Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Baileys_Babe

I'm sure the 4 of you will be pleased to be reunited even if Ash & Soot put up a token protest at being sent away 🤗

foxgloves

Dear Friday Frugalistas, I am typing this with the sound of........silence all around me! The banging & power-tooling has stopped, there has been a clean-up, the skip has been collected & as of about 2pm today, we have a fab new red-tiled roof which looks nicely in keeping with our 1930s house. It has been a very challenging week - full debrief to follow at some point (though ignore this if it isn't your thing - other people's roofing trials probably quite a niche subject tbf). I have paid the invoice, having first done the snagging walkaround. I swear I heard a forlorn squeak from the account containing our Emergency Fund, but this may have just been in my head. Scaffolding due to come down early next week. Paperwork will be filed away in my 'House' ring-binder as it includes the 15-year guarantee on the new roof. That will be a useful thing in years to come when we put the house on the market.
I wonder if psychologically, knowing I had such a big bill to pay today kicked the old synapses into frugal mode, as I tweaked tonight's planned meal to replace with a multi-use-it-up: Turkey soup from the freezer (post-Christmas batch-cook) with herb dumplings (uses up the last bit of suet) followed by a rice pudding baked with the last couple of spoonfuls of home made boozy cherry & walnut mincemeat & a pint of spare milk. We bought extra milk as we are used to tradespeople drinking vast quantities of tea. However, this week I have supplied precisely 2 mugs of tea, as they had all brought cold drinks with them, hence the spare milk. 
Mr F will be itching to get away from his management conference in good time so as to get a glimpse of the new roof while it's still light. I know he will feel like clumping any colleague, who when asked "Does anyone have any final questions?" pipes up with something complex! I'm going to decompress with some reading now. This weekend will be about getting the cats back, getting back to normal & agreeing a plan for getting the (heavily edited!) contents of our loft back up there. I have appreciated your solidarity during a challenging week. 
F xx

Blackcats

Such a useful reminder about emergency funds - thank you as always for your honesty about your spendy years.  Mine were almost identical - mortgages, re-mortgages, bank loans, car loans, credit cards which all felt like a never ending source of money (never mind that it wasn't my money 🤷‍♀️).
I really value my repair/replace savings pot.  Sooner or later things will break and when they do we need to repair or replace them quite quickly.  At the moment I've got £700 in the pot which would cover small appliances, a washing machine or dishwasher or TV but not a new boiler.  I will aim for a £1000 float and reassure myself that the boiler is only 18 months old and my son in law is a gas engineer.

PennysIntoPounds

So pleased for you that the roofing drama is over (🤞🤞🤞) and that you had the emergency fund in place. You will be ever so glad to have resolved this issue when it comes to getting a better price so there are more funds in the coffers for purchasing the Project Surbiton gaff.
Looking forward to hearing your plans for frugalling a decent amount back in the EF- once several stiff drinks and cat reunion have been had! 
Well done on getting through the upheaval and stress me dear 🥂

Twolabsandacat

Phew! You are an inspiration FG.

KajiKita

Oh the sound of silence … utter bliss …. 😊

So glad you will get a have a calm and collected weekend as the four of your together and that your new roof looks good. It sounds like you had a good team working on it 😊

I am looking forward to the debrief (I always learn something) but only as and when you are ready. 

KK

Sun_Addict

Great news it’s done and the cats will be back this weekend 🥳 What a palaver! 

Mr F’s management conference sounds grim, hopefully no bright spark came up with a question. Nothing worse than a long winded seminar being extended by someone asking a question for the sake of it - been there unfortunately 😖

weenancyinAmerica

Givr Soot and Ash an extra hug from all of us.

