Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Paspatur

Foxgloves, you do get biodegradable ones and whilst it might mean a spend it could maybe do a few years resolving the problem of holidays and plants
However I have no idea if they are going to release water slower than old bath towels

foxgloves

Well, here is the car saga......or rather, the return of the car saga, as I already shared the accident stuff & how our car was deemed too bad for our regional repair centre to deal with & was transported off to Manchester forthwith.
It then spent a few days being looked at by assessors/engineers & we convinced ourselves that they were going to write it off. This didn't happen though, as they informed us they were going to mend it. Excellent!  That went ahead & they phoned to say they were returning it yesterday. 
So what went wrong? Well, it arrived on time, was unloaded & we went out to inspect the repairs, which we thought looked very good. Certainly the bodywork looked great & I suspect it had, had a couple of new quite large panels, i.e the hatch/boot. There was quite a deep scratch on the rear windscreen, which if I'm honest, we'd probably have overlooked in order to get our vehicle back, but the driver who brought it said that the scratch wasn't acceptable & that it had most likely happened when the glass was removed prior to sorting out the metalwork, so he phoned it in to the repair garage & they said they would fit a new windscreen. So after that, we got back to our inspection & that was when we discovered that the central locking still didn't work. This was damaged during the accident when the back was shunted out of alignment so that the hatch/boot didn't meet properly so couldn't lock, thus rendering the central locking useless. The inability to lock the car was the reason the insurers insisted on removing it to a secure lock-up on the evening of the accident, so it was a 'thing' from the start. I don't know why the engineers working on the car didn't check the locking before they signed off the job & sent the car back to us, but they didn't. Driver was on a tight schedule so at first he suggested we take the car to the regional branch & get the locking sorted out there, but I refused to do that. He said 'Can't you get there?' I said, 'Yes, we could', but we were not going to accept the car back until all the repair work from the accident was complete & that includes the locking. So he loaded it back onto the transporter & off it went. So near & yet so far!
Nearly all afternoon on the phone updating insurers, etc, but the biggest problem was the car hire firm. You see, it transpires that once the repair garage has finished the work & the car has been dispatched, that is what counts as 'claim settled' & from that point, there is 24 hours to return the hire vehicle. Mr F explained ad infinitum that the work is NOT finished as the repair work had not been completed on the rear lock, meaning we were unable to lock any of the doors. The first person  he spoke to was a stuck record, the next one understood the situation but said that the accident-causer's insurers, who were of course footing the bill for our 3 weeks or so of car hire, were very much taking the line that if we were saying our vehicle required additional work, then it must be a 2nd claim, as the original claim was now settled. It was all very frustrating. We were told that we were entitled to a hire car, but that as the repair work had not been completed, then the repair garage would need to pay for it this time. It was all getting complicated with so many people involved - us, 2 insurers, 2 repair garages & both the local & national car hire centres. Then we received a call from our regional garage to say that they had received our car & reckoned they could fix the lock that same afternoon. A bit later, they phoned to say they had done it & would bring the car back to us by lunchtime today. It seems that the lock was still partially misaligned from the accident & just needed moving completely back into place. So the car arrived today & all was well. We have both driven it & the hire car has gone back.
The glass for our replacement windscreen is on order & we do not have to go to the other side of Lincoln to get it fitted. They will phoned us when it has arrived & arrange a time to come & collect our car & bring it back to us. 
So that only leaves today's chapter......the battery, etc, was obviously disconnected for the repairs & so the in-car info-tainment screen wasn't working yesterday when the car was (almost) delivered. The driver who brought it said we just needed to put in our password & it would be reactivated. Neither of us had any recollection at all of being given a password when we bought the car & we are both hot on this kind of thing. Mr F tried inputting a couple of things he thought it might be, but neither of them worked & the car had to be loaded back onto the transporter as we'd refused delivery. He phoned the dealership where we bought our car, asked about the code & was told it was a combination of characters from the chassis number. He made a note of that so as to input it today when the car came back. But he'd had 2 goes yesterday, & found that the garage had also tried to get it going so that made 3 attempts & you know what's coming.......the bloody thing locked, so even though we know the correct code, we can't do anything with it!.
Now Mr F just happens to be on a training course not far from the Suzuki dealership tomorrow so he phoned to ask if he could pop in to have the system unlocked.....& guess what? They can't do it! It has to be removed (by them) & sent to Milton Keynes to be unlocked. This will cost us £120. And you know what? By then, we didn't even care! I would rather not be covering it from our Car Maintenance Pot, but at least we have one. We can't ask the repair firm to pay for this because it was Mr F who input the first 2 incorrect codes. We will sort this out after our holiday so as to cut out more imminent vehiclular faff, as we feel we've had a surfeit of it recently. Mr F not happy about not having the sat-nav but will set up a mobile phone version he's used before.....& as I reminded him, there are such things as MAPS & also Wife-Nav, which is also very good, especially finding loos, coffee, purveyors of biscuits & areas of historic interest.
So that is the saga. And all because of some numpty ploughing into the back of our stationary car in broad daylight in perfect visibility because he 'didn't see' it. 
F x
Edited just to say that our insurers were very good. We hadn't been through a claims process with them before, but they were excellent & I was glad I didn't change providers a couple of months ago when our premium increased by £72 at renewal time. Based on this experience, we will be staying with them next year too, unless they implement a really silly price rise.

