Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

Oh, @Sun_Addict....I forgot to say, no it wasn't a mushroom sheet mask, I think it was edelweiss & I am glad I have a 2nd one as it was good. I did feel I got up & glowed the following morning. 
F 

PennysIntoPounds

Glad you both had a lovely anniversary, it sounds scrumptious in many ways 😊

Lovely pot-topping-up activity (and ability!)

Poor old starving Soot 😁 I must admit he somewhat reminds me of me 👀😂

Blackcats

Cats are relentless nuisances when they think they need food or treats.  Ours prowls about getting under our feet, knocking things off the coffee table and then ups his game to carpet scratching before eyeing up the sofa ready to give that a good scratch.  Sometimes it's just easier to accept that cats know best. 😸

KajiKita

Blackcats said:

Cats are relentless nuisances when they think they need food or treats.  Ours prowls about getting under our feet, knocking things off the coffee table and then ups his game to carpet scratching before eyeing up the sofa ready to give that a good scratch.  Sometimes it's just easier to accept that cats know best. 😸

I’ve just been Chloe’d! Came in wet from the garden and wanting breakfast. I’m focused on writing a message to an MSEr who’s got an interview today … No, No No! I want breakfast. Feed me now!! Wet tail under nose (from multiple directions) with wet feet all over my lap! 😂😂

KK

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds, @Blackcats & @KajiKita,
I don't know if there is a point at which Soot would ever consider himself replete with food. He is on constant alert for potentially promising signals including either of us going into the kitchen, opening a cupboard, moving a leg or rattling something which might sound vaguely like his biscuits. I have spoken to him about the dignity issues around racing into the kitchen at the sound of matches, coffee beans, chickpeas, baking beans, etc, but to no avail. Yesterday, we were both woken at about 4.50am by excited slightly muffled meowing.....exactly the sort of vocalisation we hear when a certain black-furred, bewhiskered individual has a large gobful of rodent. After a while, I decided to go downstairs to investigate. Even by the low glow from the landing night light, I could see the back of a black catty shape on the stairs with his head inside my stair bag. Prised him out & of course I knew what he was after.....we bought a selection of cat treats, pouches, etc, for making up a Christmas donation pack to our local rescue charity, as I am due to see one of their fundraiser/fosterer this week. Thinking I'd cut Soot off at the pass by piling lots of stuff on top of them (added to which they are all sealed) I felt quite happy to leave the items to deal with later, but of course he found them......then gave himself away with all the meowing! I went into the kitchen for a glass of water & by the time I got back to the stairs, he was armpit deep in the bag trying to get to the 'layers of interest'. That wasn't the end of it. He jumped up on the worktop 3 times yesterday, trying to remove the cover from Ash's bowl & even when I weighted down the cover (a large metal bowl) with a heavy dish, he managed to shove that aside & almost got his face in. I was alerted to the clang of overturned pottery however, & he was thwarted again. He is a lovely cat, interested in everything, clever, sociable & great company, but he will stop at nothing to obtain extra food & if I didn't keep a strict eye on this, he would become very overweight. He's already porkier than he should be though he does enjoy racing up & down the garden.
F

daisy_1571

if he's fatter maybe he'll not be able to move to pursue the potential food opening humans  ? 😆 🤣 😂   Round Soot = quieter lives in the kitchen 😆 🤣 

