From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Watty1

I love reading your meals - guacamole with peas. Who would have thunk it ?   not me, but what an option.  (Saving that one for the future).

Greying_Pilgrim

So I've amended my siggie figgies for the new month.  

The Bulk Fund is going to remain operating as 'what I spent this month' out of a reducing balance.  I think this is giving a more accurate picture, than spending £0 one month, and then £30 on a gazinty bags of lentils the next, having set the monthly budget at £10.  I do think an annual budget is a better bet for this.  In theory, the non-food budget may work better operated like this too, as whilst I was under this month £31.44/£50, I bust it last month with haircuts.  

I'm going to try to stick with £200 for food, although that is with the 'cop-out' that some food expenditure at the end of the month could be covered by holiday spends.  i'll try my best, whatever happens.  

The council have finally emailed with their begging bowl for green waste collection.  We're not signing up for it this year.  We really haven't got anything like value for money out of the service, and if we got our act together, could quite easily compost the grass clippings we do have.  Even before we had to pay extra, we took stuff to the tip (when clearing the jungle that was here when we moved in), as the bin doesn't hold very much.  My only concern, is that it states quite clearly in the email "if you selected auto-renew, you need do nothing".  Now, whilst I never routinely select auto-renew, I seem to recall that the online form filling process was far from straightforward, and that I may have - in error - not noticed the auto-renew box/selection.  Naturally, the email that confirmed our signing up to the scheme didn't give a run down of our responses, and I can't work out if I can somehow find out whether it's on auto-renew or not.  I shall have to see if there is the option to talk to a real-life human.  

Currently waiting in for a parcel that DH ordered, and then told me about yesterday... Grrrr.  It's coming via RM, so of course has an acres wide delivery window 🙄  

The weather improved this morning - we had sunshine, and a good breeze, and I was rueing not putting on a general wash.  But it's gone clouded over again now.  Dry and breezy, but cold and I'm not sure how well items would have dried anyway.  

Greying X

greenbee

Just go to the online renewal page and look for a cancellation option GP. Mind you, I dropped my collection from 2 bins to 1 bin, and assumed they'd take the extra bin away (it said they would within 10 days). They haven't, and they're continuing to empty it... I guess the crews who empty don't know how many you're signed up for, they just empty what's there, and the management of the bin distribution is another department!

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks greenbee for the nudge.  The only options listed (on the Council website not on the relevant service provider site), were either to subscribe or re-subscribe.  It doesn't appear that there is a cancellation option - which is a bit daft, as if loads of people cancel (after subscribing for a year to try it out), then surely it may alter the way the service is scheduled for certain areas. 

With your prompt, I decided to see if I could go directly to the service providers site to see what our account looked like currently.  And bingo, the information was set out on that site as though you'd completed it - and hey presto, I hadn't  selected auto-renew.  Phew!  I mean, that is usual for me, but not all online forms are straightforward to complete, and sometimes you have to check a box, other times un-check.

Thanks for posting and helping me greenbee - super appreciated.

Greying X

Watty1

Our council recently wrote to inform me that our bin would have QR code and it would be scanned prior to each collection to check the service was still being paid for.

Given they can barely manage a weekly collection I find this both a surprising development and entertaining

VintageHistorian

We just pay once a year and they stick a new sticker on the side of the bin with the next expiry date on it. I assume you pay pro-rata if you start paying part way through the year, so in theory all the stickers have the same expiry date, but that might be the optimism of minor efficiency calling

Greying_Pilgrim

Our system is the same VH - with the exception that there is no pro-rata.  You pay the same fee whether you sign up by the end of October if if you leave it until spring.  Given it's a fortnightly collection anyway, it's not in the least bit cheap ☹️

Greying X

Baileys_Babe

We pay for our garden waste annually, there is nothing on the bin to indicate whether you have paid or not.

Ourselves and 2 neighbours all have an extra general waste bin for some historical reason I can't remember, a couple of years ago one of the neighbours was regularly putting out 2 bins, the local council got all sniffy and said they were going to claim our extra bins, but of course nothing came of it. So their bin is still littering out courtyard and we are not supposed to use it 🙄

badmemory

It must be a couple of decades since we had weekly collections.  They are all 3 weekly now.  But we don't have to pay extra for any of them.  So that is good.  They will also provide an extra bin if you need it for things like nappies & incontnence pads.  If they are late collecting we just get an email telling us to leave it out.

Cheery_Daff

greenbee said:

Just go to the online renewal page and look for a cancellation option GP. Mind you, I dropped my collection from 2 bins to 1 bin, and assumed they'd take the extra bin away (it said they would within 10 days). They haven't, and they're continuing to empty it... I guess the crews who empty don't know how many you're signed up for, they just empty what's there, and the management of the bin distribution is another department!

I can attest to the different departments. When we moved here to the middle of nowhere, I rang up to get bins delivered (there was only one, no recycling bin etc). They were duly delivered - but nobody emptied them 🤔

Turns out we're on a special rural round because the big lorry doesn't fit - our single bin had just been provided to store our bags in between bin days, not because anyone was going to empty it 🙄 Someone eventually brought us bin bags and someone else took the new wheelie bins away (and refunded us - we'd had to pay for them!) 😂