Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

BlueJ94

Ahhh @foxgloves your diary threads are always full of support and always interesting to read. I look forward to the updates thanks for the support on my own thread! Look forward to reading along

lucielle

I was going to attempt to read your old diary, so I’m very pleased you’ve started a new one!  Hope you don’t mind me popping in and out. 

L

CreditCardJunkie

Absolutely love the theme of resourcefulness! I think many of us will be the same in the coming year, we redecorated recently and I would have liked some new curtains which we could absolutely afford however after having a look online and considering I wouldn't find what I wanted for under £100 I decided that it was definitely not a necessity and the money would be better spent elsewhere. 

ziggy2407

foxgloves said:

@ziggy2407 - I must confess that if you've asked yourself "What would Foxgloves do?" today, then the answer is "Eat cake!"
Glad you sorted out a new washing machine - typical of it to choose New Year to cark it - a time when most people want to be pulling in their horns a bit & revisiting budgets.
I agree about the price of cat food. It's shot up in price. For about 2 or 3 years, the best price for it around here was in Wilk*'s, but not any more. We went to buy a couple of boxes (after 18 months of being catless) & found that it was cheaper to get the same brand from Waitr*se! We shop around now & divert via Mr M's if it is cheaper there. Ash isn't too fussy, though can be a bit random. Soot is a jelly-licker. 
£1000 in side-hustles last year was an awesome amount! I haven't done any online sales for ages (apart from the occasional box of books to Ziff*t. I think I like selling vintage items the most & I've kind of got to a position now where I want to keep all the vintage stuff I still have. The only exception is a few big Wedgewood mugs (tankard size) with historical themes, which I started collecting in my 30s during my shockingly spendy & very frequent weekend visits to antique/collector fairs. I don't really want to be wrapping & posting china though, so I may just take them to the antiques place or market in town & see if a dealer will swap them as a job-lot for something I do want. I wouldn't be bothered if they got the better deal, as I'd just prefer to have something more useful instead. I've done quite well with surveys throughout 2022 - I managed to raise almost all of the cost of our turkey in supermarket vouchers from 2 survey sites & have augmented my monthly Personal Spends quite a lot by doing PA surveys more regularly. I don't do as many survey sites as I used to, but I am going to continue with the ones I like & find productive.
I've also done more competitions recently. I always used to say that I only win one prize each year, but couldn't think of anything I'd won in 2022. Then I remembered I won £50 of supermarket vouchers in their monthly customer feedback prize draw. So I must get back to doing those too. Do you still do all your comping?
F x

Yes, still comping which meant some lovely prizes shared this year with friends and family and also some items donated to our local Childrens Hospital and the local radio Christmas appeal.  I also stepped up my reading (80 books in 2022) and am now up to date on Elly Griffths, all the Shetland Books and a fab writer called M W Craven introduced to me by a friend so looking forward to more of your recommendations.

maryb

Following again.  Whenever I feel myself getting a bit frittery (I'm an emotional spender AND eater - a fatal combination!)  reading your diary helps me pull myself up

QueenJess

I thought you would all appreciate this post as a resourcefulness idea.  Stop buying wrapping paper and sellotape for gifts.  No need for either of them.  Here I have reused packaging paper (I flattened it out) by using some stampers I already had, ties made from things I got for free (one from a parcel and the other from a balloon tie one of the kids got from a birthday party) and the tags were cut from paper/card I already had from card making supplies.  I'm really not the best wrapper, but I think it looks nice and not cheap at all.

foxgloves

Thanks so much for all the positive comments. I think we all encourage each other on these diaries, don't we? And I do like that it is anonymous. I do share lots of stuff about my life & financial reformation, but studiously avoid mentioning things like my profession, which is something very specific & even cats' real names so as not to unmask myself. Not because I have anything to hide, far from it, but there are a few people IRL whom I wouldn't want to be nosying at my business - that's probably the same for all of us. That's the good thing about these forums -  sharing & hopefully helping one or two others along the way with their LBMs & learning to budget can be done incognito. And keeping a dfw diary (or a 'Staying debt-free diary in my case) does help to keep me motivated too.

@QueenJess - Full marks for resourcefulness there! I think you will like the job I have got lined up for Thursday morning!

