Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Hello Frugal Diary Friends,
Well, I have everything out ready to make a little Hallowe'en display in our front window this afternoon. I haven't bought anything for it - just stuff which comes out each year along with our 2 home grown pumpkins & some pine cones I found in the shed. So I suppose as I haven't been tempted to spend anything, that can be today's kickoff for budget-helping activity. Other stuff:
*Free fitness cracking on with cutting back & clearing one of our big garden borders. I spent about an hour & a half on that & filled up the rest of the brown garden wheelie which is being collected tomorrow (you know I like to get my money's worth on that one!) & 2 for our compost bins. Could feel I'd had a good stretch.
*Very budget nosebag tonight as we are simply having some of the home made tomato soup I made earlier this week with either scrambled eggs on toast or cheese on toast, whichever we fancy.
*Wrote Week 5's grocery shopping list having reminded myself of what we'd actually put on our meal plans.
*Chatted about the coming weekend which will be a low spend one as we decided to bump our already postponed (due to weather) outing for a little longer as we think the place in question will be full of children's Hallowe'en trails & activities. Not that I mind seeing them having seasonal fun, far from it, but at this particular place, school holidays do seem to put a lot of additional pressure on parking, cafe queues, etc, so we will wait. Instead, we decided we both fancy a simple trip to town, breakfast in our current favourite cafe & a film, followed by at-home bacon rolls & an autumnal gardening day together on the Sunday. I do need some bits & pieces in town but nothing that's going to be a significant spend.
*Did some surveys & upped my PA October earnings to around £24 once everyone has paid me. Sill another week to go so will try & increase this. Nothing doing on the other very few sites which I do.
*Started the heel flap on the last pair of socks I'm knitting for a present.
I still haven't got around to properly unpacking the presents stash & making a list of the items therein. I have a feeling that I am further ahead with gifts for some people than I actually think I am. I know I am pretty much there with 2 of our most difficult people to buy for. I have bumped this task to tomorrow as I want to spend a decent amount of time on it, make a list of stuff we still need to buy, & then put a cost estimate alongside each one so I can have an idea of how far the Presents Pot is going to stretch. It's one of those little things where knowledge is power because I can also choose to use my credit card creatively to stretch payment dates to their max without incurring any interest, so as to place that particular spend in November, December or January's budget. Normally, because of course back in the Spendy Years I used to carry a lot of silly festive debt across into the new year, I aim to have all Christmas expenses paid off by the time I sit down to set January's budget. I also need to check back on the price of 2 box-sets which I pre-ordered for Mr F (Christmas & birthday) so I can add those into the presents spending matrix too.
Right, enough of my yakking. I am off to locate a suitable candle for my storm lantern as I think that will look quite effective among pumpkins (both real & knitted) & other seasonal bits & bobs on our windowsill. Then I really must get my garden-clearer/weed wrestler's limbs into a nice hot bubble bath. I am still ahead on the steps challenge atm, but Mr F has really closed the gap today. Hopefully a walk followed by my big weekly house clean will put me a wodge of steps on tomorrow.
Oh, & @KajiKita - I think it was you who said that I didn't usually come across as competitive. In most things, I'd rather be communing with nature than competing (esp sporty stuff in which I have absolutely zero interest) but I do like to win when it's me that's suggested the challenge & I am very competitive in games which I am good at - i.e Scrabble, Backgammon, etc. I like to win at cards too, especially when there is coinage involved!
Keep it in your purses, m'dears,
F x

PennysIntoPounds

The autumnal display sounds lovely.

