Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

milann

Not been around for a while 11 June since I’ve checked in here and I can’t keep up with all the chat. Hope life has been treating you well as I haven’t been back to catch up. Glad the lawnmower money conundrum was sorted 👍

PennysIntoPounds

Glad you found the cc culprit and were able to quickly cover the spend.
The patchwork door curtain sounds gorgeous, fabulous work from you and your mum!

ladyholly

Phew. Glad you found the spend and it was budgeted for anyway.

foxgloves

Thanks, yes.....I was indeed glad I found the culprit. I knew it would be in there somewhere, as we never use our credit cards for anything unplanned. Mostly they are used for regular everyday stuff like groceries & petrol to build up loyalty points for shopping vouchers. We both have just 1 credit card each since becoming debt-free & they are paid off in full each month, as well as the payments I make from various pots mid-month during my regular budget updating sessions.

@milann - Welcome back! Don't worry about not catching up, I bet there's absolutely nothing I've put on my diary that isn't perfectly missable! I am ok, thanks. Would like to be a bit fitter, but at least I am having a better year than last year health-wise (at least so far) & haven't suffered any further flare-ups. 
F  

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence-Wranglers,
My Mum used to say of such days that she was 'all behind like a cow's tail', & that's exactly how I feel today! I've been doing a few surveys while eating my lunch & thought I'd pop on here before signing my laptop off for the day & getting myself into the garden for a round-up of maintenance tasks. I have been busy all morning but the time seems to have slipped by without me feeling I've achieved much. Anyway, onto today's budget-helping efforts:
*Did garden pickings first thing: Basil, courgettes, baby carrots & tomatoes.
*Roasted a tray of mixed homegrown veg  - all of the above, as well as an aubergine, a red chilli, shallots & garlic.
*Tipped all of the above into a bowl of couscous & that's tonight's dinner sorted as will serve it with leftover quich & salad from last night. Should be sufficient couscous for lunch tomorrow, although that will depend on levels of ravenousness the returning caveman declares later!
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast. I sometimes have to remind myself that we really did used to spend around £2000 per year between us on buying lunches on work days! Seems absolutely crazy now, of course.
*Did a few surveys. Am wondering now if I might squeak £50 for July on PA - a nice boost for my August Personal Spends if I can. They are a bit low this month as I had a really good stock up of my toiletries stash.
*Meal plans for next week - not yet done but have started thinking about it.
*Grocery shopping list  - not done as depends on the above.
*Mr F is off on Friday & when he heard it is my Big Budget Day, he offered to go to A*di with the pantry stock-up list. I think he is feeling as pleased as I am that we did manage our planned £100 underspend & going off to spend it on a good haul of store cupboard items which will see us well into the Autumn will be something he will quite enjoy. I haven't done the list yet, so must think about that too, even though I will probably defer actually writing it & checking everything until tomorrow.
*Our local butcher is running some really good offers this week including enormous whole pork loins for £25, which we think we would cut up into at least 3 'Sunday joints' & some stewing/chilli-size chunks. Lots of packs on special multi-buy at 10 for £20 too, so we would be silly not to stock the freezer at those prices. Will nobble Mr F tonight as to which he thinks would be most useful, but am inclined to buy both & freeze.
*A good free bending & stretching session is imminent as I am signing out shortly & getting out into the garden for a bit of clearing, potting-on & hefting containers around. Will pick a few flowers too for a free posy for my flower bottle.
*Hairwash/bath later - STILL using 2 of the 3 products I was sent to test earlier this year, which is helping my stash to last longer.
Relaxing evening planned - 'Sewing Bee' final & need to get moving on B-i-L's 2nd sock for the presents bag. 
Soot went into massive desperation pester-mode for a taste of crab spread while I was making crab & cucumber sarnies at lunchtime. As soon as I gave him some, he sniffed it & gave me a look as if to say, 'Wot this gruel?' & stalked off. Luckily Ash appeared shortly afterwards & made short work of it. Bloody cats, can't live with em, can't live without 'em!
Right, off to fetch the secateurs......keep your pence in your purses,
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Well, it's been a right domesticated day so far....I've felt like Mrs Crocombe off YouTube! I don't think I'm going to do any more jobs today. It's muggy & breezy here rather than sunny, but I think I am shortly heading for the coffee bench with my book and/or shawl knitting. Anyway, budget-helping efforts first & tbh, I seem to have spent most of the morning making lists! 
*Watered veg.
*Today's garden pickings: Another cucumber (no.19, I think) & some coriander.
*Baked a crusty loaf.
*Used up the end of a loaf to bake a bread pudding - the 'cakey' sort from the Crank's recipe book, rather than the better known bread & butter pudding. Plenty of dried fruit in it & it's made from wholemeal bread, skimmed milk, an egg & not very much butter, so I always think it doubles as an emergency portable breakfast in an emergency. Probably more nutrients in it than those silly 'breakfast biscuit' jobbers, anyway. Sampled a small square with my coffee & have frozen most of it.
*Did meal plans for next week. Would have done this yesterday but was waiting for Mr F to decide if he wanted a BBQ this weekend & in the end he didn't. (Soot heard me counting cat food pouches & thought he was on for another breakfast, so was well disappointed when the box was returned to the cat cupboard).
*Wrote grocery shopping list (List 1)
*Then took my notepad into the pantry while I conducted some investigations of an inventorial nature as to our current stocks of various tins, ingredients, etc, before writing List 2 - for tomorrow's store-cupboard stock-up trip.
*Wrote final list (no. 3) for town centre on Saturday, including those good butcher offers, etc.
*Rounded up a bag of bottles & tubs for visiting the eco-refill shop.
*Did a couple of surveys, but very few around so far today. 
Tomorrow is my Big Budget Day so it will be calculators at dawn as I reconcile & shut down July's budget & set up August's. I always enjoy it once I get going, then I can close the Money Book knowing that we are solvent for another month, as many things as possible with a cost implication have been anticipated in advance & our monthly savings commitments have been honoured. Here's hoping no nasty surprises are lurking under the metaphorical between-months budgeting bridge like the troll ready to jump out & gobble the billy-goats-gruff! I don't want anything trip-trapping its way over my bridge, thank-you very much!
Pestering for afternoon cat treats will soon begin. Neither of them are owning up as to who was responsible for the disgusting hairball hacked up onto the doormat overnight. Suffice to say it had to be hosed down before it could go in the washing machine. 
Wishing everyone a pleasant rest of the day,
F x

