Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

HHoD - You were brave tackling a maths qual as an adult. Mr F has tried to encourage me to do GCSE maths just to prove to myself I can do it, but I think I'd find it too boring & stressful. I liked the same sort of subjects as you.

CCL - Funnily enough, I do sometimes sort out peculiar errors in my knitting by writing it down in what looks like a line of code. I know there's maths in most things, really, & I wasn't too bad at it in primary school but by my 2nd year at secondary school, I was falling behind. I had a fantastic teacher the following year & picked up a bit but then a couple of bad ones & to be honest, sitting wasting time at the back with my friends discussing the problem pages in 'Blue Jeans' magazine probably didn't help!
F x

Kantankrus_Mare

Think you've nailed it on the head Foxgloves! The teacher makes all the difference.

I had a brillian one for my first few years of secondary and anything I didnt understand, he explained it in simple terms and I "got it".

For my "O" level years, my teacher was dismal!! Just used to stand at front of class for first few minutes scribbling stuff on the blackboard and giving the briefest explanation. She wasnt interested in helping you if you didnt understand so nobody bothered asking.

Me and my mate used to spend the lesson talking to the boys sat in front of us and I vividly remember our exam when she she shoved my chair during the exam from behind and we got a fit of the giggles.
Needless to say we both got Ungraded. :rotfl:

Now Blue Jeans, Jackie, My guy....I collected quite a pile of them over my teenage years. Gave them all to a younger friend. Wish I had hung onto them! Was the highlight of my teenage week.

foxgloves

Kantankrus - What memories. Teenage mags were such a big part of our week, weren't they, back in the 70s? I used to get 'Jackie', then 'FAB 208' (I liked Radio Luxembourg......small rebellion in our household of professional classical musicians) & from there I moved on to 'Honey' & '19'.
I still use a money saving tip from 'Jackie' magazine...... yes, I get a bit longer from my mascara by standing the tube in a mug of boiling water to soften all the product which is still in there, but stuck to the sides. I reckon I get another couple of weeks out of it (I wear make-up every day) so with mascaras from the brand I use costing between £6 & £9 each, that must be at least a tidsy saving over the year.
F

cbsexec

Can I just say how much I enjoy reading your diary - the tips are great, the writing great. It cheers me up and makes me laugh while giving me food for thought. thank you

foxgloves

Thank-you cbsexec for your positive comments, I'm glad you enjoy reading my ramblings. If I manage just to convince one person who is stuck in Spendyland that it is possible to change bad habits at any age, it will have been worth it.
F

foxgloves

Good evening Diary readers,
Well, that was a bit formal, wasn't it? Glorious sunshine here today. Three lots of laundry successfully dried on the whirlygig & a pleasant afternoon setting about the garden with my little fork & secateurs.
Despite these being very much the end days of summer, there are still pockets of colour in the garden - lemon yellow dahlias, cerise cosmos, tall white scabious, sunny rudbeckias & a variety of hardy geraniums still pushing out flushes of flowers. Tempting as it is just to hack back the borders & have done with it, I decided to enjoy the colour a little longer, so I've just been cutting back those plants which have finished for the year & pulling out spent annuals. It's a start, & I'm seeing lots of areas I'll enjoy replanting in the next few weeks using the plants I've got waiting in my nursery corner behind the greenhouse. The vegetable garden is the same. Mr F has lifted all his potatoes now, so that's one bed clear, but we've sweetcorn still fully to ripen & we're still getting a few courgettes & beans, though of course not at the rate we were. I've picked more chillies today, tomatoes, blackberries, grapes & two big sturdy green peppers. Spinach is ready for another cut too.
The winter salads I sowed last week are all up so hopefully they'll put on some growth before the days darken & chill.
I'm on my lonesome tonight as Mr F has a 14-hour shift. I'm catching up on a bit of TV & once I've fetched our cat in, I'm going to tuck up with a film.
Hope you've all seen at least a little sunshine today. The short evenings will be here all too soon.
F x

Honeysucklelou2

The sun was certainly bathing hedgerows and fields in a golden glow here this evening. September is such a lovely month, makes you want to savour every moment! Dahlias flowering here, quite a few roses still and a second flush of lavender flowers.

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves wrote: »

Wish-Thanks, yes I know about interim payments - in fact, that's what my sis & I are waiting for. I'm OK. I'm not flapping about it, it just feels a bit more out of my control since our original solicitor left for a new job, as he was brill at comms. I'm sure all will be well x

CLF - I bet you & I did very different subjects then. My nephew has just got excellent GCSE results but he clearly prefers subjects which have right & wrong answers. I much prefer something which gives me a historical, cultural or philosophical premise & tells me to discuss it. Yes, it's very true that we are all different.... yet in the grand Venn diagram of money savers, you & I do still share some interests, don't we? Same with CCL. Her specialist subject is one in which I was unable to progress beyond the first three years of secondary school....... but put us both in a Yarn shop & I think we might turn into the spendy twins, lol x

I loved all the subjects really, and I did do history GSCE but I'm def happiest with a right or wrong answer
I like my history to be told to me. Preferably by Lucy Worsley or someone equally as fabulous!

Probably best not to put us in a yarn shop... might be like letting Dracula loose in the blood bank :rotfl:

foxgloves

Honeysucklelou2 - Yes, it can be a lovely mellow & fruitful time of year. You were lucky to get a 2nd flush of lavender flowers. Mine never re-flowers even if I dead head it. I'm thinking I might take a few autumn cuttings from it though, so that will be another little job to be getting on with.
F x

foxgloves

Oh yes, CLF, I think that could get terribly spendy. Mind you, I'm out of love with my knitting tonight. I'm knitting a textured afghan throw for a gift. I'm both a competent & confident knitter, & it isn't a difficult pattern, just textures & bobbles, & only 3 colours. I've knitted about a third of it & last night I did row 1 of the bobble part of the design & there was a stitch missing. I've had a good look at it & I can't for the life of me see any sign of a dropped stitch. I'm currently frogging a few rows to see if anything comes to light. The only other possibility is that one of the end stitches unravelled & I didn't notice (the pattern requires a lot of cutting off & joining in colours, so that is possible). So my lovely piece of knitting is going backwards at the moment. Grrrr. Luckily have had busy day out & about so haven't got the energy to have a tantrum!
Out again tomorrow, but not until the evening so have high hopes of getting lots done..... ironing will certainly need to feature (boo to that, for starters) & my bowl of blackberry vinegar looks ready for its next stage so I must crack on with that too. Any more cutting back I can do in the garden as well as any creative use of several more pears will be a bonus.
I've borrowed a lovely selection of library books today - cook books & health - so if I make good progress with tomorrow's list, I'll be able to have an hour of caffeine-assisted browsing outside on my garden bench.
Oh well...... must unpick a couple more rows in my hunt for this elusive devil stitch which has put my pattern out of kilter....... maybe a chocolate biscuit would help me find it.
F x