Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Blackcats

With my cash injection I would have met you at the fancy cosmetics counter and then I would definitely have needed to buy some jewellery and a new coat which would also need a new scarf, hat, gloves and boots oh and probably a handbag. Some £'s would have gone to paying off a credit card balance so I could build the balance back up. I was quite partial to treating myself to a holiday in Italy too. Lordy me those were the irresponsible days.

foxgloves

Lol,@Blackcats, that's so familiar. I may have paid off some of my flexi-loan - those things were pure evil - but I'd have been transferring the money back to my current account for spending so soon afterwards, I may as well have cut out the middleman! I just couldn't live like that now. It never did gel with my ethical beliefs tbh but it certainly wouldn't now. I look at so many displays in shops or online these days & think how I am just looking at shelves full of future landfill tat ….& not too distant landfill in some cases. I didn't spend that much on holidays back in the day, it was more what I spent in the hippy/New Age type shops while I was there that was usually the problem & boots & expensive craft supplies were also a big purchase area for me. Ah well, at least we embraced the lightbulb before we got too much older! I love being debt-free & both Mr F & I still can't really believe that we have become people who have an emergency fund & savings. He brought more debt to the relationship than me but he hadn't had the numerous parental bailouts I'd had over the years (& from which I still resolutely refused to learn!) & at some point, he'd accepted a much larger overdraft limit from his bank than I was ever offered, even though we both earned pretty much the same.

foxgloves

Morning Campers! I want to spend most of my task-time on greenhouse jobs today so am just popping a quick post on before sorting out early cat lunch, followed by my own. So far, on the budget-friendly front, I have….

*Done this week's very small amount of ironing - so not much electricity used there on my worst domestic chore bar none!

*Baked the sourdough loaf I made yesterday.

*Economical meal tonight - am making a tamale pie which only requires 100g of mince (any), veg & herbs mostly from our garden, a jar of tomatoes (ditto) & basic pantry ingredients. Will serve with salad.

*Today's garden pickings will be peppers, chillies, basil & I think there may still be a few pears left on the tree if I can reach them while my gibbon-armed husband is at work.

*Entered a competition.

*Checked for surveys, nothing doing this morning. I started one but it contained an error so I had to abandon it.

*Did my regular Mid-Month Budget Check-In. I am about £50 adrift on my original October budget. There have been funds going in & out of our account like mad this month & as all this month's bills have gone out correctly, I think I have probably missed transferring the funds for a transaction into our account from the Savings Pots. Without forensic levels of investigation, I can't easily identify what/when so I have made up the difference with a miniscule amount of September pension I received because there were 2 days of September still to come after my official retirement date. Making up the shortfall won't take all of that little bit, but it is the most sensible thing to do with it atm as I do want accurate figures during such a 'financially busy' time.

*My credit card bill also landed this morning so I went through that, no nasty surprises, all planned expenditure & now paid off in full.

*Ordered a present. It was actually in stock locally which means I can deposit Mr F in a Mr F-type shop while I sneak off & collect it tomorrow after our flu jabs. Avoiding delivery charges felt like a little win, anyway.

*If I don't spend too long faffing around in the greenhouse….which will need following up with a shower & hair wash…..I am hoping I'll also have time to cast on the 2nd sock of that pair for the presents bag.

Right, that's it from Foxgloves Manor. Soot has been an absolute menace this morning so I'm hoping he will shortly be carbed-out on his lunch biscuits & actually settle down for a snooze.

Take care, m'dears,

F x

Makingabobor2

Enjoy your afternoon in the garden. Its beautuful here, but very windy. Hoping to get out there in a bit for a bit more tidying.

foxgloves

Hi Friday Frugalistas,

Not a no-spend day as I've paid for my flu jab 1st thing (Mr F is front-facing public sector so gets a free one) & collected & paid for the present I ordered yesterday. There were a few wins though. I took my blunt secateurs & dressmaking scissors to a professional sharpener who has a market stall on Fridays & he did them both for just £8, even though the old scissors needed major re-grinding. I thought that was very fair & it's also make-do & mend rather than chuck & buy new. Mr F availed himself of a free lunch. He unexpectedy had to go back to work after his flu jab instead of WFH so he had no packed lunch. Luckily this occurred to him while we were still in B**ts so I suggested he use some of his considerable hoard of loyalty points to get a free meal deal. My frugal idea was rewarded by him not needing to take in a drink so I chose a ginger kombucha for myself. Local farm stall also on market so bought a big bag of lovely fresh veg for £4.50.

Other stuff: Thrashed the vacuum around in the hope of cleaning all of downstairs before the charge ran out, sorted out the veg picked yesterday & made a good start on cleaning the bathroom until I discovered a spider has taken up residence behind the loo brush. Mr F has promised to evict it.

Made a list of refills for the eco shop tomorrow.

Pulled a bunch of carrots.

Random sort of day really.

F x

Elisheba

Oh @foxgloves. I can just imagine the feathers everywhere 😆. What a palaver it must have been!

amber03

One of the plastic trays on our fridge door had a big crack in it and was dodgy for putting bottles in it in case it collapsed. After a good google on the internet we found a new tray. Ordered and was delivered yesterday. Feel pretty pleased with myself as some people were like, “oh I wouldn’t have bothered, or I’d have said I needed a new fridge”. Might have been me in the past but not anymore, if it can be fixed at a reasonable price, then that’s what I will do in the future.