Makingabobor2

Sounds like another busy day, think you deserve your rest on the coffee bench.  I still haven't started bread making, I really must. Think my kitchen needs a make over to create more room for baking. When I  make cakes, I get really frustrated as there never seems to be enough room.  Could do with more cupboards and more work surface.....so really a new kitchen....lol. 

foxgloves

That's why I won't be tempted by any further gadgets/appliances, @Makingabobor2. I do have things on our kitchen work surfaces - toaster, coffee machine, stand mixer & slow cooker, plus a plate rack out of the way under the boiler cupboard. I don't have a microwave or air-fry thing. I prefer having space to work in. I could have had another work surface on the other side of the kitchen, but that would have meant getting rid of my lovely big dresser & I don't want to do that. It was a housewarming present from my Mum & Dad when I bought my first house 30 years ago & I'm very fond of it. I think if money for buying/extending a property were no object, I'd go for a big vintage wooden table in the middle of a larger kitchen & then I could both work at it & sit at it. 
F

Makingabobor2

Ooh yes, big kitchen with table in the middle would be great. 

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Busy morning with the financials, so I'll start off today's money saving bits with that:
*Big Budget Day. Reconciled July's budget to close it down & then set August's. Couldn't see any obvious nasties lurking, though noted it's a 5-week month for grocery shopping. Paid into the Car Fund, Premium bonds & 6 Savings Pots. Allowed a slightly bigger buffer zone than usual as we have guests next weekend. We will meal plan & tbh have half of it in stock already.
*Mr F set out to Al** with the pantry stock-up list we'd planned from our £100 July grocery budget underspend. He spent £65, so the remaining £35 will subsidise those local butcher offers tomorrow. He said there were some really noticeable gaps on the shelves & couldn't get quite a few items we'd normally buy, inc tinned cannellini beans, butter beans, anchovies, reduced fat mayonnaise & other items. There weren't even any crackers & he got the last washing powder on the shelf. We only go there for about 3 big pantry stock-ups per year, so I don't know how normal this is for this store.
*Big filing session.
*Entered 3 competitions.
*Today's garden pickings: 4 courgettes, 1.4kg tomatoes.
Not my cooking night. I am going to sit out on the coffee bench & knit my new shawl, alternating with a chapter or two of my book. I'll just tell you about a moment of shock earlier when I looked down at my ankle (I'm wearing cropped leggings) to see how 2 insect bites I got yesterday are doing & spotted lots of dark hairs seemingly growing out of my leg! Shock horror.....started thinking it must be me being post-menopause. Then thankfully realised they were cat hairs. Had put suncream on as the sun was streaming in through the open french doors straight onto my sore bitten ankle, then a couple of hours later, Soot had appeared for an opening salvo of biscuit pester & wound himself around my legs!! Very relieved had not turned into a hairy mary overnight.
Anyway, enjoy your Friday nights, all. 
F x
P.S Have now been bitten on the other side of my ankle by a ladybird!!