Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

Another vote for warmer weather. I am basically wearing the same clothes I wore in the winter, but I don't have the heat on at the moment, although it was on for a couple of hours first thing.  Went for a walk round the park about 8.30am and had to put my hat & gloves on, and it was such a cold wind it was making my eyes stream. It does look like we might be up to 15/16c next week....about time

foxgloves

@Makingabobor2 - I think we are all ready for some warmer weather now, aren't we? Forecast was for quite a dry day here so pegged out laundry, but have just had to rush out & bring it in as 3 showers on the trot.
Our thermostat is set at 17° atm & it shows how chilly it is, as the radiators have just come on! Heating is off overnight & I noticed at just before 6am the other day, the temperature was 15°.....indoors! At the end of April! 
Have spread clothes out on the bed trying to decide on the optimum choice of outfits for forthcoming holiday. I think I will take only 1 summery dress just in case. Hoping denim jacket, biker jacket & big waterproof coat will cover all eventualities.
F

Makingabobor2

Yes, I did the same, rushing out to rescue the washing. Now I've brought it all in, its sunny & windy again....typical. 

themadvix

I’ve just left mine out there - it’ll dry… eventually!!

angela110660

Aquacise is a blessing for my achy knees and hands - they feel so much more mobile and comfortable after a class.

foxgloves

@angela110660 - I'm sure that keeping the muscles strong around dodgy joints must help to support them better. Also, just keeping things moving. Somebody on here - I think it may have been @Onebrokelady - said we need to think of it as "Motion is lotion".
F

foxgloves

Finally, my backside has made contact with the sofa. A busy day doing all sorts. The budget-helping bits were as follows:
*A no-spend day
*Baked bread
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast
*Frugal meal tonight - leftover diced chicken & sliced green pepper from freezer, veg from stores & a handful of home grown baby pak-choi thinnings all went towards a rather nice stir-fry.
*Did a couple of budget updates.
*Did 3 surveys - low payers, but it all adds up.
*Planted up 2 grow-bags with peppers.
*Managed to get those wretched watering spikes to fit onto bottles using a little of the cats' supply of kitchen roll to make the threads fit together. Rammed the spikes with old chopped up bath towel from the rag bag to slow the rate of emptying. (Future food supplies).
*Moved biggest bedding plants outside & pegged up a fleece shelter for them. (Future border-fillers which won't involve me parting with cashola at the garden centre).
Also did laundry, a minor bit of packing (I don't want to peak too soon), started a library returns bag  & performed an inventory of the household medicine/first aid box.
And now I'm enjoying doing nothing more taxing than reading a couple of magazines.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Friends,
A useful day so far, although seem to have developed an annoying headache this afternoon, so shall soon be signing off my laptop, fetching the laundry in & taking it a bit easier. Always so much to do when there's a holiday looming on the horizon. Anyway, a few budget-helping odds & sods today:
*Our April PA earnings had landed in our bank account so added them to our respective Personal Spends.
*Checked for surveys - not a lot going in the small window of time I had available, but I did what there was. Had to smile this morning - had a message to say I'd been awarded a bonus 'based on my answers' to a recent survey. Well, it was a very mathsy one, as far as I remember, & I couldn't seem to make head or tail of it, so I completed it using my own methodology. Must have done something right, though Mr F reckons I got a bonus for most off the wall responses. Not bothered, as an extra £1.25 towards my May earnings total is welcome!
*Dug over & weeded a small bed in our veg plot & planted out 3 dozen lettuces. Rigged up a netting frame over the top as there were TEN (!!!) woodpigeons sitting in my neighbours tall tree watching me. Tbf, it is usually sparrows who are the most destructive in our garden, but woodpigeons are a very close second.
*Sorted out the cold frame & moved bigger braver things outside to make room for smaller things.
*Potted up another 2 trays of larkspur. I love larkspur & spent many years wasting the seeds through not understanding their MO. I didn't know that they germinated erratically, so I'd get a couple of seedlings, maybe as many as 4 or 5 & think the sowing had failed so would tip out the compost. From the same sowing, I have 4 trays of plants which are pretty much big enough to be planted out once the nights are warmer, but also tiny seedlings barely out of the soil. Now I know they emerge when they feel like it, I just pot up the biggest ones & leave the tray until everything's through. Defo getting better value for money being patient!
*Stripped bed & washed bed linen to make use of a windy day for free drying.....blimming cold again, but I think there is a good chance everything will be dry when I go out & fetch it in (next job). I think I mentioned that we put our thermostat down to 17deg last week to start rebuilding energy account credit? Well, it shows how cold it was this morning that the heating came on 3 times! Cats were glued to radiators as soon as they sussed this, of course.
*Another meal designed to use up lots of odds & ends tonight - spicy lamb pilaf. Will also make use of some leftover spring greens by stir-frying them for Mr F & I will have homegrown lettuce with mine as cut some leaves earlier.
I think that is it for today. Still quite a bit of tidying up to do, but I shall get onto that while listening to my audiobook.
Something I've been thinking about today. The holiday which is fast looming will include my regular monthly Big Budget date. Now, I have made no secret in my previous diary of the fact that I have in the past been a very silly spendy non-budgeter. I have told you how on receipt of a bank statement, I'd open it, peer at the balance through virtually closed eyes, before putting it in a desk drawer. That was basically my system......as in not HAVING a system, then spending the rest of the month on tenterhooks in shops in case those bar stewards at the bank had the audacity to cancel my debit card or greet me at cashpoints with the message 'You have insufficient funds'. Well, it's a long time since the LBM, but I am almost amused at the difference now in that I found myself getting so increasingly twitchy about the prospect of going away without knowing exactly what money I have to allocate to this, that & the other, that I have this afternoon jotted down a set of figures to collate first thing on the morning we set off, so that I can at least just do the very bare bones of a budget while I am there. I shall do the proper version in full when we return, but found it interesting that my lack of responsibility with money in the past, when I absolutely didn't want to know the truth has now come full circle & I am completely freaked out at the thought of going just a week without knowing exactly what money we have! It also made me think of the LBM when I sat & wrote everything out & looked at the whole situation (for both of us, as we were married, but had not yet joined our finances together). It was bad, but as a lot of people say, I actually felt better for knowing - I suppose there was that sense of 'knowledge is power' & once I had all the figures there in front of me, I could start a plan for paying everything off. 
So, for the first time ever (& it is only because of how the dates have fallen), my trusty Money Book will be coming on holiday with us, just for a quick outing, hopefully to the accompaniment of seagulls!
I must cease yakking now, m'dears, & go & fetch that laundry in.
Hope everyone's had a decent day. 
Love F x

Makingabobor2

Sounds like another productive day. I'm hoping to get some veggie plants outside over the weekend, as they are going mental..  Should I cover them up at night still?  I have loads of bubble wrap and also some old double glazing panels.   Forecast is for about 6-9c at night next week.
Good idea to take your budget book away with you. We are away in just under 6 weeks, and I will be working everything out before we go. 

Hope your headache goes away. I have one come on this afternoon as well, think its stress related though as I went into city on the bus...first time for years and it stressed me out no end.  

foxgloves

@makingabobor2 - Your veg plants will need hardening off first if they have so far only been indoors. This usually just involves standing them outside during the day & bringing them back under cover at night to get them used to the change in environment, otherwise it can be a bit of a shock to the system.
I haven't got any tomatoes outside yet. As for beans, courgettes & squash.....haven't even sown any yet! Decided to wait till we get back rather than have to worry about even more things stayin' alive!
F