Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

teapot2

I also listened to the R4 prog yesterday @foxgloves as am hoping to downsize at some point. Lots to think about in there……. 🤔

foxgloves

There was, @teapot2. One of the key things I took from it was to think in terms of choosing something suitable for the next 20 years. If all goes to plan, I will only just be state pension age when we move & Mr F only 62, so it would be easy to be tempted by some gorgeous little house with twisty stairs & an attic because we can manage them perfectly well....but then have to move again in our later years, which we don't want to do.

Sun_Addict

One of my friends moved to the coast a few years ago and she thoroughly researched the area first to make sure there was a good hospital nearby for later years. She also moved to a bungalow so they wouldn't have to move again.

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - that is exactly what he WAS doing, of course. On several occasions, he has found a bag of cat biscuits in there, often not belonging to himself, & given enough time before discovery, he has managed to make inroads into opening them. Honestly, if he could use scissors, I'd give up!

@Sun_Addict - That was very wise of your friend & it is very much what I plan to do. I would ideally like a bungalow but there is quite a shortage of them - another way in which the UK hasn't planned in general resilience in terms of a growing older population, as I'm sure they do help people stay independent at home for much longer. I remember I used to encourage Mum to get part of their hall turned into a downstairs cloakroom so that it would be easier for them as they got older but she absolutely wouldn't budge even when she broke her ankle & had to go up & downstairs on her bottom. Mr F doesn't want to tie us to looking at bungalows only as he thinks it will be limiting & I can see his point. He says there are different sorts of stairs - some are quite shallow & some, like those at my friend's house are so steep, it is like mountaineering getting up them. My sis in law has a lovely bungalow in a rural village but there isn't even the tiniest shop & getting a loaf or pint of milk is a drive to the nearest biggest village or city centre outskirts. I think that's fine while someone in the household drive, but not everyone can drive long into their old age so I think living somewhere in reasonable walking distance of shops, preferably on a bus route, is also something which helps build in resilience. There are 3 properties in the area we want to live which we would absolutely defo go & look at if we were looking to move now (which isn't possible but it is a useful awareness exercise). One is a cottage & the other two are bungalows, but the cottage has both a cloakroom downstairs plus an extra room which could be used as a bedroom if necessary. It's just nice to look at the moment to see what's available & to inform ourselves what sort of things we shall need to consider. I shan't want to make any silly mistakes like fall in love with a fabulously quirky property smack bang in the middle of nowhere! I must be like your friend & think sensible!

foxgloves

Hey, guess what everyone?? It's raining!! Proper rain. A storm. Thunder, lightning & everything! It's the third shower this afternoon to be exact, plus a small amount of rain overnight & this time it is very heavy, simply pounding overhead on the conservatory roof as I type. I think our plants are going to be thinking, "At last! Bring it one! Get us completely soaking! Yaaaaayyyyyy!"

Hello m'dears, Back to budget-friendly doings now after my moment of excitement about massive rain. Hope it's made its way to you too, @Sun_Addict, if not yet, then it could be time to fetch any laundry & chair cushions in.

*Had our planned outing this morning - coffee shop visit paid from our Personal Spends, so budget-neutral & I actively chose to avoid both the gift shop & plant centre. That meant it was coffee, a lovely walk out in nature plus a discussion as per previous post about possible future houses & how our budget will need to be realistic but with a little flexibility at both ends.

*Week 4's grocery shopping done, that's the final one from August's budget cycle. It has come in over budget as predicted but we stuck well to our list & meal planned around a roast chicken + knock on meals from that, freezer stores which are good & garden produce. Another example this morning of actually checking the pantry before assuming a regular item is needed. I popped into the pantry to double check an item, feeling like quite a Clever Sausage, then spotted another item I'd blithely written on the list without checking which we didn't need at all, so it was duly crossed off & money saved. Lots of yellow stickers today but mostly didn't succumb as they weren't great items for us or if they DID take my fancy, were not sufficiently reduced imo 😉. So I only bought 2 yellow stickered bargains - one was some plums as I do eat a lot of fruit & like variety, & the other was a pot of chives. Our chives have carked it & I'd intended to buy a pack of seeds but there are so many plants crammed together in this pot that I will be able to divide them up into separate pots to grow on before adding them to our herb bed.

*Today's garden pickings: French beans, more blackberries.

*Did a couple of very small surveys. Plenty available but the majority seem to require a level of pixel resolution I don't have so I don't intend to faff around trying to get onto those. I need so few points for a shopping voucher on one site that it is honestly worth me getting the 3 points for getting kicked OUT of surveys just to get me over the line.

*Mr F's cooking night - another 'cook once, eat twice' opportunity, as he is making enough lovely green bean macaroni cheese to feed us on Friday night too.

No other news to impart. I drove our new car for the first time this morning. I got on the front foot by telling Mr F he was welcome to tell me where things were on the new vehicle if different from our old car. This gave him a defined advisory job to which he adhered very well without tipping over into commenting on my driving which winds me up no end as I don't have much opportunity to drive these days with him being unable to get to his workplace on public transport. Mostly he comments on my speed & tbh, that is something I am going to have to watch in this new vehicle as it's a more powerful engine & I did find it difficult to keep to a consistent 30mph. However, there is only one person in this relationship with points on their licence……..& it isn't me!

Right, off for some reading time. I'm reading Kathy Burke's autobiography & really enjoying the freshness of her voice as a writer. She had a very different upbringing to me but we are exactly the same age so the cultural references, music, socio-political scene feel very true to the time. The storm has passed over & it's stopped raining but the sky is still riven with promising rain-threatening clouds so with any luck, we'll be on for a bit more.

Cheers all,

F x

Sun_Addict

No rain here! We had a tiny shower about 2pm then the sun came back out. It’s still sunny at the moment. I packed the cushions away on Sunday night as there was mention of rain.

foxgloves

You haven't had any of that storm & big showers? Wow, & you can only be around 20 miles from me as the crow flies? Just goes to show how varied the weather can be over quite a small area. It's blue sky again here now but there are puddles on our courtyard. Hope it's your garden's turn tomorrow.

Sun_Addict

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108497#Comment_82108497

No nothing at all, isn’t it weird?