Dxx

foxgloves

Quite a useful day today on the whole. Was there any budget-friendly activity? A few bits & bobs......
*Free supermarket parking as not much time needed in town.
*Hair appointment at my favourite little salon. Still only £13 for a dry trim. She does a lovely job of re-layering it & getting it just the right length (longish shoulder-length) & it's such a saving from when I used to go to a branded salon & have a style & colour every 6 to 8 weeks from the bank's money back in the Spendaceous Era. Managed to book an appointment for my 1st choice of date in December which I thought I might have left too late as apparently people started booking in August!! 
*Called into a different-to-our usual supermarket for a product which has been out of stock in Waitbl00m for weeks, & took advantage of an offer on cat meat while we were there.
*Treated myself to some magazines - as always from my Personal Spends, so budget-neutral.
*Mixed up a sourdough for baking tomorrow.
*Did next week's meal plans as soon as I got up, (still prioritising making some space in the freezer), wrote shopping list & so November Week 1's  grocery shopping has also been done today, making use of all 4 of our loyalty vouchers & free coffee too. Not a huge list so added a couple of Christmas cake ingredients too to spread the cost. I need some mangos (about 5) but declined to pay £2.25 each so will look on the market on Saturday when we will be in town for our flu jabs.
*Disbanded the tomato-ripening bag. Moved the final ripe ones to the fridge & composted a very few withering tinies which remained green. 
*Also froze a good handful of red chillies. These are ripening beautifully & very quickly now that they are indoors.
*Vacuumed all of downstairs which I hadn't intended but I decided I could usefully spend the time tomorrow on a bit of festive planning instead. I need to check Mr F's wishlist too, to see if anything on it is the sort of super-nerdy stuff which requires ordering from small publishers, direct from artiste, plus research a few prices, etc. 
*Did a few surveys. Nice to see my PA earnings back at the sort of levels I used to achieve before the summer.
*Effort free nosebag tonight as it's jacket potato night. Mr F is making man stew & I have decided on prawns, reduced-fat cream cheese & sliced avocado on mine. 
*Selected next book to read from my pile of charity bookshop finds. 
Have a good evening, everyone,
F x

foxgloves

Greetings Frugalistas,
Pleased to report a productive day today. I wanted to clear a number of small tasks, do some 'keeping on top of mundane stuff' & to do a bit of long range festive prep. Apart from now having a headache from too much screen time, I am feeling positive about what I've achieved. Budget-friendly activity as follows:
*Did a few budget updates. A fair amount of money going in & out at the moment so I am going to do my updates more frequently, knowledge being power & all that!
*Sorted out our Christmas charity shoe box. Was able to make it look quite pretty using just stuff from my recycled wrappings stash. Plenty of useful stuff in it without having spent all that much & a couple of things re-gifted too.
*Baked the sourdough I made yesterday.
*Very low effort meal tonight - am using one of the veggie crumble bases I made & froze during peak glut so only need to make the cheesy crumble & lob it in the oven.
*Did about 5 surveys & cashed out of PA with £51-86.
*Entered a competition.
*Sorted saved calendula & squash seeds into envelopes & added to my seed box.
*Booked piano tuner for December & made a note on my 'Things to remember on Big Budget Day' page in my diary. 
*Crossed off items now bought from the Presents List. Making good progress. 
*Checked wrappings stash to see how many gift bags I have. Not enough, but if I trim up a couple of plain brown paper carriers with origami stars, ribbon & tag, I will only need to buy 3 bags (a Project Surbiton activity if ever there was!) which I can probably get from that reasonably-priced purveyor of goods which rhymes with 'toys'.
*Ordered an item for S-i-L plus some items from Mr F's wish list plus a nice men's skincare set. Some of his wish list items aren't officially released until Nov & Dec, but I thought I'd better order them in case they are limited edition geeky stuff & also so I can keep on track of Presents Pot commitments. I think the skincare set is a good offer -  a treat, as it's a more expensive brand than he would buy for himself & it contains a full size moisturiser which alone would normally cost £2 more than the whole set combined. It made a nice change to see a full size product included instead of all little travel sizes. 
*Just to add that I prioritise my CC when buying presents, not to use credit (that is truly a thing of the past when I was a naughty Foxgloves) but to maximise loyalty points for vouchers. I have a stash of these which is growing nicely & counted as part of our Tech Replacement Pot.
*Decided to re-gift an item I originally bought for myself. Perfect condition & I think it's perfect for the recipient. 
*Amazed to find that another handful of chillies had ripened overnight so added them to the freezer bag.
*Started a list of stuff we can usefully do in town on Saturday when we go in for our flu jabs.
*Maybe a little present knitting later.
Time to distribute daily cat treats now. Ash likes his straight. Soot prefers to hunt for his because it's more exciting, so I put them where he has to seek them out. 
Hope decent days are being had by all. Sometimes days aren't decent, but just have to be 'got through', so if your day has fallen into that category, I hope tomorrow will be a little better.
F x

Makingabobor2

You are always so organised and productive, I obviously need to try harder. Think the change in seasons isn't helping me though.  

foxgloves

I'm the opposite, @Makingabobor2. I love Autumn - it was my favourite season even as a child. 
F x