Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

alt80

@foxgloves we've had a number of scam calls recently with similar type RP accents along with increasingly sophisticated email scams - be vigilant. 

foxgloves

@alt80 - Thanks. Yes, I shall be very vigilant. I think we've probably all had a bit of a snigger at how poor some of these scams are - ridiculous phone calls, emails incorrectly written full of daft situations, etc, people thinking they're in a relationship with a film star who desperately needs gift cards, etc, but the reality is that some of the banking scams are getting pretty sophisticated. I think it's helpful to share experiences of these so people know what range of red flags to look out for. Even though I did realise I was talking to a scammer & thankfully didn't lose any money, I still learned from the experience & there are 2 or 3 things I would do differently if it happens again, which I'm sure it will as these s***s are everywhere.
F

foxgloves

Hello Wednesday Pence-Wranglers & thanks for all your comments.
Not much to report today, but here are the budget-friendly bits for what it's worth:
*Waitbl00m first thing with Week 4 grocery shopping list. Made use of a £9 off a £90 spend voucher by buying a few items for a family meal we're hosting the weekend after next. Also used 1 of the 3 x £5 vouchers I received from my email about a foreign body found in a jar of nut butter, as well as a few loyalty card money-off e-vouchers. 
*Naturally we both took advantage of free coffees while we were there.
*Plant hospital duties: turned out a drowned dahlia (accidentally overwatered by Mr F) & repotted the only 2 tiny pieces of unrotted tuber plus 2 little side shoots just in case. 
*Garden pickings: A couple of decent windfall pears, courgettes.
*Over lunch, we made a list of all the jobs we need to do before we go on holiday. A vast amount of them are jobs for me.....though as Mr F is out at work earning the money for holidays, that is probably fair enough. I always feel better once I've quantified what needs doing & formulated a plan with a timescale. It puts a brake on my wearisomely large capacity for overthinking.
*Made a sourdough for baking tomorrow morning.
And that's about it. Bit of reading (me), blasting a few virtual aliens (him), hanging about the kitchen endlessly pestering for food - until they twigged it is de-fleaing day (cats). We had another go at the weekend crossword & now only have 1 clue left to solve, so may see if we can get that later over a bit of TV. Not my cooking night & Mr F's chosen recipe requires 800g courgettes!!! So only another 27 stone of them to go then!
Peace,
F x

alt80

@foxgloves one of the best ones I had was someone posing as HMRC calling because I apparently owed tax from a few years back and they would only accept Apple gift cards as payment. Very much doubt anyone fell for that ha. 

badmemory

I used to get one a week saying my prime membership was about to expire.  Like I would fall for that.

foxgloves

@alt80 - Oh that is funny.....as if HMRC would ask for you to pay with Apple gift cards, what's next, luncheon vouchers?!! Honestly, these people must think we came upstream on bloody water biscuits.......mind you, some people are beyond gullible.....this is an example from when I was working.
The place I worked offered a public fax-sending service. One afternoon, a bloke came in & asked one of the clerical staff to fax off some documents for him. They were his driving licence, bank account details, passport, etc, & as he was wanting them faxed to some random number, not HMRC or anything like that (there was a logbook of the faxes sent), she asked him if he was sure he knew who was going to be receiving them, as if not, he was about to share an awful lot of personal ID details. The conversation then continued like this......
Bloke: Oh yes, it's ok, I've got a letter <Pulls letter out of pocket>, I've won the Spanish lottery.
Staff member: Are you sure? <Looks at letter>. This doesn't look very official to me.
Bloke: Well, it defo says I've won, doesn't it?
Staff member: Have you ever done the Spanish lottery?
Bloke: No.
Staff: Well, you can't have won if you've never actually bought a ticket, can you?
Bloke: Well it says I have.
Staff member: Are you absolutely SURE you want me to fax off these documents because I think this looks like a scam. Have you ever been on a website for the Spanish lottery?
Bloke: No, I don't go online.
Staff member: Have you ever been to Spain?
Bloke: Nope!
Staff member: Last chance, because it's obviously none of my business & you're the customer. Do you definitely want me to send these documents?
Bloke: Yes, go on. You never know, there might be some money in it for me.

He wasn't a doddery old chap, just someone who couldn't join the very obvious dots. If there are people falling for swizzes as obvious as this, what chance do they have against the significantly more sophisticated banking scams that are very much out there? 

@badmemory - Oh those Prime scams did the rounds for a while, didn't they? I got a few of those despite never having a Prime account. Like all these crims, they must just catch enough gullible people to make it worth their while. 

