Finally concentrating on becoming MF

Habibiboo

hoglet121 wrote: »

Ooh thanks welsh mummy! I try and grow the more expensive things to save extra. Went a bit nuts 'collecting' tomato plants this year and we have been absolutely swamped! My chillies have done really well. Had a complete failure with pumpkins last year... Lots of things are happy in a reasonably sized pot if you don't have much space :-)

:wave:

Just to say hi and good luck with your MFW adventures! We're really going to focus on saving cash by growing our own this year (if the garden ever dries out that is).

Last year was hit and miss because I was poorly sick & not on top of things and because we chose to grow my squashes and pumpkins within one of those plastic shelter type nurseries. Turns out that the pumpkin / squash plants have male and female flowers and need our buzzy things to do the pollination - buzzy things which couldn't get into the nursery thing! Previous year we had loads (grown outside from seeds of squashes bought and eaten from s'market!)

So this year's plan is to grow them outside, bed is prepared and waiting until it is a bed again and no longer a pond so that planting can commence!

So, point of my rambles (sorry about that) is to say don't give up on your pumpkins, it could be that you didn't have the pollinators, in which case you can do it yourself with a kiddies' paint bush once your plants have flowers! Then you'll get your fruits!

Am loving your down under diary, I have a DSIL in Oz and one in NZ, so it kind of feels like being in touch with them too! Happy MFW adventures!

hoglet121

Hi Habibiboo!!

How lovely of you to drop by :-) Thanks for the squash tips - i knew about the pollination thing but still no joy - well we got 1 fruit but he plant was about 40 foot long, maybe that was the issue too?? Should have cut it back and let it focus on fruiting? Love that you saved your seeds from supermarket squash - I've saved some chilli seeds this year too so fingers crossed. was there anything you had to do to the seeds?

DH got very motivated on Saturday afternoon and went into the garden and dug next year's veg bed. It was about 30 degrees and I'm not going to be planting in it for 6 months, but it was nice of him to do. He said it made him feel like he'd achieved something. At least it is done :-)

Doesnt technology make the world feel like a smaller place?!

hoglet121

Morning everyone, here's to an 'almost' NSD!

We were woken up at 5am by the neighbour's cat miaowing in our bedroom before jumping out the window. So it is him eating the cat food then...Our 2 had better buck up their game and start eating the delectable food we provide for them or it'll be budget biscuits only if they're leaving it for the neighbours...

Got another 2 items listed online for sale last night, not holding my breath with these but any little extra can go into the OP pot. Tilly Tidied 20 cents into savings too, and then paid the mortgage... Have saved almost all of the money I need for a big bill on thursday from this week's money - normally I take it out of money saved throughout the month. Really pleased with myself as it's looking like I will be able to make the payment without taking any money from savings at all - DH gets paid the same day so I can squeeze a little bit out of next week's money, whilst leaving enough for next week's big bill.

Brought blueberries in for snacks at work today - very MSE as I got them at a pick your own farm extra cheap. I did get a coffee (hence the 'almost' NSD) but it's Monday morning and somethings are just required...

Got some good MSE activities planned for the coming weekend. Going to a free concert in the botanic gardens on Sunday and taking a picnic. Saturday I've ear marked as deep cleaning the bathrooms (i know how to have fun!) but at least it's free and it desperately needs doing!

Hope you all have a great evening and have enjoyed your weekends :-)

H x

hoglet121

hmmm NSD hasn't quite happened. DH texts to say he needs a head torch for work, well not needs, but would make life easier. A bit of online research showed that I could get $12 off a $30 one in a nearby shop by using my loyalty card, so not too bad in the end, but still miffed that I 'had' to spend. At least I haven't bought any food and only have another hour to stay strong before the cafe shuts and temptation is removed...

hoglet121

On thing that had put me off considering this as our forever home is that I would dearly love to keep chickens, and there used to be a by-law where we live saying that chickens had to be kept at least 12 feet away from a boundary fence. That would mean that any chooks we got would have to spend their days sitting in the middle of the patio... Well now that by-law has been removed, so that's one hurdle overcome. Now to convince DH.... that could be a much more significant hurdle!

hoglet121

Morning all :-)

NSD day planned. Brought in bread to work so I could have toast for breakfast, and I have avo on toast for lunch. Snacks today include kiwiberries and yesterday's leftover blueberries. Dinner is prawn stir fry using up some lurking bok choi and broccoli.

Traffic has been really bad the last couple of days so looks like I might have to top up the petrol before the end of the week - just $20 but still annoying...

Turns out DH wanted the head torch to go rummaging in the loft for something I'd asked him to look out. Which he did, for about an hour. Before finding what I was looking for on a bookshelf upstairs. oooops.

I swear that cat was in our bedroom again last night!

hoglet121

Tilly Tidied $28.42 into savings, this is going towards next week's bill but means I get a bit of interest in the meantime. I've found keeping the current account as low as possible really focuses me on whether I really need to buy something, even tho the extra money's just tucked off into the savings account. I've decided against opening lots of different accounts as I've done that in the past and found it harder to keep track of where all the money was. I may do it again in the future but for now 2 accounts is working for me.

hoglet121

Finally summoned up the guts to add a signature with mortgage totals (i think it's worked anyway). Eeek! The MF future is looking quite a long way off...

On the good side I've done a bit of maths and in 2 years when some of our financial commitments reduce, the money that is currently being used for those is exactly what we need to save to put into the mortgage at renewal time to meet my goal of 12 years till MF. Always being up for a challenge maybe I should make my goal 11 years....

welsh_mummy

Well done on the signature and the goal, looks a long way off but will pass quickly and you will be mortgage free before you know it.

Your doing really well with the using up and not spending and making savings. Also well done on listing your 2 items, I've still got a load of stuff to list but never seem to find the time!

hoglet121

Thank you so much welsh mummy that's so nice of you to say :-) every little bit helps eh?!