F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Readers,
Well, Mr F started back at work today so was out of the house by 7.45am, leaving me to get back to my weekday routines. I got steak & kidney into the slow cooker, confirmed that we have sufficient Christmas cake left for tonight's dessert, then made a start on packing away Christmas things - all festive crockery now back in its dresser cupboard & I also rounded up all non-tree decorations onto the dining table ready to pack away properly tomorrow when I take the tree down. I'd intended to gather up the outdoor decs too (just from a potted tree & the wreath) but it has rained all day & I didn't fancy wrestling with soggy holly & having to dry off baubles.
Did my regular start of week budget updates & was pleased to see that we did indeed come in under budget for Jan Week 1's groceries - an underspend of about £14. Then put away a lot of random stuff, including B-i-L's socks which I did finally finish last night & which are now in the presents bag. When I went to put the leftover yarn away, I had a quick look through to see what no-spend projects I can make this year from my stash. Right at the back of a drawer, I found a new 100g ball of self-patterning sock yarn from Norwegian designers Arne & Carlos. I definitely haven't bought that & I can't recall my sister giving it to me. I think it must have come from my friend who sometimes brings me a bag of odds & ends as she's decluttering. Whatever its source, it is a perfect colourway for Mr F, so I will cast on a pair to knit gradually over the next few weeks when he's out of the house, then they can go in the presents bag too. 
Also sorted out my toiletries stash. I've moved this to a shallower basket & put it in my chest of drawers where I can see at a glance what I've already got & what I need to buy. There were 2 free make-up bags containing free products which I was given in the shop which sounds like where you would go for a new body (if only!). I hadn't really looked at them properly & had then forgotten them - lots of skincare stuff - serum, 2 sheet masks, cleansing balm, body cream, plus a full-sized bottle of a facial peel which I got free with something else ages ago, also some little sachets of samples. With the lovely skincare product Mr F bought me for Christmas, you should be able to see me glowing from the other end of the country! These discoveries were followed by a thorough clean out of my bathroom cupboard & the freebies will start getting used from tonight. @BalanceBy50, you'll be pleased to hear I am still an avid tube-cutter! Cut my night cream open as the tube refused to yield more than a tiny stingy blob last night, & there is enough left in there for at least a week. I did have to throw a product away though. Some time ago, I bought a shampoo bar with a matching conditioner bar from a local maker - she makes lovely things, fab fragrance but I just cannot get on with shampoo bars. Yes, I've tried sticking with the shampoo bar for longer, using vinegar as a final rinse, etc, but I am left with a sticky coating on my hair which simply will not shift for love nor money & am reminded of those kids at school we rather meanly called 'Chip-pan hair'. I reused the shampoo bar as a hand soap, but was unable to repurpose the conditioner bar (which wouldn't rinse out of my hair AT ALL!) I cut it into little squares & tried using as bath melts, but they didn't melt properly & made a gunky mess of the bath which required a ridiculous amount of scrubbing. I then tried using them as solid hand cream. That was more successful, but messy & too much residue to make touching anything (without wiping 99% of it straight off) afterwards possible. I did still manage to cut plastic bottle use by buying a refillable bottle each of shampoo & conditioner, which was my main aim when I tried the bars, so I'm fine with that...........but you know how much I hate wasting anything! I was truly beaten by the conditioner bar though.
Anyway, felt motivated by all this activity & even decluttered a small annoying kitchen cupboard while waiting for the coffee machine to brew.
Target jobs for tomorrow are taking the Christmas tree down as already mentioned & doing a stock-take of the pantry. I've lost track of what's in both there & the freezer since all the festive goodies started space invading, so I need to delve into the depths,  identify any use-it-ups & make sure nothing's getting wasted.
There's a whole lot of meowing going on downstairs......think it's just tummy-time, but I'm going to sign out & check what's going on with the beasticles.
Take care m'dears,
F x

EssexHebridean

happy new diary AND happy new year Foxgloves! I'm just catching up - was wondering how come there were so few posts on your previous diary then got here to find 5 additional pages! I'm all subscribed and along for the ride again! 

foxgloves

Happy New Year to you too, @EssexHebridean. Lol, I bet you thought somebody had zipped my mouth up. Am still here, but as I am doubling down my focus this year, to reflect the current economic situation, I thought a new diary might well help with that.
F x