We all need to be really suspicious & think into all the corners at all times. 
F

foxgloves

Hello Thursday Readers,
I don't seem to have done half what I intended today. Ah well, it's not worth fretting over as most things can wait until tomorrow or later if necessary. Today's budget-helping efforts - do bear in mind it's mostly kitchen witchery for veg gardeners at this time of year, so my posts are going to be even more samey than usual as we gather in our little harvest & lay it down for the colder months. I love that this simple stuff connects us to generations of people who have gone before us. I've been reading lots about the gut microbiome & its role in human health and I do think all our home grown organic fruit & veg can only be contributing good things. Anyway, you didn't come on here to read my ramblings about guts, so on with the money saving bits of the day:
*Not quite a no-spend day as Mr F needed petrol but nothing else has been purchased & as he has a 52-mile round trip commute to work, fuel is an essential.
*Garden pickings: Courgettes (which will soon be forming battalions & marching into the house on their own), last 2 cucumbers, blackberries, 2 kg pears.
*Made more blackberry & pear compote & bottled it. A nice thing to enjoy in the colder months, organically grown & can be stored in the pantry instead of taking up freezer space. When we had all that refurb work done on our house 2020 - 2022, that walk-in pantry was one of the best things we had done. It's a 1930s house & it was made from a dank old understairs cupboard. Such a difference now, with its shelves all lined with jars of tasty things.
*Virtually effortless nosebag tonight as am going to reheat the rest of the sausage hot-pot I made on Tuesday & serve it with rice & stir-fried courgettes. And no, the courgettes are NOT optional! This is not a problem though, as I like them & Mr F still seems happy to eat his bodyweight in them on a regular basis!
*Some number-crunching this afternoon. I wrote out a new Holiday Payment Schedule as needed to integrate the costs of a that extra mini-break we recently booked for Spring. I absolutely will NOT put any aspect of our holidays on a credit card  - well, apart from the initial payment to maximise loyalty points, of course, as I will admit I get ridiculously excited by JL points - no, holidays we haven't saved for are now well in the past, & my Payment Schedule ensures that the necessary funds are in the Holiday Savings Pot ready for each payment that needs to be made, whether it be deposit, balance or cattery fees. It took a while for me to get the figures right, but I settled on an additional £45 per month throughout the rest of this year & next being sufficient to pay everything we are already committed to. I do have a lump sum sitting in that Savings Pot which I am ignoring. It was from the money I recently inherited from our elderly relative & I banged it away ready for booking a fab cottage somewhere for Mr F's 60th. He's a few years younger than me & isn't 60 for a while yet, but it seemed a useful thing to do. So steam coming off the calculator, but it is now sorted out to my satisfaction. And tbh, under-planning plays to my overthinking & historic capacity for anxiety.
*Sewed in all the ends on the very funky pair of socks I've knitted for the presents stash. Shall perhaps cast on a pair of cable socks for myself now as have some fabulous indie-died yarn that I think would look good with boots. And no, I haven't been on a naughty little trippette to expensive yarn shops.........this was received as a birthday gift.
I'd hoped to crack on with some greenhouse maintenance this afternoon but ran out of time.
Not a brilliant night's sleep thanks to Ash being an absolute rascal. He got involved in a loud verbal spat with a very large aggressive white cat from a neighbouring street. Mr F went down to scare him away, but it turned out that Ash was the aggressor on this occasion & each time the interloper tried to slink off, he got swiped & chased. Ash wouldn't come in until this morning when he was extremely pleased with himself & sank a whole pouch of fishy stink in one before sleeping it off on the sofa. Think he must have been channelling his early years when he still had the full set of pom-poms.
Right, enough yakking.
Enjoy your evenings,
F x

foxgloves

Morning Campers!
Just having half an hour with a coffee & Ash on my lap before embarking on my day. As far as I can see, the budget-positives will be:
*Greenhouse maintenance session - I want to remove spent cucumber vines, space the chilli plants out a bit more for ripening, remove lower leaves on tomato plants (again to boost ripening) & remove leader shoots from peppers so that they focus on the existing fruits, rather than continuing to set more this late in the season.
*Garden pickings will be chillies, carrots, tomatoes & grapes.
*Decided to change menu for when our friends come over tomorrow & cook a nice meal instead of a bbq as chillier evening than expected & we do have lots of stuff in already without buying in another of our butcher's offers. 
*Water veg.
*Clean conservatory windowsills, feed & water indoor plants - I'd be sad to lose these, as while I am not generally bothered about growing exotics, I do have a few nice ones given to me by my Mum.
*Sewing afternoon. I want to get the sleeves of my maxi-dress finished & hopefully pin up the hem. If I can get this finished to my satisfaction, it will be a £25 dress. I'm not counting the reel of black thread as I shall use that on other stuff plus mending.
*Another very low effort meal tonight. Mr F made enough lovely WW lamb & marrow bake on Weds to feed us tonight as well, so I shall just need to do some veg to go with that. 
I have chosen a new audiobook to listen to - a biography of Stalin's daughter. Fancied something a bit different after a run of Scandi-crime novels.
Right, I can tell Ash is goung to be hugely resistent to moving, but I need to crack on.
Wishing everyone a peaceful productive day,
F x

Cheery_Daff

Naughty Ash! 

You've reminded me I must get up into the greenhouse - I noticed the fig looking rather shrivelled as I drove up the drive yesterday 😱

foxgloves

Grrrr, did not manage to have my sewing afternoon because greenhouse jobs & garden pickings took me longer than I thought, plus I decided really to go for the full-on glamour & de-gunk the pond.
Ah well, it will work out better in the end, as I intend to put Tuesday aside for Sewing Day then watch 'Sewing Bee' in the evening.
I think I smell a bit 'eau de pond' so am heading for a shower very shortly. Enjoy your evenings, all.
F x