Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Afternoon m'dears,
Well for some bizarre reason, having seen the weather forecast & been fully aware that we were going to be on the edge of a storm, I'd got it into my head that I'd like to have a gardening morning. When I peeped out of the bedroom curtains at 5.15am, followed by spotting rain starting to seep in under the front door frame, I had to admit that I needed a change of plan! Budget-friendly things achieved:
*Wrote to my sister (card & stamp from stash) & enclosed a couple of vouchers for an outdoor shop. I had 6 of the things, so am obviously not going to use all those, if any.
*Perused Mr F's December wishlist which appeared yesterday. There seem to be quite a few items on it which are specific editions not available until nearer Christmas (one of the downside of buying for a music/film geek) so I will check everything next week & decided which things to buy. I usually pick a few wishlist things (birthday too) then buy some small surprises too.
*Updated Christmas presents list with a couple of small items purchased yesterday.
*Baked bread rolls & have a pizza base made too ready for tonight's nosebag.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Did quite a lot of PA surveys. 
*Started doing a few budget updates but was stymied by online banking being down. Nothing urgent so decided to leave it until tomorrow rather than waste time checking. Used the time to make up Christmas sweetie jar for B-i-L. I have used a tall glass IKEA jar which has been sitting unused in a cupboard for ages & filled it with old-fashioned sweeties. His presents this year have a 1970s theme so I've gone for a combination of bright colours, a couple of 'Kojak' style lollies (that'll date me, lol!) & finished it off with a silver ribbon & handmade label. I think it looks nice & much more affordable than some similar big jars I've seen for sale in a local farm shop. Another thing crossed off the list. B-i-L can be quite difficult to buy for so I am pleased to say he only needs a couple of local beers added to his gift bag nearer the time & he is done!
*More present knitting.
*Made some ingredient lists  - firstly stuff I shall need for the Christmas Cake (nice to find that I have quite a few ingredients in the pantry already, as well as leftover candied peel I chopped & froze last year for just this purpose), also for a couple of preserves I didn't get around to making before the covid came knocking - a hot sauce & a pineapple chutney - both my own secret recipes. I want to get these made soon as at least a couple of jars will be added to Christmas gift bags.
*Wrapped nephew's birthday present for posting.
*Wrote a list of everything I want to get done while I'm in town on Saturday.
The sun is trying now it's realistically too late to start anything in the garden, but never mind, I feel I've progressed other things & can hopefully get out there over the weekend.
Hope there aren't too many lergyfied readers out there,
Take care,
F x

rtandon27

@Suffolk_lass - wow SL - that's quite the cushion!  I'd not sleep at night if ours was that high!

@foxgloves - you are abolutely spot on - I find it so interesting how different we all are in our approaches to bills and payments - one size most certainly does not fit all.

foxgloves

@rtandon27 - I think one of the things I most like about these diary threads is that we all broadly have the same sort of goals, whether it's paying off debts, clearing a mortgage, building savings, generally strengthening resilience, planning for retirement, etc, we all have our own ways of setting about it & it is very clear that what works for one of us, doesn't necessarily suit everyone else. There defo isn't a 'one size fits all' where finances are concerned, even though the principles of living within one's means remain the same. I think there's a lot to learn from chatting to each other about financial issues. Although I don't have a problem talking to friends & family about money, I do welcome the anonymity of these forums for exploring different ideas re money saving. I also like that we represent quite a varied range of lifestyle approaches from self-sufficiency & frugality to simply adopting a more cautious approach to spending & I think we all learn from each other.  
f x

Makingabobor2

Totally agree that the anonimity of the forums is a great help. Even for having a moan about husbands or talking about personal problems

foxgloves

Hello Diary Friends,
Well, I have cracked through a ton of tasks this morning, so much so that I have decided to devote this afternoon to knitting & reading. Can't say fairer than that! Anyway, budget-helping stuff as follows:
*Cleaned all of downstairs - usual minimal products & washable cloths.
*Made use of the Cephalopods' free energy hour by washing bed linen, running the dehumidifier to get rid of conservatory condensation, having the electric stove heater on while I ate my breakfast at the table (while Soot looked on wondering why he hadn't been given any cereal & banana), using the coffee machine & charging things.
*Pegged out the laundry. It's colder today but bright & breezy so it should dry at least a bit & reduce heated airer time later.
*Another use-it-up meal from our October master meal plan tonight - salmon pesto pasta - using the last of the 1st batch of pesto I made with our basil over summer.
*Did the financial stuff I had to defer from yesterday when online banking was down.
*Did a survey.
*Entered a prize draw & a competition.
*Wrote Winter's garden wheelie bin collection dates in my diary. They change after next month. Two collections in Nov, then 1 each in Dec, Jan & Feb. While doing this, I noticed that our Christmas week bin collection has changed, so I've made a note of that too though we don't usually have much rubbish in our general waste wheelie so it wouldn't cause a problem to go a month without emptying.

Proper autumn day today. I trotted down to the post box with my sister's letter at 8am & it was the first morning I've felt that my long denim coat wasn't warm enough & that I could have done with my gloves. 
Right, I can hear Soot wailing up the stairs that it's approaching cat lunch time so I shall sign out of here & go & administer stinky biscuits. Soot needs another bag of expensive hairball control biscuits tomorrow so I hope our little indie pet shop has them in stock. I wince at the price, but tbf, (& I don't want to tempt fate here), he hasn't had a single hairball incident since he went onto these biscuits, which is obviously more comfortable for his innards as well as the puked-up hairball cleaner-upper (which incidentally isn't me!)
Wishing everyone a decent & productive Friday,
F x

themadvix

Hate to tell you this Foxgloves, but the email I received said the free energy was 9-10pm today.... Maybe it differs regionally, but I've not noticed that before.

It's definitely feeling much chillier today!

joedenise

I was going to say the same @themadvix.  Hope it doesn't affect your bill too much @foxgloves.

I've washed our bedding this morning using solar power and have put it in the tumble dryer ready to switch on at 9pm to dry it.  Will turn off at 10pm and if it isn't dry it can go on the airer overnight.

Sun_Addict

Yes it’s definitely tonight for the free energy. Anyway the good news is 3 hours free energy tomorrow 12-3, just got the email. 

foxgloves

I'd spotted that. If it affects our bill by more than about 30p, I'll be amazed. The 3 hour session looks good, doesn't it? I'll see what we can do with that.
F

themadvix

I'm sure it won't make much difference! Yes, lots of potential tomorrow afternoon!