I got everything out of the presents bag to look at in one go the other day and was very pleased to confirm I'd managed to acquire all of mum's main gifts. Glad I started to put a few quid here and there in the Christmas pot earlier in the year, it makes such a difference.
Enjoy your presents stash review. Maybe with a bit of classical music in the background and a wee Baileys or some such?

foxgloves

Unbelievably, I'm still ahead in the steps challenge, so I'm off out for a walk & will chat later about money-saving efforts
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Friends, 
Well, I re-did my seasonal window display this morning & decided because of interest from cats, I'd be better just tumbling it all into a basket.....though Pyewacket the toy cat has already been bashed off his pumpkin!
I'm looking forward to an hour in a sunny chair with my book shortly, but thought I'd get my post on first. Quite a pleasantly busy day - budget-positive things as follows:
*Free fitness walk around the village. 
*Garden pickings: Lettuce & mizuna
*Baked a sourdough.
*Wrote Week 5's grocery shopping list & pinged it to Mr F. I would happily do the weekly grocery shopping as the non-working person in the household, but I don't have the car in the week & wouldn't really want to wrestle a whole weekly shop onto the village bus. List not too big, but a few random bits to get on the market on Sat, so I don't think we will have money leftover (which is Mr F's aim).
*Gathered together my pile of 'unfinished business'/papers/receipts ready for tomorrow which is my Big Budget Day. Gave myself a sneak preview of Mr F's CC bill, as there is some as yet undealt with presents expenditure on it & I am cogitating over how best to budget for it. I think it will end up being 6 of one & half a dozen of the other, actually, as these things often are.
*Turned out the presents stash & wrote an updated list of what we have bought for our 10 recipients (excluding each other). Delighted that our most difficult to buy for people are pretty much sorted. Most items we still need to buy are inexpensive, except for a couple of gift cards for nephews & a gift for oldest nephew, with whom we seem to be the furthest behind. He's the one who is having a supermarket gift card for his main present as his student rent is apparently extortionate this year. I've checked & he shops at A*di, so I hope they do giftcards.
*After that, felt inspired to start making a list of what I've got Mr F for his birthday & Christmas plus a few ideas.
*Started a library returns bag. 
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Small amount of present knitting.
*Another easy freezer batch-cook option tonight - pulled pork on jacket potatoes with a big side salad.
*A very few surveys
And that is pretty much my day - the money-saving elements of it, anyway.
Love to all.... & keep your pence in your purse!
F x
P.S Not the best photo because the sun was at the wrong angle - yet again our windows are covered in a film of builder's dust. There is always work being done near us on this street. It seems neverending.

Makingabobor2

Aww that's a lovely decoration

foxgloves

Thanks, @Makingabobor2 - At least it didn't involve buying anything because that damned washing machine stuck its oar properly into our finances this month!
F 

Sunshine_girl2

What a jolly display , especially love the cat . 

PennysIntoPounds

Aw that's so sweet. Love that the cats weren't tolerating any cat competition though 😁
Aldo do do (this sounds like a song now!) gift cards and are included in several of the general shop cards so have a double check on the one you're looking to purchase but it won't be a hassle to find one. Reminder to check if you can go through a cashback site too!

Four_Seasons

Your display looks just lovely. Just been kicking myself as didn't get round to checking bank balances on Monday as per Foxgloves! It's taken me twice as long today, missed a Sainsbugs receipt lesson learnt.😏 xx

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,

@foxgloves I was kind of hoping I was able to take a leaf out of your book by doing a questionnaire.
 I got sent an email offering me an opportunity of making £70 - yes £70 for an hours work. I was so excited and was accepted. Right up until the day of it taking place...then reading the "legal stuff" I became dubious of it. I had already declined a video (which they were OK with)  recording but was happy for them to take an audio of the conversation. Then having seen other types of advertisements and I got to thinking of Artificial intelligence my conscience (ethics and morals) kicked in thinking Naa! not playing that ball game or being involved of being untruthful. So I let it go and cancelled. 

I'm carrying on recycling money by removing slowly items that I no longer have use for (don't fit  ) putting a £1 away for each item I have UU from my excesses and parents left overs and still doing this from where they are now living  I am almost at a free months shopping in cash. 


Off to do a bit more whilst I have the drive.

2 Scratters xx