Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

EssexHebridean

Well it had best not rain at home today as we have indeed planned our washing and it's out on the line as I write! 

foxgloves

Hi everyone & thanks for your comments. Yes, I could have got a load of washing dried this morning, no trouble, but it isn't quite a full load, so am aiming for tomorrow. In the winter months, I schedule laundry for Monday morning, but when the chances of free line drying increase, I kind of plan it around a decent forecast. 
Well, it has been a more gently busy day than yesterday. A few budget-helping positives as follows - nothing exciting, but as we often say on here, it's the regular habits which keep us building savings, remaining solvent or paying off debts, whichever pathway we are currently on. I have been on all three, currently on the 'building savings' path, which of course can only be achieved by ensuring sufficiently smart budgeting to keep us solvent in the first place. Anyway, today's efforts:
*Baked the crusty sourdough loaf which I mixed up last night. Mr F already eying it for breakfast toast, so it won't last long. I only bake quite small sourdoughs as have found the bigger ones can tend to collapse under their own weight. 
*Defrosted the box of assorted fish trimmings from when I divided up our last fish box for the freezer. I think it contains haddock, smoked haddock & salmon trimmings, tail fillets, etc, but whatever it turns out to be, I will be poaching it & turning it into a fish pie for tonight's meal. One of the benefits of portioning our fish order myself.
*Did quick triage of the veg baskets - some carrots & spring greens need using, so will steam the greens over the carrot pan & serve those with the fish pie.
*Did usual daily checks of the greenhouse veg babies. There is still a snail somewhere in the greenhouse. I have removed 4 small ones & a titchy slug, who won't be titchy much longer at the rate he was chomping through my plants. he was jettisoned onto the lawn in the hope of becoming a tasty snackette for our robin. I must remember to sneak into the greenhouse after dark with a torch (& my specs on!) as that is the best time to catch them. 
*Defrosted a microwave mug of leftover lamb stew for tomorrow's work lunch. Mentioned this to The Worker who said he thought it might be a small portion, so he'd need a buttered roll with it! I didn't look small to me, but I don't have a caveman appetite!
*Tweaked the meal plan I wrote yesterday to fit in better with our schedule next week & wrote grocery shopping list. Mr F is calling in to pick up a relatively short list tonight on his way home from work. He apparently has vouchers for money off a couple of items we need, including cat food. He also received a voucher from another supermarket for £6 off a £30 spend, which we think we might use to stock up on a couple of 40 boxes of Persian Queen, as we can't get those at our usual shop, & Ash lets us know every so often that it is time this was back on the menu.
*Lugged out my seasonal clothing storage bag & had a good sort through - did a sort of unwritten inventory as I went along, trying things on. Ended up with a pile for ironing (deep joy, my favourite activity, NOT!), a small pile for the charity shop & a small pile to go back in the bag (again!) as there isn't much hope of me fitting in them atm. Although I may buy a new summer dress later in the season, the only things I need to buy now are a couple of pairs of cropped black leggings (which I liked with dresses or tunics with chunky sandals or DMs), 2 or 3 pairs of tights, probably footless ones (ditto) & also a couple of bras as if the wire comes out of a particular one again despite me having sewn it back in AND patched over it several times, I swear I will rip it off wherever I happen to be at the time & lob it into the nearest bin! Anyway, a small list of things to order tomorrow morning. Oh, & how's this for an offer. The cropped leggings of choice are £18-95 each or on offer at £45-00 for two pairs. Oh my life, got to love the maths on that one!
*Discovered a new outfit. I bought a dress a couple of years ago which I haven't worn very much at all. It doesn't fit right around my mid-section. There is sufficient dress to accommodate a chunky Foxgloves, but the style of the dress & the fact that I am only just the littlest bit over 5'3" means that the waist doesn't really sit quite in the right place & I can't see a way of altering it without ruining the dress, so it has largely hung in my wardrobe looking reprovingly at me for having wasted money. Today I tried it on with my new biker jacket & added a black boho style shawl which nicely covers the area I am not comfortable with. And hey! New outfit born! Oh & actually, as I type this, I have just thought of one possible way I could maybe alter the dress in future.....I could take it up on the shoulders - the neckline is low enough to sustain this - & that would probably move the waistline of the dress up to nearer where it should be. Worth thinking about anyway, but for now, it will be a worn-with-biker-jacket-&-hippyfied black floaty shawl dress.
*Did a few surveys. This month's PA earnings looking low in real terms (£10-01) but I am waiting for over £13 in outstanding payments, so I will keep at it & see how near I can get to my £40 per month earnings goal. 
That is the extent of today's efforts. Time to distribute daily cat treats & start constructing that fish pie. 
Love & Peace,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Good of Ash to get involved in the household meal planning 😁

