Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

KajiKita · 13 November 2024 at 8:24PM

I think the cake board adaption is genius … 😊 It’s one of those fixes that takes longer to explain than do! 😉

Like the wrapping paper use of table cloth 👏😊

Good luck with the squash-battle!

KK

Baileys_Babe · 14 November 2024 at 12:05AM

We too enjoy camping, we do own a collection of tents 🤭 of varying sizes and designs and take whichever combo works where and who is going.

Suffolk_lass · 14 November 2024 at 8:15AM

Have you considered looking at the bread boards in your local charity shops? If your cake is round, you might find one the right size (upside down would hide the carved "Bread", and if a square, well, a cut down chopping board that costs pennies, either of them covered in foil is an alternative option.

Re wrapping paper, I have almost entirely swapped to brown paper now, with festive reusable ribbons and bows. I recover the decorative bits and the brown paper is saved or recycled, depending on its state. I understand a lot of wrapping paper contains plastic, and while reuse is excellent on your part, over here I just cannot rely on my rellies being as diligent about disposal, even if all our black bin refuse is all incinerated. All the gifts look quite "Victorian" in their brown jackets, under the tree

Makingabobor2 · 14 November 2024 at 8:42AM

@Suffolk_lass, I think gifts look so lovely wrapped in brown paper & string, much better than some of the so called festive paper. Always remember my mum using " Christmas" sellotape. It never matched the paper & looked awful.

Tescodealqueen · 14 November 2024 at 10:25AM

I have taken to using old clothes and fabric remnants to make reusable gift bags . Enjoying making them too so double winner. As I gift I ask people to reuse them if they wish to or just hand back. A friend and I have been exchanging birthday gifts in the same bag for a while

foxgloves · 14 November 2024 at 5:47PM

Hi & thanks for all your contributions.
@Suffolk_lass - Thanks for your ideas. The guillotine can't cope with the v large cakeboard apparently, so Mr F determined not to be thwarted, is intending to set about it with a stanley knife. If all else fails & I want a no-spend option, I can always cover some thick card with aluminium foil, although I've done that before & it does rather end up with little bits of rucked up foil adhering to the underside of people's slices of cake. Part of the problem is the design of the cake carrier, but I shall find a solution.
Yes, I am with you on plasticky wrapping paper. Thankfully, non-plastic varieties are much easier to buy now than they used to be. Gift-wrap that isn't foiled, glittery or coated in something to make it extra-shiny can be recycled & I find the big rolls from our Oxfam bookshop are pretty good. I usually stock up in January when they are trying to clear them at half-price. If I receive something wrapped in plasticky stuff, I do try to re-use it, as at least it keeps it out of landfill for longer. Really, with all that is now known about the damage caused by micro-plastics, I don't know why the plasticky varieties are still on sale.

@Makingabobor2 - Yes, I remember that tape. It was pretty horrid, wasn't it. Atm, I am using paper tape with a b & w Christmas tree design which I found in an NT shop. I am surprised how well it is sticking tbh & wish I'd bought 2 rolls. I also use string. I quite like brown paper for wrapping - I can make origami stars from oddments of colourful wrapping paper so I think they would look nice against brown paper.

@Tescodealqueen - Great idea! Mr F & I have a nice gift bag each which comes out every year for re-use. I occasionally used to wrap my Mum's gifts in festive fabric as she was such a keen crafter.
F

Suffolk_lass · 14 November 2024 at 6:14PM

Origami decorations.... just off to YouTube to check that out

foxgloves · 14 November 2024 at 6:26PM

Greetings Thursday Readers,
Well, I have to admit that despite my good intentions today, I have written precisely NO Christmas cards & haven't wrapped a sausage! And I'm not bothered, as I've had a blimming useful day, mostly at my desk, doing admin & particularly those tasks which get/keep one organised. Today's budget-helping activities:
*The leftover roast pork chunks I froze the other week are in the slow cooker - pork chilli. I adapted a recipe from one I saw ages ago into a scaled down 2-person version for the slow cooker. We both really like it & it will only need some rice to go with it.
*Tweaked next week's meal plans to include Indian butternut squash curry as I need to do another batch cook of that to use up the last big piece of our final humungous squash. Can't bear food waste.
*Wrote grocery shopping list & pinged it to Mr F who, I know, has money-off vouchers for 2 items. Whether or not he gets his free coffee is under debate as apparently his travel beaker lid has broken. I'm hoping he doesn't go rogue with buying a new one as I am planning to buy him a hardcore keeps-coffee-hot-till-he-is-102 one for Christmas. I'll try to discourage him & maybe lend him my lime green & fuchsia pink one....at least he won't lose it, lol!
*Did latest budget updates - mostly Savings Pot funds transfers for paying off my CC - followed by my regular mid-month budget check-in. No nasty surprises. Have £10-19 less than I expected, but with all the funds whizzing around various pots/accounts atm, I think the likelihood is simply that I have made a small error somewhere. I don't intend going on a forensic level hunt for a tenner.
*Wrote up a new Holiday Pot Payment Schedule which lives in the back of my trusty money book. It was interesting doing this, as it showed how holiday rentals & cattery fees have increased - well, tbf, heated pens will be costing cattery owners more, & cat food has really increased in price since the pandemic. I prefer to book 2 single adjacent pens for Soot & Ash because while they are often friends, they are both capable of getting on each other's nerves & Ash (ex-feral) can sometimes get quite hostile towards Soot, who is more gentle. So for a week's holiday, I need to add on c. £200 for their cattery stay. Anyway, the new payment plan covers next year's holiday to Northumbria & the one we've just booked to celebrate our Silver Wedding the year after, plus cattery fees & works out that we need to add to what is already in the Holiday Savings Pot at a rate of £50 per month until next Summer, then increase it to £55 per month. Then we will need to let the Holiday Pot recover in time for Mr F's 60th (still a way off as yet) so in 2027, we are both perfectly happy to have a week in the en-suite hostel rooms at our favourite campsite as it is much more affordable than a cottage & we loved it when we tested it out in September. We also had a bit more of a conversation about more general budgetty goals/themes for next year & I think we will almost certainly make these into a money saving plan. Apparently Mr F is 'up for a challenge' & I certainly will be. Anyway, more of that another day.
*Wrote a new library wishlist.
*Started a new notebook which I shopped from home! I always have a notebook on the go & remembered that I'd received a nice cheery one with hearts on the cover as a gift.
*Got some dates into my diary - glass recycling bin (new service so we're not that au fait with the dates yet) & a year's worth of garden waste bin collection dates. We pay directly for that one & always have chunky garden waste so I like to get my money's worth. Did other bits of diary-sorting out too.
*Wrote a list for going into town tomorrow as I could do with zipping in & out rather than looking in every shop window.
*Did a few surveys, but then PA started having weird technical problems which had me stuck in a loop, so I gave up & signed out. I think when everyone has paid me, I should have got over the £20 mark. My monthly target is £40, but the month is yet young.
Well, it is now as dark as a very dark thing, so I shall close all the curtains & light the lamps & fairy lights & get ready to put the shopping away.
Get those toes cosy,
F x