Not a LBM but awareness of heading towards debt crisis

themarsbargirl

Thanks hummingbird

SFD today...actually I didn't leave the house yesterday and forgot to record that so that is 2NSD for May so far

My brother came down from London and took me out for the day, so I returned some DVDs I'd borrowed to the DVD shop, had lunch out, then got taken to see the new Avengers film (I'll just say awesome with some twists you just don't see coming), and then out to pizza express for dinner.

Mood started dropping on the way back, I really want this funeral on tuesday over with. I think I've dropped out of my manic phase and combined with the sadness of another funeral in a matter of months just makes me sad. I debated not going but I think I need to to try and gain some closure and say goodbye. It's strange being so sad about it, as she only married my Grandad a few years ago and I didn't see a lot of her and wasn't particularly close to her.

Mum and Dad get back tomorrow I'm half really relieved to have them back and half sad that the computer won't be all 'mine' anymore and I'll be kicked off at 10pm when they want to go to bed again.

Struggling to reach my Swagbucks target today...severe lack of surveys!

hummingbird

I've finished reading through your diary and am so sorry that you've had so much to contend with. But you've done so well overcoming so much - I'm really proud of you marsbar!!:T:T

All those jams, chutneys etc etc you make sound absolutely delicious!! I've only ever made marmalade once - it was a bit of a disaster LOL:D Perhaps I'll have another go!

themarsbargirl

hummingbird....I hope you work in old money cuz I can't convert this to new (metric confuses me), but for every lb of citrus fruit you want 2lb sugar and 2 pints water. depending how thick/thin cut you want either use a zesting tool or use a vegetable peeler to remover the skin and the chop it by hand, juice the fruit and put the pith in the water. Boil until reduced by half (anything from 30-90 mins depending on the size of the batch you're making), strain the liqor then add the zest and sugar and return to heat, low heat until sugar dissolved then high heat to bring to a rolling boil, I usually find it's done at around 5 mins rolling boil. I use the cold plate test and also when you lift the spoon out of the marmalade if the last drop looks 'jammy' it's probably done and time to test.

I use Tate and Lyle pectin with everything, I premix a sachet with 1kg sugar in a jar and measure my sugar from there to get the concentrations of added pectin just right.

Homemade marmalade is just miles away from shop stuff because you are using sugar rather than syrup

If you wanted a shredless marmalade then I'd still peel the fruit but chuck the peelings in with the pith when doing the water boil.

themarsbargirl

BTW I have disasters too.....on my shelf of shame I have 2 jars of red onion marmalade that umm....is set so hard it won't budge from the jars....

themarsbargirl

Reached my swagbucks target...that's 3 days in a row now going for the longest winning streak I can...hoping to get a month long streak

hummingbird

themarsbargirl wrote: »

BTW I have disasters too.....on my shelf of shame I have 2 jars of red onion marmalade that umm....is set so hard it won't budge from the jars....

That's more or less what happened to my marmalade LOL!:rotfl:

themarsbargirl

That's an overboil. Try using added pectin...and remember it's better to have syrupy marmalade than chewy marmalade

themarsbargirl

Morning (just) I overslept today so didn't get my stall out until gone 10am :eek: hoping for some walkers to go by and buy some stuff today, it's a beautiful sunny day today :cool:

As some of you may have gathered, I'm in a bit of a quandry as I will be coming into an inheritance later this year that will clear my debts, and as relieved as I am about that, it feels like cheating somehow.

I've been putting some thought into this, and have decided that I will pay off the debts with the inheritance so I don't continue paying interest, but then I will be counting it as a 'debt' to myself and saving in order to repay myself the amount that I have to put to debts. If that makes sense?

hummingbird

That's a really great idea to pay it back as you are able! But having the pressure taken off will be amazing!!!:j:j

themarsbargirl

So, a quick round up of my day;
Total step count - 16010
Total spends- £8.55 on tobacco for the week, £1.75 from grocery budget in Morries on treats.
Bee Stings- 1
Jars of jam sold- 1

It's good to have Mum and Dad back,meant I got a proper cooked meal tonight. Already told Dad I want bacon butties before going to the funeral tomorrow.

Walked to the farm shop and back today, first time I've managed that in about a month. Made a Plum and Fig chutney tonight.

Dreading tomorrow, lots to do as well as the funeral.