Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Yes, the meow alarms were very effective!

@KajiKita - We did emerge from the shed to enjoy the rest of the weekend….well, once we'd had a much-needed bath, I couldn't believe the amount of sludge, but it was a very dusty, grubby job & we really did earn that pizza!

foxgloves

Hello Monday Money Savers,

I thought I'd better lob a post on in case anyone started to worry that we were still in the shed! It was the grubbiest job, but so worth doing. We are capable of working well together as a team once our heads have got in the right space to do so & this was one of those occasions where were were absolutely on the same page of the Decluttering Hymn Book so were able to make excellent progress. Amazingly, Mr F managed to get all the chuck-outs into just 2 car loads for the tip. I could see the mound of stuff building & had thought he'd be looking at 4, but I suppose all that freezer tetris has been good training. The benefits of blitzing the shed…..well, the mental boost of getting rid of such a lot of stuff we weren't using & weren't likely to use; the creation of heaps more space: the discovery of useful stuff we'd forgotten about, including an item I was actually intending to buy in the next couple of weeks (how annoying would that have been?!) & the sparking of a useful discussion about priorities for various projects over the next few months. This was where 'being strong' re letting potentially useful stuff go came in. Mr F has some projects lined up - 4 or 5 outdoor ones (one quite large) plus redecorating the lobby interior. Each time we found ourselves considering keeping something because we could do 'X' with it or if we 'just did this, this & this to it, we'd have a such & such, etc, we rowed back & asked ourselves where this new potential project would fit in the ones we have already prioritised & in all except one case, the answer was 'Nowhere', so onto the tip pile the items in question went! The only thing we have hung onto is some tough wooden shelves from a damaged shelving unit. It occurred to me that these could easily be screwed together to create an extra raised bed, which would only require lining with old compost sacks before being ready to use. We had intended to buy a couple of extra ones in the end of season sale so are currently just weighing up whether it's less of a faff to spend the money or as we have had a lot of House & Garden Pot expense with the bedroom water damage, to put some fairly minor effort in & make a free one.

We shall be buying 1 or 2 additional shed storage units if we are not too melty to go to the Big Blue & Yellow Emporium at the weekend. They are not expensive & we are both keen that we can enter into the shed & go straight to whatever it is we are looking for. I also like these units because they are not too tall or deep which means that I can reach them easily. Anyway, job done - it had been put off way too long & judging by the way we felt afterwards (well, apart from mucky & knackered!), it was a clear example of 'Tidy house, tidy mind'. Mr F is now talking about decluttering his wardrobe, chest of drawers, storage crates…..yep, he's got the bug!!

Nothing else to report from the weekend which was very low-spend indeed. Garden pickings have been strawberries, rapini & jalapenos.

Today, having seen the weather forecast of nightmares (for all of except Ash, who seems to cope with all temperatures perhaps due to his feral past), I decided to adopt the '3-task list' for the whole of this week. For anyone who hasn't come across this, it's a method of organising one's job priorities in a way which doesn't feel overwhelming or in my case during a heatwave, demotivating. You write down 3 tasks you'd like to achieve & cross them off as you do them, but you can't add another task to the list until you have completed one because the idea is never to have more than 3 'to-do' things on it. I've been doing this today & achieved 12 things. I have already written down my 1st 3 tasks for tomorrow. Today's budget-friendly tasks:

*Planted out our remaining french beans.

*Recycled a watering can of grey water onto the front courtyard plants.

*Divvied up yesterday's leftover roast pork - enough for a chilli tonight (currently in the slow cooker) & a stir-fry tomorrow, & the last of it added to a box of leftover veg & gravy towards the next Epic Man Stew.

*Sorted laundry & did as little ironing as possible, although the presence of cotton summer dresses & shirts did mean I had to do SOME ironing. I am wearing the 3 summer dresses I made last year (when I decided to revisit some very simple dressmaking) loads during the hot weather & am seriously thinking of making a 4th.

*Made tomorrow's packed breakfast.

*Did my regular Monday morning budget updates.

*Perused latest energy bill. Our spend seems to be holding steady - slightly more than last month but about £3 less than the same period last year. Our credit balance is just over £400. I usually aim to go into the winter period at about £600 as I like the security but I'll see how I feel as I like the idea of a refund almost as much.

*Did a survey. After a good cash-out last month, my June PA earnings are going to be paltry. I haven't put much time in & I think there have been fewer for me too.

I can't report a no-spend day as I've ordered a fan on click & collect. We find our existing one makes our bedroom bearable in very high temperatures so I thought having one downstairs would be a good idea. Right, off to get a cold drink & decamp to the shade with my book & knitting.

Hope everyone's had a decent weekend.

F x

PennysIntoPounds

Fabulous work on the shed, well done you two 👏

Think fan during heatwave is absolutely a justifiable spend!

