Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

Lots of interesting chat here about the sourdough. Who knew it was all so time consuming...lol.  I agree the L!*! one is very nice

foxgloves

Hello Sunday Savers,
Just checking in - not quite an NSD as I did buy an 'Observer', but that's Personal Spends cashola so budget-neutral.
Have just had a lovely hot bath & hair wash & as Mr F called down the stairs that he'd get in my water, I shall count that as a budget-helping small thing, as like everyone else, I am hoping that gas use will be levelling off, preferably decreasing soon. 
Anyway, today's other tinies:
*Divvied up the Indian spiced roast chicken leftover from last night. There is sufficient for cold chicken with coleslaw, salad & home made jacket wedges tonight, stir-fried with veggies served in wraps with salad tomorrow, as well as 2 containers of leftover garlic rice & the lovely veggie side dish Mr F made, topped with chicken pieces for work lunches & a portion to mix with some mayo for a sarnie. So that's 9 portions in all & I was pleased with that. I just absolutely cannot abide food waste.
*Baked a wholemeal loaf.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & porridge pot.
*Checked for surveys - no doable ones yet, the couple that have popped up were full by the time I got my backside in gear. I'm not bothered as would rather read my book this afternoon ,
*Gathered up all receipts & notes ready for tomorrow's usual Monday morning budget update.
*Have recommitted to a bit of a use-it-up on various lotions & potions....mostly samples & free gift type things which aren't part of my usual skincare routine so are getting forgotten. I don't use sheet masks, but have 2 good quality free ones. Must plan those in as soon as my current face mask-scrub combi product is finished. Also have a free full size bottle of some kind of peel, again something I don't use, so it will be interesting to see how I get on with that! I think I might have a free 'at home' beauty afternoon some time soon - I have to put the effort in now I have that big birthday hoving into view, lol!
*Did a load of laundry. Normally do this on Monday/Tuesday, but have workmen on Tues morning & would quite like the place not to be festooned with laundry in case they need to bring equipment through. 30 degree wash. I rarely use hotter these days, which is just as well as the washer gets a bit ars*y on a 40 degree setting.
*Chatted through our diaries for the coming week - lates shifts, car availability, shopping day, pack-up requirements, etc, all those not very exciting things which help keep Foxgloves Manor running smoothly.
Intend to read my book for the rest of the afternoon, cats snoozing, so feeling very civilised atm. Doubtless Mr F will soon be firing at aliens or watching something equally noisy very soon!
F x

foxgloves

Thanks for all your comments, which I always enjoy reading.
@Makingabobor2 - It must be a drag if you don't like clothes shopping. I've always enjoyed it, but only in-store, as I need to try things on. I also like to feel the quality of the fabric. I get very little enjoyment from online clothes shopping.

@PennysIntoPounds - Thank-you. We did have a nice laid back evening. I only did one modest chorus of a Foreigner song. I am a very cheap date where alcohol is concerned!

@scandimore - I do very little of that faff. My sourdough loaves wouldn't get past a professional baker or home bread-making purist, but we like the loaves I bake & that's all that matters. I shall have to go full-faff on a loaf at some point to see if I end up with an appreciably better product. It would have to be a LOT better for me to keep jogging into the kitchen for all that stretching & folding on a regular basis, but it would be interesting to experiment.

F x

Makingabobor2

Love how you talk to Mr FG about the coming week. Wish my DH would engage in conversations like that. He doesn't listen to anything I say....lol.

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Well we both consider it within our mutual interest. I don't have to nag him to do it, he'll often suggest it. Only takes 10 mins or so over a coffee on Sundays. Then we know what we're doing & feel nicely organised for the week ahead. I always say that being very organised usually saves us money one way or another & I'm sure that's true.
F x

EssexHebridean

It was the time aspect that ended my sourdough making unfortunately - once I returned to the office after sourdough   furlough! LOL! it became more of a struggle to fit in time to sort it out, and eventually I admitted defeat. I too claim the free Lidl loaf as and when I hit the threshold each month, although I believe they were one of the stores recently chastised over the bread not actually being entitled to be called sourdough, I like it anyway! 

