Re-use, revamp and re-cycle

The increasing cost of shopping and fuel is well documented everywhere. I don't usually find increasing food prices to impact on us too much because we cook from scratch. Convenience foods are far more expensive (and rarely seem very convenient). My friend spend about three times the amount that I do on her weekly shop because they prefer their food to be instant and heavily packaged. This time though, it is noticeable to everyone. We have to be extra diligent. Keep an eye on expenditure. Cut down on waste. Make do and mend. Probably pretty much everything that Grandma did. I have been trying.

First, there is the dyeing experience for the conservatory sofas. A great success. The actual sofa covers came up beautifully and the cushion covers looks pretty god too. I am particularly pleased with how well the tapestry cushions came up. They look like the were planned to be that way. One of the sofa covers has a whole in it. I mended this with a white denim patch before the dying process but it doesn't look good. I have decided the sacrifice a small cushion cover to stick a patch over the hole. I hope to get this done tomorrow and then the covers can all be back in place. A quote for new loose covers was quoted as between £600 and £1000, so I think that counts as quite a saving.

Secondly we are mending the garden chairs tomorrow. They are all broken but the seats can be re-stitched using fishing nylon. My mum has loaned me an upholstery needle (which I have lost already but hopefully I will find it again tomorrow). Replacement chairs would be around £30 each so this is a saving of £90. There is no additional cost being incurred because we have the nylon fishing line since my husband was a fisherman twenty years ago. Total saving so far £1090 (kind off!)

Third idea for the day is saving related but not a direct saving. I am going to invest in a copy of Microsoft money so that we can easily keep an eye on all of our accounts, mortgage etc. I want to ensure we maximise the interest when we are investing and minimise when we are borrowing obviously. The saving element of this is obviously that in future we will be exerting more control over our expenditure. However I don't want to pay more for the software than I have too, so I will be eBay searching for this during the evening.

We have a bank holiday here tomorrow so no work (yay). However we have to visit the shops again as we need a new suitcase for my husbands upcoming travels. We don't ask much though of course, just top quality and fit for our purpose, at a very affordable price. Wish me luck!