Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

Can I ask which CC gives vouchers?

ellenvan

Marks and Spencer do.

But I am sure Foxgloves will confirm.

Suffolk_lass

@Makingabobor2 John Lewis do vouchers for their own stores - I got mine too - they are really good for tech and white goods purchases as their guarantee is usually longer than other places - it is my go to CC but not my go to shopping venue for food, so my voucher was £15 including the lump on Mr Sl's truck because they give fewer points for out of store purchases.

There are other reward systems - for instance USA Express are offering a Nectar option with a one-off boost of £100 worth of points if you were planning a large purchase (£2k in first 3 months) and 2 points per £1 spent - I could be persuaded if my washing machine carks it.

Sorry to interject. Hopefully helpful.

My homegrown garlic needs one more day on the tray in the greenhouse before tying (we plait) them. Not sure why the shallots are still trying to produce seed - they were harvested at the same time. Do you know @foxgloves?

foxgloves

, @Suffolk_lass - You mean that you have harvested your shallots but they are still producing seedheads? How odd! No, I don't know why that would be happening unless it is to do with the heat & the fact that there's enough moisture inside the stems/bulbs to trigger this?

@Makingabobor2, @ellenvan & @Suffolk_lass - Re credit cards used for loyalty vouchers. Yes, we both consider that we have paid QUITE enough interest over the Spendy Decades, thank-you very much, so we are now happy to use our carefully selected credit cards to boost out own funds. We just have 1 credit card each - that's all we need as we never use them for credit anyway - & both award loyalty points which are converted into vouchers a few times each year. Mr F's is an M&S card as we felt that their vouchers could be used for clothes, food, presents & home stuff. Mine is JL, ditto really, as it is usually one of our first choices for tech, appliances, etc. Their guarantees are usually longer & as we are only 1.5 miles from a Waitbl00m branch with a big car park, it's also very convenient for click & collect. I've been saving all the JL vouchers earned via my credit card & when I counted them up the other day when my latest vouchers arrived in the post, they come to an amazing £155. I count these as Tech Fund as they will be used to offset the cost of whatever carks it first…..our TV or Mr F's laptop! I do sometimes still use my credit card to manipulate payments a little bit…..for example, if I use my card I earn points for vouchers, but I can also often push payment until the following month's budget which can sometimes be helpful…..but I never pay any interest because I don't stretch anything beyond the payment due date.

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams,

Quite a decent day on the whole. I can't claim a No-spend day as I've pinged a small sum of money to my sister for an item she got for me from a vintage stall (she did haggle the very reasonable price down by £2 'because everyone else seemed to be doing it') & have also paid the wheelie-bin cleaner, but nothing else has been spent. So far, I've baked the sourdough I made yesterday, done today's garden pickings (aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes, cucumber, jalapenos), done some minor financial admin, done 3 surveys, almost finished next week's meal plans & put a useful hour & a half into cutting back & tidying a heat-ravaged border. Very low effort meal tonight as I intend to do a veggie pesto pasta using some of our produce & pot of the pesto I made & froze last week.

Still to do: I've had an idea for lining the door curtain I intend to get made this week so I want to check what I have in my fabric stash & see if it will work or not. I think it will. Can't you just tell I am not intending to spend any more money on this project?! I bought some nice furnishing fabric in a neutral colour with bees on it plus a printed panel (with a bigger version of the bee) to make a matching cushion cover. So now I've had my coffee & chatted to you, I shall put my laptop away & sort out my fabric. The veg will need watering tonight but Mr F has volunteered for that. The earth is just like dust, yet when I was removing weeds this morning, I could barely get the fork in, the ground was so hard. I have arthritis in my hands so I bet they will be complaining tonight.

Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone.

F x

Sun_Addict

I think it's my fault we haven't had rain for so long, we haven't had a single drop since I bought a lightweight waterproof jacket. This usually happens if I buy a new umbrella. We are so desperate for rain now and there doesn't appear to be any forecast in my weather app for the foreseeable future.

foxgloves

I looked too, @Sun_Addict & no sign of rain here until 24th/25th/26th & not very high % chance then either. We are trying to be as careful as possible by using as much recycled grey water on the borders as possible, but we do have to water our veg & I am not going to let treasured plants die when non-metered neighbours are still pressure washing & filling paddling pools with gay abandon. I do feel envious when I hear it being swished about but the way things are going, I think water metering will be compulsory for all eventually. Not a good summer for Year 1 compulsory water-metered people. I got 8 watering cans, 2 jugs (to do the hanging baskets) & 4 buckets from 1 fill of bathwater earlier this week. Have bought a small bucket for next to the sink so we are collecting useable water in that too. We do still have some in our 2 water butts but we are saving that for if (when) we get a hosepipe ban as they are much nearer to the veg plot for lugging cans.

Makingabobor2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82069054#Comment_82069054

That's interesting as I have an M&S CC but only use it if I shop in M&S…which is not very often, and I didn't realise that using it elsewhere contributed to the vouchers, I thought it was only for actually buying in M&S. Maybe I should use it more often. I have a N/west one, used to be a Mr S, but they sold out to NW. So I do get nectar points when I use it but not many TBH. I just started using it for petrol and groceries and then paying it straight off.

ellenvan

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82069285#Comment_82069285

Points for using M & S credit card in M & S = 1per £1 spent.

Points for using elsewhere 1 per £5 spend

I point = 1 pence

But remember as Martin always says pay off in full each month.

Cheery_Daff

Very jealous of your grey water recycling. I had a bath this morning as I have given my back a serious twinging - left the water in so i could ferry it to the garden, but of course because of said back twinge, I can barely walk to the garden, let alone walk with containers full of bath water 😭 Not on a water meter, but even so - most of the garden is nowhere near the house, and while i have a water butt and 1000 litre IBC, it's not an endless supply out there and this would have been useful! Hey ho 😬