If you're going to rip off and bin your bra please do it in the garden centre queue for all of our entertainment x

foxgloves

Lol PiP. Unfortunately I have form for clothing mishaps......I once walked across the city centre at rush hour with my skirt tucked up in my knickers & have also had a 'Judy Finnegan moment' outside the village post office when my slinky wraparound top decided to unwrap itself. I suspect if I'm honest, that there may have been a slightly too generous ratio of boobs to top, but hey ho, these incidents happen to us all at some point. Even on my wedding day I managed to put the heel of my boot through the hem of my dress when trying to negotiate heavy velvet & medieval sleeves during a visit to the loo! Thankfully my Mum had a safety pin.
F

PennysIntoPounds

Affectionate laughing from me here. 

Thank goodness for mums and safety pins! The dress sounds marvellous though 

foxgloves

Morning Campers, rise & shine!
Well, despite waking up in the night for an hour & a half, my treacherous anti-sleep over-thinking brain didn't kick in as strongly as usual & I managed to get some more sleep. Consequently am feeling ready to set about my day. Today's main budget helpers look to be:
*Getting at least 2 loads of laundry done & pegged out for free drying. Will probably go for a 3rd load too, as would like to wash a coat which needs to be added to my seasonal clothes storage bag 
*Order ONLY the clothing items identified yesterday as required for this Spring/Summer.
*Check plant babies & perform any maintenance required.
*Clean house - minimal products & washable cloths as usual.
*Check pantry for suitable bottle to take to friends' house tomorrow.
*Update grocery budget following last night's shop. Once I've removed the magazine which was from my Personal Spends, I think we will be within budget.
*Do any surveys which present themselves while my laptop is on.
*Measure knitting, as I think I will soon be casting off the all-in-one body section of my cardi & casting on a sleeve. Feel less pressured since accepting that I cannot realistically get it finished in time for our holiday. 
Well, off I go on the above - a nice early start. The 'carrot' to get me powering through all that cleaning is that I could have some reading time in the conservatory this afternoon.......(trots off to fetch vacuum cleaner).
Wishing you all a productive & trouble-free day,
F x

foxgloves

Well, I managed to get all of the above tasks done. Quite a lot of PA surveys around this afternoon, so have boosted April's earnings, though am waiting for a lot of payments.
Also entered a competition & sent another coldframe-lurkng snail to live next door (on the non-gardening side, of course). 
Mr F's interview candidate showed up early so he was able to get his 4pm finish as planned. It's his cooking night, so I am going to read a couple of chapters & enjoy the Spring air coming through the conservatory doors. Birdsong is just fab. I love the dusk chorus, usually led by a blackbird sitting on our chimney. One of life's free true pleasures.
Enjoy your evenings all,
F x

milann

It’s so nice  that spring looks as if it’s finally springing 😁

Sun_Addict

I repatriate snails over the wall to the church next door 😆

WinterWarrior

Sun_Addict said:

I repatriate snails over the wall to the church next door 😆

I let the snails roam free, but often joke that next door (excellent gardeners) lob theirs over to our side as we always have loads 😁