved making them.

I’m the same with money anomalies,  even a few pence can drive me nuts looking for it.  A throw back from working in an accounts department 🤣

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,
hope for those like me I am now in the right time zone as I have been off kilter for a couple of weeks.
This week I have made some butter from YS  cream pot. We had a chicken sort of dish the other night it was edible is all I am going to say. It is now safely curried up with a bit more veg added and has made 6 double portions now in the freezer to be used up in November.
 Sat watching TV whilst giving it a good shake in between the adverts. Had 5 ripe avacados sat in the fridge waiting for attention so now they are mashed with a little lemon juice and portioned singularly into the freezer. I really am getting lack at not getting food sorted quicker. The spring onions are growing well nice and straight on the window cill as not being eaten as quick as I had imagined they would have. The carrots in their water in the fridge are doing well and have used some up so feeling a little smug with myself at the moment. Small wins 

I am in the process of putting together a list of non edible shopping and had checked under the sink for 2 items that were to be added to that list. Turns out no need as the stock is there waiting for its calling. Spending diverted for now. I think I need to record my non spend days as we are pretty good at that - just need the evidence to be sure we are not kidding ourselves.
Last nights tea was made from store items in the freezer. We are now going to make more effort in reducing some items from the freezer as they are UPF (ultra processed food) our aim is to go back to basics and shop smarter, more conscientiously.

2 Scratters xx

joedenise

I tend to peel, cut into biggish pieces and then par boil before spraying with oil and then open freezing until solid, bagged up, ready for roasting.  Have done the same with parsnips as well.  Usually when I get them in TGTG bags after I've already bought some!