Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@PennysIntoPounds - Soot was pleased with the extra ear-scritch. Still not quite himself today but nothing wrong with his capacity for putting away food so he can't be too bad.

Hello Tuesday Readers,

Well so much for THAT weather forecast. I looked at the forecast last night & again on the News this morning & it looked like a succession of showers over us today so I decided to bump my big planned garden session to Thursday, as the driest day this week. And wouldn't you just know that apart from the early hours, there hasn't been a single droplet of rain all day!! Never mind, I've caught up with various indoor jobs/admin, planning, etc, & feel better for it. Now't like plans in a notebook to keep a control freak happy! Anyway, budget-friendly stuff as follows:

*A No-spend day. Mr F went out of the door first thing announcing his intentions to buy us a treat to eat while watching GBBO tonight & I said no need, as there are still home baked scones in the freezer. Thus the only spend of the day was cut off at the pass & an NSD was achieved.

*Hardly any ironing so not a lot of electricity or indeed my goodwill used up there!

*Talking of energy, I am expecting the latest bill from the Octopods very shortly but I am confident that this billing period hasn't seen a lot of gas use at all. Even first thing in the morning, it hasn't always been cold enough to trigger the CH on & once we've been up & about, sun on the windows, etc, it has barely come on later in the day at all. It will be interesting to compare usage with the same billing period last year. We haven't felt chilly yet, & if it has dropped a little colder on an evening, it's only so far been 'go & find my cardi' chilly, not 'needing the radiators on or stove lit' cold so I think the unseasonal warmth will have got us off to a positive start from a money saving point of view.

*Wrote a birthday card - both card & stamp from my stash so no spend needed.

*Have managed to procure a presents wish-list from Mr F which was doubly helpful as my sister has been asking me for ideas & I like to buy things I know he wants too. Went through it today, pricing things up & have identified a couple of more expensive items which would be good for his main birthday & Christmas presents so will have a better look at those at some point soon. He also asked me for a wish-list & as soon as I am asked this, my mind goes blank & I can't think of anything! I have put some thought into it today though & come up with 2 or 3 books, skincare, stationery & various other little bits & bobs. I'd also be happy with a gift card from any of the shops I really like, so I don't think I am tricky to buy for. I always say that I like 'useful things which are also lovely'. Still thinking about presents……

*I listed everyone for whom we buy gifts (only family & best friends) & jotted down the few things already in the Presents Stash plus a few ideas. I am thinking we are likely to see all sorts of nice things while we are away & I'll be very surprised if we don't return with quite a few presents for people - hope so anyway!

Garden pickings: A couple of carrots to slice up for tonight's stir-fry.

*Wrote grocery shopping list as we'd already chosen a week's worth of meals from October's master meal plan.

Did a few surveys. No high payers so will be nowhere near meeting my £40 PA target this month. There are heaps of surveys but they all require a higher laptop spec than I have (although Mr F is adamant that our laptops do both meet this spec, so it's a bit frustrating). Never mind, I still have September's survey earnings in the P*y of P*l so added together they will make a nice little addition to my Personal Spends.

*And lastly, but importantly, I've been doing the numberwang on some options for savings for my recently acquired LGPS lump sum. I am particularly risk-averse but have found a series of savings bonds I like the look of so will run the figures past Mr F & see if he is in agreement. We will also put a smaller chunk into Premium Bonds as we both like the fun/anticipation side of this, but more importantly, it is easy & quick to access funds should they be needed. That will leave a smaller amount unallocated but I wouldn't be against putting that in our House & Garden Pot as our flat roof is on borrowed time & I think as that's such a foreseeable expense, we'd be loathe to have to break into our Emergency Fund again. Anyway, that's just some workings, thoughts. My annual pension, which will be paid monthly, of course, is destined for our ISA. We know we can live on Mr F's salary as we've been doing it since I took VR, so it's a good chance to get a few years of pension payments saved to assist with bridging the expected house price differential when we move.

It's getting quite crepuscular out there so I am going to pop round closing the curtains. It's a good habit to get into in the colder months, isn't it? Then I shall do a bit more present knitting.

Take care, m'dears,

F x

PennysIntoPounds

Budgeting for flat roof repair sounds a grand plan, you don't need any more roof budget jiggling palaver in your life! And if it's still okay when you want to move but buyers are nervy about it then you have that amount to replace or let them off the total amount without affecting your moving pot