Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
I really do need to get cracking in a minute as intend to get into town early with my list. Just popping on to say thanks for all your comments. 
Enjoyed the weekend & did not descend into spendiness at the Garden Show. Managed to buy pond plants, which were much cheaper than the prices I'd seen online, chose a new heucherella for my collection & some tasty Indian snacks to take home for our lunch from the food & drink hall. We took a packed breakfast & flask of coffee with us to save a little money. 
Garden jobs yesterday. Shallots & potatoes are coming up which pleased Mr F no end, as he is always in charge of growing those plus the garlic.
Well, that's my coffee finished, I mustn't get too comfortable sitting here chatting. Off to find shopping bags & my town list.
Wishing everyone a good start to the week,
F x

Makingabobor2

Have a good day. My potatoes are poking through as well. Just wish I could get other stuff out, the windowsill is like Day of the Triffids....lol

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - Thanks. Have made a good start on my list, anyway.
I don't have any veggie plant babies in the house now. They all went down to our unheated greenhouse at the beginning of April. Tomato plants are a good size & look healthy, but other stuff, while ok atm, could now really do with some decent warmth. It does warm up nicely in there in the sunshine, but the clouds seem to roll in all too quickly & the heat doesn't last for long.
F

foxgloves

Evening all,
Busy day today, although I do feel I have been productive - Mr F too, who took a day owed today & was off & about sorting various little items of techy gizmo we felt we ought to replace in time for our holiday.
I've had a useful session in town - dropped a bag off at the charity shop, did a toiletries restock, called in at the building society to get our passbooks updated to show interest earned, posted the jacket to my sister, etc. Whizzed around so as to be able to get free parking on the supermarket car park.
Have also picked some rhubarb & baked a dozen rhubarb muffins - froze plenty as they are useful & portable. Intend to add a couple to our picnic on our outward bound holiday journey as will prevent buying sweet treats when stopping off for tea & pee stops.....actually, forget the tea, as we will also have a big flask of coffee with us! Have done quite a lot of Monday budget updates today, with various transfers needing to be made from savings pots. Also reconciled Mr F's credit card bill against receipts & checked all the payments I have made to it over the past month went in correctly. No nasty surprises, which is just how I like it.
Our latest bill from the Cephalopods landed so I have had a bit of a number-crunching session on that. Amounts definitely reducing now that the thermostat has been lowered....although some warmer weather would help with this, as it has been so chilly recently. Over the winter, our usage costs peaked in January at £224-75, followed by a slow reduction thus: February £195-63, March £175-35 & April (our bills go from 21st to 20th) £120-14. Our account is still in credit, but only by £160-33, which is the lowest balance we've had for quite some time. I signed into our account to check their online tool for assessing optimum monthly payment, expecting it to be higher than the £115 & some shrapnel that we are currently paying. However, the recommended figure came out at £106 & even less shrapnel, so I am thinking I will leave it for now, as we are heading towards summer usage levels (even if it doesn't feel like it), but monitor it as I have become used to the security of going into winter with a decent wodge of credit. It is, of course, our cashola, so there is a lot to be said for it resting in our pockets rather than in the tentacled account. 
Oh, & I have cashed out my PA earnings a few days early - just to get the money where I want it to be before we go away. A bit annoying as am still waiting for payments of over £14, but have cashed out the £26 which I have been paid & the £14 will mean that I get off to a good start with my May target. Mr F has had his best month on it & will be cashing out just over £60. 
A virtually zero effort nosebag tonight as have defrosted 2 portions of the lamb bhuna I made with some of our leftover Easter roast lamb, so just some rice to cook & that's it. I have finally finished the main section of the neverending cardi & have cast on a sleeve. Will crack on with that over a bit of TV. 
Oh, & a small, if very delayed win.....Ash has decided he does after all like the £45 cat bed we bought for him when he arrived, It's only taken him over 2 years! It is a little igloo style one & I think he is making a statement about how cold it is now that his meanie Meowmy has turned the thermostat down to 17 degrees because she keeps saying "It's bloody April for heaven's sake". I was so chilly today (long sleeved dress, thick tights & knitted socks, hoodie) that I over-rode the controls & put it up to 18.5 for a couple of hours just to give us a boost of warmth. What a rebel!
Hope everyone has got off to a decent start to the week. 
F x

themadvix

foxgloves said:

