Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Blackcats - Soot & Ash will eat any variety of treats - Dream*es & copycat own-brand ones, ditto the licky snacks which look like cat angel delight. Soot had been in the Rescue for quite a while, but had previously had a home. Ash was almost feral & probably lost his home as an older kitten or v young cat during Lockdown. He had no idea there were so many varieties of fishy pouches & soon upgraded himself to Persian Queen brand. We don't mind paying a little extra than the two big mainstream brands we bought previously, as long as it is all eaten. Unlike our own food, we can only scrape it into the bin or put out for the local wildlife if it remains uneaten. We are serious in our mission to be a zero food waste household & this includes cats! (as we have explained to them....)
F
They are not nearly as fussy as other cats I have known though tbf.

foxgloves

@joedenise - £100 ! I bet you were pleased when you cleared that up..I think it's inevitable that we will all make the occasional error in our accounting, especially with different budget streams, pots, etc, but it's annoying when it happens. Well done for finding it, anyway.
F

joedenise

I was over the moon @foxgloves!  Had to get DH to read out the statements and clear them on YNAB - it seems I'd cleared the £100 in September that shouldn't even have been on there, LOL!

foxgloves

@joedenise -Yea, it can be something quite straightforward can't it, but it still puts the figures out. It's even worse when an error makes it look as though there's money missing, instead of a surplus.
F

joedenise

foxgloves said:

@joedenise -Yea, it can be something quite straightforward can't it, but it still puts the figures out. It's even worse when an error makes it look as though there's money missing, instead of a surplus.
F

That's so true.

foxgloves

Greetings Money Savers,
Enjoyable day so far, & as for the budget, well, I've been the proverbial Last of the Big Spenders today, so that's a result, as the meandering around town visits are generally the most potentially spendy imo.
Anyway, today's few little budget-helping wins, such as they are:
*Treated ourselves to coffee & scones for breakfast in our favourite little indie cafe. Personal Spends, so budget-neutral. Signed up to their new loyalty scheme, which looks as though it has more benefits than the old one.....as in with today's points & some extras for signing up for the new scheme, we are  not far off having sufficient for a free coffee already.
*Got the very few toiletries I needed from 'Ravers with an S'. While in the queue, I noticed that they have the 100ml size of a perfume I really like which Mr F bought for me regularly when we first got together (& naturally I spent plenty of my own overdraft on back in the Spendy Era) for £39.99 instead of the £69.60 I have seen it on sale for in a non-discount high street shop. Also spotted the same box of covid tests we recently paid £9.85 for elsewhere were on sale for £7.99. Nothing glamourous about this shop, but I really must remember to look there for stuff other than the usual dental care, medicines, tissues, etc.
*Apart from this, my only spending was confined to 3 charity shops - 1) A book & a birthday card 2) A pretty trolley token 3) A little trinket dish which I intend to keep in the kitchen for keeping my wedding & engagement rings safe as I am always taking them off for gardening, bread making, etc, & I think it's only luck so far that has kept them from being swiped under the dresser by Ash. I wasn't bothered about the make, which I couldn't see as the price sticker (99p) was stuck over the maker's mark. When I got home & peeled it off, I was surprised to find that it is Royal Worcester bone china. I looked it up online (I used to be a very regular visitor of flea/antiques/collectors' fairs) & found the same ones on sale listed at anything from £6 to £15. Not that I shall be selling it on, as it is perfect for what I want it for & I love it.
*Did some baking for family meet-up tomorrow. Decided to make a batch of Delia's little cheesy rolls (I know I've mentioned these before as they are a regular festive/buffet bake for me & are called 'Vegetarian sausage rolls' in her book) as it makes plenty, then to split the batch between a tin to take down with me (yes, venturing south....) & some to freeze here for Christmas snacks. They have come out nicely anyway, with crispy pastry (like my Nana, I always use half butter & half Trex - she swore by this & always made gorgeous pastry) & tbh, even Mr F who adores them said (rather surprisingly.......good job he isn't reading this!) that he thought an entire batch would be too many for 2 people! 
*Did a survey for measly points, but nothing much doing today on the sites I do.
*Remembered to go out to the greenhouse before dark to pick some more rocket.
I'm not cooking tonight - Mr F is doing something with a pack of  'garlic burnt ends' from the butcher, served in wraps with salad & coleslaw. I'm going to progress reading my current novel, as I don't seem to have been staying awake long enough at bedtimes recently to get as far into it as I'd have liked - 'Plague Charmer' by Karen Maitland, whose books I like.
Wishing everyone a cosy Saturday night - unless anyone is having a night out. ...if so, have a good one & take care - a lot of funny b*ggers about (or is that just our city centre & me being a life-long absolute magnet for weirdoes?)
F x

Sun_Addict

The trinket dish was a lucky find. We have a Ravers on our local high street and it’s always worth a look around for random bargains. I used to love Badedas bubble bath when I was a teenager (still do) and they had it on sale for half the price of B00ts. Can you remember the ad “things happen after a Badedas bath”. Well I can assure you they don’t 🤣

foxgloves

Oh, I did mean to mention that we decided that as our monthly energy bill DD has been reduced to a level we haven't seen for several years, that we would increase our thermostat by a dizzyingly exciting, massive 0.5 degree. And the crazy thing is that this has made a noticeable difference!! I can hardly believe it. All of last winter, with the sky-rocketing bills & worry about monthly payments shooting up to match, we had our thermostat on 18 degrees, which seems to be the lowest home temperature of the range recommended for staying healthy. We were mostly fine, sometimes it was chillier than we'd have liked, but apart from a couple of colder short snaps, we didn't really have a very cold winter. We had noticed that our thermostat timer often didn't kick in until the ambient temperature had dropped to 17.5 degrees, thus meaning a colder house than the recommended 18. So (I don't know if I am actually making sense here or not) we now have a house which, from 6am to 10pm won't fall below 18. At night, we set the thermostat a lot lower at 15, as we don't want the heating on at night unless it really does drop very cold. 
So far, so good. I am finding that it is making a difference in the day, particularly, just that extra half a degree, which I would think was nonsense if anyone else was telling me & I hadn't experienced the more comfortable temperature myself.
Honestly, only on here could I expect to find anyone remotely interested in this level of thermostat detail, lol.
F x

Sun_Addict

I find 18 degrees is too cool for me in the day when I’m WFH and sat at my desk so it’s on 20 but set I it to 7 degrees overnight so on frost protection only. Can’t say I’ve ever woken up cold overnight so this seems to work. 

foxgloves

Oh my goodness, @Sun_Addict, I had completely forgotten about that bubble bath. I also loved it as a teenager & student. It was so fresh & enlivening & it made loads of bubbles. Yes, I do remember the advert, & no I concur that things did NOT happen after bath with said unguent, except usually my Dad calling up the stairs to ask if I intended staying in the bath all night because 'there are 3 people down here desperate for the loo!'. Do you remember 'Linco Beer shampoo?' Honestly the lather from that stuff! The first time I tried it, I used absolutely loads & my head was like a volcano, suds erupting everywhere, but it did leave it in lovely condition. 
F