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Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend
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Similarly, a "Dreaming" advert came on the TV and the packet was shaken. The cartoon cat burst through the wall, virtually simultaneously with Stealth Cat jumping down off the top of the wardrobe in the room above the library end of the lounge, she ran along the hall, rushed downstairs and appeared in the lounge, looking expectant. At that point she had never had them. Or any other treat. Now we can just shake them for her to appear
Save £12k in 2026 #2 I have banked £9004.48 so far, against a £10k target The 2026 Save £12k in 2026 thread is here
OS Grocery Challenge in 2026 I am sticking with a £3000 annual budget for 2026 - currently £1111.79 and most of my May purchasing made
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the grow your own in 2026 discussion thread
My keep within our budget diary is here7 -
They are such hopeful greedy pigs, aren't they? I've known Soot come running at the sound of the chickpeas jar, coffee beans & even a box of matches!
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!6 -
yes indeed our resident blackcat confuses coffee beans for dream sweets and a tin opener in action gets him swirling and twirling ready for food. This is particularly odd because we've had him since he was 18 weeks old and have never fed him tinned food. The sound of the drawer opening where the dream sweets are kept makes him hurtle in from wherever he is but he seems unable to hear us telling him to stop scratching the sofa 🤷♀️
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Haha, three trugs in and half an aggregate bag of weeds tidied and shifted (more being saved for Mr Sl. I am having a cup of tea before planting late seeds
Save £12k in 2026 #2 I have banked £9004.48 so far, against a £10k target The 2026 Save £12k in 2026 thread is here
OS Grocery Challenge in 2026 I am sticking with a £3000 annual budget for 2026 - currently £1111.79 and most of my May purchasing made
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the grow your own in 2026 discussion thread
My keep within our budget diary is here5 -
Exactly the same here @Blackcats. Soot has a selected deafness around the whole area of being told firmly & repeatedly not to wreck the landing carpet, but touch a packet of treats & I swear he would hear that from space.
Well done, @ Suffolk_lass. You vanquished more trugfuls than me but I have had a productive day.
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!4 -
Afternoon Sunbeams,
Pleasantly productive couple of days. Yesterday's Pension phone appointment was a bit odd. It was supposed to take an hour. About 5 mins in, it transpired that I have 'the wrong kind of pension' to be elligible for the phonecall. I explained that I had booked the appointment because this was very strongly advised in the pension pack I received from LGPS. I found this quite confusing until the penny dropped that it was having an AVC pot which had triggered the advice. My AVC pot is small because I started paying into it back in the Spendy Era & after a couple of years, then couldn't afford that, car finance & my spendy non-budgeting lifestyle. So while this will provide a useful lump sum, I explained I didn't intend to use it to buy miniscule annuities. Advisor was very nice & gave me a general phone no. for any queries & ran through the sort of pension scams I could theoretically encounter. We agreed to terminate the appointment after about 15 mins. I haven't started filling in the form yet but feel confident in my choices, have plenty of guidance notes from LGPS so will probably do it next week.
Today's budget-friendly efforts:
*Took advantage of great line-drying weather to wash big towels & 2 sofa blankets.
*Baked a batch of rolls for the freezer. Back-up bread is very useful when one lives with Mr F.
*Various veg garden maintenance including rejuvenating the strawberries, tying in french beans, blackberries & greenhouse tomatoes.
*Split up an aloe vera plant which had become much too big & sickly looking. Replanted a small section for a free replacement plant.
*Dealt with some bolted lettuces by adding them to the worm composter. Made a mental note to use the bucket of worm tea on the flower borders as it's ready for emptying.
*Spent an hour cutting things back & deadheading - a trugful for the compost & one for the garden waste wheelie which is being emptied tomorrow as we like to get our money's worth out of the annual fee for that.
*Garden pickings: Jalapenos, rhubarb. Chillies frozen & rhubarb stewed to eat with my muesli & kefir.
*Cut out & pinned my dress.
Well, it's Mr F's cooking night - jacket potatoes - cheese & coleslaw on mine, Epic Man Stew on his. Despite having to work on his day off, he did have a much shorter day & swung by the supermarket on his way home with our grocery list. It sounds as though it's come in under budget which is a Good Thing.
Two deceased rodents from Soot this morning. Mr F buried them before the little devil got the idea of hiding one again.
Ah well, that's my day. Aiming to be productive all week to make up for last week's heatwave torpor.
F x
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!9 -
Well done!
Yes good plan as apparently we are expecting another heatwave very soon…..3 -
That sounds like a very productive day. Oh Soot 😞 Heatwave is due back this time next week.,
I get knocked down but I get up again (Chumbawamba, Tubthumping) -.literally have been run over by a bike, mobility scooter and a car - still here 💪4 -
we put any deceased rodents in our green waste bin to stop them being “recycled”.
I work in the basis that as we can put foodwaste in it as well as garden waste a little extra “meat” will not cause a problem 😂
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Evening all - thanks for your comments & contributions. Whose 3-task method job list starts with 'Bury mouse?' Yes, another one. Thank-you Soot...though at least this is a natural form of pest control, unlike the horrible bait we had to use when we had to have Pest Control come & deal with our worst infestation.
Anyway, enough of rodents. It's been quite a productive day. Budget-friendly stuff as follows:
*Put a colour on my hair.
*Made use of windy warm day by washing kitchen door curtain.
*Did a few budget updates, admin & had a general email clearout. Also did a big filing session.
*Payment for that box of books which went missing arrived so I paid it into our Emergency Fund.
*Tackled the shredding pile. Used some for bedding in the worm composter & divided the rest between compost bins.
*Did a couple of surveys & cashed out my June PA earnings at £19-13.
*Entered a competition & a prize draw.....on the subject of which, nothing from ERNIE this month, the stingy pig.
*Progressed sewing my dress....seams all sewn & neatened then sat out in the sunshine pinning in the sleeves.
*Fed sourdough jar.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.
*Mr F watered & fed the veg, containers & baskets.
*Decluttered a couple more mags to my friend's bag.
*Mr F picked up our latest 'Little treat' (supermarket loyalty scheme) which was a free bag of Candy Kittens.
Right, I just need to bring in that lovely fresh clean curtain from the whirlygig & that'll be me done for jobs & heading for the sofa.
F x
2026's challenges: 1) To rebuild our Emergency Fund to at least £5k.
2) To read 50 books (12/50) 3) The Re-Shrinking of Foxgloves 8.1kg/30kg
Remember....if you have to put it on a credit card, extend your overdraft or take out a loan to buy whatever it is, you probably can't afford it, as that's not your money, it's somebody else's!10
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