Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Whatlifeis

My sympathies to you Foxgloves.
My black cat does this all too often. The weather turns a bit warmer and he decides to go on a hunting trip and then swans in 2 days later as if nothing has happened. In the meantime I’ve been sleepless with worry and traipsing round the neighbourhood looking for him. 

Hopefully he’ll turn up shortly and you can give him a stern talking to! 

badmemory

I almost trapped a local cat myself.  Thank goodness I was only out for an hour or so.  I have an auto garage door & had left the garage pressed the button & driven off.  Back then I used to go away every weekend for a few days, I dread to think what I would have found if that had been the case.  I now sit outside until the door is down just to make sure.

ladyholly

Have you checked your neighburs to see if Soot is trapped in a garage or shed? You must be so worried. I hope he returns soon.

Sun_Addict

Was it Soot who disappeared when you first got him? I do hope he’s back by now 🤞

scandimore

Fingers crossed for return of Soot asap x

Chrystal

Thinking of you and hoping all is well.  XX

Tescodealqueen

So sorry soot is missing thinking of you x

foxgloves

Morning Campers,
Thanks so much for all your well wishes regarding Soot. I'm so pleased & relieved to be able to tell you that he finally turned up at 1.48 am this morning, ravenously hungry & very pleased to see us. Yesterday was a sad & stressful day. I've have had more faith in Ash getting himself home, actually, as he has lived pretty much as a feral before he went into the Rescue, & therefore more used to living on his wits. Soot hadn't even been outdoors in all his 7 years when we adopted him last January. He has been enjoying going outside for nearly a year now, but never ventures more than about 4 gardens or so away. And he NEVER fails to turn up for food, which he adores more than life itself, so the fact that he'd been missing since Thursday night just became more of a worry. I threw myself into frantic cat-hunting activity. I had 4 walks around the village - one after dark when Mr F got home from work as it is quieter then & we thought he'd be better able to hear us calling & rattling biscuits. I printed off & delivered 50 flyers to neighbours, asked 3 dog walkers if they could keep an eye out for him, logged him as 'missing' at our vet & phoned other local vets to see if they'd had a black cat brought in. I also posted on 3 different local lost pets FB pages. The final thing we did before sadly giving up for the night was to drive slowly up the main road & around our accident blackspot village roundabout to see if he had been in an RTA. Then we gave up & felt sad all evening. I managed to sleep until 1am, the  woke up & decided to listen out for meows. And at precisely 1.48am, I heard one! And then a few more, as they got closer to our bedroom door. Opened it & there was our missing boy! Well, he downed a pouch of Persian Queen food & all his biscuits without coming up for air. He looked dishevelled, but not dirty or injured, so I still think he has either been shut in somewhere probably by a shift worker OR, he ventured further than his usual c.4 garden radius, somehow got spooked & ended up a lot further away & found himself lost. Anyway, we both feel so relieved today. I've been busy again with it letting 'catty' neighbours know, updating the vet so they can remove us from 'Lost & Found' plus updating the FB pages, etc. Your good wishes were read & very much appreciated but I felt too sad & teary to post. I know cats can have a habit of going off, but Soot really is such an utter creature of habit, especially where his tummy is concerned, that we knew he had got himself in trouble.
Anyway.....has there been any money-saving as well as cat stress? Well, a few things, I suppose. No market visit for us this weekend, so all our grocery shopping came from Waitbl00m except for a 40-box of Persian Queen cat food, which they don't stock so Mr F popped into T£sc0 while sneakily using their car park for a work meeting. We look to be well under budget, anyway. I'm sorting out my veggie seedlings today. The chillies which have been growing on under bottle cloches on the Man Cave window sill are big enough to be moved down to the much cooler conservatory where they can practice getting tough enough to be moved to the greenhouse later this month. The first lot of tomato seedlings (Roma) are finding the propagator too hot now, so are having a day on the windowsill before I pot them up tomorrow. The other 2 tomato varieties are now coming up as well as the peppers. Aubergines will be the next for potting up. 
Have made bread dough this morning, which has been shaped into a batch of rolls, now proving, & have divvied up a humungous pepper. Mr F was fully intending to use all of it in what he's cooking tonight, but I'm determined to get another meal from it as it is truly a giant among pepperkind. I shall chop up 1/3 of it & freeze for next time I make a pizza.
Survey income not going badly so far this month - am at over £22 on PA & Mr F over £24 on same. It will be a nice boost to our April Personal Spends.
As yesterday was so horrible, I am planning a gentle afternoon reading my book. I've just started 'The Skeleton Key' by Erin Kelly. I've not read any of her books before, but I got this from the library & thought it sounded interesting as it's based on one of those craze treasure hunt picture books which were big in the 1980s (Remember the Kit Williams one? The treasure was a tiny golden hare - I didn't buy that one, but I bought a similar competition book  - of course I did! - & was utterly convinced I would win. Of course, I didn't finish it, let alone enter, & the expensive book went to the charity shop......the 'Old Foxgloves' all over!). Anyway, I think I am going to enjoy this novel & it will be lovely to sit & read after not being able to find any calm yesterday.
Peace to all,
F xx

Debsnewbudget

phew
so pleased to hear he is back

Sun_Addict

Thank goodness 😁