Oh, & a small, id delayed win.....Ash has decided he does after all like the £45 cat bed we bought for him when he arrived, It's only taken him over 2 years! It is a little igloo style one & I think he is making a statement about how cold it is now that his meanie Meowmy has turned the thermostat down to 17 degrees because she keeps saying "It's bloody April for heaven's sake". I was so chilly today (long sleeved dress, thick tights & knitted socks, hoodie) that I over-rode the controls & put it up to 18.5 for a couple of hours just to give us a boost of warmth. What a rebel!
Hope everyone has got off to a decent start to the week. 
F x

Good to hear there's hope then for the one I bought last (i.e. 2022) Christmas! It gets sat upon but only once has it been sat in. Cats do take their time though!

Very chilly here too and I put the heating on boost for half an hour this morning as the thermostat said 15 degrees at 10 and there was no sign of sun to give us any solar gain. Sun is at least out now, but I doubt it's warmed up much.

PennysIntoPounds

What a productive day. Glad Ash likes his bed even if it is a pointed protest. I obviously haven't cast my clout, not being a wrong 'un, but I had to get me thermal vest out! It's almost blimmin May!

foxgloves

@themadvix - Ash slept in the new bed for 2 consecutive nights over a year ago before obviously deciding that it was a bed for losers & he was having none of it! No interest in it whatsoever from Soot. He prefers to sleep on crocheted blankets & wouldn't even try getting into the igloo bed when I put a cat treat in there! Refusing food is incredibly rare for him, so went to show that he had no intention of making any use of it either! Ash (silver tabby) looks very cute curled up inside it. Soot is an all-black mini-panther.
F

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - I know!! I am genuinely trying to cast me clouts off, but instead of more wintery stuff being added to my seasonal clothes storage bag, I've been ferreting around in it getting stuff back out! With this holiday looming, I'd bought a couple of extra pairs of cropped black leggings as they go with dresses & tops without looking stupidly summery for May, but I think I shall have to upend myself to search the depths of that storage bag to get my velvet leggings out instead! As I folded & packed those away, I actually told myself, "Yes, I definitely won't wear these again until Autumn now". At the Garden Show on Saturday, I was calling myself all the names under the sun for having packed away all my gloves, but I wouldn't normally even think of wearing gloves at the end of April. It is defo time for the weather to warm up. Rain for most of the day here today. Lawn was positively squidging underfoot when I popped down to gather some rhubarb. I hope our lovely tawny mining bees haven't been washed out of their little burrows.
Are your joints more achy in the cold weather, PiP? I can't tell if my hands are or not (though mine is arthritis), but the fact that they are very much soothed by being placed on a hot water bottle makes me think they probably are. And I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but I think my hands are a bit better when I am playing the piano regularly. I can only assume that as this involves stretching my finger joints, that the surrounding muscles become stronger & support the crappy joints more? I don't know. Weird things, bodies eh?
Take care now,
F 

PennysIntoPounds

At least velvet leggings sound gorgeous, unlike my extremely unsexy thermal vest 😁
I can never quite tell if the weather affects my joints, they seem to hurt at any opportunity! But I suppose we have different gaits and postures to protect us when it's cold so just general warmth does bodies a favour by making us less scrunched up or rushing to get out of the cold.
Makes sense about piano playing helping your fingers flexibility and encouraging them not to seize up as much. I quite often wear 'fingerless' gloves about the flat when my joints are particularly bad as it always makes me feel extra cold, especially at the extremities 

badmemory

I have found that generally speaking the more I move provided I start off slowly the better I am able to.  As for the hands I wonder if mine are improved by movement because it improves the circulation.  I certainly think that if I am chopping stuff up & holding the knife fairly tightly, it doesn't end well, it does mean that preparing a meal can become a little elongated, due to chopping up one veg & walking away then chopping up another.  I'm sure you get the picture.  I tried turning my heating down & succeeded in doing one degree but any more & I landed up too stiff to move so decided that the energy bills would just have to be tolerated.  But ibuprofen gel for the joints & a hot water bottle for the back & I'm sorted.