Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Today's declutterings have been done. 13th July, so 13 items given the old heave ho:
1x annoying shaped plant pot. I promised someone a cutting, so have potted it up in that. Result!
1x bag of marigold seed heads still on their stalks. I must have collected those just before Mum went into hospital last year. They looked OK, so separated the seeds from the chaff & sealed them in an envelope to sow next Spring.
1x pottery windowsill planter set for herbs. Perfect condition, but I barely use it & have to move it every time I want to get to stuff I DO need. It's now wrapped & in my charity shop bag.
1 x wooden kitchen roll holder. I haven't bought kitchen paper for about 10 years.
9 x plastic seed modules.
More stuff must depart from the house tomorrow. I'm. On a roll with it now.
F ☓

HairyHandofDartmoor

Well done on your de-cluttering Foxgloves, your technique seems to be working a treat .

foxgloves

Morning Diary readers,
Despite being an early riser, I did enjoy a bit of a later start today, followed by a leisurely breakfast together in the conservatory with the doors flung open to let the morning in.
Just finished a really productive gardening session, in which Mr F progressed his big project (the one that's been hanging around) & helped me with a few jobs I was neither strong or tall enough to manage. I've taken the netting off the sweetcorn now, staked up the tallest ones, weeded, watered, & it's just maintenance now until corn cob picking time. I intend to spend this afternoon reading - Ben Elton's latest novel from the library.
Ah, but have I forgotten to declutter today's 14 items for 14th July? No, I've done them:
*9 x bottle cloches... more of the early ones which I'd cut too short. These all now fit in a recycled compost sack instead of spilling out everywhere on a regular basis.
*1 x cracked pottery plant pot holder. I've plenty of these atm... no need to waste valuable space with a broken one.
*1 x decorative planter which used to be a nice one, but the design has now worn off & the handle has broken, meaning I don't use it, but it' was still taking up about 40cm2 of shelf space.
*1 x empty plastic chicken manure pellet bucket (another one!) which I've temporarily been using as a weeding trug but no longer require.
*1 x small metal bracket - unused, don't know where it came from, but it's been in our shed for about 8 years!
*1 seed tray, badly split.
It's very satisfying seeing this stuff dealt with. I. Might feel up to tackling the jam jar cupboard next week. Hope everyone enjoying the last of the weekend.
F x

foxgloves

Oh my giddy aunt.... how far we've come from those mad, bad old Spendy Years. Last year, our cheap little portable BBQ carked it. I cleaned up the zinc bucket bit for planting, & it's looking most attractive with its sunflower & shocking pink zinnias. We both decided that it was time to buy a proper BBQ, rather than these little cheap things which seem budget-friendly at first, but quickly deteriorate. Not very green either. So I started a little 'New BBQ in 2019' pot & we identified the preferred make & model and decided we'd get it from John Lewis, partly because I'd got a nice little wodge of JL vouchers sitting in that savings pot. The rest of it was from two Prolific Academic cash-outs & a modest sale to Ziffit. Now Mr F LOVES both BBQ-ing & eating, so I've been amazed when every time I've mentioned we have the cashola already to buy it, he's kind of prevaricated, said 'We could wait a bit', said 'It's a lot of dosh', etc, etc. This weekend, I received an email from JL to say BBQs & associated gubbins reduced by 20%. He finally deigned to have a look, but asked me three times if I was sure it was OK to go ahead & order from a budget point of view!! I had to show him my sums on that pot of money, & only then did he put the order together. 1 BBQ. 1 starter chimney (I so hope this will eliminate those little trips to the shed to add a splash of petrol....) & a cover so we look after it & make sure it lasts a long time. The 20% off meant it came in nicely to what we'd saved.
Now, back in the Spendy Years, we'd have gone out & bought one on credit, plus accessories, plus other accessories (Mr F likes kit), then come home via the butcher for his bodyweight in meat 'to test it out'! I did see him looking at BBQ tools, but then he shut the page off saying 'We don't need these. There's nothing wrong with the ones we've already got'.
So he's gone from being an even worse spender than me (& he hasn't been bailed out repeatedly by his parents like I used to be) to actually finding it difficult to spend money on an unessential item even when we've properly saved up for it! It just shows people at the beginning of their DFW journeys that it is totally possible to change.
I'm so glad that we did. I like myself better now that I'm not so wasteful.
F xx