Blackcats

well done on the shed decluttering. We need to do our garage but MrBC struggles to let things go and I'm the opposite so it does become tense. It's on the long term list but never quite reaches the top.

Cheery_Daff

Very impressed with your shed decluttering! We need to have a similar escapade with the garage 😬 I fear we may not be on quite the same page when it comes to throwing things out though 🙈

Suffolk_lass

We have multiple sort out locations still to go through. Mr Sl has a very untidy large shed/workshop that we completely emptied and sorted through the August BHol before last (we know how to have a good time!) but our ambition to sort out the bee sh*t (technical term) the pigshed, the toolshed and the cartlodge (the outside bits) or the study, study-bedroom, or filing storage boxes means we struggle on, still buying things on repeat when they are MIA.

KajiKita

Well done to both of you on the shed work!! 👏👏 I like that you set priorities for upcoming projects BEFORE you started so it became easier to make decisions about what to keep and what not, by whether or not the item(s) under debate were aligned with these projects. Excellent strategic planning 😊

My surveys seem to have dropped off a bit again too, but you have given me a nudge to have another look …

KK

Sun_Addict

Well done decluttering the shed and finding a few bits that can be repurposed. We recently had a new shed which spurred us on to declutter as we had to empty the old shed out first. Had a bit of a battle with Mr SA about him keeping things that were no longer needed though.

foxgloves

@KajiKita - Mr F's outdoor projects usually involve more strength than I have & he likes to have some on the go, but he does work full-time too, so I think we'd both rather have a realistic number of projects in the pipeline, rather than an additional load of 'nice to haves', iyswim. Also, although we won't be looking to relocate until he retires, that shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 years, so I think once we get to just a couple of years away, it makes sense to concentrate on maintenance tasks ready for putting our house on the market than redesigns of veg garden, painting designs on the shed, etc.

@Sun_Addict - I was also a bit worried about that myself, as although both of us dislike waste & like to keep things which 'might come in useful', I think Mr F tends slightly more towards hoarding than me. No problems though. He said he would be ruthless & he has been! His worst hoarding tendencies are around bits of old tech, especially cables, old sub-woofers, defunct speakers, etc, but he even let most of those go when we had to empty out the loft before the roofers arrived.

foxgloves

Oh, it is so stupidly hot! Note I am moaning about this even before I've said 'Hello'!

Greetings Melty People,

It is apparently 33 degrees here this afternoon & that is a whole 10 degrees higher than my preferred summer temperature. Using my "3-task list" as outlined yesterday, I made sure that my more physical tasks were done this morning before 10 a.m. I've achieved enough for a red-hot day. Budget-friendly stuff as follows:

*Baked bread.

*Cleared a weed-infested patch of flower bed & planted out the last half-dozen bedding plants (ones which like hot weather). Chopped up the 'binners' for the compost & the 'sinners' for the council waste wheelie. My old enemies bindweed & hawkweed were much in evidence.

*Garden pickings: A nice bunch of bay leaves now tied & hanging up to dry.

*Made some pigeon scarers from old CDs & string & hung them along the climbing beans' frame.

*Started next week's meal plans. Ran out of steam as was so hot I couldn't think of a single meal I might want to eat next week or indeed ever! Will finish tonight when it's a bit cooler.

*Leisurely home pedicure…..I am now sporting shocking pink toenails.

*Gave my sandals a really good scrub. Considered bunging them in the washing machine despite being 'Wipe clean only' but decided against it as I don't have another pair if they fall to bits. Instead, I gave them a good scrub inside & out with a bowl of soapy water & an old toothbrush & they have come up nice & clean.

*Vacuumed downstairs before the heat really had a chance to build. Actually that's budget-neutral, rather than 'friendly' but I didn't want horrid hot weather AND grubby floors.

*Coincidentally after yesterday's energy bill musings/credit on our account, I had an email from the cephalopods today informing me that our monthly DD is to be reduced by £18. That's quite a saving on a monthly payment. I am going to accept this amount for the next couple of months, then I may increase it to meet in the middle of their new figure & what we have been paying until now as I like the security of a chunky credit balance seeing us through the winter.

*Did a couple of surveys. Not a lot around for me this afternoon.

*Cleaned up 3 ceramic pot holders from the shed for the charity bag. The ceramic ones (especially large sizes) can be quite expensive to buy so I think somebody will find them useful. They were taking up a lot of shelf space in the shed.

*Easy meal tonight. Am using up the last of Sunday's roast pork in a sweet & sour stir-fry with noodles.

*Will water veg tonight. Last done on Sunday & would normally last until tomorrow which is watering & feeding night but after such a hot day, I think their little planty tongues will be hanging out.

I have heat AND dentist to contend with tomorrow so a big boo to that.

Mr F is swinging by to pick up the new fan tonight which I ordered yesterday on click & collect. We will then be a 2-fan AND 2-bucket household!

Cheers,

F x