Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Well I have always understood 'napkin' to be the 'correct' word & 'serviette' the more 'common' word. I suspect 'napkin' is a much older word, but I don't know where the word 'serviette' came from, unless it was the arrival of paper ones in cafes, etc? My Mum thought 'serviette' was a common word, but often used a square of kitchen roll instead of either. I don't buy kitchen roll (except keeping a roll of the very tough stuff in the utility in case of clearing up cat puke -aka Mr F's job!) so don't have that doubtlessly sub-serviette option, lol.
I always have some pretty paper napkins at Christmas, but tend to buy them.now, when I've paid as little as 20p per pack.
F

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Very chilly day, but the flood warning has been removed for our village & the river guage is showing that water levels are back to normal range, which is always a big relief, esp this time with houses in our village having been flooded.
Today's money-saving bits:
*Defrosted turkey bhuna for tonight's meal.
*Another freezer lunch defrosted for tomorrow's packed lunch & a porridge pot made up for packed breakfast.
*Paid a transaction off my credit card.
*Sorted this year's Christmas cards, extracted the few with messages from people to which I need to reply & made a selection of the others into free gift tags for next year. As I already had the hole punch, salvaged ribbon, etc, out, I also cleared out some old birthday cards from my desk drawer & made birthday gift tags. All now packed away in newly-filled wrappings stash.
*Added 6 unused Christmas cards to the presents stash for next year.
*Surveys - doing as & when I have my laptop on - January total on PA up to £12-93. 
*Have been moving laundry around on the heated airer to hurry it up a bit as aiming to get the ironing done this pm. 
Other bits & bobs but nothing of money saving relevance. 
Off to find fingerless mitts & extra socks now as the heating hasn't yet made much of an impression on my extremities.
Stay cosy all,
F x

teapot2

Baileys_Babe said:

In my head a napkin is fabric and a serviette is paper, no idea if this is correct. If anyone can enlighten me I would be grateful.

I watched an episode of the Royal Family over the holidays and Barbara came through with a loo roll and tore of squares to be used as a napkin/serviette much to the horror of the person who was there for a meal.  Made me laugh.

Are napkin rings still a thing?

threepenny_bit

foxgloves said:

Lol, you are very tolerant of my verbosity!
Hello Monday Money Savers,
Haven't done quite as much as I intended today, but the budget-friendly bits are as follows:
*2 loads of laundry, one of them a 30 mins at 30 degrees + extra spin for less heated airer time.
*Did Monday morning budget updates.
*Ordered 1st fish box of the year, being mindful to pay on my CC so as to defer payment to Feb's budget.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Made dough for tonight's pizza base & a batch of rolls.
*Froze half the loaf left in bread tin to prevent it going stale before we get it eaten.
*Shopped a sympathy card from home from a gifted pack of nice blank cards which have been v useful.
*Sorted my salvage bag from Christmas Day. Have added to my wrappings stash 2 gift boxes, 2 pieces of tinsel, a decent selection of ribbons & raffia, 5 gift bags, wrapping paper (including some which is suitable for birthdays) & an A4 cardboard envelope. Also cut up one of those re-usable Christmas tablecloths which has sustained a large rip but was otherwise in good clean condition & added to stash for wrapping.
*Did a few surveys.
Have a good week, all.
F x

Wow you were busy! Thanks for the reminder to start a Christmas salvage bag of my own - will begin that today.

Suffolk_lass

PennysIntoPounds said:

I cut squares of kitchen roll into halves for mealtimes, no-one needs a whole square. Very mse but I dread to think what social class I'm in 😂

  laugh out loud here, nearly spat my tea out! (sorry, one knows spitting is NOCD)  and I just found this:

A serviette (derived from the old French for 'serve') is functionally the same as a napkin and made either of cloth or paper but (at least in the past) was used more for meals taken standing up, cocktail receptions, buffet suppers etc.

Four_Seasons

I was in a shop this morning looking at pretty notepads when I swear I heard a voice (Foxgloves?)say check at home first!! I walked away and low and behold after a rummage I found one so a few pennies saved, thank you Foxgloves 😊 xx

Sun_Addict

Four_Seasons said:

I was in a shop this morning looking at pretty notepads when I swear I heard a voice (Foxgloves?)say check at home first!! I walked away and low and behold after a rummage I found one so a few pennies saved, thank you Foxgloves 😊 xx

When I first read this I thought someone had literally accosted you in the shop. I can just see Mrs F wandering around the shops appearing whenever someone was about to make a purchase - a bit like Michael Moseley rummaging through people's shopping trolleys in that TV programme last night 🤣🤣 TV producers take note there's a gap in the market there 😆

foxgloves

@Four_Seasons &@Sun_Addict - Lol, I don't think I would accost anyone in a shop......even though I am quite generally chatty & opinionated! Good for you on the shopped from home notebook though @Four_Seasons. My new Money Book which I have started off for January 2024's budget was one which I shopped from home. It wasn't the pretty one I'd choose if I was buying new, but it is a waste of money to have it simply sitting on a shelf & spending money on something else to serve exactly the same purpose. 
We did laugh at MM's shopping trolley rummages. I have to admit that if I am in a long queue at the supermarket, I do have a sneaky look (eyes only, no rummaging!) in people's trolleys....usually I am thinking, how can you be buying all that cr*pola & be so thin when my trolley is full of good stuff & I put a weight on if I get within a kilometre of more than 5 calories?!! Then I think it is probably because I don't BUY the treaty stuff that often, but I do bake it! Hmmm, conundrum solved! Early on in last night's prog, Mr F said, "I reckon there's a fizzy drink habit here" & he was so right! All those pints of cola.....in my case, I might as well just go & pour them straight down the loo, as that's where I'd be trotting all day after all those!
On the subject of TV progs, do you remember one that was on in the mid-2000s called 'Shopaholics'? It was fronted by Jay somebody & Benjamin somebody else & it would be very useful to have a similar programme right now, as I am sure debt problems have got worse rather then better with the cost of living issues. They met with somebody different every week, looked through their finances & advised them on how to get back on track. 
But it did make me laugh that you thought I might pop up & look in your trolley. Please don't pitch that to any low budget TV channels....."What will Foxgloves find?" 
F

Sun_Addict

I think it would be a brilliant programme you could ask people if they could shop from home first 😆

I used to like Your Money or Your Life with Alvin Hall, he used to delve into people’s shopping habits. 

With the programme last night, I knew there’d be something afoot when the woman said she ate loads of broccoli. Of course we all know that cancels out the bad stuff 🤣

foxgloves

Oh, I'd forgotten about 'Your money or your life", @Sun_Addict. I watched all of those. I think that is another programme which would be a good fit for these challenging financial times. 
F