ampersand

Bonjour, foxgloves -
Chance read from here:
https://www.petitfute.com/v26754-bruay-la-buissiere-62700/c1173-visites-points-d-interet/c971-parc-jardin/347405-le-bois-des-dames.html
- after the glories of last night:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZUreGRsSfFT3V1Zo6
-yes, I know, but I love them.
#
Enjoyable reading.
I will declutter car before rtn ferry - and possibly rediscover hairbrush :-)
Well done, both of you.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Mr Foxgloves reluctance to spend money is truly admirable and I applaud him. It really does show that people can change. I do think the most pleasurable purchases are ones that have been saved up for so that no guilt is involved .

foxgloves

HHoD - I think you're exactly right. Both Mr f & I agree that we feel much happier saving for things now. I think the availability of easy credit just ramps up the instant gratification thing, doesn't it? It's quite nice to wait a little while, & sometimes it turns out that the stuff we thought we really, really wanted, isn't so important after all. I can't tell you how many times we've been shopping & mr f has come home without the things he intended to buy, simply because on balance, he decided he'd rather still keep his money intact, & all the possibilities that entails. We can only spend it once (except for what I've already confessed up about my annual approach to birthday money back in the bad Spendy Decades, of course) & there's always that possibility that we might see something even better. One of the best things since my LBM is how much more effort I put into buying the right thing........my home has previously been so full of stuff that was 'only ok'.....but despite that I still bought it! I have to love it now, as I don't want to find I'm tempted to re-buy a few months later because it wasn't really right for what I had in mind. I sometimes wonder how much we'd owe now, if we hadn't become reformed characters. We'd certainly have run into problems with me taking redundancy. Thankfully, almost all of the debt was gone by then.
F x

foxgloves

And here are today's de-clutterings - I haven't abandoned my challenge yet......15 items for 15th July:
*1 hanging ornament from outside the front door, which I have decluttered from a heap on the kitchen worktop by actually mending it!! The string broke a few weeks ago & it became one of those tasks which I have every intention of doing......but it never happens. It's now mended & hanging back outside. Yay to mending stuff!
*1 sheaf of research notes for a project I was working on, which has now been properly written up.
*3 empty spread tubs, which I have cut into plant labels & put away in plant label tin.
*1 split seed tray.
*1 recipe booklet, which had been waiting for me to snip out one recipe.
*1 lidded jar, which I used as my button jar, but I now have too many buttons to fit in it. It's gone in the bottle bank bag & I've replaced it with a nice big jar, thus achieving the bonus of freeing up a bit of space in a kitchen cupboard.
*5 out of date mail order catalogues.
*1 pin brooch - added to charity shop bag.
*1 half-pack of phone screen protector thingies - much too small for current phone screen. In fact, I don't think they actually fitted my previous phone that brilliantly either, so I don't think I've had my money's worth out of that little purchase & wouldn't bother again.
Off to fetch the laundry in & water & feed the veggie garden now. Then tonight some more research on garden benches. This is defo a category where I've often ended up with not quite the right product, usually because I've bought cheap & had to re-buy again sooner than intended, but also in the Spendy Years, because I've wanted outdoor seating 'now' & have bought it on credit, then later, decided I didn't like my purchases as much as I thought I did when I was in the shop. So, a lot more thought & effort goes into choosing these days, I'm pleased to say.
OK, must wander off to do the greenhouse feeding.
Hope everyone's had a bit of this lovely afternoon sunshine.
F xx

Toni'sfriend

I love your declutterings. All the silly things that are just lying about doing nothing. It seems much easier that tackling huge items - just a few little steps at a time. Think this might be my mission next month.

foxgloves

I think that's exactly it, Toni'sfriend. Clutter grows, doesn't it, but it starts with a few bits & pieces, we ignore them, & that's how it starts getting out of hand. And yes, they're such silly little things. Take that broken garden ornament. I have walked past that multiple times a day for a few weeks. How long did it take me to mend? About ten minutes while sitting outside on the grass with a cup of tea & a peanut butter cracker! Then about an additional minute to re-hang it. I love that little bits of space are being freed up too, as I go along. I can't take credit for the idea of decluttering the same no of items as the date, I've adapted it from a minimalist blog. That was more hardcore than my version, but this works for me. It's the 2nd time I've done it x