Cheery_Daff

Good grief, what an absolute fiasco!! I am not surprised your poor nerves have been somewhat frayed. Glad you have it back, although very vexing about the satnav system (my autocorrect just changed satnav to sauna which has provided some amusing mental images 😂)

foxgloves

@Cheery_Daff - I know, just crazy isn't it? Hopefully we are now on the home strait though, with getting things sorted, even though the final issues won't be sorted out until we return from our holiday. I did smile at your predictive text opting for the word 'sauna', as our previous car had no air-con & Mr F frequently complained that he may as well have been driving around in a sauna during summer!
F

foxgloves

Well, you heard quite enough from me yesterday, so I shall just stick to today's money-helping positives today:
*Baked a batch of bread rolls & froze some for our journey over to holiday cottage as we (of course!) prefer to take packed lunch than pay out for services sarnies.
*Made a packed breakfast for tomorrow when we are going to a garden show. Got flask out too, so whatever else we are tempted by, it won't be buying stuff for breakfast!
*Did a few budget updates. Grocery Budget has definitely come in under target as we have done our final shop of the month & have £14-05 left. 
*Reconciled my credit card bill, which was actually a nice NIL balance once I'd checked which transactions I'd already paid off.
*Still using up odds & ends of toiletries, hence a hairwash from rinsed out shampoo dregs. I think it will still provide another wash before I start a new bottle.
*Cleaned bathroom using minimal products & washable cloths.
*Entered a competition.
*Did a few surveys. Have reached my monthly PA target of £40 & will keep checking over the next few days to see if I can boost it a little more.
*Did 2 things from the pre-holiday job list - not money saving in itself, except that being organised nicely ahead of time will prevent not being able to find things, panicking & re-buying.
*Tonight's meal plan said 'salmon' so I've defrosted that & am going to use up some starting-to-sprout potatoes from the big sack we bought, to make Normandy potatoes, as we have plenty of milk too. Have infused the milk with crushed garlic & thyme, so they should be nicely 'cheffy'.
*Still trying to get main cardi piece finished. Just the Irish moss st border to do, then I can cast it off. Intend to take a pair of Christmas present socks to knit while we are away to make a start on those & because they are a small portable project for packing & taking to the beach or pub. I have at least 4 pairs to knit, & it could be 6, depending on who else might be on the list to receive a pair, so it will be good to get started on them.
Right, that is all the money-sense bits for today. Need a quick hair straighten now as it is looking as though I am a rider of broomsticks, then I must iron the jacket I've promised to my sister so as to get it properly dry.
Cheers all, F x

foxgloves

@Paspatur - Yes, I have heard there are more sustainable versions, but I opted for strips of old towelling because we have plenty of it. I would have had to buy sponges. I am quite enjoying experimenting.

@PennysIntoPounds - I do hear where you are coming from, but I am just not going to be able to budge Mr F on this one. He is easy going to live with & we see eye-to-eye on the vast majority of things, but for some reason, he is not prepared to give in on this one, even though it would make me happy, as we do have a nice neighbour who I know would come in mid-week for watering if I asked her. I get my way on most things which come down to a discussion & we don't at all have an old-fashioned relationship where he gets to decide stuff because he's the owner of man-bits, we are a very equal & non-gendered household. It is just this one thing for some reason & I don't want the run up to our holiday getting bogged down in arguing about it. Even knowing how my mood will be if we get back & everything has carked it won't change his mind on this......& he knows what a drama queen I can be! 
F x
(Edited to say that if that does happen, I won't just be a drama queen, I'll be a SCARY drama queen!)

Makingabobor2

what a faff with the car. Honestly you couldn't make it all up, could you?

badmemory

I am wondering if Mr F has the same sort of issues as I found myself with from years ago.  In my case someone I thought ought to be able to be trusted who was found to be going through my post (which I stopped from happening) to find years later they were also going through my sisters in her absence.  It leaves a very long & nasty taste in the mouth.

Is it possible to cut the towelling narrower.  Many (as in over 40) years ago I used to use a sort of webbed ribbon from a milk bottle to water mushrooms.  So just fill the milk bottle & spread the web over the grow bag.

Sun_Addict

Oh my days what a blooming saga with the car 😣 So frustrating when it’s entirely down to the carelessness of someone else. 

You and Mr F have done extremely well with PA this month 🙂 I need to fire up my laptop more often as I tend to only do ones on my iPad and there seems to be a lot of laptop only ones. 

PennysIntoPounds

If you cannae budge him then fair do's, it's his home too and he shouldn't be spending your time away together uneasy. He does sound like a proper good 'un and your relationship sounds like what a good partnership should be.
However, if many plants have become deceased while you're away, then I do strongly feel he owes you a Christmas pub quiz!