Moorviews

Just catching up with your week and heaving a sigh of relief for you that the roof etc. is finally completed and the nasty foam has gone forever. I have had workmen in the house all week myself and am so glad that it is now the weekend! They’ll be back next week. Isn’t it, rather depressingly, always the case that builders uncover further problems? Expensive but so worth getting everything just as it should be. Our house maintenance fund is taking a huge hit too and there will be more over the next couple of years. I hope you can have a lovely weekend, cuddle up with the cats and enjoy the lack of hammering and power tools around you. 

foxgloves

Thanks, everyone. Yes, I am so glad that last week is over. @Moorviews - Yes, it is certainly our experience that any work on the house invariably uncovers something else. I think this is even more the case with an older property. Our house was built in 1936 so is 90 years old this year.

Hello Sunday Readers,
Oh it was nice to get up in a more leisurely fashion this weekend - not that I lie in as early morning is my favourite part of the day, but just not to be rushing to get myself & everything else vaguely shipshape before the roofer onslaught. The rascals came home yesterday & have settled back into routines. It took Soot longer than usual to settle because Ash arrived home in a very possessive mood - as in everything was HIS - both laps, both cat blankets, both little portions of treats, etc, so poor Soot found himself on the receiving end of a few unnecessary hisses. 
Today has been a mixture of reading, crossword & sorting out/decluttering my jewellery box, which has also involved some repairing & upcycling. This has been a money saving activity because the ONLY item I shall need to buy is a necklace fastener for a silver smoky quartz necklace I inherited from our old lady. The original one didn't hold together reliably & I don't want to lose the pendant which is a nice one. So a very low spend there. 
Sorted all my earrings into another shopped from home box - no need to buy one as there was a perfect one hiding in plain sight which I earmarked for the job before Christmas. After detangling & sorting everything, I used a tin of assorted jewellery findings & my jewellery pliers (from when I used to make & sell earrings at craft fairs) to mend a few things, all of which are now wearable. I also:
*Glued a peridot back into an earring. So glad I was at home when that decided to ping out or it would have been lost.
*Made 2 new pairs of earrings by upcycling a beaded bracelet which had fallen to bits. One pair for me, the other has been popped away in a little organza gift bag to add to my sister's birthday bag later in the year. Quite pretty - green glass on silver wires.
*Re-strung the amber bead bracelet which Mr F bought me. Lovely to be wearing that again. 
*Had been keeping a single rather large earring for sentimental reasons. I lost its pair about 30 years ago, but it was a pair I received for Christmas from my parents at the end of my 1st term living away as a student. Have hung it on a leather thong as it's big enough to be a pendant & it is now wearable again.
*Ummed & ahhed again over a pair of gold earrings I received as a present when I was in my 20s. Very nice, Celtic knotwork with a little green enamel drop, but I just don't wear yellow gold & never have. I think I might sell them for scrap gold, I'll see, but they are not going back in my box again just to sit there unworn. 
*3 items decluttered to the charity shop bag.
Overall, it was good to discover things I had forgotten about - both old favourites & newer things which were being ignored because my jewellery box was in such a tangle from being overfilled. I had completely forgotten about one silver pendant. Silver, set with several different gemstones, it was an item I had hung my nose over all week during a stay in the Somerset town with the Tor back in the Spendaceous Era. The problem was that I had already spent way too much on all sorts of other tempting stuff, as well as general living expenses while there & I was dangerously close to my cards being blocked. On my final morning there, I decided to wing it & buy the necklace - it wasn't hideously expensive, but I was well into the 'bank's money' by that stage, so no way should I still have been spending anything. I have cleaned it up & put it on a different longer chain along with a small silver rune pendant & a small 5-pointed star, so that they all hang together. I think it will look quite striking on a black dress. Hope so, anyway. If not, I can always separate them out again. It has been quite nostalgic going through everything & I am not going to be so lazy about making an effort to wear a greater variety of things. I am definitely pleased that the only thing I need to buy is a cheap necklace fastener - as I have made that pair of earrings for free to give as a present, I shall consider myself up on the deal.
Well, it's Mr F's cooking night so I am going to enjoy my book - I read 50 novels (including audiobooks) last year & am aiming for around the same this year. 
Shall be back to my normal Monday routines tomorrow - the only interruption possibly scaffolding being dismantled.
Wishing everyone a peaceful evening.
F x