Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Afternoon Campers!
Set off on today's errands mid-morning in sleet. By the time we'd reached our first destination all of 10 mins away, the sleet had turned to snow & was piling down in abundance. It hasn't stopped since then. It's settled on the garden but the roads & pavements were too wet, so are still clear. We didn't plan anything much as had seen the forecast. Today's small money saving wins:
*A careful list meant that the WaitBl00m part of our grocery shopping only came in at £34. Mr F had a 50p loyalty voucher off yoghurt & one of the items on our list was fulfilled with a yellow-sticker item. We both availed ourselves of a free coffee to warm us up on the way home.
*Used yesterday's £10 survey voucher against the groceries so sent £10 from grocery budget to Savings Pots (Clothes Pot) when I got back.
*Also sent £31 to the Leisure & Entertainment Pot (from the HMRC refund cheque).
*Successfully managed to get a copy of my birth certificate stamped at the local.job centre this morning so that & other details now posted off to HMRC for verification purposes (to correct the error on my record).
*Speedy food tonight - Spag bol.using a container of the bolognese sauce I made in the slow cooker a few weeks ago. 
NOT money saving: Temporarily moving thermostat back into hall. It's much colder there (open plan part of house) & triggers the heating to come on much more frequently..However, it's snowing, it's v cold atm & we are both wearing 3 layers & double socks so it's getting that balance between being sensible about a healthy room temperature & the current eye-watering cost of gas. I prefer Autumn & Winter to Summer but atm, as the Budgeter-in-Chief at Foxgloves Manor, I'm very much looking forward to the weather warming up!
Hope nobody snowed in.
F x

badmemory

My times 3.05 if I actually waken up then that's it for the night & it happens at least twice a week.  Any other time I can waken up & just go back off again.

EssexHebridean

We've got the storage heater temperatures whacked up again - or rather, the "Box of Bricks" one in the front room is on full input/minimum output, the HHR one in the hallway has just had its timings extended a bit so it's charging more to release heat for longer. Seems to be doing the trick anyway, but I'm reasonably certain now that my hopes for March being the month where I started to see the electricity bills drop off into the warmer months may now be dashed! But yes - from a similar budgeter in chief position I also can't wait for it to stop being so flipping cold! 

marionmgcars

Good luck with the dentist FG.  I hate the dentist visits, but keep telling myself that’s it’s only an hour out of my life, and the painkillers that you get these days are very good.  X

Elisheba

It's just hard to feel frugal when you are throwing money willynilly at the heating!  I'm very lucky I can afford it, and I keep it off when it it tolerable to do so, but the bills I have been getting in do not feel at all moneysaving!

foxgloves

@Elisheba & Essex Hebridean - Yes, I had really hoped that by now, the temperatures might have started going a little mroe in the Spring direction, but no such luck. I moved out thermostat back out to our open plan hall-into-kitchen area last night just to boost the temperature of the coldest parts of the house. This always shows more gas expenditure on the smart metre, so as you can imagine, it was swiftly moved back again first thing this morning! It's hugely annoying to put so much time into budgeting, household common-sense frugality, no waste mindset, etc, then see so much of our money going to the bloody oil & gas industry when they are making vast profit hand over fist. I'm not happy about it at all. My natural cynicism is leading me to suspect that the insane consumer prices as paid by all of us mugginses will carry on for as long as they can get away with it.
F

foxgloves

Very little of any interest today, but I'm posting so you know I've kept the frugal faith.
Hello diary readers, Am chatting to you from my desk up in Foxgloves HQ. I can hardly believe, as I look out across next door's rooftop at the blue sky & gentle wisps of cloud that it is the same day we woke up to this morning, which was swirling snow & a white world. It's very cold though. It will be a hot water bottle for me on that sofa tonight & hopefully a cat on each leg!
Right, well a useful day more than an interesting one. The budget positives were:
*Bought the rest of our grocery shopping list from town - had to resort to supermarket as our usual stalls weren't on the market understandably because of the snow. Despite opting to buy the large size sack of cat biscuits for our feline crunchers plus a large sack of potatoes from the village farm shop, we have come in just about on budget. 
*Hair appointment first thing - usual excellent speedy cut for the amazing price of £10. 
*Paid my 7 years of voluntary NI contributions as discussed on here recently. It's just a BACS transaction once one has procured the magic 18-digit number.
*Visited building society this morning to sort out withdrawal of funds for the above in order to pay back our Emergency Fund, from where I temporarily borrowed it.
*Did some surveys - several from i-say this afternoon after what I can only describe as a parsimonious couple of months. I also received an email invitation from JL to join a customer feedback panel, which I have done. It isn't a paid one but says that there will be competitions, etc, & as I do have views on the business, I thought it might be interesting.
The other main task today has been cleaning the house between us, which we did using the usual minimal products. It's Mr F's cooking night, so I am going to enjoy a bit of sofa time with my book in a minute. I thought I had made headway with my fictional sleuthing, but I am no longer so sure my theory is correct & am looking forward to the story unfolding. We were looking forward to a trip out tomorrow so Mr F has been glued to the weather app on his phone to check there isn't any snow or rain forecast (it will involve walking) & wasn't happy when I spotted a FB post saying that the place has had to close due to plumbing issues. I'm going to suggest we have a definite Plan B, as it's about  52-mile round trip (& therefore waste of petrol) if we get there tomorrow & it is still closed. 
Time to stop looking at screens & wish everyone a nice Friday evening.
F x

CRANKY40

Not to mention the £400 per household that the energy companies have received from the government via the customer....

foxgloves

Yes, @CRANKY40, that's a good point. And the industry wasn't really windfall-taxed sufficiently hard, in my opinion. I think there was a get-out clause about all the green environmental stuff they were going to do. Large flock of flying pigs just gone by,,,,,
F

foxgloves

Oh dear, it seems that while we were out this morning enjoying a lovely lakeside walk, a naughty goblin snuck into our house & spread the seat of my chair with super-glue. I am now utterly unable to move, despite having a greenhouse task lined up for this afternoon.
Perhaps as I've come to the end of my coffee, I should just try making one last superhuman effort........right, come on Missis.......
F x