Your indian spiced chicken is making my mouth water - it's ages since I've done that, so really must stick it back into a meal plan before too long. 

Edit to amend a typo that proves where my brain was focused! 

foxgloves

Well, there's no pressure on anyone to make sourdough, or indeed any bread! If it doesn't fit into timescales or enjoyment levels, there is plenty of nice bread in supermarkets & local indie bakeries. I enjoy baking bread & I mostly have the time to do it, but when I was working full time, it was something I did less frequently & using a breadmaking machine. When two of these bit the dust with exactly the same problem, I decided not to buy another & to make bread manually. I do sometimes have to buy a loaf when I am going to be out of the house or otherwise busy. Like a lot of things, it comes down to a combination of personal choice & time restraints.
F

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money Savers,
A very humdrum day here at Foxgloves Manor, as Mondays often are. Useful though, for getting everything set up for the week. Today's small money saving positives:
*Did the rest of this week's laundry & was able to use the 30 mins at 30 deg programme for one of the loads. It would be a better frugal choice to have pegged out & taken advantage of this windy sunshine, but it was raining here first thing & I wasn't sure how long it was going to continue. With the double warmth of the heated airer & the sun on the conservatory though, I think everything is going to dry pretty quickly.
*Very low-effort meal tonight as I am intending to stir-fry leftover spicy Indian chicken with a selection of vegetables & serve in wraps with coleslaw. Took almost a stupid amount of pleasure in taking out a container of chopped red pepper from the freezer to use in the stir-fry, as the lower we can get supplies in there, the sooner Mr F can get into Caveman V Ice Monster mode!
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates - mostly fund transfers, updating Personal Spends & as Postie brought my CC statement, I also reconciled that against receipts (they all live on a bulldog clip until they have passed right through the budget system) & checked that the amount I need to pay off on my next Big Budget Day is just the new mattress, which all looked correct. There are £15 worth of vouchers on their way to me, apparently, & judging by current loyalty points, I only missed £20 by a whisker, so those remaining points will start off the next pay-out. 
Unlike the Spendy Era, both our CCs are now paid off in full every month. We use them primarily for the free loyalty vouchers, but for other reasons too, not least the ability to delay payment until the end of the credit-free period. Yes, it might only be a month or 2 weeks in my case, but it can be a useful tool in budget managing. For instance, the new mattress was ordered around 15th Jan, so because of CC statement dates, it didn't appear until February's statement, which arrived today & doesn't need to be paid until 29th Feb. I knew that manipulating the order date to give us 6 weeks to pay would be useful as we have back-pay due on 27th. Why not just delay ordering the mattress in the first place? Well, it had 20% off for a time-limited period, so I obviously wanted to make use of that. So I do find that having a CC each is very useful, but the days of paying them off in instalments are long gone. Just far too easy to keep buying things without any real connection to available funds.
*Ruled up a few more credit card payment log sheets as these have been useful on occasion for solving various muddles.
*Salvage - Cut up 2 old hand towels for free cleaning cloths.
I'm off to make some lunch now, but will be making good use of this afternoon one way or another as it is quite sunny now. I'd like to sweep the back courtyard but as we have workmen tomorrow dragging stuff through, I think I will wait until their visit is over.
Hope everyone is getting off to a good start to the week - if not, don't worry, just start it off again tomorrow.
F x

rtandon27

Haha - FG I really do like your theory of restarting if necessary. Reminds me of our IT guys who inevitably ask if I tried to turn it off amd on again!

foxgloves

@rtandon27 - Well, back when I was working full time, I'd sometimes have a rubbish Monday, plus often a pile of ASB incidents to deal with from the weekend, so it was very helpful to clear all the cr*p, then begin the week again on Tuesday!
F