Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

Well done on finally sorting the two "Big issues" of teeth & HMRC - how lovely that both of the things that have been ongoing have finally been sorted at the same sort of time, too! 

I'm not sorry to no longer have to deal with pukey cats. As far as possible I always nudged MrEH to tackle it, but there were always times when I was the only one in....bleurgh! 

PennysIntoPounds

My dear @EssexHebridean, a life cannot be truly considered full without the occasional guessing game of 'furball or poo' 😁

Elisheba

Oh & I have just remembered I need to talk to @Elisheba about cat spew. 
Onwards,
F x

Oh, you have made me laugh 🤣🤣🤣. Thanks so much for the advice though. The bulbs are labelled so will have a Google, and it's good to know I'm not alone in dealing with the cat vom. Black cat has decided that she is only living upstairs in the new house, as far away from silly dog as possible. While I'm glad she is happy it is the only carpeted part of the house, and I can no longer rely on silly dog to do the majority of the cleaning for me as he's not allowed up there 😆.

ziggy2407

Elisheba said:

What an utter faff with HMRC! All for want of a DOB🙄. Glad it has been sorted out now 😁.

I have 2 hopefully quick questions on unrelated topics that I thought you might have the answers to...

1) I have a cat who vomits about once a week, vet said not to worry about it, but my new house has a lot of light carpets. As I know you also prefer eco solutions, have you found anything that stops it marking the carpets once you've cleaned up the solid waste? I've tried a damp cloth and bicarb, then a hoover the next day, but it's not 100% successful.

2) I bought 80 odd summer bulbs on a deal on one of Martin's emails. They have just been delivered but there are no instructions. Do you know when I should plant them out by any chance? Would it be now, or should I wait l?

Thank you 😊.

Nancy Birtwhistle recommends

tepid water
white vinegar
2-3 drops of (eco) washing up liquid 

Mop up excess with paper towels/paper

Starting at outside of stain, dab (don't rub) it with cloth dampened with above solution - tepid water will release stain, the vinegar will clean and neutralize and the washing up liquid will dissolve any fat.  don't overwet carpet and rinse cloth regularly.  Dab dry and leave to air-dry naturally

Elisheba

Oh, thank you @ziggy2407 that's brilliant, I'll give it a go! I've got Nancy's Clean and Green book, and tried bicarb as it's one of her solutions for carpets, but it's hasn't really worked. I'll give the vinegar and washing up liquid a go.

foxgloves

Thanks @ziggy2407 - I have white vinegar in stock so will remember that tip next time we have an incident.
Hope you are ok.
F xx

Moorviews

Fantastic news regarding everything being resolved with HMRC and the dental chapter being finally closed. Ours will take a long time as HMRC owe money. We checked with an accountant before putting the appeal in but I imagine that department is very poorly staffed indeed. I am totally with you on the government savings meaning cuts. My heart sinks and I really do wonder how they think we will fall for that. 

On the separate subject of council and water bills, we have had an amazing surprise. Apparently, the water board grossly overestimated our projected water usage last year and set the direct debit too high. So the new amount is £0.00! I think we will actually claim the money back rather than leaving it in the account and ask them to do a new projection for this year. We did have a leak last year but went through their own process and submitted all the readings so I don’t understand how they got it so badly wrong. 

foxgloves

@Moorviews - Oh my goodness, I bet you just about fell on the floor when you had that news from the water company! I think I would also prefer to have the overpayment back along with a proper (correct) bill for this year. 

Afternoon Campers!
Well, the sun has actually made an appearance & it's very pleasant sitting up in my little HQ room. It would have been a perfect day for gardening, but I have earmarked tomorrow for that so have put today's efforts into clearing the decks of various outstanding tasks. Just a few budget-helping odds & sods as follows:
*Slow cooker simmering away with dhal for tonight, which I shall serve with home made garlic flatbreads from the freezer, so very economical. Found a rather wrinkly parsnip in the pantry so diced & added that to the crock-pot too. Will freeze at least one spare portion. 
*Made a porridge pot & sarnie for tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Signed into my credit card account to check that the amount I think I owe tallies with what I actually owe. Yes, calculations correct. Paid off 3 transactions.
*Did another 4 cms of knitting - still not reached armhole shaping but I will get there tonight. I am still only on the 2nd ball of yarn so am wondering if the pattern may have been a little generous in its stated amounts. No worries if so as I can always knit a hat or something with any leftover, or swap a ball with another knitter  - my sister is usually up for yarn swaps.
*Get organised with February birthdays - in hand. Have got cards for all 4 people & retrieved best friend's presents from the present bag - will be wrapping them shortly as need to post next time I am in town.
*Have done a few surveys, as it is my PA cash-out day tomorrow, so I am seeing if I can get my total up a little bit more.
*Nobble Mr F later to see if he has calculated how much backpay he is getting next month. He knows the amount of his pay-rise, but as usual with the public sector, it has taken ages for the negotiations to conclude, so February's pay will include 10 months of backpay. While it isn't urgent in any way that I know now, it would be helpful to have a bit of a ballpark figure, as there are a couple of quite large payments to make between now & then, which could be squeezed into next month if this would be advantageous.
*Added a nice wodge of clean-on-one-side A4 paper to the bulldog clip pad of recycled paper on my desk. I have had a big sort through all the paperwork relating to my recent dentistry, oodles of hospital letters from the past year & from the HMRC stuff. Have filed what is necessary & my in-basket is looking very much the better for it.
Right, that's it for today's small money saving efforts. Next task is delving into my recycled wrappings stash & wrapping my friend's birthday presents. 
Hope this sunshine holds for tomorrow's planned garden session.
F x

Makingabobor2

Love reading your daily updates and can just imagine you sat at FGHQ with your recycled paper etc. I am the same with paper, there is a large stash in the drawer and I always have some stuck to the fridge with a magnet for shopping lists etc
We have several birthdays next month as well, 3 in the first 5 days of the month and then 1 in the middle and 1 at the end. Wonder what it is about Feb? Its certainly our most expensive month for presents. My mum was another one, and would have been 90 on the 1st, but sadly she passed just over 3 years ago. 

foxgloves

 @Makingabobor2 - Yes, our family & close friends birthdays are mostly within October to March. Only my sister, a b-in-law & I fall outside of this with our birthdays. It's why I need to boost the presents pot up for more than just what is required for Christmas, as so many birthdays are concentrated in the autumn/winter months too. I do buy gifts to stash away all year round though, which helps.
F