A Journey of Many Pounds Starts With a Single Penny

LadyGnome

I've turned my smug filter up to 11.  I know what I have put seems outrageous but part of it is building up pension pots and sensible things like that.  Some of it will be growth on those pots too. I have also added in some of the costs of school fees and university which is money I will be spending anyway.  Its amazing how expensive bringing up children can be especially when they are sporty teenagers who are constantly looking for food!

Suffolk_lass

LadyGnome said:

I've turned my smug filter up to 11.  I know what I have put seems outrageous but part of it is building up pension pots and sensible things like that.  Some of it will be growth on those pots too. I have also added in some of the costs of school fees and university which is money I will be spending anyway.  Its amazing how expensive bringing up children can be especially when they are sporty teenagers who are constantly looking for food!

Yes, and even when you have a hope that all that is done and finished, it can nip you again. Through circumstances I can't go into here, our Son who we hoped would have bought us out of the house we share ownership of with him, this has not happened and we are still invested in it when it was going to be our spending money!

LadyGnome

Not at all MSE yesterday as I took DS2 to see Black Widow then we went out for a meal. Its the first time in over a year we've been able to do something normal like that.  It was good fun.  I think it important for him (he is nearly 14) to get out of lockdown mode.

I planted loads of bedding plants before we went to the cinema as the cold, wet spring meant lots of my seeds never really got going very well.  I caved in an bought a couple of lucky dip sets of bedding plants from one of the big well known nurseries.  I had bought one mixed set before.  I had put a couple of trays earlier this month but yesterday I planted another 110 plants.  I am sooooo stiff today.  We now have stocks, begonias, impatiens, pelargoniums, petunias, cosmos, antirrhinum, bacopa plus what was already there (sweet peas (self seeded from previous years), cornflowers, eschscholzia (Californian poppies), poppies (self seeded unsurprisingly), mallows (self seeded from previous years), agastache, gazania, nicotiana, verbena, day lilies (self seeded), self heal / prunella which is technically a weed but the flowers are lovely).  Everything is planted fairly close together as I want it to fill out quickly.  BTW this is a suburban London garden I just mentally live in a rectory in the countryside when I start gardening. (Perhaps my ideal house would be a rectory with a great garden within walking distance to the tube )

As you might tell I love flowers; I also plant for the bees.  Not necessarily for our bees who seem to forage further away.  I am concerned that our hives create extra competition for resources in the area so I decided to try to redress the balance by providing loads of flowers in our garden.  We get lots of different bumble bees, masonry bees, carder bees etc. in the garden so I think it does help.  The honey bees are to be found raiding the nearest bramble patch.   I had to delay planting out the begonias as a bumble bee went through them whilst they were still in the tray. 

The sparrows also came to inspect my work.  I have kept one of the seed feeders up for them during the summer and they can empty it in 2 days.  They are running a competition to see just how many small birds can fit on a feeder - its one with a squirrel cage so they can land on top.  I need to go and buy bird feed today again!

LadyGnome

Its the quiet part of the month.  A few bits picked up here and there from Prolific and a small lottery win (£2.80 - I really did mean small )

Suffolk_lass

Sounds brilliant, that range of plants. I find echinops, perovska and verbena bonariensis are brilliant for pollinators - ours are covered at the moment, up here in Suffolk. Echinacea are meant to be brilliant for honey bees but they are not interested in anything very much with bramble, lime and sweet chestnut in bloom and the summer flow on.

LadyGnome

My verbena are new this year and I am glad I got them.  I wanted something that could stand above the mid height plants including the self seeded poppies.  I tried Echinacea last year but they didn't get going.  I think I will grow them in a pot first.  The echinops are beautiful.  There is a garden not far from us that is a bit unkempt and there are lots of thistle like plants growing in there.  I was thinking that it may well be full of finches in the autumn.  Perovska is lovely.  I was debating getting some form of sage for the garden.  I grew clary sage for a couple of years which was lovely but the lousy spring seems to have done for it.   I have a couple of tiny buddleja I've raised from seed that I might put towards the back of the front garden next year but I'll have to keep them trimmed or they'll take over.  
I have borage in the back garden which is popular and the malva are coming up which the bees seem to love. The malva are way behind this year but finally getting going.  However, with the masses of brambles not far from where we live I think the bees only have one plant on their mind.  I need to look at the colours of the pollen coming in.

LadyGnome

Not much MSE news this week.  I have been grabbing a few surveys on PA so I will cash out soon.  No spend weekend as I couldn't face trekking to the shops in the heat. 

I will be getting some expensive dental work done in the next couple of months but I am going to see if I can put it on interest free credit or failing that I'll stick it on the CC and do a 0% balance transfer and treat it as an interest free loan.  I do have the money to cover it but I prefer not to part with the money any faster than I have to   

LadyGnome

Big OP of the month is done £1025 making the total for the month £1040.  I am ahead of my schedule.

I feel like my everyday spending is creeping in the wrong direction.  I am organised on the MFW / Accrual and Savings Pots etc. but I tend to fritter a bit of what is left.  So I got myself a Kakebo journal.  I am only using it for those amounts that are not strictly allocated to other stuff.  It really holds you to account when you have to write down what you have spent.  Funnily enough yesterday was a NSD.

I took a quick look at the honey supers on the hives yesterday and at least we won't need to buy honey for a while as the girls have been busy and frames are getting full.  You can tell honey is ready for taking when the bees have capped it off with a layer of wax - that means the moisture content is low enough that it won't spoil.  Looks like I will have to buy some jars.

Suffolk_lass

I ordered jars yesterday for ours. Bottle Company South for me (recommended as the cheapest and UK based)

LadyGnome

Thank you for the tip I've just ordered some jars from them.