Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

badmemory

Mine is free, fortnightly & includes food.  The only time they don't collect is around new year when they miss just one.  I suspect they know that the majority just won't or can't pay & so it will all go to landfill.

Makingabobor2

Our garden bin was £39 last year, and is all year round.  Goodness knows what will happen if they merge the councils like they are talking of doing.  I can't see it working well TBH. 

rtandon27

Ours is currently 41gbp a year & payable in September (it goes up by a few pounds each year) - I believe it is 50 out of 52 weeks, as they don't collect at xmas and new year.  Most folks on our street have a green bin and are mostly avid gardeners. with the exception of the neighbours with the plastic grass.

foxgloves

Yes, there is a lot of regional variation, as we found out in our previous discussion of the subject - some of it over quite a small amount of miles. As @Sun_Addict commented, we do indeed live in the same county, maybe about 17 or 18 miles away, yet the  collections happen twice a month from March to October where I live & we also get a monthly one from November to February. You'd think counties might offer the same service, but there again, it's a district, rather than county council service so I suppose different councils can do what they like. I like having the all year-round collections because I do try to get out there on bright Winter days to do a bit of cutting back & clearing. 
F
 

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,
Such a bright day today after a hard frost overnight which froze our garden absolutely white until mid-morning. Shame I didn't make use of such a lovely day to get out into the garden, but I was busy with other stuff, so decided to wait until the weekend. Today's budget-friendly stuff:
*A no-spend day.....well, it is unless Mr F arrives home from work bearing biscuits - I gather he hasn't had the best day....you know those occasions where you absolutely play something by the rules in a difficult situation, then the top brass bend the rules, rather than back you. Doubtless I shall soon hear the full tale.
*Froze 2 portions of the dhal I made yesterday, which we both thought was very nice so will be happy to eat again.
*Baked a loaf.
*Finally got round to making the garlic pickle I have been promising Mr F for ages, which has shifted all those annoying titchy little jars from my stash. It has stunk out the whole house so any vampires lurking in the North East Midlands will definitely not be making an appearance here at Foxgloves Manor any time soon. Scented candle at the ready! 
*Home care hour + the half hour I bumped from yesterday = Cleaned the bathroom, refilled bubble bath decanter (50p from a church jumble stall!) & also the diffuser bottle, which needed doing & I thought it might help diffuse away a bit of the garlic pickle miasma. Vacuumed all of downstairs & tidied.
*Wrote a list for town tomorrow. 
*Updated March grocery budget with last night's Week 1 shopping so as to be 'on it' from the beginning. Looking like an ok start, so have added a visit to the Eco-Refill shop to tomorrow's list. I don't need much, just a couple of washing-up liquid refills & some nuts.
*Did a few surveys. I really am wondering why one survey provider keeps asking me if I use 'beard dye'!! It rather shows that however much profiling info we provide when we sign-up, it doesn't seem to be part of a meaningful targeting algorithm! Shall have a final check-in to PA before I sign out, as I intend to cash out tomorrow.
*Planned my priority tasks for weekend gardening sessions. Certainly they are going to result in a lot more plant freebies. I'm so looking forward to getting my old boots on & getting out there. Mr F is planning to fetch our annual compost/grow-bag supplies this weekend too, so when I see all those piled up, I shall really feel like we are moving into Springtime.
Right, that's me done. The Beloved is now apparently stuck in horrendous traffic, which has doubtless put the tin lid on his day! Tonight's nosebag is very trouble-free - Have defrosted 2 portions of the turkey chilli from my post-Christmas cook-up so one of us just needs to make some nice jacket wedges. 
Chat soon,
F x

Makingabobor2

so you started your day with frost, we started ours with fog, dampness and very cold, but turned out warm and blue sky by lunch time.  England is so odd....lol

DawnW

Commiserations to Mr F on the work shenanigans. I remember it sooo well!

KajiKita

Huge sympathies to Mr F. Been there too and it can be soul destroying. He at least has the satisfaction of knowing that *HE* did the right thing, whatever happened next. I hope a sunny weekend will help him put it in perspective and behind him. 

The beard dye selection made me chuckle … 😂😉

KK

Suffolk_lass

Your mention of collecting this year's compost by Mr F nudged me to look for tomato compost (grow bags; which I decant into pots). I hound a garden centre around 12 miles away, selling organic peat-free for £3.99 for a 42L bag and tried to order the five I will need. After being content with their website suggestion that only C&C was an option, when I got to check out only delivery (charged for) was available. So I used their email enquiries to advise the inconsistency and further dangle the sale of five bags, and added my number in case they responded. They did - they rang me as I was driving Mr Sl home from hospital (hooray!), and after confirming their stock levels in a second call, I asked them to put them aside for me. 

We got home, I made Mr Sl a decent cup of tea, cooked him a low fat omelette (herbs, s&p), with a dash of water to stop it sticking, and went and collected them. 210 litres later, in the boot of my car after deploying my (always available) nitrile gloves to not get too much black wet sludge on my hands, my gardener moved them to the greenhouse when we got home. They were clearly last year's remaining stock, and had been stored outside. They were wet but not compromised, and as I use liquid feed, I am happy. Prices have shot up this year.

Happy days, with around eight tomatoes having germinated already in the heated propagator out there.

2Scratters

@KajiKita re the extra forward payments for the gas/ electric I see no reason in letting the supplier get any benefit of my over payments. I do however have an accounts pot for the utilities of added what has been recommended or my anticipation of costings. I'd rather me make a little extra money. I do monthly readings as it is. If my account is getting down a little bit I will throw £100 into there to keep it floating obviously not going into debt. 
Learning how to make some firelighters as per Nancy B. Lets see how this turns out 

Have a good weekend all

2 Scratters xx